Fiber for the future Market leaders look to develop optical Midas touch >BY WAYNE CARTER, Associate Editor-News

Three recent announcements from manufacturers have shed some light on the industry's progress in optical technology deployment, as well as expectations for the technology's long-term growth.

Along with announcements that Corning and Lucent have expanded production capability for existing optical products, Alcatel publicized plans for its first U.S. research center, concentrating on photonic networks, in Richardson, Texas.

Alcatel has a network of research centers worldwide, but the Richardson center will be the first in the U.S.

Alcatel's decision to build the U.S. center is possibly part of a strategy to help the company play catch-up in the optical products market, said Mark Lutkowitz, president of Birmingham, Ala., research and consulting company Trans-Formation Inc. By moving to boost its U.S. presence, Alcatel is sending a message to its competitors that it is planning not only to go after a bigger share of the U.S. market but to use its U.S. connections to further its worldwide business, he said.

"It's important for Alcatel as a whole to have a research and development department in the United States," Lutkowitz said. "It's important to be on the cutting edge of what's happening.

Peter Radley, research and technology director for Alcatel Telecom in Paris, agreed.

"This investment is important not only to help business in the U.S. but also for the importance of activities in the U.S. for the future of the whole company," he said.

While Lutkowitz is a bit more optimistic about Alcatel's prospects in optical technology than he was even a year ago, he doesn't expect the company to overtake competitors such as NEC, Hitachi and Northern Telecom in its primary optics business, Sonet equipment.

As Alcatel invests in research and development, Corning and Lucent are banking on expanded manufacturing capabilities to help them maintain and increase their share of the optic components market.

Pending approval of its board, by April Corning will start constructing a new plant in Erwin, N.Y., to make erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and other optical components.

Corning wants to build the facility-which would nearly triple Corning's capacity to produce optical components-to meet growing demand for such devices, a spokesman said. Competition among telephone service providers is driving the expansion, he said.

Lucent has expanded its production of another signal amplification device-analog and digital isolated laser diodes-by developing a new manufacturing process called Laser 2000. Rather than using human labor to build laser modules in a clean room, the process lets robots assemble the modules on an assembly line maintained in a clean-room environment. By eliminating humans as a source of contamination and production error, the company expects to significantly increase its production capacity.

But even as network operators are building and expanding, most agree that all-optical networks are a thing of the distant future.

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