CRADA with Cielo Communications makes development possible

Sandia develops vertical cavity surface emitting laser that promises to

reduce cost of fiber optics connections

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Researchers at the

Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories
have developed the first 1.3-micron electrically
pumped vertical cavity surface emitting laser
(VCSEL) grown on gallium arsenide. It promises to
reduce the cost of high-speed fiber optics connections.

Working through a cooperative research and

development agreement (CRADA) with Cielo
Communications, Inc., Sandia developed the gallium
arsenide-based VCSEL, which will be cheaper and
easier to build than standard edge emitting lasers used
in current high-speed communications.
"This VCSEL will meet the needs of high speed fiber
optics connections of the future," says Peter Esherick,
manager of the Compound Semiconductor Materials
and Processes Department at Sandia. "We expect
there to be great excitement over the device -- fueled
by the rapid expansion of Internet use and craving for
faster Internet access."
CRYSTAL GROWTH -- Sandia
researcher John Klem stands next to
the molecular beam epitaxy system
used to grow the crystal structure of
the 1.3-micron communications
vertical cavity surface emitting laser
(VCSEL). (Photo by Randy Montoya)
Download 300dpi JPEG image, 'MBE.jpg',
1.9Mb (Media are welcome to
download/publish this image with related news
stories.)

The new 1.3-micron VCSEL is made mostly from stacks of layers of semiconductor materials
common in shorter wavelength lasers -- aluminum gallium arsenide and gallium arsenide. The
Sandia team added to this structure a small amount of the new material, indium gallium arsenide
nitride (InGaAsN), which was initially developed by Hitachi of Japan in the mid 1990s. The
InGaAsN causes the VCSEL's operating wavelength to fall into a range that makes it useable in
high-speed Internet connections.

Esherick says laboratories around the world have been in a "horserace to be the first with the 1.3-
micron VCSEL on gallium arsenide substrates." Cielo teamed with Sandia through a CRADA
last year to research several compound semiconductor alloys in an effort to find the one that
achieved the 1.3-micron goal. In May, Sandia researchers came up with a materials combination
and materials growth technique that hit the target. The research findings were submitted June 1
to Electronic Letters for publication.

The laser is the light source that transmits information down optical fibers. Two types of
semiconductor lasers are used in high-speed data and telecommunications fiber optics -- the edge
emitter and the VCSEL. In the edge emitter, which has traditionally dominated the
semiconductor laser market, photons are emitted out of one edge of the semiconductor wafer
after rebounding off mirrors that have been literally cleaved out of the crystalline substrate.

In the VCSEL, laser photons bounce between mirrors grown into the structure and then emit
vertically from the wafer surface. VCSELs, which are grown by the thousands on a single wafer,
have significant advantages over edge-emitting lasers in the areas of lower manufacturing,
packaging, alignment, and testing costs, as well as lower power dissipation and higher reliability.

VCSELs made of combinations of aluminum gallium arsenide and gallium arsenide have been
used in the shorter wavelength window of 850 nanometers for local connections. However,
because none existed that could work in the 1.3-micron window required for high-speed, long-
distance communications, the optical networking industry turned to the more expensive and
complicated edge emitting lasers.

Sandia researchers successfully built an edge emitter using InGaAsN early this year, giving them
the opportunity to characterize the material's properties and quality. They now have gone to the
next step with development of the first InGaAsN VCSEL.

"The key to making this work was to optimize the material quality of the InGaAsN and to make
subtle changes to the rest of the structure," says John Klem, Sandia researcher working on the
VCSEL project. "Once we had the high quality InGaAsN in hand, our extensive experience with
shorter wavelength VCSELs allowed us to quickly produce the full 1.3-micron device."

Mike Cowley, president and CEO of Cielo Communications located in Broomfield, Colo., says
the InGaAsN VCSEL is an "extremely exciting announcement for Cielo, Sandia, and the optical
networking industry as a whole."

"VCSEL technology has historically provided the most cost-effective optical link solution for
high-bandwidth applications, proven in recent years by their rapid adoption over edge-emitting
lasers in the data communications market," he says. "The significant cost reduction afforded by
the 1.3-micron VCSELs will make increased bandwidth more accessible and cost effective for
the telecommunications and Internet infrastructure."

Esherick says in addition to the obvious benefits of 1.3-micron VCSELs for the civilian
telecommunication markets, there are equally important benefits for DOE's defense applications.

"What's exciting for us is that the 1.3-micron light can be transmitted through silicon -- the
silicon is transparent at that wavelength," he says. "The additional flexibility this offers for
integrating photonic devices with silicon based microsystems will have significant implications
for national security systems."

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United
States Department of Energy under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and
Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major research and development responsibilities in national security, energy and
environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.

Media contacts:
Sandia - Chris Burroughs, coburro@sandia.gov, (505) 844-0948
Cielo - Bob Mayer, bmayer@cieloinc.com, (303) 460-0700

Technical contacts:
Peter Esherick, esheric@sandia.gov, (505) 844-5857
John Klem, jklem@sandia.gov, (505) 845-8225

vertical cavity surface emitting laser

(VCSEL)
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is a specialized laser diode that promises to
revolutionize fiber optic communications by improving efficiency and increasing data speed. The
acronym VCSEL is pronounced 'vixel.'

