May 13, 2002 12:00 PM,

FUJITSU BETS ON SHAKY METRO WITH NEW DWDM STRATEGY

Liane H. LaBarba

Other vendors' failures make some question the move's timing

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Whether or not the market is ready for more metro DWDM equipment and vendors, Fujitsu Network Communications is coming. This week Fujitsu, notoriously strong in Sonet equipment sales to Bell companies, will detail its strategy to tackle what many consider to be a questionable market that the company has not previously addressed.

Much of the vendor's strategy relies on a recent OEM agreement with German metro and enterprise DWDM developer Adva Optical Networking. Fujitsu is pulling two of Adva's metro DWDM products, the Flashwave 7410 edge premises device and the Flashwave 7420 metro access platform, into its combined metro family. Later this month the vendor will reveal its homegrown all-optical microelectromechanical systems (MEMs) based metro core device.

FUJITSU'S METRO MANTRA
System	Application	Features
Flashwave 7500	Metro core system	• All-optical, MEMs-based • 80-wavelength functionality • Transponder transparency • Variable attenuators
Flashwave 7420	Metro access	• Point-to-point, linear and ring • 32 protected wavelengths • Used for interconnecting COs and POPs
Flashwave 7410	Customer premises feeder	• Optimized for customer premises, access and small interoffices • Handles point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and four wavelengths • Four-channel coarse WDM

Fujitsu's senior director of metro planning, Mike Sablehouse, sees a big need for DWDM in the metro despite the flood of current products. “Service providers have a lot of Sonet in the ground that will stay there forever,” he said. “In the future there will be a need for lots of DWDM interconnection.”

To be sure, some need does exist. Although providers are providing precious few deployment details, Verizon Communications recently tapped Lucent as its metro DWDM equipment provider, and SBC signed an agreement with Nortel Networks. But with increasingly constrained capital budgets and an unfamiliar technology, winning contracts may be extremely tough. Metro DWDM rings also may not be the most applicable to incumbent local networks.

ILECs won't be doing big metro DWDM deployments because their physical networks are more point-to-point than ring-based, according to Dave Schaeffer, CEO of service provider Cogent Communications. “They can't take advantage of the benefits that way,” Schaeffer said.

“Fujitsu is likely succumbing to pressure to integrate DWDM and Sonet and ensure ILECs that it has an integrated approach,” said Mark Lutkowitz, vice president at CIR. “But it's a down year for metro DWDM anyway, so they wouldn't reap the benefits for a couple of years.”

Lutkowitz also questioned why Fujitsu developed an all-optical device when the continued need for electronics is clear. “I don't know why they would even bother with that, at least not right now,” Lutkowitz said, adding that most current focus is on next-generation Sonet boxes rather than metro DWDM.

Schaeffer agreed that the timing may be off. “Japanese vendors produce high-quality products at a competitive price, but they tend to be a half step behind in technology,” he said.

At one point, Cogent had 53 different metro DWDM boxes in its labs, according to Schaeffer, adding that the market was clearly overcrowded and over-funded. Many of those companies have since disappeared, leaving just a handful, including market leaders ONI Systems (which is being acquired by Ciena) and Nortel.

The metro DWDM market may fall even further because of reduced carrier spending, but TeleChoice Executive Vice President Beth Gage said the metro space will take off over a two-to three-year time period.