SuperComm to highlight optical, high speed services
By Mark Weinraub
NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) - Optical networking and broadband services, the hottest
sectors in the ever-buzzing business of telecommunications, will be featured front and centre
next week as the world's top telecom companies bare their wares at the annual SuperComm
conference in Atlanta.
SG Cowen analyst Jim Kedersha said the red-hot optical networking equipment would
dominate the conference.
``We expect optical technology to be centre stage at the show this year,'' he said in a research
report. ``DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) is certainly not a new technology,
but it is evolving and the emphasis will likely be in the areas of switching, metro and
service-enabling software.''
DWDM is used to boost the capacity of existing fiber-optic networks.
Kedersha said major optical networking companies such as Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - news), Ciena Corp.
(NasdaqNM:CIEN - news), Sycamore Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:SCMR - news), and Canada's Nortel Networks
Corp.(Toronto:NT.TO - news) (NYSE:NT - news) would be visible at the show.
Nearly 800 telecommunications companies plan to exhibit their products and services at SuperComm, to be held June 4-8.
Michael Brown, vice president at Dain Rauscher Wessels, said digital subscriber line companies, which take advantage of unused
capacity on existing phone lines to offer high-speed Internet connections, would be demonstrating new products such as virtual
private network services.
``The major themes from the DSL (digital subscriber line) equipment providers will be the availability and roll-out of value added
services not just high-bandwidth,'' Brown said in a telephone interview.
He said that a year ago, the companies were just demonstrating that they could provide high speed connections. This year,
companies would show what they could do with these connections.
Lucent plans to use SuperComm as a venue to announce a major contract with a European service provider, a Lucent executive
who declined to be named said last week. Additional details about the contract were not immediately available.
Lucent, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, on Wednesday said it would buy fiber optical networking
equipment company Chromatis Networks for $4.5 billion in stock.
Kedersha's report said Ciena was expected to showcase its switching technology that addresses the needs of smaller companies.
A spokesman for Ciena said the company would also be making some announcements but he declined to specify what they might
be.
Nortel's booth will highlight the company's momentum in the market as well as displays focusing on the company's Internet
products. Kedersha said the company is keeping a tight lid on any announcements it might make at SuperComm.
Kedersha said the capability of broadband networks would also be demonstrated.
Brown said he expected some new product announcements from Ramp Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:RAMP - news) and Efficient
Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:EFNT - news) at the show. |
