The DigitalOcean network engineering team has been working on building a global backbone network to improve the stability, performance, and reliability of their cloud platform. The existing network infrastructure was composed of independent "island" networks, which resulted in communication between regions relying on public internet connectivity, prone to issues such as congestion, malicious attacks, and ISP technical problems. To mitigate this risk, they are building a backbone network using technologies like dark fiber and wavelengths, allowing traffic between locations to run over dedicated links managed by DigitalOcean. This gives customers predictable and reliable transport between regions, essential for mission-critical applications. The team has already interconnected several locations, including NYC, European locations, and transatlantic links, with plans to expand further, aiming to create a seamless and high-performing network infrastructure for their users.