EXA Deploy New Hybrid Microwave-Fibre Route Between UK and USA

Network operator EXA Infrastructure has today announced a new plan to deploy a high-capacity hybrid data transmission route between New York and London, which will use a mix of existing subsea fibre optic cables and a new Microwave wireless link to deliver ultra-low latency transatlantic connectivity.

The idea of combining fibre optic cables with specialist point-to-point style Microwave links on huge masts is nothing new to the UK, and a series of massive masts already exist for just such a purpose. The goal of such network combinations is usually to try and shave a few milliseconds off the response time (latency) of large-scale financial trading (i.e. it’s not merely about raw data speeds).

In a normal network, the odd millisecond here or there doesn’t really matter much, but it can make a huge difference in the market for big supercomputer dominated financial trading. EXA already owns and operates the “lowest latency transatlantic cable“, EXA Express (from New York to London, the round-trip delay on this is 58.55ms), and the new hybrid route might be able to beat that.

Nicholas Collins, EXA’s Chief Commercial Officer, said:

“The demand for accelerated connectivity between leading financial exchanges remains unabated. We are proud to offer the fastest transatlantic fibre routes for financial exchanges between the US and the UK and will continue to listen to our customers when making strategic investments in our network to deliver additional value that supports their growth. Market leading latencies for trade execution means greater financial returns for our customers.”

The new hybrid microwave-fibre route will see Microwave technology introduced between Slough-LD4 and EXA’s Cable Landing Station in Cork, Ireland. This is interesting because the EXA Express cable also runs onward, directly to a landing site in the village of Brean in Somerset (England), which suggests they’re trying to cut out some of the middle-men delays along the final fibre run to London by effectively bypassing it via a long-range Microwave link.

Sadly, the announcement doesn’t clarify the exact network setup and performance details, thus we don’t know how much latency they might be able to shave off the current route.