Older laser diodes, called edge-emitting diodes, emit coherent light or infrared (IR) energy
parallel to the boundaries between the semiconductor layers. The VCSEL emits its coherent
energy perpendicular to the boundaries between the layers. The vertical in VCSEL arises from
the fact that laser diodes are typically diagrammed showing the boundaries as horizontal planes,
so the output of the VCSEL appears to emerge vertically in these drawings.

VCSELs have been constructed that emit energy at 850 nanometers (nm) and 1300 nm. These
wavelengths correspond to energy in the near infrared (IR) portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum. (The longest visible red is at approximately 770 nm.) Optical fibers transmit energy
most efficiently at wavelengths around 1550 nm. Materials used to manufacture VCSELs include
gallium arsenide (GaAs), aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs), and indium gallium arsenide
nitride (InGaAsN).

The VCSEL has several advantages over edge-emitting diodes. The VCSEL is cheaper to
manufacture in quantity, is easier to test, and is more efficient. In addition, the VCSEL requires
less electrical current to produce a given coherent energy output. The VCSEL emits a narrow,
more nearly circular beam than traditional edge emitters; this makes it easier to get the energy
from the device into an optical fiber. The main challenge facing engineers today is the
development of a high-power VCSEL device with an emission wavelength of 1550 nm.

fiber optics (optical fiber)

Fiber optics, or optical fiber, refers to the medium and the technology associated with the
transmission of information as light pulses along a glass or plastic strand or fiber. A fiber optic
cable can contain a varying number of these glass fibers -- from a few up to a couple hundred.
Surrounding the glass fiber core is another glass layer called cladding. A layer known as a buffer
tube protects the cladding, and a jacket layer acts as the final protective layer for the individual
strand.

How fiber optics works

Fiber optics transmit data in the form of light particles -- or photons -- that pulse through a fiber
optic cable. The glass fiber core and the cladding each have a different refractive index that
bends incoming light at a certain angle. When light signals are sent through the fiber optic cable,
they reflect off the core and cladding in a series of zig-zag bounces, adhering to a process called
total internal reflection. The light signals do not travel at the speed of light because of the denser
glass layers, instead traveling about 30% slower than the speed of light. To renew, or boost, the
signal throughout its journey, fiber optics transmission sometimes requires repeaters at distant
intervals to regenerate the optical signal by converting it to an electrical signal, processing that
electrical signal and retransmitting the optical signal.

Types of fiber optic cables

Multimode fiber and single-mode fiber are the two primary types of fiber optic cable. Single-
mode fiber is used for longer distances due to the smaller diameter of the glass fiber core, which
lessens the possibility for attenuation -- the reduction in signal strength. The smaller opening
isolates the light into a single beam, which offers a more direct route and allows the signal to
travel a longer distance. Single-mode fiber also has a considerably higher bandwidth than
multimode fiber. The light source used for single-mode fiber is typically a laser. Single-mode
fiber is usually more expensive because it requires precise calculations to produce the laser light
in a smaller opening.

fiber optics (optical fiber)

Fiber optics, or optical fiber, refers to the medium and the technology associated with the
transmission of information as light pulses along a glass or plastic strand or fiber. A fiber optic
cable can contain a varying number of these glass fibers -- from a few up to a couple hundred.
Surrounding the glass fiber core is another glass layer called cladding. A layer known as a buffer
tube protects the cladding, and a jacket layer acts as the final protective layer for the individual
strand.

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Fiber Optic Cable

Multimode fiber is used for shorter distances because the larger core opening allows light signals
to bounce and reflect more along the way. The larger diameter permits multiple light pulses to be
sent through the cable at one time, which results in more data transmission. This also means that
there is more possibility for signal loss, reduction or interference, however. Multimode fiber
optics typically use an LED to create the light pulse.

While copper wire cables were the traditional choice for telecommunication, networking and
cable connections for years, fiber optics has become a common alternative. Most telephone
company long-distance lines are now made of fiber optic cables. Optical fiber carries more
information than conventional copper wire, due to its higher bandwidth and faster speeds.
Because glass does not conduct electricity, fiber optics is not subject to electromagnetic
interference and signal losses are minimized.

In addition, fiber optic cables can be submerged in water and are used in more at-risk
environments like undersea cable. Fiber optic cables are also stronger, thinner and lighter than
copper wire cables and do not need to be maintained or replaced as frequently. Copper wire is
often cheaper than fiber optics, however, and is already installed in many areas where fiber optic
cable hasn't been deployed. Glass fiber also requires more protection within an outer cable than
copper, and installing new cabling is labor-intensive, as it typically is with any cable installation.

Fiber optics uses

Computer networking is a common fiber optics use case, due to optical fiber's ability to transmit
data and provide high bandwidth. Similarly, fiber optics is frequently used in broadcasting and
electronics to provide better connections and performance.

Margaret Rouse asks:

 What improvements have been made to enable fiber optics to travel
longer distances to decrease the need for regeneration?

Join the Discussion

Military and space industries also make use of optical fiber as means of communication and
signal transfer, in addition to its ability to provide temperature sensing. Fiber optic cables can be
beneficial due to their lighter weight and smaller size.

Fiber optics is frequently used in a variety of medical instruments to provide precise

illumination. It also increasingly enables biomedical sensors that aid in minimally invasive
medical procedures. Because optical fiber is not subject to electromagnetic interference, it is
ideal for various tests like MRI scans. Other medical applications for fiber optics include X-ray
imaging, endoscopy, light therapy and surgical microscopy.

