Widely tunable technologies are still on the optical roadmap

摘要

In late 2001, the folks at iolon (San Jose, CA) predicted 2002 would be "the year of the design win," and that seems to have occurred to a certain extent. Lucent Technologies, for example, tapped iolon's Apollo lasers for use in its LambdaXtreme DWDM system, which is rumored to be in lab trials with six major carriers, including Deutsche Telekom and AT&T. Lightscape Networks incorporated Agility Communications' widely tunable laser in its XDM platform, and at CeBIT this year, Siemens ICN unveiled a new transponder card that utilizes tunable-laser technology, though a company spokesman declined to confirm whose lasers are used. It may be a little early to start celebrating, however.