Advanced optical interconnection technology in switching equipment

Demands for increased interconnection density and higher bandwidth, coupled with stringent cost constraints of advanced wide bandwidth telecommunication switching equipment, are exhausting conventional electrical interconnection capabilities. The requirement for greater interconnection capabilities, spawned in part by the advances in integrated circuit technologies and the need for enhanced digital services, dictate that technology advancement must occur in traditional electronic packaging and/or interconnection techniques. The resolution of these technological needs is paramount for the successful competitive introduction of these systems. Presently, a “bottle-neck” occurs at the board-to-board level of the interconnection hierarchy. Therefore, an opportunity exists for the development of new optical interconnection techniques which can be incorporated into system designs beginning at this interconnection level and beyond. The strategic insertion of optical interconnection technology into these electronic processing systems not only meets projected performance requirements, but potentially offers them at a competitive cost. This paper describes some of the new optical strategies switching equipment designers are incorporating into today´s products. These strategies range from optical data links to an implementation of a flexible optical backplane called OptiFlex