Lightwave Summaries of the week's major news in fiber-optic technologies. Week of 4/24/98 [ASND reference]
broadband-guide.com
By Stephen Hardy, editor in chief, Lightwave
Bye-bye SONET multiplexers.That's the message delivered
from two sources this past week, as companies offered optical
networking solutions for data-centric networks. First,
communications powerhouses CIENA and Cisco Systems
announced a partnership to tackle the optical networking market.
The imminent domination of bandwidth demand by data traffic will
soon force carriers to leave their circuit-switched TDM network
architectures behind, say the companies. The network of the near
future will feature packed- and cell-based protocols, where data
switches and routers (from companies like Cisco) will enter the
network at OC-48 speeds through WDM equipment (from
companies like CIENA). While this traffic likely will remain within
SONET frames for reliability and troubleshooting purposes,
SONET multiplexers will no longer be necessary for much more
than certain kinds of voice and slow-speed data applications.
The two firms announced the foundation of the Optical
Internetworking Forum as a springboard for industry to agree on
how this network evolution should proceed. Eight companies have
already signed onboard - AT&T, Bellcore, CIENA, Cisco,
Hewlett-Packard, Qwest Communications International, Sprint,
and WorldCom. An organizational meeting will take place at next
weeks Networld + Interop show, with the first full meeting slated
for SUPERCOMM in June.
Meanwhile, startup company Tellium Inc. also unveiled its
optical internetworking vision. It too sees SONET multiplexers
assigned to network backwaters as high-speed systems connect
directly to the optical layer. Unlike Cisco and CIENA, Tellium's
view of the future includes optical crossconnects, such as the
Aurora4816 system the company introduced last week. The
crossconnect is the first of a variety of products the company plans
to debut in the coming months. The line focuses on WDM and
optical crossconnect equipment, as well as a network management
system. The company is off to a good start, thanks to a recent
award from DARPA that made Tellium the newest member of the
MONET all-optical networking project. Tellium will supply the
Aurora system and its soon-to-be-completed MetroExpress32
WDM transport system for use in a ring network to be built in
metropolitan Washington, DC.
Circe will cast a wider spell as Viatel Inc. follows through on its
plan to expand its pan-European fiber-optic network of that name
to Germany. In addition to connecting London, Paris, Brussels,
Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam, the Circe Network now
will include Cologne, Essen, Duseldorf, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart.
Two other French cities, Nancy and Strasbourg, also will be
added to the network. When completed, Circe will be a
bi-directional SDH ring of 3200 route km, including 320 route km
of submarine cable. The network's initial capacity will be 20
Gbits/sec, with plans to increase the available bandwidth to 160
Gbits/sec via DWDM. Work on the network, which will include
both new builds and the acquisition of existing dark fiber, will
begin this spring, with initial service expected in the first quarter of
next year.
ATM and Frame Relay received support from several
fiber-optic-based carriers recently. GTE Internetworking, LCI
International, and Qwest Communications International all signed
agreements to buy ATM and Frame Relay equipment to help
provide data services over their fiber-optic networks. Ascend
Communications was the biggest beneficiary, with orders from all
three firms. Qwest supported its purchases from Ascend with
additional equipment from Cisco, which is already supplying
equipment to GTE Internetworking based on an earlier agreement.
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