Studies and experiments on multiwavelength transport networks

Theoretical studies and experimental results have demonstrated the technical and economic feasibility of transparent multiwavelength transport networks, even though many of the aspects related to technology, systems and standards require further investigation. The paper gives a brief overview of international activities in this field and emphasizes the important role that Italian companies, research centres and universities have played in recent years in outstanding European and national projects. In the natural evolution from the research stage to the deployment of an application, Telecom Italia is showing an increasing interest in solutions that could be effectively applied in the Italian scenario: short term programmes aim at the implementation of initial trials based on advanced WDM routing techniques.