Optical Carrier


High-speed fiber optic connections are measured in Optical Carrier or “OC” transmission charges. These charges embody a number of standardized bandwidth quantities supported by Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) connections. They are generically known as OCx, the place the “x” represents a multiplier of the fundamental OC-1 transmission price, which is 51.84 Mbps.

The following is an inventory of standardized Optical Carrier (OC) information transmission charges. The “STM” numbers in parentheses are the OC equivalents outlined within the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). The STM numbers are generally used to outline the bandwidth supported by high-speed networking {hardware}.

  • OC-1 (STM-0) – 51.84 Mbps
  • OC-3 (STM-1) – 155.52 Mbps
  • OC-9 (STM-3) – 466.56 Mbps
  • OC-12 (STM-4) – 622.08 Mbps
  • OC-18 (STM-6) – 933.12 Mbps
  • OC-24 (STM-8) – 1244.16 Mbps
  • OC-36 (STM-12) – 1866.24 Mbps
  • OC-48 (STM-16) – 2488.32 Mbps
  • OC-192 (STM-64) – 9953.28 Mbps
  • OC-768 (STM-256) – 40 Gbps
  • OC-3072 (STM-1024) – 160 Gbps

As you’ll be able to see from the listing above, the quantity following “OC-” servers as a multiplier of the fundamental OC-1 price of 51.84 Mbps. For instance, OC-3 is 51.84 Mbps x 3, or 155.52 Mbps. OC-12 is 4 instances that of the OC-3 price (155.52 Mbps x 4), which is 622.08 Mbps.

OC charges are used to measure speeds of high-speed optical networks, from native business-to-business connections, to the best bandwidth connections used for the Internet spine. Small and medium sized companies that require high-speed Internet connectivity could use OC-3 or OC-12 connections. ISPs that require a lot bigger quantities of bandwidth could use a number of OC-48 connections. Generally, OC-192 and higher connections are used for the Internet spine, which connects the biggest networks on the earth collectively.

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