A brief tutorial
The skyrocketing demand for bandwidth caused by unrelenting growth in Internet usage, business data traffic and network-based business applications is no longer breaking news, but rather an accepted long-term forecast. Existing fiber-optic networks are being leveraged with DWDM and new ones are being built in order to meet this demand, and to cope with accelerating competition among carriers, as well. Optical networking is now real, and according to most analysts, will see sustained rapid growth for the next decade.
Optical networking is, in the simplest sense, a web of optical fiber spans periodically terminated or linked by signal processing nodes. Some nodes launch and receive traffic, while in between, other nodes direct traffic and manage the allocation of bandwidth. These in-between optical nodes, which are now mostly electronic (O-E-O) at the core, will in the near future consist of DWDM add-drop multiplexers, wavelength routers, and cross-connects operating as largely seamless optical links.
In a "seamless" optical network these nodes process the optical signals without doing an interim conversion to electrical signals. Remaining seamless in the optical domain has several benefits, including reduced complexity and the flexibility of being indifferent to data rates and protocol wars (IP vs ATM, etc.). These operational benefits translate into large and cost savings. However, initial cost and reliability of key optical components are chronic barriers to broad optical network deployment, particularly in the pivotal function of optical switching.
TelOptics Corp.
| 1180-F Aster Ave | Tel: (408) 241-9960 | Email:info@teloptics.com |
| Sunnyvale, Ca. 94086 | Fax: (408) 241-9962 | WWW: http://www.teloptics.com |
