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Connectivity.
How data centres connect, from the light inside a fibre to the high-voltage line at the fence. Optical transceivers and cabling, meet-me rooms and cross-connects, the networks above the rack and the grid links that decide where new capacity can go, each explained with the standards and worked numbers behind it.
Photo: Hustvedt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Latest in Connectivity · Data Centers
Why data in optical fibre is 32% slower than light
Data in fibre is often said to move at the speed of light. In standard fibre it moves at 204,107 km/s, 68.1% of it, because the…
ScienceShot desk · · 14 min read
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Four links in the chain, from the transceiver to the substation. Pick one to see its newest pieces.
Optics
Transceivers, photonics and the fibre itself: how light carries bits between chips, racks and halls.
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Networks
The networks above the rack, from the first radio links to what 6G will and will not change.
All network stories- Is 6G a Thing? What Is Real and What Is Hype
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Interconnects
Where networks meet inside the building: meet-me rooms, cross-connects and the cabling that serves them.
All interconnect stories
Grid links
The other connection every data centre needs: transmission capacity, connection queues and the cleanest hours to run.
Open the live gridEvery article.
Newest first. Each one carries its sources and worked numbers.
10 articles in Connectivity
AI InfrastructureCo-Packaged Optics Is Killing the Pluggable TransceiverEveryone is cheering co-packaged optics for saving power. They are missing the real story: the pluggable transceiver, the most-swapped part in any AI data center, is…
Data CentersFibre Optic Infrastructure for Data Centres: Optics, Cabling and TestingCompare four 400G optics, work through a 120 m fibre channel, and specify connectors, routes and acceptance tests.
Data CentersMeet-Me Room (MMR) in a Data Center: How It WorksWhat a meet-me room does, what the standards say, and a worked loss budget showing when a cross-connect path through it stops working.
HistoryHow Fiber Optics Went From Lab Experiment to Backbone of the InternetDiscover how fibre optic communication has reshaped modern communication and connected the world.
OpticsCopper vs Fibre Cable: Speed, Reach and Bandwidth ComparedCopper or fibre for a data-centre link? How reach, channel checks, handling and quoted cost decide it, with three 100G examples.
6GIs 6G a Thing? What Is Real and What Is HypeIs 6G a thing? Yes — standards work has officially started, but not the way the hype says. What is real in 2026, and what arrives…
OpticsHollow Core Fibres: How Novel Fibres Smashed Loss Records Through Air GuidanceHollow core fibres guide light in air, not glass, enabling huge leaps in speed and capacity and smashing loss records. Discover how.
EngineeringSilicon Photonics: How This is Changing High-Speed Data CommunicationSee how Silicon Photonics will save the communication world from the Moore's Law curse
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