 Welcome to another edition of JSA's Fast Forward. We are broadcasting live guys online via LinkedIn and YouTube through our very own JSA TV live broadcast newsroom. I'm Jamie Scott-O-Kataya, founder and CEO of JSA. And I'm Dean Perrion, executive vice president at JSA, and we are here to bring you the latest and greatest from the world of tech, telecom, and data centers. That's right, Dina. We're going to tell you who's hiring, who's wiring, and who's diversifying. Awesome. So first off, let's look at who's been doing some hiring. OK. So wait, first off, Dean, do you remember your first job? I do, actually. I was a paper delivery boy way, way, way back when where I learned that I didn't like to get up early mornings and I did not like manual labor, which brings me here today. I could just imagine that first job interview, just like pedal as fast as you can on your bike or something. Yeah, but I was wearing a suit, Jamie. So I was actually preparing myself for my professional world for the job I always wanted to have. Not that I have to wear a suit now, but I am, of course, repping the JSA logo. Oh, yeah, I love it. All right, well, let's get started, guys. Let's kick it off. Big hiring news coming out of stream data centers. We love those guys. They recently added Chris D. Jackson as their new senior vice president of operations. He will be in charge of everything from security and safety to reliability and engineering. So a little bit more than a paper round, eh? Yes. Moving on. 5% also made a big addition recently as Digital Realty. We've all heard of them. Digital Realty's CTO, Chris Sharp, is now the co-chair of their board of directors. They are betting his international IT infrastructure expertise can help their strategies with the new markets ahead. So congratulations there. A good bet there. We love Chris. All right, and still on hiring news, of course, Highland announced a new CFO this month, Crystal De Natale. De Natale is actually a very familiar face for Highland. She has 10 years of previous experience with Highland, serving as controller and CFO. Nothing like a good homecoming, right, Jay? That's right. Wait, do you think they'll take you back on that paper route? Do you know? In addition, of course, to all you do here at JSA. You know, it actually sounds like a better gig now, because as I've gotten older, getting up earlier just happens. I don't want to. It just happens to me. And I could certainly use the exercise. Maybe I'll see if the old Chesterton Tribune will take me back. Very good, very good. Let's take a look at a couple more extraordinary hires to really to double down on to note. First off, of course, there's Tom Ilausen, a longtime data center and SAS veteran, who is now IM data center's newest member of their leadership team, focused on business development and sustainability. Yeah, and we have Jackie Steinberg. Jackie is formerly of AT&T. We've all heard of them. She recently signed on with Dart Points. We love Dart Points over here. To lead their channel program, becoming the first ever channel chief, interestingly enough, right? Coincidentally, that's also the title I give myself when I refuse to give up the TV remotes to my children. That's great. Thank you for that one, Brad. I appreciate it. Yeah, I'm Brad, our writer. And I'm sure you can't miss the latest episode of Bachelorette. Is that right, Dino? Actually, it's Love Island that I watch, Jamie. I have to confess. For me, these days, it's just Mickey Mouse Club has on demand, like always, hashtag toddler life. So let's make it happen. Everyone hashtag toddler life. On that note, we had better go ahead and move on before I do my Donald Duck impersonation. OK, that's good. You didn't know I had one of those, did you? I am kind of, you know what? I kind of figure. So we've talked about who's doing the hiring now. Let's talk about who's doing the new wiring. I like that wiring. OK, there are a lot of companies introducing new or expanded networks and facilities. Let's just get some of the big names on the board from this past month. Outstanding, a company with some news near and dear to my heart, we're going to start off with, I am critical. I am critical just announcing its newest data center location in Miami. This is the company's first expansion from their initial Pittsburgh-based facility. So there are some big things to come with I am data centers and I am critical. So be on the lookout for some new news from I am critical and I am data centers. Great, great, great. Now, also, we've got prime data centers who announced a new facility in the Los Angeles area with completion due next year. This will be prime's fifth California data center. Awesome, congratulations to prime. And Dart Points also announced some new construction, announcing an expansion of its facility in Greenville, North Carolina. The new addition will add 17,000 additional square feet and a bunch of brand spanking new IT equipment. So congratulations to Dart Points. Nice, nice, nice. Next up, we've got BDX who announced BDX Indonesia, a new venture into Southeast Asia that will assume operations of four data centers in Indonesia. So a lot going on there. BDX has its goal is to increase capacity in the region by 250 megawatts in the next five years. I don't think we have done