NYC's Educational Dark Fiber Network

An anonymous reader submits "A group of educational leaders in New York City has created a new fiber backbone network off previously layed but unused fiber. Connecting many city NYSERNet members (the Museum of Natural History, CUNY, Mt. Sinai-NYU Medical, Cornell Med., Columbia Med., and Columbia's primary campus), the newly activated backbone connects to Internet2 and commodity Internet and intends to be largely used for video streaming. Original plan info here."

Comments

Say No More

[CleverNickedName]

intends to be largely used for video streaming.

*Wink wink*

Re:Say No More

[n2ygk]

Actually, mostly high-end music lessons: http://www.columbia.edu/acis/networks/advanced/

ffs...

[Anonymous Coward]

"and intends to be largely used for video streaming"

is intended to be

bloody yanks

A lot of this?

[StevenHenderson]

A group of educational leaders in New York City has created a new fiber backbone network off previously layed but unused fiber.

How many instances of this are there across the US/world? Unused fiber? Find some for me!

Re:A lot of this?

[Jouser]

Yes, there is a lot. During the dot-com boom lots of companies/startups were running and laying fiber. Since the dot-com bust, all the fiber became unlit and hence dark fiber.

In Ohio we've recently completed our Third Frontier Network which was largely built from dark fiber.

Re:A lot of this?

[kenelbow]

The main reason for a glut of dark fiber is not actually the dot-com bust, contrary to popular belief. The main reason is the use of Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM). This allows A LOT more data to be sent over the same pipe as before, thus rendering the majority of that fiber useless. Don't get me wrong, the dot-com bust had a MAJOR impact on the use of fiber, but it wasn't the main factor in the dark fiber glut.

Re:A lot of this?

[tohlan]

I think it is more likely that DWDM equipment allows fiber someone already owns to be used more efficiently. I don't know of any company that gets rid of fiber they have because they put DWDM on a couple of strands. Its like saying that there are more video games on the market because we all have more free time now days. Sure, DWDM lets you cram more data down a particular strand of fiber, but the need for capacity is increasing too, and laying new fiber is very expensive (especially transoceanic fiber).

Re:A lot of this?

[b00le]

Here in Rome (that's in Italy for any Republicans who might be reading /. ...) there a lots of little blue corrugated plastic tubes sticking out of the pavement of my district with plastic bath plugs and bits of string closing them off. Of course most of these plugs have been pulled off, so you can see that the tubes are empty. I have been told - but cannot confirm - that these were intended to carry fibre optic cables in some abandoned enterprise. Since the hard work has been done it seems a pity not to use them.

Re:A lot of this?

[Rasta Prefect]

Since the dot-com bust, all the fiber became unlit and hence dark fiber.

This isn't the only source of unused fiber - The majority of the fiber in the ground has never been lit. It costs almost as much to lay one strand as a hundred, so everybody laid a hundred, plus empty conduit it could be blown through later. The stuff on the ends however, is expensive, so they don't light it till they need it.

Space, bandwidth, and digging holes.

[RealProgrammer]

From TFPDF:

• Our (and Cornell's) affiliated hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian, has a significantly larger leased ATM infrastructure at DS-3 and OC-3 rates interconnecting about a dozen buildings. We were separately and collectively paying a lot for bandwidth in Manhattan.

  • In rural Illinois we just run cable up the Interstate or build another series of attractive microwave towers when bandwidth gets short.

    The problems of running a network, and a university for that matter, in a metropolis such as New York or Chicago are completely different. We have lots of cheap space but very little infrastructure, while they have too much infrastructure and hardly any space.

    We just dig a hole and lay cable; in NYC all the holes have already been taken.

wit the summary

[dq5 studios]

intends to be largely used for video streaming.
You misspelled sharing.

CUNY?

[wackysootroom]

I misread that one at first. The first thoughts that come running through me are that first /. puts the word scrotum on the front page and now this?

an AWFUL lot of this

[RMH101]

most of the cost of running fiber anywhere is backhoe. once you've dug a trench, the cost implications for adding double the amount of fiber/cable you actually need is negligible - so you put loads in to allow for future expansion. this extra fiber just sits there until it's needed, or until other fiber breaks and is swapped over to the spare capacity...

can anyone explain

[spectrokid]

what kind of video gets streamed from a natural history museum to a hospital? More seriously, here in Denmark, the electricity companies want to get in on the game, but nobady really knows where all that fiber got dumped during the bubble. One company ordered fiber along a road, and then found out there was already dark fiber: the company they asked to dig the trenches had also dug the previous ones. If it was me, I would have kept my mouth shut, but then again...

The speed of dark

[Matey-O]

Having dark capacity isn't surprising when you look at the economics.

1. Cost of laying a single strand of fiber: $12,000,000 NewYenRubles

2. Cost of laying 24 strands of fiber:
$12,000,001 NewYenRubles

At the time I worked for the local DOT, they laid 22 odd strands of fiber down the major highways in town, and used the revenue generated from selling off fiber to halp fund the project. It's good for the DOT as it lowers costs, and it's good for Telco/ISP/whoever because they don't have to dig a seonc trench, obtain permission, rip up roads again, etc.

Re:Say No More, know what I mean

[RealProgrammer]

Nudge, nudge, know what I mean, say no more!

Man: Well, I mean like,... you've SLEPT, with a lady...

Squire: Yes...

Man: What's it like?

In other news...

