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.