The Forgotten Dark Fiber Network Underneath RTP

Under Research Triangle Park — one of the largest research parks in the United States — there are miles of fiber optic cables that almost nobody knows about. They're not broken. They're not secret government infrastructure. They're the physical remains of the nineteen-nineties telecom bubble, when companies like WorldCom and Global Crossing borrowed tens of billions of dollars to wire the country, and then collapsed before they could use what they'd built. Less than five percent of the fiber laid during the boom was ever lit. The rest went dark. In the Triangle, a nonprofit called MCNC stepped into that vacuum, partnering with Duke University to build a carrier-grade underground network spanning over one hundred miles across Durham, Raleigh, Cary, and Chapel Hill. Today that infrastructure serves over five hundred institutions across North Carolina, including every public school in the state. This is the story of how one of the biggest financial disasters in American history accidentally built the backbone of public connectivity in our own backyard.   / durhamites   https://www.quora.com/profile/Durhamites https://www.tumblr.com/blog/durhamites   / durhammitess