Steve, this does require a lot more research. In viewing the last of your links first, that is,
techweb.com
...I find it to contain an interesting, if not contradictory, set of clauses:
--------begin excerpt
"Ciena and Cisco united with AT&T, Bellcore, Hewlett-Packard Co., Sprint Inc., WorldCom Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. to form the Optical Internetworking Forum...The agreement may be the first step toward altering the architecture and ownership of the Internet backbone, may preface the end of the router as we know it, and may lessen the importance of the Synchronous Optical Network (Sonet) protocol and asynchronous transfer mode in the network infrastructure...The more obvious agreement was significant enough. Cisco (San Jose, Calif.) and Ciena (Linthicum) will collaborate to interface Cisco's GSR 12000 gigabit switch/router with Ciena's metropolitan and long-haul dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) systems."
---------end excerpt
Seems to me to be a bit inconsistent with Nacchio's stated position, if QWST was a part of this part of the agreement, although it may have only involved Ciena and Cisco, <edit> now that I read it a second time. But it is unclear what QWST's role would be in this situation, since the accord speaks to optical networking, and in some parts speaks to the dissolution of the SONET model, for some types of payloads. I'll dig through the rest of that list and get back to you later on during the weekend sometime.
One thing I'd like to say is that Qwest had better unpaint themselves from this corner they've decided to stand in, for whatever reasons they did so, lest they find themselves embarrassed and attempting expensive work-arounds later on down the road, when the world is flowing in photonic abundance, if not at the residence or business, at least where carriers and SPs are concerned in the core. And while they're at it, it wouldn't hurt QWST's mission for them to announce their LEAF-grade fiber and future Soliton model intentions, if they haven't done so already.
I would hope to get some replies on the latter techniques, perhaps George Gilder would like to respond to this himself here, as these are truly incremental breakthroughs that merit some more attention here.
Regards, Frank Coluccio
ps - some folks in the new optical carrier game should respect the safety warnings on opto-electronic equipment that states that one should not look directly into a fiber at any time, lest they become blinded by the light, or otherwise compromise the gift of vision that they were endowed with.
[Couldn't let that opportunity pass me by, Steve. Later.] |
