NEWS TECHNOLOGY
Passive optical LANs find new voice
Seven companies have formed a trade association to foster the use of passive optical networking (PON) in local area networks (LANs), reflecting growing interest in the technology. The Association for Passive Optical
LAN (APOLAN) was set up by Corning, IBM, SAIC, TE Connectivity, Tellabs, Zhone and 3M. The founder members are all involved in infrastructure, electronics, integration, distribution, and consulting. Dave Cunningham, president and
chairman, said participation is open to organisations interested in using passive optical networking to revolutionise the way local area networks are designed, deployed, and managed. He said: ‘The deployments of passive optical LAN to date have demonstrated significant cost and performance advantages compared to traditional Ethernet designs, and the optical foundation “future-proofs” the network for any new bandwidth demand.’ Experience of PON technology has
already been gained in the fibre-to-the- home (FTTH) market, so PON LANs are able to take advantage of such developments while adding features that are more suited to commercial and industrial users. Nav Chander, research manager for
telecoms at the market research firm IDC, said: ‘With data and video consumption forecast to grow between seven and 10 times in the next few years, the demand for highly cost-effective and high-quality voice, video, and data continues to grow in the enterprise LAN market space, making passive optical LAN an appealing solution to address current and future bandwidth demands.’
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Hollow fibre ‘transmits data 30 per cent faster’
The fibre forces light through channels of air
The USA’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
has developed a hollow optical fibre that it says can transmit light – and data – 30 per cent faster than conventional broadband fibre. DARPA says the design, using a hollow,
air-filled core, improves performance by forcing light through channels of air, instead of the glass around it. It says the fibre (pictured above) is the first to demonstrate single-spatial-mode, low-loss and polarisation control – key properties for advanced military applications such as high-precision fibre-optic gyroscopes for inertial navigation.
DARPA-funded researchers, led by
Honeywell International, developed the technology. ‘Previous instantiations of hollow-core fibre have shown these high propagation speeds, but they weren’t able to do so in combination with the properties that make it useful for military applications,’ said Josh Conway, DARPA programme manager. ‘The real breakthrough with Cougar fibre is
that it can achieve a single-spatial-mode, maintain polarisation and provide low loss, while keeping more than 99 per cent of the beam in the air. ‘While we are still working on integrating
this new technology into a gyroscope, the fibre itself is revolutionary,’ added Conway.
Ciena takes lead to boost software-defined networking
Network specialist Ciena is building a software-defined, multi-layer wide area network (WAN), in collaboration with Canarie, Internet2 and StarLight to boost confidence in the technology of software-defined networking (SDN). The project will bring together
the key packet, optical, and software building blocks required to demonstrate the benefits of such networks. It will use OpenFlow across both the packet
and transport layers, will be supported by an open architecture carrier-scale controller and intrinsic multi-layer operation, and incorporate real-time analytics software. The research network will give
research and education institutions and other network operators a platform to experiment with software-defined networking and other advanced technologies such as agile photonics and real-time analytics software. SDN offers the
6 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 1 • Autumn 2013
promise of network programmability together with powerful new software intelligence capabilities to help optimise the network assets in-service. This new network platform will help speed SDN development for carriers and enable Ciena and its partners to explore and refine practical paths to SDN adoption and realisation of its benefits. According to Guru Parulkar, a
researcher and executive director at Open Networking Foundation:
‘SDN promises to change networking fundamentally for the better – lowering costs while expanding flexibility, programmability, and monetisability for service providers. However, it also represents a significant transformation in how networks are built and operated. Plotting the forward course from the status quo is not a simple matter, especially for service providers who operate large networks and
operate many revenue-bearing services managed by complex back-office environments. ‘By working with R&E partners
to create a real and largely fully-featured operating model of a “future” software-defined WAN, Ciena is providing a place and opportunity for relevant industry experiential learning. Such activities are critical to bringing SDN reality closer.’ lRoy Rubenstein discusses SDN on page 18
DARPA
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