We Have The Bandwidth... : Choose From A Wide Range of High-Speed Telecommunications Components From Hamamatsu

For more information about our telecommunications products, visit us online at sales.hamamatsu.
com/telecom
USA 800.524.0504 usa@hamamatsu.com Europe 00.800.800.800.88 europe@hamamatsu.com
Telecommunications is all about
bandwidth...and the more the
better. Thats why Hamamatsu
provides such a wide array of
receivers and transmitters for
optical fiber communications and
spatial light transmission.
To help you keep up with the fast
pace of technology, Hamamatsu
offers a complete line of high-speed
components, including:
Products ideal for high-speed
LAN and WAN, as well as broad-
casting up to 10 Gbps
From 850 nm to 1550 nm
Products also ideal for home or
automotive networking
Detector materials include
InGaAs, GaAs, and Silicon
Detectors available with fiber pig-
tails or receptacle connectors,
such as SC, FC, LC, MU, and ROSA
Combining opto-semiconductor
device technologies with innovative
ideas, Hamamatsu is constantly
developing next-generation products
for the telecommunications
industry. To learn more about our
leading components, please visit our
website or call us directly.
Optical fiber communications
Optical data links
Spatial light transmission
Automotive networking
Choose from a wide range of high-speed telecommunications components from Hamamatsu.
to increase your bandwidth.
Visit us at OFC/NFOEC
Booth #2567
We have the bandwidth...
Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
________________________________
Focus
on
Focus
on
www.lightwaveonline.com $23.00
OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES, COMMUNICATIONS APPLICATIONS, AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS WORLDWIDE APRIL 2007
INDUSTRY
Fiber remains medium of choice
for data center applications
By MEGHAN FULLER
Fiber cabling shipments
are expected to experience
a 26.3% compound annual
growth rate to net $4 billion
by 2010, according to new re-
search from FTM Consulting
(www.igigroup.com). In fact,
FTM analysts forecast that
fiber cabling shipments will
exceed copper UTP cabling
shipments by 2008. And the
highest growth application is
expected to be the data cen-
ter. Though fiber has always
been a competitive option,
new developments in optics
and emerging applications
have further strengthened the
business case for fiber in the
data center.
Todays data center de-
signers are discovering that
traditional building LAN
equipment just isnt sufficient
for use in the current data cen-
ter environment. Traditional
LAN equipment simply will
not allow designers to achieve
the requisite density, scalabil-
ity, manageability, and flexi-
bility, says Alan Ugolini, data
center specialist at Corning
Cable Systems (www.corning
cablesystems.com).
Hutch Coburn, senior prod-
uct manager of enterprise fi-
ber infrastructure solutions at
ADC (www.adc.com), agrees,
noting that LAN traffic may
not always be mission criti-
cal, but data
TECHNOLOGY
Understanding component
specifications for plug-and-
play cable assemblies
By DONALD K. HALL
As high-bandwidth applica-
tionssuch as 10-Gigabit
Ethernet; 2-, 4-, and 10-
Gbit/sec Fibre Chan-
nel; and InfiniBand
4X-SDR and 4X-DDR
have emerged, link-loss bud-
gets have been reduced. At
the same time, there has been
an increase in the use of fac-
tory-terminated cable assem-
blies. Early drivers of this
latter trend included a move
to structured cabling and
the modularity benefits fac-
tory-terminated assemblies
offer: rapid installation, scal-
able growth, and ease of fiber
plant maintenance. However,
as system designers increas-
ingly find value in the
flexibility of network to-
pologies with a high degree
of connectivity, a secondary
driver has emerged: the abil-
ity to minimize connector-re-
lated insertion loss through
superior factory polish-
ing and assembly processes,
which helps network design-
ers meet the new smaller link-
loss budgets.
The principles of passive
plant design and installation
using factory
APPLICATIONS
Survey details switch to OM3 in enterprise
By MATT BROWN
Predictions of exponential
growth in bandwidth demand
were common in the late
1990s. Now, with technology
back on the rise, the commu-
nications industry is begin-
ning to see those predictions
realized. With the demand for
individual user bandwidth in-
creasing, the funneling effect
of LAN switching is driving
the need for more high-band-
width fiber in the enterprise
backbone.
To support bandwidth-in-
tensive, real-time applica-
tions and to accommodate
ever-increasing file size and
traffic volume, IT managers
are moving toward the higher
performance offered by
laser-optimized multi-
mode optical fiber (OM3).
According to research com-
missioned by SYSTIMAX So-
lutions, OM3 products are
expected to become the domi-
nant fiber type over the next
5 years, representing 43% of
new installs in that period
(see Figure 1). Conversely,
use of OM1 and OM2 fiber
is expected to be cut in half,
from 63% in current installs
to only 34% of new installs in
that same time frame. The re-
search, in which 1,484 IT pro-
fessionals from around the
world provided infor-
mation on their require-
ments and strategies, not
only details this evolution,
but reveals some of the fac-
tors shaping cabling technol-
ogy purchases in general.
Defining fiber
categories
To understand the appeal
of OM3 fiber, it is helpful to
have a basic understanding of
all three grades of multimode
fiber. OM1 is a
Carriers lean on
operations support
systems. PAGE 31
Support
SOS
RPR packs a punch
for campus comms.
PAGE 27
In the
ring
Check, clean, and
calibrate for best
test results. PAGE 15
Three
Cs
Carried away
With its AnyWave Optical Net-
work strategy, OpVista provides a
graceful upgrade path for transi-
tioning to high-speed, high-capac-
ity Ethernet transport. PAGE 20
page 15
page 31
page 27
Photo 1. Compared with
traditional LC panels, the
MTP adapter panel enables
far greater density, support-
ing up to 432 fibers in a 1-U
configuration.
C
O
R
N
I
N
G

C
A
B
L
E

S
Y
S
T
E
M
S
Contents Zoom In Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here
Contents Zoom In Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here
Next Page Search Issue
Next Page Search Issue
____________
All cabinets are not created equal. Only Corning Cable Systems OptiTect Premier Cabinets
offer the smallest footprint in the industry our latest Local Convergence Cabinets are up
to 50% smaller and lighter than previous generations. This can result in up to 40% lower
installation cost. Combine that with the freight and storage savings, clear aesthetic
advantage and best-in-class fiber management and its clear that no substitute can deliver
this customer value.
Accept No Substitutes.
Often imitated ... never duplicated.
The OptiTect Premier Cabinet is an integral part
of the Evolant Solution for FTTx Networks.
Visit www.corning.com/nosubs/lw for more
information on Evolant Solutions
and receive a free gift.
www.corning.com/cablesystems
800.743.2671 [us and canada] 828.901.5000 [international]
2007Corning Cable Systems, LLC 2007 / EV-01433
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
__________________________________________
Our delivery area.
1-800-622-7711
5290 Concourse Drive Roanoke, Virginia 24019
Phone 540-265-0690 www.occfiber.com
No matter where youre located, our fiber optic cable products are there. Optical Cable Corporation has built
a network of reliable stocking distributors and a dedicated sales team committed to getting you the best
fiber optic cables for your requirements when you need them...where you need them. For over 20 years,
we have been manufacturing the broadest range of top-performing tight-buffered fiber optic cables for
most applications in the government, military, and commercial markets. Your order is our top priority.
Contact Optical Cable Corporation for a stocking distributor nearest you. We are where you are.
Participating Distributor:
www.accu-tech.com
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Focus
on
V O L . 2 4 , N O . 4 A P R I L 2 0 0 7
Contents
Technology Applications Industry
www.lightwaveonline.com LIGHTWAVE April 2007 5
15 Achieving precision in
optical measurements
BY RICK RACINSKAS, TELLABS
15 TECH TRENDS
TODC vendors ready inline
and integrated devices
BY MEGHAN FULLER
19 STANDARDS WATCH
Fast progress in ITU for bend-loss
insensitive singlemode fiber
BY GERARD KUYT, DRAKA
COMTEQ OPTICAL FIBRE
20 PRODUCT PROFILE
OpVista unveils AnyWave
Optical Network concept
BY STEPHEN HARDY
20 PREMIER PRODUCTS
Components, installa-
tion and test equipment,
systems, and subsystems
FOCUS ON
27 ENTERPRISE NETWORKS
RPR simplifies cam-
pus communications
BY VINAY BANNAI, ADTRAN
27 CASE BY CASE
Innovation makes a comeback
BY STEPHEN HARDY
31 OSS vendors grapple with
network evolution
BY STEPHEN HARDY
31 ANALYST CORNER
Dynamics of the Carrier
Ethernet switch market
BY SEAMUS CREHAN,
DELLORO GROUP INC.
35 PEOPLE
Mintera appoints vice president
Calix adds board member
Santur appoints CEO
OSA selects senior director
FOLS elects new officers
38 MARKET WATCH
AT&T ranks first in U.S. busi-
ness Ethernet services
Study analyzes Carrier Ethernet
over MSPP-based networks
Optical networking mar-
ket topped $3.2B in 4Q06
AnyWave Optical Network strategy
takes existing networks to Carrier
Ethernet-ready page 20
FOCUS ON ENTERPRISE NETWORKS Increases in traffic vol-
umes and high expectations for quality of service demand
flexible, reliable network performance. This month, articles focus on the
need for high-bandwidth fiber in enterprise networks and data centers (both
front page), the link between connector-related insertion loss and system
performance (front page), and achieving Carrier Ethernet qualities in cam-
pus networks using RPR architecture (page 27).
6 update
11 www.lightwaveonline.com
12 Editorial STEPHEN HARDY
A shrink-proof industry?
up-front
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
update
HOTPICK
LIGHTWAVE (ISSN 0741-5834), a trademark, 2007, is published 12 issues per year monthly by PennWell Corporation, 1421 South Sheridan Road, Tulsa, OK 74112, telephone 918-835-3161; fax 918-831-9497; Web address
www.pennwell.com. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted. Bulk reprints can be ordered from Kathleen Skelton 603-891-9203 voice, 603-891-0587 fax. SUBSCRIPTIONS: 847-559-7520, 7:30am-6pm CST. Subscrip-
tion rates in the U.S. and possessions: one year, $144; Canada/international via surface mail, $163; international via airmail, $197. Periodicals postage paid at Tulsa, OK, and additional mailing offices. We make portions of our
subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that may be important for your work. If you do not want to receive those offers and/or information, please let us know by contacting us
at List Services, Lightwave, 98 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, NH 03062. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: LIGHTWAVE, P.O. Box 3279, Northbrook, IL 60065-3279 PRINTED IN THE USA GST NO. 126813153
PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 908584 Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to P.O. Box 122, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 6S4
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this publication is for general information purposes and is not intended to be advice on any particular matter. No subscriber or other reader should act on the basis of any matter
contained in this publication without considering appropriate professional advice. PennWell Corporation, and the authors and editors, expressly disclaim any and all liability to any person, whether a purchaser of this publi-
cation or not, in respect of anything (and the consequences of anything) done or omitted to be done by any subscriber, reader, or other person in reliance upon the contents of this publication.
6 April 2007 LIGHTWAVE www.lightwaveonline.com
Cortina Systems (www.cortina-systems.com) has acquired Immenstar (www.immen
star.com), a privately held semiconductor company that specializes in PON system-on-chip
(SoC) technology. According to Cortina, the Immenstar acquisition simultaneously builds
on the strength of its existing technology and expands its reach into the access network;
the company confirms plans to play in both the EPON and GPON markets with a portfo-
lio of products that combine intelligent bandwidth, high density, and low power. Financial
terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
north america
JDSU (www.jdsu.com) has announced a definitive agreement to ac-
quire Picolight Inc. (www.picolight.com), designer and manufacturer
of optical pluggable transceivers. The transaction is expected to close June 30, subject
to regulatory approvals. JDSU will acquire Picolight for approximately $115 million in JDSU
stock, plus up to an additional $10 million in cash subject to the achievement of certain
revenue targets during calendar year 2007. Picolight has been an active player in the devel-
opment of 850- and 1,310-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs).
Carrier Access Corp. (www.carrieraccess.com) has completed the acquisition of IP net-
working product assets from Mangrove Systems Inc. (www.mangrovesystems.com) in a
cash transaction valued at approximately $8 million. Carrier Access says it has hired 30
former employees of Mangrove to sell, support, and continue R&D of the newly acquired
Mangrove products. The acquisition is anticipated to be accretive to Carrier Access earn-
ings in 1Q08.
Enablence Technologies Inc. (www.enablence.com) has completed a private placement
of 25 million common shares at a price of $0.60 per share for gross proceeds of $15 mil-
lion. The syndicate behind the funding round was led by Paradigm Capital Inc. and included
Wellington West Capital Markets Inc. and Raymond James Ltd. as syndicate partners. Ac-
cording to Enablence chief executive Arvind Chhatbar, the company needs more money to
strengthen its position as it enters volume production. In particular, he says the company
wants to be in a position to expand its product line or production resources, or enter new
partnerships, without being restrained financially.
Ceterus Networks (www.ceterusnetworks.com) has an-
nounced a $20 million funding round led by Intel Capital.
Sevin Rosen and ComVentures, both investors since incep-
tion, and Aldus Equity, a new investor, also participated in
the funding. Ceterus Networks has aimed to create a plat-
form for versatile, cost-effective Ethernet service delivery
platforms supporting both wireline and wireless service
providers in their delivery of new data and voice services.
The new funding will help with large customer infrastruc-
ture rollouts and market expansion, the company says.
Transceiver supplier OE Solutions Co. Ltd. (www.oe
solution.com) has closed a $4.3 million Series C round
of funding, led by two Korean venture capitalists, Korean
Development Bank Capital and Kibo Technology Advancing
Capital. The round brings the companys total funding to
date to $16 million. OE Solutions says it will use the funds
to expand its global marketing and sales efforts and to accelerate future
product development to meet growing customer demand worldwide.
Alchemy Communications Inc., provider of colocation and managed data
center services, has chosen MRV Communications Fiber Driver to increase
the bandwidth of its backbone network. Incorporating the DWDM-capable
Fiber Driver also will increase the redundancy and efficiency of Alchemys
Los Angeles-based fiber-optic network, resulting in a greater return on in-
vestment, say MRV representatives.
Tyco Telecommunications (www.tycotelecom.com) has chosen Bookham
Inc. (www.bookham.com) to be the lead supplier of 980-nm pump laser mod-
ules. Bookhams OceanBright pump lasers will be used in erbium-doped fiber
amplifiers (EDFAs), which in turn are incorporated into repeaters that form
a critical element of undersea cable systems around the world.
Fujikura Ltd. (www.fujikura.co.jp) and Nistica (www.nistica.com), optical
subsystems supplier to telecom system OEMs, have announced a broad
cooperative agreement whereby Fujikura will provide full production man-
ufacturing facilities and processes for the volume delivery of Nisticas
FLEDGE series of tunable filters and ROADM modules, as well as future
Nistica products. In addition, Fujikura will act as a
strategic partner for field, warranty, and sales chan-
nel support in selected markets. Moreover, Nistica
and Fujikura say they will explore jointly developing
products in the ROADM market based on Nisticas
technology and platform.
TXP Corp. (www.texasprototypes.com), an original
design manufacturer (ODM) for the electronics and
telecommunications industries, has entered into an
agreement to supply its ONT equipment to an un-
named provider of communications technology and
infrastructure equipment. This agreement comes just
2 months after TXP officially acquired the ONT busi-
ness unit of Siemens. The acquisition brought to TXPs
portfolio BPON ONTs for single-family units (SFUs),
multidwelling units (MDUs), and small business units
(SBU); and GPON ONTs for SFUs, Ethernet-only SFUs,
and SBUs.
TriAccess Technologies (www.triaccesstech.com)
has signed a multiyear supply agreement with Lu-
minentOIC Inc. (www.luminentoic.com), a wholly
owned subsidiary of MRV Communications (www.
mrv.com), to supply the latest version of its TAT6254
Series RF integrated circuit for use in GPON net-
works. LuminentOIC plans to incorporate the Tri-
Access 6254 RFIC in triplexer transceivers installed
within optical network terminals (ONTs). Luminent-
OIC will be the lead customer for the next product
release in the TriAccess TAT6254 series for GPON
applications and has committed to purchasing sig-
nificant volumes of this device, say TriAccess rep-
resentatives. In addition, as part of this agreement,
LuminentOIC has attained exclusive rights to the
TAT6254 product series for all BPON applications.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
_______
_____
___
Canobeam Free Space Optics:
It's the choice over radio for high bandwidth (up to Gigabit) transmission.
Canobeam Free Space Optics:
It's the choice over radio for high bandwidth (up to Gigabit) transmission.
Canobeam DT-100 Series, the Free Space Optics system
engineered and manufactured by Canon, provides maximum
security for wireless transmission. It is a more secure choice
than radio, and engineered to be the best FSO system. Ideal
for applications when fiber is not available or too costly to
install, Canobeam is the piece-of-mind you need when data
networking, or transmitting voice or video over IP. Plus,
because it's manufactured by Canon, you can be confident
that support will be there when you need it. Canobeam
features built-in AutoTracking in all three models including
their best selling Gigabit speed DT-130. For secure
wireless network transmissions, trust Canobeam.
Find out more at canobeam.com
1-800-321-4388 (Canada: 905-795-2012)
2007 Canon U.S.A., Inc. All rights reserved. Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and
may also be a registered trademark or trademark in other countries. IMAGEANYWARE is a trademark of Canon.
See Us At Interop Booth #2149
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
FIS IS
BIG
Wow...
They are BIG!
Were Bigger
to Serve You Better.
Large, Diverse
Inventory
Exceptional Service
Competitive Prices
Product Guarantees
Major Brand Products
Free Technical Support
Customization Available
TM
161 Clear Road Oriskany, NY 13424
Tel: 315.736.2206 Fax: 315.736.2285
info@berinstrumentsales.com
Why our customers buy with condence...
www.berinstrumentsales.com
update
Redfern Integrated Optics Inc. (www.rio-
inc.com), developer and manufacturer of
optical transmitters, has successfully
completed reliability qualification of its
PLANEX technology platform, in accor-
dance with the requirements of Telcordia
GR468-CORE. PLANEX is a planar-based
external cavity laser (ECL) packaged in an
MSA-compliant transmitter optical sub-
assembly (TOSA) form factor for XFP, SFP,
and SFP+ transceiver modules.
Privately held American Fiber Systems
Inc. (AFS; www.afsnetworks.com) has
completed a $10 million transaction to
acquire IDACOMM (www.idacomm.com),
the communications subsidiary of IDA-
CORP. IDACOMM is a fiber facilities-based
competitive metro network provider, with
operations focused in Nevada and Idaho,
specializing in fiber-based transport ser-
vices to both carrier and enterprise cus-
tomers. IDACOMMs network includes
more than 45,000 local and long-haul fi-
ber-strand miles with approximately 150
buildings on net and includes the cities of
Las Vegas, Reno, and Carson City, NV, as
well as Boise, ID, opening up new regional
transport business for AFS.
The United States Patent and Trade-
mark Office has issued a patent entitled
Method and Apparatus for Testing Opti-
cal Networks (US patent no. 7,187,861)
to EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering
Inc. (www.exfo.com). The patent serves
as the basis of EXFOs series of PON
power meters, which are widely used by
technicians to characterize FTTH net-
works, particularly near the ONT at the
customer premises where triple-play ser-
vices need to be activated. EXFOs pat-
ented technology enables pass-through
measurements of both downstream and
upstream optical power at different wave-
lengths, including those of bursty up-
stream signals.
emea
ADVA Optical Networking (www.adva
optical.com) has been named a supplier
of Ethernet last-mile access products in
British Telecoms 21st Century Network.
The carrier will deploy the ADVA FSP 150
as the Network Termination Equipment
(NTE) to interconnect all end customers,
carriers carriers, and BT facilities. The
ADVA FSP 150 portfolio, featuring Ether-
jack technology, provides Ethernet de-
marcation, extension, and aggregation.
The Neuf Cegetel Group (www.groupe
neufcegetel.fr) plans to offer fiber-
based broadband services beginning
this month in Paris. The carrier expects
to pass a million homes by the end of
2009 and to connect a total of 250,000
customers. Coverage areas will include
Paris and its suburbs, districts of other
major cities, and other areas selected
on the basis of rollout costs and oppor-
tunities to increase market share. The
target might be raised if investments
can be mutualized with other partner
operators. To start the rollout of its
program, Neuf Cegetel acquired in early
2007 Mediafiber, which serves around
3,000 FTTH customers in the city of
Pau (among around 40,000 homes
passed). On February 20, 2007, the
group announced an agreement to
take a controlling stake in Paris-based
Erenis, which has more than 55,000
homes passed and more than 10,000
customers connected.
Avanex Corp. (www.avanex.com) has
entered into a definitive agreement to
sell a 90% interest in its French subsid-
iary, Avanex France S.A., including its
indium phosphide (InP) and gallium ar-
senide (GaAs) semiconductor fabs, to
Global Research Co., a socit re-
sponsibilit limite, owned by Alexandre
Krivine, and to the current management
of Avanex France S.A., Didier Sauvage. In
addition to the semiconductor III-V fabs,
the divested business includes the laser,
terrestrial pump, submarine pump, and
fiber Bragg grating product lines. Avanex
plans to maintain a core development
group of about 20 employees in France
focused on transmission products. Jo
Major, Avanexs chairman, president, and
chief executive officer, confirms that the
company expects to realize between $12
million and $16 million in annual financial
improvements as a result of this divesti-
ture beginning in fiscal 4Q07.
Irish ISP Digiweb has deployed an ad-
vanced Ethernet-over-optical network
within its Dublin Metro network using
equipment from both Transmode (www.
transmode.com) and Overture Networks
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
_____
_____
_________
___
23 Centre Street New Bedford, MA USA 02740-6322 | Toll Free: 800-IS-FIBER / Tel: 508-992-6464 / Fax: 508-991-8876 | e-mail : sales@focenter.com
Visit us on the web: WWW.FOCENTER.COM
Twice the life means half the cost.
That was, and still is, our claim about
Sequoia
, the revolutionary long life

