Cloud and Fibre Initiative is GCX's core plan for 2018

Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), a subsidiary of Reliance Communications (RCOM), on Tuesday unveiled key strategic plans for 2018 with its 'Cloud and Fiber Initiative at the core.

The construction of its recently-announced Eagle express submarine cable systems from Mumbai -- westward to Italy and eastward to Hong Kong -- will be completely self-financed, with no upfront financing or investment requirements from the company, a statement said here.

"The cloud and fiber initiative is our response to the key requirements in the global marketplace, driven by the explosive growth in Cloud and infrastructure programs by enterprises around the world," said Bill Barney, CEO of Reliance Communications & Chairman/CEO, Global Cloud Xchange.

"Nearly half of the world's population is reachable with a short distance from India's borders, giving the country a strategic edge in the new digital era. This initiative levels the playing field for India's companies to compete globally."

With India's position as Asia's third-largest information technology market after Japan and China, GCX's growing infrastructure has already started attracting major Cloud players in the country, including New York-listed Alibaba, which has partnered with GCX to enable Alibaba Cloud to offer its Cloud services to the country's growing start-up community and larger companies, the company said.

The company also said, plans are also underway with other key telecom players, over-the-top players and data center partners from across major growth markets to ensure that the 'Cloud and Fiber Initiative' delivers infrastructure and bandwidth required to support the next wave of economic growth driven by the Cloud revolution.

"Tapping on India's prime geographic location, the 'Cloud and Fiber Initiative' will deliver a strategic edge to businesses with the Eagle system's high-speed transit from India west into Europe and east into the exponentially growing markets across Asia-Pacific," Barney said.

"In the coming months, we will also announce additional enhancements to our data center footprint in advance of Eagle coming on line to ensure that we are further equipped to support the growth surge that we are seeing across the emerging markets," he added.

--IANS

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