Optical fiber-wireless access networks: architectures and performance improvements [Series Editorial]

The global telecommunications industry continues its transformation in network architectures and services. In the past 10 years, we have seen major shifts in technology innovations from optical transport to last-mile access networks. While synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH) was the center of attention for service providers and their suppliers in the 1980-1995 timeframe, we have witnessed the growth of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) to meet bandwidth growth fueled by fiber to the x (FTTx) video and internet service demand starting at about 1995.