Nortel Ships All-Optical Switch
Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE/Toronto: NT - message board) has confirmed that
its all-optical switch –- the Optera Px, derived from its $3.25 billion acquisition of
Xros earlier this year -- is now in trials with an unidentified carrier.
This means that at least three vendors – Corvis Corp. (Nasdaq: CORV - message
board), Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU - message board) and Nortel – now
claim to have all-optical switches in trials.
Lucent appears to be the furthest ahead in some respects. It shipped its
Wavestar LambdaRouter to Global Crossing Ltd. (Nasdaq: GBLX - message
board) at the end of July, and it’s been carrying live traffic in trials on Global
Crossing’s transatlantic cable since September 22.
At that time, Lucent issued a press release saying that the LambdaRouter would
be carrying commercial traffic by the end of this year – in other words, around
about now (see Lucent Switch in Transatlantic Test ) At press time, however, we
weren’t able to confirm whether this is happening on schedule.
Corvis shipped its first all-optical switch to Broadwing Communications (NYSE:
BRW - message board)in October (see Corvis Delivers All-Optical Switch ).
However, it’s tough to ascertain whether it’s still undergoing lab trials or whether
it’s started carrying live traffic (see Corvis: Time to Come Clean? ).
Corvis’s switch probably comes closer to being genuinely all-optical than
Lucent’s, because it forms part of an all-optical package that includes
transmission equipment and net management software. Lucent’s LambdaRouter
switches light without converting it into electronics, but it isn’t integrated with a
transmission system. As a result, light probably has to undergo a conversion
when it comes out of the LambdaRouter. In practice, however, carriers may want
this anyhow, to help them manage their networks Optical Illusions ).
Right now, not much is known about the trials of Nortel’s Xros switch. The vendor
is hoping to keep its powder dry for a possible press release when and if the
carrier agrees to publicity.
Xros made a big splash earlier this year by claiming that its switch could scale to
1,024 by 1,024 ports – but has yet to prove that it can conquer the challenges of
making such a large scale switch work in practice (see Xros's OFC Splash Was
All Wet ). Lucent says its LambdaRouter can scale to 256 by 256 ports, while
Corvis claims a modest 6 by 6.
-- Peter Heywood, international editor, Light Reading lightreading.com
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