Since the article is quite light on details, can somebody give a ELI5 explanation of how an "all-photonics" network differs from your regular fiber optic network? I take it this means there are no regular electronic components along the way?

I would have assumed this confers a speed advantage since the article mentions 33.84 msec round trip, but this doesn't actually look any faster than this random site logging an average rtt of 30 msec. What am I missing? https://wondernetwork.com/pings/Tokyo/Taipei

I think this is just a status update for IOWN inter-ISP network construction project from NTT, the privatized Japanese national telco.

IIUC they follow their organizational inertia to use expressions like "developing IOWN technology" as if they're designing a new CPU, but in fact they're just upgrading exchanges and signing new agreements.

They're probably not wrong, as it's often said that network is the computer, but it's certainly a bit quirky behavior.

It's open air no fiber involved. So line of sight lasers, presumably.

Edit: well, it says "Innovative Optical and Wireless Network" but maybe that doesn't mean what I think it means.

I don't have time to read their architecture. Did they just setup a 100Gbps fiber link or is there some pure photonic computing happening at some point?

Open All-Photonic Network Functional Architecture: https://iowngf.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/21/IOWN-GF-...

It appears to be a federated control plane for creating DWDM paths through multiple ISPs.

The toughest part (as I see it) is the business/economic part, getting multiple ISPs to cooperate and enable end-to-end optical paths. Having a control plane that works across multiple ISPs also requires solving technical and business problems.

Optical paths, especially long-range optical paths, also have to deal with all sorts of signal loss and impairments, including effects from optical amplification, switching, coupling, and fiber itself.