OFC/NFOEC 2013 product round-up - Part 2

 Second and final part

• Custom add/drop integrated platform and a dual 1x20 WSS module
• Coherent receiver with integrated variable optical attenuator
• 100/200 Gigabit coherent CFP and 100 Gigabit CFP2 roadmaps     
• Mid-board parallel optics - from 150 to over 600 Gigabit.
• 10 Gigabit EPON triplexer 

Add/drop platform and wavelength-selective switches

Oclaro announced an add/drop routing platform for next-generation reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs). The platform, which supports colourless, directionless, contentionless (CDC) and flexible grid ROADMs, can be tailored to a system vendor's requirements and includes such functions as cross-connect switching, arrayed amplifiers and optical channel monitors.

"If we make the whole thing [add/drop platform], we can integrate in a much better way"

Per Hansen, Oclaro

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ECOC 2012 summary - Part 2: Finisar

Gazettabyte completes its summary of key optical announcements at the recent ECOC show held in Amsterdam. In Part 2, Finisar's announcements are detailed.

Part 2

"The general thought with system vendors is that the more they can shrink the in-line equipment into a fewer number of slots, the more slots they have open and available for revenue-generating transceiver and transponder cards"

Rafik Ward, Finisar

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2012: A year of unique change

The third and final part on what CEOs, executives and industry analysts expect during the new year, and their reflections on 2011.

Karen Liu, principal analyst, components telecoms, Ovum  @girlgeekanalyst 

"We’ve entered the next decade for real: the mobile world is unified around LTE and moving to LTE Advanced, complete with small cells and heterogenous networks including Wi-Fi."

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ROADMs: core role, modest return for component players

Next-generation reconfigurable optical add/ drop multiplexers (ROADMs) will perform an important role in simplifying network operation but optical component vendors making the core component  - the wavelength-selective switch (WSS) - on which such ROADMs will be based should expect a limited return for their efforts.

"[Component suppliers] are going to be under extreme constraints on pricing and cost"

Sterling Perrin, Heavy Reading

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Q&A with JDSU's CTO

In Part 1 of a Q&A with Gazettabyte, Brandon Collings, JDS Uniphase's CTO for communications and commercial optical products, reflects on the key optical networking developments of the coming decade, how the role of optical component vendors is changing and next-generation ROADMs. 

"For transmission components, photonic integration is the name of the game. If you are not doing it, you are not going to be a player"

Brandon Collings (left), JDSU

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LightReading Market Spotlight: ROADMs

Click here for the market spotlight ROADM article written for LightReading. See also the comment discussions.

To efficiency and beyond

Briefing:  Dynamic optical networks

Part 3: ROADM and control plane developments

ROADMs and control plane technology look set to finally deliver reconfigurable optical networks but challenges remain.

Operators are assessing how best to architect their networks - from the router to the optical layer - to boost efficiencies and reduce costs.  It is developments at the photonic layer that promise to make the most telling contribution to lowering the cost of transport, a necessity given how the revenue-per-bit that carriers receive continues to dwindle.

Global ROADM forecast 2009 -14 in US $ miliions Source: Ovum

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