Telecommunication networks present and future

The author focuses on the impact of optics on telecommunication networks worldwide. As optical fibres penetrate home and business, very high bandwidth applications become possible. Standards currently under development deal with broadband integrated services digital networks (B-ISDN). The proposed deployment of optically-based high-speed networks gives rise to a host of research issues that must be addressed. Some of the research issues described include lightweight protocols, flow and congestion control, as well as network management. In particular, he describes recent work in Columbia on flow control for high speed metropolitan area networks and work on fault management designed to provide a theoretical underpinning to that area