When GIX began to build this infrastructure, we knew we had to do something that had never been done before. Conversations with some larger carriers and their leadership teams made one thing clear: that the southernmost river crossing was a highly sought-after route and that someone needed to build it. The idea was to approach the Port and PATH to monetize their newly renovated tunnel that connected the Oculus into the Newark Penn PATH Station. A number of conversations with the Port Authority led to a Letter of Intent, which then became our lease with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This was almost a three-and-a-half-year process from start to finish. Because we approached the Port, it was a non-bid project, and we agreed to terms allowing us the last of the valuable real estate to build our infrastructure. By doing so, we were able to secure our fiber optic cables through the southernmost transit tunnel, along with procuring the rights to the next southernmost transit tunnel. The partnership with the Port Authority of NY and NJ, along with PATH, is without question the most significant piece of our infrastructure. The engineering and construction teams at the Port and PATH were integral in seeing the build come to fruition.
I would suppose this question depends on the customer or GIX. From a customer perspective, we work diligently to provide whatever type of agreement they require to balance what they need on their customer side. This might be a lease that includes dark fiber Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) options with annual Operations and Maintenance (O&M) to lower the upfront pair cost and leverage CapEx to dark fiber Lease Agreements with no O&M to leverage OpEx. From a GIX perspective, we have many ways to balance the costs on both sides to obtain what is ideal from a company perspective expenditure-wise while simultaneously preparing for the future. We partner and build core processes and workflow to create best practices and streamline execution. We work with founders who have a passion for building networks and success. We have also committed to utilizing software and hardware tools to enhance the building and operations of all new infrastructure to manage, maintain and reduce costs. Additionally, when GIX is negotiating contracts, we are required to pay fees well into the future. We understand this very well and have developed a model that includes and is not limited to annual CPI and annual escalator increases to meet these requirements. Decisions to capture funding sources (debt) instead of an anchor tenant on each route help this vision become a reality. Lastly, GIX can operate and strategically scale its core business and vision by staying private.
Can you explain the significance of using Prysmian fiber cable featuring Corning® SMF-28® Ultra glass in this project?
Is there any additional insight or information you would like to share with our audience?
The brand new, high-count Prysmian fiber cable featuring Corning® SMF-28® Ultra glass ensures our customers’ connectivity needs are met with little to no data disruption. The 7,500 feet of continuous tunnel fiber cable pull required a “bulletproof” plan, which allowed for a continuous fiber cable pull during limited track hours, focused on maintaining the integrity of the glass while also having limited end-to-end communication (since two-way radios and mobile cell phones did not operate), are just a few examples of this undertaking. This was a milestone for both GIX and Prysmian to pull 7,500 feet of fiber cable through a tunnel of this length without any splice points. The planning that went into this was just as intensive as the efforts to install the fiber cable. The entire end-to-end route is buried with secure GIX-owned manholes in New Jersey with direct fiber cable termination from the street at 60 Hudson and 165 Halsey to the data centers’ optical distribution frame (ODF) splice enclosures. This means there are no splice points at manhole zero at each data center.
How does GIX plan to balance CapEx and OpEx expenditures while ensuring rapid deployment and high performance of the network?
Before joining GIX, Joe served in the United States Air Force’s Public Affairs division during the Obama administration, bringing valuable strategic and operational experience to his role. His leadership is focused on bridging the digital divide and fostering growth in underserved markets.
Future plans for GIX include dark fiber expansion to increase customers’ network connectivity, capacity, availability, and performance by driving down the total costs of network ownership. By utilizing our fiber, customers can use our network (loops, diversity and exchange locations that allow additional customers connectivity) to always maintain the vision and mission of building in locations that are extremely difficult for others to build, such as what GIX has achieved with the Port Authority of New York and NJ and its most southern diverse Hudson River crossing.
We are a group of individuals that work closely together to build and operate the impossible. GIX believes in and promotes partnerships both with our vendors and customers. A few of our partners that we have very important relationships with are Hylan, JoeMax Telecom, NYI, Databank, Digital Realty, QTD Systems and HudsonIX. For more information, please go to our website www.gixfiber.com and our GIX LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-interxchange/.
How does the new network impact the total cost of ownership for hyperscalers, wholesalers, and resellers, and what additional services can they provide as a result?
What specific cutting-edge fiber technologies and equipment were utilized in the development of this new route, and how do they enhance connectivity?
What are the future expansion plans for GIX, particularly in terms of extending into additional tunnels and addressing connectivity challenges in hard-to-reach areas?
