100Glight Long-Haul DCI Modules Boost Backbone Network Expansion for African Cross-Border IDC Operator

Author:

A leading African cross-border IDC operator faced 100G bandwidth shortages and 80–120km cross-border transmission limits, with harsh operating environments and tight budgets. 100Glight’s long-haul DCI solution achieved 400G 120km unrepeated transmission, cut relay costs by 40%, and delivered stable wide-temperature operation across 5 countries, driving rapid business growth.

Client Background

A leading African cross-border IDC operator covers core cities in 5 countries including South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, operating 12 regional data centers to provide cloud hosting and dedicated line interconnection services for African enterprises and multinational corporations. With the acceleration of Africa's digitalization, cross-border data traffic has grown by 80% annually, saturating the legacy 100G backbone DCI links. Cross-border data transmission suffered from high latency and severe packet loss, and the vast African terrain with inter-site distances exceeding 80km made traditional optical modules insufficient in transmission distance and prone to signal attenuation, failing to meet cross-border interconnection needs. The operator urgently needed a long-haul, high-bandwidth, cost-effective DCI optical module solution to upgrade and expand its cross-border backbone network.

Core Challenges

Long Cross-Border Transmission Distance: Inter-data center distances range from 80km to 120km across borders; ordinary 100G/400G modules lack sufficient transmission distance, requiring relay equipment that drives up costs.
Huge Bandwidth Gap: 100G links cannot carry cross-border traffic, leading to user access freezes and high dedicated line packet loss rates.
Harsh Environmental Conditions: Limited heat dissipation in African equipment rooms, with some sites lacking constant temperature facilities, requiring wide-temperature and highly durable modules.
Tight Budget and O&M Constraints: Expansion costs must be controlled, and remote sites have inconvenient O&M, requiring maintenance-free and long-life products.

100Glight Solution

100Glight tailored a cross-border long-haul DCI optical interconnection solution for long-distance transmission without relay equipment, with core products including:

400G QSFP-DD ZR4+ Optical Transceiver: Supports 120km unrepeated transmission, perfectly covering cross-border inter-site distances
100G QSFP28 ER4 Optical Transceiver: 80km long-haul transmission for backup links to ensure cross-border link redundancy

The products feature a wide-temperature design (-10℃~75℃) to adapt to harsh African equipment room environments; built-in signal amplification and error correction technology ensure zero attenuation and low packet loss during long-distance transmission. All series support hot-swappable functionality and DDM remote monitoring, enabling real-time link status tracking for remote sites. The unrepeated transmission mode drastically reduces deployment costs, offering higher cost-effectiveness than similar products from overseas brands.

Deployment & Implementation

100Glight provides one-stop services including cross-border link budget calculation, fiber loss testing, and product selection. Adopting a primary link upgrade + backup link redundancy model, deployment was completed in batches across 12 data centers in 5 countries without disrupting existing dedicated line services. The technical team remotely guided local engineers to complete rack mounting and debugging, simplifying operations with single-site deployment time <3 hours. A remote monitoring platform was built simultaneously for real-time cross-border link transmission tracking, eliminating the need for on-site O&M personnel.

Project Results

Cross-border backbone network bandwidth upgraded from 100G to 400G, throughput increased by 4x, and cross-border data transmission latency reduced by 55%.

Stable 120km unrepeated transmission operation, cutting relay equipment costs by 40% and significantly optimizing overall TCO.

Wide-temperature design adapts to harsh equipment room environments, with 9 consecutive months of stable operation, zero failures, zero signal attenuation, and packet loss rate <0.001%.

Supports rapid growth of cross-border enterprise dedicated lines and cloud interconnection services, improving customer retention rate by 40% and achieving 65% annual revenue growth.

Client Testimonial

“100Glight's long-haul DCI modules completely solve our cross-border interconnection pain points, with stable and reliable 120km unrepeated transmission and much lower costs than other brands, perfectly adapting to Africa's network environment. The entire process from solution design to remote support is professional and thoughtful, helping us seize the African digital market rapidly.”

— CTO, African Cross-Border IDC Operator

(Word count: 1048)

100Glight High-Density Breakout Solution Facilitates Data Center Upgrade for Southeast Asian E-Commerce Platform

100Glight Low-Latency Optical Modules Support High-Frequency Trading Network for European Financial Exchange

100Glight High-Density Breakout Solution Facilitates Data Center Upgrade for Southeast Asian E-Commerce Platform

100Glight Low-Latency Optical Modules Support High-Frequency Trading Network for European Financial Exchange

Understanding 100G QSFP28 Compatible Transceivers: Essential Facts for Fiber Optic Communication

2026-09-02

Exploring the Advantages of High-Speed 100G QSFP28 Modules for Modern Networking Solutions

2026-09-01

Understanding the 100G QSFP28 Transceiver Module: Key Features and Applications

2026-08-31