METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING OPTICAL INTERNETWORKING TO WIDE AREA NETWORKS, METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORKS, AND LOCAL AREA NETWORKS USING MODULAR COMPONENTS

摘要

An arrangement providing optical internetwork to Wide Area Networks (WAN), Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN), and/or Local Area Networks (LAN) as a peripheral device using modular components(30). The exemplary apparatus comprises of a printed circuit board (PC B) with a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) connector, which provides the interface(16) to a WEB, DataBase (DB), General-Pur pose (GP) server, workstation, or PC(10). The SCSI Optical Device (SOD) (20) provides gateway functionality to WAN, MAN, or LAN.T he fiber connection is accomplished through a Network Interface Component (NIC) (30) which is removable. The SOD(20) also has two slots for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) cards(38,40). The first PCMCIA card(40) is for providi ng software/firmware instructions and the second PCMCIA card(38) optionally providing an interface to perform field diagnostics and/or network management for trouble analysis via a LAN or TTY port.