Technical Insight
WDM components increase share in FTTO (Market News)
There will be a major increase in the communication bandwidth requirements to homes and small businesses based in primarily residential areas, plus fiber connections to "downtown" business subscribers, according to a new forecast from ElectroniCast Corporation. Business/government demand for communication bandwidth over the next decade is expected to generate a volume of communication equipment production sufficient to drive down the cost of network fiber-optic equipment and components for metro/access broadband and residential broadband communication. The advancements in business broadband communications will have an impact at all levels in the communication food chain, including optoelectronic, optical and other components that are required in network equipment. The US consumption of components for fiber-to-the-office (FTTO) was estimated at $900 million for 1999 and is forecast to grow to $3.05 billion by 2004. The components for DWDM and CWDM accounted for 11% of the 1999 figure and show impressive growth to a 31% share of the total FTTO component value in 2004 (see ). "Metro/Access Fiber Optic Network Services, Equipment and Components Forecast" is available from ElectroniCast - see "www.electronicast.com".