Optical Network Design and Implementation

I work for a switch fabric semiconductor company. I wanted to gain a better understanding of the types of systems that our components would be used in, specifically relating to IP-over-SONET traffic, MSPPs and ring protection mechanisms. This book fit the bill quite nicely. It covers the basics of fiber optic technology, including DWDM. The treatment of SONET and SDH is very thorough, with good illustrations included. The last part of the book deals specifically with the provisioning and applications of various Cisco ONSs. I found the Network Case Studies in the last chapter to be very informative, as it helps reinforce the material and demonstrate how it can be applied to a real-world network.I give the review 4 stars, for a couple reasons. First, having experience as a designer of fiber optic transponder modules, I felt that the treatment of fiber optic technologies and DWDM in chapters 3 and 4 was a little on the light side. Some of the important concepts, such as chromatic dispersion, are treated in somewhat vague terms and could be explained more fully, without getting too technical. For a better understanding of such concepts, I recommend "Understanding Fiber Optics" by Hecht.Also, there are numerous small errors in the book that may lead to misunderstanding of the material. Some errors look like simple typos, and others are technical errors. They are too numerous to list here, but hopefully an errata or second revision will be published to correct these. For example, in the unidirectional and bidirectional rings shown in figures 5-36 through 5-38, the east and west traffic directions are swapped. This may cause confusion when attempting to trace the traffic flow in the diagrams, as described in the text (which is correct).Figure 5-22 shows a diagram of an Add/Drop Mux, but the text describes it as a Terminal Mux. granted, these are small problems, but may cause confusion for some, nonetheless.All in all, this is a very good book and I highly recommend it.Roger MillerEnigma Semiconductor

Touted at a comprehensive guide to understanding and configuring multiservice DWDM, SONET, and SDH architectures; this book delivers on that opening statement. Nothing short of a graduate level engineering course will deliver as much content to the reader as this volume does, and at this price! Although somewhat specific in later chapters to Cisco ONS equipment, the theory and early chapters serve as a definitive reference for all Network Engineers. Optical Network Design and Implementation opens with an introduction to optical networking, Time Division Multiplexing, Fiber Optic Technology and Wavelength Division Multiplexing to refresh and educate the reader just prior to immersion into the SONET/SDH and Multiservice arena. A complete reference to Cisco IOS commands for ML-Series ONS cards is included, as well as a comprehensive Glossary, and References used throughout the book. It would be hard to find anything further on the subject, unless you have access to Cal Poly or MIT campus libraries; or you are currently enrolled in those prestigious engineering programs. For those interested in pursuing the CCIE Service Provider Track certification, or the Cisco Optical Specialist qualification, this book is necessary for your professional library. As the world hungers forever more information, and that need grows at an exponential rate, there will also be a requirement to fill that need with the required data. Optical Network Design and Implementation provides the path to meet that need by educating the engineer of the capabilities of Optical Networks now, and shows the promise of what the future will bring. By use of a broad range of technical details, configuration, illustrations and examples, Optical Network Design and Implementation can be used for anyone designing, implementing, or supporting an optical network. Traditionally Optical Networking has always been a Service Provider or Metro Area Network service and engineering necessity. As the demand for higher bandwidth and additional capacity pushes its way out of the campus LAN, additional knowledge will be necessary to implement CWDM and DWDM at the local layers of the network edge. Another area of concern, lurking deep in the campus area network where infrastructure growth usually is limited, is lack of spare fiber to implement new optical network designs. Optical Network Design and Implementation provides the knowledge to overcome these barriers now and well into the future. Even if you don't use Cisco equipment, the book can increase your knowledge and understanding of current optical technologies to provide you with design concepts and rules for building highly scalable optical networks.

Optical Network Design and Implementation is the most technically informative Cisco book I have ever written. So much so, that it should be required reading for any WAN engineer/architect.Most standard Cisco training (CCNA, CCNP, CCDP, CCIE R&S) will not provide the information in this book. However, all WAN engineers need a solid understanding of optical networking, particularly SONET/SDH rings for large circuit delivery and protection at important locations. Many outages are caused by lack of or improper configuration and provisioning of SONET rings. Redundant routers, good IGP design, and backup links can be rendered useless when all transport is delivered over the same broken SONET ring. This book provides the necessary level of detail so engineers can prevent these problems and provision new SONET rings correctly.The only drawback of this book (and thus the reason for 4 stars instead of 5) is its level of detail. This book is not for beginners or for light reading. I even had to read the book twice to get the information clear. Many sections are extremely detailed, explaining traffic down to the byte level. There were also a large amount of acronyms to keep track of. The book reads more like a manual than a book. Nonetheless, this book is worth the reading effort. It will be hard to find this level of detail on optical networking anywhere else, even on the Internet.The book layout is essentially split into two. The first section explains optical networking in general, vendor neutral format (fiber optics, SONET, SDH, RPR, etc). This is very useful for all readers. The second section explains the Cisco MSPP platform. This will be very useful to organizations using this platform.