The Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) infrastructure will interface with the long-haul network to support the deployed warfighter.

For the long-haul network, United is a possible candidate to order the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental and the Boeing 777-300ER.

Optical fibers underlie high-speed communication in access, metro, and long-haul networks, making the use of the Internet possible over intercontinental distances.

This was seen as particularly viable for the airline's long-haul network as there were two unsold aircraft then available for purchase.

The odd thing is that in long-haul networks, this isn't good enough, because the signal must be periodically amplified.

But the value of the long-haul networks, or backbone, over which Internet data could travel soared in 1996 when WorldCom acquired MFS Communications, a fiber optic network, for $14 billion.

The main long-haul network consists of lines from Bergen eastwards to Voss and over the mountains to Oslo and a line connecting Stavanger to Oslo via Kristiansand.

Most of the advances in optical networking in recent years have applied to so-called long-haul networks that transmit information among cities or across continents.

The company is trying to find more customers for the long-haul network.

There is also a reasonably sized long-haul network.