Technology

Unprecedented Intelligence in the Optical Layer

Increasingly, the best network design is not one based on Layers 2 or 3, but one based on manipulating the physical layer: a flexible optical-signal distribution system. Only a photonic solution has the flexibility to handle any wavelength, data format or data rate without the expensive and time-consuming replacement of electrical line cards. With photonic solutions such as the Glimmerglass Intelligent Optical System and Glimmerglass Intelligent Peripheral System, even bundles of DWDM wavelengths can be easily manipulated as one signal.

By combining the optical signal switching power of Glimmerglass Intelligent Optical Systems with the wide range of optical modules in the Glimmerglass Intelligent Peripheral System, system designers can create a flexible optical distribution system capable of reconfiguring and broadcasting optical signals.

Use photonic multicasting to perfectly replicate an input signal onto multiple output fibers. Use Variable Optical Attenuators to reduce the optical signal to a specific power level without changing any of its other characteristics. This system will be able to handle even the most stringent distribution requirements, with the flexibility to rapidly and remotely adapt to sudden and unexpected changes in the operational environment.

Advanced management software and programming interfaces make Glimmerglass systems an intelligent part of an operator’s network infrastructure. The software enables users to create and reconfigure optical paths in milliseconds and continuously monitor the status of their fiber network from anywhere in the world. Using Glimmerglass management software, operators can:

• Centrally manage optical signal paths and networks
• Create and reconfigure optical paths in 20 milliseconds
• Make and break connections automatically or with a few mouse clicks
• Continuously monitor optical paths and power levels
• Name ports and connections, and lock connections by user
• View the health of back-up paths before restoring a failed network path to a protected state
• Easily save and load complete system connection configurations

The 3D-MEMS Advantage

At the heart of the Glimmerglass intelligent optical system is a proprietary 3D-Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) mirror array. The array is composed of 210 gold-coated mirrors, each measuring just one millimeter in diameter, etched out of a single wafer of silicon.

MEMS-based photonic cross-connects have the following benefits over electronic cross-connects: lower cost, smaller size, lower heat and power, higher efficiency, and protocol and line rate ‘transparency’. This transparency refers to the technology’s ability to redirect the optical path without interfering with the signal itself. By redirecting light with the micro-mirrors, this breakthrough technology preserves all key aspects of the source signal – including frequency, waveform, signal dispersion, and signal timing.

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