LR Launches Optical Components Survey

A total of 650 companies are exhibiting at the Optical Fiber Communications tradeshow in Los Angeles later this month. So this particular barometer of the optical components world will have a healthy turnout, but nothing close to the record 1,204 exhibitors that attended in 2002.

Table 1: OFC by the Numbers

	Number of exhibitors	Net square feet of exhibit floor
2004	650	121,000
2003	879	194,000
2002	1,204	322,000
2001	977	270,000
2000	483	121,000
Source: Optical Society of America

Given OFC's lumpy history, it's time for a roll call to find out which vendors are still standing and, even more importantly, what components they're still selling now that many of them have taken an axe to their product portfolios.

That's exactly what Light Reading has launched -- the Mother of All Roll Calls in the form of its latest report, Who Makes What: Optical Components 2004.

As with other "Who Makes What" reports, readers are invited to suggest additions and revisions to the article, which lays down a proposed taxonomy and lists suppliers in each product category. The initial version of the report is merely a starting point for a collaborative effort between Light Reading and the industry, with a view to creating a comprehensive directory of companies and products.

Readers are invited to propose not just additions to lists of suppliers but also further product categories, either by posting on the message board linked to the article or by emailing comments to [email protected] (please include "Who Makes What" and your company name in the subject field).

Here's a hyperlinked list of products covered in the report:

Transceivers

• Ethernet
• 10-Gig Ethernet/Fiber Channel
• 2.5-Gbit/s Sonet/SDH
• <2.5-Gbit/s Sonet/SDH
• 10 Gbit/s
• 40 Gbit/s
• DWDM
• CWDM
• Cable TV
• Parallel Optics
• Tunable

Mux/Demuxes

• Thin Film Filters
• Fiber Bragg Gratings
• AWGs
• Bulk-Grating Muxes

Optical Amplifiers

• EDFAs
• EDWAs
• SOAs
• Raman Amplifiers

Switches & OADMs

• Opto-Mechanical
• MEMS
• Liquid Crystal
• Planar Lightwave
• Wavelength Blockers
• Tunable Filters

Signal Conditioning

• Channel Monitors
• Tap Monitors
• VOAs

Sub-Assembly Components

• Lasers
• Modulators
• Detectors
• Wavelength Lockers
• Pump Lasers
• Couplers/Splitters

Fiber, Cables & Connectors

Please note that a similar exercise has already been conducted for electronic components (see Who Makes What: Electronic Chips).

Once the Who Makes What report on optical components has been refined to reflect reader comments, the results will be used for another market perception survey conducted by Heavy Reading, Light Reading's market research division.

— Peter Heywood, Founding Editor, Light Reading