Microsoft has acquired Lumenisity, a start-up based in the United Kingdom that develops hollow core fiber (HCF) solutions primarily for data centers and internet service providers (ISPs).
Lumenisity’s team will join Microsoft as part of the agreement to assist the company in developing new networking and infrastructure solutions. While Microsoft did not disclose the terms of the transaction, Lumenisity recently completed construction of a 40,000 square-foot HCF manufacturing facility in Romsey, UK.
Microsoft stated that the acquisition of Lumenisity’s technology will help it better support a variety of verticals such as healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail, and government by delivering improved security and intrusion detection as well as facilitating fast, secure transactions across large geographic areas.
Lumenisity offers hollow core fiber, which replaces the glass core found in traditional fiber cabling with an air-filled center channel. The concept is based on the idea that light travels faster through air than through glass, and that allowing it to do so can increase speeds and decrease latency.
While hollow core fiber is not a new technology, Lumenisity has developed a version that significantly reduces loss per kilometer. Lumenisity’s HCF cables are also intended to carry laser light via air rather than silica glass, as in the Cornings SMF-28. Lumenisity claims that its cables have the same latency at 90 kilometers as a glass fiber at 60 kilometers.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheRegister.