Optical switching system for MPP, LAN, or WAN systems

Whether intended for use in massively parallel processing (MPP), local-area networking (LAN), or wide-area networking (WAN) systems, optical switching technology has not yet seen significant use in commercial practice. This paper presents the design of an optical switching system suitable for all of the above uses. The data path is all optical, with electrical-to-optical signal translation taking place only at the message source and optical-to-electrical signal translation taking place only at the destination. The control path, however, makes extensive use of electrical technology, using a unique control algorithm appropriate to the mixed-technology design. We refer to this dual (optical and electrical) design as the Gemini interconnection network