An Overview of Optical Network Standards

Optical transport network standards, in one form or another are under development in a number of fora, namely ITU-T, ETSI, ANSI and the recently formed Optical Internetworking Forum (01F). Despite the tangle of bodies the majority of the work is either being progressed within the ITU-T or is feeding into it via ETSI and ANSI. For this reason this paper focuses its attention toward the ITU-T. The paper represents a snap shot at a time when the standards are very much at an early stage of development and are therefore subject to change. The author presents a personal view, as a participant, of the current state of play and attempts to identify some of the major areas that need to be developed.