Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) is a company which provides network services for enterprises, new media providers and telecoms carriers. In September 2022, it was acquired by 3i Infrastructure for $512 million.

Overview

GCX has principal offices in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, and additional offices in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. GCX Limited was a subsidiary of RCOM, which is listed in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on the BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and is one of India's largest telecommunications service companies providing

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided transm ...

, wire line, long-distance,

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

, data, video and Internet communications services. RCOM is part of the

Reliance Group Reliance Group (stylized as ReLIΛNCe) is an Indian conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company, which was formed after Dhirubhai Ambani's business was divided up, is headed by his younger son Anil Ambani. Reliance Group has ...

, one of India's largest business groups which has a significant presence in the telecommunications,

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

, entertainment,

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

and infrastructure sectors.

History

Global Cloud Xchange was formed as part of the rebranding of certain businesses of RGBV, which includes FLAG Telecom Group Limited ("FLAG"), Reliance Vanco Group Limited ("Vanco") and Yipes Holdings, Inc. ("Yipes"). In 2003, the Reliance Group was acquired. In 2008, renamed

FLAG A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

as Reliance Globalcom Limited ("RGL"). RGL owns and operates various undersea and terrestrial fiber assets around the world, including the FEA cable system linking

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

via the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

. Before being acquired by Reliance Group, FLAG was listed on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

National Market and

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. FLAG was first established in 1993 by a group of telecommunications companies led by Bell Atlantic. In 2007, RGL acquired Yipes through one of RGL's wholly owned subsidiaries. Yipes is a US-based

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

Service provider which provides

and application delivery services for global enterprises. Established in 1999, Yipes has pioneered the

technology in metropolitan area

networks Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

. In 2008, RGL acquired Vanco through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries. Vanco is a global

Wide Area Network A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits. Businesses, as well as schools and government entities, use ...

Operator. Vanco provides enterprise clients, directly or through partners, with optimized fully managed network solutions. Vanco was established in 1988 and its original parent company, Vanco plc, was listed on the

before it was acquired by RGL. In 2011, Reliance Globalcom set up world's first global Mediterranean gateway and hub in Europe set up with Hawk cable system. In April 2013, Reliance Globalcom integrated Hawk cable system with Reliance Global Network. Later in December, it upgraded Trans-Atlantic cable with 100G technology. In March 2014, RGL rebranded as Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) under the leadership of CEO, Bill Barney, to align with the company's strategic plan to deliver an integrated portfolio of infrastructure,

data center A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Since IT operations are crucial for busines ...

and managed network services with

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

capabilities, especially across key

emerging markets An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or we ...

and the

. In March and June 2014, GCX announced plans for new subsea cables between

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and between

and

respectively, to bridge important gap and meet soaring bandwidth demands of new

-based applications and services. In July 2014, GCX announced successful debut in the Global Capital Market by raising US$350M fixed rate notes maturing in 2019. The deal received an overwhelming response from the market, and was significantly oversubscribed. In October and December 2014, GCX launched transformational Cloud X platform in

and

. This new high performance enterprise-class platform delivers applications and content across the company's privately owned global fiber optic network. In March 2015,

Reliance Communications Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) was an Indian mobile network provider headquartered in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra that offered voice and 2G and 3G and 4G data services. In February 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy as it was unabl ...

(RCOM), the parent company of GCX, expanded the role of Bill Barney, CEO of Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), to also oversee RCOM's Enterprise, IDC and National Long Distance (NLD) operations in India, while continuing as chairman and CEO of GCX. In 2015, GCX launched Cloud X Fusion, providing low latency connectivity across developed and

in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia, which gives enterprises security, reliability and predictability. In July 2015,

(RCOM) expanded its next generation content and cloud delivery network – part of its subsidiary Global Cloud Xchange – to five additional cities in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

as part of a wider strategy to support future growth in the country. These Cloud Xchange nodes can help government departments access 240 times the amount of compute power currently available in government

s, and over six times the high speed storage currently available in

. In August 2015, Reliance Communications' Global Cloud Xchange to expand Singapore-India connectivity, a major step forward to deliver next generation connectivity services to support the

digital transformation Digital transformation (DT) is the process of adoption and implementation of digital technology by an organization in order to create new or modify existing products, services and operations by the means of translating business processes into a d ...

and economic growth of

. In February 2016, Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) announced the launch of Cloud X in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, enabling customers across

to have on-net access to public Cloud platforms such as AWS,

Microsoft Azure Microsoft Azure, or just Azure ( /ˈæʒər, ˈeɪʒər/ ''AZH-ər, AY-zhər'', UK also /ˈæzjʊər, ˈeɪzjʊər/ ''AZ-ure, AY-zure''), is the cloud computing platform developed by Microsoft. It has management, access and development of ...

