Drums, there are companies working on optics,CSCO and DEC announced a FDDI switch, and I believe if you look at Nortel's stellar quarter that you will find lots of optical switches. Complex routing in my opinion is much more expensive and costly than HFC systems,and with the advent of WDM and Erbium doped fiber ampilifiers, fiber optics become much less expensive,more powerful,and do not lose speed with increased usage. It is the RBOC's that are fighting fiber optics and maintaining the switched network. You see they lose big with a system that can't be charged by the minutes. Now with HFC systems you lack a degree of security,and I believe that corporations want to maintain security. It seems to me corporates will move towrads ADSL and a more secure environment. As for the comsumer,nothing is cheaper,more reliable and faster than HFC systems. TWX is rolling out telephony over HFC in Austin,and have been stunned by its reliability and quality. TWX may be stepping on RBOC feet,but they are aggressive and moving rapidly towards a complete data and voice network. Rogers in Canada is also aggresively moving towards HFC and using @Home. I believe that the cable companies will kick the RBOC's behinds soon,except for stupid and inneficiently run companies like TCI. TWX,COX and Continental in the U.S. for cable,Southern New England Bell for telephony,Rogers in Canada,and Cable & Wireless in England are leading edge companies moving towards a fully interactive HFC system.
Hiram |
