SX NEXT cable offers lowest latency US link for Australia and New Zealand.
Equinix has announced an expanded relationship with Southern Cross Cables Limited (Southern Cross) to provide a key US-based interconnectivity access point for the Southern Cross NEXT (SX NEXT) submarine cable system.
SX NEXT will leverage Equinix’s next-generation cable landing station (CLS) architecture, enabling rapid provisioning and cost savings.
The SX NEXT cable offers the lowest latency path from Australia and New Zealand to Los Angeles – connecting into Equinix’s LA4 Los Angeles International Business Exchange (IBX) data center.
SX NEXT is pitched as enhancing network performance across industries in the region and boosting the aggregate capacity of Southern Cross’ existing Trans-Pacific ecosystem by approximately 500%.
Southern Cross also utilizes Platform Equinix to provide critical on-ramps to the Southern Cross network ecosystem at SY1 and SY5 Sydney data centers, as well as SV1and SV8 in Silicon Valley and LA1 in Los Angeles.
With the release of 400GbE (Layer 1 and 2) capability on the Southern Cross network earlier this year, customers can now take advantage of the lowest latency, secure 400G data center inter-connections between key Equinix facilities in Sydney, Australia and the US West Coast.
The need for additional capacity between Australia and the US is Driven by increased demand for cloud services, content and digital media and e-commerce capabilities – a sign of the growing maturity of the Australian digital economy.
Trans-Pacific demand has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41% over the past five years -significantly more than the 26% CAGR of Internet backbone providers.
In 2021, the Australian Government announced the investment of an additional A$1.2 billion to grow Australia’s digital economy by 2030 – including infrastructure, skills, cybersecurity, regulations and digital trade.
Craige Sloots, Director, Marketing and Strategy, Southern Cross, said: “Trans-Pacific subsea connectivity will continue to be a key enabler in the region for many years to come and we’re excited about this next phase of interconnection through our work with Equinix.”
Jim Poole, Vice President, Business Development, Equinix said: “By supplementing existing trans-Pacific routes, the Southern Cross NEXT cable provides seamless and accelerated interconnection across Platform Equinix, with an opportunity to help boost the digital economy in those regions.”
Tim Stronge, VP of Research, TeleGeography, said:“Bandwidth demand continues to rise at a rapid pace on the Trans-Pacific route. As technology advances and new players enter the field, the trans-Pacific subsea cable landscape continues to evolve, promising even greater connectivity and opportunities for innovation.”
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