, Softlayer,

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Rackspace Rackspace Technology, Inc. is an American cloud computing company based in San Antonio, Texas. It also has offices in Blacksburg, Virginia, Blacksburg, Virginia and Austin, Texas, as well as in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Dubai, Sw ...

, VMWare and more than 20 others worldwide, as well as software services like

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, MS Office, or simply Office, is an office suite and family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. The first version of the Office suite, announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at CO ...

365 and Google Apps for Work. In May 2016, Global Cloud Xchange was named Best Managed Services Provider at the Telecom Asia Awards held in conjunction with the annual Telco Strategies in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, Malaysia. In April 2017, Global Cloud Xchange partnered with

Alibaba group Alibaba Group Holding Limited, branded as Alibaba (), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in E-commerce in China, e-commerce, retail, Internet, and technology. Founded on 28 June 1999 in Hangzho ...

's Alibaba Cloud Express to drive new business opportunities in enterprise segment. In June 2017, Global Cloud Xchange partnered with Aegis Data, vScaler. GCX enables direct access to vScaler's Cloud Services platform via GCX'
CLOUD X Fusion
delivering Next Generation application-specific Cloud Services to consumers and enterprises over the GCX Global Network. In June 2017, Global Cloud Xchange won two Datacloud Awards. "Excellence in Connectivity for Data Centers" and "Excellence in

Cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

Services" at the Datacloud Europe 2017 conference. Also in June 2017, Global Cloud Xchange partnered with Sovereign to offer global connectivity to business

enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

customers. In September 2019, the company filed for

bankruptcy protection Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in a US court when it failed to pay $350 million of 7% bonds that matured in the beginning of August, 2019. In February 2020, Global Cloud Xchange renewed multi-year contract with Autoneum, to enhance Autoneum's Internet infrastructure with enhanced connectivity to 55 production locations across 25 countries in Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. In March 2020, Global Cloud Xchange and Sparkle, announced the extension of their partnership by adding new spectrum capacity over the Flag Atlantic (FA-1) transatlantic system connecting Paris and London to New York. Global Cloud Xchange Announces Majority Emergence from Bankruptcy GCX announces the appointment of Carl Grivner to the company's Board of Directors SGS Extends Network Connectivity Agreement with Managed SD-WAN from Global Cloud Xchange GCX appoints new Chief Financial Officer, Anja Blumert GCX announces an addition to the company's board of directors; Brian Fitzpatrick Carl Grivner appointed chief executive officer of GCX GCX announces the appointment of Rahul N. Merchant to its board of directors In May 2021, GCX announced key findings from a Pioneer Consulting report evaluating the service life of its global subsea asset. The evaluation concluded at least five more years on GCX's oldest operating systems, plus longer life at increased capacity available for the foreseeable future. In July 2021, GCX reported Free Cash Flow of $24.9 million, representing an $82.7 million improvement year-on-year, enabling the business to paydown nearly $10.5 million in debt. The combination of strong cash flow and deleveraging the business allows GCX to continue reinvesting toward future growth.

Global Network

The principal elements of the Global Cloud Xchange Global Network include five subsea cable systems operating on major global data traffic routes: the Trans-Atlantic route, the Europe-Asia route, the Europe-Middle East and

route and the Intra-Asia route. As of 30 June 2014, these cable systems had a total length of 68,698 route kilometres ("rkm") and landed at 46 landing stations in 27 countries. GCX has launched India Cloud Xchange (ICX) through capacity acquired on the TIC cable to boost its connectivity between India and Singapore. GCX has owned as well as leased terrestrial networks with a total length of 83,432 rkm integrated within the subsea cable system. These are present in over 34

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

s across 14 countries covering major business centres. GCX also has a scalable global IP and multi-protocol label switching ("MPLS") network provided over 27 diverse owned and leased international subsea and terrestrial cable routes, with 836 direct inter-connections to 342 third party networks. GCX's managed network services platform connects approximately 27,000 sites in 158 countries through a combination of leased and owned infrastructure offered through a dedicated secure IP network. Two GNOCs in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

and

act as the global network operational centres of the GCX Global Network, the functions of which include 24-hour monitoring, network operations, restoration coordination and technical support.

Leadership

Senior Leadership * Carl Grivner: Chief Executive Officer * Anja Blumert: Chief Financial Officer * Jim Fagan: Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer * Jocelyn Cho: General Counsel * Brad Kneller: Head of Submarine Operations * M U Khan: Head of Human Resources *Stefano Mazzitelli: President of Europe and USA * Vineet Verma: President of Middle East and Africa

References

External links

Official website
{{Telecommunication companies of India Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom Telecommunications companies of the United States Companies of Bermuda Telecommunications companies established in 1988 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 2022 mergers and acquisitions