Up to 400Gbps, Microsoft takes a fancy to "hollow fiber" technology to acquire Lumenisity

CTOnews.com December 10 news, Microsoft today announced the acquisition of Lumenisity, but did not disclose the specific purchase price. The latter is a UK-based start-up that develops "hollow fiber" (HCF) technology for data centres and Internet service providers.

Microsoft said that through the acquisition, it can further expand the capabilities of the global cloud infrastructure, reduce the latency of Microsoft's cloud platform, and improve customer service.

CTOnews.com learned that HCF cable appeared in the 1990s, combining optical fiber and coaxial cable. But Lumenisity uses a proprietary technology patent that wraps a central passage filled with air in glass tubes, based on the principle that light travels faster through the air than glass.

In a test conducted by the company and Comcast in April this year, a single Lumenisity HCF can be transmitted at speeds from 10Gbps to 400Gbps.

Girish Bablani, vice president of Microsoft's Azure core business, wrote in a blog post:

HCF can bring benefits to a variety of industries, including health care, financial services, manufacturing, retail and government. For the public sector, HCF can provide enhanced security and intrusion detection to federal and local governments around the world.

In healthcare, because HCF can adapt to the size and number of large data sets, it can help accelerate medical image retrieval and promote the ability of suppliers to capture, preserve and share medical imaging data in the cloud.

With the rise of the digital economy, HCF can help international financial institutions to seek fast and secure transactions in a wide range of geographical areas.