Optical spectrum services – solutions for bandwidth-hungry products

If you have customers who need to move large amounts of data between different places around the UK, our high-capacity optical spectrum services could be the answer. 

Using dedicated fibre links and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology, these services are secure, flexible and cost-effective. And because they’re delivered over our own infrastructure, they’re backed by Openreach expertise.

How does multiplexing technology work?

Multiplexing is when lots of individual data signals are combined into one. This is then carried over a shared path from one end to another. Multiplexing uses the equipment and connections that make up the path more efficiently than only sending single data signals.

The most common multiplexing technique used for fibre optic communications systems is wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). This combines optical signals, each at a specific wavelength (or frequency), into one. Then the combined signal is transmitted over a fibre optic path. At the end of the path, it’s separated (or de-multiplexed) back into the individual component signals (wavelengths) again, where the data they carry can be processed.

The equipment and fibre optic cables that make up this path are called “optical bearers”. And the individual signals that are collectively carried over these bearers are called “wavelengths”.

How you and your customers could benefit

Our low-latency, high-bandwidth optical services let your customers combine large numbers of network connections. So they’re flexible enough to meet their needs now and in the future – whether that’s for demanding cloud applications, next generation data-centre connectivity, high-speed file transfer or business continuity, or data storage and retrieval.