The Big Questions

Questions

• Who are you?
• What does Darkstrand sell?
• What makes Darkstrand different from traditional carriers?
• What is National LambdaRail?
• How did you come to acquire half the capacity for commercial use?
• What is the structure of your partnership?
• Who owns the fiber the network runs on?
• Which research partners are available?
• Who uses the network and for what type of projects?

Answers

• Who are you?

  Darkstrand is a corporate partner for solving real workflow, development and collaborative challenges, linking teams, facilities and suppliers into one ecosystem through our high-speed, networked grid environment, a vast 12,000-route mile optical network spread across 30 U.S. cities.

• What does Darkstrand sell?

  Darkstrand offers clients both national and regional networking solutions on a 10G-and-up layer-one network or our 1G-10G layer-two network. Darkstrand offers innovation solutions connecting companies to leading labs and universities for HPC access and custom research.

• What makes Darkstrand different
  from traditional carriers?

  Darkstrand is different on several fronts. We are dedicated solely to serving the large data transport of commercial customers. We provide highly customized connectivity solutions with varying capacities along multiple points that are all inclusive of maintenance and service. We are already connected to the leading research and HPC facilities around the country and can provide clients with unparalleled access and management of those services.

• What is National LambdaRail?

  National LambdaRail (NLR) is the advanced, high-speed network infrastructure that supports the major science and technology work of approximately 200 labs and universities. NLR connects 30 cities across 12,000 miles coast-to-coast.

• How did you come to acquire half the capacity
  for commercial use?

  We were already working with National LambdaRail to help us design and build a smaller network to serve the media industry. We were invited to a closed bidding for half of its capacity. Although not the highest bidder, our vision for commercial and academic collaboration more closely matched their own and we emerged as the partner.

• What is the structure of your partnership?

  We are in an exclusive partnership with National LambdaRail in which Darkstrand is the sole seller and provider of commercial services and use of the network. NLR is the sole provider of non-commercial use of the network.

• Who owns the fiber the network runs on?

  National LambdaRail owns the fiber network.

• Which research partners are available?

  New Mexico Center for Advanced Computing, University of California San Diego CaliT2, the Electronic Visualization Lab at University of Illinois Chicago, Pittsburgh Supercomputing facility.

• Who uses the network and for
  what type of projects?

  The network has been used by leading advanced research organizations such as JPL and NASA and companies such as Microsoft Research and Boeing. The projects include such on world changing initiatives as the human genome project and also includes projects such as the 787 Dreamliner, Advanced animation and production techniques and full vehicle analysis on the space shuttle.