Chinese optical-transport market headed for $2 billion
The optical-transport market in China reached $1.1 billion in the first half of 2001and is expected to reach $1.9 billion for the full year, according to a report by RHK (South San Francisco, CA). The report shows Huawei (Shenzen, China) leading the transport market with 32% share in the first half, up from 27% in 2000. According to RHK, "Nortel (Brampton, Ont., Canada) displaced Alcatel (Paris, France) from second place and captured 18% market share, up from 5% last year; ZTE (Shenzhen, China) remained in third place with 12%; while Lucent (Holmdel, NJ), which tied with ZTE for third place last year, dropped to fourth with 9%; Alcatel and Marconi (London, England) share fifth place with 6% each of the market."
ITT Industries and 3M pursue fiber-to-the-desk connectivity
ITT Industries Inc. (New York, NY) has signed a global supply agreement with 3M (St. Paul, MN) for the VF-45(TM) duplex fiberoptic connector, primarily aimed at fiber-to-the-desktop (FTTD). "Growth in FTTD can be seen by the predicted 500% increase in VF-45 sales in the next 5 years," said Ken Williams, senior product manager at ITT Industries, NS&S. "During this timeframe, 10 gigabits to the desktop will become a reality in certain environments, and our partnership with 3M will allow us to offer our customers a medium- to long-term solution when installing their networks today."
ONI Systems announces multimillion-dollar contract with Equant
ONI Systems Corp. (San Jose, CA) has announced a multimillion-dollar agreement with Equant (Paris, France), in which Equant plans to use ONI equipment to light fiber that it has purchased for local point-of-presence interconnects to its long-distance wavelengths. ONI began deploying the ONLINE transport platform in the Equant network located in London and Paris in the first quarter of 2001. "The challenge in every city is different," said Jack Norris, head of Equant customer service and network. "In some cases it is fiber scarcity, while in others the need is for new services not available with first-generation optics, such as SONET/SDH."
Corning fiber to fill 500-km Essent Kabelcom corridor
Corning Incorporated (Corning, NY) has announced a deal with Essent Kabelcom, the second-largest cable operator in The Netherlands, to provide more than 60,000 km of MetroCor fiber for a 510-km link between Amsterdam, Groningen, Bremen, and Hamburg. Construction of the link will begin third-quarter 2001, and it is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2001.
Optical Solutions takes fiber to homes in Roseville, CA
Optical Solutions Inc. (Minneapolis, MN) has announced a contract with Roseville Telephone Company, an incumbent local exchange carrier with 133,000 access lines in the Sacramento metropolitan area. Residents in Del Webb and portions of Highland Reserve and Diamond Oaks neighborhoods in Roseville will be the first to receive the direct fiber connection. Roseville Telephone will conduct a beta test starting in November, and proceed with the first phase of the fiber build-out with 300 customers by the end of the fourth quarter 2001.
Also in the news . . .
Zentrix Technologies Inc. (Tucson, AZ), has announced the opening of a Zentrix Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd production facility in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, that is to provide technical sales and manufacturing support of wireless and fiberoptic components to located in Southeast Asia. . . . BTG (West Conshohocken, PA) has announced receipt of a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office for its patent application relating to dispersion-managed solitons. . . . EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc. (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada) has officially changed the name of EFOS Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary acquired in March, to EXFO Photonic Solutions Inc.
Hassaun A. Jones-Bey