diamond film, only from ngstrmLap
.
Well it turns out... twice the life also
means" half the sales." * But we're OK with
that, because Sequoia
is manufactured in
an environmentally friendly way, which is
very important to us. Because you use half
the lapping film, the money saved keeps
your operation on schedule, and thus
more competitive. In the coming months,
ngstrmLap
will be announcing new

state-of-the-art final film and polishing
products, all following on the heels of
Sequoia
. While we may not be excited

about the sales per machine, we are excited
about Sequoias
, widespread acceptance,
and the promise of more savings and new
innovative products to come, which IS what
we were thinking.
ngstrmLap
, the most widely used lapping

film in the world.
PRE-SEQUOIA
SALES* POST-SEQUOIA
SALES*
SEQUOIA INTRODUCED (2004)
Our loss is your gain
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
____________
update
(www.overturenetworks.com). The joint
Transmode/Overture network provides
Digiweb with a new Ethernet-over-WDM
backbone network and Ethernet-over-fi-
ber/copper access network to support
growing demand for the carriers business-
to-business and consumer ISP services.
ColorChip (www.color-chip.com), manu-
facturer of glass-based planar lightwave
circuit chips and modules for FTTH net-
works, has completed a $7.4 million fund-
ing led by Vertex Venture Capital. Vertex
joined existing investors including Bes-
semer, Eurofund, Motorola, Polytechnos,
and Walden Israel Venture Capital. Ac-
cording to Moshe Price, chief executive
officer of ColorChip, the proceeds will en-
able the company to move from product
qualification to mass manufacturing to
accommodate the strong FTTH market
demands in the US, Japan, Asia Pacific,
and Europe.
ECI Telecom Ltd. (www.ecitele.com) has
completed the first stage of the construc-
tion of a metro optical network for Ukrtele-
com JSC, a national telecommunication
operator in Ukraine. This first stage cov-
ers Ukraines nine largest regions and
will include the deployment of ECIs XDM
optical platform to enable Ukrtelecom to
meet increasing subscriber demand for
next-generation services.
ECI Telecom also has demonstrated
what it claims is the industrys first suc-
cessful 43-Gbit/sec transmission over
1,000 km via a 10-degree, 50-GHz chan-
nel-spaced wavelength-selective switch
(WSS) reconfigurable optical add/drop
multiplexer (ROADM). According to the
company, the demonstration illustrates
how bandwidth-tolerant 43- Gbit/sec
modulation formats enable signal trans-
mission up to 1,000 km through 50-GHz
spaced WSS ROADMs, while maintaining
high noise tolerance similar to that of
10-Gbit/sec signals. The company says
its XDM offering allows carriers to build
reconfigurable ROADM-based networks
with maximum capacity of 80 channels
40 Gbits/sec (or 3.2 Tbits/sec) and dis-
tances suitable for metro, regional, and
long-haul applications.
Ericsson (www.ericsson.com) has signed
a turnkey contract with the city of Trikala as
equipment provider and prime integrator
to implement the citys pioneering plans
for the creation of the first Greek Digital
City. Per the contract, Ericsson is the sole
supplier of switching, Wi-Fi systems, and a
15-km fiber-optic metro network, as well
as related telecom services, such as con-
sulting, deployment, systems integration,
and customer support, until 2008.
Alcatel-Lucent (www.alcatel-lucent.com)
has signed a turnkey contract with the
East Africa Submarine Cable System
(EASSy) consortium to lay the first ever
optical submarine cable network landing
in East Africa, scheduled for completion
by the end of 2008. Based on Alcatel-Lu-
cents submarine and terrestrial optical
systems, the EASSy submarine network
will deliver a regional capacity of nearly
320 Gbits/sec and span nearly 10,000
km, linking eight countries from Sudan
to South Africa, via Djibouti, Somalia,
Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, and Mo-
zambique. Governments, public admin-
istrations, and businesses will be able
to leverage the network to support new
applications such as remote medical di-
agnosis and international call centers.
By interconnecting with Sea-Me-We 3,
Sea-Me-We 4, SAS1, Falcon, and SAT3/
WASC/SAFE, the EASSy submarine cable
system also will serve as a supporting in-
frastructure for these networks.
asia
Independent Indonesian telecommu-
nications provider PT NAP Info Lintas
Nusa and Tyco Telecommunications
have announced the signing of a con-
tract between NAP Singapore-based
affiliate Matrix Networks and Tyco Tele-
communications to construct an under-
sea fiber-optic system. The system will
comprise a four-fiber-pair trunk between
Singapore and Jakarta with branches to
Batam in the Riau Islands Province and
Pontianak in Kalimantan on the island
of Borneo. The design also facilitates
a future connection to Perth, Austra-
lia, via an undersea branching unit. Us-
ing DWDM, the system will be able to
transmit 64 10- Gbit/sec wavelengths
on each fiber pair for a total bandwidth
of nearly 2.6 Tbits/sec.

B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
___________________
www.light waveonline.com
find these features online this month
Verifying Metro Ethernet QoS
BY MIRNA MEKIC, JDSU COMMUNICATIONS TEST & MEASUREMENT
Used for delivery of next-generation IP-based services, including triple play,
metro Ethernet facilitates the availability of affordable bandwidth on demand
and highly secure private network communication. Yet despite the lucrative
and strategic advantages it brings, many providers are reluctant to embark on
full implementation to bring carrier-grade Ethernet offerings to market. This is
due in part to the inherently greater complexity of maintaining carrier-class
quality at the node and network levels. This hesitancy also stems from a lack
of standardized test and monitoring tools and procedures.
OA&M: Going beyond the standards
to enable innovative Carrier Ethernet services
BY UMESH KUKREJA, ATRICA
The ability to offer attractive service-level agreements (SLAs) is increasingly
important to a service providers success. Recognizing this, Carrier Ethernet
has been developed with SLA support as one of its critical, core capabilities.
However, comprehensive, effective SLA support requires advanced opera-
tion, administration, and maintenance (OA&M) tools that can manage and
monitor SLAs and provide reports to end-user customers, ensuring service
provider compliance.
PBT vs. MPLS
BY PETER LUNK, EXTREME NETWORKS
Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) is an exciting new technology that takes
advantage of the recent advances in Ethernet standards. PBT enables a much
more economical access and aggregation network that minimizes the need
for MPLS outside the core of the carrier network. The deterministic network
architecture made possible by PBT delivers all of the advanced services sub-
scribers are seeking while maintaining the simplicity and reliability of SONET/
SDH networks.
Expanding the bandwidth pipe:
Subwave technologies
BY KEN DAVISON, MERITON NETWORKS
Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth is being driven deep into the network, and trans-
port providers already are seeing requests for Ethernet in ranges from 2.5 to
10 Gbits/sec. Rather than dedicate a wavelength to a single service, subwave
grooming techniques now enable carriers to pack wavelengths with as much
traffic as possible for more efficient utilization. This article will explore emerg-
ing methods for expanding the bandwidth pipe, including ways to switch con-
nections at the wavelength, subwavelength, and even sub-subwavelength
level, otherwise known as tunnel switching.
Rolling out business Ethernet
BY FRED ELLEFSON, ADVA OPTICAL NETWORKING
More and more multiple-systems operators (MSOs) seek to introduce com-
petitive, carrier-class, Ethernet-based business services such as voice over
IP (VoIP), dedicated Internet access, point-to-point connectivity, and virtual
private networks (VPNs). The commercial business opportunity is tremendous, but
the challenges are not inconsequential. This article will explore how an MSO can
roll out a consistent, profitable, competitive Ethernet offering to multisite enter-
prise customers, even when leveraging disparate legacy networks and technolo-
gies in various regions and markets across the nation.
Increasing the fiber in cables diet
BY JAMES O. JIM FARMER, WAVE7 OPTICS
While most of the FTTH buzz has surrounded the telcos, cable TV companies are
starting to deploy this technology as well, primarily in greenfield applications. This
paper shows that it is easy for service providers with hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) net-
works to deploy FTTH in greenfield situations, while maintaining their existing HFC
networks until end-of-life.
FTTH giving homeowners a raise
BY DAVID MEIS, CORNING CABLE SYSTEMS
FTTH is now being touted as a value-enhancing amenity for many homes, as well as
for developments. Not only is there talk of FTTH commanding a premium in home
selling price, there is also strong emerging evidence that supports this claim.

B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
_____________
Edi tori al
STEPHEN M. HARDY
Editorial Director & Associate Publisher
stephenh@pennwell.com
One conundrum of the optical communications in-
dustry that continues to stump observers and par-
ticipants alike is the issue of consolidationor, more
precisely, the lack thereof, particularly in the compo-
nents/subsystems space. Carriers have consolidated,
and system vendors, as evidenced by the Alcatel-Lu-
cent merger and the Siemens/Nokia hook-up, have
begun to follow suit. At the component/subsystem
level, however, everyone appears to agree that too
many companies continue to chase too few business
opportunities. Of course, people have commented
on this fact for at least the last 5 years. Still, even as
the week of OFC/NFOEC began with news of three
component/subsystem-level acquisitionsFinisars
agreements to purchase AZNA and Kodeos, followed
closely by Optiums announcement of its acquisi-
tion of Kailightthe overall viewpoint remains un-
changed. More mergers and acquisitions need to take
place before the industry can right size to a rational
number of players.
So whats holding things up? The
OSA/Lightwave Executive Forum of-
fered some cluesclues that indi-
cated that factors intrinsic to the
optical communications field
and to the customers it serves
may pose high enough barri-
ers to consolidation to pre-
vent the industry from ever
reaching the right number
of participants. In fact, these
factors, if fully considered,
may change the idea of just
what number represents criti-
cal mass.
Certainly one can list several fac-
tors that should drive a large number
of companies out of the components and
subsystems market in the near term. First, while the
market has begun to pick up, its still not healthy
enough to support a bubble-era competitive land-
scape. (In fact, one could argue the industrys recently
concluded problems stemmed in large part from the
fact that the bubble itself wasnt large enough to sus-
tain the bubble-era competitive ecosystem.) Second,
just as their customers seek to reduce operational ex-
penses, system houses wish to shrink their own opex
by limiting the number of suppliers they must engage.
Third, with the market having stabilized now is a
good time for VCs and other investors to force their
companies to reconsider an exit strategy that might
involve being acquired.
Forum participants, who included not only high-
level executives from component compa-
nies but observers from the financial and
customer arenas, harped in particular on
the first two of these motivations for con-
solidation. For example, some of the major compo-
nent players justified their support of broad product
lines with the explanation that with system houses
looking to trim their roster of suppliers, the ability to
meet a wide variety of needs was essential for survival.
This philosophy has been espoused for some time as
the one-stop shop approach to the market, and com-
panies such as JDSU, Bookham, and others have at-
tempted to implement this philosophy with varying
degrees of success.
However, the same panelists emphasized that the
key to future fiscal health and success was a focus
on the areas where they could maintain a competi-
tive differentiation. Needless to say, unless a company
has unlimited financial and personnel resources
and not even JDSU has this kind of weight to throw
aroundit cant differentiate everywhere. Thus, ma-
jor system houses can reduce their supplier counts to
three or four for each of their product lines. But when
they aggregate the supplier lists for all of those prod-
ucts, theyre likely to find that they still must deal
with 10 or more vendors, like it or not. Differentiation
and product line expansion clearly conflict, particu-
larly in an environment in which R&D dollars cant
be spent indiscriminately. Some companies will at-
tempt to solve this problem through acquisition, and
the recent M&A activity described earlier illustrates
relevant examples. (I didnt say M&A would stop, just
that it wont result in a market size most people appear
to want.) But there are only so many differentiated
product lines a single company can support without
swamping itself. As one forum participant observed,
No one talks about the one-stop shop anymore.
System houses and the customers they serve also
must share the blame (if one can call it that) for the
unexpectedly large number of component/subsys-
tem suppliers that continue to hang on in the market.
Thats because the forum participants revealed that
these parties continue to insist on customized prod-
ucts, even when dealing with areas where standards
(or at least multisource agreements) are in place.
Again, how many customized variants of each prod-
uct can a single supplier support? As long as system
houses and their customers require nonstandard
products, the market will require a larger number of
suppliers to fill the need.
I have said in this space previously that 2007 will see
a significant amount of consolidation. I still believe
this will be the case. However, I also believe that ob-
servers and participants will continue to lament that
there are too many companies making components
and modules, regardless of how much M&A goes on.
And the industry has itself to blame.

EDITORIAL
Editorial Director and Associate Publisher
Stephen M. Hardy
603-891-9454 stephenh@pennwell.com
Managing Editor
Carrie Meadows
603-891-9382 carriem@pennwell.com
Senior Editor
Meghan Fuller
603-891-9327 meghanf@pennwell.com
Columnists
Gerard Kuyt
Seamus Crehan
Editorial Advisory Board
Dr. Donald Bossi / Aegis Semiconductor
William J. Cadogan /
Vesbridge Partners
Andy Chraplyvy /
Alcatel-Lucent
Donald T. Gall / Pangrac & Associates
Ira Jacobs / Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Michael Lebby / OIDA
Kevin Lefebvre / SUNY IT
Stan Lumish / JDSU
Stephen Montgomery / ElectroniCast
Vik Saxena / Comcast
Paul W. Shumate, Jr. / IEEE LEOS
Presentation Manager Cindy Chamberlin
Senior Illustrator Dan Rodd
Marketing Director Lisa A. Bergevin
603-891-9410 lisab@pennwell.com
Circulation Manager Michelle Blake
603-891-9360 michellb@pennwell.com
ATD PUBLISHING DEPARTMENTS
Art Director Meg Fuschetti
Production Director Mari Rodriguez
Senior Vice President
Group Publishing Director
Mark Finkelstein
603-891-9133
mfinkelstein@pennwell.com
Group Publisher
Tim Pritchard
603-891-9447 timp@pennwell.com
Lightwave Executive & Editorial Offices
98 Spit Brook Rd., Nashua, NH 03062-5737
Tel: 603-891-0123, Fax: 603-891-0587
For subscription inquiries only:
Tel: 847-559-7520, TDD: 918-831-9566
To subscribe online, go to:
www.lw-subscribe.com
In Europe:
PennWell European Journal Service
P.O. Box 4456, London SW12 8AX,
United Kingdom
Phone: 44 181 675 9775,
Fax: 44 181 675 0301
E-mail: HRA@pennwell.com
CORPORATE OFFICERS
Chairman Frank T. Lauinger
President and CEO Robert F. Biolchini
Chief Financial Officer Mark C. Wilmoth
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DIVISION