a fast forward that didn't include Asia pack news. I seriously, no. Honestly, honestly. So also Colodgex has expanded this month, spreading its presence in Canada of all places. We love our Canadian friends by developing a second point of presence in Toronto. This marks their second interconnection point in the country along with their other pop already running in Montreal. And, okay, Ben with IG announcing an expansion of its dark fiber network solutions. This time again, a new market for them, Portland, Oregon which is emerging as a nice little connectivity hub these days. Yeah, I love Oregon. You may know this, Jay, but I took Grace on a college trip to Eugene, Oregon and I fell in love with that area of the country. So one day I might end up making a move over there. But I digress. Our last bit of wiring news, Australian Fiber Technology FiberSense, I'm sorry, Australian Fiber Technology FiberSense won an innovation prize this month at the Comsday annual awards. The big award was for the company's unique fiber optic sensing technology that essentially converts fiber into an array of sensors. Some really cool stuff there. So what's next, Jamie? We've covered the hiring and the wiring. What's next? Oh, and congrats our friends over at FiberSense. I'm so in love with their technology. I was so excited when they started knocking on our door. I was like, I know you guys, I love you guys. And they're like, oh, yeah. Anyway, but yes, we are not actually done with wiring news. So we'll just quickly finalize this. There's another type of wiring we are going to cover. You mean like coax, hybrid fiber coax? What are we talking about? No, no, no, I'll give you a hint though. It's, I have a tail and a head, but no arms or legs. What am I? You're a fish. Okay, well, wait, yeah, I guess that would work. That's not what I was thinking. Guess again. Okay, a snake. Oh, gross. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, this is really backfiring me. So a coin Dean, a coin. We're talking about the kind of wiring where you are wiring money. Yeah, Grace has gone off to college. You got to know this. Yeah, wiring money, what's that? Big transactions. There are a few big funding announcements this month and we're going to go ahead and talk about them. Frankly, I'm just glad we're not talking about snakes. So go ahead. I don't know much about that, but the first big funding announcement comes from Data Bank, our friends there, who recently announced involvement from a new investor, Christian Sorciam. It's a new recapitalization where a new group of investors acquire 27% of their ownership interest of the company, valued at over $1 billion. You know, we're talking a lot about billions lately too. That is with a B. So another piece of money news is from Edge Connects to obtain some funding based around their ESG initiatives. The financing is linked to their sustainability performance and totals over $1.5 billion. So congratulations to Edge Connects there. Huge, huge on so many fronts. Also, one final bit of funding talk, an announcement by Nova Data Centers received over 350 million in growth equity investments this month. This new financial backing is meant to support their goal of 1,000 megawatts of data center capacity by 2027. Okay, is that it for money wiring? Yeah, and that's it for my riddles too. But a quick bit of awesome award news for our friends at, can you guess, Dino? You noted a word association you had for them on our last fast forward and it had to do with John Tremolta. Involta is my final answer. Ha ha ha, Tremolta, Involta, yes, yes, yes. They're gonna rename, I'm sure, over this. Just kidding. Correct, Involta. Involta just announced a place on the esteemed 2022 Channel Futures MSP 501 list. This is breaking news, guys. This is the second time also Involta has earned a spot on this very highly regarded list, recognizing the world's premier managed service provider. So congrats to Involta. Congrats, Involta, indeed. So, okay, we have covered who's hiring and who's wiring and now on to who's diversifying. Absolutely, righto. Diversifying that portfolio. We're talking companies that have been announcing partnerships, mergers, acquisitions, or new corporate initiatives. So let's get started. Yes, let's go ahead and start with the newest kid on the block, Hudson Inter-Exchange. And before I, I'm gonna go off script again. I just had a really, really awesome conversation with Tom Brown over at Hudson Internet Exchange about this very news on JSA's YouTube channel. So JSA TV, go check out my conversation with Tom at Hudson Inter-Exchange. Where we talk about Hudson Internet Exchange and formerly DataGrid, they are formerly DataGrid, but Hudson IX is under new ownership and expanding with a new name and a new look. So watch out for them in New York City Market as they plan to invest another 75 million in expansion capital in New York City over the next three years. So congratulations to Hudson Internet Exchange. Check out the JSA TV conversation with me and Tom Brown, the CEO and founder of Hudson Internet Exchange. Yeah, the heartbeat, if you will, of the fabulous 60 Hudson Street carrier hotel. So I always love my Tom Brown update. So yay, I'm definitely checking out your video, my friend. Also, we've got some moving, shaking news