Courtesy dcsking_99 over on Yahoo
Broadwing Champions Optical Switching
By Joe McGarvey
mailto:joe_mcgarvey@ziffdavis.com
Following last week's agreement to purchase optical switching
gear from Ciena, Broadwing Communications will be one of the
first carriers on record to deploy next generation optical
switching systems from multiple equipment makers.
Click here for a good introductory tutorial on
optical networks:
newsletters.theneteconomy.com
While the commingling of equipment from Ciena and Corvis, which
agreed to supply Broadwing with all-optical switches earlier
this year, could pose difficulties designing an overall
management system, company officials say the two products will
work in a complementary fashion.
"They can be co-located or located in different parts of the
network," says Chris Rothlis, vice president of engineering at
Broadwing. "You need to have the Ciena box where the grooming
need is. "
Broadwing Communications' "All-Optical" info page:
newsletters.theneteconomy.com
While both the Ciena and Corvis gear are optical switches, they
represent two different sides of the spectrum. Although Corvis
has provided scant amounts of information about the design of
its switch, it is based on an optical switch fabric, which is
able to divert wavelengths of light across the Internet without
converting the data encased in those wavelengths into an
electronic format. The Ciena switch, on the other hand, employs
an electronic switch fabric. While the Corvis switch is both
protocol and bit-rate transparent, meaning that the switch
fabric will not need to be upgraded to accommodate changes in
speed and density, the Ciena switch is able to deliver bandwidth
in smaller slices.
What is a "switch fabric?":
newsletters.theneteconomy.com
As a result, Broadwing officials say the Ciena gear will be
deployed near the edge of the network, where smaller pipes are
required. The Corvis switch, on the other hand, is likely to be
located in the core of the network, where it will switch entire
wavelengths of light, each capable of moving data at a rate of
2.5 gigabits per second.
Ciena's product portfolio page, with links to optical-switch
tech specs:
newsletters.theneteconomy.com
Corvis home page:
newsletters.theneteconomy.com
Despite media-based battles between optical and electronic
switches, most optical networking experts have long suspected
that most networks will employ a variety of optical switches.
Following the pattern of arming the core of their networks with
optical gear and pushing routers and other electronic devices
out to the edges, service providers are likely to follow
Broadwing's lead by installing all-optical switches in the
center of their long distance networks.
This link gives a good explanation of what is meant by the
network "edge":
newsletters.theneteconomy.com
And this accompanying link explains what is meant by the "core":
newsletters.theneteconomy.com
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