Crosslake's New Low Latency Toronto/Buffalo Submarine Cable
Crosslake is building the first new fiber route linking the Toronto and Buffalo telecom hotels since 1998. But it is not just about new glass (G.652d). No carrier is selling dark fiber today on this route due to depletion of existing assets and lease prices are high on a per kilometer basis. Moreover, diversity is a bit of joke. Most of the existing fiber goes counterclockwise from Toronto to Buffalo and many of the conduit systems cross paths. Finally, the existing infrastructure is often exposed on aerial poles. Vulnerable in all climates, but particularly the frigid North.
Crosslake solves all these problems. It is building an underwater cable across Lake Ontario that will be 100% diverse to existing routes and a half millisecond less RTD. Furthermore, the double armored cable will be buried 1.5 meters deep and the shore approaches will be protected using bore pipe. Expected time to the first repair on the system exceeds 15 years. The raison d'etre of Crosslake is to empower networks by selling dark fiber pairs on IRU and long term leases. Without regeneration, a single fiber pair on this system can carry 250 100 gig waves from 151 Front Street or TR2 Equinix to 350 East Main, Buffalo.