51.   Rockford High has a special fiber optic network that links classrooms to a centralized communications center.

52.   RCN, a unit of the cable operator C-Tec, is building a fiber optic network to provide alternative cable and local phone service in Manhattan.

53.   SDL also is seen as a leader in developing a new device called Raman amplifiers that can extend transmission distances on fiber networks.

54.   Scores of new companies, many backed by U.S. investors, are building their own fiber optic networks in Europe to offer high-speed Internet services.

55.   Sending light a greater distance without amplification translates to lower costs to operate fiber optic networks because less equipment is needed to boost the signal.

56.   She also predicted that the arrival of residential fiber optic networks would fundamentally alter community life.

57.   She said the company did not even have a detailed plan for laying the fiber optic network in Newark, Jersey City, Elizabeth, Camden and Trenton.

58.   Sommer and Deutsche Telekom face competition, as well, from companies building high-speed European fiber optic networks.

59.   Still others, like Global Crossing, planned to wrap the globe in fiber optic networks.

60.   Telecommunications companies across the globe are battling to find users for their fast-expanding fiber optic networks, analysts said.