3/2/98 Fiber Optics News (Pg. Unavail. Online)
1998 WL 7201503
Fiber Optics News
(c) 1998 Phillips Business Information, Inc.
Monday, March 2, 1998
Vol. 18, Issue: 9
OFC '98 - NOT JUST COMPONENTS ANYMORE
SAN JOSE, CALIF. - Maybe break-neck standards for time-to-market
are the reason, but wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) rivals
Ciena [CIEN] and Pirelli both chose OFC '98 as the venue to launch
their latest WDM systems - Ciena with a 40-channel, 100-Gbps system,
and Pirelli with 64 channels. The only thing flashier in the hall
than WDM was the system vendors' booths - Pirelli outdid itself with a
Ducati motorcycle giveaway, thumping music and flashing lights. Maybe
next year they'll hire dancers.
If the booth action is any indication, it seems that OFC is not
just a components show any more. Nevertheless, component vendors were
out in force, hawking novel WDM modules (some with 50 GHz channel
spacing), high-power pump lasers, and low-cost, low-loss connectors.
Comparing the proliferation of component technology today to the
genesis of optical fiber communication itself, "there's ample room yet
for new solutions," says Corning's Don Keck, co-inventor of optical
fiber. "Nobody's gelled on a solution."
"The size of the industry is probably sufficient enough to
warrant multiple solutions," he continues. Even so, vendors will
eventually gel on one or two solutions for each function, then buckle
down on cost and manufacturing yields. Keck won't speculate on when
fiber components would turn that corner, but says he's quite enjoying
the R&D excitement in the meantime.
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