The Campus Chronicle
Vol. XVIII, Issue 2
for the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts
September 6, 2002

 Page One Grain & Chaff Obituaries Letters to the Chronicle Archives Feedback Weekly Bulletin

 Page One Grain & Chaff Obituaries Letters to the Chronicle Archives Feedback Weekly Bulletin

Search

 

 

'Dark fiber' aids access to Internet

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

C 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.

 
    
  UMass Logo This Web site is an Official Publication of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It is maintained by the Web Development Group of the Division of Communications & Marketing. © 2002