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To: Greg h2o who wrote (19727)	3/23/2000 9:24:00 AM
From: Greg h2o	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42804

and, a company i didn't recognize as direct competition: Corning Focusing on Fiber Optics CORNING, N.Y., Feb 04, 2000 (AP Online via COMTEX) Driven by rapid technological innovation and plunging costs, the amount of information fiber-optic systems can handle is estimated to be doubling every nine months. 'Compare that with Moore's Law, which has microprocessors doubling in capability every 18 months and ... you begin to get an idea of the scale of the experience change,' said Wendell Weeks, who oversees Corning Inc.'s fiber and optical equipment businesses. Fiber optics has been credited above all other technologies with enabling the phenomenal growth of the Internet, and the company that invented optical fiber 30 years ago wants to be sure it retains a front-row seat in this scorching business. Corning, already the world's leading supplier of optical fiber and cable, said Thursday it is investing about $750 million to expand its global fiber-making capacity by 50 percent within three years. The 'scientific glass company,' famous for entwining glass innovations in potent technologies from the light bulb to television's cathode-ray tube, also recently spent more than $3 billion to solidify its presence in optical communications. Corning wants to begin offering its customers 'one-stop shopping' by getting a bigger foothold in the optical equipment field -- making the components that amplify and redirect the laser light pulses carrying information at hyper-speed through fiber-optic grids. In November, Corning acquired a leading laser producer, Oak Industries Inc., in a stock deal valued around $2 billion. A month later, it paid around $1.3 billion to buy Siemens AG's fiber-optic systems business and buy out two joint ventures with the German industrial group. Both deals were formally completed during the past week. By investing in laser and other optical components, Corning is pushing into terrain reigned over by powerhouses like San Jose, Calif.-based JDS Uniphase Corp. and Lucent Technologies, of Murray Hill, N.J. Corning, based in rural western New York, controls an estimated 40 percent of the world's optical fiber market, twice as much as its nearest rival, Lucent, and has fiber-making plants in Europe, Australia and the United States, including the world's largest, in Wilmington, N.C. Analysts set worldwide demand for fiber at more than 37 million miles in 1999. The market is expected to exceed 60 million miles in 2002. Corning will use $550 million to double the capacity of its six-month-old factory near Concord, N.C., and add 500 jobs to several hundred already there. Additionally, it is planning a $100 million expansion at the Wilmington plant. Optical fiber, cable and optical devices contributed 59 percent of Corning's revenues of $4.3 billion in 1999, and that segment will likely account for 70 percent of sales this year. Copyright 1999 Associated Press, All rights reserved. By BEN DOBBIN