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Chapter 382 Speeding up the Internet

Bell Labs.

Cohen's gaze was fixed on the screen of the spectral analyzer. The pulsating green curve looked to him like a mischievous loach, darting up and down, in and out.

The pen in his hand drew rapid diagonal lines on the notebook, just like his restless heartbeat at that moment.

"The loss peak at 1550nm is still too high, exceeding the theoretical value by 0.3dB/km." Cohen frowned, clearly not satisfied with the test results.

He stared at the data on the screen, his mind already racing, calculating other possible solutions.

Could you try increasing the germanium doping concentration from 4% to 6%?

The plan was theoretically feasible, but the thought of the lab's meager budget for supplies extinguished his nascent enthusiasm.

Cohen subconsciously touched the crumpled funding application form in his pocket; the numbers on it were so worn they were almost illegible from being rubbed so many times.

"I wonder when the research funding will be allocated. Didn't they say the new boss gave us five hundred million dollars?" he muttered to himself.

To save money on consumables, he even had his assistant collect discarded fiber optic heads from experiments last month, intending to disassemble and reuse them. However, his assistant joked that he was turning the lab into a junkyard.

Just as Cohen was sighing in front of the spectrometer, his assistant's voice suddenly came from the doorway: "Dr. Cohen, emergency meeting in the conference room."

Cohen seemed not to hear, his eyes still fixed on the curve on the screen, his mind still preoccupied with the germanium doping concentration.

The words "Mr. Weller" struck Cohen like a thunderbolt, instantly jolting him awake from his immersion in experiments.

He suddenly looked up, a glint of light flashing in his eyes, and muttered to himself, "Could it be that they're allocating funds?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he deftly ripped off the silicone-covered gloves from his hands, tossed them to the other person like they were hot potatoes, and then jogged out of the laboratory.

We can't afford to delay. Funds are like ammunition on the battlefield; if we're even a step too slow, someone else might snatch them all.

When Cohen rushed into the office building and pushed open the conference room door, he glanced around the room and found only a few people inside. The only person he didn't recognize was the stranger sitting next to Carl Weller.

Wearing a well-tailored suit, with his hair neatly combed and a half-smile on his lips, he looked somewhat familiar, but Cohen couldn't quite place where he had seen him before.

When Carl Weller saw Cohen arrive, he smiled and waved to him, gesturing for him to sit down.

Cohen casually pulled out a chair and sat down. The moment his bottom touched the seat, the stranger spoke.

"I am Ernst Garfield. You may know me, you may have heard of me, or you may not know me at all."

He paused, but his smile remained unchanged. "It doesn't matter."

Cohen rolled his eyes inwardly. It's okay, but you took so long to introduce yourself.

"All you need to know is that your R&D budget will triple in the second half of this year."

Bell Labs was key to the setup of this dedicated line from Chicago to Wall Street.

Since you won't let me into the lab to contact these people, then I'll summon you all under the guise of a meeting.

You can ignore what I say, but what about money?

Sure enough, for these scientists, research funding is more important than their fathers.

As soon as Ernst finished speaking, everyone sat up straight, their eyes no longer wandering, and they all focused their attention on him. Even Cohen, who had been daydreaming, instantly sat up straight.

Ernst's smile deepened as he saw everyone taking things seriously.

Cohen was the first to break down, his voice trembling slightly, "Really, it's tripled?"

He was afraid he had misheard, after all, it had been a long time since Bell Labs had seen such ample funding.

"I don't think I'd lie to you for such a small amount of money, would I?"

Upon hearing this, Cohen immediately shut his mouth.

Because he suddenly remembered who this familiar-looking guy was.

Ernst, an American internet genius and super-rich man, is also the current owner of Bell Labs!

As the department within Bell Labs that received the most attention from Lucent, their communications division was allocated $6000 million in R&D funding this year, accounting for more than one-third of the total R&D budget.

Taking half a year as an example, the original budget for the second half of the year was $3000 million, but now it has been tripled to $9000 million.

This $9000 million might be an astronomical sum for scientists who worry about funding every day, but for this billionaire, it might not even be enough to buy a yacht. There's really no need to use this to make fun of them.

Just as everyone was still excited about the increased funding, Ernst changed the subject, saying, "However, I have conditions for securing this $9000 million."

Sure enough! This thought popped into everyone's mind at the same time, and the excitement on their faces faded a bit.

However, they didn't speak, but instead pricked up their ears, waiting to hear Ernst's terms.

The financial incentive is simply too great; as long as the conditions aren't too demanding, they're willing to give it a try.

Ernst cleared his throat. "Starting today, the focus of the communications department for the second half of the year must be adjusted. I want to see breakthroughs in these three areas within three months: full-wave fiber optics, CDMA soft handover, and Category 5e network cables."

He paused, his expression turning serious. "Within three months, full-wave fiber optic and Category 5e network cables must be technically stable and commercially viable. Significant progress is needed in CDMA technology. If you can accomplish this, I can allocate a separate $100 million research and development grant to your department next year."

As soon as Ernst finished speaking, the conference room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Cohen could clearly feel that everyone's eyes were on him and Rhett, who was sitting not far away.

He was in charge of the full-wave fiber optic project, while Rett was leading the Cat5e network cable project. Now Ernst has taken on these two tough challenges and is required to achieve commercialization within three months, which means the pressure is all on the two of them.

CDMA technology is relatively easy to handle; it just requires a technological breakthrough. If their department concentrates its efforts on overcoming this challenge, it shouldn't be a major problem.

