Integration with the Havfrue Transatlantic system offers direct route to the US avoiding the datacentre clusters around Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris
EXA Infrastructure has extended its DWDM backbone into Finland, connecting Helsinki to Stockholm. EXA describes itself as “Europe’s largest dedicated digital infrastructure platform”. It connects North America and Asia via the Middle East, and now has a direct presence in 37 countries in Europe and North America.
This expansion offers EXA’s customer base greater cover but it also intends to foster competition in the Finnish market. Finland’s market demand is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32% over the next five years, according to Telegeography.
The growth will be driven, in part, by the use of AI technologies as Finland has the largest concentration of datacentre capacity in the Nordics, at almost 240MW. Most are located in Helsinki.
Avoid the FLAP
Earlier this year, EXA Infrastructure entered a strategic partnership with Bulk Infrastructure on the Havfrue Transatlantic system, which connects the US to Norway and Denmark. The new expansion into Finland also extends the Havfrue system’s integration into EXA’s backbone and provides direct connection between the US and Finland, avoiding the so-called FLAP countries, that is Europe’s primary datacentre clusters around Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris.
Steve Roberts, Senior Vice President of Strategic Investments at EXA Infrastructure, commented, “This investment opens Finland as a new market for EXA, aligning with our vision of connecting more strategic locations to our network. Finland is emerging as a key hub for subsea cable systems and hyperscale data centres, and we are proud to contribute to the country’s infrastructure development with our advanced network.”
Attractive green policies
Jim Fagan, CEO of EXA Infrastructure, added: “the Nordic countries are rapidly emerging as Europe’s new digital infrastructure hub, driven by the availability of abundant green energy. The region is attracting major investments from global cloud hyperscalers and multi-tenant datacenter providers. This is driving an incredible demand for resilient, scalable and diverse connectivity infrastructure to fuel the growth of this dynamic ecosystem.”