DARK FIBER (FIBER OPTICS) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DARK FIBER (FIBER OPTICS) - Research Paper Example They also withstand ambient temperatures. Dark fiber, just as it sounds refers to unlit fiber as no light runs through it. According to Lovink (p. 226), it is an optical fiber infrastructure that has been installed but remains unused. This could be privately operated and run directly by an operator who leases it to another supplier who would rather not purchase leased line or bandwidth capacity. Hence, fiber could still be considered as dark if lit by the lessee and not the owner. This fiber is not connected or controlled by a phone company but rather an individual or company provides the required components for it to function. Dark fiber provides telecommunication operators with the ability to choose the technology that would be appropriate to them, whether SDH, fiber channel Ethernet or ATM without the need to construct an entire network infrastructure or even having to rent a managed service from an operator who other that being expensive could also be a competitor. Dark fiber has also been used in networks for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) as pointed by Rodriquez. The reason that dark fiber would exist in sufficiently planned networks would be because of the initial cost involved in installing cables, particularly civil engineering. The accompanying activities encompass planning, obtaining permission, routing, creating channels and ducts for the cables, installation and connection. Wagter claims that this would constitute over 60% of development cost pointing out at Amsterdam where this was at 80% with only 10% going to fiber. Therefore, it becomes more economical to plan and install mo re fiber than the current demand so as to give allowance for future expansion and security in case any cable fails (Lovink, 230). In the US, local exchange carriers avoided selling dark fiber to the end users fearing that it would eat into their other lucrative services. It was a requirement that they sell this