 Live from the JSA Podcast Studio, presenting Data Movers, showcasing the leaders behind the headlines in the telecom and data center infrastructure industry. Here is Data Movers. I'm your host, Jamie Scott-Octaya, CEO and founder of JSA, along with my fabulous co-host, top B2B social media influencer and dear friend, Evan Kirstel. Thanks and hi everyone, welcome to Data Movers where we sit down with the most influential men and women of today's leading telco and data center world supporting the network infrastructure requirements of this brave new world. And Jamie, I'm well, how are you? I think you're really well from what I'm following on your social media. I know, I know, I'm on cloud nine, literally. And that's not like a data center company. I'm literally on cloud nine. I'm getting married. So I will propose to my girlfriend of five years, at your Marastagiva last week. And she said, yes, shockingly. So very exciting. So what did you do? You gave her like a, you know, lots of drinks ahead of time or... Yeah, just plied her with alcohol and a ring and just basically, you know, bargained my way into it. But yeah, we had a great time on the beach, under like the blood moon. It was really, you know, exciting and wonderful. And yeah, I'm taking orders now for sponsors for the wedding and it'll be like NASCAR. I'll have like maybe a JSA patch on my left arm, you know, Oracle Intel, whoever wants to sponsor all comers are welcome. And you know, Evan, I just love long-term friendships, partners, the life going down the aisle together. That was true for my husband and I. Also, talking about long-time friends, I think this is a great time to let me introduce you today to our data movers guest, Mr. Gil Santolies, CEO and founder of New Jersey Fiber Exchange or MDFX. Thank you. Evan, good to be with you as well. And Jay, you said it fast. It's great to have long-term friends that you grew up together in the industry and we helped shape the industry we're in today. So thank you for having me today and looking forward to being a part of this session with you and Evan. Yeah, welcome, Gil. Let's start to where you are. You're in New Jersey. So I guess my first question is what exit? That's a good question, Joe Piscobo, thank you. We are exit 98 in the Garden State Parkway. You take 138 East, you head to the beach and there we are. So I'm lucky to be in Spring Lake, New Jersey, videoing with you today. I'm a mile away from our cable landing station in Walnut, New Jersey, but I have a summer home turning into a permanent home soon in Spring Lake, New Jersey. Nice. Well, Township, New Jersey is certainly proud to have you. You guys are doing great things for that community and for the world. And, you know, Gil, we've known each other for 20 plus years now, it's been that long. I mean, we knew each other back when I was head of marketing in PR for Telex and you were a customer there with four connections if I'm correct. So tell us a little bit of, you know, over the years your different leadership and business roles. So back in 2001, we started a company called Four Connections and Four Connections was building a dark fiber infrastructure from the state of New Jersey and we had hospitals, schools, financial service exchanges, the NASDAQ exchange, ended up doing New York Stock Exchange and BATs. And as we grew that business, there was an entity called Telex and it was located at 60 Hudson Street and Telex did something very unique for the time. It started to introduce all of its customers to each other. And at first we didn't understand the concept because back then especially it was a very competitive industry but Telex made it friendly. They had drinks, we had food, we sat and we talked and we started sharing what we all did and they started what I consider today the staple of the industry and that's collaboration. No one can do everything. You've got to partner with others they're going to pull it together and part of collaboration is getting to know each other, trusting each other and coming up with good solutions and Telex was the foundation of that. That those events you guys had at 60 Hudson Street in the lobby way back when and then eventually at Cipriani, there was just world class. I mean, there was a great session to be a part of. We looked forward to the annual kickoff and Jamie, that was your baby. You really kicked that business off for that. Yeah, that's good memories here. So JSA and NJFX are both companies that have grown slowly and steadily have both been very stable in an industry that's quite tumultuous and changing with m&a's and disruption. So what's been your secret in terms of your growth and how you've managed so much success and what's a very challenging space? So this is my second startup business and the first one was called Four Connections and I sold that in 2008. It's a cable vision light path now called Altis and I took some time off to spend with family. I did some board work at hospitals, at schools. I did some private equity work and I also was an interim CEO of a company called 24-7 that I believe Crown Castle ended up buying. And after doing that, I realized there was something missing in the industry, something that I didn't quite get done and that was create something interesting at a cable landing station. So I partnered with a company called Tata Communications and we purchased the land next to their cable landing station and started a concept not done before and that's to create a carrier neutral cable landing station campus where all carriers would be welcome and we wouldn't differentiate or provide favorites but we would just help them all collaborate with each other just like Telex did at 60 Hudson Street back in the year 2000. So today, 2021, we've got two facilities the original Tata facility that's about 22 years old. We've got a brand new one called NGFX Next Door was a tier three cable landing station with one subsea cable going to Denmark, Norway and Ireland. Tata has the remaining two cables they built in 2000 that Tycho actually built for them. The Seabros cable from Brazil comes into that facility as well and together both buildings create this campus environment where we have close to 30 network operators inter-exchanging traffic between South America, Europe and North America. And NGFX truly first of its kind we're talking