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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (39711)	6/9/2003 3:23:18 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69928

Photonics Should 'Get Out of Telecoms' By Steven Keeping & Ry Crozier, Electronics News Australia -- 6/6/2003 Electronic News The Australian photonics industry has emphatically denied claims it is “living off its fat,” despite admissions a return in demand could be as far as five years away. Several well-placed sources told Electronics News Australia the industry is currently in a holding pattern “waiting for the market to pick up.” But Australian Photonics CRC General Manager Chris Scott denies photonics companies are putting R&D activities on hold as a result. “Most companies know that now is the time to conduct R&D to position themselves to respond to future market requirements,” Scott said. “The challenge is how you fund that R&D when the market is not buoyant. While conditions aren’t as buoyant as they were [in 2001-2002], it’s important to remember those levels were ridiculously high and should’ve been seen for what they were at the time. [That said], it’s hard to see when demand in telecoms will return, but it could take anywhere between two and five years.” The collapse of the telecoms sector has given photonics a bad name, according to Francois Ladouceur, managing director of the Bandwidth Foundry. Speaking at the recent Technology Futures Conference in Adelaide, South Australia, Ladouceur said the best hope for optoelectronics is to look for a future outside of telecoms. “In 2002, photonics companies were asking ‘how do I position myself for the upturn?’” Ladouceur said. “Now they are saying ‘how do I get out of telecoms?’” Although the vast capacity of the optical networks is being gradually consumed by bandwidth demands, revenues are stagnant. And there is no likelihood of that changing in the near future. Unfortunately, much of the photonics industry has grown up with telecoms explained Ladouceur -- in the U.S., for example, there are still 700 start-ups waiting for an upturn in the sector -- and finding new niches requires a change of mindset. Despite having impressive capabilities, the Australian photonics industry is no different, having relied on telecoms for demand to date. Nonetheless, it is starting to organize itself in order to focus on new areas. According to Ladouceur, optical interconnects and “holographic” data storage are two areas of Australian expertise that could offer growth by challenging electronics in the PC sector. Problems with crosstalk on copper-based high-speed buses, for example, restrict their operating frequencies to around 1GHz. Optical interconnects could provide a solution and dramatically accelerate communication speeds between chips in computers. And holographic storage using techniques based on optical Bragg gratings could increase hard disk storage capacity from around 40Gbits to 10Tbits. Scott says both defense and medical applications will return the fiber market to profitability. “We haven’t seen benefits from medical applications yet, but the effect from defense is much bigger,” Scott continues. “The Internet is also still growing, fuelling demand for increased bandwidth.” Scott also described the number of fiber-based products at CeBIT Hannover as “an indication that photonics growth certainly isn’t dead.” The Australian Photonics CRC counts AEEMA, BAE Systems, DSTO, Ericsson, JDS Uniphase, Redfern Photonics, Nortel, Telstra and Tenix among key participants. The Bandwidth Foundry was established last year with funding from the Commonwealth Government’s Major National Research Facility Program, and then attracted further funding from the NSW Government. Electronics News Australia is a sister publication of Electronic News.