[118560] in Cypherpunks
University Unplugs Last Electronic Bottleneck (was Re: Edupage, 1
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Sat Oct 2 10:56:14 1999
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<A75CFE3E2250D31180FE00508B0726190ED126@messaging.educause.edu>
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999 10:11:47 -0400
To: dcsb@ai.mit.edu, cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
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Reply-To: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
At 4:39 PM -0600 on 10/1/99, EDUCAUSE wrote:
> UNIVERSITY UNPLUGS LAST ELECTRONIC BOTTLENECK
> Cambridge University demonstrated light-speed switching, wireless
> broadband networks, and an intelligent multimedia network at its
> Communication Explosion event. University researchers developed
> light-speed switching through the use of a re-configurable
> refractive element that directs light from fiber to fiber. The
> switching system is not protocol dependent. The switching
> technology should remove the last bottleneck on fiber-based
> networks by replacing existing network nodes with an optical
> switch. Cambridge professor Bill Crossland says, "It's a
> holographic beam steering switch for optical cross-connects, and
> it can scale without increasing [signal] loss and has very little
> crosstalk." Meanwhile, university researchers in collaboration
> with Adaptive Broadband developed a wireless broadband network
> that provides 25 Mbps ATM connections. In addition, researchers
> displayed the Intelligent Hospital research project. The project
> is a high-speed multimedia network that enables the system to
> track users and launch video consultation sessions.
> (TechWeb 09/27/99)
-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
