Why Multiplexing Is Like Music to People’s Ears

 

Today’s topic sounds like a mouthful — Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing in 5G networks — but the conversation boils down to making 5G more accessible and affordable for everyone.

On this episode of the MarketScale Software and Technology podcast, host Shelby Skrhak sat down with Maury Wood, Business Development Manager of North American Key Accounts for EXFO, to discuss how they help customers deploy and test Wave Division Multiplexing in their respective networks.

Before joining EXFO, Wood worked for years in the semiconductor industry, which gave him an understanding of how component-level innovations impact system-level cost and benefits.

It turns out, though, that his dual degrees in computer engineering and music gave him the perfect analogy to help us understand how data travels.

“The beautiful thing about sound is that our ears are able to hear simultaneously low sounds and high-frequency sounds, which explains why music is so beautiful to us,” Wood said. “The same thing applies with light going through the atmosphere to our eyes, or laser light going through glass fiber.

“It turns out different frequencies of light don’t mix or interfere with each other. So, if you’re carrying information on a lower frequency of light, you can pass that with a higher frequency lightwave and be able to recover those at the far end without any interference.”

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Software & Technology Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Firefly
Pursuing the Impossible: The New Space Race with Firefly Aerospace Co-Founder Eric Salwan
April 1, 2026

Many companies set out to do something hard. Firefly Aerospace set out to do the impossible. After 10 years and several existential moments, Firefly did what no private company ever had: in 2025, it successfully landed on the Moon. Before Firefly, only countries had ever landed on the Moon—and it took extraordinary national effort…

Read More
internship
Tale of Two Interns: What AI Is Really Doing to Entry-Level Work
March 30, 2026

The narrative around early-career work has become increasingly pessimistic, with headlines pointing to a shrinking pool of entry-level roles, fewer internship opportunities, and AI accelerating both trends. But beneath that narrative, a different tension is emerging—one that’s less about the disappearance of opportunity and more about how it’s being reshaped. Students are using AI…

Read More
AI data center
Power, Cooling, and Risk: What It Takes to Bring a 100MW AI Data Center Online
March 28, 2026

The industry knows how to build data centers. What it’s still figuring out is how to turn on AI factories at scale. With facilities now crossing 100 megawatts—far beyond the 5 to 10 megawatt norm of traditional builds—operators are no longer just validating equipment. They’re testing whether entire systems—power, cooling, controls, and the teams behind…

Read More
beauty
Building Beauty for Real Women: Why Brands Must Focus on Longevity, Not Hype
March 25, 2026

Walk into any beauty aisle—or scroll through your feed for five minutes—and it’s clear the industry is obsessed with what’s new. New formulas, new trends, new “rules.” But for many women, especially those who’ve been using makeup for decades, the question isn’t what’s new—it’s what actually works. And increasingly, the answer isn’t coming from the…

Read More