Business connectivity
Wavelength Services (100G/400G)
A wavelength is a dedicated optical channel between two named endpoints — transparent to what you run over it, unshared by construction, and scoped by the route rather than by a service tier.
We quote them for data center interconnect and backbone links, with protection and latency treated as requirements you set rather than specs we publish.
- Service
- Point-to-point optical transport between two named endpoints
- Common tiers
- 10G, 100G and 400G wavelengths, scoped per route
- Unit of scope
- The route — the A-end, the Z-end and the path between them
- Boundary
- We scope, procure and coordinate turn-up; the carrier operates the wavelength
Get a quote
Wavelength services
Tell us where to reach you and a Uniqcli specialist follows up by email to scope the locations with you, then comes back with a written quote. Serviceability and the final figure are confirmed per location.
The first number is our real one, not an opening one.
Tell us the scope and we come back with the best price we can do on it.
- Supporting federal, state & local purchasers
- GPC & P-Card accepted
- TAA & NDAA-889 screening before every quote
A private channel between two places, and nothing in the middle
Where an ethernet service hands your traffic to equipment that switches it, a wavelength hands you an optical channel and gets out of the way. The capacity is not shared, it is not statistically multiplexed with anyone else's traffic, and it is largely transparent to the protocol you put on it — which is why it is the usual answer for data center interconnect, for storage replication that cannot tolerate a jitter surprise, and for backbone links between facilities you already operate.
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The trade is that it is a route product: what it costs and how it behaves is set by the physical path between your two endpoints, so the quote starts with the endpoints rather than with a tier. The starting rate we advertise belongs to dedicated internet access at a business address, not to optical transport. Everything outside the starting rates above is sized rather than priced on a web page: the figure that binds is a written quote against your own addresses, terms and equipment list.
Three properties, and one of them is a decision
The first two come with the product. The third is a requirement you set, and it moves the number more than anything else on the quote. Circuits are provisioned through our carrier network relationships and quoted per location; equipment is sourced through our distribution network.
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Naming a service type describes what we quote, not a partnership with any provider.
Capacity that is genuinely yours
A wavelength is not contended, not oversubscribed and not sharing a queue with another tenant's backup window. That is the property people are buying when they step past an ethernet private line: consistent behavior under load, because there is no load but yours.
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It is also why a wavelength is usually specified for replication, clustering and anything where the application is sensitive to variation rather than just to throughput.
Transparency to what you run over it
Because the service hands you an optical channel rather than a switched port, what you send across it is largely your business — including encryption applied at your own equipment on both ends, which is worth scoping deliberately rather than assuming.
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The optics, the interface type at each end and whether your existing gear can present them are part of the design; equipment is quoted through our distribution network where it is in scope.
Protected or unprotected — a question, not a spec
A protected wave rides a primary path with a diverse backup and reroutes when the primary fails; an unprotected wave is a single path and is priced accordingly.
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Which one you want depends on what the link carries and on whether resilience already exists at a higher layer. We ask, we quote both where both are available, and the restoration behavior that comes with each is the provider's published term rather than a promise in our voice.
Latency belongs to the route, not to the brochure
Two providers quoting the same pair of cities can differ measurably because their fiber takes different paths, and the shorter path is not always the cheaper quote.
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If your application has a latency requirement, say so at scoping: it turns into a question we put to each provider about their actual route, and it becomes a comparable line on the options that come back. Assess, design, procure, support: we scope the requirement with you, design against it, source the circuits and equipment, and stay the single point of contact through turn-up and afterwards.
Scope an optical route
Go to the formWhat we'll ask at quote
A wavelength quote is short once the endpoints are pinned down, because almost everything else follows from the route.
