13. strokovni seminar OPTIÈNE KOMUNIKACIJE
Ljubljana, 1. - 3. februar 2006
Introduction to Optical Networking
Thierry Zami
Alcatel R&I
Route de Nozay
91460 Marcoussis
Today, while the traffic demand is still increasing, the optical networking becomes a reality as the telecommunication operators ask for re-configurable optical add and drop multiplexers (ROADMs). However in the core network, the need for a larger connectivity imposes opaque cross-connect with expensive transceivers. The introduction of transparency in that field may reduce meaningfully the number of regenerating interfaces while maintaining a fair level of performance. It may also make the network more flexible and easier to update. However such an evolution also induces new constraints so that the physical feasibility of a transparent connection has to be assessed. This tutorial will address the key building blocks and the architectures envisaged for the optical networks. After a review of the main physical limitations, an original experimental validation method will be illustrated.
Thierry Zami was born in 1972. He received the engineering degree in optics from "Ecole Supérieure d'Optique", Orsay, France, in 1996. He received a PhD degree from "Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications", Paris, France, in 2002.
Since 1997 Thierry Zami worked in a research team on optical routing and switching in the laboratories of Alcatel in Marcoussis, France. During this period he was engaged in research on cross-connect architectures based on Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers used for WDM optical gating, wavelength conversion and optical regeneration. He was involved in national and international collaborative projects such as OPEN (1995-1998 : study of the feasibility of an Optical Pan-European overlay Network) and DAVID (2000-2003 : multi-ring optical packet metropolitan area network, and optical packet router demonstrations).
He is the author of 35 research papers and patents on these subjects and he is member of the Alcatel Technical Academy. Since 2004 he is managing the french collaborative project RYTHME that aims at establishing the technical feasibility and the economical interest for a backbone hybrid network.
Introduction to Optical Networking