This episode will be available to stream at 11:30am ET.

Dark fiber is returning to the spotlight as demand for flexible, high-capacity connectivity grows. Leasing unused fiber strands gives operators greater control and scalability, particularly in dense metropolitan areas where demand continues to rise and new builds can be challenging. But as more fiber is lit, at greater pace, ensuring the health and reliability of that infrastructure becomes increasingly important. Operators need to understand not only whether existing fiber can support evolving workloads, but how its performance can be validated and assured over time. At the same time, emerging technologies such as multicore fiber (MCF) and hollow-core fiber (HCF) are opening new possibilities for fiber-dense environments and strategic low-latency links. Topics of discussion include:

• How dark fiber enables greater control, capacity and scalability
• Assessing and assuring fiber health as networks scale
• Considerations between upgrading existing fiber and deploying new infrastructure
• The role of ongoing monitoring and assurance in maintaining network reliability
• How emerging fiber types such as MCF and HCF could support future connectivity needs