[3/4/98 IBD article on LU]
investors.com
Lucent Pushes Optical
Networks Into The Light
Date: 3/4/98
Author: Michele Hostetler
Data networks soon could be moving the
equivalent of more than 90,000 sets of
encyclopedias per second, thanks to a new
optical technology that speeds data over
light.
Lucent Technologies Inc. is pioneering a
method of making better use of existing, as
well as new, fiber-optic lines. Analysts say
sales of fiber-optic networks for data could
reach $1.8 billion this year, from zero as
recently as '95.
Optics promise to boost bandwidth, which is
needed as networks transport more complex
data. Instead of sending data over normal
copper wires, optical data go over fiber, or
glass, lines.
Some telecom companies have been building
new fiber-optic networks, or improving old
ones, because more customers need speedy
communication.
Lucent, a telecom leader, wants to use
optics as its entry into the high-end data
networking field. At the same time,
networking leaders such as Cisco Systems
Inc. now are making voice products. And
that's sparking more competition between
networking and telecom companies.
Lucent's optical network is slated to get its
first test this fall. The customer is its former
parent, AT&T Corp., which finds itself
competing with the new era of fiber
networks.
An optical network can move 400 gigabits
of information a second. By contrast, gigabit
Ethernet, the fastest of mainstream data
networking technology, plods along at one
gigabit per second. A gigabit is one billion
bits.
Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent envisions a
quick surge in this market, says Kathy
Szelag, director of strategy for Lucent's
Optical Networking unit.
''This technology will take off really fast,
almost as fast as Cabbage Patch dolls,'' she
said.
Optical networks can more speedily connect
branch offices to company headquarters or
link far-flung networks.
Telecommunications carriers and Internet
service providers are eyeing optics as a way
to ship data faster, says Harry Bosco, chief
operating officer of Lucent's Optical
Networking business.
''I would say that any smart carrier today is
putting in optical networks,'' Bosco said.
Optical data networks can run on the
fiber-optic telephone lines already in place.
With optical networks, data rides on streams
of light.
Until recently, fiber-optic lines could only
move voice or data traffic at 10 gigabits a
second, and only over a maximum of eight
wavelengths per line. To send more data, the
only option was laying more fiber-optic
cable, Bosco says. And that's costly.
But a new technology came out of Lucent's
labs in '95 to give optical networks a boost.
The technology is called dense wavelength
division multiplexers.
DWDMs act like prisms to increase the
number of light streams upon which data can
ride. When a single laser light passes through
a DWDM, it splits into 10 light streams. So
now the maximum number of wavelengths
carrying data jumps from eight to 80.
DWDMs serve another purpose. Keeping
signals strong over long distances -
amplification - is a key to optical networks.
When a signal or data stream is routed
across the country, it passes through a
switching station. These are connection
points, or routing points, for voice and data
traffic. But the switch has to translate the
light signal into an electrical signal in order to
pass it on through. The data then have to be
reconverted to light.
But DWDMs keep the data stream in light
form. Data doesn't have to be converted into
electrical signals. And this saves time.
There's no need to switch back and forth
between optical and electrical signals.
Optical networks also can connect to other
networking technologies like Ethernet or
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) with a
simple adapter card, Szelag says. An
adapter card connects computers to a
network.
Fiber- optic networks will become better
and more popular, says Peter Bernstein,
president of Infonautics Consulting Inc. in
Ramsey, N.J. ATM and the Internet's
language - called Internet protocol, or IP -
already work with fiber-optic networks, he
says.
''It all is, in essence, really complementary,''
Bernstein said.
But optical networks have a ways to go
before they become commonplace, he says.
The technology still is more costly, and
existing technology is improving.
''I think the grand vision with all technology is
that it tends to be evolutionary rather than
revolutionary,'' Bernstein said.
Optics are making inroads at the network's
core, or backbone, where extra boosts are
needed to handle intense traffic, says
Lucent's Bosco.
Bosco likens the transition to when digital
technology burst onto the scene. It slowly
made its way to personal computers and
other consumer devices.
(C) Copyright 1998 Investors Business
Daily, Inc.
Metadata: LU CSCO T I/4890 I/3574 I/4891 E/IBD
E/SN1 E/TECH |
