Others may have announced their intention to build a pan-European fibre-optic network, but i-21 is the only company with the existing European resources, the rights of way and the local presence to achieve this in 2000.
The i-21 network will provide a virtually limitless supply of state-of-the-art fibre-optic capacity, offering all the bandwidth and connectivity needed to transmit data, voice and real-time video – reliably, securely and cost effectively. When fully lit, the network will be able to carry over a petabit (1,000 terabits per second) of traffic – the first network ever designed to do this.
i-21′s will be the biggest fibre-optic network in Europe and among the largest in the world. It will cover 70 cities in 17 countries with 200 points of presence spread out over more than 24,000km in cable length. It will also be the first pan-European network with an extension to Moscow.
The i-21 network will include major in-country networks. Designed as a series of interlinking country rings, it will interconnect at all the key points in each country as well as linking to those in neighbouring states. Additional points of presence can be added at little cost.
The i-21 network will allow several layers of service. It can offer a dark or dim fibre service, managed wavelength using DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing), managed bandwidth employing SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) protected ring architecture, IP (Internet Protocol) services and value-added services such as networking co-location and peering.
The i-21 network is using the latest G.655 Corning LEAF® (non-zero dispersion shifted) fibre. Using this high-specification technology reduces the costs of regenerating the optical signals. It enables us to maximise the usable bandwidth per fibre.