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Technology Stocks : Agilent Technologies (A) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MCF who wrote (174)	3/7/2000 6:01:00 PM
From: c. carlson	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 620

It only Switches light at hundreds of times a second.... This is from the Agilent web site: agilent.com "Here's how it works. Multiple optical paths, or wave guides, are created in the planar-lightwave circuits (PLC), intersecting at several cross points. At those cross points, the light travels through a fluid with the same optical properties as the wave guide. As a result, the optical stream, and its communications contents, travel unimpeded through the cross point. However, when the optical signal needs to be rerouted, a bubble is inserted - using inkjet technology - into the cross point. The bubble displaces the fluid and alters the optical properties of the cross point. This causes the light to be reflected along a new path. These bubbles can be formed and removed hundreds of times per second, providing a fast and reliable switching function, one that uses neither mirrors nor mechanical moving parts." ---------------- I plead ignorance on this subject, but hundreds of times a second sounds too slow. I live in a world where I am used to hearing 400MHZ or 500MHZ. Can anyone who knows something about this subject tell me what hundreds of times a second means for this technology??