What is a Synchronous Optical Network?
ONET (synchronous optical network) is a telecom standard that allows data to be transmitted at speeds from 51.84 Megabits/sec (the basic rate) to as high as 9.6 Gigabits/sec. Among SONET’s features is its support for self-healing rings, which permits a network fault to be circumvented by reversing the traffic flow. Survivability is further assisted by drop and repeat, a SONET capability that allows signals passed down the network to be terminated at one node and duplicated (repeated) before going to subsequent nodes. In matched node configurations of interconnected rings, drop and repeat allows a signal blocked by a fault to find an alternate path to its destination node.
