Sending Signals Record Distances Without Regenerators

The dream of infinite, high-speed bandwidth took a step closer toreality when a telco recently sent a 10-Gbps optical signal 6,400 kilometers without using optical-to-electrical regenerators, setting a new record.

The carrier, Williams Communications Group Inc., used Corvis Corp.'s CorWave system, which eliminates the need to convert optical signals to electrical signals and back again in signal regenerators. The development should make it cheaper to shoot large amounts of data coast to coast.

Having to regenerate signals makes long-distance circuits prohibitively expensive and restricts the number of optical channels, says Chris Nicoll, VP of Current Analysis Inc. Nationwide virtual-private-optical networks, content-distribution, wavelength-on-demand, and rich-media services could all benefit from this development.