About 60 miles north of Oahu, Hawaii, three miles below the surface, sits the world's deepest
underwater observatory -- an ambitious project that sends power and Ethernet connectivity from
the island all the way to the ocean floor.

The University of Hawaii's ALOHA Cabled Observatory (ACO) uses a retired undersea cable
from AT&T to collect a stream of constant, real-time data that measures water pressure, oxygen
levels, currents, temperature, salinity and more. Oceanographers say this wealth of information
can shed light on issues ranging from climate change to earthquakes. The ACO even boasts live
video and hydrophone capabilities, allowing researchers to record the songs of the migrating
humpback whales that spawn in Hawaiian waters every winter.

In this edition of The Subnet, University of Hawaii IT specialist Brian Chee -- director and
founder of the school's Advanced Network Computing Laboratory -- takes us into the deep sea
and explains how he got the observatory network up to speed.

What is your role at the University of Hawaii?

Brian Chee: I work for the dean's office at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and
Technology; we're the No. 3 oceanographic institute in the United States. We own the planes, the
ships, the submarines and the undersea cable. I act like a communications or systems analyst for
the dean's office, and then I get assigned to different projects on an as-needed basis.

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Tell us about what you do with the ALOHA Cabled Observatory.

Chee: The [observatory] itself is about the size of a VW Beetle, and from that, we have plugs on
the end where we use special connectors to terminate both fiber-optics and power simultaneously
at pressure. And when I say ‘pressure,' I mean 500 atmospheres, which translates to 7,000-
something PSI.

The dean's office assigned me to this project about five or six years ago when they were having
issues with their network. I had to make the network more reliable and redesign it so that it
would be multi-tenant -- the idea being that it is literally an internet connection and a power
connection three miles underwater. And by using remote operating vehicles, we can place and
remove projects for various schools and research groups.

The problem with underwater cables is they are atrociously expensive. AT&T donated their
[undersea cable], called HAW-4, to the university for $1 when it was retired. It was 1960s
technology, deployed in the early 1970s, and it was the first fiber-optic cable between the
continental U.S. and Hawaii. The cable actually comes up in Makaha, which is on the North
Shore of Oahu. And it comes in through, literally, a bunker underground. Our equipment is in
that cable landing station.

So we have the original AT&T systems, which provide control and so forth, and the repeaters are
optical switches so that if, say, some idiot drags an anchor, hooks our cable and manages to
break a strand, we can actually route around that broken strand. It also injects power down the
line.

So you're still using that same undersea cable and those old network technologies today?

Chee: Yes. Undersea cables are expensive enough that, usually, no single country can afford
them. So it's usually owned by a consortium of countries or corporations. So as they become
retired, we are attempting to grab them.

For instance, we're actually trying to get TAT-12, which lands in Rhode Island. And we want to
be able to pick that up, and then wrap it around the Titanic, so that it can have cameras and
floodlights, and environmental sensors, and things like that. So we can actually measure the
environment around the Titanic.

The reason why we're being even considered for this is because we're the only group on earth at
the moment that knows how to convert the proprietary signaling that's on these undersea cables
into a standard network communication. So we go from the proprietary AT&T signaling, to
100Base-FX -- which is an industry standard for [100 Mbps Ethernet over fiber optics] --
through a custom board that was designed and built for us by a retired AT&T engineer.

The ACO has two 10-foot long by 24-inch diameter titanium tubes. The equipment has to stay
dry and at normal atmospheric pressure in those tubes, and that's where we convert to regular
100Base-FX. Then we use industrial, ruggedized networking gear: a combination of Cisco,
Belden and Sixnet switches.

We also have a custom-made power supply down there that is computer-controllable, so we can
turn power to each of those accessory plugs on and off, and we can also change the connection.
We have copper connections that can either be serial for industrial control or Ethernet. And we
have a switching device that can do that.

We also have CTD [devices], which measure conductivity, temperature and depth. From that, we
can calculate the salinity of the water. And once our floodlights are fixed, then people will be
able to watch the underwater world three miles down, live on the internet.

Can you talk more about the specifics of the network and the undersea cable? What issues
were they having with the network when they brought you in?

Chee: It is a first-generation trans-oceanic fiber-optic cable, and we only have 100 Mbps full
duplex down that pipe, which, in oceanographic terms, is a ton of space. A lot of our devices
don't use up much bandwidth at all. They also don't use a ton of power. So 1,800 watts is a lot of
power for oceanographers.

Now, as far as the network problems go, the oceanographers are not what you would call
network specialists. And they thought, ‘Oh, we'll just put plenty of space on there,' and they got a
Class A network, which is massive. A Class A could handle the entire state of Hawaii or the
entire state of Alaska. I explained to them that, ‘No, there's a ramification to that. It means all
your routers are going to instantly roll over and die.' So I convinced them to go to a Class B, and
then I sectioned up the network -- very standard networking stuff, but very new to the world of
oceanography.

I also swapped out devices so we had more smart devices. I wanted to be able to gather
troubleshooting information -- SNMP and being able to ping devices -- without having to come
all the way up the cable.