- Both endpoints in full — facility, building, suite or cage at each end, since a wavelength terminates at a place rather than in a service area
- The capacity tier you are sizing for, and whether the requirement is likely to grow into the next tier inside the term
- The interface and optics expected at each end, and whether the equipment presenting them already exists
- Whether the link must be protected, and whether any resilience already exists at a higher layer that would make an unprotected wave acceptable
- Any latency requirement, and whether it is a hard application constraint or a preference — the two get quoted differently
- Whether route diversity from an existing circuit has to be proven, and against which existing path
- Your target term and turn-up date, and who holds the cross-connect relationship at each facility
Wavelength, private line, or transit
These three get shortlisted together and they answer different questions. Transit connects you to everyone else and is the right product when the traffic is going to the internet at large. An ethernet private line connects two of your own sites at layer 2 over shared provider infrastructure, with a committed rate that is usually more than adequate and a price that reflects the sharing. A wavelength connects two of your own facilities over a dedicated optical channel, and you buy it when the consistency of that channel is itself the requirement.
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The practical decision rule is what the link carries. Branch traffic, voice and normal application access sit comfortably on a private line. Storage replication, database clustering, backup fabrics between data centers and anything with a tight and non-negotiable latency budget are where a wavelength earns the difference. Where a route is long-lived and the capacity requirement is large enough, it is also worth asking whether a dark-fiber lease belongs in the comparison — we can scope that alongside the lit options rather than leaving it as an unasked question.
Adjacent transport lanes
Wavelengths are almost always scoped beside the facility connectivity at each end.
Wavelength service questions
How do you deliver a wavelength — is it your optical network?
No. Circuits are provisioned through our carrier network relationships and quoted per location; equipment is sourced through our distribution network. Naming a service type describes what we quote, not a partnership with any provider. There is no Uniqcli fiber and no optical gear of ours in the path. What we bring is scoping the route properly, sourcing the same pair of endpoints from more than one provider so the options are comparable, coordinating turn-up at both facilities, and one accountable relationship afterwards. Assess, design, procure, support: we scope the requirement with you, design against it, source the circuits and equipment, and stay the single point of contact through turn-up and afterwards.
Should we buy protected or unprotected?
It depends on what the link carries and on what already protects it. If the wavelength is the only path between two facilities and the applications riding it cannot pause, protection is usually worth the difference. If you already have a second route, or the application layer fails over cleanly on its own, an unprotected wave on a genuinely diverse path is often the better value. We quote both where both exist so the decision is made against real numbers rather than a rule of thumb.
Wavelength or point-to-point ethernet — which do we need?
Start from what the link carries. Ethernet private lines are the sensible default for site-to-site traffic and are usually the cheaper answer. A wavelength is what you move to when the requirement is a dedicated optical channel with no shared infrastructure in the middle — typically data center interconnect, replication, clustering or a hard latency budget. If you are unsure which side of that line you sit on, describe the application and we will say which one we would quote.
How fast can you get a quote back?
How quickly a quote comes back depends on how many addresses have to be checked and which carriers serve them; a single site is usually straightforward, and a multi-site scope moves at the pace of the slowest address. We tell you where each location stands rather than holding the whole quote for the last one.
Can you quote the route between two specific facilities?
Coverage is nationwide and confirmed per location at quote — what is deliverable to a specific address depends on which carriers reach that building, so we check it per site rather than publishing a map. For a wavelength that means checking which providers can actually build the specific A-to-Z route with the protection and latency you asked for, which is a narrower question than whether they serve both cities. Send both endpoints and you get an answer per route, including where the honest answer is that a different tier or a different path is what is deliverable. Service commitments are backed by the underlying carrier's published service terms, which are provided with your quote rather than summarized here.
Send both endpoints
A wavelength quote needs two facilities, a capacity tier and your protection requirement — that is genuinely enough to start. We come back with comparable options per route, with protection and any latency figure stated as the provider's own rather than ours.
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Everything outside the starting rates above is sized rather than priced on a web page: the figure that binds is a written quote against your own addresses, terms and equipment list.
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Scope an optical route
Send the two endpoints, the tier and whether the link has to be protected. You get written options per route, sourced from more than one provider so the comparison is real. Service commitments are backed by the underlying carrier's published service terms, which are provided with your quote rather than summarized here.