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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsColt Technology Services, Relativity Networks and Network Planning Solutions (NPS) have completed a live proof of concept using ChronoCore hollow-core fibre to connect two Colt network locations in central London. The installation is operating inside Colt’s network, demonstrating that this fibre can be installed, spliced, tested and validated in an established metropolitan carrier environment. The partners say the technology could cut latency by about 30% versus conventional fibre, but that figure is a partner claim rather than an independently verified result for every route or application.
What the London project tested
Announced on 13 October 2026, the project connected two existing Colt sites in central London with Relativity Networks’ ChronoCore hollow-core fibre (HCF). Colt supplied the live network environment, Relativity supplied the fibre and NPS handled the specialist field work.
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NPS says its scope included installation, splicing, testing and validation. That matters because a proof of concept in a laboratory does not establish that a new fibre type can be deployed reliably through ducts, access points and equipment rooms already used by a carrier. In this case, ChronoCore is live within Colt’s infrastructure rather than being only a bench demonstration.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →“This live central London deployment is an important step in moving HCF from technical potential into operational network infrastructure,” said Danny Preston, NPS founder and CEO. He said the work demonstrated that the specialist processes needed to deploy the technology in an established metropolitan network are in place.
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What hollow-core fibre is
Conventional optical fibre guides light through a solid glass core. Hollow-core fibre instead guides light through an air-filled central region surrounded by specially shaped glass structures. Because light travels through air rather than predominantly through glass, the design is intended to reduce propagation delay and chromatic dispersion.
Propagation delay is the time light takes to cross the cable itself. Chromatic dispersion is the spreading of different wavelengths as they travel, which can complicate high-speed transmission and require compensation. HCF does not remove the delay added by routers, switches, transponders, amplifiers, interconnection and the rest of a network path, but it is designed to reduce the fibre portion of that budget.
Does it really reduce latency?
Trade coverage reports the project partners’ claim that ChronoCore can provide around 30% lower latency than conventional fibre. That percentage should be read as a technology claim, not a universal end-to-end guarantee. The result a customer experiences depends on cable length, the optical terminals at each end, switching and transponder equipment, the route selected through the network and the interconnections used by the service.
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A shorter route using ordinary fibre can therefore outperform a longer HCF route, while equipment and queuing can dominate the total delay in some applications. Any commercial service would need to specify the measured route, test conditions, interfaces and traffic assumptions behind its latency figure.
Why the deployment is significant
Hollow-core fibre has attracted attention for low-latency links, but integrating it into a carrier network requires more than manufacturing a cable. Operators must plan the route, handle the cable without exceeding its limits, make reliable splices, verify optical performance and connect it to compatible transmission equipment.
NPS’s installation and validation work shows that these operational steps were performed in a live metropolitan setting. The announcement does not, however, publish a complete cost, capacity, maintenance or lifecycle comparison with solid-core fibre. It also does not establish that every existing optical platform can be connected without changes.
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Who could use it?
Colt identifies hyperscalers, neoscalers and enterprises with demanding AI, cloud and data-intensive workloads as the intended customer groups. Potential routes include:
- Data-centre interconnects: links between facilities where each microsecond affects application placement, replication or failover decisions.
- AI training and inference: connections between clusters and cloud regions that exchange large volumes of data and require predictable response times.
- Financial trading: short, carefully engineered paths between trading locations, market venues and network hubs, where lower transport delay can be commercially important.
- Cloud and network hubs: inter-site links for enterprises whose applications are sensitive to round-trip time.
These are candidate use cases, not a promise that the London proof of concept is already offered as a product for each one.
ChronoCore and the participating companies
Relativity Networks
Relativity Networks supplied ChronoCore, the hollow-core fibre used in the trial. The announcement positions the company as the technology provider for the fibre itself.
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Network Planning Solutions
NPS led the physical deployment and verification work: installation, splicing, testing and validation inside the existing Colt network.
Colt Technology Services
Colt provided the operational network environment and the two connected central London locations. Joe Scattareggia, Colt’s executive vice president for Infrastructure and Connectivity Sales, said the company is exploring technologies that can provide the performance, flexibility and efficiency required by AI and other data-intensive applications.
Hollow-core versus conventional fibre: what is established
| Comparison point | What the London announcement establishes |
|---|---|
| Propagation latency | Partners claim around 30% lower latency for ChronoCore than conventional fibre; no independent universal measurement is published. |
| Chromatic dispersion | HCF is designed to reduce chromatic dispersion relative to solid-core fibre. |
| Capacity | Not stated for this proof of concept. |
| Compatibility with existing optical equipment | ChronoCore was installed and validated in Colt’s network, but the compatible equipment list is not stated. |
| Bend, splice and installation requirements | NPS completed installation and splicing; detailed engineering limits are not stated. |
| Route economics and maintenance | Not stated. |
| Commercial availability and pricing | No generally available service or public pricing is announced. |
Is a commercial service available?
Not on the evidence announced with this project. Colt describes the London installation as a proof of concept, and the partners have not published a generally available ChronoCore service, service-level terms or prices. The likely next step is to validate the technology and operating model on selected, performance-critical routes before offering managed low-latency connectivity more broadly.
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- 1.Industrial-Grade Durability: Engineered with a rugged 5.0mm industrial TPU jacket and dual-layer armor (steel tube + stainless mesh), this LC to LC fiber optic cable resists water, UV, rodents, extreme temperatures (-40°C~80°C), crushing (up to 3000N), and pulling (up to 600N). Ideal for construction sites, highways, outdoor junction boxes, oil rigs, tunnels, solar farms, and other harsh-field deployments.
- 2.High-Speed, Long-Distance: Equipped with 4 strands of bend-insensitive G.657.A2 OS2 9/125μm single mode fiber, it supports 1G/10G/40G/100G data transmission over long distances with low insertion loss and high return loss. Ideal for FTTH, FTTX, smart cities, campus backbone, metropolitan area networks (MAN), and base station backhaul.
- 3.Plug-and-Play Simplicity: Factory-terminated and fully tested, this armored fiber cable requires no splicing. Simply plug into switches, patch panels, SFP/SFP+, XFP, QSFP+ transceivers, fiber NICs, media converters, ONU/OLT ports, or network testers for fast deployment in field projects or telecom rollouts.
- 4.Flexible Deployment: Designed to adapt to your installation method of choice—this cable supports direct burial in soil, conduit threading in buildings, and aerial suspension. Perfect for IP surveillance, remote wireless APs, factory automation, base station networking, highway monitoring, rail communication, wind farms, and marine environments.
- 5.Wide Compatibility: Compatible with Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Mikrotik, Ubiquiti UniFi, HPE, Intel, Fortinet, TP-Link, Netgear, Brocade, Supermicro, Mellanox, FS, and more. Suitable for use with fiber Ethernet switches, firewalls, routers, PoE injectors, industrial automation switches, smart NVR systems, DWDM/CWDM multiplexers, FTTH ONU/OLT terminals, and SCADA field controllers.
Customers evaluating a future service should ask for the exact endpoint locations, route length, measured one-way and round-trip latency, optical interfaces, protection arrangement, installation lead time and recurring charges. Those details determine whether a fibre-level improvement translates into a useful application-level gain.
What happens next
The central London link gives the partners an operating reference point for further network planning. Broader deployment would require decisions about where HCF delivers enough value to justify specialist installation, how it is maintained, which transmission systems support it and how performance is measured across interconnected networks.
For now, the result is best understood as an operational milestone: hollow-core fibre has moved from technical demonstrations into a live carrier-network proof of concept, while the commercial scope, pricing and independently verified route-level performance remain to be established.
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