Add more power to the new-gen data networks

Optical interconnects are revolutionising high-speed data transfer in the digital age making it critical for driving the telecom sector growth

- JITENDRA BALAKRISHNAN

The term "high speed" in the context of networks has referred to an ever-changing benchmark over the years. There is a significant variation in what is commonly understood. But one can reasonably expect such networks to deliver a data transfer rate of 1 Gbps or higher today. This varies from 100 Mbps for Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks to 10100 Gpbs in enterprise or datacentre networks, and this expectation is only going to rise in the future.

Many factors determine the data transfer rate or the "speed" of the network - the medium of transmission, the distance of transmission, modulation formats and more. Focusing on the medium, wireless transmission is a must today but it needs a wired backhaul. These backhaul networks were traditionally made of copper wires that were installed over decades, but they are not capable of supporting the data transfer needs of today, leave alone the future. This is because the frequency of transmission over copper networks limits bandwidth, the maximum data-carrying capacity.