In one of the camera domes, I have an Opengear console server. And it's kind of a unique
product in that I can feed power into the device, and it will feed power over Ethernet
downstream. So that's how I'm powering one of my webcams; it's actually a commercial off-the-
shelf webcam. It also gives me RS485, which is an industrial control serial connection, and that's
how we control the lights. And it also gives me regular Ethernet so I can send it out to sensors,
and I can check things like humidity and barometric pressure inside the dome.

How did you get into IT and, specifically, networking?

Chee: I got into IT in 1972. I was in middle school and had a job soldering together boards for
IMSAI 8080s and Altair 8800s. Later on, I got a job working for Xerox Corp. as a printer
product interfacing specialist, and our job was to interface Xerox equipment to non-Xerox
equipment. One of the things that happened right around that time was this brand-new thing
called networking.

Robert Metcalfe, at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, got a research paper written by Dr.
Norman Abramson at the University of Hawaii, which was a project I was a ‘student slave' on.
Anyway, he got that paper and Ethernet was born. At Xerox, I was tasked with teaching the
salespeople how to sell networking and to install the networking gear, and we installed some of
the first commercial networking products ever.

I got a full-time job with a regional distribution company in Honolulu, and through a lot of weird
happenstances, they became the distributor for Novell NetWare, which was one of the first
successful commercial networking companies on earth. And I became one of the first 10 certified
Novell instructors. That was '87, I think. And then networking exploded.

I founded this lab mostly because, in a previous life, I was a senior computer scientist for the
GSA Office of Information Security, and I'd hire kids just out of college with four-year
university degrees, and then they were useless. I'd end up spending $20,000 or $30,000 training
them, only to have them snarfed up by the private industry.

About 17 years ago, I was in my hospital room recovering from cancer surgery. I thought, ‘Have
I made the world a better place?' And I felt I hadn't. So I vowed to myself that I was going to do
something about it, and I founded [the Advanced Network Computing Laboratory] so that I can
give computer science, engineering and other students some real-world experience.

Wow. That's quite a career.

Chee: Yeah, it's weird. When I first got in, I was the snot-nosed little kid. And the next thing, I
look up and I'm considered one of the old farts of the industry.

OK, here's one of our rotating questions on personal interests: What's the best thing you
can cook?

Chee: The dish that I think is my best -- but I don't do it very often because it's an amazing pain
in the ass to make -- is beef Wellington. My grandfather was a Chinese cook at a relatively
famous Chinese restaurant in Waikiki. Grandma used to get chased out of the kitchen by
Grandpa with his cleaver. So I learned how to cook from Grandpa, and I do most of the cooking
in my family.
Undersea cables keep global enterprise
networks afloat1
Subsea cabling is out of sight, but it shouldn't be out of mind. Many
organizations don't realize just how dependent they are on underwater fiber
to stay online and in business.
This Article Covers

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TECHNOLOGIES
Fiber technologies Network cabling Network traffic mgmt Security risk management

In this Article

 High seas, high stakes

 Main arteries of the internet
 What lies beneath: Security risks
 Fail to plan, plan to fail
 Next Steps
 Dig Deeper

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Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, a ship drops anchor. The heavy piece of metal falls hundreds
of feet to the ocean floor, where it hits a subsea fiber optic cable and severs it. Businesses that
depend on the cable for intercontinental communication could -- without sufficient redundant
capacity -- lose their primary means of connectivity for weeks. That can mean a lot of money
down the drain.

In an increasingly global economy, basic business communications and financial transactions

happen over networks. And if that traffic is going to another continent, country or region where it
has to cross a major body of water, it travels via expensive undersea cables laid on the bottoms
of oceans, lakes and seas.

Most organizations don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, but submarine fiber optic cables
deliver 99.8% of all intercontinental communications, according to telecommunications market
research and consulting firm TeleGeography. Considering the sheer volume of traffic they carry,
the vulnerability of undersea cable systems is worth losing sleep over.

"It's only when something fails that we start backtracking and saying, 'Wait a minute -- why
didn't I think about creating a backup plan?'" says Adam Janota, vice president of global
marketing at cloud-based service provider Console. Janota was formerly the senior director of
global networks at data center colocation company Equinix, where he witnessed the impacts of
undersea cable outages firsthand.

When a subsea cable sustains damage, a specialized repair crew must find the break and splice in
a new piece of extension fiber. "There is some time when you're down, and you're down hard,"
Janota says.

And trouble can come in many forms under the sea -- from boat anchors and fishing trawler nets
dragging cables along with the catch, to natural disasters, aging cable infrastructure and even fish
bites. Then there's the high-profile threat of security breaches or terrorist attacks.

High seas, high stakes

Undersea cable is literally out of sight, but it definitely shouldn't be out of mind. Any enterprise
with international customers, partners or employees needs to understand its reliance on subsea
fiber and decide if it needs a backup plan -- even if it hinges on satellite connections, a much
slower and more expensive alternative.

It's only when something fails that we start backtracking and saying, 'Wait a minute -- why didn't I think
about creating a backup plan?' Adam Janota, VP global marketing, Console

If you're highly dependent on information circulation for your business, undersea systems are
critical, says Nicole Starosielski, author of 2015's The Undersea Network -- which she wrote
after traveling for six years studying the history of the cable network and the forces that have
shaped it -- and assistant professor at New York University. And while enterprise networking
pros understand that voice and data traffic delivery is increasingly transoceanic, many others
assume that those bits and bytes are transmitted wirelessly.