Vice President of Audience Development
Gloria S. Adams
More mergers and
acquisitions need to
take place before the
industry can right
size to a rational
number of players.
A shrink-proof industry?
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
With best-in-class performance and everything you need for error-free testing,
the Anritsu MT9083A ACCESS Master is an intuitive, portable, purpose-built tester
that simplies optical network maintenance and installation like never before.
Call 1-800-ANRITSU or visit www.us.anritsu.com/accessmaster
to start making your life easier.
Weve turned optical network
testing into childs play
Sales Ofces: USA and Canada 1-800-ANRITSU, Europe 44 (0) 1582-433433, Japan 81 (46) 223-1111,
Asia-Pacic (852) 2301-4980, South America 55 (21) 2527-6922, www.us.anritsu.com 2006 Anritsu Company
The Anritsu MT9083A
ACCESS Master
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Want to bring
IP to the TV?
Flawlessly?
www.EXFO.com
EXFOs IPTV test equipment provides you with complete solutions, from core to access.
Case in point, the handheld CoLT-450P DSL Triple-Play Test Set and the platform-based
FTB-8510B Packet Blazer module. Go to EXFO.com/IPTV, and move your IPTV services
to the head of the class.
Put us to the test.
From core to access, we test.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Technology
Advances i n research, devel opment,
engi neeri ng, and standards
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
TECH TRENDS
Cont. on pg 18
Cont. on pg 16
Cont. on pg 17
Achieving precision in
optical measurements
By Rick Racinskas
You have your favorite fiber test box and trust
it for great measurements performed via more
buttons and digits than youve ever used before.
Are you getting the performance you paid for
or even what the sales rep prom-
ised? Probably not.
Fiber is not just copper with
a different color jacket. To ob-
tain proper measurements, you
must treat it with the utmost care
within an almost clean-room en-
vironment when it comes to con-
nections. Consistent, accurate,
and repeatable measurements
take knowledge, a few tools, and
a lot of vigilance. This article re-
views some of the primary sources
of problems when it comes to ob-
taining precise measurements,
matched with some suggestions
about how to solve them.
Patch cords
The instrument starts at the far end of the patch
cable. Your $50,000 box can behave like a $300
knockoff if you dont have a proper cable. You
wouldnt put a $50 probe on a fancy 10-GHz
scope, would you? The same principle applies
here. A cheap, damaged, or dirty patch cable
will throw power measure-
ments way off. If you remate
connectors several times
and see a 0.5-to-1-dB read-
ing bounce, you need to
clean or replace them. If all
is well, you should see 0.02-
dB or less bounce each time.
Since it is difficult to clean
mating fiber adapters, one
idea is to leave a 1-m patch
cord on. Choose a refer-
ence or a calibrated grade
and avoid generics.
Mating most any connec-
tor to a typical power me-
ter should yield accurate
readings due to the size
of the photodetector. But
source connections require precision mat-
ing to achieve maximum
Photo 1. A simple fingerprint
can significantly degrade
fiber performance. A quick
cleaning can make a lot of
difference.
assemblies are essentially the same as when
field termination is performed. However, there
are some practical considerations that sys-
tem designers and installers should be aware
of, especially as low-loss cable assemblies are
specified. These considerations are directly
related to the fact that the assembly manu-
facturer is delivering finished components
with guaranteed insertion loss and effective
modal bandwidth performance when mated
to other components. It is therefore important
to understand the relationship between cable
assembly specifications and expected system
performance when multiple assemblies are
linked together to form the passive plant.
Common cable assembly types
Factory cable assemblies have been supplied
for many years using simplex and duplex con-
nectors. Increasingly popular are modular
plug-and-play assemblies, which usually con-
tain ribbons in multiples of 12 fibers to take
advantage of the high density of MPO-style
connectors. The four basic types of plug-and-
play assemblies include the following:
Trunks. These are cable assemblies of cus-
tomer-specified length terminated on each
end with 12-fiber MPO connectors. Fiber
counts are typically up to 144 fibers.
Harnesses. These are short, 12-fiber cable as-
semblies made from interconnect cables that
are terminated on one end with a 12-fiber
MPO connector and at the other end with
simplex or, more commonly, duplex connec-
tors. Harnesses mate to trunks via their MPO
connectors. Although the simplex/duplex
connectors can be mated into a patch panel,
they are usually directly mated to an equip-
ment port.
Modules. Sometimes
Tunable optical dispersion compensators (TODC) are used
within 10- and 40-Gbit/sec optical systems to compensate
for signal distortions caused by chromatic dispersion (CD).
CD is a form of intersymbol interference (ISI), which is espe-
cially detrimental in optically amplified systems. CD causes
a spreading of light pulses as they travel down an optical
fiber. Different colors will propagate at slightly different
speeds, thereby rendering the receiver unable to differen-
tiate one light pulse from the next. TODCs work by intro-
ducing either positive or negative dispersion to balance or
offset the dispersion in the fiber.
The only TODCs deployed in significant numbers today
are thermally tuned fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based de-
vicesand only at the receiver to combat residual disper-
sion. Sources interviewed for this article are unanimous
in their assertion that TODCs have yet to be deployed for
inline applications. And no integrated TODCs (i.e., within
300-pin MSA transponders) have
been deployed to date. But TODC
vendors are gearing up to offer such
devices now.
Residual compensation
There are two key applications for
TODCs in the network: 1) residual
compensation and 2) bulk or inline
compensation (see figure). Residual
compensation provides constant, per-
channel dynamic
By Meghan Fuller
TODC vendors
ready inline and
integrated devices
Component specs for cable assemblies
Meghan Fuller
is senior editor at
Lightwave.
ANDevices uses a PLC-based technology for its small-
footprint 10- and 40-Gbit/sec TODC devices.
Fingerprint
Core
area
After cleaning
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Equipment cord
Transceiver
Transceiver
Module Trunk
Harness
MPOs
Duplex
connectors
Example system 1
Tx/Rx Tx/Rx
Equipment cord Equipment cord
Transceiver Transceiver
Module Integrated trunk module
MPOs
Duplex
connectors
Example system 2
Tx/Rx Tx/Rx
Technology
Understanding component specifcations for plug-and-play cable assemblies
called breakout modules or transi-
tion modules, these assemblies offer
a space-efficient means of transi-
tioning from MPO connectors to
simplex/duplex connectors. These
cable assemblies are terminated in
the same manner as harnesses, but
they are usually made from bare op-
tical-fiber ribbons rather than inter-
connect cables. The fiber portion is
protected within a plastic or metal
casing that mounts in a connector
housing like a patch panel. The sim-
plex/duplex connectors are accessed
at the front of the module for mat-
ing with jumpers or patch cords. The
MPO connector is accessed at the
rear of the module, where it is mated
to a trunk.
Integrated trunk modules (ITMs).
These cable assemblies combine the
functional attributes of a module and
a trunk. They are essentially modules
with long interconnect cable tails
terminated with an MPO connec-
tor. The protective casing mounts in
a connector housing like a standard
module but is deep enough to pro-
vide a means of storing trunk slack,
thus allowing the installer to deploy
only enough of the trunk to reach
the intended MPO connection point.
ITMs are especially useful in small
data centers and enterprises between
the main distribution area and the
end equipment or in large data cen-
ters between a consolidation point
and the end equipment.
These components are usually in-
stalled as part of a structured cabling
network comprising multiple links
per channel. For simplicity, Figures
1 and 2 illustrate the use of each
of these components in a point-to-
point system.
Those familiar with traditional
field-terminated assemblies will
quickly recognize that the static
functionality of each of these sys-
tems can be achieved by terminat-
ing bulk cable with simplex/duplex
connectors at patch panels. In such
builds, calculation of an expected
link budget is straightforward and is
merely a summation of the fiber loss
and connector losses. The fiber loss
is calculated by multiplying the fiber
length by the fiber attenuation coef-
ficient, expressed in decibels per unit
length. The fiber attenuation coeffi-
cient is wavelength dependent. The
connector loss is simply a maximum
loss specification per mated pair, fre-
quently taken as 0.75 dB per mated
pair in accordance with ANSI/TIA/
EIA-568-B.1. This calculation does
not include the connectors mated to
the transceiver ports, because the
loss of these connectors is accounted
for in the transceiver specifications.
The static equivalent of both fig-
ures would be a cable terminated
with simplex/duplex connectors and
joined to the equipment at each end
with jumpers mated through a patch
panel. The link budget would be 1.5
dB plus calculated fiber loss. However,
as noted, the traditional field-termi-
nated assemblies, while achieving the
desired static functionality, do not of-
fer the flexible reconfigurability and
scalability of a modular plug-and-play
system.
It can be seen that the plug-and-
play systems have more connector
pairs per link compared to the field-
terminated approach. Each break-
out module contains two connectors.
Each harness also contains two con-
nectors, although if mated directly
to equipment as in Figure 1, only the
MPO connector pair would count in
the link budget. There-
fore, the link of Figure
1 contains three mated
pairs. Although the link
of Figure 2 is not directly
terminated to equipment
on either end, this link
also contains three mated
pairs, because the ITM is
functionally equivalent
to a trunk and a module,
thus keeping the connector count for
the link at three instead of four. If one
allows 0.75 dB per connector pair, it
can be seen that the link budget for
these systems would be 2.25 dB plus
fiber loss. In this case, there would ef-
fectively be a budget penalty associ-
ated with the increased modularity of
the plug-and-play system.
For high-bandwidth systems, es-
pecially where multiple links form a
single channel, the total channel loss
penalty may be unacceptable, leading
a system designer to specify a field-
terminated system when the flexibil-
ity of a modular plug-and-play system
is actually desired. For this reason,
manufacturers of plug-and-play com-
ponents may offer components with
insertion loss specifications requiring
connector losses well below 0.75 dB
per connector.
To illustrate, consider the example
of Figure 1. If the module has a speci-
fied insertion loss of 0.5 dB and the
MPO pair shared by the trunk and
harness has a specified loss of 0.35 dB,
one would then calculate a link bud-
get of 0.85 dB plus length-dependent
fiber loss. Note again that the duplex
connector pair shared by the harness
and the equipment port doesnt con-
tribute to the link-loss budget because
the harness is directly terminated into
the equipment ports. This link bud-
get is well below the 1.5-dB budget
calculated for the field-terminated
approach. Of course, it would be the
prerogative of the system designer to
specify a field-terminated system with
maximum connector insertion loss
of some value less than 0.75 dB per
mated pair. However, the likelihood of
achieving these lower insertion losses
is very field craft dependent. Because
of the superior control of insertion loss
in the factory environment, there is a
clear advantage to the specification of
factory-built assemblies.
Product certification
or QC measurements,
when provided to cus-
tomers, are usually the
only customer-visible as-
pect of a manufacturers
quality assurance pro-
gram. Other aspects may
include such controls as
dimensional verification
of fiber and connector
geometry or other pro-
cess monitoring means. The ability of
individual cable assemblies to meet
performance expectations when con-
catenated in the field must be proven
as part of the product qualification
during development. This is usually
done by performing loss measure-
ments before and after environmen-
tal exposure on randomly mated cable
assemblies manufactured under stan-
dard process conditions.
ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.3, Annex A
describes a broadly accepted, stan-
dardized procedure for qualification
of cable assemblies under defined test
conditions. These loss measurements
can then be analyzed to ensure con-
catenated link performance. Once the
cable assemblies have been qualified,
QC pass/fail criteria can be set to en-
sure that they are manufactured to the
same quality level as those that were
evaluated during product qualifica-
tion. Because individual component
quality is assured by the manufacturer,
it is not necessary to field-test individ-
ual components.
Field testing of links
A final consideration is field link test-
ing. Concatenated field links, which
usually have simplex or duplex con-
nectors at the ends, can be tested end-
to-end using standard power-through
test sets and well-
Figure 1. In this example, a trunk features a module at one end and harness at the other end.
An equipment cord connects the module to one transceiver. The harness connects directly to
the other transceiver port.
Figure 2. This system features an integrated trunk module (ITM). Equipment cords connect
modules to transceivers.
Cont. on pg 24
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Needs for TODC in the network
Rx
TODC
TODC
Tx
TODC TODC
Source: Alcatel-Lucent
ODC
Colorless
Colorless
May or
may not be
colorless
Nonadjustable
ODC
1. Residual compensation, constant dynamic adjustment Necessary for bit rates 40 Gbits/sec
2. Bulk compensation, set-and-forget adjustment Eases installation and inventory
Some popular uses for TODC:
Technology
TECH TRENDS
CONT. FROM PAGE 15
adjustment at the receiver. It is necessary
at data rates of 40 Gbits/sec and above,
contends Christopher Doerr, distin-
guished member of the technical staff
at Bell Labs (www.bell-labs.com). If the
link is long enough, say, 300 km, even
environmental temperature changes in
the fiber are enough to require a change
in the TODC setting, he notes.
Therefore, each wavelength needs a
tunable dispersion compensator at 40
Gbits/sec. That said, even though the
tunable compensator is not used to
compensate the dispersion on many
channels at a timeits only a sin-
gle channel at a timethe light still
needs to be colorless, mainly for in-
ventory purposes, adds Martin Guy,
vice president of product manage-
ment and technology at TeraXion
(www.teraxion.com).
Wenhua Lin, vice president of tech-
nology and new products at ANDe-
vices (www.andevices.com), says she
has seen some variation in the ways in
which system vendors are deploying
TODC technology for residual disper-
sion. We see a lot of new applications
where people are using the TODC
combined with other things, like a
transponder, she confirms. Usu-
ally, the TODC is a separate unit or
line card before the receiver, but now
system vendors want to integrate the
TODC into the transponder. While
such integrated devices are not really
taking off right now, Lin confirms
that system vendors currently are
weighing how to use TODC technol-
ogy most efficiently in the network.
Inline compensation
In todays 10-Gbit/sec networks, a light
signal can travel up to 65 km without
dispersion compensation, reports Haim
Laufer, senior vice president of sales and
marketing for Civcom (www.civcom.
com). Using chirp or a different mod-
ulation scheme extends that distance to
80 km, after which some form of inline
dispersion compensation is required.
The sources interviewed for this
story say that TODC is just starting
to emerge as a replacement for the in-
cumbent inline compensation technol-
ogydispersion-compensating fiber
(DCF)for 10-Gbit/sec long-haul and
metro systems. TODC for inline appli-
cations has not been used in the past
for several reasons. First, the relatively
recent emergence of reconfigurability
places new requirements
on the network in terms of
tunability. Second, inline
dispersion compensation
is a bit more challenging
than residual compen-
sation, admits Bell Labs
Doerr. With inline, you
need to be able to tolerate
cascading effects, he ex-
plains. Residual compen-
sation, by contrast, can
have a smaller disper-
sion [window] because you only have
to pass through once, and theres no
cascading.
System vendors also may be slow
to adopt TODC technology for inline
applications because the incumbent
DCF technology is so thoroughly en-
trenched. DCF is specialized fiber that
has high levels of negative dispersion
over relatively short lengths. While it
is a widely used, proven technology,
DCF is bulky, difficult to install, and
suffers from high attenuation. The
attenuation requires the use of addi-
tional amplification, which, in turn,
adds to the overall cost of the system.
Moreover, DCF is not tunable. For
each distance you have to compen-
sate, says Laufer, you need a differ-
ent product.
TODCs, on the other hand, provide
set-and-forget adjustment. The big
advantage is its easier for the cus-
tomer to install a system because they
dont have to measure their link dis-
persion very accurately, says Doerr.
Once [a TODC] is installed, they can
tweak the amount of dispersion theyll
need. Doerr also cites the advantage
of tunability for inventory reduction;
assuming they integrate the TODC
component directly on a line card, sys-
tem vendors could use the same card
at every node.
Doerr confirms that Alcatel-Lu-
cent is currently working to integrate
TODCs for inline compensation into
some of its commercially available
products. While he recognizes that
the cost of tunable optical dispersion
compensation has to come down for
it to really be disruptive and take over
inline, Doerr believes the benefits of
TODC outweigh the additional cost,
even in the near term. He compares
the use of TODC versus DCF to auto-
matic versus standard transmission in
a car. Most drivers are willing to pay
a bit more for automatic transmission,
he says, because it is convenient and
requires less training. It is the same
with TODC versus DCF; with the
proper feedback signal, TODC can au-
tomatically set the dispersion, whereas
DCF requires skilled craft to install.
A further benefit of TODC technol-
ogy is that the same device can be used
for both residual and inline compen-
sation, depending on where it is de-
ployed in the network. If it is placed
near the optical amplifier, [the cus-
tomer] probably wants to target it for
DCF replacement, says Lin. If they
use the TODC before the receiver, then
they want to use it for residual disper-
sion compensation. But a single unit
can do two functions.
As TODC technology improves
going forward, Doerr imagines that
inline compensation could eventu-
ally eliminate the need for residual
compensation. Such an implementa-
tion would be more cost-effective, he
says, because you could eliminate the
per-channel cost penalty of residual
compensation.
Technology smorgasbord
Each vendor playing in the TODC
market uses a different material tech-
nology and tuning mechanism; some
are already commercially available,
while others are still in development.
TeraXion claims to be the market
leader in dispersion compensation
with its FBG-based devices. TeraXion
couples its FBG with a thermal gra-
dient platform. Basically, we change
the thermal gradient on the fiber,
and that changes the dispersion level,
says Guy. He notes that the same un-
derlying technology is used for both
TeraXions static or fixed dispersion
compensators, which are widely de-
ployed for both residual and inline
compensation, and its tunable com-
pensators. The vendor simply adds a
tuning mechanism to the grating. Its
a natural choice to move from a static
dispersion compensator to a tun-
able dispersion compensator using a
proven technology, which is the fiber
Bragg grating, he contends. TeraX-
ions 10- and 40-Gbit/sec TODCs are
commercially available.
While some cite the FBGs size as
a shortcomingit is too large to be
integrated into a 300-pin MSA tran-
sponderGuy reports that TeraXions
customers have not been asking for
transponder-based devices. I would
say our customers are mainly integrat-
ing our components directly on their
line cards, he says.
TODCs also can be made from et-
alons, which are based on bulk optics
made into an optical cavity that in-
duces multiple beam interference be-
tween two mirrors. Etalons feature one
of two tuning methods: They are either
tuned by changing the space between
the mirrors or by adjusting the temper-
ature. Civcoms etalon-based TODC,
for example, is thermally controlled.
Laufer reports that Civcoms TODC is
small enough to fit in a standard, 300-
pin transponder. The vendor currently
offers both the dispersion compensa-
tion component as well as the com-
ponent integrated within a 300-pin
transponder, enabling system vendors
to achieve distances between 170 and
350 km, says Laufer.
Fujitsu (www.fujitsu.com), mean-
while, has commercially available
10- and 40-Gbit/sec dispersion com-
pensators based on virtual image
phased array (VIPA) technology. In a
VIPA-based device, dispersion com-
pensation is accomplished via a thin
glass plate coated on both sides with a
reflecting film and a reflecting mirror.
Industry insiders report that such de-
vices achieve the largest dispersion of
any TODC to date but currently have a
large footprint and high insertion loss.
ANDevices employs a planar light-
wave circuit (PLC) approach in which
a cascade of multiple Mach-Zehnder
interferometers
Residual compensation provides constant, per-channel adjustment at the receiver, while
inline dispersion compensation provides a more compact, tunable alternative to the incum-
bent technology, dispersion-compensating fiber.
Cont. on pg 19
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
___
Technology
results. Remember you are lining up
tiny lenses in three dimensions close
to millionths of an inch. Youll also
need a good bulkhead adapter. A
cheap, worn-out one wont do. Pick
up a nice ceramic adapter and keep
it capped. For critical measurements,
always clean the adapters first using
only a fiber-grade stick cleaner. Clean
transceivers as well, but be careful
too much force or excess cleaning liq-
uid may damage the internal lens.
Laser sources and other similar gear
can become unstable as the connector
tip takes a beating. Often a factory re-
polish will restore performance. Add-
ing a sacrificial patch cable is a cheaper
solution. The idea is to reduce instru-
ment matings and provide a connector
that is easier to clean and inspect.
Dont store cables tightly wound
or take measurements that way. They
will take that shape and cause nonlin-
ear losses, especially at the 1,490/1,550-
nm wavelengths. Verify cables by gently
moving them during measurements.
Replace them after a few hundred in-
sertions. Always clean both ends!
Whats wrong with generic patch ca-
bles? Plenty. If you need precision in a
lab or production environment, they
may add 0-1 dB of unstable loss. The
Purchasing Department may treat
patch cables as cheap commodities, but
they are not all the same. Only about
one-third of generics are usable for lab
purposes. So after cleaning and hand-
testing each one, where is the savings?
For example, commodity ferrules
are drilled out to larger holes for ease
of assembly. This process causes the
fiber to be off-center and creates ex-
cess loss and inconsistency. Some are
not crimped properly, so twisting the
connector will cause stress attenua-
tion. The problem here is that remat-
ing them will cause inaccuracies due
to the mechanical misalignment. You
may find most patch cables are dirty
right out of the bag, so check them. A
better grade comes with factory test
data. Remember the Reagan Cold War
doctrine: Trust but verify.
You can buy a quality patch cable
with very low insertion loss (IL) for
about $20. For calibration labs and pre-
cise requirements, use a tuned, more
expensive master-grade cable, which
is available from a variety of suppliers.
Label and treasure these cables, as they
may get borrowed permanently to fix
unexplainable problems elsewhere.
Other potential
problem sources
There are other potential sources of
problems that deserve a quick review.
Caps: Caps are a major source of
problems. They may be dirty and will
outgas onto the surface. Clean them
and store extras in a clean bag. Al-
ways cap fiber ends. Just the electro-
static charge on the ferrule alone will
attract airborne contaminants.
Instrument adapters: After a num-
ber of insertions, instrument adapters
can become a hotbed of contamination,
so clean them. For lab use, I have gone
as far as using an ultrasonic cleaner to
get my repeatability back.
Optical inspection: The critical
core area on a singlemode connector
is 9 m wide, or 0.0003 inches. One
human hair is huge by contrast. A
speck of dirt, residue, or even smoke
you cant see may cause serious atten-
uation, backreflection, and even per-
manent damage. Simply cleaning the
connector may not be enough. Use a
400X scope with a clean adapter on
it to inspect your work before mating.
The connector may be scratched or
even burned by EDFA power levels.
One important note is that negli-
gible dirt may not be measurable for
insertion loss, producing, lets say, 0.5
dB. But it can reduce your backre-
flection by 10 to 30 dB. This is bad
news for AM video systems or single-
wavelength data. Even worse, you may
change to passing data by simply re-
mating the connectors once or twice.
Your RF and reflection measurements
may be compromised. Back at your
customers site, the dirt is now opti-
mized and your FAIL LED is just
waiting for the tech to leave.
Cleaning and calibration
From the discussion so far, its clear
that cleaning is an essential aspect
of ensuring precision measurements.
However, the methods (or lack of meth-
ods) for cleaning I have witnessed are
amazing. I have seen canned air, shop
air, window cleaner, rubbing alcohol,
clothing, etc., used to clean the micro-
miniature, highly precision-polished
fiber ends. Would you do this to your
expensive eyeglasses?
A simple, consistent (preferably dry)
cleaning method is the key to low losses
and accurate measurements. I dont rec-
ommend most wet cleaners due to added
complexity and because they require a
dry wipe to remove film or water spots
from evaporation. Using alcohol known
as IPA is dangerous. The use of flux bot-
tles is another common contamination
problem because the alcohol readily ab-
sorbs water and after a while may look
more like brandy due to dirt.
Whats the best cleaning method? It
depends. In general, labs and produc-
tion lines need a light cleaning for dust,
but the field and service centers may
need a heavier and repeated cleaning.
Proper cleaning is worth another ar-
ticle in itself [which you can look for in
JuneEd.]. For now, your best bet is
to see the effects of incorrect cleaning
for yourself with a 400X scopethen
change that procedure or supplier.
If you havent established a serious
fiber inspection and cleaning proce-
dure yet, please start now. You have
one for ESD, yet fiber cleanliness can
be a much more critical and costly is-
sue. Westover Scientific has released
a free informative video on this topic
called Inspect Before You Connect!
(Download at www.westoverfiber.
com/Support/downloads.php.) The
major telecoms estimate that 65% to
75% of optical field issues are attrib-
uted to dirty fiber. So either inspect
and clean proactively or hire more
field staff.
Its particularly tempting to skimp
on cleaning in the field. A list of ratio-
nalizations might look like this:
1. It was cleaned at the factory.
Achieving precision in optical measurements
2. I dont need to clean it unless
the link fails.
3. I dont do the fiber optics. Im only an
installer.
4. My cleaner is empty right now.
5. I only had a one-hour class on it.
6. Lookits not dirty!
All of these excuses are dangerous
to accept. Fibers in the field are the
most susceptible to contaminants
such as dirt, gels, oils, etc. Clean both
ends prior to mating during an in-
stallation. One industry secret is how
many boards are returned and tested
as NTF (no trouble found) once the
fiber is simply cleaned.
I can underscore the impor-
tance of cleaning in the field from
my own painful experience with
several FTTH service calls. The
installers redid my coax need-
lessly, but I simply cleaned the fi-
bers and my movie channels are
HD-grade for the first time. They
needed an optical power meter
instead of the cable-TV one they
used. I then ended up teaching a
class on cleaning and inspection
in my dining room.
Had you been in my dining
room at the time, you might
have seen something like Photo
1, which shows what a simple
fingerprint (with clean hands,
no less) looks like under 400X
magnification. You cant see
this level of contamination with
the naked eye. After cleaning, the core
area is well defined and ready for low-
loss connections.
These issues dont stop with your
own staff. Take Joes Discount Cali-
bration, who comes to your door with
offers of big cost savings. It takes real
care and skill to do fiber calibrations.
Do they clean the lens, adapters, etc.?
Do they use reference-grade patch ca-
bles? Are they trained in fiber?
Some vendors will just sticker your
box and cal the dirt out for you. Your
readings will vary accordingly and may
be worse than before. If you clean the
lens now, your readings will be higher
and off. Quality gear should not
require regular tweaks if kept clean.
Take before and after measurements.
Visit the calibration house. Their gear
should be better than yoursyou
may be surprised what some use. See
if they know how to clean and inspect
fiber per written procedure; it makes
Photo 2. This fingerprint dirt was captured
by Westover Scientifics FiberChek2. Such
computerized systems can provide a quick,
simple pass/fail test per a soon-to-be-global
standard.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Technology
TECH TRENDS
CONT. FROM PAGE 17
a huge difference. Have a third party
or instrument handy for comparison.
Stick to a reputable service or use fac-
tory calibration otherwise.
Production issues
