Dark Fibre

We can find and light dark fibre to connect your offices and to connect to multiple data-centres so that you can manage your own network.

We supply dark fibre and dark fibre networks to clients. Dark fibre is so-called because it is delivered to the customer as an “unlit” segment of optical fibre between buildings. It offers direct connectivity between your business locations and with data-centres, providing you with the capability of controlling the network environment. You can light and manage the connection yourself, or we can do this on your behalf so that you can take on the operation of the network once installation is complete.

The biggest advantage of dark fibre over “lit” or “managed” services is its flexibility: only the equipment at each end of the fibre needs to be upgraded to take advantage of huge speed increases. 1Gbit/sec and 10Gbit/sec equipment is very affordable, and 100Gbit/sec is achievable without too much capital expenditure. All the while the ongoing cost of the fibre remains the same, regardless of the technologies used.

We can help you to connect facilities securely within a metro area or between cities with dedicated fibre and optical network paths, and we’re specialists in supporting diverse routes procured from different carriers.

We can help with:

  • scoping out the dark fibre in your area
  • working with multiple suppliers to recommend resilient solutions
  • meeting your operational and budgetary needs
  • offering transit and ethernet services

We guarantee that we won’t over oversell and provide you with connectivity you don’t need - we’ll provide the right amount of connectivity at the right time, at the right price.

Benefits of dark fibre

Control of your network

One of the main benefits of dark fibre is it gives you full control of your network. You control the equipment and connection settings and you can choose the technology, protocols and features your business needs. You won’t have to share your connectivity with others.

You can scale up to match your developing capacity requirements by upgrading and replacing your equipment, particularly if you are struggling with existing provider services in your area.

Control over costs

You’ll be managing and operating your connectivity so you’ll be able to control costs — you won’t be limited to standard offerings from existing service providers so you’ll be able to create your own best-fit solution to match your requirements.

Reliability and performance

Dark fibre offers great reliability and performance because generally you’ll be using point-to-point routing which means that you not dependent on carriers core networks switching and routing. You have full visibility of the optical path, so are able to see if a particular circuit is damaged or down, and any impact that has on your total network capacity.

Security and privacy

Your data will be secure because it won’t be traversing the public internet — you can decide what standards and protocols to use and use your preferred encryption methods.

High volume data transfer

Fibre optic cables can be lit at 1Gbps, 10Gbps, up to 100Gbps on a single wavelength depending on the length of the fibre. Should you require more bandwidth, or want to mix multiple service on one fibre, we can provide wavelength division multiplexed (CWDM or DWDM) options to suit.

View our other connectivity services here.

IP Transit

IP Transit

We offer transit and ethernet services in several UK data-centres, helping you cross-connect for extra carrier diversity.

Data-Centre Backhaul

Data-Centre Backhaul

We offer data-centre backhaul using dedicated leased-line circuits, commodity FTTX, or wavelength services to provide low latency connectivity.

Internet Exchange Points

Internet Exchange Points

Internet exchanges bring networks closer together, improve reliability and stability of serivce, while keeping the cost of Internet access competitive.

Latest News

12 July 2023

Moving into a New Data Centre with Equinix MA5

We've recently moved from Equinix MA2 to Equinix MA5 - here's or tak on our move to the flagship datacentre in the north of the UK.

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01 August 2022

Planning Our Manchester Network Migration

We're deep into project planning our Equinix MA2 to MA5 migration and here's how we're going to change our network in Manchester as part of that process.

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26 July 2022

Triple Whammy of Loss of Wavelength, Routing Control Plane Crash, and IGP Issues

How three faults aligned to cause a significant outage in our UK network on the morning of 25th July 2022.

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23 July 2022

Goodbye, MA2! Here We Come, MA5!

Equinix is going to close its Reynolds House (MA2) facility, and so we begin our journey to the flagship datacentre in the north of the UK.

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19 June 2022

White-label ISP services in Preston

We're providing white-label ISP services in collaboration with National Fibre to deliver gigabit broadband connectivity to 130 flats in Preston.

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03 October 2021

Expanding the core network of a wireless ISP

We expanded and added reslience the network of TxRx, in spite of a forced move over Christmas from their existing provider.

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31 August 2021

Real-Time IoT/M2M Network Telemetry and Event-Driven Automation

Explaning how to use our industry-leading IoT and M2M telemetry and APIs to build event-driven software-defined networks.

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22 August 2021

Broadband Network Telemetry over MQTT

We expose live telemetry and control plane APIs via MQTT, easing the path for customers to create their own network automation using our wholesale platform.

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07 April 2021

Faelix is a Zen Internet Wholesale Partner

Wholesale broadband services bring additional flexibility and agility to our connectivity services portfolio.

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19 February 2021

High Availability L2TP LNS Steering with FreeRADIUS and ExaBGP

The specification, technical design, and implementation details of our L2TP RADIUS tunnel-steering configuration for wholesale XDSL/FTTP services.

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07 February 2021

Faelix is a LINX Silver ConneXions Reseller Partner

We're proud to announce that we've achieved LINX Silver ConneXions Reseller Partner Status

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31 January 2021

National Fibre at Heaton Group Bolton

We're providing white-label ISP services in collaboration with National Fibre to deliver gigabit broadband connectivity to 61 flats in Bolton.

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