Abstract: Optical Networks for the Rest of Us: Recent Developments in Canada's Research Networks

Bill St. Arnaud, CANARIE

CA*net 3 is an 8500 km IP/DWDM network which was built as a production network for the research and education community in Canada. The network started operations in October 1998 and as such is one of the oldest IP/DWDM networks in the world. The presentation will discuss the practical issues of building an IP/DWDM network, including:

  • Maintaining power levels between wavelengths
  • Network monitoring and management at the optical transport level
  • Initial trials to use MPLS for traffic engineering and restoral and protection
  • Interoperability issues with DWDM transport equipment
  • The presentation will also briefly cover new extensions to the network in Newfoundland and Alberta to build a 1700 km Gigabit Ethernet/DWDM network and a 800 km Gigabit Ethernet/CWDM (Coarse Wave Division) network. The latter two developments, plus the deployment of dark fiber by the research networks in Canada, promise to radically reduce the cost of transport networks for ISPs.

    About the Presenter
    Bill St. Arnaud is Senior Director of Network Projects for CANARIE Inc., an industry government consortium to promote and develop information highway technologies in Canada. At CANARIE, he has been responsible for the coordination and implementation of the world's first national optical R&D Internet network, CA*net 3. Arnaud is a frequent guest speaker at conferences on the Internet and optical networking, and is a regular contributor to several networking magazines.

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