Allied Fiber Network Deployment Map

One of the greatest challenges facing small ISP companies isn’t necessarily the connection to individual customers, but rather the backhaul portion of their network by which their customers are connected to the rest of the Internet.  Often, these companies must lease bandwidth from larger companies like AT&T whose infrastructure comprise the backbone of the Internet in the US.  These connection costs can be stifling and anti-competitive, thus discouraging smaller ISPs from growing – especially in under-served and rural parts of the country where infrastructure is sparse or unavailable.  While the larger ISPs cater to the inadequacies of the FCC’s proposed US broadband plan, millions of Americans are being systematically isolated from the broadband revolution.

But the forces of capitalism are at work in this industry.  Seeking to compete with and drive down prices on existing long-haul networks, Allied Fiber today announced plans to construct a “a new, network-neutral, high-count dark fiber, colocation and wireless tower integrated system.”

“Allied Fiber’s unique value proposition is in developing a carrier-neutral network with an abundant supply of state-of-the art dark fiber available for lease that provides substantial physical diversity from all existing dark and lit fiber network.”

Soon small ISPs will be able lease bandwidth at competitive rates for backhaul connections to data centers and hubs around the world.  Allied Fiber will lay fiber in five phases along several railways, including that of Norfolk Southern, until a truly national fiber-based long haul network is achieved.  Connections to Atlantic and Pacific oceanic cables will broaden the reach of the network.

“The first phase of the system will provide a combined 648 dark fibers, nineteen 700+ sq ft colocation facilities and 300 tower sites all integrated into one system from one provider, creating a new standard for interconnection. With planned, direct connections to the submarine cable systems linking the Atlantic, Caribbean, Latin American and Pacific cables, Allied Fiber will also provide express routing of traffic through the United States on the latest and most advanced fiber types available. Building new, shortest path, physical duct and fiber routes combined with modern fiber will result in lower latencies as well as higher capacities to be achieved between these points.”

Hopefully Allied Fiber’s broadband infrastructure investment will be competitive enough to lower prices for other companies seeking long-haul data services.  Their model, much like Google’s end-user concentric FTTH plan, is encouraging in the face of other diminishing fiber network deployments.

[Via:  GigaOm]