Dubai, UAE, 24 June 2014: GBI, a leading service provider that owns and operates a major subsea cable network in the Middle East has forged a partnership with datamena, carrier neutral data centre and connectivity platform based in the UAE, that will extend GBI’s network from the du’s landing station in Fujairah to the datamena data-centre in Dubai. 

The extension of the GBI network will enable all datamena customers to benefit from seamless end-to-end connectivity within the GBI network in Europe, Asia the Middle East and Africa, and will further enhance their datamena experience. The collaboration is between GBI, providers of carrier neutral network connecting the region to the world, and datamena, serving the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.

Speaking on the occasion of the partnership, Amr Eid, Chief Commercial Officer GBI, said: “Partnering with datamena creates a win-win situation for all stakeholders, for our customers and for the datamena ecosystem. We are proud to combine our connectivity solutions with a recognized platform such as datamena in a way that will complement and add value to our extended portfolio of services.”  

Mahesh Jaishankar, Vice President - datamena and Broadcast, said: “GBI is an important partner for datamena, whose physical presence in our UAE datacentre will provide our customers with access to the complete GBI network,. This partnership complements the large number of submarine and terrestrial cables available through the datamena platform and brings additional value to our customers and to GBI’s customers.” 

Amr Eid further stressed, “The recent technological evolution epitomised by the burgeoning growth in global connectivity and the projections for explosion of data, require the key industry enablers to adopt a forward-looking vision that will pave the way for further innovation, global growth and greater business opportunities.”   

GBI is increasingly becoming the major carrier for telecom operators and governments throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia offering capacity on the first ever network built with redundancy configurations in the Gulf region ensuring the end-user connectivity anywhere and at all times. 

GBI’s global network connects the Middle East to Singapore towards the East and Egypt on the West, using two alternative terrestrial routes to protect traffic, crossing the Mediterranean to Italy and other major European cities. GBI has also succeeded in creating true diversity by establishing the “North Route” providing connectivity from GCC to Europe via Iraq and Turkey.

The partnership will allow GBI to join the datamena’s rapidly growing ecosystem of over 50 customers, who interconnect through the UAE-based neutral platform, provided in alliance with Equinix.