12/19/16 9:00 AM

New data connection by Cinia and C-Fiber Hanko opens business opportunities

Cinia Group and investment group C-Fiber Hanko have signed a cooperation agreement to enable the construction of a branch connection to Hanko from C-Lion-1 submarine data cable between Germany and Finland. The target of the municipalities and enterprises in Hanko and Raasepori region is to become a significant node for international data traffic along with Frankfurt, Stockholm, and Helsinki.

The new connection will increase the attractiveness of Western Uusimaa region for new businesses and create new employment opportunities. For Cinia, the Hanko branch connection will create new routing options.

The project is a great example of cooperation between municipalities and private enterprises. It enhances the vitality of the whole region by developing the digital infrastructure. Local investment group C-Fiber Hanko will invest 3 million euros in the cooperation with Cinia and. Cinia Group will investing in the construction of the new connection.

The partners in C-Fiber Hanko are Tammisaaren Energia, Karjaan Puhelin, Osuuspankki Raasepori, Hangon kaupunki, Raaseporin Kehitys, N3M Group, Port of Hanko, Tammisaaren Säästöpankki, Forcit, XLT-Systems, and private investor Mr. Björn Siggberg.

To accelerate data center projects, the town of Hanko and the town of Raasepori have taken into account the requirements of data center companies in zoning. For instance, a former storage area for imported vehicles in Hanko and the Horsbäck area in Raasepori have zoning and electricity infrastructure in place to welcome data center enterprises.

"This is a long-term investment. We do not expect quick wins but plenty of indirect gains for the whole region. In exchange for their 20-year investment, the partners in C-Fiber Hanko will get compensated according to the amount of data traffic that goes through the new branch connection. We also gain a great deal of experience about cooperation between the municipalities and businesses in whole Southern Finland", says Chairman of the Board of C-Fibre Hanko, Mr. Eero Hettula.

"It is impressive how the municipalities in Hanko and Raasepori together with the enterprises in the region have grabbed the opportunities that Cinia’s international network enables. Cinia’s target is to offer the fastest and most reliable data connections and new business opportunities for organizations throughout Finland. For us, the new branch provides an additional route to the main cable connection and an opportunity to route the data traffic of the Western Nordics more directly to the C-Lion1 cable system. The additional branch will also serve in ensuring the continuity of data traffic", says Cinia Group’s CEO, Mr. Ari-Jussi Knaapila.

The Hanko branch connection is estimated to be in use at the beginning of 2018.

More information:

C-Fiber Hanko, chairman of the board Eero Hettula, tel. 040 551 0416, hettula(at)chamber.fi

Cinia Group, CEO Ari-Jussi Knaapila, tel. 050 2179, ari-jussi.knaapila(at)cinia.fi

Cinia Group offers intelligent network, system and software services, along with secure cloud-based services which make the world smaller and smarter. Cinia’s robust expertise in critical systems and its fiber optic trunk network that spans over 10,000 km in Finland ensure a cyber-secure ITC infrastructure and an advanced cloud-based operating environment for businesses. The Cinia C-Lion1 cable is the shortest and fastest highway for data communications between Central Europe and Northern Europe, which is currently the ideal environment for data centres and provides access to the Asian and Eastern European markets. The Finnish Cinia employs approximately 200 experts. More information: www.cinia.fi

C-Fiber Hanko Oy is a company owned by the municipalities and representatives for the local industry in the Hanko-Raasepori area. C-Fiber Hanko Oy has closed a cooperation agreement with the governmentally owned Cinia Group Oy, including financing procedure, that allows a branching of the C-Lion1 submarine fiber optic cable system to be built to Hanko.

C-Fiber Hanko Oy focuses on making way for international data connections to be built to the Hanko-Raasepori area, making the area a significant point-of-presence for traffic from Frankfurt, Stockholm, Helsinki and further to new and existing routes north and east. Through this C-Fiber Hanko Oy aims to make the area suitable and interesting for data center deployments and other types of data intensive industry. www.c-fiber.fi