DARPA funds networking study

A team of researchers developing optical routing technologies that could accelerate significantly the next-generation Internet received a $6.3 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency.

The project focuses on routing and switching technologies that eliminate the need for converting optical signals to electrical signals as they travel over networks.

The award, which covers the first phase of a four-year project that could be worth $15.8 million, is part of DARPA's Data in the Optical Domain Network program.

Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara and Stanford University will lead a team that includes industry partners Agility Communications Inc., Calient Networks Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and JDS Uniphase Corp.