A new partnership between Bandwidth IG and the San Francisco Metropolitan Internet Exchange (SFMIX) will deliver high-capacity dark fiber to internet service providers and content delivery networks across the San Francisco Bay Area, allowing them to connect to their customers with unmatched speed and performance.
SFMIX, an internet exchange point based in Silicon Valley, is one of the first customers to utilize Bandwidth IG’s newly expanded San Francisco Bay Area dark fiber network, announced earlier this year. The new project brings 310 route miles and more than 2 million fiber miles of high-capacity dark fiber to the Bay Area, including a new and unique subsea route across the San Francisco Bay.
SFMIX has deployments in eight data centers throughout the Bay Area and boasts over 90 participants. Bandwidth IG’s newly expanded network creates a ring around the market, including the first fiber cable under the Bay to be installed for communications services in decades, providing near ubiquitous connectivity throughout one of the busiest data center markets in the world. The ability to connect to its facilities across the Silicon Valley market allows SFMIX to interconnect its deployments at intervals of 400Gbps, using diverse routes with future expansion capabilities.
“As the only member-owned cooperative internet exchange point within California, our priority is to operate an efficient, uncongested, and resilient network backbone. Bandwidth IG’s fiber not only provides the necessary coverage in multiple locations throughout the Bay Area to reach our members, but it also prioritizes diverse routes that avoid traditional congested fiber corridors. Bandwidth IG’s investments in the region will allow us to serve our current membership and expand quickly as demand grows,” said SFMIX President Matt Peterson.
Enclosing the northern portion of the ring required immense dedication and engineering ingenuity. The subsea crossing that connects downtown San Francisco to the East Bay required numerous complex permits and nearly four years of planning, engineering and construction to complete.
“Constructing the Bay crossing was a complex, but necessary process. In today’s AI-driven world, where the demand for more capacity and reduced latency is critical, the most direct routes possible need to be created. We knew it would be hard work to go across the Bay via a subsea route, but it has resulted in a truly diverse route with a direct connection tying together two high-traffic areas,” said Bandwidth IG Chief Commercial Officer Patton Lochridge.
The majority of the newly constructed San Francisco Bay Area network is now available for use and is on net to more than 65 data centers.