carrier neutral, colo, campus sitting on top of that cable landing station in the US being that cable landing station in the US. So how did you start NGFX? What was the thoughts behind that? So when I had four connections I had large enterprise customers, financial service firms trying to eliminate points of failure and they wanted to have access to the cable landing station having that fiber four connections asset they wouldn't allow us in. They said, no, no, no, we come out to the market the market won't come to us. And I said, you're really missing an opportunity by not letting the carriers bring their unique assets to a cable landing station. So after I'd sold my business I became friends with the CTO of Tata explained the concept and we did a joint venture. We put the capital up to know how they gave us the lands today Tata owns 13% of NGFX and we've got a private group that owns the remaining 800% and we together have formed this carrier neutral model where once again the industry has now really accepted our model and really supported what we're doing. Wow, that's exciting. So you have a lot of subsea cables coming into your ecosystem and it's a fascinating time in our space with over the top players like Facebook and Google and Microsoft and who's who really building their own subsea cable systems? So tell us about that phenomenon and like what to expect next because this is really an unprecedented time in our industry. It is, right? So let's go back in time. So this was almost government style institutions 40 years ago building these subsea networks. They were consortium of 2030 global providers all collaborated to build a subsea system and when you have that many parties involved in a project you don't really get what you want you kind of get what the group thinks they need and what Facebook and Google have done primarily has changed that. They've realized the shortcomings of what to do when landing a cable. For example, in the past everything landed in Long Island, New Jersey and it all went back to one such a location in Lower Manhattan. We learned quickly in 2012 the Superstorm Sandy came through that that's a disaster waiting to happen. If New York City went dark North America would lose its European partners by all sorts of communications. The LaTan market was also being connected through Lower Manhattan. So the OTTs have made investments that new cable systems are one in our building and they have an open policy. They wanna have others go ahead and connect to the mayor. You've also seen the advent two of locations that were done before Virginia Beach was brand new. So four years ago they didn't have any subsea cables. They have three cables there now. So we've really future-proofed how communications works. We don't have single points of failure anywhere along the East Coast. You've got Jacksonville. You've got Virginia Beach. You've got NGFX in New Jersey. There's even been a new cable developed in Long Island called the Grace Hopper that Google and CenturyLink now Lumen is developed and that one goes live next year. So they've really spread them out and there's no single point of failure any longer in terms of one place a storm could take all services out. You know, it's just a remarkable time to be part of our industry. And often I think about our friendship, our growth over the years and the word that I always use to describe you my friend is entrepreneurial and innovative. I just always think that you're like Wayne Gretzky, you're looking to where the puck is going, right? So, but also not just from a business model perspective also internally, your culture. You know, I love visiting you at your facility and being part of the family of the team there. How do you encourage innovation? It's a question all of us entrepreneurs love to ask. Sure, and Jim, I've seen your organization adopt this too. You empower people, right? You put them in positions where they can make good decisions. You give them guidance, but you let them make those decisions and give them opportunities to be successful, make mistakes, not big mistakes, but be able to kind of learn as they grow. And by having an environment like that, you get some creativity and you find solutions that weren't done before. So that's what we're all about, trying to get creative, not saying my way or the highway. Let's be open minded. Is there a better way of doing something? Technology is changing every day. We've got to be trying to find better ways of improving our services. Wow, that's an unusual approach in telecom. You know, very different than the norm. So tell us about your leadership style, like how did you assemble your team and give us a peek into your management style? Sure, so I picked people that I trusted, right? If the first core competency is can we trust this person to do whatever it takes to make the business successful, their peers and our customers. And if they pass that criteria, then let's review the competency. Do they have a good competency? If it's engineering, security, site access, you know, we hired a young man about a year ago who's got aspirations to work for the federal government in law enforcement. And I knew he's got a horizon much greater than NGFX, but because of his security clearances, because of what he wants to be when he grows up, I said, this is a great spot for you to spend two to three years, but you should be moving on in two years. Do the best you can while you're here. Let's make sure you groom the next person that takes your seat, but do a phenomenal job. And he has, he really has impressed the rest of our team. He was a very young, he's still a very young man. And if you met him on paper, you'd say he's too young for this, but he's done a phenomenal job for us in Excel and he's getting fulfillment. He works with DHS on our behalf and with the FBI and all the groups. And we're very open about how we manage a facility and those agencies appreciate that we made a choice like the gentleman we did. Love that. And there are too few young people coming in our industry. It's much more exciting to go in business or marketing or some social media startup. So good for you for recruiting young talent. Thank you. And Gil's been leading that charge. I think he's too shy to say it, but I mean, he even has a high school outreach program going on. Oh, wow. Yeah, to