The future of internet connectivity

[EXA_Mark]

Yesterday we announced our brand new service, DarkLight™ which we have been working on for what feels like an eternity (although it wasn't quite that long), and it is something we are really excited about.

 

So up front, this post is shamelessly promoting our new service, which we think is game changing, but secondly we want you to help us direct which cities and areas we are doing next.

 

So first off, what is DarkLight?

 

DarkLight is our new future proofed internet connectivity. Unlike a traditional DSL or Fibre to the Cabinet service or hybrid products such as EoFTTC, DarkLight is true dark fibre all the way to your premises.

Okay some of you may say “but we have Fibre already”. And yes for a good number of you on edugeek will, especially the secondary schools but what you have is most likely a “lit” leased line based product with a restriction on speed and/or capacity. For instance, a 100Mbps connection on a 100Mbps bearer/line or maybe if you are lucky a couple of hundred Megabits on a Gigabit service, or for a VERY few amongst you a Gigabit on a Gigabit.

 

DarkLight gives you the speed you want, from 100Mbps upwards but without any upper cap (okay, so technically 100Gbps initially due to fibre optical constraints). So you can take 500Mbps today, 1Gbps in a month and then upgrade to 2Gbps next year and so on, without ever needing to change your physical connection again. In fact, right from the start our termination equipment that we install delivers up to 10Gbps.

 

The maximum speed achieved recently on fibre optic was 1.125Tbps, that’s 1.25 Million Mega Bits per second. Over 50,000 times faster than the current average UK speed. Now of course you are not able to get that today, nor in the next few years, but you get the idea of where this will end up, and all using the same fibre optic we install today. The ultra-fast services we can install today are not quite that quick (yet) but are more than 415 times faster than the average UK speed.

 

So you have this great ultra-fast, reliable connection, with more speed than you will ever need for web browsing, sending emails or watching cats on YouTube (other animals and videos are available) but why do you need so much.

 

Now’s where it gets exciting, you can basically forget about the internet connection being a barrier to what you are trying to achieve online. Want to do real time network replication, no problem; want to have real time disaster recovery and backup, no problem. With a new way of thinking and a near limitless internet connection, the only limits will be your imagination.

 

Okay, so you get it’s fast, it’s future proofed so surely this means it’s going to be expensive, right? Wrong, pricing is equally exciting, with pricing from £299 per month to £499 per month (paid annual and on three-year contract, no small print). For example, this means that for a 1Gbps guaranteed, symmetrical connection, is less than £6,000 per year and for the first 125 customer sites the installation is reduced from £2,500 to just £500.

 

So for the vast majority of edugeek readers, this faster services will be far less than you are paying now. If you are not sure of just how good value this is, ask your current supplier how much they would charge for 1Gbps or 10Gbps guaranteed internet bandwidth on Dark Fibre?

 

In order to get this to as many of our customers (existing and new) as possible as quickly as possible Exa has partnered with City Fibre to work together on a national basis. This means we can get this to our customers now, not in the distant future.

Right now, today, the service is available in wide areas of Bradford & Leeds, but by the end of this year will be in a further 15+ cities and towns, and within twelve months more than 36.

 

Over the next few weeks we will be announcing the role out, and if you’d like to register you interest in the product you can visit Darklight the site will have a lot more information on there over the coming days and will be updated with role out information, which will also be on Exa Education and our blog http://www.blog.exa.net.uk

 

Of course we are not going to get to everybody (though it won't be through lack of trying), and for some this type of connectivity will remain out of reach for now, but for those who can get it, it really is a whole new ball game.

 

So as I said at the start of this, now apologetically long post, we are now in the planning stage of where to go to next beyond the 36 town and cities we are already in launch planning to, and this is where we have to get feedback from you. So If you are in an area where you know a good deal of schools who would be very interested in our new service and would like ultra-fast internet connectivity please get in touch, directly with me via PM or call me on 0345 1451234.

 

If you are still reading at this point, thank you for bearing with me and I hope it has been worth your time reading it.