Using all-optical crossconnects in the transport network

Summary form only given, as follows. There has been a great deal of recent interest in all-optical switching technology. This interest has been stimulated by the emerging commercial availability of large-scale all-optical switches using MEMS (microelectromechanical systems). The high-level benefits of all-optical switching - scalability, bit-rate and protocol independence, power and footprint savings - have been articulated, but there are a number of unresolved aspects related to how these crossconnects can be deployed in a network. One option is to make the all-optical crossconnect "opaque" by surrounding it with optical-to-electrical-to-optical (OEO) converters interconnected to WDM line systems, while another option is to promote direct interoperability with WDM line systems without these converters. We explore these applications in detail with some quantification of relative economics. We also discuss how other common network functions, such as restoration, performance monitoring, and bridge-and-roll can be accomplished in a network with all-optical crossconnects.