Tag Archives: FiberOptic

Google Fiber rollout detailed for Austin: connections by mid-2014, similar pricing (updated)

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Googel Fiber space

The Google Fiber rollout for Austin has been spoiled twice, but today it's officially official: the music-centric city will become a gigabit city... eventually, that is. Google now says that it will start wiring Austinite homes for super-fast internet access by mid-2014 -- we wouldn't cancel that cable or DSL service just yet, sadly. At least the pricing should be familiar. Google still plans to offer both stand-alone internet access and internet-plus-TV bundles, both at rates within the ballpark of what it offers for Kansas City, and there will still be a near-free 5Mbps plan that only requires a one-off construction fee. Institutions will get free gigabit access, of course. While we'd like Google Fiber as soon as possible, we're just happy to realize that our next SXSW crash pad may have a lot more bandwidth on tap.

Update: During a formal announcement call, Google and the city of Austin provided a few minor details. They revealed that Google didn't get any incentives to land a deal, and that engineering work is only beginning in earnest on April 10th. As for AT&T's me-too initiative? Kevin Lo from Google Fiber says that it's "great" to see AT&T aware that the demand exists for gigabit access. No hard feelings, then.

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Source: Google Fiber

The Daily Roundup for 03.26.2013

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DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Researchers create hollow fiber optic cable, almost reach the speed of light

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Researchers create hollow fiber optic cable, almost reach the speed of light

Fiber optic cables are usually made of glass or plastic but those materials actually slow down the transmission of light ever so slightly. Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK have created a hollow fiber optic cable filled with air that's 1000 times faster than current cables. Since light propagates in air at 99.7 percent of the speed of light in a vacuum, this new hollow fiber optic cable is able to reach data speeds of 10 terabytes (!) per second. Now that's fast. While the idea isn't new, it's previously been hampered by signal degradation when light travels around corners. This new hollow fiber optic cable reduces data loss to a manageable 3.5dB/km, making it suitable for use in supercomputer and data center applications. Isn't science wonderful?

[Image credit: qwrrty, Flickr]

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Via: ExtremeTech, Gizmodo Australia

Source: Nature

MIT and US Army crafting uniforms with full-body fiberoptic sensors

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MIT and US Army crafting uniforms with stealthy fiberoptic communication, sensors

Militaries want soldiers to carry an increasing amount of tech on to the battlefield, but that isn't necessarily convenient -- or comfortable. MIT and the US Army have started early work on uniforms with fiberoptic sensors that would alleviate much of that burden. By weaving in microfibers cut from a mix of specialized, fluidized materials, the partnership can build data links that cover the entire body without breaking or adding significant bulk. They could serve as basic elements of a communication system, but MIT has broader ambitions: the sensors could track wounds through heat signatures, and just might prevent friendly fire incidents by sending a don't-shoot signal when targeted with a laser sight. The fibers still have to get much thinner before the Army can offer smart uniforms as standard issue, but the wearable tech may keep soldiers nimble and, just possibly, save a few lives.

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Via: Wired

Source: MIT

Huawei tests 2Tbps data transmission over Vodafone’s German network, calls it a ‘first’

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Huawei notches 2Tbps data transmission over Vodafone's network in Germany, calls it a 'world's first'

As terabit speeds go, Huawei's latest fiber feat falls on the lower end of recent industry achievements. At 2Tbps, the Chinese company's field test -- one it's hailing as a "world's first" -- comes nowhere close to the 100Tbps-plus experiments conducted by the likes of NEC and NICT. But top speed isn't entirely the point here; real-world performance is. By leveraging existing fiber infrastructure owned by Vodafone across portions of lower Germany, Huawei was able to successfully demonstrate two record-breaking, 200G transmissions: one spanning 1,500km and the other 3,325km over an "ultra-long-haul solution." To give you a bit of perspective on just what sort of data haul theoretical networks of this kind can achieve, Huawei claims this ultra-fast connection is "equivalent to downloading 40 HD videos in one second." Impressive, indeed. But don't go ditching that TWC wideband or FiOS contract just yet. While it's nice to know this tech exists, practical deployment is still a ways off. Until then, gigabit's the buzz word.

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Huawei and Vodafone Complete World's First 2 Tbit/s WDM Field Trial


Shenzhen, China, 24 January 2013:

Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology solutions provider, and Vodafone, one of the world's largest mobile communications companies, today announced the successful trial of 2 Tbit/s optical fiber transmission technologies on Vodafone's live network. The field trial achieved 2 Tbit/s transmission capabilities of over 3,325km. This provides a data highway capacity 20-times higher than current commercially deployed 100Gbit/s systems and has a speed equivalent to downloading 40 HD videos in one second. This marks an important step forward for optical transport technology advances beyond 100G.


Traffic on carrier backbone networks is growing exponentially, driving global momentum for commercial 100G deployments and attracting attention on optical transport beyond 100G. Riding on cutting-edge technologies such as flex oDSP, super SD-FEC, and flex modulation format, this field trial achieved a record-breaking transmission distance of 1,500 km using a super-channel PDM-16QAM-based high spectral efficiency solution, and a second record-breaking transmission distance of 3,325 km using a super-channel Nyquist PDM-QPSK-based ultra-long-haul solution. Both transmissions were on a link with G.652 fibers and erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) without electrical regeneration. The link used in the trial was on Vodafone's backbone network, passing through a few cities across middle and south Germany.


"We are at the forefront of global 100G deployments, and have taken the lead in delivering key breakthroughs in technologies beyond 100G. Through collaboration with Vodafone and other leading international operators and customer-centric R&D, Huawei is always ready to build advanced optical networks for customers," said Jack Wang, president of Huawei's transport network product line.


