STF Mag file: 7 questions to Gil Santaliz

Talking Tech Trends with the CEO of NJFX

January 19, 2022

1. What is NJFX’s mission?

Our mission is to expand our existing secure Layer 1 fiber optic ecosystem infrastructure, delivering global reliability and diversity to the foundation of the Internet and critical global connectivity. Today, NJFX serves more than 30 network operators on five submarine cables, 20 terrestrial cables interconnecting Europe, South America and the Caribbean, and more than 300 ASNs in a global Internet exchange from Wall, NJ to the United States.

2. How does NJFX participate in the submarine cable market?

NJFX is a communications infrastructure marketplace where Layer 1 submarine providers, terrestrial fiber networks, internet exchanges, CDNs and global networks exchange network traffic. The submarine cable market may depend on this existing carrier-neutral co-location CLS infrastructure to deploy its SLTE operating at a higher rate of availability and performance than extending over a single terrestrial ring system land connection. These extensions to other non-purpose-built network hubs introduce new points of failure reducing uptime and exposing national security threats to subsea systems. As an active participant in this underwater industry, NJFX actively participates in trade shows to develop an ecosystem supporting the diversity of underwater systems it hosts. In 2021, NJFX has reached critical mass with physical carrier infrastructure assets of submarine, land cable, and POP carriers to support the diversity needed for “Never Down” solutions.

3. Is NJFX currently involved in many new submarine cable projects?

NJFX is still active with several new underwater projects heading into the current “CIF” contract. These development projects aim to eliminate risk and provide a clear path to deployment with a 25-year operating horizon. Our design enables decades of concurrent maintainability without planned outages for an overlay of subsea systems at different stages of their life cycle.

4. What makes NJFX unique in the underwater systems market?

NJFX is the only CLS Tier3 Carrier Neutral campus in North America. The CLS was purpose built in 2016 at 64 feet above sea level with a Hurricane 5 rated design, Tier 3 power and cooling infrastructure, 2N power distribution and UPS, four Various POE, professional Meet Me rooms for operator-neutral interconnectivity and access to various North and south forward conveying conduits to beach manholes with drill pipes. Understanding the critical importance of security, our Tier3 co-location by Subsea CLS co-location facility includes airlocks, level 3 anti-ballistic walls, genuine dual biometric access system and access control rooms at the redundant sites with BMS/closed circuit security cameras. It is uniquely designed for secure co-location with high-density options offering a variety of fiber routes bypassing traditional purpose-built carrier hotels.

To continue reading the rest of this article, please read it in Issue 12 of the SubTel Forum Magazine on page 18 or on our archive site here.