Fiberoptics Industry Report

WWDM trial transmits in the 1400-nm band of optical fiber
Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ), Canoga Perkins (Chatsworth, CA), and the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) have announced plans to conduct industry's first enhanced wideband wave dense multiplexing (WWDD) trials in the 1400-nm band of optical fiber. The tests will be conducted at the University of Washington using Canoga Perkins' 6000 series WWDM optical networking system and Lucent's AllWave fiber. According to Scott Mah, director of communication technologies at the university, the trial provides a cost-effective way to maximize existing fiberoptic assets by using the WWDM technology to provide more bandwidth between locations, namely the university and the Pacific/Northwest Gigapop, the Northwest's Next Generation internet applications cooperative. The 1400-nm region of the fiber spectrum only became available to network service providers with the introduction of the AllWave fiber. The key to fiber efficiency is an ultrapurifying manufacturing method that eliminates water molecules inherent in the fiber during the production process, making AllWave the only fiber with no water peak. As a result, the capacity of high-speed optical networks increases 50% compared to conventional single-mode fiber.

Bandwidth9 acquires VeriFiber Technologies
Bandwidth9 (Fremont, CA) has concluded the acquisition of VeriFiber Technologies Inc. (Suwanee, GA), a designer and manufacturer of fiberoptic transmission, amplification, and line-monitoring systems for the telecommunications industry. As a result of the merger, the combined company, which now includes more than 100 employees, will focus on the design and manufacture of optical transmission subsystems for the metro telecommunications market. In addition, Bandwidth9 now has the capability to deploy fully integrated transmission and amplifier modules that incorporate its tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology, proprietary detection and locking architectures, and amplifier designs.

Infineon Technologies and Nortel Networks participate in optical transponder agreement
Infineon Technologies (Munich, Germany), Nortel Networks (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), and startup company LightLogic (Santa Clara, CA) have signed a multiple source agreement for common mechanical, electrical, and optical specifications for small-footprint OC-192 (10 Gbit/s) SDH/SONET transponders. These devices provide a space and cost-saving optical-to-electrical conversion solution for local area through metropolitan networks (600 m to 12 km) that is four times faster than current standard OC-48 (2.5 Gbit/s) products. With a footprint of 75 x 42 x 16 mm, the device is reportedly the smallest 10 Gbit/s solution currently available. The agreement specifies a 200-pin connector and pinout that provides customers with an electrical interface compliant with Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) specifications. The optical interface is defined to comply with draft ITU and Telcordia specifications for short and very short reach applications.

Corning expands capacity for liquid crystal products
Corning Inc. (Corning, NY) plans to spend $20 million to boost its manufacturing capacity for two of its liquid-crystal products. Capacity will increase six-fold for its PurePath Dynamic Spectral Equaliser and Wavelength Selective Switch lines, both of which are designed to manage high-speed high-capacity networks and extend the reach of long-distance and local networks by improving signal quality. The first phase of the expansion will increase capacity by a factor of three at Corning's manufacturing facility in Orange County, CA, by first-quarter 2001. The second phase of the expansion will focus on long-term capacity in a new facility, with ramp up scheduled for the second half of next year.

Also in the news . . .
ADC (Minneapolis, MN) has formed an Advanced Photonics Integration Center to be based at its Minneapolis headquarters. A core team of engineers and product managers has already been established, and the firm expects the center to grow to 40 to 50 team members within the next year. . . Newport Corp. (Irvine, CA) has acquired Unique Equipment Co., a Chandler, AZ-based systems integrator that provides custom-engineered automation systems for fiberoptics and semiconductor industries.

Paula Noaker Powell

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