nanog mailing list archives

Re: Physical Layer Switches / Smart Optical Cross-Connect Panels


From: Niels Bakker <niels=nanog () bakker net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:36:08 +0100


* BRoldan () Covad COM (Roldan, Brad) [Fri 23 Jan 2004, 18:23 CET]:
[..]

   If I could have the perfect box, it would:
      - Handle fiber (serial connections, ala DS3, would be a bonus)
      - Be protocol agnostic. I want to switch GigE and OC fiber 
        cross-connects. I don't want GigE / POS inter-networking.
      - Be completely passive. If the power fails, all connections
        will remain active. I suppose this implies some sort of
        mechanical switching mechanism.
      - Text based CLI mandatory. Web GUI optional.
      - DC powered
      - Did I mention cheap?

http://www.glimmerglassnet.com/ - the 300 does most of this.  It's a
layer-1 photonic switch.  It's not passive but you can order it with
batteries.  The CLI is based on TL-1.  Unfortunately it's not exactly
cheap hardware, those MEMS arrays, but our experiences with the product
so far have been absolutely positive.

... except that Safari just crashed on their website downloading a
datasheet... 'course it's a bit far-fetched to blame them for Apple
programming bugs.  ;)


        -- Niels.


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