[FJ]

Accoring to news.com, a small town in Louisiana is waiting for telephone service to be installed.

Yep. Life is fair.

Re:In other news...

[smacktits]

One must also into account the massive popularity of mobile phones. I know plenty people who eschew landlines in favour of mobile devices. Not because they are poor, but because they prefer the convenience. Myself included. Having to remember one number is better than two or three different ones.

Same thing here!

[Sfing_ter]

Monterey County CA, the maintenance guys were looking in some "unmarked" panels in the basement in the Salinas offices, and "found" about 200 strands of dark fiber. Apparently during the reign of one of the iterations of our local cable service (TCI/AT&T/Comcast, AT&T did it I know it :), they "knew" that fiber was the future and laid fiber all over the place, then they sold out to comcast without hooking any of it up.

Montery started by connecting to schools and cities down the 101 highway, when MCOE lost antenna space for their educational television feed, they ran it down the fiber backbone, without causing any lag in any of the connections. So now places that were running 56k frame relays are now flying with 45mb to their router. They actually have a bigger connection than my isp :)

I just need a small space, near the router, I will stand, I don't need a chair, I just want to FEEL the bandwidth, please?

VPNet Anyone?

[CyberDave]

VPNet, Spokane, WA: The Virtual Possibilities Network.

Built from dark fiber once owned by Avista Utilities before they spun off the telecom stuff and, specifically, the fiber to Columbia Fiber Solutions. (Also includes a couple of leased OC-3 lines.) Been in planning for a couple of years and back in September had the ceremonial launch and press event. It's all gigabit networking between the core routers in each node (except for the aforementioned OC-3 lines). Connects all the major educational institutions in the area as well as several research and commercial firms. As of right now, all the fiber is lit and the core routers are connected. Some sites (like the one I work at) are still waiting for network drops to be made from the router to the computer labs (red tape...). Should have an Internet2 connection as soon as another project (something Gigapop, my memory's a bit fuzzy on that) is completed in the next year or so.

Eastern Washington University, Cheney

Eastern Washington University, Spokane at Riverpoint

Gonzaga University

Inland Northwest Health Services (INHS)

Intercollegiate College of Nursing, WSU College of Nursing

North Idaho College

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Community Colleges of Spokane (Spokane Community College)

Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute (SIRTI)

Spokane Public Schools

University of Idaho

University of Idaho, Research Park, Post Falls

Washington State University, Pullman

Washington State University, Spokane

Whitworth College

Website: http://www.vpnet.org (a little bland at the moment, but still good info).

Dark Fiber Maps?

[Mr.Sharpy]

Does anybody know of any resources or maps concerning the location and availability of dark fiber? I am sure there is a great deal of it laying out there along the roadside, in the sewers, and under the sidewalks just waiting for an application. Unfortunately, it's a pain in the ass to find out who owns what, and who to contact in your area. Some maps or perhaps a dark fiber market would be nice. Any suggestions?

It's stuff like this

[Corellon Larethian]

that makes the MPAA and RIAA wet themselves.

WH00T!

It's not previously-laid fiber -- it's brand new

[n2ygk]

Despite the fact that several bidders offered to lease us their unused installed fiber we got a better price, better engineering, and better quality of fiber (SMF28e low water peak) by having brand new fiber installed. I have a map that shows me exactly where my fiber goes. (No, I can't share it with you.)

dark fiber

[cygnus]

is there any indication that the discovery of this so-called 'dark fiber' could change our understanding of if the universe will end in a singularity or endless expansion?

Re:It's not previously-laid fiber -- it's brand ne

[n2ygk]

Yes "dark" is the right term. It means no telco is lighting it with their SONET or whatever equipment and then selling me a managed service. We have 20-year rights to several strands of actual glass end-to-end which we can light with whatever we want. We could send morse code by flashlight (torch for the bloody UK poster:-) but instead we chose to start with 10 gigabit Ethernet. I think the term you are looking for describing previsouly laid and unproductive fiber is "distressed assets." ;-)

Columbia's Connection sounds surprisingly wimpy

[billstewart]

Columbia's announcement says they've increased their internet connectivity to ~300 Mbps, from their previous 150 Mbps. Seems kind of wimpy - I'd have expected an announcement that says they're running at least gigabit connections to the other participants in the study. Maybe they're doing that and the press release just doesn't mention it? Or did they just start cheap and reuse their existing OC3 cards, while maybe some of the other players have fast connections to each other?

If you wade through the piles of documentation, it looks like they've got dark fiber routes from each of the participants to racks at a couple of hub locations where they can meet with each other and Nysernet and also crossconnect to other carriers at a carrier-neutral facility. That means they could be running whatever combination they want of DWDM or CWDM, 10 Gig Ether, 1 Gig Ether, or traditional SONET (155 Mbps x 1,4,16,64) depending on how much they want to spend on CPE. I couldn't tell how many fiber pairs they were deploying per customer, but they're using fairly new high-end fiber that supports almost anything. The cheapest way to light up the stuff is with GigE fiber connections, since you can get by with a pretty small router, and cheap cards for short-distance hops, but CWDM is coming down in price (Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing doesn't get as many channels per fiber as Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing, but the hardware's a lot cheaper) so you should be able to run multiple GigEs or whatever else you feel like. It looks like hardware costs for the CWDM versions are on the order of $5-10K per FDX GigE channel.

Breakfast

[Dynamic1]

I like a little dark fiber and milk in the morning. Helps me poop.