Internet Backbone

Internet backbone  is the  physical  networks ( usually relying  on fiber optic  cable ) that  carries  internet  traffic between  different  networks  and is  measured  in megabits per second. It is true  that  because data travel  at the speed of light. Any  place  connected to any  of the  backbone network should be as accessible  as any other place. In  reality  however congestion at network  hubs and junctions makes places with high  levels of  capacity  better positioned  to be home  to companies that distribute large  amounts  of data via  the internet. if the pipes are not big enough relative to the amount of data going  through  them data  transmission  speeds will get slow. However it can  be an issue for companies  especially those  companies  that are  hosting and transmitting large  amounts of  data. As a result having a high capacity  of internet  backbone  in a metropolitan area relative to  demand  is a competitive  advantage.

The  internet backbone  is a collaboration of multiple networks  routing facilities and servers that provides  a multiple  redundancy  approach to keeping  information online.

The national science foundation (NSF) created the first  high speed  backbone  in 1987s. Called NSFNET, that has  connected  170 smaller  networks  together  and operated at 1.544Mbps.

Backbones  are typically fiber  optic  trunk  lines. The trunk  line has multiple fiber optic  cables  combined  to gather  to increase the  capacity.

The  internet  backbone  uses fiber optic  cables, which  are very  thin  strands of glass  to send data. Fiber optic  equipment  uses lasers to transmit data with  pulses of light.  These stands  of glass are actually stronger than  steel. There are very long  fibers. Which  are up to 15 miles (24 mils) long  laid beneath cities to connect network  to each  other. They  are often  buried  next to railroads or under  streets  in cities.

Other  types of backbone  connection include  satellite  and radio  links satellites orbiting  earth  provide  connections for many  long  distance links. An  earth  station is a  site on earth that communicates with  the satellites. The earth  station sends  the signal  to the satellite  and the satellite relays the signal to an earth station  a particular destination. Satellite  links  are slower than fiber optic links and satellite links  sometimes  experience problems  caused  by environmental events like supports.