Re: Notes on the Internet for Bell Heads

[Sean Donelan <sean () donelan com>]

On Thu, 11 Jul 2002, Randy Bush wrote:
> > I don't know which is scarier.  Lucent/Bell Labs trying to design
> > the next generation Internet architecture, or Cisco trying to
> > design the next generation DCN/SS7 architecture.
>
> the contest is keen.  for a nice view of this insanity fueled by
> greed, paranoia, greed, and oh greed, see the ieprep wg of the
> ietf.

http://www.bell-labs.com/news/features/jaffe.html

  Impact of Optical, MPLS
  According to Jaffe, advances in network architecture and technology now
  coming out of Lucent and other companies may have a profound impact on
  cyber-security in future networks deployed by both service providers and
  enterprises.

  "Three or four years ago, all-optical switching was considered science
  fiction, but Lucent is providing a path to that reality with the
  LambdaRouter," he said. "All-optical networks don't exist yet, but they
  are coming, and they will greatly reduce vulnerability.

  "It's very hard to intercept individual packets in an all-light network
  because they aren't queued in output buffers at intermediate nodes. And
  a lightwave network gives you a better idea of where the packets have come
  from, which is a problem with the Internet routing protocols today's
  data networks use."

I'm afraid this is one of those things I need help translating.  I don't
understand how an all-optical network improves the security of the IP
layer.  At best this is "improving" the security of the least vulnerable
part of the network.  But I could be wrong, and I'm willing to be
educated.