Imagine stock quotes scrolling across your pen, or movies playing on your handheld. Motorola's Timeport P8767 phone, which debuted in Japan in September, sports an OLED screen. Seiko plans to release an OLED phone capable of full-color video in 2002. Telecoms are burying thousands of miles of fiber under the streets of America, laying the groundwork for the superfast network of the future. Optical switching could help.
Optical networks use beams of light, rather than electrons, to carry data.
Today, most of these networks use so-called optoelectronic switches to direct network traffic. These switches convert incoming light signals into electronic form, examine their network addressing, then convert them back to optical signals and send them on their way. Unfortunately, the conversion process is awfully slow. Because they rely on a series of microscopic mechanical mirrors to do their work, they may not be as reliable as the old optoelectronic variety. Still, expect these optical switches, from vendors including Calient, Cisco, Nortel and Tellium, to be deployed at critical intersections on the Net later this year.