go ahead and encourage and educate in our field and our employees. I literally mentioned it this morning at the data center global summit because we're talking about how do we, how do we get fresh young blood into our data center world? You know, especially when Google is knocking on their doors and Gil, yeah, he's been really leading that charge. We've had some successful employees go out to work for Google and Amazon. We've got one that's a position on recently to work for a new CDN that was with us for about two years. She originally interned with us when she was in college, came back, worked for us after she graduated. Now she's off and it's gonna be our customer and she's working for this large CDN. So, you know, we embrace the time we have with them. We realize it's not forever. We do ask for a commitment of two years, but after that, you know, go find what really gets you excited. You know, we're okay being a stepping stone for you and just ask the time you're with us, do the best that you can. I love that. All right, so now we are at our really fun rapid-fire section of our podcast here. So basically just say the first thing that comes to mind, Gil. First question, what's an upcoming purchase you're thinking about? Ooh, question. So my wife and I have decided to make Spring Lake our primary residence in New Jersey and we are doing an addition to the house. So we're gonna be extending the house and putting in bigger things, bigger kitchens, blood rooms, bathrooms, a nice office for myself, a bigger garage, and really making this a more of a permanent year-round home. And we have a horizon that's set on Florida at some point to have a second home in Florida and just have one in New Jersey. So yeah, making new Spring Lake a bigger home is exciting for us. Oh, that's totally great. Very close to the golf courses. I know you well. So my golf course is a mile from the house. I'm 100 feet to the beach and the building's 100s a mile away from the home. So it's my perfect triangle. Living the dream. Now I think I know the next answer to the question but let me ask you, favorite food that might surprise people? I love corn. I love summer corn because it's fresh in the summertime. We get it from local growers. It reminds me of sitting in the backyard and having a barbecue, which is a blast. Fresh tomatoes and corn salad. That's my favorite food in summertime. It just reminds me of the great weather and all our friends are in town and it's just a great time of year. Just had some on the grill Memorial Day and it was Eva's first corn. Okay, if you could watch one movie on repeat for 24 hours straight, which sounds like horrible, horrible torture, but which one would it be? There's so many good movies out there. There's a movie called Gladiator that was out years ago. I love the action. I love the storyline. I like cheering for the underdog and seeing the comeback story. I like Justice at the end and he gets his justice. That's one of my favorite movies of all time. It's a good two and a half hour, three hour movie so you can sit there and watch it and really be entertained. You and my husband alike. That's his name. Awesome, what celebrity do you look like? And I'll give you my opinion. We're on video here. So after you tell me, but what do you think? Oh, I think a lot of myself. I mean, I gotta apologize here. So Russell Crowe, if he were to shave his head and maybe shave all the way down, I could dive maybe, could I be Russell Crowe? That'd be nice to know. It can be the current version of Russell's a little older, you know, but... Actually, right in his older movies, he does extend the chin a little bit and yeah, that could work. But I was thinking an older version of Jason Stratum, you know, with less hair. Okay. But otherwise, I think that's what I saw. But your turn, Jamie. Well, I liked his Russell Crowe, but I'm with the gladiator, like the whole thing. I'm with Russell Crowe, but I'm not going in there. I'm not going in there. Can I ask you guys, what would you guys pick up as an actor you think that you would resemble? Oh, I know, that's a really tough question. I think Laurel from Laurel and Hardy, maybe, or maybe one of those. I'm not sure, which is Laurel? The big guy? Is that Laurel or the skinny one? I don't know. I think it's Hardy. Oh, it's Hardy. So yeah, it's Hardy. And here's classic Jamie with transitioning over one word that people like to use to describe you. Now, I called innovative. Thank you. I'm tenacious. I really focus and I don't let go. I try to solve whatever issue it is that we've agreed to solve. And the answer is not always easy to find, but I don't give up. I really just figure it out. I just take the time and I hang in there and I get to the bottom line. I get to the finish line. Nice. Nice. We have a lot of holidays coming up, including one of mine, July 4th. What's your favorite holiday? Oh, yeah, my curiosity. I'm a July 4th guy too. Right? That's a great, great one. Yeah, it's the fireworks. It's summertime. There's barbecues going on. It's a long weekend, either the front or the back or maybe in the middle and the whole week becomes a vacation week. But I love July 4th. There's a lot of fun. Yeah. That one's a good one. I'm a Christmas gal. I'm just, I don't even know. Is that cool to say anymore? But I like, I love my Christmas months. I've kept them out all through COVID just cause it makes me a little happier, like a little more safe and secure and a Christmas geek. So anyway. Well, wonderful to have you join us, Gil. And it's great seeing how there's so much innovation happening in our industry after, you know, quite a few years where, you know, there was more of merger's acquisition and cost cutting than innovation. So thanks so much for sharing. My pleasure. And thank you for having me today. I really appreciate the opportunity. We absolutely are honored to sit down and get some quality Gil time in. And thank you viewers for joining us today. And if you enjoy today's Data Movers podcast, which I'm sure you did, go ahead and check out jsa.net slash podcast for upcoming Data Movers episodes. We release those every other week on Wednesday mornings, as well as our other JSA podcast series. And follow us on Twitter. Jay Scotto, Evan Kerstel and we'll we'll keep tweeting. And as always, my friends, stay safe and happy networking.