BT Openreach Offers “first ever” UK Wide 100Gbps Service to ISPs

BTOpenreach, which maintains BT’s national UK telecoms network, has moved to give big broadband ISPs and mobile operators more capacity for their networks by launching the “first ever UK-wide” 100Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable service.

Openreach claims that its new suite of high-bandwidth optical services, which is supported by Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, will enable ISPs to “transport larger amounts of data, over longer distances, in a more cost effective way“. The new service is set to become fully available on 29th April 2014.

Apparently BT’s Technology, Service & Operations (TSO) have already built a “next generation” Optical network across 120 core locations and the Ciena 6500 solution will allow them to provide the access tails into this network from other ISPs with Ciena based core networks. Previously some providers will have required multiple 10Gbps circuits to achieve a similar result.

Jon Hurry, Openreach’s MD for Strategy, Commercial, Portfolio & Policy, said:

“As more and more businesses move to high-bandwidth, cloud based services and applications, our CP customers are looking to support them with a much broader range of high-quality connectivity options.

These new optical services from Openreach are future-proof, and they take advantage of BT’s unrivalled investment in fibre infrastructure across the UK. They also come with the backing of our combined professional service teams, giving customers access to world class expertise and support from both Openreach and Ciena.”

In fairness BT aren’t the only provider of 100Gbps links and indeed whether or not such a service can be described as a “first ever” for being available UK-wide is perhaps more a question of cost than any other physical barrier.

Anything is possible if you have enough money. But Openreach’s new solution claims to be “cost effective for long distance services“, with an ability to serve beyond the “103km max route distance of current OSA capability (with no distance limitations)“.

Needless to say, solutions like this are essential for helping to combat the ever-increasing data demands of modern home users and businesses. Today it’s 100Gbps but the kit being used could eventually go faster.

NOTE: The existing Ciena 4200 solutions will still be available to order alongside this new addition to Openreach’s Optical Spectrum Extended Access (OSEA) portfolio.