"Any company that really depends on international links should know how their traffic is being
routed," Starosielski says. "If they're setting up their own network, then they should make sure to
have diverse circuits, multiple paths. Because they can't assume that those [undersea cables] are
always going to be 100% up and working."

Subsea cable disruptions happen a lot -- as frequently as every three days, according to
TeleGeography. Because of redundant routing, however, enterprises don't necessarily know
when one occurs. After an outage, users may regain connectivity in milliseconds, minutes, hours,
days or weeks -- depending on the availability of alternate connections.

"The moment happens when something goes down and your user base, your network users, your
boss, your CEO come to your office and say, 'Hey, why can't I communicate? Why can't I send
an email? I'm waiting for an order form. I'm waiting for an important call,'" Janota says. "You
want to be able to answer those questions."

Detecting and fixing damage typically falls to service providers. Akshay Sharma, research
director for Gartner's Carrier Network Infrastructure group, says with sufficient redundancy and
capacity, the effect of a subsea cable cut on network performance should be minimal. But he
points out that bandwidth needs are rapidly increasing.

"With the growth of internet traffic -- especially with video consuming over half the internet --
the effect [of a subsea fiber outage] can be severe from a congestion point of view," he adds.

Main arteries of the internet

Internet traffic on terrestrial networks is highly distributed, but under the sea, not so much. Fewer
than 400 undersea cables carry nearly all telephone and internet traffic across the world's oceans
-- providing 294.6 Tbps of capacity to global users in 2015. Of that traffic, 76 Tbps travels to the
United States alone, an amount that TeleGeography expects to grow to 108 Tbps in 2016.

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In the past few years, the largest content providers have become the biggest users of undersea
capacity, and they will become even bigger customers of long-haul capacity as they expand their
own internal networks, according to TeleGeography. Recently, some of those companies --
among them Google, Facebook, Microsoft and large global financial institutions -- have begun
financing and building their own global networks that include undersea cable routes. They are
expected to outspend carriers in the next few years.

The vast majority of enterprises, however, don't buy capacity directly on undersea cables, relying
on their service providers to get their global voice and data traffic where it needs to go. But they
end up paying for it one way or another, says Brian Chee, IT specialist at the University of
Hawaii's ALOHA Cabled Observatory. The underwater observatory -- the world's deepest, at
three miles below the surface -- collects important oceanic environmental data via a retired cable,
which AT&T donated to the university for $1.
"Most corporations and most individuals don't understand that undersea cables are insanely
expensive," Chee says.

According to TeleGeography, cable costs vary based on distance, with a new trans-Atlantic cable
running, on average, around $250 million to $300 million. Engineers wind the fiber -- wrapped
in a shark bite shield and large braided conductor -- deep in the hull of a specialized ship. The
vessel then runs a large plow along the bottom of the seabed and drops the cable in the resulting
trench or, in other places, simply lays it directly on the ocean floor.

When a subsea cable sustains damage, a specialized repair crew must find the break and splice in
a new piece of extension fiber -- a process that takes time and hundreds of thousands of dollars,
Chee says.

What lies beneath: Security risks

TeleGeography estimates that 100-150 subsea cable failures occur every year -- with two-thirds
of those disruptions due to damage from fishing gear and ships' anchors. Security vulnerabilities
are also cause for concern. That's why, on nautical charts, the exact locations of cables remains
unmarked -- indicated only by large no-anchor zones.

As for cable landing stations, according to Chee -- who used to work for the federal
government's Office of Information Security -- the Department of Homeland Security has
designated them sensitive national resources.

"They are not marked on the maps. We are not allowed to tell people exactly where they are," he
says. "The entrances to those landing stations are literally vault doors."

Still, when he considers undersea cables, Chee says terrorism is low on his list of concerns.

"The chances of one of our enemies being able to get to and destroy one of these cables is
relatively low," Chee says.

Starosielski agrees, adding that without a high degree of familiarity with the network, terrorists
wouldn't know for certain who would lose connectivity if they cut a given cable, making a
targeted strike difficult.

But she and Janota both say enterprises -- even those who rely entirely on service providers to
operate their international networks -- should find out where their data travels geographically, to
anticipate how geopolitical upheaval might affect normal operations.

"A lot of subsea cables going from Europe to the Middle East, for example, go through the Suez
Canal," Janota says. "The government in Egypt has effective control of all of [that] traffic going
… from Europe to Asia."

Espionage presents another concern. For example, Janota says anyone able to hack a subsea
cable between the United Kingdom and the U.S. could access a vast number of calls, emails,
messages, financial transactions and video communications traveling between those two
countries.

Fail to plan, plan to fail

Starosielski says that while undersea cable security still needs improvement, monitoring
practices have gotten stronger, with tracking devices alerting network operators to the presence
of large ships near cables, for example. But despite these measures -- as well as strict no-anchor
zones and legal ramifications for those who sever subsea cables -- accidents still happen.

Alissa Irei with Eamon Earls asks:

How much thought have you given your organization's reliance on

submarine cabling?

Join the Discussion

Having multiple subsea cable connections, multiple entry points and multiple fiber routes allows
physical diversity in case of any type of disruption, whether it comes from an earthquake,
hurricane, tapping, spying or hacking, Janota says.

