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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