OPTICAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS - FUTURE-PROSPECTS

Optical technology is already the dominant carrier of global informati on. It is also central to the realisation of future networks which hav e the capabilities demanded by society. For example, essentially unlim ited bandwidth to convey services of any kind, full transparency that allows terminal-only upgrades in capacity, and flexible routeing of ch annels are some of the key features that cannot be provided by alterna tive technologies. In the main, all of the necessary elements for such networks already exist in experimental form, and rapid progress is be ing made towards a field deployment capability. This will bring about a paradigm change in the whole nature of telecommunications as we move into the third millennium.