Learn about fiber optic cable types and why

smaller is better

Learn about fiber optic cable types, how the most widely used one -- 62.5/125-
micron loose tube -- is constructed, and why smaller is better when it comes to
fiber optics.
This Article Covers

Network Design
RELATED TOPICS

 Ethernet
 IP Networking
 LANs (Local Area Networks)
  Network Hardware

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 Network configuration tools: A primer

 hybrid WAN
 Mobile network design considerations for your enterprise

TECHNOLOGIES
Fiber optic cable Multimode fiber Networking profession Single mode fiber

Sections

 The advantages of using fiber optics

 Fiber construction
 Single-mode vs. multimode fiber optic cable types
 Light propagation
 So, what about the single-mode fiber?
 Next Steps
 Dig Deeper

Related Content

 Network cable, lesson 6: Fiber – SearchNetworking

 SMF or MMF for connecting two SANs? – SearchStorage
 Selecting fiber-optic cable and connectors – SearchNetworking

Vendor Resources

 Navigating Cabling Options for Enterprise and Cloud Data Centers –Leviton

The ubiquity of today's fiber optic cable types is rooted in research from the 1950s. During the
1950s, research and development into the transmission of visible images through optical fibers
led to some success in the medical world, where it was being used in remote illumination and
viewing instruments. In 1966, Charles Kao and George Hockham proposed the transmission of
information over glass fiber and realized, to make it a practical proposition, much lower losses in
the cables were essential.

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10 Types of Network Cables: Explained and Illustrated

This 82-page guide focuses on the different types of network cables, such as Ethernet copper
cabling specifications, speeds and caveats of each technology.

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This was the driving force behind the developments to reduce the optical losses in fiber
manufacturing. Today, those losses are significantly lower than the original targets set by Kao
and Hockham.

The advantages of using fiber optics

Because of the low-loss, high-bandwidth properties of fiber optic cabling, it can be used over
greater distances than copper cables. In data networks, this can be as much as 2 kilometers
without the use of repeaters. Being lightweight and small-size also makes them ideal for
applications in which running copper cables would be impractical; by using multiplexers, one
fiber can replace hundreds of copper cables. This is pretty impressive for a tiny glass filament,
but the real benefit in the data industry is its immunity to electromagnetic interference -- and the
fact that glass is not an electrical conductor.

Because fiber is nonconductive, all fiber optic cable types can be used where electrical isolation
is needed -- for instance, between buildings where copper cables could experience ground
potential differences. Fibers also eliminate threats in dangerous environments -- such as chemical
plants, where a spark could trigger an explosion. Last, but not least, is the security aspect: It is
difficult to tap into a fiber cable to read data signals.
Fiber construction

There are many different fiber optic cable types, but for the purposes of this explanation, we will
deal with one of the most common types: 62.5/125-micron loose tube. The numbers represent the
diameters of the fiber core and cladding. These are measured in microns, which are millionths of
a meter.

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Loose tube fiber cable can be indoor, outdoor or both. Outdoor cables usually have the tube filled
with gel to act as a moisture barrier to the ingress of water. The number of cores in one cable can
be anywhere from four to 144.

Over the years, a variety of core sizes have been produced. Today, there are three main sizes that
are used in data communications: 50/125, 62.5/125 and 8.3/125. The 50/125- and 62.5/125-
micron multimode cables are the most widely used in data networks; although, recently, the 62.5
has become the more popular choice. This is rather unfortunate, because the 50/125 has been
found to be the better option for Gigabit Ethernet applications.
The 8.3/125-micron loose cable is a single-mode cable that, until now, hasn't been widely used in
data networking because of the high cost of single-mode hardware. Things are beginning to
change, because the length limits for Gigabit Ethernet over 62.5/125 fiber have been reduced to
around 220 meters. Thus, using 8.3/125 may be the only choice for some campus networks.

Single-mode vs. multimode fiber optic cable types

With copper cables, larger size means less resistance and, therefore, more capacity. But with
fiber, the opposite is true. To explain this, we first need to understand how light propagates
within the fiber core.

Light propagation

Light travels along a fiber cable by a process called total internal reflection; this is made possible
by using two types of glass that have different refractive indexes. The inner core has a high
refractive index, and the outer cladding has a low index. This is the same principle as the
reflection you see when you look into a pond. The water in the pond has a higher refractive index
than the air, and if you look at it from a shallow angle, you will see a reflection of the
surrounding area; however, if you look straight down at the water, you can see the bottom of the
pond.
At some specific angle between these two viewpoints, the light stops reflecting off the surface of
the water and passes through the air-water interface, allowing you to see the bottom of the pond.
In multimode fibers, as the name suggests, there are multiple modes of propagation for the rays
of light. These range from low-order modes, which take the most direct route straight down the
middle, to high-order modes, which take the longest route, as they bounce from one side to the
other all the way down the fiber.

This has the effect of scattering the signal because the rays from one pulse of light arrive at the
far end at different times; this is known as intermodal dispersion -- sometimes referred to as
differential mode delay, or DMD. To ease the problem, graded index fibers were developed.
Unlike fiber optic cable types that have a barrier between core and cladding, these have a high
refractive index at the center that gradually reduces to a low refractive index at the
circumference. This slows down the lower-order modes, allowing the rays to arrive at the far end
closer together, thereby reducing intermodal dispersion and improving the shape of the signal.
So, what about the single-mode fiber?