You say youve outsourced the fiber
manufacturing and now you dont
have to worry about it? Here are a few
points to consider.
If your vendor uses video inspec-
tion systems, its easy to tweak the
brightness and contrast down to get
the yield up. Critical core area dam-
age or contamination may never be
spotted. Are you really expecting pro-
duction-level folks to measure a 27.2-
m blob in Region B as a pass/fail per
your procedure? A preferred method
is to use a computerized, nonsubjec-
tive USB-based system (see Photo 2).
Besides offering good results, theyre
great news for those involved with fi-
ber inspection who dont like grease
pencils on screens.
There are other factors to consider
when working with an outside vendor.
Are they using a reputable calibration
house that knows fiber? Are they re-
placing patch cords when they wear out?
Are they cleaning each time? You will
find that most contract manufacturers
wont spend the money on replacement
patch cords or cleaners unless required.
Proper long-term measurements dic-
tate repeatable conditions. Only audits
and enforcement will keep your mea-
surements accurate.
Training
I am amazed at how little proper hands-
on training takes place. I have seen in-
credible yield changesfrom 50% to
more than 90%by simply training
employees on production lines. Show-
ing a fingerprint on a large monitor
leaves a lasting impression.
Even expensive equipment will
give you erroneous results if not used
correctly. Generally, engineers spec-
ify nice gear for measurements, but
they trust someone else will write the
procedures, do the proper training
for the techs and installers, and en-
force the process for long-term qual-
ity. But it just doesnt happen often.
We have ESD audits and procedures
due to heightened industry aware-
ness. Its time for more fiber aware-
ness from management on down.
Getting peak performance from
your optical test gear requires knowl-
edge and diligence. I hope I raised
your awareness of what it takes to
make accurate lab, field, and service
measurements. The best part is that
being meticulous in your measure-
ments will increase your companys
quality and bottom line. Plus it gives
you time to enjoy all those new movie
channels fiber provides.
Rick Racinskas is a senior engineer
at Tellabs (www.tellabs.com), where he
supports global manufacturing for the
companys access products. Racinskas has
more than 20 years of experience in fiber-
optic design, test, and manufacturing. He
holds five patents, a bachelors degree in
engineering technology from the University
of South Florida, and is a member of the
international Electronics Manufacturing
Initiative (iNEMI). He can be reached at rick.
racinskas@tellabs.com.
Fast progress in ITU for bend-loss
insensitive singlemode fiber
By Gerard Kuyt
A relatively new ITU-T SG15 group (Question 10;
chaired by Piet Matthijsse of Draka Comteq) is devoted
to optical fibers and cables for the access network to
and in buildings and homes. This group has prepared
a new standard for fibers opti-
mized for use in the first mile.
Aimed at reducing installation
cost, the optimization involves
reduced bending loss, thereby
allowing the fiber to be used
in smaller enclosures, cabi-
nets, and easily installable in-
door cables.
When previously discussed
in this column (see Standards
Watch, Lightwave, July 2006,
page 20), the draft recommen-
dation (then temporarily de-
noted as G.smx) was planned
for consent at the June 2007
meeting. Because of requests
from several operators and in-
dustry parties, fast progress
was achieved and the new recommendation was con-
sented at the November 2006 meeting and given the
designation G.657. This fast development endorses the
apparent need for a worldwide standard for bend-loss
insensitive fiber.
Recommendation G.657 recommends two fiber
classes: A and B. Class A is in all aspects compliant
with the well known Recommendation G.652.D but of-
fers a significantly lower macrobending loss. Its use is
defined for bend radii of 10 and 15 mm where the maxi-
mum bend loss at 1,550 nm is 0.75 and 0.025 dB/turn,
respectively. By comparison, the bend loss for G.652.
D fiber is specified at the much higher bend radius of
30 mm only.
G.657 Class B may deviate from G.652.D on mode field
diameter and dispersion and is intended for use over re-
stricted distances for in-building applications. Class B
fibers may have different splicing and connection prop-
erties than G.652 fibers because of a lower mode field
diameter but can be used at smaller bend radii. The max-
imum bend loss at 1,550 nm is 0.5 dB/turn at a 7.5-mm
bend radius, and 0.1 dB/turn at a 10-mm radius. This is
significantly lower than G.657 Class A fibers.
STANDARDS WATCH
Gerard Kuyt is
product line manager
at Draka Comteq
Optical Fibre in the
Netherlands; delegate
to ITU-T SG15/Q5 and
Q10; and convenor of
IEC SC86A/WG1. He
can be reached at
gerard.kuyt@draka.com.
(MZIs) is integrated into a single chip.
When a voltage is applied to tune the
phases, light with different wavelengths
travels through two MZI arms sepa-
rately, resulting in negative and positive
dispersion. According to Lin, the same
design can be used for single- or mul-
tiple-channel TODCs. She says ANDe-
vices chose the PLC design to leverage
the materials mass- reproducible semi-
conductor fabrication techniques, thus
lowering costs. Moreover, it features no
moving parts and can be easily inte-
grated with other devices, she says. The
company is currently shipping proto-
type 10- and 40-Gbit/sec TODCs.
Bell Labs also employs PLC technol-
ogy in the form of silica arrayed wave-
guide gratings (AWGs). According to
Doerr, Bell Labs uses a high-resolu-
tion AWG along with a polymer-based
thermo-optic lens that it developed
in collaboration with Gemfire Corp.
(www.gemfirecorp.com). To get
dispersion, you need a linear group
delay, which means you need a para-
bolic phase distribution, he explains.
The high-resolution AWG spreads the
spectrum across the thermo-optic lens,
and the thermo-optic lens gives you a
parabolic phase. You have a region of
the material, and you heat up, lets say,
the center more than the edges, creat-
ing the parabolic phase. The polymer
is useful, he says, because it creates a
large index change over temperature.
Besides DCF, all flavors of TODCs
also will compete against electronic dis-
persion compensation (EDC), at least
at 10 Gbits/sec. EDC is performed after
the optical-electrical-optical conversion
and may be accomplished via adaptive
clock and data recovery or adaptive
equalization. EDC is not yet commer-
cially available at 40 Gbits/sec.
Some industry insiders wonder if
perhaps EDC will find its niche as a
complementary technology to TODC,
which only compensates for chromatic
dispersion. EDC can be used to combat
polarization-mode dispersion, which is
problematic for higher-bit-rate systems.
Several sources interviewed for this
story note that a hybrid implementation
of both ODC and EDC may be the best
option. In fact, says Doerr, EDC can be
used to clean up the high-order effects
(e.g., group delay ripple) introduced by
the TODC devices themselves. I think
in the future, well see a combination of
EDC and ODC, he maintains.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Technology
OpVista has recently unveiled the AnyWave Op-
tical Network strategy. OpVista has combined al-
ready fielded IP with new technology initiatives
to enable companies to transition their existing
infrastructures into high-speed, high-capacity
Ethernet transport networks.
Its a holistic way to look at the network, then
its some additional capabilities we added to the
portfolio to do that, describes Dawn Hough, vice
president, marketing and business development of
OpVista. According to Hough, the cornerstones
of the companys new strategy include the reuse
of existing infrastructure
by providing a graceful
upgrade path for cur-
rent networks, the ability
to provide connectivity
anywhere in the network
at any time, the addition
of network resiliency to
Ethernet transport, re-
duction of capex and
opex, and the creation of a
service-independent net-
work that can cost-effec-
tively support voice, video,
and data services for resi-
dences and businesses.
OpVista has combined
existing and newly an-
nounced IP to implement
the AnyWave Optical Network concept. For exam-
ple, it plans to provide scalable capacity via its ex-
isting 10-Gbit/sec Ultra-DWDM technology, plus
its new WaveWeaver capability. The Ultra-DWDM
technology enables 10-Gbit/sec traffic to ride across
networks engineered for 2.5-Gbits/sec by combin-
ing four 2.5-Gbit/sec streams into a single 2.5-Gbit/
sec transmission window. The new WaveWeaver
technology enables companies to add wavelengths
to existing 10-Gbit/sec networks that have hit max-
imum capacity usage. Wavelengths from the exist-
ing 10-Gbit/sec multiplexers operating at 100-GHz
spacing feed into the WaveWeaver platform, which
adds additional wavelengths at 100 GHz, but offset
by 50 GHz from the original grid. The new wave-
lengths ride between the existing wavelengths, thus
doubling capacity to a maximum of 800 Gbits/sec,
based on a total of 80 wavelengths.
Hough reveals that the company also plans to
port its Ultra-DWDM technology for 40-Gbit/
sec applications, again by transporting multiple
10-Gbit/sec streams into the transmission win-
dow normally occupied by a single stream. She
declined to reveal when the technology would be
officially released.
For ubiquitous connectivity, OpVista will lever-
age its existing broadcast-and-select architecture,
which uses broadband couplers and tunable receiv-
ers to create a ROADM functionality that can be
enabled and expanded without disrupting service
or requiring forklift upgrades. Hough asserts that
thanks to differences in transponder costs and the
fact that carriers wont have to install new modules
at every node to add or expand ROADM capability,
the OpVista ROADM approach will cost 72% less
than a typical network equipped with fixed optical
add/drop multiplexers.
Meanwhile, the compa-
nys existing Switched Ring
Architecture (SRA) pro-
vides the network reliability
and resiliency that Carrier
Ethernet requires, Hough
says. The SRA provides
full optical layer protec-
tion across any number of
nodes; Hough says that one
customer has deployed an
SRA with 26 nodes across
1,000 km. So if you look at
video, and operators trying
to minimize their cost for
servers and storage, if you
can serve a large number
of nodes with a single video
stream, youre going to save a lot of your cost in that
video distribution, Hough explains.
The company believes its upcoming EtherWave
technology will reduce capex and opex by decreas-
ing router/switch costs at the network edge. The
technology will be incorporated into the companys
OpVista 2000 platform. One box can be installed
at the service hub and pass up to 80 wavelengths of
Gigabit Ethernet to another OpVista 2000 at a re-
mote node, which will split the streams for delivery
to the customer premises. The architecture reduces
or eliminates the requirement for comparatively
expensive edge routers. While OpVista has intro-
duced the concept within the AnyWave Optical
Network announcement, it plans a separate release
of the technology around the June timeframe.
Taken together, OpVista is confident that its
approach provides both scale and cost savings.
We believe the AnyWave Optical Network con-
cept is the most comprehensive, cost-effective
way to transform your existing infrastructure
into a Carrier Ethernet-ready network, Hough
concludes.
By Stephen Hardy
OpVista unveils AnyWave
Optical Network concept
OpVistas AnyWave Optical Network
concept is designed to enable service pro-
viders to use the OpVista 2000 to transform
their legacy infrastructure into a Carrier
Ethernet network.
XFP connector modules
The XFP001/2/3-L line of 10-Gbit XFP mod-
ules is designed for use with 10-Gbit hot-
pluggable optical transceiver modules. The
cage and connector comply with the Multi-
source Agreement 3.0 (MSA 3.0) standard
and support OC-192/STM-64, 10-Gigabit
Fibre Channel, G.709, and 10-Gigabit Ether-
net (10GbE) protocols in applications such
as blade servers, routers, add/drop mul-
tiplexers, and remote base stations and
central office equipment. They supply en-
hanced electromagnetic interference (EMI)
protection for 10GbE applications. The
module series is versatile and can handle
optical transceiver links as well as trans-
ceivers configured to operate as traditional
copper RJ-45 type connectors.
Pulse, a Technitrol company,
www.pulseeng.com
Single-chip scalable framer device
The TEMUX 336 is a single-chip device in-
tegrating OC-12/STM-4 or 4xOC-3/STM-1
SONET/SDH framers for working and pro-
tect links, 336/252 T1/E1 framers, 12
DS3/E3 framers, 12 M13/G.747 multiplex-
ers, and 12 VT/TU mappers. The device
features excellent clock control and jitter
performance required by 3G wireless, TDM
over packet (PWE3), and circuit emulation
applications. The PM8311 TEMUX 168 is
available for lower-density designs and is
fully hardware-and software-compatible
with the TEMUX 336. The devices are pack-
aged in 3131-mm, 896-pin FCBGA pack-
ages, utilizing low-power 1-V CMOS, and
are rated for industrial temperature range
operation (40 to +85C).
PMC-Sierra, www.pmc-sierra.com
COMPONENTS
page 21
PRODUCT PROFILE
O
P
V
I
S
T
A
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Technology
Uncooled pump laser
The AM6-940A-20-408 is a mul-
timode 940-nm diode laser in a
high-reliability, uncooled, electri-
cally isolated package suitable for
cable TV and telecom applications.
It has a 105-m fiber output with
0.15 numerical aperture (NA) and
meets all the requirements of Tel-
cordia GR-468. It is fully hermetic,
operates over a wide operating
temperature range, and provides
a path for customers to extend
the performance and value of their
optical amplifiers. The uncooled
laser is the latest addition to a
family of thermoelectrically cooled,
Telcordia-qualified multimode
pump lasers offering up to 2.5 W.
Alfalight Inc., www.alfalight.com
SONET/SDH
systems-on-a-chip
Drava (S4809) and Mura (S4819)
SONET/SDH framer/pointer pro-
cessor devices feature a level of
integration that can reduce overall
system costs by as much as 50%,
made possible by eliminating the
need for an external SerDes and
an FPGA device that provides user-
programmable client transparency
services. Analog macros and com-
plex digital functions have been
incorporated into these systems-
on-a-chip (SoCs). The chips are
ideally designed for 5G and lower
line card applications requiring
framer/pointer processing func-
tions, specifically the multiservice
provisioning platform (MSPP) and
optical crossconnect markets.
AMCC, www.amcc.com
Low-jitter clock oscillators
A family of high-frequency clock
oscillators consists of types CS9
(3.3 V, LVPECL), CLD (3.3 V, LVDS),
CSP (2.5 V, LVEPCL), and CLP (2.5
V, LVDS). The lead-free, RoHS-com-
pliant products are designed for
use in mass storage networks and
Fibre Channel and Ethernet appli-
cations. For Fibre Channel usage,
frequencies of 106.25 and 425
MHz are available; for GbE, fre-
quencies are 125 and 312.5 MHz;
for 10GbE, frequencies are 156.25,
250, and 644.5312 MHz; and for
SONET frequencies are available
at 155.52, 311.04, and 622.08
MHzall with a low jitter less than
1 psec rms. Units are packaged
in a case size of 75 mm and are
rated with an operating tempera-
ture range from 40 to +85C.
Raltron Electronics Corp.,
www.raltron.com
Plugless termination for
plastic optical fiber
Proprietary Fast Ethernet fiber-op-
tic transceiver technology is avail-
able in an easy-to-use, low-cost
housing that provides instant ter-
mination of bare plastic optical
fiber (POF), a low-cost optical alter-
native to copper cabling. The new
OptoLock POF port speeds and
simplifies the connection of de-
vices in communications and info-
tainment networks. Combined with
EDL300 transceivers, OptoLock en-
ables 100-Mbit Ethernet applica-
tions with strict quality-of-service
requirements such as IPTV gate-
ways, set-top boxes, and hubs. The
port design enables the fiber to
be cut and terminated to the exact
required length on-site, allowing
consumers to quickly and easily
terminate the bare optical fiber.
Firecomms, www.firecomms.com
INSTALLATION
Micro fiber-optic polisher
Rev polishes connectors and op-
tical components to singlemode
performance in a compact and
economical package. UPC and
angled fixtures are available for in-
dustry-standard and custom com-
ponents as well as for bare fiber
applications. The polisher is suit-
able for R&D, cable repair, and
field installation kits. High-speed
processing is powered via AC and
battery operation.
Krell Technologies,
www.krelltech.com
Cabling distribution system
The Residential Cabling Distribu-
tion Center provides simultaneous
distribution of high-speed data,
voice, and video signals through-
out the home, multifamily dwell-
ing, or small commercial building.
An eight-port switch gives users
the ability to network up to seven
computers. Other features include
complete automation capabilities
and central control of multiple ap-
plications, including telephone,
video, data, cable TV, satellite, au-
dio distribution, HDTV, cable mo-
dem, and even security systems.
The fiber-based system accepts
all connector types (SC, ST, and
LC) and is easily upgradeable with
flexible patch-panel modularity.
CommScope Inc.,
www.commscope.com
Cable tray with integrated
power module
Power Snake Canyon is a patented
under-floor cable tray with an inte-
grated power module. The all-in-
one component provides not only
a cable path but also up to eight
pre-installed power receptacles to
meet power needs while reducing
the electrical construction costs of
a project. The universal cable tray
instantly installs to any access
floor with a 30-sec attachment
system, without requiring tools
or hardware. The modular cable
trays can be reused for changes
and retrofits. The Snake Canyon
design allows for proper airflow
under the access floor and does
not void the floor manufacturers
warranty.
Snake Tray, www.snaketray.com
TEST EQUIPMENT
40/43-Gbit test platform
The modular TestPoint product line
now features 40- and 43-Gbit/sec
test capabilities. The 40-Gbit/sec
module is the industrys first OC-
768/STM-256 and OTU3 test in-
terface specifically designed for
manufacturing and system test
applications. The 40-Gbit/sec
module is available in both the
three-slot TS-30 and 17-slot TS-
170 chassis configurations. The
TestPoint platform provides versa-
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Noted inventor and auto icon
Henry Ford famously said:
Customers can have a
car painted any color,
so long as it
s black.
Ever get that feeling
from your telecom
component
supplier?
Technology
tility in configuring interface types,
transmission rates, protocols, and
port density.
Innocor, www.innocor.com
10G Ethernet network
emulator
The multiflow capability for XGEM,
a line-rate 10GbE network emu-
lator, allows test engineers to
define up to 64 network profiles,
effectively emulating 64 network
clouds per emulator in the test
lab. Network emulators are used
to validate the functionality and
performance under real-world net-
work conditions during hardware/
software development, network
planning, network design, and ac-
ceptance testing to assure ser-
vice reliability and reduce support
costs. The emulator operates at
full line-rate up to 11.3 Gbits/sec
and support multiple protocols, in-
cluding IP, Ethernet, Fibre Channel,
SONET/SDH, OTN, and CPRI.
Anue Systems,
www.anuesystems.com
Remote test unit for network
management system
The OTU-8000, a rack-mounted,
remote test unit for the optical
network management system
(ONMS) that integrates the latest
optical time-domain reflectometry
(OTDR) and optical switch tech-
nologies. A single OTU-8000 can
test hundreds of fiber links within
a large (40,000 km
2
) area and re-
port any faults relative to the near-
est physical landmark. The units
wide range of applications helps
eliminate erroneous field techni-
cian dispatches, reduce mean-
time-to-repair, and anticipate
service disruption by detecting
fiber degradation before service is
affected. The product also moni-
tors the long-term performance of
installed fibers and detects and
locates fiber tapping for network
security purposes.
JDSU, www.jdsu.com
Small-form-factor
optical switch and
management console
New versions of the Intelligent
Optical Switch are available,
with features designed to facili-
tate remote and automatic cre-
ation, monitoring, and protection
of fiber connections. The new
switches deliver fully nonblocking
transparent connectivity in the
industrys smallest form factor. A
3.5-inch (2-U) package houses as
many as 190 fibers and a 7-inch
(4-U) package supports as many
as 380 fibers. The Release 4.0
management console enables
multiple switches to be linked
and managed with a single con-
trol interface. Physical-layer fiber
connections are managed from
the desktop instead of driving
to multiple network locations to
manually patch and test fiber
connections.
Glimmerglass,
www.glimmerglass.com
One-click jitter
testing software
Software release 4.5 for the J-
BERT N4903A serial BERT en-
ables test engineers to retrieve
the fastest jitter tolerance test re-
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
GEMFIRE
Bringing new ideas to light
2
0
0
7
G
e
m
fire
C
o
rp
o
ra
tio
n
. A
ll rig
h
ts
re
s
e
rv
e
d
. G
e
m
fire
, th
e
G
e
m
fire
lo
g
o
, P
h
o
to
n
IC
, a
n
d
B
rin
g
in
g
N
e
w
Id
e
a
s
T
o
L
ig
h
t a
re
tra
d
e
m
a
rk
s
o
f G
e
m
fire
C
o
rp
o
ra
tio
n
.
Ford wasnt being obstinate, just practical.
He was led to believe black paint dried
faster. And that meant more cars
would get through the assembly
line quicker and could, in turn,
be sold cheaper. This notion of
limiting choices to lower costs still applies
today. But thats not always a good thing.
Today, you need to work with your
supplier as a partner
not simply a
component manufacturer. Thats why
Gemfire works with top system integra-
tors to deliver not only
best
-
of
-
class components
such as our low-PDL
multiport VOA and our
athermal AWG for use in
any environment, but also custom sub
-
system integration that reduces cost and
significantly improves performance.
This optimized design approach elim-
inates the spec
-
margin overhead inherent
in multivendor lowest
-
common
-
denom-
inator subcomponent assembly. Take
our variety of VMux designs that include
combinations of AWGs, VOAs, switches,
taps, channel monitors, power detectors,
and intelligent control electronics. Or our
new TODC Tunable Optical Dispersion
Compensator that combines the highest
bandwidth and tunability range with low
insertion loss and power, enabling system
upgrades to 40G and beyond.
These and other Gemfire products are
available today for your custom, design
-
in and high
-
volume requirements. Just let
us know what you need to do; well work
with you to get it done. Visit us at now at
gemfire.com. Or call 1-866-4GEMFIRE.
When it comes to meeting your prod-
uct needs, well pass with flying colors.
Come See Us At OFC 2007Booth #3341In Anaheim
Technology
testing capabilities, improved re-
flectance measurement range,
and a new test wavelength for
FTTX applications (at 1,490 nm).
This automated test system char-
acterizes singlemode FTTX com-
ponents such as PLC splitters
and fiber arrays. The system also
comes equipped with the IQS-
3250B loss test module, enabling
the system to carry out mandrel-
free measurements of ultralow re-
flectance (down to 75 dB).
EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering
Inc., www.exfo.com
SYSTEMS
Metro Ethernet
demarcation device
The OptiSwitch 900 (OS900) se-
ries, a compact, carrier-class
Metro Ethernet demarcation de-
vice, is designed to deliver man-
aged Fast Ethernet or Gigabit
Ethernet carrier services with ad-
vanced service-level agreement
(SLA) for network demarcation.
The OS900 series is compliant
with MEF services, receiving MEF
14 certification for Ethernet Pri-
vate Line, Ethernet Virtual Private
Line, and Ethernet LAN. The de-
vice allows for the future extension
of an MPLS domain to the demarc
point via the tunneling of Layer
2 pseudowire VPNs or hierarchi-
cal virtual private LAN services
for MTUs. The currently available
OS910 has eight 10/100/1,000
Ethernet ports and two SFP slots;
the OS912 model offers two addi-
tional optical ports.
MRV Communications Inc.,
www.mrv.com
2.4-Gbit GPON OLT
cards, ONTs
Enabling not just voice, data, and
IPTV, but high-definition program-
ming, video-on-demand, and
advanced interactive communi-
cations, 2.4-Gbit/sec dual- and
quad-port optical line terminal
(OLT) cards are fully hardened,
making them suitable for both
sults. The software provides one-
click jitter tolerance test insight,
faster device debug with restore of
jitter setup, among other enhance-
ments. A one-screen result dis-
play shows all passed and failed
tested conditions as well as speci-
fication limits. For quicker test
documentation, J-BERT now gen-
erates all-inclusive jitter tolerance
compliance test reports in HTML
format. To support all emerging
and proprietary data rates, the
built-in clock and data recovery op-
erates over the complete range of
1 to 12.5 Gbits/sec.
Agilent Technologies,
www.agilent.com
Cable assembly and
component tester
The new IQS-12001B cable as-
sembly and component test sys-
tem is designed for production
testing of short fiber assemblies
and FTTX components. The up-
dated system delivers three new
functionalities: FTTX component
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
G USA SALES : 973-579-7227 G www.thorlabs.com G Sales@thorlabs.com G ADDITIONAL OFFICES IN GERMANY - UK - SWEDEN - JAPAN G
PMD5000 System
I Separate Interrogator and Receiver/Analyzer Units for
Analysis of Installed Networks: Ring, Long Haul, Star, etc.
I Communication Between Interrogator Unit & Receiver Unit
via TCP/IP
I PMD Monitoring of Single Wavelengths on Live Networks
I Analysis of Networks with Amplifying Components
www.thorlabs.com
Request Your FREE Tools of the Trade
Catalog With Over 10,000 Products.
Order Online at www.thorlabs.com
Over 700 New Products!
PMD Analysis of Complex Networks
PMD Measurement System
Technology
central office and remote deploy-
ments. The GPON link can natively
carry both Ethernet and traditional
time-division multiplexed (TDM)
traffic with strict quality of service
with GPON Encapsulation Mode
(GEM). The 2.4-Gbit/sec optical
network terminals (ONTs) feature
a mix of two or four POTS lines
combined with Ethernet only, or
combined with Ethernet and ca-
ble TV. Field-installable expansion
modules provide additional sup-
port for Ethernet, Home Phoneline
Network Alliance (HPNA V.3), and
T1/Async-T1 interfaces, making it
simple to plug in future additional
interfaces.
TelStrat, www.telstrat.com
SUBSYSTEMS
10-Gbit/sec DWDM
transceiver module
The first DWDM transceiver that
complies with the 10-Gbit/sec
form-factor pluggable extended
multisource agreement (XFP-E
MSA) features a transmission
range of 9.95 to 11.1 Gbits/sec
using a high-performance phase-
locked loop (PLL) circuit. This
simplifies construction of opti-
cal communication systems with
varying transmission rates, such
as SONET/SDH, 10-Gigabit Eth-
ernet, 10-Gbit/sec Fibre Chan-
nel, etc. Using a newly developed
electronic absorption laser allows
operating temperatures up to
20C higher than existing lasers.
Because the new laser can oper-
ate in higher temperatures, it has
reduced the power consumption
costs for cooling by more than
half compared to 300-pin MSA-
compliant modules.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp., http://
global.mitsubishielectric.com
Rack-mountable EDFA system
The LightLEADER 6100 rack-
mountable erbium-doped fiber
amplifier (EDFA) system boosts
optical signals within fiber net-
works. Telco and cable operators
can now extend the distance traf-
fic can be carried by placing the
LL6100 along the fiber path, re-
ducing the need for expensive
signal-regeneration equipment in
long-haul links. The system is par-
ticularly cost effective when used
in conjunction with DWDM links; it
can be used in regional and metro
networks as well. Cable-TV net-
works use EDFAs to boost video
signals, allowing distribution to
more users at longer distances,
reducing network cost per sub-
scriber. The wide operating tem-
perature range makes the product
suitable for deployment in outdoor
conditions.
Lynx Photonic Networks,
www.lynxpn.com
Complete line of dispersion-
compensating devices
Based on multiple configurations
of manageable dispersion com-
pensators, M-DCM modules can
enhance fiber capacity at up to
40-Gbit/sec data rates. Designed
for submarine and terrestrial ap-
plications, M-DCM subsystems
are currently available in two shelf
sizes to fit seamlessly into exist-
ing networks. The M-DCM DPU is
a 1-U shelf DFC standalone re-
placement for a small number of
metro DWDM line networks, allow-
ing any combination of up to two
single- and/or multichannel ports.
The M-DCM MPU is a scalable 3-
U architecture that allows up to
16 independent ports to be man-
aged as a single network element.
With remote manageability of dis-
persion via IP or SNMP protocol
and RS232 maintenance port, it
can be used for several applica-
tions as multi-/single-channel for
In-line and/or pre- and post-com-
pensation.
Civcom, www.civcom.com
known, industry-accepted measure-
ment methods. One adjustment that
should be made to standardized test
practices is that higher-quality test
jumpers should be used to test low-
loss links. For example, if the sup-
plier indicates that link performance
guarantees are contingent upon the
use of low-loss patch cords or equip-
ment jumpers specified with 0.3-dB
loss per connector pair, then the qual-
ity of the test jumpers should be veri-
fied by measuring the loss across the
two mated test jumpers to confirm
that the test jumpers meet this same
specification.
In instances where link testing sug-
gests an underperforming or damaged
component, the component can most
easily be identified through process
of elimination by substituting mod-
ules from links confirmed to be good
into the problem link and retesting. If
the high attenuation disappears, this
procedure quickly points to a problem
module or harness. If the high atten-
uation persists, it points to a problem
with the trunk.
Factory-terminated plug-and-play
cable assemblies offer numerous bene-
fits related to system scalability and
maintenance. High-bandwidth mul-
timode applications are driving de-
mand for components and links with
progressively lower losses. A clear
understanding of suppliers product
specifications will help system de-
signers identify suitable components
for their applications and will help
installers avoid problems during link
testing.

