Let There Be Light In Dark Fiber

Dark fiber is a portion of a fiber optics line that is not being used. During the late 1990s, fiber optics was a growing industry. Fiber optics is a way of transmitting information over a cable using light instead of using wire and electrical impulses. Some readers may remember the advertisements of the crystal clear sounds on the telephone of fiber optics.

As the fiber optics networks were being laid, it was discovered that the cost of the fiber cable was very small as compared to the cost of building the conduit and installation. As an example, the cost of laying a cable with 100 fibers was the same as a cable of 10, 000 fibers. As a result, telecommunications companies, would lay larger cables whenever building the network.

Power companies also laid fiber optics cable in the same trenches as new power lines. Their hope was to sell these fiber optics lines to telecommunications companies.

This overbuilding of the fiber optics network has led to many fibers in the network having never been used. A fiber that is transmitting light signals is referred to as lit. One that is not in use is referred to as dark fiber.

During the late 1990s telecommunications companies never sold their dark fiber. This would have been detrimental to their own business. The cost of fiber in the late 1990s was 1200 dollar per mile. Because of the excess dark fiber in existence today, dark fiber sells for as little as 200 dollars per mile.

With the drop in price of dark fiber optics lines, there is much speculation on its use.

Some have suggested that universities could be inter connected in a closed system much like the internet. This system could be used for distance learning centers as well. With growing shortfalls in the budgets of university systems, this would allow for one professor to lead a class of many more students than he could have in a class on campus.

Other suggestions include physicists being connected to national laboratories where they can perform experiments. Once again, this would allow many more scientist to work on a project than would be able to work onsite. This could maximize the use of expensive equipment, in order that the expensive of building duplicate equipment was not needed.

With the current emphasis upon computerized medical records, hospitals and clinics could also be interconnected through currently dark fiber to a centralized medical record bank.

Banks are also showing interest in dark fiber, as it provides a secure way for sending information that is less likely to be hacked into.

The excess of dark cable available today offers many possibilities.