JUNE 22, 2010 By Stephen Hardy -- It’s not easy to keep a fiber build quiet. But after several years of infrastructure development, Spread Networks is about to take the wraps off of a new, ultra low latency dark fiber route between the financial centers in New York and Chicago -- as well as a differentiated business strategy.
Spread Networks is expected to make its debut today at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Financial Services Technology Expo. The carrier will discuss its new dark fiber infrastructure that has been optimized to reduce latency through a combination of taking the shortest route possible -- 825 fiber miles -- and partnerships with a variety of systems vendors whose equipment it certifies as adding minimal latency to that of the route. As a result, Spread Networks is quoting latency in the range of 13.33 msec, well under the latency figures of other providers serving the New York to Chicago route, sources indicate. (For more on low latency networking see “Breaking the Barriers to Low Latency” in the June 2010 issue of Lightwave as well as “Timing everything when selling low-latency network services.”)
The dark fiber provider has partnered with ADVA Optical Networking, Ciena, Infinera, and JDSU (which is offering its WaveReady equipment as well as its test gear and expertise). According to Jim Theodoras, director of technical marketing at ADVA, Spread Networks will offer its potential customers a choice of equipment providers to supply the systems and adjunct services the customer requires. It will be up to each systems vendor to convince the customer that it offers the package of equipment and services that best meets that customer’s needs.
According to the Spread Networks website, each systems vendor will offer:
- optical networking equipment
- equipment installation services
- equipment maintenance services
- equipment monitoring services via a dedicated network operating center (NOC) for Spread Networks customers.
Each of the suppliers will offer equipment tailored for low latency; Theodoras admitted that Spread Networks’ requirements helped drive the design of ADVA’s low-latency package for its FSP 3000. Infinera, meanwhile, will offer its recently announced low-latency “tool kit” (see “Infinera unveils low-latency strategy”), to which Infinera has recently added new amplifiers, according to Chris Liou, Infinera’s vice-president, network strategy.