GlobeNet opens ‘fastest’ US – Brazil IP traffic route via Platform Equinix

Equinix MI3 data center serves as low-latency hub to Latin America, creating new revenue opportunities for network service providers.

  • Tuesday, 14th May 2013 Posted 11 years ago in by Phil Alsop

GlobeNet, an international wholesale provider of submarine capacity and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oi, has extended its low latency network into Equinix’s MI3 International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center in Boca Raton, Florida. GlobeNet’s expansion into Equinix’s MI3 data center opens the fastest IP traffic route from the United States to Brazil.


Specifically designed to link Latin America with the rest of the world, Equinix’s MI3 facility serves as a carrier-neutral network access point for GlobeNet to connect its low latency, subsea cable route from Equinix’s SP2 facility in São Paulo, Brazil. This new connectivity between North and South America allows network service providers around the world to be able to tap into economic opportunities stemming from emerging commercial centers in Latin America.


Explosive growth in mobile, content delivery, video streaming, tele-presence, social media, and cloud-based data traffic offers tremendous revenue opportunities for high-margin corporate and retail services such as Ethernet and MPLS. To remain competitive, network operators are expanding their infrastructures to meet demand for these new services—and are turning to “retail data centers” that not only offer all the network-to-network connectivity of a telehouse, but also act as aggregation points for concentrations of customers in network-centric industries.

Roughly 75 percent of all network traffic emanating from Latin America is coming into the United States via Miami. Globally, MI3 has the sixth highest Internet capacity and is a key hub location for domestic and international traffic routes. As a result, Equinix and its Brazilian subsidiary ALOG are perfectly positioned to serve high-bandwidth events, such as the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.

According to a 2013 Submarine Telecoms Forum report, growth in activated submarine capacity has been extremely high, with a compound annual growth rate of 54 percent over the last five years. Equinix is laying the foundation for cable operators like GlobeNet to establish an express highway between the United States and Brazil, while leveraging Platform Equinix™ and its ecosystem of key supply chain customers and partners.

The North America-South America capacity market is heavily dependent on three privately owned geographic ring networks, one of which is GlobeNet. With numerous telecommunications carrier facilities, fiber loops, international cable landings and multiple power grids, MI3 is an ideal location for GlobeNet to meet the connectivity demands of wholesale and network service providers and other Internet-related businesses looking to expand their business.

GlobeNet owns and operates over 22,500 kilometers of subsea cable network specifically engineered for the shortest, lowest latency routes. Built upon advanced Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, GlobeNet’s carrier class network is leveraged by wholesale providers and carriers around the World.

Equinix is seeing strong demand from customers looking to leverage MI3 for fast access to Latin America. MI3 offers a number of benefits to customers, including direct connectivity to the leading Latin American network operators for reduced latency, and close proximity for serving Latin American markets while maintaining infrastructure within the US. Customers that are deploying at MI3 include, Allied Fiber, Cogent Communications, Fiberlight, Inteliquent, Neutrona Networks, Lightower Fiber Networks and tw telecom.