To assess the issues and opportunities optical technologies and networks bring to end-users, we invited six leading experts to our semiannual roundtable discussion, scheduled for Sept. 11, during the Networld+Interop show in Atlanta. Unfortunately, that give-and-take session had to be cancelled. In its place, we created a virtual roundtable on “The Optical Last Mile,” with our original panel of experts participating via e-mail, resulting in this interesting and informative dialogue on the optical revolution | VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE Networld Interop Atlanta Fall 2001 The OPTICAL last mile Where will it lead us To assess the issues and opportunities optical technologies and networks bring to end-users we invited six leading experts to our semiannual roundtable discussion scheduled for Sept. 11 during the Networld Interop show in Atlanta. Unfortunately that give-and-take session had to be cancelled. In its place we created a virtual roundtable on The Optical Last Mile with our original panel of experts participating via e-mail resulting in this interesting and informative dialogue on the optical revolution. Is the optical last mile really necessary Why or why not Sandra McWilliams Fiber is the only available medium that achieves the optimal bandwidth reliability flexibility and security required by today s enterprises. As the way we conduct business continues to evolve new video and data applications will tax the limits of existing infrastructure . Advancing the optical last mile is a proactive pragmatic approach to the imminent growth of bandwidth demand. Mark Fishburn September 11th obviously magnified many market trends already in place but may accelerate business benefits Sandra McWilliams director fiber cable management fiber-optic division ADC The benefits garnered by optical technologies are virtually limitless if its infrastructure is designed to work with multiple technologies and grow as demands grow. for the high-speed access market. Many pieces to the puzzle increased demand for home entertainment to upcoming technology and metro-focused service providers make delivery of that fiber economical. Layoffs will presumably lead to an increase in SOHOs looking for low-cost high-speed connectivity. Cüneyt Özveren Given a cyclical economy like this one it becomes very difficult to scale IT departments up and down as market conditions change. A solution for this problem is outsourcing IT requirements. Optical last mile enables a high-bandwidth access to enterprise networks
