An Optical Revolution may be Undermining Carrier Viability

Gordon Cook cook at cookreport.com
Wed Feb 2 03:34:01 UTC 2005


Here is an abstract of a study I have just completed.  Enjoy.

Optical Revolution Increases Obsolescence of Legacy Carrier Networks

Highly Efficient Layer One and Two Optical Networks Will Spell End of 
the Road for ATT, Sprint & MCI in Their Current Form

  Intelligent Acquisition Could Lead to Quick Write Offs of Obsolete Equipment
  & Result in Modernization of "Telco" Infrastructure

An examination of the infrastructure of the Leading optical research 
networks (SURFnet 6, CA*Net4, and TransLight) shows that we may well 
be headed towards optical networks owned, built, and operated by 
enterprises and other large entities that are sources of, and/or, 
sinks for data, with the public Internet and carrier backbone 
networks merely acting as inter-connecting vehicles for private bit 
carriage.

  We examine the emergence of new enterprise-owned and -operated 
networks. These will be composed of hybrid networks that, for certain 
Quality of Service and security-mandated applications set up 
lightpaths, when needed, and then tear them down. Best-effort Layer 3 
IP services for email and web browsing will utilize a separate 
allocation of bandwidth elsewhere within the optical spectrum of 
physical glass. This new enterprise-owned optical network is likely 
to be one that could switch lightpaths back and forth on an as-needed 
basis sending payloads over dedicated lightpaths where appropriate 
and needed, while best-effort routing continues to function on its 
own over intranet or Internet routes, thus filling in the gaps 
between highly mission-critical and business-as-usual applications. 
For independent verification of our basic conclusions see Dark fiber: 
Businesses see the light.
http://news.com.com/Dark+fiber+Businesses+see+the+light/2100-1037_3-5557910.html?tag=nefd.lede

For complete Introduction and Executive Summary and Table of contents see
http://cookreport.com/14.01.shtml
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works and an Enterprise Networks Revolution at: 
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