Re: Unfortunately
It sounds like this won't be deployable to existing infrastructure? Presumably the repeaters would need upgrading.
Nope, everything will need replacing as it's dependent on an entirely new fibre design. I'm also curious about the repeaters. When I started doing submarine stuff, it answered one of the questions I'd had. Like why, given the cost of a trans-Atlantic or Pacific cable, they had so few fibres? Answer was mostly the repeaters, ie more fibres means more electronics. More electronics means bigger 'torpedoes', and basic engineering challenges in making sure their weight didn't snap the cable as it was being laid or yoinked up to the surface for maintenance or repair. A lot of that is done via splicing the armour wires over and around the torpedo with a fancy steel wire weaving machine.
So having a single fibre with 12 cores/waveguides means (potentially) 12x more electronics per fibre, which then means more weight and power. So making the PFE (Power Feeding Equipment) even more exciting! But since the early days of submarine fibre systems, the electronics has advanced a LOT, so things like optical ICs allowing smaller amp/regen systems. There may also be advances in armouring and strain/stress management to allow more weight at the joints.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
