How optics can make or break your network: An interview with Network World – Cisco Blogs

The word is spreading. In our Cisco Optics blogs and the Cisco Optics Podcast, we discuss optics as they are related to network technology and operations. Now that discussion is reaching beyond Cisco media platforms.

Back in September of 2021, Barabara Call of Network World interviewed me about the growing importance of pluggable optics. It was part of their series on the Internet for the Future.

She asked me the following questions:

1. What are pluggable optics and why are they increasingly important to building your networks for future Internet connectivity? Why are they pluggable? Why not just build them into the host?
2. What should network engineers and network managers keep in mind when designing and expanding their networks?
3. Why are 100G and 400G more complex?
4. You mentioned the importance of testing and qualifying optics. What does that involve?
5. What should network operators consider when choosing optics vendors?

To hear the answers, listen to the interview posted as part of their podcast:

Pluggable Optics and the Internet for the Future

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