[TriLUG] The next Arpanet? 10 Billion bits per second? "Woah"

[Aaron S. Joyner]

crimsun at fungus.sh.nu wrote:

>On Wed, Mar 03, 2004 at 04:42:39PM -0500, Joshua Gitlin wrote:
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>>Just saw this in the News and Observer. [ 
>>http://newsobserver.com/business/story/3385140p-3011134c.html ]. 
>>Thought it might interest some people here. I'd love to learn more 
>>about it. I can't tell if it's IP based, or what. Sounds cool though!
>>    
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>Take a look at http://www.nationallambdarail.org/architecture.html
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If you read the fine print at this link, you may come to the realization 
that I have: It's not 10Gb, it's 400Gb. They're using DWDM (Dense 
Wavelength Division Multiplexing) - which from my fiber experience (many 
years ago) sounds like the big brother to multi-mode fiber. With the 
obvious differences being it works over distances previously only 
possible via single-mode fiber (i.e. only one beam of light down one 
tube of glass), and it's a heckuva' lot more transmission paths (beams 
of light down one tube of glass).

The relevant quote, for those who consider hyper links in email to be a 
dangerous vector for viruses because they read their email as root... :)

> NLR is lighting the first fiber pair with an optical Dense Wavelength 
> Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network capable of transmitting up to 40 
> simultaneous light wavelengths (‘lambdas’ or ‘waves’). Each of these 
> wavelengths is capable of transmitting 10 gigabits per second.


A good primer on the various types of fiber, single vs multimode, etc 
can be found at the link below. It also touches on DWDM at the very end. 
Note: Link is from 1998, but the information is still quite valid.
http://www.lightbrigade.com/articles/MonthlyColumn.asp

Aaron J.