BSkyB have announced that, with the help of technology company Alcatel-Lucent, they have successfully launched the UK’s first fibre optic broadband network that boasts speeds of up to 100 Gigabits per second (Gbps).
Using Alcatel-Lucent’s ‘next generation’ technology that utilises innovative silicon from Bell Labs to allow data speeds of 100 Gbps on every one of the 88 wavelengths that a fibre optic cable allows. Sky deployed this technology to deal with the ever increasing demand for broadband speeds that allow for multiple machines to stream and download video and music files without having a detrimental effect on the quality of the connection.
Director of Sky’s Network Services, Mohamed Hammady said: “Millions of Sky customers use our broadband network to enjoy video and other high bandwidth services.” He added: “We can do this because of the investment we make in our state-of-the-art, all-fibre core trunk network.”
Sky Broadband currently has 3 million UK subscribers and the company is aggressively improving its technology in a bid to become one the the country’s leading providers of super-fast broadband services. Indeed, on Monday (9th January 2012) the company announced a significant investment in social media firm Zeebox, described as a ’second-screen consumer service that brings together broadcast TV and the internet’. The investment will see Sky customer have the opportunity to buy products they see during programmes and adverts on channels operated by the company. This is seen as a bid to capitalise on the fact that television viewers often surf the internet at the same time, a fact revealed in a recent study by Ofcom.
The announcement follows a movie streaming service Netflix comes to the UK. Industry commentators have noted that online film streaming has the potential to put huge demands on broadband networks as it becomes more popular.