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*

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?

[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.

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.

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.

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?

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?