The bursty nature of traffic in metropolitan area networks results in under
utilized and inefficient SONET networks. The hybrid optoelectronic ring net
work (HORNET) is a network being developed at the Optical Communications Re
search Laboratory at Stanford University to address the problems of SONET t
ransport in metropolitan area networks (MAN's). HORNET performs packet swit
ching using a fast-tunable wavelength transmitter, which hops to different
wavelengths on a packet-by-packet basis. In this letter, we present simulat
ion results which quantify the benefits of a wavelength tunable transmitter
in a packet switched wavelength-division-multiplexed MAN. We show that a t
unable transmitter is able to take advantage of imbalances in wavelength ut
ilization, and provides a 45% improvement in packet latency characteristics
. We also show that in order to maintain these benefits the tuning time of
the transmitter cannot exceed 10% of the packet transmit time.