Network World — The recent announcement of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics should warm the hearts of all who have ever done fundamental research in hopes that it would eventually have a use. It should also send shivers up our collective spine as we look at the current deplorable state of funding for research.

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Nobel prize latest in long line for Bell Labs

This year's prize went to three scientists for their work on two fundamental technologies – optical fiber technologies and digital image sensors known as charge couples devices (CCD). For the details on the prize, please visit the Nobel Prize Web site - the scientific background paper is particularly good.

It takes a historical perspective to understand fully the impact of the first of these developments. For most of the history of telecommunications, we transmitted information via electrical signals. In fact, many of the defacto standards, such as the "T-1" speeds for digital communications, came not from this being a particularly desirable speed but rather from practical engineering limitations for electrical signals. Microwave and other radio communications developed and still exist as an alternative to electrical and optical communications, but both of these fall short in terms of pure bandwidth capacity.

Probably the most significant advantage of optic communications is the ability not only to transmit an immense amount of information within a single fiber, but also to have each fiber carry this information. The good part about wireless communications is that it uses the electromagnetic spectrum without a need for cables. However, there's only one electromagnetic spectrum, meaning that the available transfer rates will always be orders of magnitude slower than wired – or more precisely – optically cabled – connections. And the information in a single cable continues to grow. In particular, technologies such as Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) allow for the use of multiple wavelengths (colors) if light in a single cable.

The other half of the prize is incredibly complementary to the first. CCDs, of course, form the basis for a vast number of the video sensors for commonly available devices, including digital cameras. As such, the technology allows for one of the most essential applications today – collaboration via teleconferencing and telepresence.

Let's hope that funding for long-term research picks up. This is needed for academic research. And in spite of all of the criticism of the monopolistic "Bell System" that ruled telecommunications in the United States until 1982, there's no doubt that "Bell Labs" deserves a special place in history.