Digital Port

Digital Port

The subsea cable industry is still connecting continents, countries, and cities and Virginia Beach has the infrastructure for the digital economy.

The Virginia Beach MSA has long been known for two world-class assets: the largest military community in the USA and the Port of Virginia, a key gateway for global commerce. Virginia Beach is now a digital port, shipping data at the highest speed possible around the world and laying the infrastructure to handle the influx​ of digital traffic. View the current submarine cable map from TeleGeorgraphy.

Key Developments:

  • Telxius completed construction of a 24,000-square-foot cable landing station
  • Globalinx Data Centers opened 10,750 sf carrier-neutral data center campus with Phase II underway
  • ​Corporate Landing Business park received Dominion Energy-certified data center status
  • The City of Virginia Beach reduced tax rates for data center equipment ​
  • PointOne, an international-hyperscale data center developer, is investing $80 million.
  • Corporate Landing Business Park was rated a Tier-4 site by VEDP
  • Available sites are outside the 100-year flood area (see this certification)
  • Confluence - 1: A proposed undersea cable system linking the largest recently installed cable landing stations on the East Coast of the United States.
  • The world's highest capacity submarine cable, Dunant, with its record-breaking 12 pairs and capacity of 250 Tbps was deployed in 2021.
  • An extension of the Brusa cable, called “Junior” will provide a direct extension to the lower part of South America.
  • Regional connectivity ring is planned to be completed by December 2024.
  • New subsea cable landing site at Sandbridge was announced by Globalinx; to be completed by the third quarter of 2023

​Transoceanic fiber cables connect North America to Brazil and Europe from Virginia Beach​​

MAREA and BRUSA, the newest and fastest ultra-high-speed transatlantic fiber optic telecommunication cables in the world, connect Virginia Beach to Brazil and Europe through a new 24,000-sf cable landing station operated by Telxius, the infrastructure arm of a Spanish telecom company: Telefónica. ​​

The first one MAREA, owned by Microsoft and Facebook and operated by Telxius, brought the first ultra-high-speed ​200 ​terabit fiber optic cable from Bilbao, Spain, to Corporate Landing. BRUSA, owned and operated by Telxius​, brought the second cable (138 Tbps) ​from Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza (​Brazil) to Virginia Beach in ​ 2018. One additional subsea cable, Dunant, owned by Google, connected Virginia Beach to Europe in February 2021. View map ​of the Virginia Beach cables.

​​Stretching 4,000 miles (6,600 km) across from Virginia Beach to Bilbao, MAREA is capable of transferring data at a staggering 200 terabits per second. That’s more than 16 million times faster than the average home internet connection, making it capable of streaming 71 million high-definition videos simultaneously. Source: Microsoft

The cable landing station in Corporate Landing Business Park provides high capacity, Dominion Energy power certified and reliable connectivity options to carriers, data centers and co-location facility operators. The park is a revolutionary idea that is allowing data center operators to increase efficiency and speed-to-market while reducing capital costs. In a short period of time, Virginia Beach has grown into a diverse new landing site for new subsea cable systems on the East Coast.


Virginia Beach is Data-Center Ready

Virginia Beach is plugged in and ready to go with a world-class telecommunications system complete with a data center and development park with available Dominion Energy-certified data center sites, low tax rates for data centers, ​and available fiber access hubs, which makes communicating globally easy and reliable.​​

Lower Tax Rates for Data Centers

The City of Virginia Beach has reduced the tax rate for data center equipment to solidify its business-friendly approach to this growing industry sector. The new tax rate decreases the tax on computers and peripherals used in data centers to $0.40 per $100 of assessed value, with a depreciation schedule of 40 percent of the original cost. This decrease is one of many new initiatives Virginia Beach is embracing to welcome data centers to the city.

Two Offshore Wind Projects are Coming Online between 2024 and 2026

Dominion Energy and Advangrid Renewables will be landing nearly 6 GW of power in Virginia Beach in 2026. Read more.

Next Generation of Telecommunication Systems

​​In addition to being the newest cable landing site destination on the East Coast, Virginia Beach boasts a robust broadband infrastructure that is being upgraded to support the next generation of telecommunication systems. A regional backbone will soon connect the area's major government and education facilities and enable commercial and residential access to ultra-high-speed networks. This regional connectivity ring is planned to be completed by December 2024.

    VBDA-Owned Diverse Conduit System

    The City of Virginia Beach Development Authority completed a 2.1 miles diverse conduit system on Corporate Landing Parkway. It consists of 2 X 8 (total 16 conduits) 4” conduits which include 3 1.25” innerducts located in each conduit.

    Available Sites

    Data Center Developments

    • PointOne: NAP of Virginia Beach, an enterprise-class data center and cable landing station campus will launch its first 31,000 sf facility in late 2023. The data center will be capable of housing 8+ subsea cables with dry plant rooms designed to house SLTE and PFE equipment and is designated carrier-neutral Meet-Me-Room. The facility is designed to withstand up to 200MPH winds and is being built at 15 feet above sea level.
    • Globalinx: The first carrier hotel and carrier-neutral center is operational at Corporate Landing Business Park. An expansion comprising of a 22,000-sf data center is planned for Phase II.
    • NxtVn plans to build a 170,000-sf data center later in 2022.
    • ACA International - The company will build a 130,000-square-foot facility that will house its new corporate headquarters and a Tier III data center providing neutral co-location services.

    PointOne’s NAP of Virginia Beach and Globalinx’s Phase II project will most likely strengthen the city’s relevance in the market for future subsea cable systems and stimulate the development of new data centers.

    Interesting Facts

    The cable Dunant is named in honor of the Swiss businessman and social activist Jean-Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross and the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Helpful Links