Dark fiber infrastructure to support the needs of higher education and research
Provision and maintenance of a 100+ km dark fiber link
Context
A regional network dedicated to higher education and research was looking to strengthen its connectivity infrastructure to facilitate data exchange and the sharing of digital resources between multiple universities.
With the growing demand for digital services, particularly in scientific computing, data storage and distance learning, the challenge was to deploy an infrastructure capable of supporting evolving needs over the long term.
To retain full control over its network architecture and independently scale its transmission capacity, the network operator chose dark fiber.
Deployed solution
Following a public tender, ielo was selected to provide and maintain a 100+ km dark fiber link between two major university cities.
This dedicated passive optical infrastructure allows the network operator to deploy its own transmission equipment and directly manage the evolution of its network capacity.
The solution includes:
- A dedicated dark fiber link meeting the customer’s technical requirements, particularly in terms of optical power budget, attenuation and polarization mode dispersion (PMD);
- A scalable infrastructure supporting transmission rates of up to 400 Gbps per wavelength, using equipment deployed by the customer;
- Maintenance provided by ielo’s teams to ensure the infrastructure remains fully operational.
Results
Since entering service, this link has become a key component of the regional network, providing universities with high-performance, scalable connectivity.
It facilitates remote access to regional computing centers, the exchange of large volumes of data between institutions, and the live delivery of lectures across multiple university campuses.
By relying on dark fiber provided and maintained by ielo, the network operator retains full control over its network architecture and transmission capacity, while benefiting from a reliable infrastructure designed to support the evolving digital needs of higher education and research.