coming out of core site this month as they announced expansion into Atlanta and Orlando through their acquisition of data center assets formerly owned by American Tower. Yeah, so many recognizable names in that bit of news right there. Speaking of which connect base is going to, is going on the partnership route that announcing just this month that Skywire networks in New York City has joined their ecosystems of network buyers and sellers. Connect base users will now have complete visibility into Skywire networks is more than 2,000 lit and more than 100,000 near net buildings to quickly and cost effectively complete their connectivity queries in order and orders. Why this is important, Jay, is that they actually provide a lot of wireless, SLA based wireless technology. So where there is no fiber in the ground, you can still get to some of those kind of fiber, those broadband barren areas like in the Bronx and some of the other places. So it's pretty cool stuff that's happening. Oh yeah, it's so cool. And connect base, I'm in awe of how they've been growing and how their tool really just supports our industry. So critically anyway, moving on, moving on from our connect base friends to our data bank friends. Data bank also making some changes. They announced this month that they'll be implementing a new renewable energy program to reduce their environmental impact. I love this news. The company's two Indianapolis data centers now run on 100% renewable energy. Yay, yo friends, yay. Oh, did I mention Raul's an author in our book, Greener Data, now out on Amazon one. Here we go, Greener Data. Let's hear all about it again as much as we possibly can. But in other big partnership news this month, Cologix, who are expanding their relationship with Comcast Business. Again, you've heard of Cologix, you've heard of Comcast Business on the country's East Coast. So they're expanding their partnership with Comcast Business on the East Coast. The new deal centers around a new Comcast point of presence at the Cologix Data Center in New Jersey. So they're expanding their relationship again with Comcast Business. Good stuff there from Cologix. Yeah, very cool. And last but definitely, definitely not least, in our partnership talk this month, we saw a new announcement from 1623 Farnum. We love these guys. Always seem to be rocking. They're just always on the go. They increase their offering by adding packet fabric to 1623's ecosystem. Talking about names, baguette names and how such a small tight knit community. Of course, you all know packet fabric as a network as a service platform offering cloud connectivity. So of course a huge, great asset to 1623 Farnum's Key Data Center there. Awesome. And Jay, I actually just got some news, some new news on Slack over here. From our home office. I say home office, we all work from home. It's all a home office. But I just got some interesting news that you are going to be in France. Really? Oh, good. I assume that you knew this, but if you didn't, congratulations and we're gonna send you over to France. I can only assume it's because you wanna test some pastries or something. Nope. You know what, normally, but that is not my primary, primary reasons. Maybe my secondary. But it is because our exclusive media partnership with Platform Congress, this is the Planet Scale Infrastructure transactional summit. Really cool guys. First time coming, first time out. It's the old broad group team. And we are rolling it out. The JSA team is rolling out our green carpet at the event with exclusive onsite interviews with investors, buyers and sellers, customers across our digital infrastructure ecosystem. And Jamie, will those interviews be featured on our JSA TV Live, which broadcasts in real time across JSAs and the event's social media channels? Well, if you're asking, it's gonna happen. Yes, yes, yes. And I'll also be moderating an M&A and sustainability panel too. So, such exciting news guys. Really incredible new event to check out this September in teams like South of France. Of course you can do it. Of course you can make it. Jamie, all I'm saying is that I know that this is relatively new news. So congratulations. But if you need any assistance whatsoever on this trip, you got it in me. Oh, I love you, Dino. So anyway, Jamie, that is it. We did it. That's the biggest news of the month, covering hiring, wiring and diversification. And of course your trip to France. I have to say diversifying, because it's hiring, wiring, diversifying. But anyway, yes. Oh, yeah, diversifying. I'm gonna call you Dean Perrine again, you get mad at me. I've been Dean Perrine my entire life, Jay. I feel like I am not a rhyming name. It's so pretty though. All right, anyway, we did it. We got through it. And you know what? We did it in style, Dean, just like you on your paper route. And remember, you don't need the newspaper to stay in touch with all the latest news and info from the world of data centers and telecom. Just check out telecom news now blog at jsa.net. Yeah, and don't forget JSA TV and podcasts for interviews with all the industry muvers and shakers. And guess what guys, you wanna know the latest on sustainability news, go ahead and check out greenerdaler.net. So until next time. Happy networking everyone. See you later. Ciao.