Lighting the way in computer design

The development of optical interconnect technology using fiber optics in the 1970s was a cornerstone of the modern telecommunication industry. Replacing copper cables with optical fibers provides superior performance in terms of wide data bandwidths, reduced noise, and low loss. It also significantly reduces the cost of communication in terms of dollars/bit/km. Optical interconnects not only provided the infrastructure critical to the explosive, growth of telecommunication that followed, but also paved the way for the information industry to flourish today.