Donald K. Hall is a senior applications
engineer at Corning Cable Systems (www.
corningcablesystems.com).
Do you need bulk reprints
of a Lightwave article?
If so, contact Kathleen Skelton
Tel: 603-891-9203
kathleens@pennwell.com
Reprints
Understand-
ing component
specifcations for
plug-and-play cable
assemblies
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
____
______________
___
2
0
0
7

C
M
P

M
e
d
i
a

L
L
C
.

A
l
l

R
i
g
h
t
s

R
e
s
e
r
v
e
d
.

A

U
n
i
t
e
d

B
u
s
i
n
e
s
s

M
e
d
i
a

c
o
m
p
a
n
y
.
APPLICATION DELIVERY
BRANCH OFFICE
BROADBAND WIRELESS
COLLABORATION
DATA CENTER
ENTERPRISE 2.0
FIXED MOBILE CONVERGENCE
NETWORKING & SERVICES
OPTIMIZATION
SECURITY
SOA
STORAGE
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
VIRTUALIZATION
VOIP
WEBOPS
WIRELESS & MOBILITY
BUSINESS. TECHNOLOGY.
ONE WEEK. ONE PLACE.
DONT MISS THE LEADING
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY EVENT
Interop brings together IT and business leaders to see all of the latest
technologies in action. Visit more than 400 exhibitors, attend 200+ sessions,
and check out live demos of practical business solutions. Whether you need
to evaluate a technology, solve a challenge, or just stay ahead of the curve,
Interop will provide the information you need to move your business forward.
Come to Interop.
Where business gets technology done.
Register with priority code MLLHNL67 for a Free Expo Pass or
save up to $500 at www.interop.com
R
e
g
is
t
e
r

