Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Ciena (CIEN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jach who wrote (5652)	11/29/1998 12:40:00 AM
From: jach	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12623

November 30, 1998, Issue: 711 Section: Networking Photonics Lets Users Get Most From Fiber -- Technology Speeds Deployment, Cuts Carriers' Costs Mary E. Thyfault Telecom companies are scrambling to expand the capacity of fiber-optic networks as businesses pump more traffic over their networks. The goal: enable customers to send high-bandwidth transmissions such as videoconferences, data warehouses, and engineering files across a network without clogging it. Carriers are turning to photonics, a technology that uses light to maximize the potential of fiber optics. "There are a lot of coming attractions in this category of technology," says Stan Hanks, VP of research and technology at Enron Communications Inc., a Portland, Ore., IP carrier that plans to use Ciena Corp.'s Dense-Wave Division Multiplexing technology. D-WDM uses multiple lasers to increase the capacity of a fiber pair by dividing a single channel into multiple channels. D-WDM will let Enron increase bandwidth on its network simply by adding a line card-a 30-minute process. Without D-WDM, it takes six months to add 2.4-Gbps capacity. Hanks also says running IP directly over D-WDM will cut capital costs by as much as 40% and operating costs by as much as 60%. The savings should reach the companies that buy services from carriers. "Carriers will soon provide 622-Mbps access for what they pay for 45-Mbps today," says Steve Chaddick, VP of strategy and corporate development for Ciena, in Linthicum, Md. Further out, even cheaper fiber-optic technology is promised. Startup SilkRoad Inc. says its photonics-based technology will let carriers transmit 200 Gbps through a single fiber-optic cable and is capable of transmitting up to 10 terabits per second-the capacity limit of the fiber cable. This will provide even greater capacity than D-WDM at a lower cost because it staggers when the information is placed on the fiber and gets more on a single fiber, says James Palmer, SilkRoad's chairman and chief technical officer. For San Diego State University, SilkRoad's technology could expand access to voice, visual, and data communications, letting the university enlarge its international distance-learning program, says William Locke, dean of global program development. San Diego State plans to work with carriers to test SilkRoad's technology next year. SilkRoad's technology "has the potential to change the economics of telecom networks and squeeze more capacity out of fiber networks," says analyst Jeffrey Kagan. But some analysts are skeptical. "It's either going to save the world or be too good to be true," says Virginia Brooks of the Aberdeen Group. Nevertheless, she agrees that photonics will enable companies to send more over networks for less. --- Bandwidth-Enhancing Technologies Dense Wave Division Multiplexing What it does: Uses multiple lasers to increase the capacity of a fiber by 40 or 90 times Vendors: Ciena, Lucent Technologies Available: Now Refractive Synchronization Communication What it does: Sends up to 200 Gbps of information through a fiber-optic cable; has potential to transmit at 10 terabits per second. Vendor: SilkRoad Group Available: Early 1999 Copyright ® 1998 CMP Media Inc. ======================= This section below is a key point. Many SPs are planning or will put in DWDM products to get additional bandwidth and Ciena will defintely get a significant piesce of this mkt. Ciena has IP direct over DWDM but LU does not, therefore, imo CIENA will get the lion share of the mkt. May not be bad for Ciena to get SilkRoad. --------------------------- D-WDM will let Enron increase bandwidth on its network simply by adding a line card-a 30-minute process. Without D-WDM, it takes six months to add 2.4-Gbps capacity. Hanks also says running IP directly over D-WDM will cut capital costs by as much as 40% and operating costs by as much as 60%. ---------------------------