The Access Science article about The Internet provided a lot
of information about the networking architecture both in a hardware and
software sense. Just as the previous
article on databases brings to light, people use the internet multiple times every
day yet few people know how this phenomenal system of transporting data
actually functions beyond clicking on the internet explorer icon on the
desktop. The internet is so vast that with the current interne t protocols in
place we are actually beginning to run out of unique urls to assign to new
websites. Despite having all of this
information and knowledge available nearly instantaneously, the internet weighs
only about 2 ounces. The video below goes through the math of how this is
possible. When you realize this, the
magnitude of just how immense an accomplishment the internet is made self-evident.
How Much Does the Internet Weigh
The second article I read was about the history of fiber
optic networking, link. This method of
transferring data, whether the internet or telecommunications, is performed by
sending pulses of light through individual optical fibers. This light then gets
forms into an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated so that information
may be transferred and carried. While first developed in the 1970’s the fiber
optic cable can carry roughly sixty five thousand times the amount of data than
the copper cables that it would eventually come to replace. This advent of
technology allowed the internet to become a more realistic invention with the
need for giant copper cables to be run all across the world by internet service
providers. The security that may be
accomplished over fiber optic networks is better due to the difficulty of
splicing into the network cables. An
issue known as “last mile” has plagued fiber optic networks where the
distribution lines for teledata are run through fiber optic lines but from the
distribution to the premise of the end user is still using older technologies
which still cause a bottleneck of network speeds. More companies, such as Verizon, are now
offering consumer level fiber optic networking capabilities and in the future
this will most likely become the norm.
I'm a big fan of fiber optics. There is a promising future for that field. I agree that soon fiber-optics will take over the consumer field.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I found interesting when I heard about it, that sort of relates to this is what Comcast did when they ran cable through Philadelphia. They bought all the old Bell/AT-T infrastructure, and were able to run their lines through all of the existing conduits, etc.. I would imagine it really facilitated the monopoly they had on cable in Philadelphia. With Verizon only recently getting its foot in the door, I would imagine they will have a much tougher time getting the infrastructure set up to truly be competative in the city; howerver, I too wait for that day. The 4G signal on my phone is often faster than my Comcast signal. So much so that sometimes I bypass comcast altogether and just tether to my phone. Imagine that!
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