Fiber‐optic communication is defined as the method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The definition of zero network latency is a network transporting their information at the speed of light. This being said, the further the light has to travel, the higher the latency. Fiber networks normally do not follow a direct line between any who two locations. Instead they follow geographic contours that relate to roads or railroad tracks to name a few.  It is important to understand the exact route that your circuit will follow so that you can eliminate any wasted distance.

In the environment, there are two main options for how you can extend the transmission of light through the fiber; optical amplifiers and regenerators.   Amplifiers and Regenerators are placed along the fiber optic route to help ensure that the signal is able to travel the full distance, while keeping its’ strength and information. There is only one main difference between the two and that is that an amplifier adds light to the existing wavelength to help increase the strength of the signal without having to add more latency, whereas a regenerator will add a substantial amount of latency to add to the strength of the wavelength. Both of these require both a lit and dark fiber solution. A dark fiber is a term that is used to describe fiber optic strands that are not being used or has no equipment being used on the ends of the fiber. Its contrast is called a ‘lit’ fiber, meaning that it is an active fiber optic cable. Unfortunately, due to so few telecom companies still offering dark fiber, the available dark fiber route may be much longer then an alternative lit circuit oath from another provider.

If you want to read more on this topic, take a look at our case study.

Tags: dark fiber, low latency, optical fiber

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Lit and Dark Fiber Resources, Low Latency Resources, White Papers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.