Ivo Ivanov is Chief Executive Officer of DE-CIX and Chairman of the Board of the DE-CIX Group AG. Prior to these positions, Ivanov was Chief Operating Officer of DE-CIX and Chief Executive Officer of DE-CIX International, where he was responsible for the global business activities of the world’s leading Internet Exchange operator. Ivanov has more than 20 years of experience in the regulatory, legal, and commercial Internet environment.
Having joined DE-CIX in 2007, he has in recent years been deeply involved in the establishment of DE-CIX sites in North and South America, Southern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as several DE-CIX consultancy projects in Africa, Asia, and Europe.
What is the significance of a digital infrastructure event with Pan-Atlantic reach?
A new ecosystem is emerging around the Atlantic Ocean, and Atlantic-bordering countries are orchestrating a redesign of global data flows and creating a new geostrategic focus. Working together and across country and continental borders, they are building a new, common, and interconnected future based on subsea cable investments, data centers, satellites, and terrestrial networks. A Pan-Atlantic event provides a unique opportunity to bring all the people involved in those industries together under one roof. In other words, it’s a space where the actors of the supply and demand of digital infrastructure for the four Atlantic-bordering continents can meet to share knowledge, collaborate to solve challenges, and discover new business opportunities.
Can you tell us a bit more about the under-explored potential of the Atlantic ecosystem?
The Atlantic ecosystem is not only under-explored but also extremely vast in scale. It comprises 53 bordering countries, more than two billion digital users, and more than 50 percent of the global GDP. From infrastructure and business to technologies, trends, and policies, the region is a hive of activity.
Why are you hosting this event in Portugal?
Portugal is at the heart of Pan-Atlantic data traffic flows. There are 20 submarine cables that land in-country and directly connect with five continents. Lisbon in particular is the European gateway for West African and South American networks: It is the perfect place for subsea cables to enter Europe and exchange traffic instead of going further north.
Additionally, Portugal has significant development underway—and significant potential for continued growth—across the digital infrastructure industry, including subsea cables, digital infrastructure, terrestrial fiber, and data center- and carrier- neutral Internet Exchange Points. For instance, the DE-CIX Internet Exchange in Lisbon is part of the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in Southern Europe. It offers access to more than 400 networks in Madrid, Barcelona, Marseille, and Palermo (as well as access to hundreds of additional networks via peering with Internet Exchanges in Frankfurt, New York, and several other locations) and access to over 50 cloud service providers via DE-CIX’s Cloud Exchanges and the DirectCLOUD service.
What is the DNA of the Atlantic Convergence event?
The Atlantic Convergence is a neutral, multi-stakeholder, and common purpose event. It was founded and organized in a joint effort between global, regional, and local companies of the digital infrastructure industry who were motivated by a common goal: to develop advanced, resilient, and secure Pan-Atlantic digital infrastructure. The agenda of the event is set by independent industry experts to cover the most relevant trends, insights, and opportunities around digital demand and infrastructure in the Pan-Atlantic region, with a special focus on emerging markets. We want to understand what and who are driving digital consumption and demand in the Atlantic region, how ready and robust existing infrastructure is, where there are gaps and risks, and how we can improve digital connectivity across the region. To facilitate high-value networking, discussions, and the initiation of new projects, the event also features a dedicated “village” for each digital infrastructure segment. This setup will further support moving from learning and understanding into actionable progress.
