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Gigabit Networks

In the laboratories there are experiments with using optical technology to increase the bandwidth even further. The upper bandwidth limit for optic fibre transmission is in the range of a few Tbit/2. The researchers have shown that they can manage bit streams of several Gbit/s. The main problems lie in scaling this technology to switch millions of lines, and to provide access equipment at reasonable costs that can generate and take care of these very fast bit streams. It seems that, once these problems are reasonably solved we need no longer to bother about bandwidth, but rather about the information that is made available to us. The problems of delay times can be prohibitive in some cases here also.



Thomas Sjöland
Thu Mar 16 12:05:17 MET 1995