Dark and Lit Fiber – How much do you know?
Many of us have seen the 60 Minutes interview with Michael Lewis the Author of “Flash Boys.” Some of us have read the book, and many out there have no idea what the whole High Frequency Trading thing is all about. I am not going to explain all of that in this blog but I do recommend that everyone in the Telecommunications Industry read the book. I do however want to explain how TelecomMedic has become a leader in this product set.
Lightower, Level 3, Zayo, and Hudson Fiber (to name a few) are experts at building low latency routes between data centers across the country. Major financial institutions are interested in procuring the shortest/fastest paths available. The whole thing started with a company called Spread Networks. They built a low latency path from Chicago to New Jersey and everything has spiraled from there.
As soon as someone comes out and says they have the shortest path between two data centers their competition is looking to build something shorter. The big companies buy these paths as dark fiber and put their own equipment on it to “light” it up. The smaller companies buy pieces of these paths that are already “lit” in 2.5 or 10 Gig packages. Each vendor sells different levels or speeds of these paths. For example, one path might be 14 kilometers while a slower path may be 17 kilometers. Some customer’s buy both using the slower/longer path for backup and others buy it because they don’t need to spend the extra money for the faster/shorter path due to different business needs.
All of this can be quite confusing to all but the largest companies. Many times they go to a third party who buys the dark fiber and sells pieces of the lit product off to their customers. This can be a good strategy because these third party people always keep up with what is the fastest route and provide a very good service. But, what a lot of these people do not know is that they can buy the lit product themselves and save quite a bit of money over the third party companies.
TelecomMedic works with all of the major players in this marketplace and always knows who has the shortest/fastest route between the major data centers. Since we deal with them on a day to day basis, we also know the best pricing for each of these paths.
Pricing is an important piece but the Ts and Cs of the contract can be an even more important piece. We have negotiated many contracts with these vendors and we know what language can be inserted to get you out of them if a shorter/faster route becomes available. Large financial institutions just buy the new shorter/faster path and either pays off the old contract or use the slower one for their back up circuits. TelecomMedic knows that everyone cannot afford to apply this tactic that is why we have figured out how to negotiate the contract in our customer’s best interest.
Whether you need the fastest fiber connection between two data centers, or are looking for the next fastest path, or just need connectivity between sites and speed is not an issue, we are your best choice for anything fiber related. We deal with all of the major players and can help you make the right choice but more importantly TelecomMedic can help make sure you have the best price and the best contract terms. I would also be interested to hear from people out there that have run into fiber challenges.