With the recent events under the sea off Taiwan fresh in our minds, we look at issues of telecommunications network reliability. Intelligent Optical Switches are key.

MEMS switches have been in production for over a decade with millions used in everything from projection TVs to the airbag sensors in cars to protecting Internet traffic. In spite of this wide deployment, there is still the nagging concern that, because of their mechanical nature, they are doomed to fail. Are they?

The Gold Standard for reliability in the Telecom industry has always been the five 9’s requirement, or 99.999% up time. This translates to only a few minutes of down time per year. Anyone with an Internet connection, or a phone knows that things still go wrong. Why?

Internet Exchanges are the real crunch points of the Internet, where ISPs meet to exchange traffic. Reliability there is of utmost importance. AMS-IX is using a combination of Ethernet and Photonic switches and innovative topology to create a cost- effective, reliable network.

Are you engaged in a project to help transform the Internet? If so, we'd love to hear about it. We might even include your story in a future edition of this newsletter. Write us at connections@glimmerglass.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Sincerely,