Popping up in Marseille

Désolé!

 

Cette page n'existe pas en français. 

 

Simon is always on the road, meeting with companies in Africa and the Middle East, listening to calls for cheaper connectivity into Europe. Marseille is the closest point to Africa and the Middle East where submarine cables meet and he believes, with most players in these countries more interested in pushing communications out than getting them in, Marseille will become an obvious choice. "Why go outside and cross half of the world - it should be optimized to be as close as possible to the source, and the closet option is Marseille." 

 

Simon believes that in the next few months, France-IX will reach critical mass in Marseille, and could be forced to think about expanding operations in the region.

 

But the market needs to be educated - that is why the IX Reach promotion was so successful. With 70% of its members currently coming from France, Simon's main challenge seems to be around PR. "We expect the ratio of French to global customers will be 50/50 in a year's time. But we realise that if we want to grow and catch more members, we need visibility. This is also another good aspect of the Marseille PoP - it captures the interest of the Middle East and Africa, and helps put us on a world stage."

 

Penny Jones