Outside of the true diversity of what the Port/PATH tunnel provides GIX, we also wanted diverse route options throughout Manhattan. This required us to take great care in planning and building multiple routes throughout NYC, which includes diverse POEs (Points of Entry) into 60 Hudson Street. GIX is the only carrier with access into 60 Hudson Street from our Worth Street POE. We also have a diverse POE on Thomas Street. Within 60 Hudson, we have built an ecosystem of dark fiber infrastructure between DataBank on the 1st Floor, HudsonIX on the 6th Floor, Digital Realty on the 9th Floor, NYI on the 12th Floor, and QTD Systems on the 16th Floor.
Joe Falco has been instrumental at GIX for over five years, leading transformative projects like the Southernmost Hudson River Dark Fiber crossing. This initiative has significantly improved connectivity in New York and New Jersey, offering reliable, high-speed solutions for businesses and communities.
Can you elaborate on the significance of GIX’s new dark fiber route and what sets it apart from previous installations across the Hudson River?
Currently, to maintain uptime between Manhattan and NJ, all networks require route diversity, and today, a huge lack of carrier diversity exists (to the point you don’t know what carrier has true diverse fiber cables). When planning dark fiber networks with limited options, such as the Hudson River going into Manhattan, networks and engineers are compromised to either increase their network costs or decrease performance and availability. GIX creates an ideal situation where the network can have both: lower costs with increased availability and performance by adding a diverse route between Manhattan and NJ. Customers can purchase our route and reduce the alternatives, reducing cost, and improving customer uptime, thus paying much less in outage reimbursements and much less in fees and expenses associated with maintaining multiple dark fiber cables on the same route.
Previous installations are not as direct as the GIX route, which provides the shortest path between exchanges and is the southernmost crossing under the Hudson River. We are also the only route to be installed in recent history. Our route is also in the only post-remediated property under the Hudson by the PATH (Port Authority Transit Hudson). As the result of being a new, high-capacity, all-buried and diverse route, the GIX route reduces network cost of ownership .This route mainly is a gateway to bolster local networks with superior uptime, diversity and protection.
Big data and AI are known to be fiber hogs. Each relies on getting vast amounts of data to be processed within milliseconds. When networks operate on aging optical fiber cables and fiber cable maintenance is required, several limitations impact restoration, performance and availability. The outcome is decreased performance, network outages, and increased network costs. Our high fiber count cables provide AI and big data with multiple pathways and options to connect to their main data hubs on new and enhanced optical fiber cables, using the shortest route between 60 Hudson Street and 165 Halsey.
Can you discuss the benefits of having two unique paths into 60 Hudson Street in terms of network diversity and resilience?
What measures have been taken to ensure the physical security and durability of the fiber infrastructure, especially considering the advanced manhole systems and 16-ton flood gates?
How did the partnership with the Port Authority of NY and NJ come about, and what role did it play in the successful deployment of this project?
GIX’s new high-speed network exemplifies the power of public-private partnerships, showcasing Joe’s dedication to innovation and connectivity. Join us as we explore Joe Falco’s journey, his vision for GIX, and the impact of this historic project on the digital landscape.
Our infrastructure is completely buried, end-to-end, with dual-locking manholes strategically placed along our route. These manholes are key integration hubs for GIX as we plan to expand the infrastructure beyond Phase 1. GIX contractors trenched over 8,000 feet of the New Jersey route to ensure scalability and provide customers with zero concern regarding the integrity of our infrastructure.
The Prysmian fiber cable with Corning glass is manufactured in the U.S. and is regularly used throughout our industry. Prysmian fiber cable has individual tubes on each 288 count, each strand of which is individually labeled, which allows technicians to find and perform fiber splicing with minimal unnecessary downtime. The cable has a central strength member (glass-reinforced plastic rod), and since it is a Multi-Tube FlexRibbon fiber cable, either a single fiber or 12 fibers, it can be spliced, which, in turn, reduces optical field splicing and fault management time. Corning® SMF-28® Ultra adheres to ITU G.657.A1/G.652.D single mode fiber specification.
Today, we are joined by Joe Falco, President and CEO of Global InterXchange, LLC (GIX). Under his leadership, GIX has launched a groundbreaking dark fiber route, the first privately owned, carrier-neutral installation across the Hudson River in two decades. This route connects 60 Hudson Street in New York and 165 Halsey Street in New Jersey, enhancing redundancy and diversity in cross-Hudson connectivity.
How does this new dark fiber network address the growing data transmission needs in the age of AI and big data?
