Microsoft plans to invest in underwater cables to strengthen its cloud

Cloud is king at Microsoft, that much has been made clear not only by the company’s recent expansion strategies, but by the massive number of customers using cloud-based Microsoft services such as Azure and Office 365. The problem is, all of these new customers are putting a lot of strain on Microsoft’s infrastructure, which is why the company has announced that it’s investing in a massive, international underwater cable project to connect its data centers. 

I’m at International Telecoms Week (ITW) today, talking about how the telecoms industry is in the midst of a change to accommodate the growing trend of data consumption. As we look at how people and businesses will interact with technology in the future, there are investments we need to make now to support our customers and help their businesses grow. As people and organizations expect data and information at their fingertips Microsoft must have an infrastructure that can deliver the cloud services, including Azure, which our customers need to support their global businesses. Over the past 9 months, Microsoft has been significantly investing in subsea and terrestrial dark fiber capacity by engaging in fiber partnerships that span multiple oceans and continents. And today, our connections across the Atlantic and Pacific just got stronger. We announced deals with Hibernia and Aqua Comms, in which Microsoft is investing in a cable with each company to connect Microsoft’s datacenter infrastructure from North America to Ireland and on to the United Kingdom. These cables will help deliver data at higher speeds, with higher capacity and lower latency for our customers across the globe.