While much has been published on the subject in individual articles, this text is the first to cohesively present optical switching in a single book. The three authors examine and discuss all the challenges involved in the commercialization of optical switching. Readers are brought up to date with the latest advances in research as well as the technological hurdles that researchers.

GEORGIOS PAPADIMITRIOU, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Informatics, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. His research interests include optical networks, wireless networks, high-speed LANs, and learning automata. Dr. Papadimitriou is Associate Editor of five IEEE journals and has published over 130 papers in international journals and conferences. He is also coauthor of the books Multiwavelength Optical LANs and Wireless Networks (both published by Wiley) and coeditor of Applied System Simulation.

CHRISOULA PAPAZOGLOU, BS, is a PhD candidate in optical communication networks at Aristotle University. Her research interests include wide area optical networks and optical switching.

ANDREAS S. POMPORTSIS, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Informatics, Aristotle University. He is coauthor of the books Multiwavelength Optical LANs and Wireless Networks (both published by Wiley). His research interests include optical networks, wireless networks, learning automata, computer architecture, parallel and distributed computer systems, and multimedia systems.