In this episode, Jim Beighley, CEO of Citadel Pacific, and Jose Santiago, Senior Manager of Interconnection Strategy at the Guam Exchange, join Carrie Charles to spotlight Guam’s rising role in the global digital infrastructure ecosystem. Strategically positioned on U.S. soil in the heart of Asia-Pacific, Guam is becoming a vital low-latency interconnection point between major markets like Japan, Singapore, Australia, and the U.S. West Coast.
Jim and Jose share the vision behind the Guam Exchange, the island’s only open-access, carrier-neutral Internet Exchange and data center. Designed to aggregate and route traffic from a new generation of subsea cables — including Apricot, Echo, and Bifrost — the Guam Exchange provides hyperscalers, CDNs, fintech, gaming, and AI-driven platforms with a redundant, sovereign, and high-performance gateway to Asia.
With over 1.3 megawatts of IT load, SOC 2 certification, 24/7 support, and strategic peering capabilities, the Guam Exchange offers a compelling value proposition for enterprises seeking to reduce latency while maintaining data security under U.S. jurisdiction. Jim and Jose also unpack how geopolitics, network resiliency, and edge growth are converging to make Guam a digital crossroads for the future.
Whether you’re a global carrier, content provider, or infrastructure investor, this episode provides critical insight into why Guam is more than a dot on the map — it’s the new gateway to Asia.
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About
Jim Beighley, CEO of Citadel Pacific Ltd overseeing all operations across Guam and the CNMI for its Data Center, Telecommunications, Solar Energy and Oil & Gas operations. Experienced Senior Executive and Board Member with a demonstrated history of working in the Telecommunications, Energy, Travel and Tourism and Retail industries. Strong business development professional skilled in Leadership, Executive Management, Business Strategy and Strategic Partnerships.
Jose Dante S. Santiago, comes from many years of experience in managing and maintaining operational enterprise, academic and research networks as well as the implementation of two internet exchange points prior to Guam IX. He’s been into technology for a very long time, playing with what ever electronics he had laying around at home. The curioisity and determination to engineer things drove a passion in technical hobbies such as working with small IoT’s all the way up to car modifications. With a technical and deductive mind set, coupled with years of experimental handy craft It’s become his passion to create new things.
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