Accelerating the data highway

1995/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Komunikazioak

The US company AT&T, through an underwater optical cable, has just got the information collected 4 times faster than before. To do this they have used a cable that joins the 2,000 kilometers distance between Florida and the Virgin Islands. The increased transmission speed is due to the signal being amplified optically rather than electronically.

Today's fastest fiber optic commercial cables transmit 2.5 billion bits per second, but as the videophone services develop their capacity will increase. Thus comes the new AT&Tren system, capable of transmitting 10,000 million bits per second.

When the AT&Tren cable is fully ready, in January 1995 it will approximately connect the USA, Mexico, Italy, Spain and Portugal. However, it won't work at full speed because customers still don't need it.