The mega data centers require high capacity at all length
scales, from long-haul to computer interconnects. The number
of optical interconnects in a single high-performance computing system will grow dramatically, opening a huge new market
for optical communications vendors.
After several technology trials of 100-Gb/s transmission
across the world, and availability of standards and systems
supporting 100 Gb/s, integration and economic feasibility are
becoming highly relevant topics for carriers and system vendors. Economic feasibility will be addressed by Ross Saunders
from Opnext, Inc.
Technology
Optical transport networks (OTN) have evolved from a static
legacy SONET/SDH-based transport to a dynamic intelligent
next-generation OTN (NG-OTN) with improved operational
efficiency and more cost-effective transport than the existing
ring-based infrastructure. There is growing customer demand
for more bandwidth, faster provisioning and richer sets of
service functionality. New equipment is available that features
a high degree of functional integration and is capable of supporting an embedded intelligent control plane.
Advanced optical networks that include new technologies such as the reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer
(ROADM), wavelength-selective switches and fully tunable
optics are entering service. The technology is also evolving to
support migration towards IP and OTN convergence at the
bearer and control plane layer. Researchers have demonstrated
maturity, stability and interoperability of GMPLS-based control plane protocols.
Kathy Tse (AT&T) will provide a detailed review of the
expected features and applications of the NG-OTN, and
Michael Reina (Telcordia) will discuss how the management
plane (e.g., OSS) may be leveraged to speed deployment of the
control plane in real-world network environments.
Service providers are experiencing growing demand for
access bandwidth, fuelled by demand for HDTV, multimedia Internet entertainment and other Internet applications.
Vincent O’Byrne (Verizon) and Rajesh Yadav (Verizon) will
discuss their experiences with fiber technology deployment in
the access network and ways to achieve overall cost efficiency.
Recent technology developments have accelerated the
availability of 100G transmission technology for long-haul
DWDM networks. Erwan Pincemin (France Telecom), Ted
Schmidt (Opnext), and Marco Camera (Ericsson) will discuss
deployment of high-speed (40/100G) systems in metro and
core networks.
Non-Traditional Application
Scientists are making progress in non-traditional areas of optical communication such as visible light communications and
optical interconnects. Visible light communications are not a
replacement for optical communications associated with the
infrared part of the spectrum; rather, they are a convenient
addendum that could be very useful for short-range applications. Shin-ichiro Haruyama will discuss recent progress.
High-speed optical interconnects are attracting much
interest in the industry. The integration of silicon photonics is
the most promising technology for these applications. Invited
talks and tutorials on topics related to high-speed interconnects will be given by Petar Pepeljugoski, David Miller and
Vladimir Stojanovic.
The capacity of optical routers is advancing. Jurgen Gripp
will describe a terabit optical router, while Vincent Chan will
