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Dark Fiber Service

Extend your reach — cost effectively

CenturyLink leads the industry in providing Dark Fiber Service (DFS) to the Government by providing extensive private networks totaling over 30,000 fiber pair miles and 1,000 racks of optical equipment. CenturyLink's nationwide fiber infrastructure is monitored and maintained by our Fiber Protection Center (FPC). The FPC is one of five departments under our Network Control Center that is vital to the successful operation of all of CenturyLink's service offerings. Our FPC supports Government customers along with CenturyLink field operations, customer care, and engineering with network management, service restoration, technical assistance, quality assurance, and fiber maintenance. CenturyLink's DFS provides Federal Agencies with the capability to acquire dark fiber with the option of providing their own opto-electronics equipment or leasing opto-electronics from CenturyLink.

Geographic Availability

CenturyLink DFS is available both domestically and internationally.

Features

CenturyLink DFS solutions provide a comprehensive listing of features, including, but not limited to, those highlighted below:

• Connection Options – Agencies may connect to dark fiber at available splice points and serving man holes, or within facilities where CenturyLink metro (intra-city) dark fiber terminates. Typical connection takes place in a building meet me room, vault, or via cross connects within a CenturyLink premise. Our ring-centric fiber network architecture supports point-to-point, diverse route, star, and hybrid configurations.
• CONUS Intra-city Fiber – CenturyLink has metropolitan or intra-city fiber optic networks in numerous cities throughout the U.S. The metropolitan networks are interconnected to the CenturyLink backbone for access to the CenturyLink nationwide optical network.
• CONUS Inter-city Fiber – CenturyLink has approximately 22,000 inter-city route miles available in North America serving 134 cities.
• Collocation Service – CenturyLink can provide space for an Agency's optical transport equipment including optical amplifiers, regenerators, or add/drop terminals. As part of the collocation service, CenturyLink provides full redundancy on all infrastructure and network backbone support systems at all facilities. Features include:
  • Uninterruptible Power Supplies
  • Standby generator
  • Redundant cooling systems
  • 24 x 7 access
  • Surveillance systems
  • All entrances continuously monitored and alarmed
• Duct – CenturyLink has deployed a multiple conduit system throughout most of our fiber network that enables engineering of DFS to the Agencies specifications.
• Dark Fiber Local Loop – CenturyLink's POP and amplifier facilities, along with our construction expertise and partners, enable us to provide dark fiber local loops from an Agency's premise to any CenturyLink wire center or outside plant (hut or regeneration) location.

Benefits

• CenturyLink was one of the first carriers to offer DFS to the Federal Government and we have successfully provided extensive private DFS networks to multiple Government Agencies.
• The CenturyLink Dark Fiber network parallels our own operational network. We protect, monitor and serve our DFS customers just as we protect and monitor our own network services.

Product Details

• Product Overview
  Dark Fiber Service product overview (pdf)
• Uses
  Supports all applications
• Alternatives
  • Asynchronous Transfer Mode Service
  • Frame Relay Service
  • Internet Protocol Services
  • Network-Based Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network Services
  • Optical Wavelength Services
  • Private Line Service
  • Synchronous Optical Network Services (SONETS)

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