Optical Gear Enters a New Era

NEW YORK -- Packet Optical Transport Evolution -- The rise of coherent detection is kicking off a new era of optical networking, the Digital Coherent Era.

Heavy Reading analyst Sterling Perrin used that term in his introductory remarks Wednesday, adding that he tried so hard to not call it the Digital Coherent Era. He wanted to call it the xDM Era, since it follows the TDM Era (the age of Sonet/SDH) and the DWDM Era (today).

The "x" in XDM would have referred to the variety of modulation techniques being deployed at......READ MORE

The Dwindling Case for Saving TDM

Much of the talk around replacing TDM switches has focused on the many benefits of IP transformation -- new service opportunities, fixed-mobile convergence and more efficient and lower-cost network operations.
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But there's an increasingly urgent catalyst for TDM switch replacement projects that doesn't come with any feel-good factor: The rapid retirement of TDM-trained personnel and the shrinking availability of spares and software patches for these massive voice systems, many of which are finishing their third decade of service.

Already, carriers are turning to.....Read More