Am I the only one that checked to make sure the date on this article wasn't from 1997? Use fiber optics to make the internet faster? I wish I'd thought of that....
Currently, packets have to be converted from optical to electrical to be routed, and then converted back to optical to be transmitted to the next router. This article is talking about pure optical networking (which is hardly new, but I assume the researchers in question have made some improvement in the field).
It would be nice if the article actually talked about some new development. Like you said, this is hardly new, I worked on OOO crossconnects 10 years ago. The problem then was cost, plus the telco overbuild in the late '90s stalled anyone seriously deploying the technology.
Unfortunately, the purpose of science "journalism" is to impress, not educate.