Sure, the researchers at Alcatel-Lucent have already sent data 50 miles at 25.6Tbps, but it looks like now they're going for distance rather than speed: the company announced yesterday that it's now pumped bits over a 1584-mile long link at 16.4Tbps. Sure, that's slightly slower than the record, but being able to firehose bits at distances like that is even more impressive, if you ask us (you didn't). The core tech is essentially the same as used in the earlier speed record: bundling several 100Gbps optical signals at different wavelengths into one multiplexed transmission, shooting it down fiber, and splitting it up at the end. This latest test used 164 different channels and updated transmitters and multiplexers to hit the record -- which is fine and all, but guys, if you're not using that old school 25.6Tbps gear anymore we know a few people who are interested.

[Via Slashdot]

Unfortunately for most, traversing back and forth to Asia from America on a regular basis isn't exactly in the cards, but thanks to a $500 million project agreed upon by a 17-member telecommunications consortium, visiting via fiber will soon be a whole lot snappier. Telekom Malaysia, along with 16 other firms, have awarded a half billion dollar contract to Alcatel-Lucent and NEC to construct a 12,428-mile link between the west coast of America and Southeast Asia. The aptly-dubbed Asia-America Gateway will connect the western US with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii, while also offering "seamless interconnection" with Europe, Africa, and Australia. Moreover, the project is being designed to provide a "more secure link for traffic" across the seas, as it avoids the hazardous Pacific Ring in hopes of dodging massive internet outages due to unexpected earthquakes. Best of all, the wait time for the undersea cabling to make an impact is fairly reasonable, as users should see "faster and more reliable service" when it becomes operational in December of next year.

[Via Physorg]

In Verizon's never-ending quest to continue bumping the bandwidth to the four or five lucky customers that actually have access to its FTTH network, the firm is planning to implement a new technology which will hopefully increase the speed of FiOS fiber-to-the-premises links "by four to eight times." Of course we jest about the amount of you oh-so-fortunate ones that can actually get ahold of such speedy luxuries, but Verizon is looking to Alcatel-Lucent to help with the forthcoming gigabit passive optical network (G-PON), which is slated to "increase the aggregate broadband speeds on Verizon's FTTP systems by four times downstream to the customer, and by eight times upstream back to the Internet." The outfit also stated that it would "continue deploying the broadband passive optical network (B-PON)" that it has been using since 2004, and took a moment to boast about "how simple" upgrading FiOS actually was. Still, the vast majority of you won't even be in the general vicinity necessary to acquire the newfangled G-PON niceties, but the soon-to-be-celebrating town of Lewisville, Texas can keep an eye on Q2 of this year, while folks in Kirklyn, Pennsylvania should have it sometime "over the summer."

[Thanks, Jim V.]

Data transmission records were just made to be shattered, as we've seen the benchmark go from 2.56- to 14- and now to 25.6-terabits per second within a year (and five days, but who's counting?). The momentary record holder this time around is Alcatel-Lucent, which "successfully transmitted a world record 25.6Tbps of optical data over a single fiber strand' using 160 WDM channels. In case you were wondering, that's enough speed to send about 600 DVDs worth of information to your buddy in one single second, after which you'd likely destroy any and all functionality his / her computer previously had before the bombardment. Now, what's it cost to run one or two of these pipes to Sealand?

In yet another patent infringement case from Texas, French networking gear manufacturer Alcatel has just taken Microsoft to court for violating seven, count 'em, seven patents pertaining to fast-forward and rewind functions in online video streams. In a pair of suits filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas this week, Alcatel is seeking damages for those alleged patent violations. As our buddies at PVR Wire point out, given that Alcatel worked with Microsoft to build an IPTV platform, it's likely that this will settle before this legal snowball gets too out of control -- that way, both parties could fast forward the outcome, too. Or would that be another violation?

[Via PVR Wire]

In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lucent Technologies has disclosed the new name of their mega telco-tech merger with Alcatel they announced in April. The newly formed $25 billion company will be formally known as Alcatel Lucent, ending intense rounds of speculation by nobody at all. Everything should be sealed up by the end of year, and Lucent investors will own around 40 percent of combined company, with Alcatel types holding the rest.

[Via The Wireless Report]