Tech giant Microsoft has bought Southampton-based fibre optic company Lumenisity for an undisclosed amount.
Hollowcore fibre made by Lumenisity allows light to travel at a lower latency and speeds up to 47% quicker compared to traditional fibre according to Microsoft.
“The technology can provide benefits across a broad range of industries including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail and government,” said Girish Bablani, corporate vice president, Azure Core in a statement.
Lumenisity was spun out in 2017 from the University of Southampton as part of a hollowcore optical fibre research project.
The US giant plans on using the spin-out’s fibre technology for its cloud platform users that require “strict latency and security requirements”.
“In healthcare, because HCF can accommodate the size and volume of large data sets, it could help accelerate medical image retrieval, facilitating providers’ ability to ingest, persist and share medical imaging data in the cloud,” continued Bablani.
Earlier this month saw Lumenisity finalised its 40,000 sq ft hollowcore fibre manufacturing base in Romsey, allowing it to ramp up hollowcore fibre production going forward.
In April, American ISP provider Comcast installed Lumenisity’s hollowcore fibre.
Innovate Cambridge, an initiative to champion the Cambridge tech industry, recently got Microsoft’s and Arm’s signatures on its charter.