The Metaverse and the network

CTO interviews part 1: Stephen Alexander

"The inability to precisely predict how we'll use it [the Metaverse], and how it will change our daily life, is not a flaw. Rather, it is a prerequisite for the Metaverse's disruptive force."

The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything by Matthew Ball, 2022.

CTO Interview 

Stephen Alexander's trusty 20-year-old dishwasher finally stopped working during the pandemic.

Unfortunately, getting spare parts shipped to the US was impossible, so Alexander, the CTO of Ciena (pictured), resorted to 'how-to' YouTube videos and got bits from eBay.

It highlighted the power of the online experience, something set to ramp significantly with the advent of the Metaverse.

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Books in 2018 - Part 3

More books read in 2018, as recommended by Steve Alexander and Yves LeMaitre.

Steve Alexander, senior vice president and CTO, Ciena 

I was standing in line at a Starbucks and was chatting with another person who asked what all these engineers were doing talking about networks of submarines. In fact, it was a nearby conference on submarine cables. The person said: “I thought that’s what satellites were for”.

I wanted to find a book I could point people to who think that satellites carry most of the international traffic when, in fact, it is the fibre-optic submarine cables that carry the vast majority of the world’s communications. I came up with The Undersea Network by Nicole Starosielski.

Our industry does such a good job at this that most people don’t even know such networks exist. It is like air; it is there and it works.

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Books in 2013 - Part 2

Alcatel-Lucent's President of Bell Labs and CTO, Marcus Weldon, on the history and future of Bell Labs, and titles for Christmas; Steve Alexander, CTO of Ciena, on underdogs, connectedness, and deep-sea diving; and Dave Welch, President of Infinera on how people think, and an extraordinary WWII tale: the second part of Books 2013.  

Steve Alexander, CTO of Ciena

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell. 

I’ve enjoyed some of Gladwell’s earlier works such as The Tipping Point and Outliers: The Story of Success. You often have to read his material with a bit of a skeptic's eye since he usually deals with people and events that are at least a standard deviation or two away from whatever is usually termed “normal.”

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Q&A: Ciena’s CTO on networking and technology

In Part 2 of the Q&A, Steve Alexander, CTO of Ciena, shares his thoughts about the network and technology trends.

Part 2: Networking and technology

"The network must be a lot more dynamic and responsive"

Steve Alexander, Ciena CTO

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Q&A: Ciena’s CTO on R&D

Gazettabyte spoke with Steve Alexander, CTO of Ciena, about optical technology and R&D. In Part 1 of the Q&A, Alexander shares his thoughts about the practice and challenges of R&D.

 Part 1: R&D

"The R&D model has shifted a lot. Time has marched on and there are newer ways of doing things"

Steve Alexander, Ciena CTO 

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