Level 3, for example, is laying thousands of miles of fiber-optic lines to support its nationwide IP service.
We have billions of new microprocessors, millions of new miles of fiber-optic glass and a vast new infrastructure of wireless communications.
Even the most computer-savvy students are impressed by the 40 miles of fiber optic cables that link their studies to almost every subject imaginable.
Uunet alone zaps perhaps half of the world's Net bits, and 30% of all Web sites transmit their pages on Uunet's 300, 000 miles of fiber.
If they can deliver, it will encompass almost 9 million miles of fiber strands--four or five times as many as the new networks laid by big rivals like Qwest.
If they can deliver, it will encompass almost 9 million miles of fiber strands--four or five times as many as the new networks laid by big rivals like Qwest (nyse: Q - news - people).
Fiber builder Level 3 has 16, 000 route-miles of conduits carrying up to 144 fiber strands each.
Its carbon-fiber body will hit 60 miles per hour in fewer than three seconds.
It is building an all-Internet network, encompassing 40, 000 miles of newly laid fiber-optic lines--on the cheap.
The Denver-based communications company is laying approximately 18, 500 miles of Macro Capacity Fiber Network, an all-digital backbone that will connect over 130 cities by this March.
But unlike the last build-out, when companies buried thousands of miles of long-haul fiber-optic cable under the sea and across continents, today's construction is focused more on connecting local homes and businesses with faster Internet pipes.
Some trading firms measure their competitiveness by the speed in which they can connect to financial exchanges and complete transactions, and even at the speed of light that data travels along the glass of fiber optic lines, locating even a few miles closer to the exchange could provide an edge.
But since 1995, that simple anatomy has given way to several separate backbones -- thousands of miles of extremely-high-bandwidth fiber-optic cable owned by the likes of Sprint, GTE, IBM, and MCI WorldCom, connecting major metropolitan areas all over the country.
He oversaw half a dozen businesses and was looking at how KN (now Kinder Morgan) could cash in on a hidden asset: rights-of-way for 25, 000 miles of pipes across 26 states, precious assets for fiber builders.
He oversaw half a dozen businesses and was looking at how KN--now Kinder Morgan (nyse: KMI - news - people)--could cash in on a hidden asset: rights-of-way for 25, 000 miles of pipes across 26 states, precious assets for fiber builders.
Cuba may only be positioned 100 or so miles from Key West, but the US embargo meant an undersea fiber link to North America hasn't been a possibility.
ENGADGET: Cuba confirms Alba-1 fiber hook-up to Venezuela, internet remains on lockdown
In Provo, a city of 115, 000 about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City, Google is making its first plans to take over an existing fiber system and will start operating it long before it can build the service for Austin.
应用推荐