New Jersey Fiber Exchange (NJFX) and Windstream have announced the expansion of Windstream’s 100G long-haul express network from the company’s 21715 Filigree Court, Ashburn, VA, Point of Presence (PoP) to NJFX’s carrier-neutral data center in Wall Township, NJ. The expansion will create the first direct network connection between NJFX’s Meet-Me Room (MMR) at the Tata Communications’ Cable Landing Station (CLS) and Ashburn.

The newly-established express fiber route offers customers four main benefits:

Seventy percent of the world’s Internet traffic travels through Northern Virginia, and Windstream is the only carrier that has four separate paths in and out of the area. The network connection also bypasses New York, Northern New Jersey, and other congested routes based on legacy infrastructure, ensuring low latency and secure connectivity.

NJFX customers gain access to Windstream’s enterprise-class cloud communications, advanced data and voice solutions, and reliable 100 Gigabit Ethernet services delivered over the company’s extensive nationwide fiber and IP network.

Windstream offers connectivity to and from 9 million square feet of data center, including ten major third-party data centers and data center campuses in the Washington D.C., area, which includes facilities in Ashburn, Reston and McLean, Virginia.

Tata Communications continues to invest in its IP infrastructure with plans to offer its full portfolio of services and solutions at the Wall Township facility in March 2016, including carrier-grade MPLS, Wavelength options and, ultimately, 100 Gigabit Internet hand-offs.

“In 2015, Windstream focused on expanding its network.  This latest 230-plus-mile, 100G long-haul network extension reflects our commitment to meeting the rapidly expanding data needs of our customers,” remarks Joe Scattareggia, senior vice president of sales for Windstream Carrier Solutions.  “We built out our network to NJFX’s meet-me room in New Jersey as an additional termination point since this is a prime meeting hub for subsea cables connecting two continents.”

NJFX’s 64,800-square-foot, Tier 3 facility where subsea cables from the U.S. and Europe meet at the United States’ easternmost edge, will offer service providers, enterprises, carrier-neutral operators and cable companies direct interconnection options at the cable head-end without recurring cross-connect fees.  The facility will encompass the latest in Tier 3 computing infrastructure design, featuring over 1,000 cabinets for carrier-neutral colocation and greater capacity, with densities ranging from 2kW to 16kW per cabinet to address high-density power needs.

“Partnering with Windstream fortifies NJFX with additional reliable, low latency 100G connectivity for our data center and meet-me room customers,” comments Gil Santaliz, founder and managing member of NJFX.  “With multiple subsea systems coming into our facility, our goal is to provide customers with reliable, diverse connectivity options in a highly-secure, fortified facility as close to the edge as a network operator could get.”

“Given the challenging economic conditions, fast, secure and reliable connectivity is crucial for businesses. The direct extension of our network and access to additional routes to Ashburn will ultimately enable organizations to reach global audiences faster, expand into new territories, and drive better collaboration worldwide in today’s hyper-connected marketplace,” states John Hayduk, president and corporate operations officer at Tata Communications.

The NJFX data center will provide global connectivity to more than 240 countries and territories as well as 99.7% of the world’s GDP by way of Tata Communications’ global subsea fiber network, one of the largest and most advanced in the world.  Furthermore, as the exclusive, carrier-neutral meet-me room operator inside Tata Communications’ Wall, NJ international CLS, NJFX tenants benefit from a high level of connectivity to leading service providers within the CLS.