What is NDFF?

The National Dark Fibre Facility (NDFF) provides a dedicated dark fibre network connecting selected UK universities with research networks in Europe and worldwide via telecommunications facilities in London.

A EPSRC-funded mid-range facility

The National Dark Fibre Facility (NDFF) is an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) National Research Facility, established in 2014 to enable researchers to develop the underpinning communications technologies for the future internet. EPSRC has provided £13.5 Million to fund the project since 2014. NDFF provides access to a dedicated dark fibre network at the physical layer, through access points at six universities/institutes (U. Bristol, U. Cambridge, U. Southampton, U. Surrey, UCL & NPL), with onward connection to European and Worldwide research networks via telecommunications facilities in London, as shown in Figure 1. Our dark fibre network is a reliable, ultra-high-bandwidth network that can be configured and managed remotely and dynamically.

Figure 1. NDFF network logical diagram

The fibre paths linking the Universities, comprising some 1,300 km of single mode fibre, together with control and monitoring systems, are provided to NDFF by Jisc. Researchers in the UK will be able to access the network,  both directly by placing equipment at consortium sites and by attaching to the network remotely through Layer 2 connections including JOINER Network.

Directly controllable network components

The network is engineered with equipment that can be configured remotely and dynamically, and will be a pioneering example of a Software Defined Network (SDN).

  • 32x32 MEMs and 16x16 MEMs optical switches
  • Optical amplifiers
  • Layer 2 access control switch and 10 Gbps SFP+ (80 km)
  • NDFF server

DCMs will be installed at remote sites to compensate chromatic dispersion. 

Acess to NDFF

Researchers can access NDFF (see node hardware), both directly by installing equipment at a host university, or by attaching to the network remotely through Layer 2 connections including JOINER Network .

Figure 2. User group and access to NDFF

The NDFF research network can be used by a wide range of users, including EPSRC funded researchers, industrial partners, other public bodies and overseas research collaborators.

Please note that NDFF provides the dark fibre network as a platform for networks research. NDFF is not a production network for the provision of data transmission services. If your research requires data transmission services rather than research on future transmission networks, you may be able to make use of production networks provided by Janet, see https://www.ja.net.