Globalinx grows bandwidth at subsea cable station

Virginia’s “digital port” is significantly growing its capacity at Globalinx’s subsea internet cable landing station at Corporate Landing Business Park.

A Virginia Beach-based carrier-neutral cable-landing station and data center operator, Globalinx finished construction on four new cable bores at its Sandbridge landing site in late May, a $39 million project.

Since 2018, Globalinx has connected Virginia Beach to Europe, South Africa and Africa through three transatlantic fiber optic cables carrying ultra-high-speed internet traffic: MAREA, owned by Microsoft and Meta Platforms/Facebook; BRUSA, owned by Telxius; and DUNANT, owned by Google. Globalinx now hosts the most subsea cables on the East Coast.

“The infrastructure we built adds another 400% internet capacity to Virginia,” says Globalinx founder and President Greg Twitt.

The first two of the four new subsea cables will likely be ready for use within one to two years. More than 95% of the world’s data traffic travels through subsea cables, and Globalinx’s Virginia Beach landing station is the only confluence of subsea cables in Virginia and on the East Coast between New Jersey and South Carolina.

“Virginia Beach is really a fiber gateway to Virginia,” says Twitt. “These cables and cable landing station are essential for further growth in Virginia in terms of data center development.”

Globalinx is vital to Virginia Beach’s digital port initiative, adds Deputy City Manager Amanda Jarratt. “It’s all about connectivity and the time it takes for your computer to send signals to a server and get a response. The magnitude of capacity that these new cables brings is truly exponential.”
Virginia Beach economic development officials plan to promote the cables to various business sectors, including health care, higher education and finance.

“Because we are so close to the entry point of the subsea cables, they are truly valuable to these sectors,” Jarratt says. She adds that the city hopes to make several economic development announcements associated with the new cables over the next year.

Globalinx plans to start construction this summer on a new facility in its 11-acre Corporate Landing complex to house the additional cables. It is slated to be completed in mid-2026.

Additionally, Virginia Beach has joined the four other South Hampton Roads cities in forming the Regional Connectivity Ring, a 119-mile fiber optic cable loop connecting with the subsea cables to link municipal networks and accelerate high-speed connectivity.