Doing wavelength-division multiplexing with today´s technology

A local area network architecture is described that implements a WDM (wavelength-division multiplexing) network requiring only N wavelengths to create a network that provides N*N concurrent, source-bandwidth-limited channels. The network concept is modular, extendable, and adheres to wide area network store and forward procedures to eliminate contention and thus make efficient use of the underlying links. In its simplest manifestation the network lowers implementation cost by reducing the number of optical transmitters and receivers by more than a factor of two with respect to an equivalent central matrix switch architecture and, by using WDM, reducing the amount of fiber by more than factor of N with respect to an equivalent mesh connectivity wired together as a physical star. To effect these economies the architecture uses both distributed switching and WDM.<>