T
o
d
a
y f
o
r

a F
r
e
e

E
x
p
o

P
a
s
s
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
_______________________
Focus
on
Applications
Innovative component, subsystem,
system, and network design
examples and alternatives
CASE BY CASE
Cont. on pg 30
Cont. on pg 28
Cont. on pg 29
Campus networks by nature are usually widely
distributed. In a typical campus environment,
the connectivity between various data centers
can range anywhere from tens to hundreds of
sites. Most campuses firewall or protect
each of the departments individually but
usually share a backbone transport net-
work that interconnects all sites to provide
uniform network connectivity.
Large enterprise networks mimic some as-
pects of campus networks. However, enter-
prise networks are usually more controlled in
terms of allowing connectivity and access to
unqualified and unauthorized software. From
a topology perspective, a medium to large en-
terprise would have multiple buildings and
departments interconnected by a backbone
transport network with each department
connected to the core transport network by a
router, firewall, virtual private network (VPN),
or all of the above.
Significant resources and effort are spent to
maintain the backbone network to provide re-
siliency, proper quality of service (QoS), and
equal best-effort traffic utilization to depart-
ments and groups on campus. Resilient Packet
Ring (RPR, otherwise known as IEEE 802.17)
can help network managers meet these re-
quirements. RPR provides survivable dual
counter-rotating optical rings with
several advantages over traditional en-
terprise network architectures, including
support of oversubscription and variable
bandwidth per span as well as the provision
of advanced traffic routing capabilities.
RPR is among the standards the IEEE has
defined to enable carrier-class Ethernet. This
work has included provider bridging standards
(802.1ad and 802.1ah), fault management
(802.1ag), and link operation, administration,
and maintenance (OAM) (802.3ah) as well as
the RPR specifications defined in 802.17. RPR
was standardized by the IEEE 802.17 Work-
ing Group in 2004. The primary focus of IEEE
802.17 has been to standardize the media ac-
cess control (MAC) layer technology for en-
abling carrier-class RPR over SONET/SDH or
Ethernet physical layer transceivers (PHYs).
Currently, the IEEE 802.17 Working Group is
in the process of standard-
By Vinay Bannai
RPR simplifies campus
communications
legacy multimode fiber with a 62.5-m core,
which makes it a fundamentally lower-band-
width fiber. This larger core allows greater
modal dispersion, resulting in a typical peak
bandwidth of 200 MHzkm. Because of its
lower capacity, most OM1 installations today
are upgrades and expansions of existing facili-
ties that use 62.5-m fiber.
OM2 fiber has a smaller, 50-m core with
less modal dispersion, giving the fiber a 950-
MHzkm bandwidth capacity. OM3 improves
on OM2. While it still has a 50-m core, the
core has been optimized for laser transmission.
This optimized design removes, or at least sig-
nificantly alleviates, manufactured flaws in
the refractive index profile of the core and re-
sults in 2,000 MHzkm of bandwidth.
Some providers offer fiber that greatly ex-
ceeds the OM3 standard. Sometimes referred
to as OM3-plus, such fiber has a higher in-
formation capacity (4,700 MHzkm) than any
of the standard fiber grades.
Factors behind the shift
As mentioned previously, the growth in band-
width demand is the major driver for the in-
creasing deployment of OM3 fiber. With
business evolving in ways we never could
have imagined just a few years ago, produc-
tivity tools and technologies like voice over IP
(VoIP) and video collaboration are no longer
seen only in movies or on Silicon Valley cam-
puses. According to the SYSTIMAX Solutions
survey, the number of corporate VoIP users
has grown from 17% in 2002 to 43% in 2006.
Similarly, video conferencing has gained trac-
tion as a cost-saving alternative to travel while
workers are becoming increasingly mobile.
One research firm predicts that the number
of worldwide mobile work-
Once upon a time, carriers built networks as fast as they
could. They bought systems based on innovative technology
that promised a roadmap toward hundreds of wavelengths
traveling at speeds up to 40 Gbits/sec over a single fiber. Such
fibers would pave magical information superhighways that
would keep pace with the seemingly limitless demand for
bandwidth the Internet promised to create among the happy
and productive inhabitants of the blessed realm.
The market conditions prevalent at the start of this century
almost demand fairytale terms to describe them; the Infor-
mation Era seems so long ago and hard to credit. Nowadays,
of course, the emphasis is not on building big networks or
investing in innovative technology but on squeezing the
cost out of the systems, subsystems, and components al-
ready in place.
Or is it? Giovanni Barbarossa, chief technology officer at
Avanex (www.avanex.com), asserts that while price contin-
ues to remain important, carrier priorities have shifted. An
interest in reduced operational expenses, coupled with the
desire to spend capex wisely, has created demand for new
technology. The air is not filled with pixie dust once again,
but Barbarossa makes the case that technological innova-
tion now rivals an Asian manufacturing capability when it
comes to a successful product line, even for component and
subsystem suppliers.
Areas of innovation
Barbarossa says that carrier requirements, which of course
get passed through systems houses to the component and
subsystem community, started to evolve away from pure
cost reduction maybe a couple of years ago while observ-
ers were focused on how quickly suppliers could move their
production to Asia.
The recent emphasis is more on dollars spent per bit trans-
mittedor maybe another way to say it is the cost of own-
ership of the network is actually
where the focus is. So that doesnt
necessarily mean lower-cost com-
ponents, Barbarossa comments.
From my perspective, its more
about new components that pro-
vide the network operators lower
capex and lower opex opportuni-
ties to manage their networks.
The new generation of compo-
nents addresses requirements to
increase efficiency, add intelli-
gence, and im-
By Stephen Hardy
Innovation makes
a comeback
Stephen Hardy
is the editorial director
and associate pub-
lisher of Lightwave.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
ttlTime to live (hops)
baseControlCommon control bits
daDestination address
saSource address
ttlBaseOriginal ttl
extendedControlSpecial control bits
hecHeader error check
protocolTypeSame as EtherType
serviceDataUnitCustomer payload
fcsFrame check sequence
1
2
2
6
1
6
1
1
n
4
ttl
baseControl
da
sa
ttlBase
extendedControl
hec
protocolType
serviceDataUnit
fcs
Header
Payload
Trailer
RPR header format
Same as Ethernet header
Department A
Redundancy
Primary links
Backup links
Department B
Department C Department D
Traditional campus network design
WAN
WAN
Internet
connections
Applications
izing 802.17b, which enhances the
RPR bridging methodology for Eth-
ernet packets sourced and/or destined
to stations off the ring.
RPR allows both campuses and en-
terprises to streamline their backbone
networks while offering a seamless mi-
gration of their transport networks to
a more efficient, distributed, and resil-
ient packet-switched architecture. This
protocol is ideally suited for next-gen-
eration campuses and enterprise net-
works with a converged network layer
for carrying voice, video, and data.
RPR introduction
RPR, as defined by IEEE 802.17, pro-
vides an optimized ring network that
offers resiliency, service differentia-
tion with guaranteed class-of-service
performance, highly efficient utiliza-
tion of all available bandwidth, fair
access to available bandwidth, and
plug-and-play simplicity. RPR inter-
faces and frames look very much like
those of Ethernet, but with some ex-
tensions. RPR combines the simplic-
ity of Ethernet with the service-level
performance of SONET/SDH.
RPR provides resiliency through
dual unidirectional fiber rings (with
each fiber forming one ringlet of the
ring). Any break in physical or logi-
cal connectivity is detected and routed
away from the ring in less than 50
msec for rings up to a few thousand ki-
lometers in circumference. Addition-
ally, the ring is monitored for topology
changes, changes in the characteris-
tics of each RPR switch, and consis-
tent views across all switches in a ring.
This wealth of information enables
much easier and much greater under-
standing of an RPR network than is
available for a simple collection of in-
dependent switches.
In addition to the OAM features
built into RPR, all of the Layer 2 (L2)
OAM initiatives defined in IEEE 802.1
and by the ITU-T can be performed
over RPR networks the same as over
Ethernet networks. This allows rings to
be one component of a much larger and
very diverse network. RPR provides the
ability to offer service-level guarantees
in terms of bandwidth, delay, and jit-
ter. This is accomplished without the
fixed circuits of traditional TDM net-
works and the statistical-only assur-
ance of traditional packet networks.
A queuing algorithm is implemented
that uses ring feedback to provide im-
mediate access to the ring for highly
delay-sensitive services, timely access
for moderately delay-sensitive services,
and full utilization for best-effort ser-
vices. Because of this queuing algo-
rithm, all unused bandwidth can be
used by opportunistic traffic without
affecting the delay-sensitive traffic.
Not only does RPR take advantage of
all available bandwidth, it also avoids
the shortcoming of other rings by re-
moving traffic as quickly as possible.
This allows the remainder of the ring
to be used for other traffic. (The capa-
bility is referred to as spatial reuse.)
All opportunistic or best-effort traffic
gets fair access to the ring bandwidth
with no advantage or disadvantage to
relative position on the ring. Tradi-
tional packet networks often give ad-
vantage to the earliest or last to enter a
network (depending upon the network
type), with traffic trying to enter at the
opposite end at a great disadvantage.
The same queuing algorithm using
ring feedback that helps maintain ser-
vice class also provides the fair access
for best-effort traffic. Where equality
is not desired, weighted fairness can
be employed.
RPR simplifes campus communications
RPR rings can get as large as 2,000
km in circumference with up to 255
nodes on the ring at the same time.
The network acts as a distributed L2
virtual LAN (VLAN) switch.
RPR provides QoS by class-of-ser-
vice code points:
Class A is primarily used for low-la-
tency, low-jitter guaranteed delivery
traffic. Typically, its used for stra-
tum-quality voice, voice over IP, and
broadcast-quality video.
Class B is primarily used for guar-
anteed-delivery traffic, such as data
services requiring service-level
agreement assurances.
Class C is used for all other traffic.
Class C is the equivalent of best-ef-
fort traffic with the exception that
all nodes in the ring get a fair share
of the available traffic on the ring
(any bandwidth left over after Class
A and Class B traffic needs have
been satisfied is considered avail-
able bandwidth).
Similar to Ethernet switches, and
quite unlike SONET/SDH add/drop
multiplexers, RPR switches can be
plugged into and removed from a ring
dynamically. No advance provisioning
is needed and nothing more than a few
milliseconds of outage results.
RPR and Ethernet share a lot in
common. RPRs logical MAC inter-
face, in its default usage, is exactly the
same as Ethernets. RPRs frames look
very similar to Ethernet frames, with
slightly more fields added. Figure 1
shows the RPR frame structure and its
similarity to the Ethernet frame struc-
ture. RPR even uses 1- and 10-Gbit/
sec PHYs defined for use by Ethernet
(in addition to also being able to use
SONET/SDH PHYs). Any service that
runs on top of Ethernet also runs on
top of RPR. Every service that Ethernet
provides is also provided by RPR. Eth-
ernet and RPR work together seam-
lessly in bridged/switched networks.
The challenge associated with con-
structing an optical backbone net-
work that connects multiple campus
networks is ideally suited for an RPR
application.
Traditional campus and
enterprise network design
A typical design for a campus network
is shown in Figure 2. In this configu-
ration, the various buildings and de-
partments are connected together in
a hub-and-spoke fashion with the ag-
gregation taking place in a central net-
work operations center (NOC) on the
campus where the Internet services
and voice services are rendered. This
has been the traditional approach and
has several limitations:
Nonredundant interconnections
between the central NOC and the
buildings.
Difficult to expand to newer
buildings.
Upgrade to
Figure 1. RPRs frame structure is
very similar to Ethernets. This makes
RPR a good match for Ethernet
requirements.
Figure 2. A traditional campus architecture is difficult to upgrade, making it
harder to keep up with changing requirements and new users.
Cont. on pg 35
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Global
% of network assets mislaid or moved unofcially
EMEA
Rate of MACs
NAR APAC CALA
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Percentage
Moves, adds, and changes (rates by region)
11 11
10
12
14
18
17
16
21
19
% of MACs requiring rework
Currently installed Future installations
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Percentage
Fiber-optic cabling usage (global)
Other
Other
Singlemode
OM3 multimode
OM1/OM2
multimode
Singlemode
OM3 multimode
OM1/OM2
multimode
Applications
ers will reach 878 million by 2009. It
is clear that factors such as these, cou-
pled with the overall increase in Inter-
net traffic, are driving the increasing
need for more bandwidth.
Also spurring the fiber evolution is
the switch from Gigabit Ethernet to
10-Gigabit Ethernet (or higher) in the
enterprise backbone. The research
demonstrates this trend, showing
that while 1 Gbit/sec is the predomi-
nant transmission requirement today,
cabling to support 10 Gbits/sec and
higher is expected to grow from the
16% of installations today to 80% of
new installs in the next 5 years. OM3
fiber supports extended gigabit drive
distances, allowing companies more
flexibility in Gigabit Ethernet sys-
tems and paving the way for 10-Gbit/
sec and higher-speed Ethernet. This
feature promotes the use of the higher-
performance fiber in the backbone.
However, raw bandwidth is not the
only reason that more managers ex-
pect to install OM3. Another driving
factor for the adoption of OM3 fiber
is the total cost of ownership. Cabling
is only a small fraction of the cost of
building a LAN or information net-
work since PCs, servers, software, and
storage devices make up the bulk of
the costs. Server and software up-
grades continue to create additional
costs throughout the life of the net-
work, further reducing the effective
cost for the cabling infrastructure over
the lifetime of the facility.
In addition, network managers who
wish to provide a reliable, adaptable
network to support their organiza-
tions future bandwidth needs tend to
invest in high-quality fiber cabling that
will last for the next 20 years. Since up-
grading the cable infrastructure can
be a very painful process that can re-
sult in many hours of downtime and
lost productivity, IT managers have a
strong incentive to move sooner rather
than later toward the headroom pro-
vided by high-bandwidth OM3 and
OM3-plus fiber.
Adaptability and control
The research report also highlighted
the higher rate of moves, adds, and
changes (MACs) associated with an
increasingly mobile workforce. Us-
ers reported an average MAC rate of
36%/year (up from 14% in 1994 and
23% in 2004; see Figure 2), costing
1.9 hr per MAC when a user changes
location. Europe and the Middle East
had the highest MAC rate at 40%/
year. In Asia, users have even re-
ported spending a half day or longer
per MAC. High rates of MACs em-
phasize the need for enterprise struc-
tured cabling to be highly adaptable
so that it can more easily support
reconfiguration.
The same need for network adapt-
ability and control that drives struc-
tured cabling has led to the rise of
real-time infrastructure management
(RTIM) offerings. These systems of-
fer data network managers interactive,
real-time control over fiber connec-
tions. The results are more responsive
network administration and better se-
curity. Such systems also cut running
costs by automating routine manage-
ment tasks and assisting technicians
in completing work orders and service
provisioning.
Structured cabling is designed and
installed independently from the
equipment it serves so that it can sup-
port multiple applications over its life
cycle. To accomplish this, it is designed
to connect work areas to telecommu-
nications rooms, which streamlines
centralized MACs at the horizontal
crossconnect. This design permits any
equipment or service to be attached
to the horizontal cabling based on the
needs of the organization.
The research report also shows that
product quality is the single most im-
portant factor companies consider
when making a cabling investment
choice. This is reflected in the increas-
ing number of enterprises that are
choosing factory-terminated, modu-
lar cabling. This type of cabling has a
significant quality and reliability ad-
vantage since all the fiber termination
and polishing occurs in a quality-con-
trolled factory environment. The prod-
uct ships with test reports attached,
making it a known quantity for the
installers and IT managers who will
depend on it. Not surprisingly, the re-
port shows that companies that listed
initial cost, instead of quality, as their
primary decision factor had the high-
est reported network downtime.
Bandwidth needs caused by large
applications and mobile workers are
leading to the widespread adoption
of OM3 fiber, which in turn is driv-
ing a need for structured cabling and
patching. Companies that make the
investment in OM3, modular cabling
infrastructure, and RTIM systems
should experience less downtime and
increased productivity. These OM3
technologies will support a compa-
nys bandwidth needs well into the
future, making this a bandwagon
enterprise networks should consider
joining.
Matt Brown is the manager for
CommScopes fiber-optic apparatus (www.
commscope.com). Brown has more than 12
years of experience in fiber optics, including
cable manufacturing, multifiber connector de-
sign, and management of test equipment and
connectivity products. He has also authored
several industry standards within TIA FO-4
and TR-42, and is a United States National
Committee expert to the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
Figure 2. The increasing mobility of the workforce has resulted in rising num-
bers of network moves, adds, and changes (MACs). Cabling technology that
supports flexibility and control helps network managers deal with this trend.
Figure 1. IT managers report that they expect their use of OM3 fiber to
increase significantly, to the point where OM3 will dominate installations within
the next 5 years.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
_________
___
400+ exhibitors
20+ technical workshops
Annual Awards Luncheon
Expo Evening
International Cable-Tec Games
Networking opportunities
10,000+ attendees
Register Now at
www.scte.org
Delivering Todays Brightest Engineering Solutions
Applications
CASE BY CASE
CONT. FROM PAGE 27
prove flexibility in carrier networks,
Barbarossa says. Each of these three
areas is characterized by advances in
certain technology areas that can be
combined to benefit a single product
or several.
For example, emerging components
and subsystems can improve effi-
ciency by leveraging advanced modu-
lation formats, lowering loss, reducing
power consumption, decreasing dis-
persion, or supporting higher trans-
mission speeds. Advances in material
science and basic physics provide
these benefits.
Barbarossa points to new, lower-loss
dispersion compensation modules as
an illustration. Why is it lower loss?
Its not because we moved the manu-
facturing to Thailand, of course, he
explains. The low loss comes from a
better design of the fiber and from im-
proved manufacturing of the fiber it-
self, which involves material science.
The support of faster transmis-
sion rates also illustrates a pairing of
changing carrier interests and tech-
lators, and even from an IC perspec-
tive, maybe in electronic dispersion
compensation, he explains.
Electronics, along with software,
will also play an important role in add-
ing intelligence to networks, particu-
larly to the components and systems
carriers deploy. The added intelligence
enables and improves such functions
as monitoring, controlling, alerting,
and managing, as well as promotes
automation.
Monitoring in particular appears
to be an important requirement, Bar-
barossa says. I heard one customer
say that if optical monitoring is cost-
effective enough, then network op-
erators would love to have an optical
power monitor or even performance
monitor with optical signal-to-noise
ratio in every single node of the net-
work, he relates.
Barbarossa favors approaches that
leverage tunable filters. Still, the
ubiquity his customer envisioned is
not yet economically feasible. Most
of the available optical performance
solutions out there are really not ad-
dressing signal-to-noise ratio. And so
having a low-cost, signal-to-noise-ra-
tio monitor is very important. And
there is a combination there between
the actual physics of the tunable fil-
ter and the algorithms implemented
at the firmware level. Thats where
theres a lot of work being done today
to provide a low-cost and reliable so-
lution for monitoring.
Flexibility incorporates many of
todays most popular buzzwords, in-
cluding reconfigurability, tunability,
and pluggability. The idea is to pro-
vide easy upgrades and bandwidth
on demand, among other goalsBar-
barossa says that many people asso-
ciate flexibility with futureproofing.
Here, architecture and design become
influential.
Reconfigurable optical add/drop
multiplexers (ROADMs) have replaced
tunable lasers as the flexibility flavor
of the moment. However, as is often
the case, the market demand hasnt
quite matched the hype. The hard-
ware has been available for quite some
time, but Im not sure that the oper-
ators really feel comfortable in man-
aging them today, Barbarossa offers.
[The wavelength-selective switch] is
a good example, where the market is
not where some startups thought it
was going to be today, primarily be-
cause of software issues.
The software issues revolve around
managing the devices and the recon-
figurable aspects of the network in
general. The complexity inherent in
reconfigurable networks also hinders
carriers from using tunable lasers for
more than just inventory control.
From a hardware perspective, its
definitely very challenging, explains
Barbarossa. But that challenge is re-
ally small compared to the software
challenge or to the management chal-
lenge to the network once you start
moving wavelengths around by le-
veraging the tunability. I think its
definitely going to happen, but I dont
really believe its something thats go-
ing to happen in the next two years.
Maybe three or four more.
While tunability is most com-
monly associated with lasers, the
attribute potentially benefits other
devices. Tunable dispersion com-
pensation is definitely going to be
a hot area, Barbarossa predicts. I
think the optical solutions will start
to grow in volume in deployment.
And the cost will get to the point that
electronics [-based approaches] will
really be challenged.
The trend toward more innovative
technology naturally pleases someone
who carries a title like chief technol-
ogy officer. However, all companies
must watch the bottom line. Fortu-
nately, the new generation of compo-
nents and subsystems naturally lends
itself to higher marginsan advan-
tage suppliers intend to seize. Sell-
ing at loss is not really a healthy thing
anymore, Barbarossa concludes. I
think most of the companies, includ-
ing the startups, are being a little
more careful about what they really
put on the market.

Technology innovations to improve network efficiency, intelligence, and
flexibility are now in demand. This pluggable amplifier is an example of a recent
product aimed at the third goal.
A
V
A
N
E
X

