James, I don't know about any Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA's), but I can offer some insight on Ciena's ASIC skills. In particular, the CoreDirector optical switch.
Unlike the optical switches offered by Sycamore, Tellium, and Monterey that use off-the-shelf components, which merely offer the capability of switching the signal off an input to an output, Ciena's proprietary ASIC based switching fabric can do this, and also permit the disassembly of the input signal down to components and switch them independently ("granularity"), just as a big expensive SONET switch. All this at 10 G rates, with scalability up to 40 G, and with a low price tag, and intelligent software which permits instant provisioning.
I've read anecdotal evidence that ASIC programmers are some of the hottest talent in today's job market. There is a message here.
Jack Hutchison |
