Light flashing through optical fibers forms the backbone of today's highspeed telecommunications networks. It's the technology that makes possible the Internet as we know it, and, in the not-too-distant future, it could make possible an "all-optical Internet" (see "The Microphotonic Revolution," TR July/August 2000). Relying totally on fiber optics to transmit data, an optical Internet will offer enough bandwidth to deliver far more compelling online entertainment, education and e-commerce; there will even be sufficient bandwidth to hold video conferences in which the slightest changes in facial expression-and perhaps even smell and touch-are immediately apparent.
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