The Alchemy of Glass

摘要

The goal of those who develop fiber-optic communications technologies is to extract the greatest value from each strand of glass. Span, signaling rate, deployment agility, and fiber installation and operating costs all play into the models network operators must balance (the current market downturn notwithstanding) to operate profitably. Advances in dispersion-compensation technologies favorably affect all of these parameters and are becoming critical as metro loops reach spans of 40 to 120km.