Is Juniper going to bend the laws of physics? Not quite, but the networking firm is scaling up its research efforts to optimize the manipulation of electrons and photons across data networks.
Enterprise Networking Planet has the story on Juniper’s annual presentation to financial analysts, including details on the firm’s plans for an in-house incubation unit.
When it comes to moving data around a network, one cannot defy the laws of physics. Yet there are two sets of physics laws often at play as data traverses network infrastructure by way of both photons and electrons. During Juniper Networks’ annual presentation to financial analysts this week, executives explained how they aim to use the laws of physics to improve network efficiency.
But it won’t be relying just on particle physics to grow its business: Executives also revealed how they plan to use new investments and partnerships to help drive Juniper’s vision of high-speed networking forward as well.
“Electrons and photons live in different worlds, and the fundamental laws of physics tell us their capabilities are different,” Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR) founder and CTO Pradeep Sindhu said during the analyst event. “It’s not about Juniper: It’s about what is and what is not possible.”
Sindhu explained that unlike electrons, photons don’t interact with each other, and as a result, photons can pass each other on an optical fiber without colliding. According to Sindhu, that means that photons are good for transmitting data over long distances while electrons are best suited for things like switching and packet forwarding. Moving from protons to electrons takes a transceiver, and that’s where one of the sector’s major challenges lies.
“This is one of the biggest problems from keeping industry from going faster,” Sindhu said. “We need better and cheaper optical transceivers.”
