NXTCOMM 2008 in Las Vegas [Guest Editorial]

The first article in this series describes a new photonic layer security system that may fill the gap in providing a security solution at high data rates, while the second article describes new optical burst switching (OBS) as a viable means of implementing optical communication, identifying potential threats to security in OBS networks, and alleviating the threats by providing two measures, authentication of burst headers and confidentiality of data bursts.