Thirty years ago, networks developed for communication between people were adapted to communication between machines. We went from transmitting data over a voice network to transmitting voice over a data network in just a few short years. Billions of dollars were sunk into cables spanning six continents and three oceans, and a web of optical fiber engulfed the world. When the operation peaked in 1991, fiber was being rolled out, globally, at over 5,000 miles per hour, or nine times the speed of sound: Mach 9.
