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OC3, OC12 Connections

OC3 and OC12 circuits are high speed fiber optic based connections (the OC stands for Optical Carrier) utilized to link data centers and applications requiring high throughput and high quality transmission. These fiber optic backbone connections are used by large corporations, Internet Service providers, government agencies, healthcare providers, colleges and universities, financial services firms, and others needing to move large amounts of data over distance with guarantees as to latency and throughput. Due to the nature of the optical connections, the quality of service includes fewer retransmissions and errors and is better than circuits provisioned over copper.

As part of the Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) hierarchy, an OC3 can provide up to 155.52 megabits per second of bandwidth, the equivalent of 100 T-1 circuits or more than 3 DS-3 links. An OC12 is the equivalent of four OC3 transmission pipes, yielding 622 megabits per second of bandwidth across the connection.

The full amount of bandwidth available in an OC3 or OC12 can be dedicated to a single application or broken down into smaller increments through the use of routers, switches, or other termination equipment. OC3s can also be used to provide 100 Meg connectivity and Gigabit Ethernet connections can be provisioned over OC12s for those locations where native IP is not otherwise available. Some users will break an OC3 down into three DS-3 equivalents for separate applications and connectivity needs between locations or an MPLS cloud. Similarly, an OC12 can be broken down into separate OC3 equivalents and utilized as a carrier system linking multiple applications between sites.

Some carriers will offer “burstable” OC3 and OC12 connections where the buyer will commit to a lesser amount of bandwidth and have the ability to send periodic higher amounts (bursts) of information. These applications are generally provisioned over an MPLS network architecture and Quality of Service (QOS) for these shared facilities. Alternatives must be very carefully defined to insure that the amount of bandwidth needed will be available when required.

OC3 and OC12 circuits can be ordered with and without protection. By its nature, the SONET backbone networking hierarchy provides alternative paths in the event of a network facility or component failure, automatically switching the transmission to a different group of network components. For high availability applications, though, many users will purchase 1+1 protection, effectively laying in a second “back-up” facility including redundant local loops. The use of protected circuits will generally increase the advertised availability from three 9’s (99.9%) to four 9’s (99.99%).

As an alternative to redundant local loops, high survivability fiber optic “ring” architectures can be utilized where available, providing instantaneous switching to a different path from the client location to the telephone company switching office(s). At the switching office the OC3s and OC12s are generally multiplexed on to a higher (OC48 or OC192) carrier system to provide interoffice connectivity.

Network Innovations is your one stop source in providing free, fast quotes for OC3 connections and OC12 connections, or even OC48 and OC192 connections, all with Tier 1 Carriers.