“As we bring more data centers online, we will continue to partner and invest in core backbone network infrastructure,” Facebook Director of Network Investments Kevin Salvadori says in a blog post. It plans to strengthen existing fiber partnerships and create new fiber routes with more investment. The company seeks resiliency and scale to connect its data centers in Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina.
With the new long-haul fiber routes, Facebook will offer its excess capacity to local and regional providers for purchase. Its subsidiary, Middle Mile Infrastructure, will begin operating as a wholesale provider, or “where necessary, as a telecommunications carrier.”
“This capacity could provide additional network infrastructure to existing and emerging providers, helping them extend service to many parts of the country, and particularly in underserved rural areas near our long-haul fiber builds,” notes Salvadori.
The news is significant. Last week, Inside Towers featured a Facebook fiber link that connects Ashburn, VA and Columbus, OH. Much of the route will be in West Virginia, where officials hope it will generate jobs and establish the state as a fiber backbone route.
Facebook recently built a data center in New Mexico and laid a 200-mile cable to connect it to a facility in Texas. Facebook says that underground cable is one of the highest-capacity systems in the country and acts as a redundant path to the network for the New Mexico data center.
Once it has a new data center and terrestrial fiber network in place, Facebook intends to connect it to other data centers and networks across oceans. That’s why it worked with partners to build subsea fiber optic cables across the Atlantic, North Atlantic and the Pacific. Comments? Email Us.
March 11, 2019
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