To help customers optimize their overall technical architecture and adopt next-generation transport networks, Huawei conducted the world's first 2T WDM field trial and pan- European 400G field trial in 2012, and also unveiled a series of scientific research achievements in optical transmission. According to Ovum, Huawei ranks No. 1 in the WDM/OTN, 40G, 100G, and global optical network markets, as of Q3 2012.

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Gigabit Squared heading high-speed fiber and wireless internet initiative in Seattle

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Gigabit Squared heading high-speed fiber and wireless internet initiative in Seattle

Seattle may have lost its high-velocity hoops team, but that doesn't mean it's satisfied with anything but speedy internet. The city has come to an agreement with Gigabit Squared (GB2) to build an unnecessarily wordy "fiber-to-the-home/fiber-to-the-business broadband network." With the University of Washington taking care of "community leadership" (as part of the Gig. U initiative), GB2 plans to utilize Seattle's excess fiber infrastructure, and create more, to deliver new internet options in three ways. In addition to the wired fiber network, the Gigabit Seattle project sees the development of a "dedicated gigabit broadband wireless umbrella" for beaming up to 1 Gbps from radio transmitters to others in direct view, as well as municipal WiFi-like services.

At this stage, only 12 "demonstration" areas are earmarked in the proposal, although the radio-based wireless "umbrella" has the potential to extend that coverage. Gigabit Squared now needs to find the cash to get going if it wants to meet the distant operational target of "year-end 2014." It's worth remembering that plenty of city-wide internet initiatives have failed before this one, and only a Memorandum of Understanding and a Letter of Intent have been signed by all the involved parties -- agreements which aren't necessarily binding. Full details of the plan are available in PR form and at the source link below, or if you're done with prose, a map of the 12 demo neighborhoods hopefully getting hooked up can be found after the break.

[Thanks, Gavin]

Continue reading Gigabit Squared heading high-speed fiber and wireless internet initiative in Seattle

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Source: Gigabit Seattle

Caltech invention focuses light like never before, could bolster next-gen communication platforms

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Caltech invention focuses light like never before, could bolster nextgen communication platforms

Light. What is it? What isn't it? Such are the questions left to the experts at Caltech, which have just concocted a new device that can focus light to a point just a few nanometers wide. That kind of precision has never been done at scale, and the university is hoping that the invention could help "pave the way for the next-generation of communication, computing, and even imaging technology."

In lay terms, it could allow increased bandwidth for fiber optics, and since it's built on-chip, integration with existing doodads shouldn't be too much of a hassle. Previous on-chip nanofocusing devices were only able to focus light into a narrow line, making them inefficient, whereas Caltech's contraption can be focused in three dimensions, producing a point a few nanometers across, and using half of the light that's sent through. Hyuck Choo seems to think that it can be put to use in short order in the medical field, but it remains to be seen if we'll see this in the next wave of Google Fiber rollouts. But hey, a lowly DSL user can hope, right?

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Source: Caltech

Nokia Siemens Networks sells off its optical business, swings focus to LTE

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Nokia Siemens Networks logo

Nokia Siemens Networks has long been eager to shed as much weight as it can (unfortunately, including some staff) in a bid to turn around a business full of legacy hardware. The next on the chopping block, however, is a big one: the optical networking division. NSN has struck a deal to sell the fiber-focused group to Marlin Equity Partners and spin it out as a separate company. While the price of the deal isn't public, we're glad to hear that the 1,900 workers affected by the shift should keep their jobs if the agreement closes as promised, in early 2013. NSN chief Rajeev Suri makes no bones about the handover's goal -- it's to let his company concentrate on LTE and other thriving businesses while giving the optical group a second chance through Marlin's investment, if all goes well. We're left with an NSN that's considerably smaller than what we knew from its glory days, but it could be worth the hurt pride if the company stays standing.

Continue reading Nokia Siemens Networks sells off its optical business, swings focus to LTE

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Source: GigaOM

NTT cuts fiber internet prices in Japan, may be reacting to an LTE generation

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Samsung Galaxy S III at NTT DoCoMo

As manic as LTE adoption has been in the US, it could be triggering a full-fledged generational rift in Japan. NTT is cutting prices for fiber-to-the-home internet access by as much as 34 percent in the midst of falling landline subscriptions, and Australia's Delimiter hears from unofficial sources at the provider that the cuts may be in response to youth being enamored with 4G on their phones. The tipsters believe that many of the younger set are picking one expensive LTE plan, even with data caps, instead of paying for two services; a price drop would be an attempt to keep at least a few of these wireless rebels onboard. Take the assertions with a grain of salt when there's no official statements to match, but there's no doubt that 4G demand is booming when NTT's own DoCoMo just landed its 7 millionth Xi contract. We only wish American wired and wireless carriers would be so accommodating of our temptation to cut the cord.

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Via: GigaOM

Source: NTT West (translated), Delimiter

EarthLink completes fiber broadband rollout in Eastern Tennessee

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EarthLink completes fiber broadband rollout in Eastern Tennessee

Anyone familiar with the unglamorous circumstances of Elvis Presley's passing might agree he needed a little more fiber in his diet. That would've been the case if 'the King' was of this generation, as the state he called home is pretty well wired these days, and even more so now EarthLink has completed its "Eastern Tennessee Broadband Project." Over 500 miles of fiber optics have been installed in "underserved areas," offering up to 10 Gbps speeds to businesses and institutions, with some 'last mile' providers already claiming their stake. Bon appétit, Tennessee.

[Image credit: Royce DeGrie / Getty Images]

Continue reading EarthLink completes fiber broadband rollout in Eastern Tennessee

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EarthLink completes fiber broadband rollout in Eastern Tennessee originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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