Aug 11, 2024

George Gilder on the buildout of internet infrastructure (2000)

ASAP: Why is it important we build an all-optical network? 

Gilder: Optical networks are vital to the fulfillment of the business plans of the Internet economy and the future of world peace and prosperity.  We already have an all-optical network in the critical paths of large portions of the infrastructure--chiefly the passive parts.  It will rapidly spread over the next five years to reach into campuses, enterprises, and cities. 

ASAP: So I take it you don't think the promises surrounding this all-optical network have been overstated?

Gilder: They have been drastically understated by companies that want to retrofit optics into the old system rather than create a new network that fulfills the intrinsic promise of a worldwide web of glass and light. 

~ George Gilder, "Gilder On Optics," by Eric W. Pfeiffer, Forbes ASAP, August 21, 2000

(Quote provided by Fred Hickey in a July 15, 2024 tweet.)





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