Fibre

I am currently reading a book (Tubes by Andrew Blum) about what the internet is and how it manifests itself in the physical domain. The author went on a quest to 'see' the internet, and started visiting internet exchanges, and the birthplace of the internet, before moving onto the connections between networks.

I am currently at the section that covers the global fibre optic network that actually hangs the whole internet together on a global scale. How data transmitted as light down very few fibre optic cables can transfer quite so much information is amazing. I find the whole network of cables, and the work that goes into laying them, and the undersea repeaters that boost the signal every 50 miles or so just fascinating. You can see a map of all the cables here.

This picture is probably what most people think of with fibre optics, those lamps. The reality is that real undersea fibre optic cables are about an inch in diameter, heavily armoured to protect them in the harsh sea environment, and carry electricity through their outer sheaths to power the in line repeater / amplifiers. Right in the middle of that inch cable is very few, maybe 20 or so actual fibres that are carrying the data at tremendous rates 40 Gbps (think about that when your cat video is buffering on YouTube!)

Well, it interests me.