A presentation about optical networking [pdf]

Having worked in that industry 8 years, I can say that's an excellent practical introduction of key topics of the physical layer in optical transport.

Most reading material on optical transport is either elementary on one extreme or jargon-y material aimed at pro insiders.

It is refreshing to see a survey that covers so much in a clear, concise way.

This is an excellent overview of optical networking - one that I wish I had found years ago. As transceivers are getting cheaper, more and more industries are finding use for optical systems. Having a basic understanding of how these systems work can open up a number of creative solutions to problems that were very difficult to solve before.

The amount of throughput that fiber achieves over huge distances is incredible. It's amazing how easy it is to move 100+ gbps between two cities over a single 2-core fiber run.

Only mentioned briefly in this document, but may be of interest to some: 10GBASE-LR optics work with old multimode fiber [1].

Replacing the 10GBASE-SR optics with 10GBASE-LR fixed a flapping OM2 link for me (using mode conditioning patch cables).

[1] https://www.flexoptix.net/en/blog/2011/09/getting-a-10g-stab...

I like Slide 80.

On the dangers of looking at a light emitting from a fiber -

• Class 4 – Burns, melts, destroys Alderaan, etc

It looks like there is an updated (2016) PDF and video presentation by the same author here:

https://www.nanog.org/sites/default/files/Steenbergen.Everyt...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KFpXuHqHQg

Can someone update the main article link (which currently shows a 2010 version)?