Technology has come a long way since the beginning of the twentieth century. The development of the information superhighway has lead to a flooding of information onto the Internet. Files of data are becoming larger and larger. The basic Alexander Graham Bell telephone wire just cannot handle all of the data anymore. Due to this overload and the limited capabilities of electric telephone wires, businesses have had trouble conducting business over the Internet. The connections are slow and the security is hard to maintain. It is a challenge to solve this communications problem.

Many things have been invented to alleviate this dilemma. The wires have changed from simple copper pairs to microwaves, to increased use of satellites, to fiber optics. Optical fibers are made of glass and use light as the transmitting medium rather than radio waves. Since light has a much higher frequency much higher numbers of voice or data channels can be transmitted over a single light-wave link. Not only will this reduce the stress on telephone wires, but information will be easier and faster to send. Fiber optics are expected to take over an increasing share of the long-distance business now handled by communications satellites and microwave links. Connections are currently being constructed over the ocean to link the United States to Europe. There is much to gain from this technology.