Today's Optical Switches are Less Ambitious, More Practical
By: Joan Engebretson -- America's Network 

Few industry observers would have predicted during the heyday of optical switch development just a few years ago that the first applications of the technology would involve low port counts and specialized niches. The initial vision was for large switching matrices for use at the core of an all-optical network-and when that vision came face-to-face with the reality of the bandwidth glut, optical switching seemed to go into a kind of hibernation period.

More recently, however, optical switching has re-emerged in a new form. A multi-product announcement last week from Lynx Photonics Networks underscores just how much the concept of the optical switch has changed. The highest port count of any product in the announced LightLeader photonic switch series was 8-by-8. Other offerings included 1-by-4, 1-by-8, and 4-by-4 port counts. Perhaps more surprisingly, the company has a good story to tell about why a service provider would need every single one of these.

The 4-by-4 and 8-by-8 models are well suited for test access and performance monitoring, says Lynx president Michael Leigh. "The switch can act as a transparent fiber," says Leigh. "It can tap into different optical wires to monitor up to 100% of the traffic."

Meanwhile, the 1-by-4 and 1-by-8 switches are useful as an alternative to Sonet restoration, says Leigh. Unlike Sonet, which requires that a full backup path remain idle in everyday use, Lynx' optical switch essentially lets a single idle path back up as many as eight separate paths.

"We make a virtual mesh out of the ring by interconnecting various nodes," says Leigh. "In Sonet, you only have two choices-clockwise or counter-clockwise." The mesh configuration also enables restoration times as low as two milliseconds, in contrast with 50 milliseconds for Sonet, Leigh says.

Other applications for the LightLeader line include load balancing, tributary protection, and provisioning service in a transient environment, such as at a trade show.

"What they [Lynx Photonics] have done is taken initiative and come up with applications," says Paul Polishuk, CEO of consulting firm Information Gatekeepers, Inc.

Adds Polishuk, "They've got this thing past Telcordia and demonstrated that it's hardened for a telco environment. Pigtailing is a critical issue. To get fibers out of the box, they have to hermetically seal it."

If you find this newsletter valuable, then please pass it on to any colleagues or friends who may benefit from this information. Thank you!

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Please do e-mail us at info@atso.com.

Subscription Instructions:

 Terms of Use l Privacy Statement l Contact Us
Copyright 2011 (Advanced Technologies & Services, Inc.) All Rights Reserved