Seamless data transmission network links Tallinn and Frankfurt via Baltic capitals

Wednesday (21 Jan) saw the official launch of the Baltic Highway, a modern data transmission network, connecting Tallinn and Frankfurt via Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw and Berlin. The 3000 km optical fibre network is distinguished by its reliability, low delay (35 milliseconds), capacity of 100G per channel and 9.6 Tbit/s total throughput, Invest Lithuania announced.

The Baltic Highway project was implemented by three partners - Data Logistics Centre (Lithuania), Latvenergo (Latvia) and Televork (Estonia). Development of the data network took more than five years and cost more than 1.5 million euros.

Baltic Highway is the first - and so far the only - seamless (i.e. not made up of different segments of operator networks) network using the infrastructure of a single manufacturer. Moreover, it is the shortest span data highway connecting Eastern and Western Europe and creates the possibility of reaching St. Petersburg via 100G connections, or Belarus via 10G connections.

"This network is highly relevant to big data operators as well as financial institutions and banks, which consider fast data exchange important. It is important to the megadata centres of Microsoft, Google, and Yandex, established in Finland, - up to this day they used to employ the 10G data transfer networks. Baltic Highway is like a freeway to Frankfurt, only without border crossings or controls," said Juozas Rumbutis, the Head of the Sales Department of Data Logistics Centre.

Baltic Highway uses optic fibres laid into high-voltage lines and gas pipelines managed by energy companies.