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 The Optical World
ITU-T Technology Watch ReportJune 2011
The use of optical technologies in computing is very promising indeed for the future. It will help to support the bandwidth requirements of next-generation networks, cloud computing and the expansion of the Internet. Major breakthroughs are expected in the areas of optical networking, silicon photonics, nanotechnologies and non-linear optics which could lead to major changes in the way computers, networks and data centres are designed. This ITU-T Technology Watch Report provides an overview of the optical world and surveys standards and ongoing research that will lead to a new generation of Internet and computing devices.
 
 The rapid change of the telecommunication/information and communication technologies (ICT) environment requires related technology foresight and immediate action in order to propose possible ITU-T standardization activities as early as possible.
ITU-T Technology Watch
surveys the ICT landscape to capture new topics for standardization activities. Technology Watch Reports assess new technologies with regard to existing standards inside and outside ITU-T and their likely impact on future standardization.
Acknowledgements
This report was prepared by Young Han Choe and Venkatesen Mauree of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. The authors are grateful for the support given by Janet Burgess. Please send your feedback and comments to tsbtechwatch@itu.int. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Telecommunication Union or its membership. This report, along with other Technology Watch Reports can be found at http://www.itu.int/
 
ITU-T/techwatch. Cover photos: Shutterstock: Motherboard PC” (© Vasil Vasilev) Technology Watch is managed by the Policy & Technology Watch Division, ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau.
Call for Proposals
Experts from industry, research and academia are invited to submit topic proposals and abstracts for future reports in the Technology Watch series. Please contact us at tsbtechwatch@itu.int for details and guidelines. © ITU 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the prior written permission of ITU.
 
 ITU-T Technology Watch
The Optical World (June 2011) i 
Table of contents
Page
IV.
 4.1 Optical Transport Network (OTN) .......................................................................................................4 4.2 Optical switching and optical cross-connect ......................................................................................5 4.3 Automatically switched optical network (ASON) architecture ...........................................................6 4.4 Passive optical network (PON) ............................................................................................................7 4.5 Optical exchange .................................................................................................................................8 4.6 Visible light communication (VLC) ......................................................................................................9 4.7 Optical data transfer inside the computer....................................................................................... 10 4.7.1 Thunderbolt ............................................................................................................................. 10 4.7.2 Silicon photonics ...................................................................................................................... 11 4.7.3 Optical Bus ............................................................................................................................... 12 4.8 All-optical computer ........................................................................................................................ 12 4.9 Challenges ahead ............................................................................................................................. 13

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