About the Authors

Jim Durkin is a Senior Systems Engineer at Cisco Systems and is a specialist in optical transport technologies. Jim has more than 17 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, involving design and implementation of voice, data, and optical networks. He started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories. Jim has a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He holds the Optical Specialist, CCNA, and CCIP certifications from Cisco Systems.

John Goodman is a Senior Systems Engineer with Cisco Systems, supporting network solutions for service providers. He has spent 13 years in the planning, design, and implementation of optical transport networks. He has a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University, and holds the Cisco Optical Specialist and CCNA certifications. John lives with his wife and two daughters in Tennessee.

Ron Harris is a Senior Systems Engineer at Cisco Systems and is a specialist in optical transport technologies. As a systems engineer for the last 6 years, Ron has worked with various service providers, Regional Bell Operating Companies, and energy/utilities company in the design and specifications of optical networks. He has amassed more than 18 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Before joining Cisco in 2000, Ron worked as a technical sales consultant for Lucent Technologies where he led a team of sales engineers responsible for the sale of next-generation optical fiber and DWDM to transport providers. Before joining Lucent, he worked for several years in various engineering roles at a leading telecommunications provider in the Southeastern United States. Ron has earned an MBA from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, and a Bachelor's degree in computer and information sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is presently Cisco certified as an Optical Specialist I, CCNP, and CCIP.

Frank Fernández-Posse has a diverse background in the telecommunications industry. Frank has been engaged in designing, validating, and implementing networks using various technologies. Given his broad background, he dedicated part of his career to validating technology/product integration, including data, ATM, optical, and voice technologies. Frank joined Cisco Systems in 2001 as a Systems Engineer and currently supports transport networking solutions for service providers; he is a certified Cisco Optical Specialist. Before joining Cisco Systems, he worked at Lucent Technologies.

Michael Rezek is an Account Manager at Cisco Systems and a specialist in optical transport technologies. Michael is a professionally licensed engineer in electrical engineering in North Carolina and South Carolina. He received his Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2001, Michael received his CCNP Voice Specialization in VoIP VoFR VoATM and has received his CCDA, CCNA, CCDP, and CCNP certifications in 2000. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering from Youngstown State University. He has authored 32 patent disclosures, 10 of which Westinghouse pursued for patent. He sold his first ever Cisco Inter Office Ring (IOF) to a major ILEC. At Rockwell Automation Engineering, Michael designed, built, and tested hardware and software for a 15-axis robot for the fiber industry. As an engineer, he was commissioned to develop the intellectual property for a complex and proprietary fiber-winding technology which he then designed and tested.

Mike Wallace, a native of South Carolina, began his career in telecommunications with one of the largest independent telephone companies in South Carolina in January 1970. During his 21-year career there, he served in many technical positions; in 1984, he was promoted to central office equipment engineer, with a specialty in transmissions engineering. This special field required the tasks of planning, designing, and implementing optical transmission networks, while working closely with outside plant engineers to understand fiber-optic cable characteristics and specifications that would be the foundation for optical transmitters, receivers, and repeaters to come together to form optical transmission networks.

In 1991, Mike moved on from the telephone company to pursue other opportunities. He had a 14-month assignment with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to engineer an optical network for the campus, and a 3-year assignment with ICG, Inc., a major CLEC with an optical network in the Charlotte, North Carolina market, where he provided technical support for the local sales teams. Mike had a 7-year assignment with Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc., a major manufacturer of optical transmission systems, where he served as a Sales Engineer for the Southeast territory. Mike has served as president of the local chapter of the Independent Telephone Pioneers Association, which is a civic organization that supports multiple charities in the Palmetto State.

About the Technical Reviewers

Rob Gonzalez, P.E., Cisco Optical Specialist, is a Member of Technical Staff for BellSouth's Technology Planning and Deployment, Transmission and Access lab. He is responsible for testing and evaluating Cisco optical products for use in the BellSouth network. Rob also is the Subject Matter Expert for Layer 1 and Layer 2 transport of data services using Packet-over-SONET. Rob has been with BellSouth for more than 11 years in different capacities, and has worked on the technical staff for almost 5 years.

Gabriel Gutierrez, CCNA, CCIP, COS-Optical, has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 10 years. He received his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University. Currently, Gabriel works at Cisco Systems as a System Engineer selling and supporting optical and data networking solutions.