Abstract

The advent of photonic networking will change the way optical transport networks are built and operated. In the past few years, DWDM transmission technology solved the capacity challenges faced by many carriers. It continues to advance with higher channel counts and extended distances between regeneration. But while carriers have solved the capacity side of the equation by meeting demand with DWDM, the rapid scaling of DWDM in optical networks has exponentially increased the number of wavelengths and created another challenge, that of bandwidth management. Carriers now need to effectively manage this explosive growth in transport capacity.

© 2002 Optical Society of America