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To: Bridge Player who wrote (18099)	1/13/2000 1:22:00 PM
From: cmg	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42804

Making optical networks smarter By Om Malik NEW YORK. 11:50 AM EST-Fifty networking equipment and service providers are getting together on a Optical Domain Service Interconnect (ODSI) standard, which promises to make optical networks smarter and work more efficiently with the existing and future electronics-based networking equipment. The initiative, which is spearheaded by Chelmsford, Mass.-based Sycamore Networks (nasdaq: SCMR), is an effort to make different types of optical networking equipment work with each other based on an open and commonly acceptable standard. Sycamore's cofounder, Desh Deshpande, said the ODSI standard is focussing on how the data gets into the optical layer from, say, an Asynchronous Transfer Mode switch or any other kind of electronics-based equipment. Once these standards become widely adopted, electronics equipment from Avici Systems, for example, could work almost seamlessly with optical equipment, made by, say, Ciena (nasdaq: CIEN). Jim Lawrence, analyst at Stratecast Partners, a Pittsburgh-based consulting firm, believes that ODSI will make it relatively easy to perform facility management functions going forward, along with more flexible service channel and bandwidth management on the all-new optical networks. Deshpande described it best when he said the current state of networking is akin to the early days of telephone service, when an operator used to patch in consumers to the number they needed to reach. With ODSI-standards in place, the optical network will become more like the modern phone; just pick up the handset and dial. "Right now if you need to boost bandwidth capacity, you need to call up your service provider, and it takes almost six months to add more capacity," said Deshpande. He points out that if ODSI-initiative takes control, then bandwidth will be available on the fly. For example, if an ODSI-compliant optical router with four Internet connections senses that it is running on full capacity of three of those four connections, then it automatically switches on the fourth pipe and increases the bandwidth on the fly. Great concept, but the absence of two of the largest router makers, Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO) and Juniper Networks (nasdaq: JNPR), are bit of a damper on the overall vision. Nevertheless, Tom Nolle, president of Cimi Corp., an independent networking consulting firm, thinks this is an attractive option for service providers who are spending millions on new networks and are looking for ways to maximize their returns. No wonder new-network operators, Enron Communications and Williams Communications have signed on. There is more to the ODSI initiative. "What ODSI means is that you can buy equipment from Ciena and Sycamore and they could work with each other," said Maribel Lopez, networking analyst at Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based market research firm. At present, most of the major optical equipment makers such as Lucent Technologies (nyse: LU) and Nortel (nyse: NT) have their own proprietary hardware, and Lopez noted that ODSI brings out some sort of rationalization to the optical networking equipment market. Notable by their absence are Lucent, Nortel, Cisco Systems and Alcatel (nyse: ALA). However, this is no surprise that since they have their own proprietary standards. "I do not know how successful it will be in the short term but ODSI [mission] is quite important in the long term," said Lopez. Nevertheless, if ODSI needs to succeed, Sycamore and other partners will have to bring in the giants such as Cisco and Lucent