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Matisse Networks Commercializes Optical Burst Switching| September 18, 2006 | Optical Infrastructure - Global | Show Update | Client Access | Analyst: Jason Marcheck
On September 18th, at Optical Expo 2006, Matisse Networks announced availability of the EtherBurst optical switch consisting of the SX-1000 Ethernet Switching Node, the PX-1000 photonic Node and the MatisseView management system. The vendor positions the EtherBurst system as the first optical burst switch that is purpose built for scaling metro aggregations network from 10 Gbps to 640 Gbps of capacity. The platform is available for evaluation purposes now, and is expected to be generally available during Q4 2006. • Current Perspective: Positive on Matisse Networks’ unveiling of its EtherBurst Optical Switch platform based on optical burst switching (OBS) technology. Because of its ability to make optical Ethernet more efficient, OBS is has long been a darling of the optical R&D community. However, until now market momentum has been largely confined to technical symposiums and test labs. Matisse’s unveiling of an OBS-based platform for commercial telecom networks not only pushes the market forward with respect to evolving optical Ethernet switching and transport schemes, but also argues strongly that the attempt to turn innovation in optical networking technology in marketable products is back after an extended hiatus during the “nuclear winter” of 2002-2004. • Vendor Importance: Very high to Matisse Networks, because as a start-up dedicated to the commercialization of OBS technology, announcing that its platform is ready for sale marks the beginning of a new phase of Matisse’s existence. • Market Impact: Moderate on the optical infrastructure market, because although OBS is still a highly nascent technology – especially in terms of commercial solution availability – it is well known in optical networking circles. Competitive Concerns • The success (or failure) of Matisse’s OBS-based solution is based on the notion that carriers will be willing to accept fundamental changes in their current metro Ethernet transport and switching architectures. While it is clear that network operators are looking for ways to simplify metro Ethernet network operations and reduce costs, the fact is that most rely extensively on SONET/SDH architectures in their optical networks. • Although OBS technology is well known in the optical R&D community, the fact is that it will require network operators to accept a fundamental change in their optical network architectures. • Matisse Networks is a small start-up that might not have the resources to maintain an expanded scale of operations (i.e., continued product development coupled with new sales and marketing efforts aimed at lining up additional contract wins) for the amount of time that it will likely take for OBS to get widely deployed. • The trial that Matisse Networks announced was with a research network operator. To be clear, in the early stages of product commercialization, any trial is a good trial. However, it is no secret that research networks are much more progressive than commercial telecom carriers in terms of the technologies that they are wiling to deploy.
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