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To: Thomas Mercer-Hursh who wrote (35207)	11/23/2000 8:48:21 AM
From: DownSouth	Respond to of 54805

Exactly, the analogy I like is that unless the data (destination IP address) can be read in its optical form, then the so-called optical "switches" or "routers" are more like switches in a rail yard. They are not able to switch a car (packet) at a time, just long trains at a time, and an interval between trains is required to throw the switch. True switches are able to analyze each packet and send it down the "best" path. Unless there has been a breakthrough in applied physics that we missed, we will not be seeing an "all optical" router for a while.

To: Thomas Mercer-Hursh who wrote (35207)	11/23/2000 11:22:27 AM
From: BDR	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

<<Haven't we been around this path more than once before? >> Yup. This was posted a while ago: FEBRUARY 01, 2000 Optical Illusions Introduction: Bold Claims When Lucent launched its LambdaRouter last November, it described it as "the industry's first all-optical router." Guess what? It was wrong on both counts. First, the product isn't 'all-optical' at all. The LambdaRouter switches light, sure, but outgoing signals have to be regenerated electrically before they can be transmitted any distance. Second, it's not a router - in that it doesn't read layer 3 information and make decisions on how to send traffic based on the most expedient route. So if it isn't all-optical, and it isn't a router, what is it? "It's an automated patch panel," says Nicholas De Vito, director of marketing at Tellium Inc. (http://www.tellium.com/), an optical networking startup Essentially, what Lucent has built is a relatively large, 256 by 256 port, prototype optical switch using micro electro-mechanical (MEM) technology. >> >> I think Nortel's switch does not require the optoelectrical conversion of the signal but switching is not controlled by the optical signal itself. Optical cross connect may be a more accurate term: lightreading.com Another bunch of vendors is developing "all-optical" cross connects that switch light from one port to the other without converting it into electrical signals and then back again into light. Some vendors, including Xros, Lucent Technologies lucent.com and Siemens AG siemens.com, are using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) - arrays of microscopic mirrors - to bounce the light from input to output port. Others are testing liquid crystals, ink-jet printer bubbles and variety of other technologies. Xros appears to be leading the charge in this camp - by having by far the largest number of ports and by having software that automates the provisioning process (see Xros Launches First 1000-Port All Optical Cross Connect ). All the same, it can't respond to electrical management signals to reroute traffic onto alternative wavelengths in the event of failures, according to Greg Reznick, Xros's president and CEO. And it doesn't come with the heavy-duty systems for managing the whole network offered by the likes of Sycamore and Tellium. >> >> More recent review of the subject: OCTOBER 30, 2000 Optical Switching Fabric lightreading.com On the plus side for Nortel: Roth Bought Nortel Shares - 11/22/2000 12:30:00 PM When Nortel's shares were taking a battering, its CEO put his money where his mouth was lightreading.com >> >> The kitchen crew is calling. Gotta go do KP so the rest of the meal can get cooked. Happy Thanksgiving.