If copper wire is a two-inch pipe, or a “trickling garden hose”, fiber is a “15 mile wide river.” With this vivid description, Harvard Professor Susan Crawford supports the assertion that what we can accomplish with fiber as a foundation is practically limitless.
In fact, there is broad agreement that fiber infrastructure is the essential replacement to copper wire or coaxial cable. The way we use the internet today — and the way we want to use it in the future — demands future-enabled infrastructure. …
What is a fiber-optic network?
A fiber network consists of the physical fiber-optic infrastructure and the internet service. This system uses glass (or plastic) to carry light which is used to transmit information and is a critical replacement for copper wires or cable.
You can think about the physical infrastructure like the pipes that are required to deliver an internet connection into your home and office.
The internet service then travels down these pipes and is provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). …
U.S. communities are on divergent trajectories. Some experience job creation, population growth, and increasing wealth per capita. For others, opportunity is stunted and vitality is in danger — with crumbling infrastructure, shrinking workforces, high unemployment, and lower educational attainment. These communities are at risk of never catching up.
Investment in critical infrastructure is the single most addressable difference between communities on these opposing trajectories.
Intelligent infrastructure — built on a foundation of open access fiber — is the critical underpinning for every vibrant, resilient community. Open access fiber networks power ultra-fast access to information, a competitive market for content and…
Intelligent infrastructure for every community—starting with open access fiber networks.