The optical cross-connect (OXC) was a huge topic in optics at the turn of the millennium. But the large-scale OXC trend fizzled when modest port-count 1×2 and 1×4 ROADMs proved to be the right solution to the wavelength routing challenges of that time. But “OXC” is coming back. Here’s why.

Part 2 in a series of posts about the people who work for Huawei. This week, please meet Patrick McCarthy who works in the Network Cloud Engine, CTO Office in Europe.