The future of optical networks-a European view

The ACTS [Advanced Communications Technologies and Services] programme commenced in September 1995 and terminates in 1999; a new programme IST [Information Society Technologies] is scheduled to commence in October 1999. Under ACTS initial funding to a total of approximately 680 MEuro was used to fund six main domains of activity, namely (1) interactive digital multimedia services (2) photonic technologies (3) high speed networking (4) mobility and personal communication networks (5) intelligence in networks and services and (6) quality, security and safety of communication systems and services. To enable optical systems to support the very large capacities required research needs to continue in a number of key areas, e.g. low cost components, tuneable sources, optical regeneration, space switching and optical packet switching. The demand for bandwidth is driving the interest in optical networking, which will expand in the transport and access sections of the network. The growing interest in supporting IP traffic may lead to new optical network structures which are packet based.