IP: SCIENTISTS RAISE FIBER-OPTIC LIMITS: Edupage, July 6, 2001

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Fiber-optic lines can handle up to 100 terabits of data per
> second, enough to transmit 2 billion phone calls or 20 billion
> one-page e-mails, reported scientists at Lucent Technologies'
> Bell Laboratories. That speed is far faster than the current rate
> of fiber optic transmission and 10 times faster than the top
> speed previously achieved in laboratory experiments. Previous
> attempts to identify the maximum speed possible on fiber-optic
> systems have been stymied by the number of variables in the
> technology, which depends on the behavior of light and the
> physical properties of glass. However, the Bell Laboratories
> scientists built a model of a fiber-optic system by using
> quantum physics and information theory. The scientists say
> their conclusions prove that fiber optics will be more than
> able to handle high-bandwidth technologies. "The fact that you
> know networks can be scaled in this way means optical fiber is
> a good way to grow your system," said physicist Partha Mitra,
> who led the Bell Laboratories research team.



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