Nortel To Launch World_s Fastest Net Technology.

Nortel Networks , whose optical networking equipment carries 75 percent of North America_s backbone Internet traffic, is nearing launch of a fiber optic technology that carries a beam of light containing 160 color streams. The optical amplifier is expected to increase by 640 times the Internet_s backbone speed and capacity to carry data, video, and audio. The new technology is called OPTera 1600G, an optical amplification system providing enough fiber capacity and speed to transport the entire 4 million book collection of the US Library of Congress from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles in seconds through one single strand of fiber, the company claims. The technology, which will be tested in telecommunications networks later this year and will be commercially available next year, combines 160 separate channels of light into one beam. Each channel carries data at a rate of 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) for a total per-fiber capacity of 1.6 terabits or 1.6 trillion bits per second, says Nortel Networks vice-chairman and chief executive officer John Roth. The single-fiber technology will also support simultaneous Internet connections to 28 million households, or the simultaneous transmission of 360,000 high quality versions of feature-length movies like the loudly-heralded Star Wars sequel, across North America.The Internet backbone will be "always-on" so that data connectivity is as reliable as dial tone, Nortel says.. The new system will be beta-tested ahead of schedule, after Nortel had committed in September 1998 to having a terabit of capacity per fiber by the year 2000.