However, full-wave fiber optic cables and Category 5e network cables are different. These two projects not only require technological breakthroughs, but also need to reach the commercial level. Only he and Ritter know the progress of the projects, what stage the research and development has reached, and whether they can be completed within three months.

This isn't something you can just agree to and get the funding for later. If they agree but don't finish within three months, a little overdue time might be understandable, but if they exceed it by too much and dare to mess with the new boss, their communications department will be in for a rough time.

Perhaps Ernst will simply forget about their department when applying for funding next time.

Of course, the benefits are obvious if the task is successfully completed.

They will be able to live a relatively comfortable life in the second half of this year, without having to worry about the cost of consumables.

With an additional $100 million in R&D funding next year, there's basically no need to worry about funding.

Just as Cohen was struggling with his decision, Rhett suddenly spoke up, "I have no problem with that."

His voice was firm, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

Ritter continued, "The development of Category 5e network cables is nearing completion, with the main bottleneck being impedance matching."

Everyone was overjoyed, and smiles instantly appeared on their faces, their previous worries vanishing completely.

Only Ernst looked bewildered. He looked at the excited crowd, then at Karl beside him, his eyes full of question marks.

Seeing this, Carl quickly leaned close to Ernst's ear and whispered, "This isn't a problem, you could even say it's not a problem. The main issue is compatibility; it's incompatible with older patch panels, or rather, installing RJ45 connectors can cause signal interruptions."

Fearing Ernst still wouldn't understand, he gave another example: "It's like you buy a new pair of shoes, only to find that the size doesn't fit your feet and they rub against your skin. Once you find the area that's rubbing, you can put in an insole or adjust the shoe's shape, and the problem is solved."

"The same applies to impedance matching. Once we find out where the problem is, we can add a miniature impedance compensator to that part and then test for mass production."

Ernst was overjoyed upon hearing this. Didn't that mean that the biggest problem in the terminal section had been solved?

Current network communication equipment has two major drawbacks in achieving gigabit speeds.

One is the network cable part of the terminal. The best network cable now is Category 5, which can carry a maximum network speed of 100 Mbps.

But things changed with the advent of Cat0e Ethernet cables. Theoretically, they can support gigabit speeds, significantly increasing transmission speeds.

Another challenge was fiber optics, which is why Ernst insisted on cooperating with the Telephone and Telegraph Corporation and even went to great lengths to acquire Bell Labs.

However, full-wave optical fiber is different. It can basically eliminate the moisture introduced during the optical fiber manufacturing process, making the loss of the optical fiber tend to be flat in the range of 1310nm-1600nm, so that the entire wavelength band from 1335nm to 1625nm can be used. This is why it is called full-wave optical fiber.

Simply put, existing fiber optic cables are like an eight-lane highway, but there are two large potholes in one place, allowing only one car to pass slowly.

Full-wave fiber optics fills in the gaps, allowing for smooth eight-lane traffic anywhere on the road, and boosting internet speeds from gigabits per second to terabits per second—the speeds are on completely different levels.

With Cat5e cable and full-wave fiber optic cable, the dedicated line he laid from Chicago to Wall Street can achieve gigabit speeds, boosting the network speed in the United States.

At that time, even if other telecommunications companies want to follow suit, they will be unable to imitate it because they cannot find the key materials.

The value of this mainland China Telecom network line will skyrocket, and it will definitely fetch a high price in two years.

At this moment, everyone's attention was focused on Cohen. As long as he nodded and confirmed that the full-wave fiber optic project could be commercialized within three months, the matter would be settled.

Cohen felt everyone's gaze, took a deep breath, and then looked at an elderly man sitting not far away.

Schultz, the head of the communications department, was just introduced to Ernst by Karl.

"I need more materials for testing."

Upon hearing Cohen's words, Schultz smiled warmly. "The R&D funds have arrived, and your project team has priority access to them."

These words were like a reassuring pill, instantly putting Cohen at ease.

The other researchers had no objections either. So what if Cohen spent the newly added $90 million on the full-wave fiber project? As long as it succeeded, there would be another $100 million in funding waiting for them next year, and everyone would get a share of the benefits. There was no need to argue about anything now.

Seeing Cohen nod in agreement, Schultz immediately stood up, strode over to Ernst, extended his right hand, and smiled even more warmly than before. "I wonder when our funding will arrive?"

Ernst rolled his eyes inwardly. When he entered, these scientists were all putting on airs, and not a single one of them came over to shake his hand. But now that funding was involved, their attitudes had completely changed, and their faces were all wrinkled and puffed up like chrysanthemums.

However, he didn't say anything, just smiled and replied, "The money will be in my account as soon as I finish moving."

"Good! Good! Good!" Schultz said "good" three times in a row, then turned and walked towards the door.

As if given a command, the other researchers stood up and rushed out of the conference room, disappearing without a trace in an instant, leaving Ernst and Karl standing there dumbfounded.

Ernst looked at the empty conference room, then turned to Karl beside him with a bewildered expression, asking in confusion, "Where did they go?"

Where is the old man who was in front of me just now? Where are all the people in the room? I must be hallucinating.

Carl couldn't help but laugh. "They've obviously gone back to pack their things and move."

Bell Labs had a month to move, and each department had the freedom to decide when and how to move.

Most departments move the large equipment away first, and the researchers continue their research here. Once the equipment on the other side is debugged, the researchers then go there.

But now it seems the communications department wants to change its plans and move there ahead of schedule.

Ernst wondered if he would receive a debt collection call from the old man in the middle of the night.