A strategic guide to the practical business applications of optical networking technologies
Optical Networking
A Wiley Tech Brief
Optical networks are spreading outward from Internet backbones to cities to corporations and even to the home. Cities are in a strategic position to create a leading-edge optical infrastructure that will drive economic growth. Optical technologies can cost-effectively meet corporate bandwidth needs today and tomorrow, from optical Internet connections offering bandwidth on demand to fiber on the LAN. Fiber to the home can provide true broadband connectivity for telecommuters as well as converged multimedia offerings for consumers.
The ever-expanding need for bandwidth can only be met by optical networks and their phenomenal data capacity. In this book, the real-world applications driving optical networking deployments are explored. You'll get a detailed look inside the markets for fiber, bandwidth supply and demand, and optical networking technology. Both traditional architectures, such as SONET, and emerging paradigms, such as IP over DWDM and Gigabit Ethernet, are examined.
This book provides practical information, insight, and case studies about the business benefits and broad range of optical networking technologies and applications available today, including:
* Optical internets that run IP directly over fiber without intervening layers of ATM and SONET
* Municipal optical networks and their ability to transform local economies
* Corporate optical networking deployments, from LAN to WAN to Internet connections
* Gigabit Ethernet and bandwidth on demand
* Fiber to the home-and why pseudobroadband alternatives such as DSL and cable modems are inadequate
* Why wireless is not an alternative to fiber
Wiley Tech Briefs
Focused on the needs of the corporate IT and business manager, the Tech Briefs series provides in-depth information on new or emerging technologies, solutions, and vendor offerings available in the marketplace. With their accessible approach, these books will help you get quickly up-to-speed on a topic so that you can effectively compete, grow, and better serve your customers.
Wiley Computer Publishing
Timely. Practical. Reliable.
Customer Reviews & Comments
Debra Cameron gives us a nice snapshot of the state of the art in "Optical Networking". It's a quick primer for the IT manager, telecom sales agent, networking students and anyone else who needs to know what's going on in the fast moving world of fiber optics. What I like best about this book is how it covers the gamut of optical networking topics from what is driving the need for bandwidth to advantages and disadvantages of various protocols, to discussion of the carriers that are in this business. There's even a section on fiber to the home (FTTH), a long promised and slowly emerging technology that could truly change the way telephone, Internet and even movies are delivered to consumers. So, do you know where fiber makes more sense than wireless or satellite transmission? You will when you've read chapter 1. How about the difference between ATM, SONET, Ethernet and MPLS? Are your eyes beginning to glaze over? You'll want this book. In the length of a paragraph or so you'll see why you'd want ATM for its quality of service. You'll understand why fiber is the only sensible option for Gigabit Ethernet. You'll even develop a general knowledge of network protocol stacks. Yes, protocol stacks! If you've found yourself buried up to your eyeballs after a few pages of a typical fiber optic design book, you'll find this treatment pleasantly straightforward. Other technical topics made simple include Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) vs Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM), signal regeneration, Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers, network topology, and SONET. "Optical Networking" is also a strategy book. You get a feel for who's who in the optical networking marketplace. There are discussions about owning your own fiber and leasing dark fiber. One entire chapter is devoted to "Optical Networking and Urban Planning." For IT managers, engineers and business people, the chapter on "Optical Networking and the Corporate Network" is particularly valuable. At last, there is no need to be intimidated by fiber optic networks. By the end of this book, you'll know enough to determine if optical networking has a place in your computer and telecommunications planning. You'll also be able to speak the language and ask the right questions of vendors selling routers, VoIP solutions, WAN line services, and other elements of your IT strategy. Dark fiber may become a part of your plan, but there is no reason for YOU to stay in the dark about fiber optic networking.
