Why the Index of Refraction is a Key Technical Parameter To Understand The index of refraction (sometimes referred to as the refractive index or IOR) is an essential characteristic of an optical fiber because it plays a crucial role in determining the fiber's ability to transmit light efficiently, maintain signal quality, and support various applications. This article explores several technical parameters directly related to an optical fiber's IOR. Signal Transmission & Latency One of the most essential elements of how a fiber effectively transmits light, the IOR helps to confine the light ..read more

Data Centers and AI – Simulating Fiber Link Latency & Performance is Crucial In the rapidly growing and evolving digital cloud, the success of delivering AI technology solutions not only depends on algorithms and computational power, but also on the physical infrastructure that supports it. Optical fibers play a pivotal role as the backbone for information transmission, especially within data centers that are now hosting AI technology. For people designing, deploying, or certifying/validating AI data center network equipment, along with the data centers responsible for hosting and managing ..read more

From supporting live online classes to delivering reliable high-speed internet services to students and administration, optical fiber networks play an essential role across university campuses. Discover the numerous benefits of implementing fiber monitoring systems and how they can enhance IT and communications services. Maximizing Network Reliability and Performance By utilizing a fiber monitoring system on a university campus, IT and communications services can experience a significant boost in network reliability, performance, and uptime metrics. These automated systems are designed to cont ..read more

There's an old business saying, "If you are not innovating, you are dying." Similar to other industry sectors, the telecommunications and fiber optic technology arena is no different. In this rapidly growing and evolving landscape where network equipment manufacturers and service providers are racing to deliver ever-increasing amounts of data to satisfy global demands, staying ahead of the curve and the competition is more than just a business strategy - it's essential. No two networks are exactly alike and various challenges arise frequently that companies must be able to successfully navigat ..read more

What are Polarization-Maintaining (PM) Optical Fibers? Polarization-Maintaining (PM) optical fibers are a type of single-mode optical fiber designed to maintain the polarization state of light propagating through them. When light travels through a standard optical fiber, environmental factors like temperature changes, bending, and twisting can cause the polarization state of the light to drift or become random. For some applications, this is undesirable, leading to the design and development of PM fibers. PM fibers use anisotropic structures to create different refractive indices for the two o ..read more

OM5 optical fiber is the latest iteration in the family of multimode fibers that includes prior types OM1, OM2, OM3, and OM4. Formally introduced a few years ago in 2016 by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), it is also known as "Wideband Multimode Fiber" (WBMMF) and was specifically designed to enhance optical transmission performance in both data center and enterprise networks. The Importance and Advantages of OM5  OM5 multimode fiber offers several advantages over its predecessors and is important as fiber optic te ..read more

The transportation and highway infrastructure is critical to the flow of goods, people, and resources throughout the country.  As we learned during the pandemic, transportation was the lynchpin to delivering goods to stores, homes, or people in need. The US freight rail network is over 140,000 route miles and a nearly $80 Billion industry.  The freight railroads are owned by private organizations planning to invest billions of dollars in maintenance and improvements. Similarly significant, the US interstate system is 46,876 miles long and relied on by millions daily for getting from ..read more

Fiber optic networks are essential to the functioning of blockchain technology. In short, blockchain is a decentralized system that relies on a distributed network of computers to maintain a digital ledger of all transactions. Allowing for secure, transparent, and immutable record-keeping, this technology has a wide range of applications in finance (cryptocurrency for example), supply chain management, and other industries. Offering high-speed, low-latency data transmission capabilities, fiber optic networks are the ideal choice for supporting the complex and data-intensive operations of block ..read more

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), also known as fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), is when optical fiber is installed and connected directly to a single structure, such as a home, apartment, or business. This approach for delivering high-speed internet services and greater bandwidth continues to excel globally as it offers superior performance compared to non-fiber coaxial cable and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connections.  Instead of coax cable and telephone lines, which rely on electrical data transmission and are often limited to delivering a few hundred Mbps at their maximum, fiber optic cables ..read more

The online gaming industry has been growing at a steady pace over the last decade, along with a rapid acceleration in the global popularity of eSports tournaments and massive multi-player style games hitting the market for entertainment. To support real-time, on-demand accessibility and the sheer amount of data being transmitted and received by the player’s gaming console or device, a fiber optic internet connection is critical for delivering the speed and bandwidth necessary for a positive player experience. An optical fiber is a thin strand of glass that supports the transmission of data usi ..read more