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On the carrier backbone
Frank Dzubeck, Industry Commentary
 Analysts, including myself, constantly assert that enterprise users need more bandwidth and that the lack of inexpensive broadband network access is the major impediment to the growth of the electronic commerce and e-business marketplaces. Unfortunately, some of us forget that if wishful thinking is transformed into reality, that stone wall will shift onto metropolitan, regional and long-haul transport networks.
According to my estimates, if every American were connected to the public network using a 56K bit/sec modem today, we'd need 15 terabits per second of network capacity. And if every American were "always on" using 1.5M bit/sec access, 409 terabit/sec of network capacity would be required. Add broadband business access (10M bit/sec per average business location) and you reach a staggering demand requirement for 25 petabits per second of network capacity.
Quick look
SN 8000 Intelligent Optical Transport Node
Sycamore Networks
Pricing: $20,000 for base unit; $48,000 to $75,000 for line cards.
Market status: Commercially available.
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| In the New World of e-commerce and e-business, these projections make sense. For 1999, I project that network e-activity will produce about $170 billion worth of electronic transactions; this figure will rise to $2.5 trillion by 2004. Today in the U.S., we've got about 15 petabit/sec to 20 petabit/sec of raw (one wavelength per installed fiber-optic strand) capacity. However, not all that fiber is lit and distributed to the right locations for low-cost use by service providers and their customers.
Start-up Sycamore Networks is the leading creator of products that make intelligent optical networking happen economically. In its short lifetime, Sycamore has brought to market the first applicable optical product - the SN 8000 Intelligent Optical Transport Node - for metropolitan and regional access, as well as long-haul backbone transport.
The SN 8000, the most "wave shattering" of Sycamore's optical products, uses dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) and supports up to 120 wavelengths with any combination of OC-3, OC-12 and OC-48 services. Using innovative technology, it extends transmission distance to 1,600 kilometers without electrical regeneration.
What's more, the SN 8000 is the first optical product to use a plug-and-play design. Sycamore's high-density OC-3 and OC-12 service modules will let as many as 16 OC-3 or four OC-12 services share a single wavelength. For the first time, a DWDM product with integrated modules will eliminate the need for electro-optical network equipment - SONET/SDH add/drop multiplexers and cross-connects.
The only way to ensure a constant rate of e-economic growth and keep up with consumer and business demand is for service providers to build next-generation networks using intelligent optical wavelength technology. Two carriers, Millennium Optical Networks and Williams Network, already have chosen to do so using the SN 8000.
"Riding the wave" into the next century with Sycamore is a win-win proposition for service providers and their corporate customers. The SN 8000 equates to ease of use, less space and power consumption, a dramatic increase in bandwidth distribution capability at drastically lower costs, and increased equipment reliability and service availability.
Related links
Dzubeck is president of Communications Network Architects, an industry analysis firm in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at fdzubeck@commnetarch.com.
Industry Commentary columns
SN 8000 overview from Sycamore
Start-ups lead the way
More on Sycamore. Network World, 5/3/99.
Water Cooler: Why you should care about carrier gear
Such as Sycamore's. Bob Brown, Network World Fusion, 6/14/99.
DWDM comes in like a lion, out like a lambda
Tom Nolle, Network World, 6/14/99.
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