If you’re on this page, there’s a good chance you’ve been searching for the definition of dark fibre network. Dark fibre (sometimes known as black fibre) is a term referring to unused fibre optic cables. If you run a business that’s reliant on fibre connections and fibre broadband, you likely won’t need to know all the ins and outs of dark fibre, but it might help you to understand your telecommunications infrastructure more.
At M247, we’re experts in the online world, able to teach you all about black fibre and your other network connectivity options to ensure you get the best deal for your needs.
If you already know which connectivity solution you’d like to implement into your business, our dedicated team is ready and willing to help – please make your enquiry today.
What Is Dark Fibre?
As we previously stated, the term ‘dark fibre’ refers to installed fibre optic cables that are unused or ‘unlit’. However, unlit fibre should not be confused with a dark network or the dark web, which instead alludes to a separate area of the internet that can only be accessed by certain people and tools.
Originally, the term ‘dark fibre’ referred to the potential network capacity of a telecommunications infrastructure. These unlit cables are leased out to companies awaiting a customised, high-capacity network solution. This means that opting for dark fibre enables businesses and organisations to establish new private networks faster and more efficiently – when compared to more traditional network setups.
Dark fibre networks are independent from the mainstream networks available, as they’re usually controlled by a client, instead of being managed by a dedicated network provider.
How Is Dark Fibre Used?
Dark fibre is predominantly used for telecommunications and network communications, forming a practically infinite dark fibre network worldwide.
These unlit fibre optic cables serve two main purposes:
- They can be reserved for future use by the owner
- They can be sold to other parties that require high-capacity connections
There are two main types of dark fibre networks:
- Metro dark fibre networks: Metro dark fibre networks are designed for high-traffic areas like cities, offering greater bandwidth potential for businesses in these locations
- Long-haul dark fibre networks: On the other hand, a long-haul dark fibre network is a system of unused fibre-optic cables that stretch over long distances, connecting cities, regions, or even countries (in some cases).
As you can see, both forms of dark fibre can be extremely useful for modern businesses.
How Can Businesses Use Dark Fibre to Their Advantage?
Dark fibre can be a crucial tool for modern businesses and organisations, enabling them to leverage this network infrastructure to their advantage. Business requirements are constantly changing in the digital world, with new technologies such as 5G, AI (artificial intelligence) and automation being executed. Organisations implementing these changes will likely need to scale at some point, which is where dark fibre comes in.
Leasing a dark fibre network could be the perfect solution to your networking needs, so long as you have the resources to operate and maintain your own private connection. With dark fibre, your bandwidth can be expanded as needed, providing a greater degree of flexibility and scalability. This means that you can essentially support unlimited bandwidth increases at your own pace, suiting your business needs and requirements.
By using black fibre, you can also have almost complete control over your network infrastructure, providing fast and secure connections whenever they are required. Large files containing sensitive data can be transferred with ease, covered by expert cyber security protocols. Modern organisations can also work more efficiently when leveraging dark fibre, connecting data centres and cloud providers with a high-quality connection from your internal network.
Examples of modern businesses using dark fibre networks include:
- Financial institutions: Banks and other financial institutions use dark fibre networks to support ultra-fast data transmission for secure financial transactions and stock trading
- Technology companies: Modern technology companies such as Meta and Google use dark fibre to connect their data centres across different regions and countries, providing fast communication for their business operations.
- Healthcare providers: Dark fibre is used by hospitals and other healthcare providers to quickly share large medical files between different facilities
- Media and entertainment businesses: Media businesses that utilise streaming as part of their business model (such as Netflix or Disney Plus) use dark fibre to transmit and stream large amounts of video content to their users, reducing buffering times.
As you can see, there are many benefits to using dark fibre within your business. Find out more about our hosting and managed colocation services here.
How Does Dark Fibre Compare to Other Connectivity Solutions?
Dark fibre offers several unique advantages when compared to other connectivity solutions, but it’s important to remember that its benefits and suitability will depend largely on your organisation’s needs.
Here’s how it compares to some of the other main connectivity services we offer…
Dark Fibre vs Fibre Broadband
Fibre broadband is usually connected as a shared service for general internet use, whereas dark fibre offers a private, dedicated network infrastructure for your own exclusive use. Fibre broadband can be fast at times, although it can also suffer from network slowdowns – dark fibre is often faster in these cases.
As broadband can be shared with other people, it can be vulnerable to cyber security leaks and threats. However, with dark fibre, you’ll always have a secure, private connection. Dark fibre is also much more scalable than fibre broadband, as the latter can only be scaled to the ISP’s offerings.
Dark Fibre vs WAN
A wide area network (or WAN) is a form of connectivity that can connect multiple locations using various technologies, such as broadband or MPLS. However, dark fibre is slightly different, instead offering direct, point-to-point connectivity between two places.
WAN can be more versatile than dark fibre in some ways, as it supports numerous networks across geographically diverse locations, whereas dark fibre is better suited to more localised networks. However, you’ll usually experience lower latency and higher speeds with dark fibre, as it offers a direct and dedicated connection.
Dark Fibre vs MPLS
MPLS (otherwise known as Multiprotocol Label Switching) is a managed solution that efficiently routes data within your network. However, dark fibre doesn’t have to rely on external routing protocols due to its private network infrastructure.
As MPLS uses a shared connection, latency tends to be higher – MPLS is also slower in most cases. On the other hand, MPLS can be more reliable than dark fibre, as it provides consistent network performance alongside built-in redundancy. Dark fibre can still be dependable, but its reliability is instead based upon the user’s ability to manage the network infrastructure.
Turn to the Dark Side of Fibre with M247
We hope that after reviewing this page, you have a greater understanding of the dark fibre network definition, giving you all the information you need to decide whether this connectivity solution is suitable for your business needs.
Dark fibre is particularly useful for smaller businesses aiming to scale in the future, but it also has a range of other purposes, all of which M247 can help you with. As the UK’s leading connectivity partner, we’re dedicated to our craft, aiming to improve the stature of every organisation that works with us.
If you’d like to find out more about our services, we’ll be happy to help – please get in touch with our expert team here.
