the wired network under a particular protocol e g ethernet into a protocol appropriate for optical transmission the network manager 42 also handles and controls the way in which network users are admitted to usage of the network and administers their priority through either direct e g via limits set by the information technology manager or indirect ways e g via automatic computer program control which adaptively assigns capacity and priority based on stored data from each user along with user usage patterns recognized by the network manager turning now to the uot 4 a there is a light transmitting device 23 which may be similar to the light transmitting device 31 positioned adjacent to the light transmitting device 23 is a light receiving device 21 which may be similar to the light receiving device 26 the light transmitting device 23 and the light receiving element 21 are mounted in a way to keep them separated so that the light signals do not interfere with each other coupled to the light transmitting device 23 is an optical converter 45 a which converts electrical signals from a user 39 s computer to modulated signals which then can be transmitted by the light transmitting device 23 similarly there is an optical converter 45 b which is coupled to a light receiving device 21 the optical converter 45 b converts the modulated signals received by the light receiving device 21 to electrical signals which can be then sent to the user 39 s computer as described previously the oap 1 a communicates with the uot 4 a.