Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Effective Use of Fiber Deeper

2. Increasing Reusable Bandwidth

3. Determining Node Size

4. Using 1550-nm Transmitters

5. Technology Offers Lower Cost, Higher Value

6. Using 1310 nm for Narrowcasting

7. Raising Bandwidth While Lowering Costs

8. SONET Multiplexer Enables Voice, Data, and Video

9. Using the Analog Network for Interactive Traffic

10. Conclusion

Self-Test

Glossary

PDF of this tutorial

Optical technology enables providers to achieve the goal of building powerful multimedia networks capable of handling high-volume interactive services cost effectively. High-power 1550 technology, video-optimized SONET, and, most important, wave division multiplexing are being used in all parts of the HFC networks to make these goals a reality.

In addition, the smaller broadband world can offer the larger telecom industry the ability to overlay video on FITL architectures cost effectively, to carry analog video on SONET backbones efficiently, and to solve the power challenge imposed on optical amplifiers by the DWDM deployments in the long-haul network. These architectures are only the beginning of a long and exciting journey toward an all-optical network.