Hyper - Media Photonic Information Networks as Future Network Service Platforms ∗

This paper reviews the hyper-media photonic information network (HM-PIN) concept as a candidate of innovative future networks based on photonic technologies. The HM-PIN having a universal network interface integrates a variety of information services: telecommunications, newspapers, magazines, TV broadcasts and the growing collection of information servers. This network fundamentally offers three items: (1) bi-directional real-time channels with 10-Mbit/s-class or higher bit rate, (2) multipoint connections including multicasting/broadcasting, (3) high accessibility to information. These items are derived from the constraints of the conventional telephone networks and the Internet. By applying photonic technologies, the HM-PIN can be implemented as follows: The local network (the service platform) of the HM-PIN can be achieved by using a wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) broadcastand-select (B&S) architecture that offers broadband multipoint connections (one-to-many, many-to-many) based on an inherent full-mesh topology. The WDM B&S local network will be able to support 10,000 to 100,000 channels (each with 10-Mbit/s or more bandwidth) by using optical and electrical multiplexing techniques. The backbone network can be constructed by combining photonic asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching systems and WDM transmission systems (including cross-connects). Two deployment scenarios of the HM-PIN (cost-oriented and serviceoriented deployment scenarios) are also described for smoothly introducing the HM-PIN even before the cost issue is solved. The HM-PIN based on photonic technologies will be a future network service platform that greatly enhances communication services. key words: hyper-media, photonic network, WDM, multicast,