Lightwave System Development: Looking Back and Ahead

Jacobs discusses the technological beginnings of fiber communications systems and couples them to key regulatory events that catapulted lightwave systems to their current status.

by Ira Jacobs

Impact of New Lightwave Technologies on Terrestrial Longhaul Network Evolution

Fan and Clark discuss selection criteria for continuously upgrading network infrastructures. They recommend a technology platform based on optical amplifiers and wavelength multiplexing for upgrading existing networks, and consider the planning process and related issues.

by Chungpeng Fan and Laurel Clark

Implementation of the Access Network in Germany

A review of Germany's Optical Access Line (OPAL). Optoelectronic interfaces and distribution services are discussed as well as future strategies.

by Manfred Rocks

The Impact of Competition, Deregulation, and Technology on the Telecommunications Business

The new, competitive telecommunications environment will require using the infrastructure to provide high value services to customers. How a technology is used, rather than the technology itself, will determine a provider's success. Partnerships between providers and customers are needed rather than transactional vendor/telco relationships.

by Geoff Goddard

Of Bursting Bubbles and Monster Worms: Time Spent with Kids and a Video

Video cameras can be an interesting experimental tool for creative exploration with young people. They can be used as a tool to understand some of the properties of cameras, and as a tool to understand a wide variety of other phenomena. And, when the work is done, kids love horsing around and seeing themselves on camera. Most young people will be interested in the video camera itself, and how it works. Some features such as zoom are quite easy to demonstrate through the viewfinder. Others such as auto focus were hard to see until we played the tape on the TV. You can overcome this difficulty by letting the kids provide a running commentary on what they're doing with the camera. That way, they can view the tape on the TV shortly after, and see the results of their changes.

by Janet Shields