Start Campus and EXA to expand network route

Author: Isha Jain

Start Campus has announced that EXA Infrastructure (EXA) has committed to invest in two new diverse and redundant terrestrial routes in Sines, Portugal. 

EXA’s strategic network expansion in Sines links Start Campus’s Sines Project, a 495MW hyperscale data centre development, to its backbone in Madrid, Spain. The new connectivity hub will be the gateway to European, African and American digital platforms. 

The key location of the project further strengthens Portugal as a connectivity hub for Europe, providing access via transatlantic cable landings and EXA’s expansive terrestrial network route.

Steve Roberts, VP of Network Investments, EXA Infrastructure, says, “EXA continues to invest and expand our network to ensure we are enabling the growth and success of our customers. We are witnessing an increasing demand for enhanced connectivity routes in and out of Southern Europe and we are pleased to partner with Start Campus to power this demand by connecting Sines to our pan-European backbone.”

Set to be ready for service in late 2023, the project will be a large hyperscaler data centre ecosystem. It benefits from ocean water cooling systems, high voltage power grids, and high capacity international fibre optic cables. Being fully powered by renewable and affordable energy, the company also offers a 100% sustainable campus powered by 24×7 renewable energy facilities, resulting in a low Total Cost of Operations (TCO) for its customers.

Last year, it signed an agreement with EllaLink. The partnership provides a framework of cooperation between the two, guaranteeing that the infrastructures interact, knowledge is shared, and synergies are established to promote Sines as a new digital hub in global data network systems. 

Today, Sines is directly connected to Lisbon, Madrid, Fortaleza, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In the future, the connectivity will be extended to Marseille, Barcelona, Casablanca and more.