Technical Insight
OADMs set for huge growth (Market News)
The global consumption of optical add/ drop multiplexers (OADMs), an extremely important factor in the increased use of optical communications, will accelerate from $135.2 million in 2000 to $3.46 billion in 2005, then expand further to $29.8 billion by 2010, according to ElectroniCast Corp (see ). The company defines the OADM as a single-fiber unit, i.e. one fiber in, one out. Units will advance from the currently available 16 wavelength fixed-connection modules to 256 wavelength fully reconfigurable units and eventually to 1024 wavelength capacity. To achieve this, the following components are needed by early 2005: laser diodes with high powers and precise wavelengths for 50 GHz spacing, covering the nominal 12601660 nm band; optical fiber amplifier systems spanning the 12601660 nm band with uniform high gain and acceptable noise level; 1024 (2 2) transparent optical crossconnect switches. Optoelectronic components such as amplifiers, receivers and transponders comprise just over half of the total OADM component cost, which in turn makes up about half of the OADM value. "OADM and Components Forecast" is available from ElectroniCast see "www.electronicast.com".
