Segra, one of the largest fiber infrastructure companies in the Eastern U.S., announced a major expansion of its network, with new 800G-enabled routes connecting five cities across three states.
The company said the new lines are part of its Optical Express Core network, and run between Atlanta, Ga., Ashburn, Va., and Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte, N.C. A company representative told Fierce it is aiming to serve all enterprise-level businesses as well as carrier customers.
It tapped Ciena to provide 800G technology for the expansion, using the vendor’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme transponders and 6500 flexible grid colorless, directionless, contentionless (CDC) open line system. These were tipped to provide greater scalability, lower latency and reduced hand-offs for long-haul traffic.
The representative said it now offers 800G routes connecting Ashburn, Richmond and Norfolk, Va. and Raleigh. Within the next six months it expects to complete 800G routes "throughout the western and southern areas of our markets" to connect Ashburn and Waynesboro Va., Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., Columbia, S.C., and Atlanta, Ga.
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Segra owns and operates a fiber network of more than 30,000 route miles which connects 10,400 locations and nine data centers across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina.
In May 2020 Segra expanded its footprint in North Carolina by nearly 3,000 miles through the acquisition of fiber provider NorthState for an undisclosed sum.
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Earlier this year, Segra was itself scooped up by Cox Communications. Though the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Bloomberg sources pegged the value at around $3 billion. The transaction is expected to close later in 2021.
The Segra representative told Fierce its investment in the new routes was not related to the acquisition, stating “this has always been the plan…we are always expanding our network based on customer demand and business growth throughout our network service area.”
This story has been updated with additional information about Segra's 800G routes.