Plastic fibre gets up to speed

Korean researchers have created plastic optical fibre, capable of passing 2.5Gbits/sec, making it a more viable alternative to glass or cable.

Glass fibre can shunt data around at least four times faster and over far longer distances; but plastic is more robust and more flexible - and crucially is much easier to join or terminate.

Other plastic fibre on the market has data rates only on a par with the fastest copper links, which rarely exceed 1Gbit/sec except over short distances. Another major advantage of optical links is that they are clean, producing no " cross talk" between adjacent links and no radio noise. And they are themselves not vulnerable to interference.

A team led by Hwang Seung-sang at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has created a home network using the new fibre after six years of experimenting, the Korea Times reported.

KIST says the fibre is better than rival Japanese products and a third of the price. No date has been announced for commercial production.

The new fibre is seen as ideal for 'last mile' cable linking homes to a local exchange on which speeds over copper lines are generally far slower.

But, if KIST's claims are to be believed, it could also find a place in the home. Mitsubishi has developed a promising system in which plastic fibre is embedded in power cable, allowing new buildings to be wired up for data at the same time as they are wired for power.

The Mitsubishi fibre can pass 'only' 800Mbits/sec - an order of magnitude faster and far cleaner than data-over-mains systems currently being touted by BT for its video-on-demand services.