AI-generated visual, Microsoft Designer
SNCF is known for transporting passengers and freight. What we know less is that it also transports data at the speed of the TGV. For its own needs, the railway group has deployed optical fiber over 20,000 kilometers along the railway lines. This unique network in France provides ultra-high speed – up to 400 Gb/s – throughout the country.
The network crosses 6,000 municipalities and serves 90% of large regional cities. Ultimately, around a hundred prefectures should be covered by the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026.
SNCF Réseau could not keep this exceptional heritage for itself. In its strategy to promote its assets beyond rail, the group offers the excess capacity of its network to alternative telecom operators (BSO, Alphalink, Blueinfra), hosts (Fullsave, Dataxion), integrators (Ouest Consulting), public actors (Dinum, Cerema), or private companies (BPCE, Synoptic).
Private network and edge computing
Created in 2021, Terralpha is responsible for its marketing. A 100% subsidiary of SNCR Réseau, the operator offers two offers in its catalog. The first concerns the provision of a private ultra-high speed network with point-to-point links in 10, 100 or even 400 Gb/s. This allows data centers to be linked together, today’s digital stations, or different company sites.
The second offer aims to accelerate the development of edge computing by facilitating the establishment of local mini-datacenters using Terralpha hosting solutions called “Dalles Numériques”. The objective here is to bring computing power closer to the user.
“The best latency in France”
Not only does the SNCF Réseau network scare the meters with its speeds, but it also displays very low latency thanks to photonic optical transmission. A round trip between Paris and Lille takes 2.74 ms. Allow 6.26 ms for a Paris-Bordeaux or 8.38 ms for a Paris-Marseille.
The network layout also explains this excellent performance. “ Traditional fiber network operators are looking for long and narrow land, namely highway or waterway routes., explains Gabriel Chenevoy, CEO and co-founder of Terralpha. DIn the first case, the highways do not go to the city center unlike our train stations. In the second, the network follows the meanders of the rivers. By taking the railway tracks in a straight line, Terralpha displays the best latency in France. »
99% of the data travel takes place on the railway right-of-way. To ensure the last mile, Terralpha uses, as SNCF does with taxi or coach companies, partners such as Axione or Nexloop, a joint venture between Cellnex and Bouygues Télécom, to pull the fiber to the last mile. building of the client company. “Terralpha ensures data hosting at an almost regional level with our network, says Gabriel Chenevoy. NOTWe contribute to the digital planning of the territory. »
Resilience, sovereignty, sobriety
The director of Terralpha also highlights the great resilience of his network. “ The fiber cables are protected by the concrete channel of the rails and 2,000 SNCF agents ensure network maintenance. They repair a cable at the same time as the railway equipment. »
Sworn and armed, the railway police, for their part, ensure the physical protection of the infrastructure. Under the law, any act of vandalism on the railway network constitutes terrorism. Enough to deter potential perpetrators of malicious acts.
Terralpha also plays the sovereignty card to ensure the transport of sensitive data. “ Our fiber network is owned by SNCF Réseau, owned by the State, and only uses equipment of European origin. », observes Gabriel Chenevoy. The company is part of Infralliance, the think tank of digital infrastructure operators dedicated to digital sovereignty.
Terralpha provides end-to-end traffic routing
Terralpha also ensures end-to-end traffic routing. “In the event of a faulty router, traffic is diverted to another track as with trains. Conversely, MPLS technology [protocole conçu pour optimiser et accélérer le trafic réseau, NDR] sometimes offers special routings passing data flows through exotic countries like Russia. »
Last asset and not the least at the time of energy transition: taking into account environmental issues. Beyond using an existing asset – the SNCF Réseau fiber network, Terralpha subjects its suppliers to CSR criteria, favors reconditioned equipment, extends their lifespan and systematically recycles the technological resources used.