I
N
C
.
nology advances to improve network
efficiency. Speed has always been an
objectivebut it wasnt really an ob-
jective between 2000 and 2003/2004.
Now we see again a comeback to 40G,
for example, and maybe 100G even in
datacom. And, again, its a better way
to utilize the network, Barbarossa
says. The products companies such as
Avanex plan to offer will result from
physics and from investment into new
materials for new sources, new modu-
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Focus
on
Industry
Oppor tuni ti es, market i ntel l i gence,
and forecast s to i mprove your bot tom l i ne
ANALYST CORNER
Cont. on pg 32
Cont. on pg 33
Cont. on pg 34
Despite lofty industry expectations and a burgeoning Ether-
net services market, Ethernet switches have experienced rela-
tively limited deployment in carrier networks during the first
half of this decade. To date, slightly more than 10% of total
Ethernet switch revenues come from this source. However,
the Carrier Ethernet switch market could well be undergoing
a transition from limited deployments of inexpensive band-
width to large-scale rollouts enabling carrier-grade services.
In the most recent quarter, Carrier Ethernet switch rev-
enues traced a pattern similar to that of the prior quarter,
with continued modest sequential growth and strong year-
over-year growth. Quarterly revenues exceeded $550 mil-
lion as port shipments approached 3.5 million (see Figure
1). These results put this market well on track to surpass $2
billion in 2006, a 33% annual increase over 2005.
Factors driving growth
Several factors are driving this strong market growth. First,
because Ethernet is less expensive and more scalable than
other technologies (specifically the incumbent ATM, Frame
Relay, and SONET technologies), it has become the protocol
of choice for carriers moving toward IP and packet-based
networks. Therefore, service providers are increasingly de-
ploying Ethernet switches in certain areas of the carrier net-
workmost notably in the access and aggregation areasso
that they can offer high-bandwidth applications such as
IPTV, storage backup, and videoconferencing more eco-
nomically and effectively.
Second, more carrier-class Ethernet switches are avail-
able today. Vendors competing to capture the rising demand
for Ethernet switches deployed in carrier networks are either
adding carrier-grade features to existing product lines to make
them more compatible with carrier network requirements, or
building new product lines that target just this market. Multi-
protocol label switching (MPLS) and Provider Backbone Trans-
port (PBT) are examples of features that make Carrier Ethernet
switches more scalable, reliable, manageable, and compati-
ble with the existing carrier infrastructure (i.e., more carrier
class). The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)an organization
consisting of carriers, system vendors,
component vendors, and test vendors
that works to accelerate the adoption
of Ethernet networks and services in
carrier networkshas developed cer-
tification procedures that help assure
service providers that platforms meet
certain carrier class criteria.
Third, telecom
By Seamus Crehan
Dynamics of the Carrier
Ethernet switch market
Fiber remains medium of choice for data center
centers face often stringent uptime re-
quirements. Even a few minutes of down-
time could be costly for enterprises in the
financial sector. Tomorrows data center is
not your fathers Oldsmobile, he asserts.
New requirements
Todays data centers are constantly growing;
new equipment is added while old equipment
is cycled outon average every 2 to 3 years
to make way for higher-density, more feature-
rich equipment. According to Ugolini, churn
and scaling together represent a killer com-
bination for the data center. Traditional LAN
equipment cannot enable the frequent moves,
adds, and changes required.
Moreover, the use of smaller-form-factor
optical transceivers, such as the SFP+, has
enabled system vendors to get more optics
on a line card, which, in turn, enables
higher-density systems. However, higher-
density systems require more power, which
results in greater heat dissipation. Tradi-
tional LAN connectivity products often cre-
ate a damming effect within the data center;
bulky cables overhead, underfloor, and inside
the cabinet prevent cool air from circulating
where it is needed.
The data centers requirements in terms of
flexibility, scalability, density, and manage-
ability today are met, in part, by MTP (also
called MPO or multifiber push-on) connec-
tors, which enable designers to create a cabling
infrastructure that meets the challenging den-
sity requirements but is flexible enough to han-
dle moves, adds, and changes.
For example, says Ugolini, consider a sys-
tem box that may have
Changing carrier requirements, both in terms
of the types of services they want to provide
and how they want to deliver them, have re-
invigorated the market prospects for optical
communications hardware vendors. However,
these developments have created significant
challenges for the back office systems and pro-
cesses service providers use to manage their
networks and interactions with customers.
The software that composes the back office en-
vironment usually comprises a hodgepodge of
tools from network equipment providers, out-
side vendors, and in-house staff. The rollout
of next-generation networks has given carri-
ers the opportunity to ponder a next-genera-
tion approach to their support processesand
vendors of operations support systems (OSS)
stand ready to take advantage.
Broadly defined, OSS tools tackle a wide va-
riety of tasks: element management and net-
work management (often through EMS and
NMS software provided by network equip-
ment vendors), inventory control, service
provision, fault monitoring, performance re-
porting, workflow and integration, customer
care, trouble ticketing, order entry, and billing,
potentially among other chores. The tools that
help with customer care and billing are some-
times grouped into a subcategory called busi-
ness support systems, or BSS.
The aforementioned would be a long list of
tasks to manage in a stable environment. How-
ever, with the evolution away from SONET/
SDH toward IP/MPLS or Ethernet or PBB/TE
(or some combination), plus the addition of
video for telcos and voice for multiple systems
operators (MSOs), the world the back office
processes must control is anything but static.
The fact that network elements almost cer-
tainly have come from a wide variety of ven-
dors, whose proprietary EMS and NMS tools
may not talk to each other or provide all of
the functions a carrier might require, only in-
creases the burden.
Thus, its not surprising that carriers world-
wide spend more than $50 billion a year on
OSS functions, according to Larry Goldman,
cofounder and senior analyst at market analy-
sis firm OSS Observer (www.ossobserver.com).
About $4 billion of this goes
By Stephen Hardy
OSS vendors grapple
with network evolution
Seamus Crehan
is a senior director
at DellOro Group Inc.
(www.delloro.com),
where he covers the
Carrier and enterprise
Ethernet switch equip-
ment markets.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
1Q05 2Q05 3Q05 4Q05
600
400
200
0
1Q06 2Q06 3Q06 4Q06
0
1
2
3
4
Revenue in $M (line)
Total revenue and port shipments
Port shipments in millions (bars)
1Q05 2Q05 3Q05 4Q05 1Q06 2Q06 3Q06
900
600
300
0
Average selling price ($)
Modular/chassis Gigabit Ethernet price comparison
Enterprise Ethernet switch
Carrier Ethernet switch
Industry
ANALYST CORNER
CONT. FROM PAGE 31
service providers are aggressively push-
ing more services and content to the
ever-growing number of broadband
subscribers246 million in 2006, up
from 194 million in 2005to com-
pete with cable operators, who, by of-
fering voice service through voice over
IP, are invading telecoms traditional
markets. User adoption of these new
telecom services will increase the av-
erage amount of per-subscriber band-
width carriers must provide. In turn,
the Ethernet switch is quickly becom-
ing the platform of choice to transport
this traffic to the core of the network.
Applications driving
deployments
The first wave of Ethernet switch de-
ployments into carrier networks, often
referred to as metro Ethernet, mainly
targeted business applications. Those
deployments replaced E1/T1 frame
connections with Ethernet switches
that delivered increased bandwidth
to businesses at lower cost than the
incumbent technologies.
Examples of some of these services
include point-to-point connections
between two sites, such as connect-
ing a business to a service provider (a
function similar to that provided by a
SONET or TDM private line); connect-
ing a business to the Internet or to a
virtual private network (VPN); or en-
abling multipoint-to-multipoint virtual
LAN (VLAN) connections. Although
the number of business applications
supported by Ethernet switches contin-
ues to expand, we estimate that these
applications now drive a minority of to-
tal Carrier Ethernet switch revenues, as
residential service revenues have now
surpassed those of business.
The number of subscribers using
broadband in their homes continues
to increase. This growth, in conjunc-
tion with carriers aggressively market-
ing services (or service combinations)
that require more bandwidth per sub-
scriber, has resulted in a majority of
Carrier Ethernet switches being de-
ployed for residential
applications. These
higher-bandwidth
services include IPTV
and video-on-de-
mand and are often
offered in combina-
tion with other ser-
vices, such as data
and voice. User adop-
tion of these com-
bined applications is
driving the need for
increased network
capacity to service
the residential sector.
In addition to its use in business
and residential applications, Car-
rier Ethernet equipment has recently
seen opportunities in wireless cell-
site backhaul applications. This seg-
ment currently composes only a small
portion of the overall market today;
however, we believe it could become
a major driver of future Carrier Eth-
ernet switch deployments. As mobile
high-speed data, video, and multi-
media services continue to expand,
service providers will likely deploy
Carrier Ethernet switches to aggre-
gate this traffic.
Pricing
Although the overall market aver-
age selling price declined 9% in the
most recent quarter, Carrier Ether-
net switch prices generally have held
steady; for example, on a year-over-
year basis, prices have fallen only 5%.
Despite this decline, Carrier Ether-
net switch prices remain significantly
higher than those of enterprise Ether-
net switches.
Figure 2 compares the average selling
price of a modular or chassis Gigabit
Ethernet port, which is the most impor-
tant revenue segment for both Carrier
Ethernet switches and enterprise Eth-
ernet switches. Two main factors drive
the Carrier Ethernet switch price pre-
mium. First, in contrast to enterprise
switches, the majority of port ship-
ments for Carrier Ethernet switches
are fiber as opposed to copper, and fi-
ber is much more expensive than cop-
per. Second, Carrier Ethernet switches
offer additional, sometimes proprietary,
features intended to make these prod-
ucts more reliable, scalable, and man-
ageable for carrier deployments.
Vendor landscape
A look at the vendor landscape shows
Cisco holding the top position with
slightly more than half of total mar-
ket revenues. Over the past year or
so, Cisco has aggressively introduced
Carrier Ethernet switches and now
has a broad portfolio of products for
both the access and aggregation parts
of the network. Cisco is positioning
its carrier access switches as part of
its Ethernet Fiber to the Home (E-
FTTH) solution, which will compete
with PON access technology.
Alcatel, the second largest vendor in
this market, derives the vast majority
of its Carrier Ethernet switch revenue
from the 7450 Ethernet Service Switch
(ESS) product line developed by Time-
tra, a company that Alcatel acquired in
2003. Given Alcatels strong presence in
DSL and the continued migration to-
ward Ethernet uplinks on DSL access
concentrators, the
7450 ESSoften de-
ployed to aggregate
these Ethernet up-
linksplays a key role
in Alcatels strategy.
Another notable
vendor in this space,
Riverstone, was ac-
quired by Lucent,
which subsequently
merged with Alcatel.
It remains to be seen
what will become of
Riverstones Carrier
Ethernet switch of-
ferings given Alcatels
strong presence in this space.
Nortel, which we believe derives
most of its Carrier Ethernet switch
sales from the EMEA region, has pio-
neered PBT. This technology enables
deterministic paths or tunnels for the
delivery of services across the network.
In contrast to some other Carrier Eth-
ernet technologies, PBT turns off some
of the existing Ethernet functionality
to enable new forwarding capabilities.
Since PBT uses native Ethernet rather
than an overlay network layer, it has the
potential to be less expensive and less
complex than other competing tech-
nologies, such as MPLS and VPLS.
Although Nortel recently announced
that BT will be deploying its PBT solu-
tion as part of its 21CN business ser-
vices rollout, it is too early to know the
impact of PBT, especially because the
standards completion for this technol-
ogy is still a ways off. In addition to the
Nortel equipment, BT will also deploy
Siemens SURPASS hiD 6600 Carrier
Ethernet switches with PBT as part of
its 21CN rollout.
Extreme and Foundry Networks
which saw early success in this market
centered around metro Ethernet (par-
ticularly in Japan)have similar reve-
nue shares. Extreme recently launched
the BlackDiamond 12K, a platform
that targets the Carrier Ethernet
market. While Extreme and Foundry
sell to both enterprises and carriers,
many smaller vendors, including At-
rica and World Wide Packets, focus
solely on the carrier market. In con-
trast to North America, carriers are
already replacing first-generation Eth-
ernet switches in Asian countries such
as Japan. This has helped local ven-
dors such as Hitachi Cable. Huawei in
China is another vendor that has seen
good traction in its local market.
Clearly, the vendors that participate
in the Carrier Ethernet switch market
are a diverse group. While some lever-
age existing Ethernet switch offerings
by evolving them for carriers needs,
others focus exclusively on the carrier
market. We anticipate that the num-
ber of Carrier Ethernet switch vendors
will continue to increase as this class
of product becomes more strategic in
the carrier infrastructure.
Furthermore, we believe that this
market is well positioned for growth,
with more carrier acceptance of Eth-
ernet switches and the ever-increasing
bandwidth requirements for applica-
tions in business, residential, and wire-
less markets.
Figure 1. The Carrier Ethernet market is growing in both
revenue and the number of port shipments.
Figure 2. Carrier Ethernet switch prices have main-
tained a fairly steady price premium versus their
enterprise counterparts.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
Industry
Fiber remains medium of choice for data center applications
been deployed a year agosay, a SAN
Switch Director. The density was likely
around 144 ports in a 14-U package.
But todays system vendors are sup-
plying the same box with 512 ports or
1,024 fibers. Densities have increased
in the same amount of space or with
only a minimal increase in space. Tra-
ditional optics components are not
sufficient in such case, he says (see
Photo 1).
Using traditional fiber optics, you
can getat bestaround 96 fibers in
a 1-U LC panel, Ugolini explains. De-
livering 1,024 fibers to the SAN switch
using an LC interface will consume
valuable real estate inside the cabi-
net. But using MTP connectors in
that same 1-U configuration, you can
achieve densities of 432 fibers, he says,
getting you close to supplying enough
connectivity to handle one of these
new SAN switches at 512 ports.
But what if the data center designer
decides to house two SAN switches
in the same cabinetresulting in
more than 2,000 fibers to the same
location? (See Photo 2a.) Again, the
quantity of fibers is simply unman-
ageable. To alleviate the congestion,
todays data center designers are
turning to ribbon cables, known as
harnesses, with MTP connectors on
the end (see Photo 3). They can route
one 12-fiber ribbon cable through the
cabinet rather than 12 jumper cables;
the ribbon cable is then broken out
into LC or SFP duplex connectors just
before the line card, thereby simpli-
fying the cabling infrastructure (see
Photo 2b).
MMF vs. SMF: The
debate continues
Both Ugolini and Coburn agree that
laser-optimized, 50-m multimode
fiber (OM3) remains the medium of
choice for data center applications, in
part because it is less expensive when
the higher-priced optics associated
with singlemode are factored in. More-
over, they say, high-data-rate SAN net-
works and Ethernet networks operate
in the 850-nm window, and laser-op-
timized, 50-m
multimode fiber
provides the best
bandwidth per-
formance in that
window.
Not everyone
is sold on this
argument, how-
ever. Jim Gerrity,
director of en-
terprise storage
at ADVA Op-
tical Network-
ing (www.adva
optical.com), re-
ports seeing a prevalence of single-
mode fiber deployments in data center
environments. You can get longer dis-
tances out of singlemode fiber, he says,
and it features less dispersion over dis-
tance than its multimode counterpart.
But the key reason he believes most
data centers should be fibered with
singlemode, if they arent already, is
futureproofing.
The main driver for fiber, looking
at the data center, is storage, he notes.
Ultimately, what people want to do is
extend that fiber. So if I have a sin-
glemode infrastructure and I need to
connect to a disaster recovery site, I
can run that fiber from a switch out
to another building, another site, an-
other facility, Gerrity explains.
Fiber in the data center is not new,
he says. What is new is running fiber
between data centers, facilities, corpo-
rate backbones, and even third-party
disaster recovery vendors. Moreover,
enterprises are now starting to le-
verage that infrastructure to support
other types of traffic along with their
storage traffic, says Gerrity.
You could have your storage traf-
fic coming in, your Ethernet and voice.
You could run IP through it, he says
Photos 2a and 2b. The use of bulky LAN cables in a data
center environment subject to frequent moves, adds, and
changes can result in a rats nest of fiber that blocks cool
air from circulating (left). Congestion can been relieved by
using ribbon cables and MTP/MPO connectors, which can
reduce real estate consumption by as much as 50% (above).
C
O
R
N
I
N
G

C
A
B
L
E

S
Y
S
T
E
M
S

Photo 3. The harness featured above includes an MTP connector connected to a 12-fiber ribbon, en-
abling data center designers to route a single harness through a cabinet versus 12 bulky fiber jumpers.
C
O
R
N
I
N
G

C
A
B
L
E

S
Y
S
T
E
M
S
of the data center network. And video
conferencing and high-definition TV
are becoming more and more preva-
lent among corporations that are try-
ing to minimize travel.
For this reason, he says, more and
more enterprises are turning to WDM
to transport multiple protocols at their
native speeds using as little fiber infra-
structure as possible.
Fiber has certainly served its pur-
pose and will continue to serve its pur-
pose in the data center, he muses. But
I think most are already wired. Now,
we are seeing fiber extension out be-
tween sites.
Looking ahead
Both Corning Cable Systems and
ADC say they have yet to see an all-
fiber data center; however, as speeds
continue to increase, the limitations
of copper make the economics of fi-
ber more attractive, even for short
distances. Historically, high data
rates have been used for long-dis-
tance applications, but higher data
rates are now migrating to the cam-
pus backbone, the building backbone,
and into the data center. Moreover,
the industry has begun to mull the
possibility of high-data-rate trans-
mission from frame-to-frame, board-
to-board, and even chip-to-chip. As
speeds increase, technology chal-
lenges proliferate.
As Ugolini notes, the IEEE recently
put its stake in the ground and is
moving forward with a standard for
100-Gigabit Ethernet transmission. At
100G, the problems inherent in 10G
copper transport will be a hundred
times greater, he says. There are a
lot of limitations that [copper] has to
overcome that fiber doesnt. As speeds
continue to increase, fiber technology
continues to evolve, he says.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
________
Industry
OSS vendors grapple with network evolution
to network hardware vendors, and an-
other $10 billion goes to independent
software providers (ISVs). Most of the
rest is spent internally, he says.
The current OSS environment
clearly has worked well enough to
bring carriers to the point of supplying
triple-play services to residences while
improving their Ethernet and IP offer-
ings to business customers. However,
to keep pace with the requirements
these new services will createas well
as to do its part to decrease operational
expensesthe OSS world will have to
enable carriers to simplify their pro-
cesses and increase their effectiveness.
The burden likely will fall on equip-
ment vendors, ISVs, and the service
providers IT staffs alike.
Varying impact
For example, Goldman says the net-
work equipment vendors have felt
much of the OSS impact the evolu-
tion away from SONET/SDH has
created. In some ways, the new genera-
tion of network equipment makes the
OSS burden simpler because network
equipment vendors have made their
equipment smart enough to assume
or streamline functions normally as-
sociated with some aspect of the OSS
environment.
The move from a fairly static
SONET/SDH circuit-switched envi-
ronment to the more dynamic world
of packet-based transport will have
an impact on OSS requirements and
probably create a demand for im-
proved tools, however. I think that
IP VPN [virtual private network]
has been good for the OSS commu-
nity because what you have is an en-
vironment where people are looking
for something they can operate a lot
more dynamically, Goldman says.
And especially in a shared IP VPN en-
vironment, if youve got a lot of things
you need to keep track of to make sure
that the people who are allowed to use
that particular network and that par-
ticular capability of the network are
in fact tracked properly doing that
accurately and in a timely way takes
automation that we didnt require in
the past.
The themes of network and ser-
vice complexity and a need for auto-
mation resound strongly with ISVs.
With migration to IP networks, peo-
ple are just seeing that its too much
work, basically, to go there and try to
integrate legacy networks and just do
it themselves when there are best-of-
breed solutions out there, people who
can do it better than they can, more
cheaply than they can, asserts Mi-
chael Cabot, director of marketing at
Visionael (www.visionael.com), an ISV
that specializes in OSS for the transi-
tion to IP networking.
This is particularly true given that
many service providers still do at least
some OSS functions via internally de-
veloped spreadsheets, multiple sources
claim. Once they get to a certain point
where that just becomes unmanage-
able, then they go to more of a COTS
[commercial off-the-shelf] software
pieceand that would be somebody
like us, Kristi Siple, Visionaels direc-
tor of product marketing, adds.
Part of the complexity that might
drive a carrier to look outside for help
comes from the increasing likelihood
that rolling out new services will re-
quire working with multiple vendors.
Vendor alliances that produce hard-
ware that works together to provide
an end-to-end solution may work
fine at the physical level, but not nec-
essarily at the OSS level.
What weve seen is that the equip-
ment vendors have provided usu-
ally an EMSand sometimes two or
three, depending on the breadth of
their portfolio in these different ar-
easand then the service provider is
left to integrate each of those into their
higher-level OSS systems, says Chris
Chartrand, director of marketing at
ISV Nakina Systems (www.nakina
systems.com). And when you multi-
ply that out across domainsyour IP
domain, your Ethernet domain, your
optical domainand you have a mul-
tivendor strategy, all of a sudden you
have this proliferation of all these dif-
The Light Side BY J.P. RINI
Suddenly there was this sign over the interstate: Exit 223, City Park, FTTPT,
fiber to the picnic table. It was like wed found the Promised Land.
ferent EMS systems that need to be
integrated.
If you look at it from a pure optical
equipment vendor perspective, I can
have a piece of equipment and I can
support all this. I can look at it from
a management perspective and, yes, I
can support this great technology. In
order for the service provider to actu-
ally roll this out, he has to have all of
these systems talk to each other, adds
Mary ONeill, vice president of busi-
ness development at Nakina.
Nakina has developed a Common
Element Management System that acts
as a layer between the network ele-
ments and the service providers OSS.
Sometimes this abstraction layer in-
corporates the EMS software provided
by the equipment vendors, sometimes
it replaces it. Success requires the abil-
ity to be transmission protocol agnos-
tic and the provision of open interfaces
that enable more or less any OSS tool,
regardless of where it came from, to
recognize and work with any network
element independent of origin.
The OSS industry is working via
the TeleManagement World Forum
(www.tmforum.org) to develop ap-
propriate interfaces. The forum also is
working on plug-and-play OSS pack-
ages in its Prosspero program (www.
prosspero.com) that will help ser-
vice providers keep pace with grow-
ing OSS requirements.
Overall, the prospects for ISVs are
looking up. Next-generation network
and service deployments invite car-
riers to look for new, more efficient
ways to manage their networks and
customer interactions or to deliver
services (such as telco video) that
they havent had to accommodate
previously. Some carriers have insti-
tuted OSS transformation projects
to streamline their existing processes
and reduce expense. And some net-
work equipment providers, prefer-
ring to use their software resources
to create new features or improve sys-
tem performance, are looking to out-
source the development of EMS and
NMS tools.
The trend is that the telcos are us-
ing ISVs more and more, Goldman
concludes. As they need to support
new services and the existing systems
they have that were maybe internally
developed, theres more of a trend to-
ward finding ISVs to provide at least
part of that solution.
Part of the complexity that might drive
a carrier to look outside for help comes
from the increasing likelihood that
rolling out new services will require
working with multiple vendors.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
____
_________
Next-generation campus network design
Department A
Department B
Department C
RPR ring
Department D
WAN
WAN
Industry
higher speeds requires network-
wide outage.
The standard mechanism of pro-
viding redundant connections at the
campus aggregation center (NOC)
is achieved by installing two routers,
but this also requires more than one
link to the various buildings and de-
partments as shown in Figure 2. This
makes the connectivity complex and
increases the expense related to opera-
tion and equipment.
As the campus adds newer build-
ings and reconfigures connections, it
becomes a little difficult to manage
and interconnect all the buildings
and increases the port density at the
campus aggregation router. Upgrad-
ing the campus backbone network to
a higher speed requires an overhaul
of all the network interfaces at each
of the buildings.
Next-generation campus
network design
An alternate way to design campus
networks is to employ RPR rings for
the backbone transport as shown in
Figure 3. In this configuration, the
various buildings and departments
on the campus are interconnected
in an RPR ring. The network devices
resident in the departmental build-
ings are L2 VLAN switches with RPR
interfaces connected to the ring. RPR
can bridge traffic from 802.3 Ether-
net LAN to RPR rings at L2 without
needing Layer 3 devices or routers.
The bridging is governed by the rules
specified in the 802.1 bridging stan-
dard and is applicable to all MACs
defined by the 802 Local Area Net-
work and Metropolitan Area Network
(LAN/MAN) group.
This results in an intelligent net-
work with built-in resiliency for a
low cost and reduced number of
ports and interfaces at the campus
aggregation center. The RPR devices
deployed in this configuration have
typical L2 features like access con-
trol lists, port mirroring, access and
trunk-based VLANs, port rate limit-
ing, and shaping. Given the inherent
ability to support multiple PHYs in
an RPR network, most RPR devices
are likely to have small-form-factor
pluggable (SFP) optics. This design
also helps in centralizing the router
with WAN assets in the campus ag-
gregation center.
In conclusion, using RPR rings to
interconnect various locations on a
campus or in an enterprise environ-
ment provides a superior value to the
customer and brings Carrier Ether-
net qualities to the backbone trans-
port network. RPR is closely aligned
with Ethernet and completely interop-
erable with other 802 MACs. It is also
a product of the same standards body
responsible for standardizing Ethernet
technology. With built-in OAM ca-
pabilities, 50-msec resiliency, and the
optical interfaces of RPR equipment,
campus and enterprise networks can
now leverage carrier-class Ethernet
features typically available on core
and metro devices.

