What lies ahead for optical networking?: NFOEC to showcase DWDM

It looks as if 1998's National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference in Orlando this week will focus on optical networking, specifically wavelength division multiplexing. If the Annual Multiplexed Telephony Conference was any indication, optical add/drop multiplexers will be in full force, too.

"The main thrust and our theme is 'Meeting Tomorrow's Increasing Demands Today,' not only with WDM, but also there is still some work to do with [time division multiplexing]," said conference organizer Malcolm Threlkeld, research director at BellSouth. "The heaviest emphasis is on [dense WDM], and there will be some newer fibers to help us get there."

Mathew Steinberg, director of optical networking at Ryan Hankin Kent, agreed. "You'll see some new vendors with WDM equipment and some things that make high-capacity OC-192 more easily deployable," he said. "There will be a focus on more networking [products] and network management."

Northern Telecom will announce a four-fiber bidirectional line switched ring solution for 10 Gb/s networks (see story on page 84).

Cambrian Systems will use its OPTera metro DWDM transport system to deliver Enterprise System Connectivity applications at the show. Cambrian is also teaming up with Video Products Group to demonstrate OPTera's interoperability with VPG's VPG8000 serial digital video transport multiplexer. The companies will transport D1 video across an OPTera system.

Siemens Telecom Networks will introduce and demonstrate a high-capacity DWDM solution designed for the North American long-haul transport market. The demonstration will also incorporate the TransXpress ALine local transport system that combines Sonet and asynchronous transfer mode on one platform. TransXpress ALine was introduced in June at Supercomm.

If these announcements set the tone for NFOEC, DWDM advancements will be prominent. "Right now, DWDM is a point-to-point solution," Steinberg said. "We'll see more network functionality put into it. Now it's more than just [increasing] capacity; it will make you think about how to change the way you build networks."