March 5,2001

By Joe McGarvey

Despite the fact that only a handful of carriers have deployed first-generation optical switches, at least two startups plan to introduce third-generation optical switching systems at this month's OFC 2001 show in Anaheim.

Luxcore and Network Photonics are set to unveil transport and switching gear that's a two-step leap over today's switches in terms of integration and transporting data in an all-optical environment.

"We take in light signals, manipulate them and put them on their way into the network without an optical-to-electronic conversion," says Gerald Ramdeen, chairman and CEO at Luxcore, which plans to ship its product commercially early next year.

First-generation optical switches, such as those from Ciena, Sycamore Networks and Tellium, use an electronic switch fabric to switch wavelengths. So-called second-generation switches, which are available now or soon will be available from Lucent Technologies and Calient Networks, employ an all-optical internal switching mechanism, which is made up of tiny tilting mirrors.

Luxcore and Network Photonics say they offer advancements on all-optical switches by also incorporating dense wavelength division multiplexing terminals into a single system. This integration, along with the use of tunable lasers, enables 3G products to eliminate the optical-to-electronic conversion that is necessary between standalone DWDM gear and the optical switch.

"We keep the signal optical by integrating all those functions into a single system," says Steve Georgis, president and CEO at Network Photonics.

The major difference between the two startups is that Luxcore is targeting the public network core with its offering and Network Photonics is focusing on a low-cost device for the metropolitan portion of the network.