http://www.agilent.com/about/feature/photonic.html#top

Introducing the Agilent Photonic Switching Platform

                      

 Agilent's Photonic Switching Platform makes the
 dreams of the all-optical network a reality.
  In a clear example of necessity being the mother of invention, Agilent Technologies unveiled a unique solution to the surging demand for communications bandwidth and speed.

Called the Agilent Photonic Switching Platform, the company’s new system finally enables what are called "all-optical networks."

Communications traffic in 2002 is expected to be 17 times greater than it was in 1998, according to Ryan, Hankin and Kent, a leading communications analyst firm. Bandwidth demand is surging because of the rapidly increasing number of users, higher communications access speeds, longer connection times, and the use of rich media, such as audio, video and high-resolution graphics. Accommodating that demand requires all-optical networks, and that’s where Agilent’s Photonic Switch Platform comes in.

Based on a blending of two reliable technologies – inkjet and planar lightwave circuits – Agilent’s photonic switch reroutes an optical stream from one path to another without having to convert the signal from optical, to electronic, and back to optical. With Agilent’s switching platform, the signal is always optical.
                               

 Switch Fabric -- a unique combination of inkjet and
 planar lightwave circuits. Here’s how it works. Multiple optical paths, or wave guides, are created in the planar-lightwave circuits (PLC), intersecting at several cross points. At those cross points, the light travels through a fluid with the same optical properties as the wave guide. As a result, the optical stream, and its communications contents, travel unimpeded through the cross point.

However, when the optical signal needs to be rerouted, a bubble is inserted - using inkjet technology - into the cross point. The bubble displaces the fluid and alters the optical properties of the cross point. This causes the light to be reflected along a new path. Thesebubbles can be formed and removed hundreds of times per second, providing a fast and reliable switching function, one that uses neither mirrors nor mechanical moving parts.

Agilent’s Photonic Switching Platform is a key subsystem in a variety of all-optical network subsystems currently under development by network equipment manufacturers. These systems help create high-bandwidth networks that are easier for service providers to manage and maintain. Agilent’s components meet the industry’s expectations for a fast, low-loss technology that can accommodate changing bit rates and communications protocols without having to be modified or upgraded.

Formerly part of Hewlett-Packard Company, and now a subsidiary, Agilent Technologies and its scientists and engineers have a solid record of achievement in the area of photonic and optical technologies. Even as it unveiled this latest success, its research and development in next-generation photonic technologies continues unabated.
 
 
 

Agilent Technologies' breakthrough Photonic Switch to revolutionize multi-billion-dollar telecom industry

Move underscores Agilent's role in developing the enabling communications products to increase capacity on world's busiest communications networks

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 6, 2000 Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) announced today an advanced, cost-effective optical technology that could revolutionize the multi-billion-dollar communications industry. Called the Agilent Photonic Switching Platform, the new technology is capable of routing communications traffic without the costly conversion from photons to electrons and back to photons.

This ability to manage communications traffic in the optical domain has long been considered the vital "missing link" for the long-awaited, next-generation all-optical network. By eliminating the equipment needed to translate the basic light signals into electrical signals for the purpose of routing those signals, significant improvements in capacity and reductions in cost can be realized.

Invented by scientists at Agilent Laboratories, the photonic switch is based on a blend of two reliable technologies -- inkjet and planar lightwave circuits. "Agilent is poised to lead a significant revolution in communications," said Ned Barnholt, president and CEO of Agilent. "The Agilent Photonic Switching Platform is just one excellent example of how Agilent is not just sparking that revolution but leading it. Our customers told us that the one missing ingredient in making the all-optical network a reality was a cost-effective, reliable optics layer switching technology. The photonic switch is our response and the solution to the problem. It will help drive a significant market evolution while enabling our customers to deliver a brand new class of services."

Agilent's new platform, to be unveiled tomorrow at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibit 2000 in Baltimore, is already in trials with several industry leaders for integration into the world's most complex communications network elements. It is expected that once deployed, this new way of managing information may hold the key to unlocking the vast, untapped potential of a totally wired world because the photonic switch will enable the cost-effective delivery of a new generation of digitally based services in communications, entertainment and business.

According to industry analysts, fiber-optic networks are nearly stretched to capacity by the burgeoning demands of a digital workplace and sprawling e-commerce sites.

Experts predict that more users, higher access speeds, longer connection times and richer media mean network traffic will double every nine to 12

months, making a new generation of fast-moving, optical switches imperative. According to Ryan, Hankin and Kent, a leading communications analyst firm, the load carried by optical networks will have grown an estimated 28 fold between 1996 and 2002. The firm also projects the need for optical networking equipment will expand from $15 billion in 2000 to some $40 billion in 2003.

By providing a totally new and potentially far more reliable approach to handling optical traffic, the Agilent Photonic Switching Platform will allow network equipment manufacturers to accelerate the time to market for all-optical network elements. In turn, their customers -- telecommunications carriers -- will be able to keep up with the increased demand. With the new switching platform, the industry will be able to speed up network traffic -- and improve the user experience -- for e-commerce, e-mail, video conferencing, global business and other key optical applications.

The switching platform, which includes the first two commercial photonic switches ever created by Agilent -- a 32 x 32 port photonic switch and a dual 16 x 32 port photonic switch, is based on Agilent technology that uses an innovative combination of reliable inkjet and planar lightwave circuit technologies. It is the largest switch of its kind with no moving parts, resulting in less wear and longer life.

U.S. Availability

Commerical prototypes of the Agilent Photonic Switching Platform will be available by the end of 2000.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) is a diversified technology company, resulting from Hewlett-Packard Company's plan to strategically realign itself into two fully independent companies. With 42,000 employees serving customers in more than 120 countries, Agilent Technologies is a global leader in designing and manufacturing test, measurement and monitoring instruments, systems and solutions, and semiconductor and optical components. The company serves markets that include communications, electronics, life sciences and healthcare. The businesses comprising Agilent, a subsidiary of HP, had net revenues of more than $8.3 billion in fiscal year 1999.

Information about Agilent Technologies can be found on the Web at www.agilent.com.