Data Center Interconnect
Dynamic, elastic links between data-centre facilities for replication, workload mobility and disaster recovery failover. Supports on-demand bandwidth scaling, private encrypted transit and integration with cloud on-ramps so facilities operate as a single stretched fabric.
Overview
When your business operates two or more data centres, the network connecting them is the most critical link you have. It carries replication traffic, storage synchronisation, disaster recovery failovers, and live workload migration between sites. Data Centre Interconnect (DCI) provides dedicated, ultra-low-latency connectivity between your data centre locations with zero packet loss and deterministic throughput — the same performance your servers would get if they were in the same rack, just separated by distance.
Clevertek scopes every engagement to your environment — capacity, sites, compliance and support model — so you get a tailored plan rather than a fixed SKU. Pricing is quote-only, and our solutions architects will work through your requirements before any proposal.
Our approach
We design, provision, and manage dedicated fibre-optic or wavelength connections between your data centre locations — in the same metro area, across cities, or between continents. Every DCI circuit is engineered for zero packet loss, sub-millisecond latency in metro deployments, and carrier-grade resilience with diverse physical paths. We handle fibre procurement, dark fibre management, optical transport configuration (CWDM/DWDM), and ongoing performance monitoring. Your data centres communicate as if they share a single network, regardless of physical distance.
Why work with us
Zero packet loss, guaranteed
Dedicated optical transport with forward error correction (FEC) — no dropped packets during replication, migration, or DR failover traffic.
Sub-millisecond metro latency
Direct fibre connections between metro data centres achieve 0.5-1ms round-trip latency — identical to intra-DC performance for synchronous workloads.
Scalable from 1 Gbps to 400 Gbps
Wavelength-based transport scales without laying new fibre — an additional wavelength delivers another 100 Gbps or 400 Gbps on existing infrastructure.
Physically diverse paths
Diverse cable ducts, different fibre route entries, and different carrier POPs into each data centre — no single fibre cut affects all paths.
DWDM for long-haul efficiency
Dense wavelength division multiplexing maximises capacity per fibre pair — 40 or 80 wavelengths of 100 Gbps each on a single fibre.
Managed from design to operation
We handle the entire DCI lifecycle — fibre sourcing, optical engineering, transport configuration, and ongoing 24x7 monitoring of optical power levels and bit error rates.
Key benefits
What this solution delivers for your business.
Support synchronous replication
Zero packet loss and deterministic latency enable synchronous database replication, storage mirroring, and active-active clustering between data centres — workloads that tolerate zero data loss.
Faster disaster recovery failover
Dedicated interconnect with sub-second failover eliminates the uncertainty of IPsec-over-internet DR links. Failovers complete in seconds, not minutes.
No carrier-induced latency variance
Private transport means no internet congestion, no BGP path flaps, no carrier routing changes — latency is as stable as the speed of light in the fibre.
Simplified network architecture
Layer-2 extension between data centres means VMs, containers, and storage resources can migrate between sites without IP reconfiguration.
Predictable capacity costs
Fixed monthly cost per wavelength or dark fibre pair. No variable data charges, no egress fees, no bandwidth overage penalties.
Audit-ready performance data
Per-circuit latency trending, bit error rate monitoring, and uptime compliance reports available on demand — for SLA verification and compliance audits.
What's included
Part of this managed service.
Dark fibre
Dedicated fibre pair between data centres — unlimited capacity limited only by the optics connected to each end.
- Single-mode fibre
- Customer-owned or leased
- Any protocol (Ethernet/FC/OTN)
- Capacity: 1G - 800G per pair
Wavelength / DCI transport
Managed wavelength service between data centres with guaranteed optical performance.
- 10G / 100G / 400G wavelengths
- CWDM or DWDM
- Forward error correction
- Optical power monitoring
Layer-2 extension
Ethernet VLAN extension between data centre sites for workload mobility and stretched clusters.
- VLAN transparency
- MTU 9000 (jumbo frames)
- STP / TRILL / EVPN
- MAC address learning
Resilience and diversity
Physically diverse fibre paths with automatic optical protection switching.
- Diverse duct routes
- Auto protection switching (APS)
- <50ms failover
- Four-fibre BLSR option
Performance monitoring
Optical power levels, BER, latency trending, and utilisation measured continuously.
- Optical power monitoring
- Bit error rate trending
- Latency measurement
- Utilisation per wavelength
Where it helps
Real-world scenarios where this solution delivers measurable outcomes.
Metro data centre active-active clustering
Connect two data centres in the same metro area over dark fibre with sub-ms latency — run active-active clusters for databases, virtualised servers, and storage.
Disaster recovery with synchronous replication
Provision a dedicated interconnect between primary and DR sites for synchronous storage replication — zero RPO, guaranteed consistent writes.
Multi-site storage fabric extension
Extend Fibre Channel or iSCSI storage fabrics between data centres over dedicated wavelengths — storage resources accessible from either location as if local.
Cloud on-ramp from data centre
Extend a dedicated wavelength from your data centre to a cloud provider edge location for direct, private cloud connectivity — bypassing the internet for replication and hybrid workloads.
Questions buyers actually ask
What is the maximum distance for dark fibre?
Dark fibre performance depends on the optics. 10G optics reach 40-80km without amplification; 100G optics reach 10-40km. Longer distances use amplified DWDM transport with repeaters.
Can DCI be used for storage replication?
Yes — and it is the ideal transport. Zero packet loss and deterministic latency make DCI suitable for synchronous storage replication, Fibre Channel extension, and iSCSI transport.
How does DCI differ from MPLS or private line?
DCI operates at the optical or data-link layer — lower latency, higher throughput, and no protocol processing overhead compared to routed MPLS or IP-based private lines.
Do I need dark fibre or can I use a managed wavelength?
Both are options. Dark fibre gives you full control over optics and capacity but requires your own equipment. Managed wavelengths are delivered as a service with performance SLAs — no equipment management.
Ready to scope a solution?
Talk to a Clevertek solutions architect about your requirements — no obligation.