The rise of UK Alt-Nets is well documented – but what of the infrastructure that connects them to the wider world? KCOM Wholesale Product Architect Rich Tyas takes a closer look.
Last month my colleague Chris Croot talked about the rise of the Alt-Nets and the providers that are causing geographic networks to pop up around the country.
These providers need a reliable and resilient backhaul to connect their internet customers to the rest of the world.
Major tele hotels in the cities around the country are not always in easy reach of the alt-net networks so extending the network with sufficient capacity and resilience can be a tricky design task.
Once these networks are in place there’s opportunity to use them for leased line connectivity to connect businesses together and to the cloud provider’s data centres across the UK. There are a real range of partners out there each offering their own unique networks to allow national connectivity or connectivity to customers’ premises.
Fibre backbone networks around the UK are nothing new but, with the demand for bandwidth increasing and the advances in DWDM technology, 10Gbps and 100Gbps circuits are now affordable and being put to use.
These are not yet commonplace but as the optics in the end equipment become more affordable, then customer circuits will start to grow. As with all step changes in speed the cry will be “but we don’t need all that bandwidth”, but they said that with Kilostreams and look where we are now!
Here at KCOM we’ve created a resilient 80Tb capable transmission network that allows us to have ample capacity to connect to transit and peering partners across the UK.
Rich Tyas, Wholesale Product Architect, Kcom
Applications will catch up and with the rise of remote working, there is still bandwidth required to aggregate user connections to businesses, the cloud and ensure our working days are seamless. As more 5G sites appear the demand for mobile aggregation over longer distances will also increase and these transport networks are ideal for providing those robust connectivity options.
Here at KCOM we’ve created a resilient 80Tb capable transmission network that allows us to have ample capacity to connect to transit and peering partners across the UK. We’re now establishing relations with many interconnect partners to offer a range of cost effective connectivity across the UK. This will allow our customers to offer connectivity from our expanding network in Hull and East Yorkshire to the rest of the UK via two diverse paths.
It’s fair to say that the pace of change and progress in the world of network connectivity continues to be as frenetic as ever – and we providers certainly need to be on our game in the decade ahead to make sure we keep up with ever growing demands.
For more information go to www.kcom.com