This course walks the delegates through an entire optical network life cycle from an operator’s point of view, from the initial requirements, vendor selection, network design and planning, installation and provisioning, operation and management and final use as a legacy technology before retiring the network. Frequent referral is made to actual network scenarios. The course will cover a large number of network related questions, without going into unnecessary depth. These will include overall network design including layers above the optical layer, questions around network flexibility, resilience and reliability. It will also examine physical layer questions of power budgets, margins, ageing and practical installation issues. Operational issues look at different approaches to adding capacity, handling potential technology upgrades within the lifecycle of the network, network monitoring and handling of network failures and fiber breaks. Whilst not excluding older technology solutions, the course will focus on high speed coherent-based optical core networks and the different challenges arising on the metro side. Practical aspects will be considered including power and space requirements in exchange buildings. Looking into the future, the course will consider to what extent flexibility in the optical layer is important in areas such as flexgrid, optical superchannels, bit-rate variable transponders and levels of flexibility within the ROADM node. Specific questions around 400Gb/s will be included, with references to ZR optics. There will be coverage of so-called multi-band solutions, as the industry looks beyond pure C-band operation. Also included will be an introduction to the capabilities of more automated management solutions such as SDN, especially with regard to integrated solutions with both higher layer transport clients and data centre functions. Finally the course will assess the overall cycle in terms of technology cost-effectiveness and life-time.
Short Course Benefits:
