Product description With a focus on Ciena technology, if you've ever wondered how light can ferry vast amounts of information across huge distances, wonder no more. This book is just for you. Here, you discover how science and technology enable modern networks to convey humongous hunks of information (more than the entire contents of the Library of Congress, every second) hither, thither, and yon. Though optical networking may sound esoteric, it really isn't. Optical networking relies on precision engineering and the ability to do lots of things very, very fast. That's where the speed of light works in its favor. In this book, you find out how optical networks exploit basic physical properties of light energy to make networking reliable at high speeds and tremendous volumes. How This Book Is Organized The five chapters in this book lead you into the components and technologies used in optical networking, and then some: Chapter 1, What Is a Network?, explains basic network capabilities, and how networks are built and operated. Chapter 2, Using Light to Communicate, looks into the optical networking technologies and hardware. Chapter 3, Building Bigger Networks, explores how increasing network-carrying capacity boosts capabilities. Chapter 4, Making the Most of Your Optical Network, explains how to manage and monitor optical networks most effectively. Chapter 5, Ten (Or More) Views of the Future, tells you how voice, video, and data converge into a unified network. A Glossary of Acronyms, helps you to convert arcane abbreviations into something you can understand! Product Details Unknown Binding Publisher: Wiley Publishing, Incorporated (2009) ASIN: 0470447591 Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces