Local

New Dark Fiber Route Extends From Miami To Atlanta

May 4th, 2015

Allied Fiber just finished the final segment of a multimillion-dollar dark fiber route from Miami to Atlanta. Now it hopes companies will move in to literally “light up” the dark fiber.

Dark fiber is basically a fiber cable laying in the ground, waiting to be used. When companies build their fiber-optic cable networks, they will lay down more cable than they actually need. That’s in case they’d like to expand and use the extra cables in the future. Or if they want to lease it out to other companies, like Allied Fiber.

Phil Ventimiglia, a chief innovation officer at Georgia State University, says once a company moves in and decides to use the dark fiber, it gets lit up. A fiber-optic cable is like a very, very small flashlight that is pulsing the signal down the wire.

“Instead of electrical impulses ─ like on an electrical wire ─ it’s actually light that’s propagating down the wire,” Ventimiglia explains.

Allied Fiber’s new route from Miami to Atlanta has several stops along the way where businesses can give other companies access to the fiber. Allied Fiber, for example, gives companies, like Google Fiber, access to its equipment and lines.

“Think of Allied Fiber as a really big superbridge with a lot of on-ramps and off-ramps that can be developed to bring more fiber out to other places in the country that don’t have it. That creates competitive infrastructure,” says CEO Hunter Newby.

What this means is more competition in the broadband market. Newby says there’ll be less network traffic, which means faster speeds for everyone.

Ventimiglia says cities usually think of physical infrastructure like roads and bridges. But digital infrastructure – the cables and equipment that determine how much bandwidth and connectivity your town offers – will be just as important.

“As many nodes and points of infrastructure that can go through Atlanta, the more Atlanta grows,” Ventimiglia says.

A dozen companies ─ including a Spanish telephone company, Telefonica, and Joytel, an Internet provider in Florida, have already signed contracts with Allied to use the route.