PAN-EUROPEAN OPTICAL NETWORKING USING WAVELENGTH-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING

The development of the Information Society will require the introducti on of high-capacity transport networks with high performance and low c ost. There ape currently two ACTS (Advanced Communications Technologie s and Services program launched by the European Commission) projects a ddressing specifically the problem of trans-European optical transport networks using WDM (wavelength-division multiplexing). Important issu es addressed are the high capacity transmission on existing fiber infr astructure and the introduction of flexibility in the network through the use oi optical cross-connects. if these networks become a reality, they could drastically change the evolution of both telecommunication and computer networking because of their transparency and the abundan ce of inexpensive bandwidth.