Short for Optical Carrier, used to specify the speed of fiber optic
networks conforming to the SONET standard. The table shows the speeds
for common OC levels.
| Optical Carrier Level |
Data Rate |
<
| OC-1 |
51.84 Mbps |
| OC-3 |
155.52 Mbps |
| OC-12 |
622.08 Mbps |
| OC-24 |
1.244 Gbps |
| OC-48 |
2.488 Gbps |
| OC-192 |
10 Gbps |
| OC-256 |
13.271 Gbps |
| OC-768 |
40 Gbps |
OC3 is approximately equal to three DS3s, and it operates at 155 Megabits
per second. Therefore, an OC3 can be delivered as three DS3s or as
one 155M pipe. The benefit in using DS3s is that each can be separated
back out as individual T1s (each with 24 channels). An OC3 is the equivalent
of 100 T1 lines.
Because of the speed OC3 provides, it is typically found in large
business environments and NEVER in residences. The primary reason that
OC3 is geared towards businesses, outside of its capacity, is cost.
For example, an OC3 can cost anywhere from $20,000-$45,000 to maintain
each month.
And not all businesses can afford such rates; therefore, the target
businesses for OC3 are members of an even narrower pool. OC3 is necessary
for businesses where Internet access is critical; this means that a
business cannot be without Internet if operations are to continue.
OC3 is in the same family with other technologies that are big money
makers for installers. As a result, hundreds of OC3 installers have
advertisements on the Web. Low price and reliability guarantees are
the main bargaining tools of the companies who install OC3. Many OC3
installation companies will not even speak with residential users,
so unless you head up an IT division at a large company, you will most
likely never deal with OC3.
