Global Crossing Overhauls Wavelength Offerings, Goes 40G

International network operator glbc has added substantial muscle to its wholesale wavelength offerings, according to an announcement this morning.  At the top of the list is the 40Gbps services across their networks in the US and in continental Europe.  The company has of course been leveraging 40Gbps links on some routes for its IP network for a while, but they are now selling such wavelengths to customers as well, both in the core and at the edge.  

The gear they are using for it is Infinera, with which they upgraded their backbone a few years ago.  It is therefore built on 4x10G for now, however the company says they do have plans for native 40G in the works, as well as 100G eventually.  Not on the list thus far are the submarine and Latin American links, though I’ll bet they take 40G transatlantic before long.

In addition to 40G waves, Global Crossing has added two other features worth noting.  First is SLA’s for propagation delay, which is the component of latency that derives from the time it takes for light to actually travel through the fiber.  That will be a welcome addition to the growing latency-sensitive customer base.  Secondly, they now offer customers enhanced abilities to stipulate a specific route for their wavelength circuits, allowing more fine-grained control over diversity planning.  

All this suggests an increased focus on the wholesale bandwidth business at Global Crossing right now, including its growing large enterprise segment.  It comes at time when the company’s second half has been a bit of a let down in terms of revenue growth and there are indications the company is tightening its belt a bit.  The wholesale business has never been their favorite target, but its economics have improved since the 2008 recession.  Global Crossing has been aggressive on the IP transit front, so a similar effort on the wavelength front isn’t too surprising.

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Categories: Internet Backbones