JDSU has added protection switch technology for its AON Super Transport Blade, the new single-slot solution that integrates major optical network transport functions onto a single blade. 
Protection switch technology has been used for several decades to provide redundancy in networks, or backup pathways for network traffic in the event of a network failure, such as when a construction crew accidentally cuts through a fiber within the ground. When the fiber is damaged, or when its optical signal goes "dark," the JDSU protection switch detects the problem and switches the optical traffic to an alternate fiber within 15 milliseconds, greatly reducing the risk of a network outage.
JDSU said adding this enhancement was made possible by the AON Embedded Operating System, a highly modular framework that supports functions within JDSU transport products.http://www.jdsu.com
- In February 2008, JDSU introduced its Agile Optical Network (AON) Superblade concept -- all major functions required for optical network transport integrated onto a single blade, significantly reducing size, cost and power requirements for network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) and service providers. The AON Superblade includes very small blocks of wavelength selective switch (WSS) technology that JDSU has invented called the Nano WSS, erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) technology, and an optical channel monitor technology into a single-slot device. As with existing WSS technology, the Nano WSS can direct traffic in network nodes requiring greater than two dimensions, and provides colorless routing and switching, or the ability to direct wavelengths in several directions instead of in just a single direction. JDSU is also developing a customized operating system-- called the AON Embedded Operating System - to ensure that AON Superblade seamlessly integrates within network equipment manufacturer's (NEMS) and service provider's unique network environments.
JDSU said its high level of vertical integration will allow for flexibility during the individual design and manufacturing of each optical element. The company estimates that the new solution could be as much as 50 percent lower in cost compared to the total cost for all of the separate optical components currently used today. The AON Superblade will also be approximately four times smaller because all of the components will be integrated into a single-slot blade, compared to current solutions that can require up to four blades within NEM's systems.
