Purpose-built to carry high-capacity data traffic across the northern United States, our Northern Link Route connects the major data center hubs of Chicago and Minneapolis to the dense connectivity markets of Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Stretching 2,100 miles and offering multiple 400 Gig wavelength capacity with a record-low 39.5 milliseconds of round-trip latency, it’s designed to meet the surging bandwidth demands of carriers, cloud providers and enterprises that need fast, reliable East-West connectivity.
Now fully live, we spoke with Nicklas Mattisson, VP, Wholesale Carrier Sales, about what this milestone means for the market, which customers stand to benefit most and where the route goes from here.
Q: The northern link route press release highlights 39.5 milliseconds of round-trip latency as the lowest of any east-west connection in the Midwest-to-Pacific Northwest corridor. How does that translate into a real competitive advantage when you're sitting across the table from a potential customer?
A: Latency is obviously very important for all customers, some more than others. If you're dealing with financial trading companies, it's extremely important; every fraction of a millisecond counts. But it goes well beyond finance. Any application that an end user touches, like an email service, an AI application reaching back to a data center, is simply going to be faster and more responsive when the underlying transport latency is lower. The user experience is noticeably better, and that matters to every business that runs customer-facing services.
Q: Which customer segments are you targeting first now that chicago connectivity is fully live?
A: Anyone who needs connectivity, really. Chicago and Minneapolis are both major hubs for data centers, hubs for traffic from the Northeast into the Midwest. And then on the western end, you have the data center clusters in Portland and Hillsboro, Oregon, the dense connectivity along the I-5 corridor through Seattle and into Vancouver, and ultimately cable landing stations connecting to Tokyo and Southeast Asia. The route stitches all of that together, so the potential customer base is extremely broad.
Q: With 400 gig wavelength capacity, which is four times most commodity routes, do you expect customers to buy based on their current needs, or to future-proof and buy ahead of demand?
A: Demand is growing so heavily that customers must buy just to stay ahead of the curve. Traffic is roughly doubling every nine to twelve months, so if you're only buying for today, you're already behind. We're not seeing anyone hesitate because 400 Gig feels like too much, quite the opposite. Multiple customers are asking how many 400 Gig wavelengths they need. Through conversations with industry players, we're hearing about deals on a remarkable scale, like a North Dakota data center connecting into Chicago that reportedly purchased 256 400 Gig wavelengths. That's the scale of appetite in this market right now.
Q: Are there any planned extensions beyond the current 2,100-mile footprint? Which markets might be next?
There’s nothing official that I can speak to. What I can say is that we're always evaluating whether additional endpoints, more on ramps in the Chicago area, more in Minneapolis, would let us serve those markets and key customers better. And Chicago itself is a compelling connection point beyond just our own network. It links into broader BCE connectivity reaching New York and the Northeast. So, there are natural directions to grow, even if nothing is formally announced.
Q: Now that the northern link route is fully live end-to-end, what does that unlock for wholesale customers that simply wasn't possible before?
A: The difference is that we can now commission customers on the route, and we already have. The conversations we’ve been having with customers have translated directly into action, and the response has been strong. That shift from 'coming soon' to 'live today' has also changed how large enterprise customers see us. Full Chicago connectivity has put us on the map for those conversations in a way we weren't before.
The Northern Link Route represents more than a new route: it's a statement of ambition. With record-low latency, massive capacity headroom and connectivity that now reaches from the financial hubs of the Midwest to the Pacific gateways serving Asia, the network is built for where demand is going, not just where it is today. For wholesale customers who have long needed a faster, higher-capacity path across the northern United States, the wait is over.