Vinay Bannai is product line manager
and manager of systems strategy and plan-
ning for Carrier Ethernet at ADTRAN (www.
adtran.com). He has been actively involved in
the standardization of RPR in IEEE and holds
a masters degree in computer science from
Stanford University.
Figure 3. A ring-based architecture that takes advantage of RPRs capabilities
provides flexibility and an easy upgrade path.
RPR simplifes campus communications
Mintera Corp. has appointed Bryan
Siegal as vice president, operations
and customer satisfaction. Siegal
will be responsible for managing the
delivery and qual-
ity of Minteras
40-Gbit/sec trans-
port system, as
well as overseeing
the companys
relationship
with Sanmina-SCI. Sanmina-SCI, a
global electronics manufacturing
services (EMS) company, will man-
age the manufacture of Minteras MI
40000XS DWDM transport products
at its Allen, TX, location. Siegel has
held senior management and execu-
tive-level positions at Optovia Corp.,
PhotonEx, Sun Microsystems, and
Honeywell, among others.
Access product supplier Calix has
added 25-year industry veteran Don
Listwin to its board of directors.
Listwin held positions of increasing
responsibility during a 10-year period
at Cisco Systems that culminated in
his being named the No. 2 executive
at Cisco. He was also president and
chief executive officer at Openwave,
a software provider for the commu-
nications and media industries. He
is founder and chairman of Canary
Foundation, a nonprofit organization
devoted exclusively to early detection
of cancer. A native of Canada, Listwin
holds a B.S. in electrical engineer-
ing and an honorary doctorate of law
from the University of Saskatchewan.
Santur Corp., a manufacturer of tun-
able lasers for telecommunications,
has appointed Paul Meissner as
chief executive officer. Meissners
18-plus years of experience in optics
and semiconductors has taken him
from KLA-Tencor and Applied Materi-
als to Coherent,
where he most
recently served as
the executive vice
president of Global
Business Opera-
tions. He received
an undergraduate degree from the
University of CaliforniaBerkeley in
materials science and engineering,
and obtained both his masters and
doctorate degrees in materials sci-
ence and engineering from Stanford.
Thomas G. Giallorenzi has joined
OSA as senior director of science pol-
icy. As senior scientific counsel, his
duties will include strategic planning
and direction, delivering technical in-
formation to the membership and the
general public, assisting the meet-
ings and conventions department in
long-range planning, and serving as
a senior scientific advisor on all OSA
scientific content. Giallorenzi has
published many journal articles, has
presented at professional confer-
ences and seminars, and has been
awarded more than 25 patents, with
more than 20 still pending.
The Fiber Optics LAN Section (FOLS)
of the Telecommunications Industry
Association (TIA) has elected its
slate of officers for 2007. The roster
includes: Andrew Oliviero, senior
product manager, optical fiber at
OFS, as section chair; Dan Harman,
3M, vice chair; Alexandra Manning,
Sumitomo Electric Lightwave, commu-
nication chair; Mario Rossi, Leviton
Voice & Data, membership chair;
and Herb Congdon, Tyco Electronics,
standards chair. FOLS members are
leading fiber cable, component, and
electronics companies including 3M;
ADC; Berk-Tek, a Nexans company;
CommScope; Corning; Corning Cable
Systems; Draka Comteq; Leviton
Voice & Data; OFS; Ortronics/Le-
grand; Panduit; Sumitomo Electric
Lightwave; and Tyco Electronics.
people
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
______
___
A WORLD OF FIBER OPTIC SOLUTIONS
S.I. Tech manufactures fiber optic communication devices for Local Area
Networks, Wide Area Networks, and Industrial Applications. S.I. Techs product
selection includes:
T1/E1 & T3/E3 Modems
RS-232/422/485 Modems and Multiplexers
IBM 3270 Coax, AS400 Twinax, and RS6000 Modems and Multiplexers
Arcnet/Ethernet/Token Ring modems for LANs
Analog or Digital Video/Audio over Fiber modems
Ethernet Switch
Optical Hubs and Repeaters
USB Modem and Hub
Fiber Optic Cable Assemblies
ISO-9001 / UL / CE / CSA Approved
Toll Free 866-SITech-1
Tel: 630-761-3640
Fax: 630-761-3644
www.sitech-bitdriver.com
Emerging Opportunities
Find emerging opportunities for OEM and end-user
products including beroptic connectors, active & passive
components, ber & cable, CATV equipment, imaging ber
optics, connector polishing and inspection equipment, test
equipment, and design & installation services.
This one-day event also includes a symposium
covering the latest advances in beroptic technologies,
equipment, and networks.
May 21, 2007
Royal Plaza Hotel, Marlborough, MA
Exhibits: 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Symposium: 9:30 am to 1:00 pm
Tel: (617) 548-NEFC / Fax: (617) 507-6397
admin@berfest.com www.berfest.com
For Exhibitor Information Contact:
Exhibits Feature:
OEM Medical CATV Telecom
Datacom Broadcasting Internet
Security Education Sensors Mil-Aero
FiberFest 2007
Shanghai Grandway
Telecom Tech. Co., Ltd.
6F, XinAn Building, No.99 Tianzhou Rd,
Shanghai, China200233
Tel: +86-21-54451260 ext.267
Fax: +86-21-54451266
Mobile: +86-13801611884
MSN: grandwayhy@hotmail.com
Skype: grandway0528
Website: www.grandway.com.cn
In 2001, Grandway esablished an R&D
department and commenced to produce
optical test instruments, by now we have a
product line which includes:
Laser Source,Power Meter,
Fiber Identifier, Optical Talkset,
Optical Loss Tester , Visible Fault
Locator and E1 Tester.
With excellent performance versus price
ratio, Grandway has achieved great
success in China, and thanks to our
overseas distributor & partner, Grandway
has already entered the global market.
You are welcome to join us now!
OFC/NFOEC product showcase
product catalog
web directory
manufacturer directory
Lightwave
Communications
Directory
To advertise in LIGHTWAVE Communications
Directory please contact KATHLEEN SKELTON at
603.891.9203 or kathleens@pennwell.com
Buy/Sell
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
_______________________
Buy/Sell
TruePulse buys & sells Nortel Optera.
We stock the hard to find wavelengths.
Looking to buy LH1600, Metro 3500, 5200,
MOR+ modules. Will consider new, used
pulls, refurbished, reconditioned or spares.
Can pay cash, trade or sell on consignment.
Currently want to buy: NTCA01, NTCA04,
NTCA06, NTCA07, NTCA30, NTCA90, NTCF,
NTWR, NTN433, NTN435, NTN440,
NTN441, NT0H03
TRUEPULSE INC.
45 White Pine Trail, Richmond Hill, ON
L4E 3L8 Canada
Tel: 905-770-7571
Email: sales@truepulse.com
Web: www.truepulse.com
Lightel Technologies Inc.
1034 Central Ave. S.
Kent, WA 98032
PH: 253-813-2862
Fax: 253-813-2861
Email: sales@lighteltech.com
Web: www.lighteltech.com
Lightel offers custom design and
manufacturing of ber optic components
and equipment. From splitters to WDMs,
CWDMs, DWDMs, PM couplers, and
EDFAs, our products are designed for
performance and reliability. Equipment
products include the Connector
Inspector video microscope, and FBT
Coupler workstations.
Nanoptix provides standard,custom
design and manufacturing of ber optic
optoelectronic devices including laser
diodes, PIN-TIA, APD photodiodes, TOSA,
ROSA, transceivers, bi-directional, FTTx
related modules and passive devices.
Nanoptix
16040 Kaplan Ave
City of Industry, CA 91744
Tel: 626-330-4439
Fax: 626-330-4503
Email:sales@nanoptix.net
Web:www.nanoptix.net
SHINEWAY TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Suite A828 Office Building,
No.14 Huayuan North Rd.,
Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, P.R.China
PH: +86-10-8202 5442
FX: +86-10-6238 6994
Email: support@shinewaytech.com
Web: www.shinewaytech.com
With its unique handheld design,
ShinewayTech provide a full range of optical
T&M instruments. Meanwhile, ShinewayTech
is professional to tailor specific products
to meet the customers marketing/
re-branding objective. Main products include:
palmOTDR, FiberCute, Laser Sources,
Visible Laser Pen, Power Meters, Return Loss
Tester, Optical Loss Testers, Talk Sets, and
Fibre Identifier.
Vitex Technologies
616 East Palisade Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
PH: 201-871-1881
Web: www.vitextech.com
Vitex offers high quality fiber optic
component and modules for customers who
look for economical pricing and first-class
customer service. Our popular products
include: (1) Diplexer, Triplexer and Transceiver
for GPON and EPON applications. (2) SFP,
SFF, and Full-form transceivers for data
applications. (3) Laser Diode and Receiver
for both digital and analog applications.
(4) Fiber-based DVI/HDMI cables
and extenders.
sales
Senior Vice President
Group Publishing Director
PennWell Advanced Technology Division
Mark Finkelstein
Tel: 603-891-9133 Fax: 603-891-0597
mfinkelstein@pennwell.com
Group Publisher
Tim Pritchard
Tel: 603-891-9447 Fax: 603-891-0587
timp@pennwell.com
EASTERN, MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES,
EASTERN CANADA
Greg Goulski
Tel: 603-891-9116 Fax: 603-891-0587
gregg@pennwell.com
TX, OK, PACIFIC, SOUTHWEST, CENTRAL,
MOUNTAIN UNITED STATES, WESTERN CANADA
Tim Pritchard
Tel: 603-891-9447 Fax: 603-891-0587
timp@pennwell.com
UK Sales Manager
Print & Digital Media/
Director of Ancillary Products Group
Kathleen Skelton
Tel: 603-891-9203 Fax: 603-891-0587
FRANCE, BENELUX, SPAIN, PORTUGAL,
WESTERN SWITZERLAND, GREECE
Luis Matutano
Tel: +33 1 39 66 16 87 Fax: +33 1 39 23 84 18
luism@pennwell.com
GERMANY, AUSTRIA, NORTHERN SWITZERLAND,
EASTERN EUROPE, RUSSIA
Johann Bylek, Holger Gerisch
Tel: +49 89 904 80 144 Fax: +49 89 904 80 145
johannb@pennwell.com holgerg@pennwell.com
ITALY
Tim Pritchard
Tel: 603-891-9447 Fax: 603-891-0587
timp@pennwell.com
ISRAEL
Dan Aronovic
Tel: +972 9 899 5813 Fax: +972 9 899 5815
rhodanny@actcom.co.il
JAPAN
Manami Konishi, Masaki Mori, e.x. press co.
Tel: +81 3 3556 1575 Fax: +81 3 3556 1576
manami.konishi@ex-press.jp
CHINA, HONG KONG, AUSTRALIA
Adonis Mak, Asia Sales Manager
Tel: +852 2 838 6298 Fax: +852 2 838 2766
adonism@asiaonline.net adonism@actintl.com.hk
TAIWAN
Anita Chen, PRISCO Corp.
Tel: +886 2 2577 7141 Fax: +886 2 2578 4595
as@interface.com.tw
KOREA
Paek Kwon, KES Korea Co. Ltd.
Tel: +82 2 420 1293/1213 Fax: +82 2 420 1294
pkwon@keskor.co.kr
SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA, INDONESIA,THAILAND
Adeline Lam, Publicitas Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Tel: +65 6 836 2272 Fax: +65 6 735 9653
alam@publicitas.com
INDIA
Rajan Sharma, Interads Ltd.
Tel: +91 11 686 1113/1114 Fax: +91 11 686 1112
rajan@interadsindia.com
Marketing Support Services
Lisa A. Bergevin, Marketing Director
Tel: 603-891-9410
lisab@pennwell.com
Reprints
Kathleen Skelton
Global List Rentals Manager
Bob Dromgoole
bobd@pennwell.com
ONLINE SALES
Tom Cintorino, Senior Vice-President, Digital Media
Tel: 603-579-9002 Fax: 603-579-9030
tcintorino@pennwell.com
Greg Goulski, Digital Media Sales Manager
Tel: 603-891-9116 Fax: 603-891-0587
gregg@pennwell.com
Anritsu Instruments Company ............................................................................... 13
Applied Optoelectronics Inc. ................................................................................ 10
Cannon Instrument Company ................................................................................. 7
CMP Technologies .................................................................................................. 25
Corning Cable Systems LLC ................................................................................... C2
Discovery Semiconductors, Inc. .............................................................................. 3
Emerson Network Power ...................................................................................... 26
EXFO ....................................................................................................................... 14
Fiber Instrument Sales ............................................................................................. 8
Fiber Optic Center Inc. ............................................................................................ 9
Gemfire Corporation ......................................................................................... 22-23
Hamamatsu Corp. ................................................................................................. C4
JDSU ....................................................................................................................... C3
Lightel ..................................................................................................................... 37
Nanoptix ................................................................................................................. 37
FiberOptic Council ................................................................................................. 36
Optical Cable Corp. ................................................................................................. 4
Santec .................................................................................................................... 11
Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers ................................................. 30
Shanghai Grandway Telecom Tech. Co., Ltd. ........................................................ 36
Shineway Technologies (China), Inc. ..................................................................... 37
SI TECH ................................................................................................................... 36
System Concept Inc. ............................................................................................. 36
Tech Recovery ........................................................................................................ 37
Thorlabs Inc. .......................................................................................................... 24
TruePulsa Inc. ........................................................................................................ 37
Vitex ....................................................................................................................... 37
advertisers index
To advertise in LIGHTWAVE Communications Directory please contact
KATHLEEN SKELTON at 603.891.9203 or kathleens@pennwell.com
19 Uxbridge Road,
Mendon, MA. 01756
Toll-Free 1-877-TestUSA or 508-634-1530
Fax: 401-737-0200
Email: customerservice@techrecovery.net
Url: www.techrecovery.com
Used Test Equipment
Fully Guaranteed
Advantest Q7750
Optical Network Analyzer
$24995.00
Agilent 8509C
Polarization Analyzer w/Cal.
$14,995.00
Now $12,995.00
HP Agilent E5574A
Optical Loss Analyzer
$3,249.00
NOW $2,795.00
Ando AQ6330
Portable Optical Spectrum Analyzer
$6,995.00
Corning SMF-28 CPC6
Bare Fiber 25K
$495.00
Quick Turnaround/Calibration Available
We buy surplus lightwave equipment!
Quick Payment/Fair prices paid.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
MARKET
WATCH
AT&T ranks first in U.S.
business Ethernet services
Business Ethernet port shares for the largest providers
were slightly lower at year-end 2006 compared to mid-
year results, according to Vertical Systems Group. Lead-
ing providers encountered more competitive pressure as
enterprise customer demand for retail business Ethernet
services in the U.S. intensified during 2H06.
Increased market participation from MSOs and spe-
cialized carriers, plus a broadening of offerings, includ-
ing sub-10-Mbit/sec services, drove share gains for more
than a dozen midsize and regionally based service provid-
ers, explains Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems
Group. The number of service providers focusing on the
U.S. market opportunity is expanding, which signals a
key inflection in business Ethernet market development.
AT&T (including the former SBC) continues to hold
the market lead based on ports with a 13.6% share, down
from 16.2% at midyear 2006. Both figures do not include
BellSouth, which had an 8.5% share of ports at the end of
December when the acquisition by AT&T was completed.
Verizon Business (including the former MCI) retains the
second share position at 12.2% of total ports, down from
13.5%. Rounding out the top three is Time Warner Tele-
com, holding a 10.7% port share, a slight decline from
10.9% at midyear 2006.
Qwest (including OnFiber) moves into the fourth po-
sition overall with a 9.9% share of the market. Cogent
is sixth at an 8.2% port share. Yipes (5.4%) and Level3
(5.3%) complete the list of business Ethernet providers
that have 5% or more of U.S. retail ports installed.
Other providers with an aggregate 26.2% of ports
include AboveNet, American Fiber Systems, American
Telesis, Arialink, Balticore, Broadwing, Charter Busi-
ness, CIFNet, Cincinnati Bell, Comcast, Cox, CT Com-
munications, Electric Lightwave, Embarq, Expedient,
Exponential-e, Fibernet, Global Crossing, Globix, LS
Networks, Masergy, Met-Net, Neopolitan Networks,
NTT/Verio, Optimum Lightpath, Orange Business
(Equant), RCN, Savvis, Sprint, Time Warner Cable, US
LEC, Veroxity, Virtela, XO, and others.
For more information about Vertical Systems
Groups Emerging Networks Service report, visit
www.verticalsystems.com.

Study analyzes Carrier Ether-
net over MSPP-based networks
Multiservice provisioning plat-
form (MSPP)-based SONET/SDH
networks that are used to provide
commercial Carrier Ethernet and
residential triple-play services pro-
vide faster payback in Tier 2 and
Tier 3 cities than Carrier Ethernet
directly over fiber, contends a new
study from Network Strategy Part-
ners (NSP).
Using existing SONET/SDH net-
works for Carrier Ethernet in smaller
cities costs less over 5 years than de-
ploying an overlay Carrier Ethernet
directly over fiber or DWDM trans-
port, say NSP analysts.
Smaller cities already have exist-
ing SONET/SDH networks deployed
for TDM/PDH traffic, explains
Peter Fetterolf, NSP partner and au-
thor of the study. Carrier Ethernet
and triple-play services can be im-
plemented quickly and cost-effec-
tively using Ethernet cards on MSPP
SONET/SDH nodes. The rollout of
a separate Carrier Ethernet network
cannot be justified in the short term
because smaller cities do not have
sufficient fiber connectivity, den-
sity, or demand, he reports.
The study models a rich set of
commercial and residential ser-
vice offerings and calculates rev-
enue, capex, and opex for three
citiesBoston, MA; Stockton, CA;
and Springdale, ARrepresenting
Tier 1 through 3 cities, respectively.
Financial metrics include cash flow,
NPV, ROI, and payback.
The study also finds that:
Payback for MSPP networks was
2.5 to 3.6 years for Tier 2 and Tier
3 cities, respectively, versus 4.7 to
5.0 years for Carrier Ethernet di-
rectly over fiber or DWDM.
Payback for Tier 1 cities was 1.9
years for MSPP networks versus
1.8 years for Carrier Ethernet
directly on fiber, justifying im-
mediate build out of a separate
network.
All cities offering video-on-de-
mand should consider using
a dedicated Carrier Ethernet
network.
Visit www.nspllc.com for more
information about Network Strat-
egy Partners report, The Busi-
ness Case for Carrier Ethernet over
MSPP SONET Networks.

Ovum-RHKs preliminary analysis
of 4Q06 results for optical network-
ing equipment vendors reveals a 6%
increase in revenues from the previ-
ous quarter and a 10% increase over
the year-ago quarter.
Of the top vendors, Alcatel outdis-
tanced the competition with a new
high of $659 million in sales for a
20.1% share, say analysts. The newly
merged Alcatel-Lucent became the
first vendor to control more than
20% (24.2%) of the $11.9 billion an-
nual optical market. Revenue for the
company was up 5% sequentially and
up 2% year-over-year due to Alcatels
extremely strong performance in
EMEA, most notably in WDM.
Huawei posted a 42% revenue in-
crease over 3Q06 (23% over 4Q05) in
what is traditionally a strong quarter
for this competitor, say Ovum-RHK
analysts. Huaweis showing in EMEA
and China was particularly strong.
Spending in the North American
market slid below $1 billion for the
first time since 4Q05 due to a pull-
back in spending from some of the
largest buyers, most notably AT&T
and its merged or merging enti-
tiesincluding Cingular and Bell-
Southand Verizon. Vendors with
dependence on these large North
American carriers (e.g., Lucent, Sie-
mens, and Tellabs) tended to fare
worse than average in the quarter,
say analysts. Only Fujitsu Network
Communications weathered the
quarter with only a slight decline de-
spite its exposure.
Spending in EMEA was particu-
larly strong in the quarter, topping
$1.1 billion and outdoing expecta-
tions due to strong sales of mul-
tiservice SDH, metro WDM, and
multireach (backbone) WDM gear.
Vendors with good coverage across
EMEA (e.g., Alcatel, Ericsson, and
Huawei) tended to fare better than
average in the quarter.
For more information about Ovum-
RHKs Optical Networking services,
visit www.ovum.com.

Optical
networking
market topped
$3.2B in 4Q06
Compiled by Meghan Fuller
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
WWW.JDSU.COM
NORTH AMERICA 1 866 228-3762
LATIN AMERICA +55 11 5503 3800
ASIA PACIFIC +852 2892 0990
EMEA +49 7121 86 2222
Building a reliable fiber network is a big jobbut it doesnt have to be a complex one. Our next
generation fiber test tools integrate JDSUs industry leading optical communication technology
with field proven optical test and measurement instruments. JDSU enables optical and broadband
innovationfrom the headend through the home. No other test equipment manufacturer offers
this depth of built-in knowledge or experience. The result: easy-to-use, accurate
and rugged test gear that simplifies processes, expedites task completion, and
builds the bottom line.
We wrote the book on Fiber Optic testing.
To get your copy, visit www.jdsu.com/foguide1
Handheld Meters OTDRs/Fault Finders PMD/CD Testers OSAs
> ONE SOURCE FOR EVERY
FIBER FIELD TEST NEED
THATS SMART.
>
ONE SOURCE FOR EVERY
FIBER FIELD TEST NEED
THATS SMART.
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
_____________
For more information about our telecommunications products, visit us online at sales.hamamatsu.com/telecom
USA 800.524.0504 usa@hamamatsu.com Europe 00.800.800.800.88 europe@hamamatsu.com
Telecommunications is all about
bandwidth...and the more the
better. Thats why Hamamatsu
provides such a wide array of
receivers and transmitters for
optical fiber communications and
spatial light transmission.
To help you keep up with the fast
pace of technology, Hamamatsu
offers a complete line of high-speed
components, including:
Products ideal for high-speed
LAN and WAN, as well as broad-
casting up to 10 Gbps
From 850 nm to 1550 nm
Products also ideal for home or
automotive networking
Detector materials include
InGaAs, GaAs, and Silicon
Detectors available with fiber pig-
tails or receptacle connectors,
such as SC, FC, LC, MU, and ROSA
Combining opto-semiconductor
device technologies with innovative
ideas, Hamamatsu is constantly
developing next-generation products
for the telecommunications
industry. To learn more about our
leading components, please visit our
website or call us directly.
Optical fiber communications
Optical data links
Spatial light transmission
Automotive networking
Choose from a wide range of high-speed telecommunications components from Hamamatsu.
to increase your bandwidth.
Visit us at OFC/NFOEC
Booth #2567
We have the bandwidth...
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE
B
A
M S a
G E
F
LI GHTWAVE

We Have The Bandwidth... : Choose From A Wide Range of High-Speed Telecommunications Components From Hamamatsu

Diunggah oleh

Informasi Dokumen

Judul Asli

Hak Cipta

Format Tersedia

Bagikan dokumen Ini

Bagikan atau Tanam Dokumen

Opsi Berbagi

Apakah menurut Anda dokumen ini bermanfaat?

Apakah konten ini tidak pantas?

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

We Have The Bandwidth... : Choose From A Wide Range of High-Speed Telecommunications Components From Hamamatsu

Diunggah oleh

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

For more information about our telecommunications products, visit us online at sales.hamamatsu.

, the revolutionary long life

will be announcing new

. While we may not be excited

, the most widely used lapping

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DIVISION

Anda mungkin juga menyukai