teractiveodular
3 days ago
Since the article is quite light on details, can somebody give a ELI5 explanation of how an "all-photonics" network differs from your regular fiber optic network? I take it this means there are no regular electronic components along the way?
I would have assumed this confers a speed advantage since the article mentions 33.84 msec round trip, but this doesn't actually look any faster than this random site logging an average rtt of 30 msec. What am I missing? https://wondernetwork.com/pings/Tokyo/Taipei
numpad0
2 days ago
I think this is just a status update for IOWN inter-ISP network construction project from NTT, the privatized Japanese national telco.
IIUC they follow their organizational inertia to use expressions like "developing IOWN technology" as if they're designing a new CPU, but in fact they're just upgrading exchanges and signing new agreements.
They're probably not wrong, as it's often said that network is the computer, but it's certainly a bit quirky behavior.
20after4
2 days ago
It's open air no fiber involved. So line of sight lasers, presumably.
Edit: well, it says "Innovative Optical and Wireless Network" but maybe that doesn't mean what I think it means.