Thirty years ago, 45 Mbps was enough to connect four cities and build a new internet highway. Today, that same network exceeds 600.000 kilometers of fiber, reaches 126 locations worldwide, and supports traffic of data, video, cloud services, and artificial intelligence applications. In between, three decades of transformations have changed the way we communicate, work, and use the internet.
It is the story of Seabone (AS 6762), the Sparkle's global IP transit network, born in September 1996 with the first connections between Milan, Palermo, Miami and Montreal. Since then the backbone has grown together with Internet, progressively expanding its capacity and coverage to become the seventh Tier-1 Internet network globally and the main IP backbone in the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
Seabone, from 45 Mbps to 400 Gbps: how much the network has changed
To understand the transformation Just look at the numbers. In 1996, Seabone launched with 45 Mbps connections. By 2000, the network had already expanded coverage, capacity, and performance, following the growth of the Internet and applications that required increasingly faster, low-latency connections. In 2021, record traffic volumes arrived, with speeds up to 400 Gbps. By 2026, the network reached over 600 customers through 126 PoPs and Telehouses worldwide.
Today Seabone is based on a proprietary network in optical fiber of over 600.000 kilometers, fully redundant and distributed across Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. The structure guarantees resilient, low-latency connections and offers customers direct access to major OTTs, CDNs, and global cloud ecosystems. The entire infrastructure is monitored by a Global Network Operations Center operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, continuously monitoring network performance, managing any faults and providing specialized assistance.
Seabone's growth follows that of Internet traffic: From the first dial-up connections to cloud services, from video streaming to gaming, to artificial intelligence applications and other services that increasingly require more bandwidth. This transformation has made the ability to rapidly adapt connectivity increasingly important for operators, businesses, and content providers.
Fast delivery, security and access to major Internet Exchange Points
It is in this scenario that the new option fits in Fast Delivery, Available in major global hubs. The model allows service to be activated within 24 hours, reducing traditional activation times and offering greater flexibility when new connectivity resources are quickly needed.
The offer also includes services dedicated to security and interconnection. DDoS protection It allows you to protect networks from cyber attacks through a system distributed along the backbone, while the Virtual NAP (VNAP) allows access to the main Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in the world without having to invest directly in the construction of proprietary infrastructure.
Seabone operates as Sparkle's IP Transit service, providing ISPs, content providers, and CDNs with access to the global Internet. Its international presence, particularly strong in Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, also extends to the United States and Asia-Pacific, connecting digital realities and networks that must reliably exchange growing amounts of data.
Thirty years of Seabone, a network that grew with the Internet
The 30-year milestone therefore tells much more than the growth of a single infrastructure: it tells the story of the evolution of the Internet, from the analog modems that began bringing the network into homes to a digital ecosystem in which cloud, streaming, and artificial intelligence require increasingly robust and flexible connections.
“Thirty years ago Seabone was born when the Internet was still in its early stages – commented Enrico Bagnasco, Sparkle CEO -. Since then, it has continuously evolved to accompany and anticipate the transformation of the digital landscape, expanding its reach, improving its performance, and introducing new features to meet customer needs. Today, Seabone is one of the world's leading Tier-1 Internet networks, connecting businesses and digital ecosystems around the world. We are proud of the journey we have taken together with our customers and partners and look forward to continuing to innovate and shape the connectivity of tomorrow.
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Sparkle has launched a international campaign across the media, digital channels and social networks, accompanied by promotional initiatives dedicated to new customers who want to join the Seabone network.
From the first connections that accompanied the dawn of the Web to a global network that today must support cloud computing, streaming, gaming, and artificial intelligence, the story of Seabone is above all one of continuous transformation. Thirty years later, the challenge is no longer simply taking the Internet further: it's doing so with the capacity, speed, and reliability required by the next generation of digital services.
