Arelion (formerly known as Telia Carrier) is expanding its Atlanta metro network with a new Point of Presence (PoP) and a new long-haul route. The expansion will help relieve some of the strain on the legacy carrier hotels in the area by reducing the need for routing through downtown Atlanta.
The new PoP is in Switch’s data center in Lithia Springs, Georgia. It is connected with a new long-haul route from Switch’s campus west of downtown Atlanta to Ashburn and Dallas networks via Chattanooga.
These new metro investments add connection diversity to Arelion’s existing network routes into downtown Atlanta. These include routes from Ashburn, Virginia via Charlotte and from Tampa, Houston and Chicago via Nashville.
According to Arelion, Lithia Springs and Douglas County, Georgia, in general have seen rapid data center investment in recent years, with over $4 billion spent since 2015, making the area a rapidly-growing data center hub.
Arelion’s expansion means five diverse long-haul routes provide optimal resilience and scale for data traffic serving the Atlanta area with routing flexibility.
"The expansion is in response to the need and demand for high-capacity bandwidth in the region,” said Art Kazmierczak, director of Business and Network Development at Arelion, in a statement. “Our continued investment helps further establish the Atlanta metro area as one of the top connectivity hubs in the country.
Telia Carrier rebranded as Arelion in January. Its fiber backbone serves customers in 125 countries in North America, Europe and Asia via more than 43,000 miles of optical fiber and 1,700 MPLS endpoints.
Arelion is backed by the investment company Polhem Infra and jointly owned with some large Swedish Pension Funds.