Wavelength routers bumped from A-list

Despite downturn, some carriers are showing renewed interest

Technology companies are like sheep. One company says a technology is hot and a must-have for networks, and then everyone else has to secure a piece of the action.

Wavelength routers and their development are a classic case of the “me too” trap. Start-ups and established vendors alike scrambled to ensure their position on the wavelength routers market that was sure to explode. Cisco Systems bought Monterey Networks, Lucent Technologies and Alcatel developed their own boxes in house, and Nortel Networks bought Xros. Then the market turned ugly.

In step with the sudden overabundance of long-haul connectivity, the interest in buying long-haul equipment has flattened. But recently, some vendors have started to question the logic behind the slowdown despite the toll it has taken.

Ciena believes its revenue will drop between 12% and 20% because of the slowdown in long-haul equipment sales.

“Seismic shifts in technology in history have [classically] caused market turmoil and a changing of the guard,” said Gary Smith, director, president and CEO of Ciena.

That market turmoil also forced Cisco to shut down further development and sale of its Wavelength Router from the Monterey acquisition. Cisco wanted to focus on areas providing immediate revenue growth during the hostile economic environment, Carl Russo, optical group vice president, said when the company discontinued the product.

But while Cisco points to lack of demand as a reason to quit, not every vendor is pulling the plug. In May, Tellium said Qwest Communications would deploy a 512-port optical switch. Earlier in the year, Global Crossing said it was deploying Lucent's WaveStar LambdaRouter in a few areas.

“There has been a lot of great progress made with the wavelength routers,” said Ben Vos, director of network planning and design for Sprint. “We are targeting deployment in mid-2002 and we have gotten a lot of requests for proposals back.”

Vos wouldn't specify what vendors Sprint was looking at, but did say RFPs came back from 30 vendors, and about six to 10 of those were in the running.

Sprint, on the heels of large investments in Sonet ring technology throughout its OC-48 network, is making wavelength routers part of a long-range plan. The provider plans to implement the wavelength router meshed-based network as an overlay to the current set of network elements such as the existing Sonet and ATM equipment.

Sprint is setting certain parameters, including functionality and scalability for the wavelength routers it does choose, according to Vos. At the same time, the company needs to be able to make upgrades without service interruptions.

But Tellium's Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer Krishna Bala was careful to point out that the fabric debate is not the most important factor.

“We have seen the trend shift from the technology itself to how to deploy intelligent [equipment] and get revenue [out of that equipment],” Bala said.

Surprisingly, Corvis' vice president of hardware engineering David Smith agreed.

“I am not a big advocate of putting optics in areas where electronics do just as well,” he said.

Chris Rothlis, vice president of networks and engineering for Broadwing Communications also agreed, noting that there will be a need for an electronic level for a long time. “Ultimately the economy will drive us to an all-optical solution, but until then there will continue to be a role for electronic fabrics.”

That variety of interest from service providers may indeed be what holds equipment development of wavelength routers back.

“Twenty years ago it was easy to develop and market products,” said Chris Nicoll, vice president at Current Analysis. “There was only one company to target: AT&T. Now there are lots of different targets.”