Data Communications - Fujitsu, BUPT Develop BB Packet Switching Tech
November 19, 2004
Fujitsu announced this week that it has developed next-generation optical communications technology for broadband networks in cooperation with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The new technology is a variation on packet switching and Fujitsu hopes to have it ready for commercial use by 2008.
The technology uses packets that can carry as much as 1,000 to 10,000 times more data than regular packets. As a result, large volumes of data can be sent more accurately and reassembled from the packets more easily.
A key difference with the new technology is that data remains in optical form when it is condensed into packets. Each packet holds anywhere from several hundred megabytes to several tens of gigabytes of data. A single packet could be used to transmit all of the data stored on an audio CD or a DVD.
Fujitsu has also become the first foreign company to receive authorization to participate in a national R&D project in the field of optical communications in China. The Japanese company and its Beijing university partner have succeeded in their bid to have the broadband technology adopted as a national R&D project in China.