What's the best way to get rid of intermodal dispersion? Easy: Only allow one mode of
propagation. So, a smaller core size means higher bandwidth and greater distances. It's as simple
as that.

Introduction to Windows direct cable

connection
 1


by
Chris Partsenidis

Firewall.cx

Methods of direct cable connection have evolved. This tip explains how, as
well as what each method -- including UTP crossovers and straight-through
cabling -- requires.
This Article Covers

Network Hardware
RELATED TOPICS

 Ethernet
 IP Networking
 LANs (Local Area Networks)
 Network Design
Looking for something else?

 How to set up a CAT5 UTP crossover cable

 What are some ways to reduce IT maintenance costs?
 Straight-through cable: Learn about UTP wiring and color coding

TECHNOLOGIES
Networking profession USB UTP copper cabling

In this Article

 Serial crossover
 Parallel port
 USB
 UTP
 Next Steps
 Dig Deeper








Related Content

 Essential network cabling tips for your infrastructure – SearchNetworking

 USB cable connection and connector types explained – SearchNetworking
 USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed USB) – SearchWindowsServer

From the earliest days of personal computing, direct cable connection was the most popular way
to transfer data from one PC to another.

Today, computers equipped with a network card and using straight-through or crossover network
cables are able to transfer data at speeds much greater than what's possible with a serial or
parallel cable. However, there are still times where we require a transfer via the serial or parallel
port, and that's why it's important to understand direct cable connection.

Download this free guide

10 Types of Network Cables: Explained and Illustrated

This 82-page guide focuses on the different types of network cables, such as Ethernet copper
cabling specifications, speeds and caveats of each technology.

Transferring data between computers via a direct cable connection can be performed using the
following methods:

 Serial crossover cable;

 Parallel cable -- also known as Laplink cables;
 USB transfer or data link cable; and
 UTP crossover or straight-through cable.

Speeds depend on the transfer method selected; however, each method has specific requirements.

Serial crossover

Direct transfer via serial crossover cables requires the existence of one free serial port on both
the source and destination computer. Furthermore, the maximum attainable speed for data
transfer via a serial port is only 14 Kbps -- 0.014 Mbps -- making it unpractical and extremely
slow for large file transfers. Apart from the very low speed rates, most laptops, workstations and
servers do not offer a serial port anymore, as the port has become obsolete and has been replaced
by USB ports.

Parallel port

Transferring data via a parallel port is more practical, compared with a serial port, thanks to the
greater speed rates of up to 1.1 MBps or 8.8 Mbps. However, as with serial ports, parallel ports
are almost nonexistent, as they too have been replaced by USB interfaces.

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USB

Data transfers via USB ports are more popular; however, a special USB transfer cable -- or USB
data link -- is required. Users cannot employ a standard USB cable used to connect printers or
other USB devices. The special USB transfer cable contains electronic circuits that allow two
USB ports to connect and transfer files.

USB speed transfers depend on the USB port version on the machines. The USB v1.1
specification provides a maximum of 12 Mbps, while the USB v2.0 specification increases
throughput to 480 Mbps -- almost five times the speed of a 100 Mbps network. USB 3.0 and
USB 3.1 boost throughput to almost 5 Gbps.
UTP

UTP crossover and straight-through cables are the final method of direct cable connection
covered here. They also happen to be the most popular. Crossover cables are required for older
network cards that do not support Auto-MDIX, while newer and gigabit network cards support
Auto-MDIX and require simple straight-through cables. The supported transfer speeds are 10
Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps, surpassing USB v2.0 transfer speeds by more than two times.

Chris Partsenidis asks:

Do you still use direct cable connections for data and file transfers? If so,
what for?

Join the Discussion

Installing Windows programs or components to transfer data is out of this tutorial's scope. Read
about what you should check before attempting a direct cable connection.

How to set up a serial cable connection in

your network
 1


by
Chris Partsenidis

Firewall.cx
Serial direct cable connection is examined in this cable networking lesson,
which defines the term and explains how it works, as well as the technology
required to set one up.
This Article Covers

Network Design
RELATED TOPICS

 Ethernet
 IP Networking
 LANs (Local Area Networks)
 Network Hardware

Looking for something else?

 Network configuration tools: A primer

 hybrid WAN
 Mobile network design considerations for your enterprise

TECHNOLOGIES
Enterprise telephony & communications Network cabling New & emerging technology

Sections

 What is a serial port connection?

 Understanding a serial cable connection
 Next Steps
 Dig Deeper

Related Content

 Network cable, lesson 8: Serial Direct Cable ... – SearchNetworking

 Attenuation of cables – SearchNetworking
 Network cable, lesson 9: Parallel Direct Cable ... – SearchNetworking








A direct serial cable connection uses the communication ports of your computers. Most
computers have at least two communication, or COM, ports: COM1 and COM2. Serial port
pinouts are less complex than parallel port pinouts, but the speed is also a lot slower -- between
12 Kbps and 14 Kbps.

Download this free guide

10 Types of Network Cables: Explained and Illustrated

This 82-page guide focuses on the different types of network cables, such as Ethernet copper
cabling specifications, speeds and caveats of each technology.

