MEMS technology in optical layer networks

The rate at which bandwidth demand in communications networks has grown has caused service providers to move rapidly to dense wavelength-division-multiplexed networks. This has in turn spawned a number of new application areas in which there is no clear technological winner, leaving room for new technologies such as MEMS to create inroads. In this paper, these applications are discussed and examples of several MEMS devices being developed for use in wavelength-division-multiplexed networks optical transport systems are presented.