Because optical networking is still in its infancy, and the learning curve associated with the technology is steeper than for competing technologies, this threshold is decreasing over time. In addition, the amount of data traffic keeps growing exponentially. Operators should expect rapid improvements in terms of performance versus cost, and they should also expect and plan for technological discontinuities. Free-space optical networking is one of the potential candidates for such a discontinuity. In the long term, Gartner Dataquest foresees that an integration between optical networking and IP networking is the most attractive solution, because both of these technologies are sure to play integral parts in any future broadband scenario.
Strong market pull resulting from continued growth in data traffic.
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