Proponents of plastic optical fiber (POF) have long touted the technology as a viable alternative to copper and glass fiber in enterprise networks—with little success. Now that broadband services have put new demands on networks within the home, the POF community sees another chance to grab the attention of communications network architects. Recent advances in the technology have improved the ability of POF to carry high-speed traffic over the distances that home networks would require. Yet representatives from companies working on POF admit that several obstacles remain before them in their attempts to break into home applications—particularly in the United States.
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