'Dark fiber' aids access to Internet
by Sarah R. Buchholz,
Chronicle staff
he University is taking advantage of a glut in
"dark fiber" to lease its own fiber optic cable so it
can get faster, less expensive access to the Internet, according
to Associate Chancellor for Information Technology Rosío
Alvarez. "Dark fiber" is fiber optic cable that hasn't
been "lit."
The University
is leasing it and lighting, or activating it, itself. The recent
acquisition of cable between Amherst and the Springfield Technology
Park has increased the campus capacity 160 percent from 135 megabits
for regular Internet and Internet2 traffic to 355 megabits.
"Nobody sees
it," Alvarez said. "All you do is get a better response
time."
In order to connect
with the cable running to Springfield, the campus had to run some
cable of its own.
"We actually
had to build out to the edge of the campus to meet this provider,"
Alvarez said.
Because only a
few vendors serve the Amherst area, connecting with Springfield,
where there are many vendors, allows the University to pay a competitive
rate for its Internet access.
"So we control
our fiber from here to Springfield," Alvarez said. "We're
looking to lease more fiber to Boston, thereby decreasing our costs
{further], and passing [the savings] on to the campus.
"We've gone
from a service where we pay a provider for access per megabit to
being our own provider," she said.
The University
also plans to join with Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith
colleges to create a one gigabit Five College network of fiber optic
cables. The other colleges could then have access to the Springfield
vendors through the University's link to the Technology Park, if
they chose.
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