THE Benefits OF Fiber

Oct 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Jacqueline Emigh

When thinking about security, “glass” is probably the last thing on Earth that comes to mind. Yet, ironically, in the form of fiber-optic cable, glass has formed a basis for physical security systems since the 1980s. All the while, use of fiber has been fanning out into computer networks, too. Now, as the beat of technology marches on, there might be a fiber optics-enabled car or office building in the future.

Fiber optics' first big customer, the U.S. Department of Defense, discovered fiber's physical security advantages more than 25 years ago, says Jim Hayes, who is now president of the Fiber Optics Association (FOA). Back during the Reagan Administration, Hayes and his wife Karen co-owned a fiber optics company called Fotec.

“I published a few papers about fiber optics. Then the DoD started keeping us busy day and night. Military planes were running into a lot of interference when they flew through digital microbeams put out by BellSouth's telecom network. So airplanes were one of the DoD's initial fiber applications,” he says.

By the time of the Persian Gulf War, fiber had become integral to U.S. military operations, Hayes adds. “They say you can tell about a war by the scrap left on the battlefield. In Vietnam, it was battery scrap, but in the Gulf War, it was fiber optics.”

In the private sector, large telecom and cable TV firms began to build out huge regional, national and international fiber-optic infrastructures. Corporations got into the act, too, installing alarm and perimeter defense systems also made of fiber.

“Sometimes, these perimeter defense systems were integrated into actual physical fences,” says Jim Montgomery, a manager for fiber optics vendor Fiber SenSys Inc. If an intruder tried to climb the fence, a secret alarm would sound.

Demand for perimeter defense systems is on the wane now, because the market is somewhat saturated, Hayes says. More recently, corporations have been using fiber-optic cable to support communications from surveillance cameras.

On the computer networking side, enterprises soon started to recognize fiber's advantages as a flexible and more secure replacement for copper wiring.

“It's the security professional's job to guarantee safety, whether it's the safety of facilities or the safety of computer networks. Fiber optics can help in either case,” says George Feitel, vice president, feasibility and assessment, for a research and analysis firm called Wavera.

What's so special about fiber? For one thing, fiber-optic cables pull double duty as both sensors and communications pipes. “A fiber-optic cable is sensitive to physical disturbances. It works as a sensor by measuring changes in the light going through it,” Montgomery explains.

Further, on the communications side, fiber is more resistant to jamming and tapping as well as to RF (radio frequency) interference, experts say. Fiber cables ward off RF interference from both wireless networks and other sources of EMP (electromagnetic pulse).

“If somebody blows up anything — a bomb, let's say — you're going to get EMP,” Hayes says.

Line tapping is easier to avoid because fiber is less “leaky” than copper, experts say. “When a fiber-optic cable is coated and jacketed, the light is completely contained within the cable,” Montgomery explains.

What else is good about fiber? It offers higher “bandwidth” — or network capacity — for handling huge volumes of data, image, and audio/video network traffic with less slowdown.

“Fiber can also be cheaper than copper, especially when long distances are involved,” Hayes says.

In low-cost implementations, plastic has sometimes been used in place of glass. “But pricing's been coming down on glass a lot,” Feitel adds.

Computer networks benefit from the same fiber optic characteristics — more bandwidth, better economics over the long haul, and resistance to jamming, tapping and interference — as structures used for physical security.

Further, by using fiber instead of copper on enterprise networks, organizations can forgo the hassle of special networking hardware devices known as repeaters.

“Repeaters can be problematic because they represent a single point of failure,” Hayes says. “In other words, if a repeater goes down, there goes the computer network — or part of it, at least.”

But fiber optics carry disadvantages, too. It can be cumbersome to replace cable with fiber wiring throughout an entire computer network. “You have to restring everything,” Montgomery acknowledges.

Consequently, many organizations have instead swapped out only the copper network “backbone” for fiber. From the core fiber-optic backbone, these companies run either existing copper wiring or newer wireless LANs to corporate desktop PCs.

Another drawback to fiber-optic cable is that — like any kind of physical wiring — the wire can be cut. To circumvent that problem, fiber cables are often buried deep underground. Even then, cable can be subjected to severe damage.

The whole world found this out the hard way during the Sept. 11 attacks, when a fiber-optic cable operated by Verizon Corp. snapped under the force of a plane collision into the World Trade Center.

For days, weeks, and even months on end, residents of lower Manhattan were without standard telecommunication services. So, too, were Wall Street businesses, including the New York Stock Exchange. Many financial firms in the area moved their headquarters immediately, and some never returned to the downtown area of New York City.

Hayes, however, characterizes Sept. 11 as an example of the problems that can result when a city relies on any single cable plant, regardless of what type of cable it is.

“I noticed a big jump in the numbers of companies moving to ‘geographic diversity’ in their cable systems,” he says. Essentially, more enterprises have been installing extra cables as “redundant backup systems” in case the main line ever goes down.

Experts point out, though, that alternative wireless networks can also be disrupted. Wireless networks vary in terms of characteristics. Wireless nets that don't use RF signals typically rely on “line-of-sight” technology. On line-of-sight networks, transmissions can easily get blocked if a terrorist — or any other person or object — gets positioned somewhere in the way.

On the other hand, fiber cables can leak when they are bent or broken, according to Feitel. If a trained perpetrator wants to eavesdrop on a line, he won't try to bend a cable, because to do so would risk bringing down the whole system. Instead, the interloper might attach a listening device to one of the connectors that serve as the “glue” among fiber links on a network.

Yet fiber vendors have long tried to work around any possible leaks. Through a technique called “multiplexing,” vendors refract lightwaves in ways meant to disguise the data flowing through the pipe Right now, some fiber-based computer networks will start to get added security through a new “protected distribution system” initiative from the DoD. Fiber SenSys' SecurLAN product represents the first offering in this category.

“The DoD asked us to look at developing a system that would provide a dedicated, secure network which saboteurs and terrorists won't be able to harm,” Montgomery says.

Fiber SenSys' new SecureLAN contains a special “protected” portion with a built-in monitoring and alert system.

“If there's any attempt to dig down into the conduit to get to the physical signals inside, an alert will automatically be generated to the security management system,” Montgomery adds.

Next up on engineering drawing boards are fiber-enabled “intelligent buildings” and “smart cars.” The new vehicles will handle automotive electrical systems in a more efficient way, Feitel says.

On the other hand, built-in sensors within the smart buildings will detect “strain measurements,” for example. “The building will be able to tell whether there are too many people in an elevator,” Feitel adds.

FOR THE RECORD…

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