Optical Networking Best Practices Handbook

Chapter 14. Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations

Much has been said and written about the state of optical networking after the burst of the telecom bubble. Huge investments during the bubble years yielded significant advances on both the component and system fronts. However, with the current business conditions, carriers are not deploying new technologies unless there is a sound near-term return on investment potential. This has caused them to focus more on deploying infrastructure closer to the edges of the network in response to direct user demands and a dramatic slowdown in long-haul deployments. So, in keeping with previous remarks, this final chapter attempts to put the preceding chapters of this book into proper perspective by making summarizing and concluding statements about the present and future state of optical networks and concludes with quite a substantial number of very high-level recommendations [1].