Optical fiber is made by drawing glass or plastic to a desired length and diameter (slightly larger than a human hair).  This flexible and highly pure fiber is most commonly used to transmit light for a wide range of applications including visible light displays, sensors, and high-speed communications networks which we will discuss in this article.

The first instances of glass being drawn into fibers date back to the Roman times, however it was not until the 1790’s that a pair of French brothers named Chappe, invented the first “optical telegraph”. This primitive system was made up of towers outfitted with a series of lights that operators could use to relay messages back and forth.

Wide Area Network Emulators, or WANem, are designed to simulate WAN connections for use in laboratory settings, and makes for a good delay simulator as well.

By calculating the interactions between different network entities, WAN emulation creates artificial delay, bandwidth constraints and other impediments and functions.

This functions as a way to gauge applications and protocols against actual conditions. WAN characteristics like packet loss, disconnections, jitter, and time delay can be mimicked over a transparent application gateway with a WANem. This unique test condition allows users to bring the internet into their development, laboratory or test environment.