What is hollow core fiber?

An advanced optical technology, hollow core fiber (HCF) is a potential tool to help slash network costs and enable advanced use cases with latency-sensitive requirements. The fundamental idea behind HCF is that light travels faster through air than glass. Thus, as the name implies, HCF cables have been designed to have an air-filled center channel which is surrounded by a ring of glass tubes. Generally, a cross-section of a hollow core cable looks a bit like honeycomb with a hole in the middle. While HCF has been around for about 20 years, it has been plagued by high loss and other performance issues, but modern companies are working on minimizing these and mazimizing its potential. If successful, HCF could allow for reduced network costs and longer reach without sacrificing performance.