Optical components vendors have suffered enormous upheaval over the past few years, with the result that the competitive landscape has changed out of all recognition. Indeed, out of the four largest components vendors in 2002, only one – JDS Uniphase Corp. (Nasdaq: JDSU; Toronto: JDU) – remains active in the market today (see Could Components Rebound in 2003?).

Many factors have contributed to the changes. Here are the main ones:

All this adds up to a market that's tough to keep track of, especially in terms of which companies to list as potential suppliers, and how to compare vendors in terms of price, product performance, and so on. Which components vendors are the likely winners and losers of the future?

That's where this report comes in. On the following pages, we've identified and described 36 different categories of optical components, grouped under seven headings (one per page). Each page kicks off with a brief definition of the product group and then lists the vendors that fall into each category.

Your Input

As with other Light Reading taxonomies already published (see Who Makes What: Electronic Chips), this is just a starting point. We now need you to dive in and suggest additions, corrections, and revisions to this report, which is a living document. We'll update it regularly to reflect your input.

To make suggestions, we'd prefer you use the message board, so that everyone can participate in discussions. However, if you need to keep your communications private, please send them to [email protected] and include "Who Makes What" and your company name in the subject field.Feel free to go beyond pointing to company names we may have mistakenly omitted. We're also interested in suggestions for further product categories and refinements to the category structure.

Market Perception Survey

As with the chips and equipment taxonomies, this report is Stage 1 of a project. Stage 2 will be an online market perception survey that aims to find out which vendors are considered to be market leaders in each product category.

We'll roll out the survey once we've given you plenty of time to help us ensure that this report delivers the most comprehensive taxonomy of the optical components market ever published.

Click on these hyperlinks to go directly to the section of interest:

Transceivers

Mux/Demuxes

Optical Amplifiers

Switches & OADMs

Signal Conditioning

Sub-Assembly Components

Fiber, Cables & Connectors

— Pauline Rigby, Senior Editor, Light Reading

Passive components control light in a pre-determined way; their function is fixed during manufacture and cannot be changed later. Examples are collimators, isolators, circulators, fixed attenuators, polarizers, couplers, and splitters. Simple WDMs, which combine two channels of light, usually at 1310 and 1550 nm, are also included here.

These are the simplest type of components to manufacture, and have reached commodity status.

Attenuator -- reduces the intensity of the optical signal by a fixed amount

Circulator -- a multiport device that routes one incoming optical signal from port 1 to port 2 and another signal from port 2 to port 3.Collimator -- a lens that converts light from a point source into a parallel beam

Coupler -- enables power transfer from one optical path into another

Isolator -- allows light to pass in one direction but not the other

Polarizer -- acts on light of only one polarizationSplitter -- splits the optical power from one path into two (or more) paths according to a power ratio e.g. 50:50 or 30:70

WDM (wavelength division multiplexer) -- combines or breaks apart two optical signals by wavelength, usually 1310 and 1550 nm.

Attenuators (Fixed)

Circulators

Collimators

Isolators

Polarization components

Splitters

WDMs

Multiplexers/demultiplexers and interleavers combine and separate wavelengths in DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexed) systems. Vendors are divided according to technology type: thin-film filters (TFFs), Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs), Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs), and bulk grating-based devices.

Thin-Film Filters

Fiber Bragg Gratings

Planar Waveguide (includes AWG & Echelle gratings)

Bulk Grating

Optical amplifiers boost the signal strength of the pulses of light as they travel down the Optical Fiber.

Even though optical fiber is incredibly low loss (around 0.2 dB/km), loss effects are cumulative, so become noticable after pulses have traveled tens or hundreds of kilometers. An amplifier placed in the middle of the link can restore the signal strength to its former level. This is called "in-line amplification". In DWDM systems, in-line amplifiers must be able to boost the strength of all the channels.

Optical signals can also get a boost just after they have left the laser, which is known as “power amplification.” A final boost may be required as the optical signals reach the detectors: Such amplification at the end of the system is called “pre-amplification.”

There are several different types of optical amplifier:

EDFAs

EDWAs

SOAs

Raman

Archive of Related Light Reading Webinar:

Related Light Reading Report:

This category includes all-optical switching subsystems, from 1x2 to huge multiport devices, as well as configurable optical add/drops and related components.

The list below segments the market according to technology. These technologies are described in more detail in a couple of Light Reading reports – All-Optical Switching Tutorial, Part 1 and All-Optical Switching Tutorial, Part 2. The second tutorial also matches technologies to different switching applications.

Small Switches (1x2, 2x2 etc)

Matrix Switches (8x8 and above)

Reconfigurable OADMs

Wavelength Blockers

Tunable Filters

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Signal conditioning components measure and adjust variables such as signal power, gain across DWDM channels, and dispersion, to keep them within set limits. Components include optical channel monitors, variable optical attenuators (VOAs), gain-flattening filters/spectral equalizers, and dispersion compensators.

Optical Channel Monitors (OCMs)

VOAs

VMUX (integrated VOA & MUX)

Dynamic Gain Equalizers (DGE)

Tunable Dispersion Compensators (TDC)

Polarisation Control

Related Light Reading Report:

This category is composed of all the parts components vendors use to build optical subsystems like transceivers and amplifiers. This includes commodity parts such as splitters, combiners, and fixed attenuators.

Lasers (Chips & Packaged)

VCSELs

Modulators

Wavelength Lockers

Detectors (Chips & Packaged)

Pump Lasers

Circulators

Isolators

Couplers/Splitters

Attenuators (Fixed)

Polarization control

Transmission Fiber

Specialty Fiber

Cable Assemblies & Patchcords

Connectors