As bandwidth requirements keep on increasing, the need to improve ways of connecting for an enterprise is on the rise. Besides the already existing types of connectivity that are provided by all telecom operators, one type which is slowly gaining traction is what the industry refers to as dark fibre.
As the name indicates, dark fibre is essentially unlit fibre or fibre through which light waves are not passing through. The reason it exists is that when the fibre is laid down, the bulk of the expense is in civil work and getting the licenses and grants. So service providers always install additional capacity to future proof their networks. Enterprises can lease dark fibre and manage it end to end on their own.
While there are specific merits in using dark fibre as listed above, it is not for all. The two biggest challenges that come to our minds are cost and control. Control can be a double-edged sword. Managing a private network entirely on your own has its fair share of challenges, like integrating with existing infrastructure etc.
Primarily, dark fibre is used by large corporations who have specific network requirements (and can afford it!). Government agencies, financial institutions, and healthcare are some of the industries that are the early adopters, apart from technology giants like hyperscalers who have high captive requirements to fulfil. Know more…
