Why IP and Why WDM?
A definite transition from circuit switched to packet switched networks has unquestionably occurred, and the packet mind-set has already set in. In volume terms, the data traffic has already surpassed the voice traffic today, and in about five years time, it will increase by about ten folds. Investment in IP solutions is natural since it is the common revenue-generating integration layer that is transparent to different link and physical layer technologies. This is despite the lack of IP layer support for real time services, or the services that require quality of service guarantees. While many QoS solutions for IP are still awaiting maturity and commercial success, fortunately this problem has been alleviated to some extent due to the rapid explosion in the availability of bandwidth that the optical networks provide. Because of this, real time multimedia services are already becoming possible even with the best effort Internet. In the near future we will see more deployment of fiber i
