New research with lasers may let service providers “push” even more data through undersea fiber optic cables to help meet the booming demand for transmission between North America and Europe. In fact, this new method could even increase network capacity without requiring new ocean cables, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to manufacture and install. A research team from Infinera has set a new efficiency standard for transatlantic fiber optic cables. Testing 16QAM modulation—a new approach to transmitting light signals—the group shattered efficiency records for data transfer. They also nearly doubled data capacity and approached the assumed upper limit for this type of transmission.