Web ProForums
Optical Add/Drop Switches
PDF of this tutorial6. OADX Benefits
- Transparency...offers the freedom to carry multiple protocols and grow networks to meet the demand for broadband applications
- Space savings...by collapsing OADMs and OXCs into a single element, an OADX offers much more functionality in a smaller space. Some examples of OADXs occupy as little as one-fifth the rack space of comparable OADM+OXC solutions.
- Capital expenditure (CAPEX) savings...a metro OADX can cost the same as a DWDM system with the switching capability cost almost negligible. This represents a substantial CAPEX savings, as demonstrated in the business case cited earlier, of 70 percent compared to OADM+OXC solutions. To understand why the CAPEX reduction is so substantial, note that OADXs remove a layer of transceivers, since that function no longer is required on both the transport system and switch. And because transceivers provide an optical-to-electrical conversion on a per-channel basis, reducing these conversions represents a substantial savings.
- Operational expenditure (OPEX) savings...a single system that integrates switching and transport makes sense because, from an operations viewpoint, it makes it easier to provision end-to-end wavelength services: The carrier has to manage only one box rather than, for example, an optical transport system from one vendor and optical switches from another.