That's pretty slow when you're used to a network connection. Here's a look at how serial data is
transferred and why it's slower:

Figure 1 gives you an idea about how serial data is transferred. Each colored block that is
numbered is sent from PC 1 to PC 2. PC 2 will receive the data in the same order it was sent; in
other words, it will receive data block 1 first, and then data block 2 -- all the way to block 7. This
is a pretty good representation of data flow in a serial cable connection. Serial ports transmit data
sequentially over one pair of wires -- the rest of the wires are used to control the transfer.
Serial ports are much like a one-lane road, where the road is wide enough to fit only one car at a
time -- it's equivalent to one data block at a time in our example above. It's easy to understand
the road cannot process several cars at one time.

What is a serial port connection?

Most new computers have two COM ports, with nine pins each; these are DB-9 male connectors.
Older computers would have one DB-9 male connector and one DB-25 male connector. The 25-
pin male connector is pretty much the same as the nine-pin connector -- it's just bigger.

Let's have a look at a serial port to see what we are talking about:
Different pinouts are used for the DB-9 and DB-25 connectors, and we will have a look at them
in a moment. But first, let's have another look at the COM ports of a new computer:

Notice the COM ports are both DB-9 connectors; there is no more DB-25. The connector above
the two blue COM ports is a line print terminal, or parallel port.

The serial port of a computer can run at different speeds, thus allowing us to connect different
devices that communicate at different speeds with the computer. The following table shows the
speeds at which most computers' serial ports are able to run and how many kilobits per second it
translates:
Now, here are the pinouts of both DB-9 and DB-25 connectors:
Understanding a serial cable connection

All that's left now are the pinouts required to use a serial cable connection directly. There is a
special term for this type of a cable: a null modem cable, which basically means you need to have
TX and RX crossed over. Because you can have different configurations -- for example, DB-9 to
DB-9; DB-9 to DB-25; and DB-25 to DB-25 -- I have created different tables to show you the
pinouts for each one:

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 How modern application delivery affects IT infrastructure

DB-9 to DB-9. You use this configuration when you need a cable with a DB-9 connector on each
end:

DB-9 to DB-25. This configuration is required when you need a cable with one DB-9 and one
DB-25 connector on either end:
DB-25 to DB-25. This configuration is used when you need a cable with a DB-25 connector on
each end:
This should cover what you need to know about direct serial cable connection via a null modem
cable.

If you're using third-party software to connect your computers, you probably won't stumble into
big problems. But if you're using Windows software, be sure you have unique names for each of
your computers, because Windows will treat the direct connection as a network connection. This
means you will be able to see the other computer via Network Places.

Essential network cabling tips for your

infrastructure
 1

by
Chris Partsenidis

Firewall.cx

Network cabling may seem basic, but it's integral to your network
infrastructure. This series of 10 lessons for networking pros explains how
common types of network cables work.
This Article Covers

Network Design
RELATED TOPICS

 Ethernet
 IP Networking
 LANs (Local Area Networks)
 Network Hardware

Looking for something else?

 Network configuration tools: A primer

 hybrid WAN
 Mobile network design considerations for your enterprise

TECHNOLOGIES
Copper twisted pairs Ethernet network Fiber optic cable Network cabling USB

Sections

 Network cabling: What you’ll learn

 Dig Deeper



 




Related Content

 Ten cabling tips in 10 minutes – SearchNetworking

 Network cable, lesson 5: 100Base-(T) TX/T4/FX - ... – SearchNetworking
 How the 10Base-T cable evolved and its use today – SearchNetworking

This series on network cabling covers all aspects of the techniques and technology used in
today's networks. While many different types of network cables are now in use, this series -- in
lessons numbered one through 10 -- focuses on the most common cables, including unshielded
twisted pair, CAT5 straight-through and crossover, Ethernet, fiber and more.

Download this free guide

10 Types of Network Cables: Explained and Illustrated

This 82-page guide focuses on the different types of network cables, such as Ethernet copper
cabling specifications, speeds and caveats of each technology.

In addition to providing network cabling topics of direct interest to today's networking pros, this
series includes some valuable coverage of the history of networks and cabling. It covers, too, the
basic types of networking cables in use today and how to identify the right one for a particular
enterprise network. This series also includes fiber optic technology and the different fiber optic
cables available in the market. Other network cabling topics of focus are types of direct cable
connections to transfer data between computers, 10Base-T and 100Base-T cables, Gigabit
Ethernet and USB cable connections.

It may seem certain portions of this series cover network cabling information that is now no
longer pertinent -- serial, parallel and USB ports -- but in truth, these topics will actually come in
handy in the future.

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Each lesson in this network cabling series provides either critical background or important basics
essential to understanding the field of network cabling. Readers who review each lesson, as well
as learn the basics and the terminology of each topic, will come away with a solid grounding in
the past, present and future prospects for network cabling.

Network cabling: What you’ll learn

Lesson 1: Types of network cables

Lesson 2: Straight-through cable
Lesson 3: UTP crossover cable
Lesson 4: 10Base-T cable
Lesson 5: 100Base-TX cable
Lesson 5b: Gigabit Ethernet standard
Lesson 6: Fiber optic cable types
Lesson 7: Direct cable connection
Lesson 8: Serial cable connection
Lesson 9: Parallel cable
Lesson 10: USB cable conne

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