IP: The Tidal Wave Is Forming

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 09:23:16 -0500
To: farber@central.cis.upenn.edu
From: gaj@portman.com (Gordon Jacobson)

Dave -

The Enron press release below follows on the announcement last summer that the
Canadian government has started to build its version of Internet X using IP
directly over fiber - bypassing IP over ATM over SONET or even IP over SONET.

One should now begin looking at the combined effect of Ball Semiconductor's
XRay Lithography technology, the Silicon Carbide technology of Cree Research
and Sterling Semiconductor, Commercial Technology Corp's Optical CDMA and
"True" Optical Cross Connect technologies, Nexabit's 6 Terrabit Routing
Technology, Global Crossing's recently announced 128,000 kms, 16 Wave WDM world
wide fiber build out, two new GBLX projects: the first, a 14,000 kms fiber
build between the US and Europe and the second, a 21,000 kms buildout between
the US and Japan, the Qwest, Level3, Frontier, IXC, and a host of other
national, regional and local fiber build outs by companies other than the major
Interstate Carriers, Local Telcos and Cable cos.

Given the above selection from a long list of technology advances and
implementations, it should not take much imagination to see where this is
heading and just how quickly intelligently switched voice services, the cash
cows of the major Carriers and Telcos, will dry up.

GAJ


>ENRON BUILDS NATIONWIDE IP/DWDM NETWORK WITH CISCO, CIENA
>Enron Communications, one of the world's leading integrated 
>natural gas and electricity companies, will build a Pure IP 
>network across the US using Cisco Systems? 12000 GSRs 
>interconnected directly to CIENA's Multiwave Sentry 4000 DWDM 
>equipment. CIENA has already has shipped equipment valued at 
>approximately $23 million for the first Portland-to-Los Angeles 
>fiber route.  Enron?s Pure IP network will transport data at OC48 
>on each DWDM channel without the use of SONET multiplexers or 
>other intermediate equipment.  Enron said its forthcoming data-
>centric national fiber optic backbone would focus on the wholesale 
>bandwidth needs of other telecommunications service providers. 
>http://www.ciena.com

>CIENA, November 3, 1998 

_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber         
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania 
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber