Uniphase, SDL Launch New Gratings

Michael D. Wheeler

Two manufacturers of fiber optic technology here have unveiled grating components in an effort to gain an increasing share of the growing fiber optic market.
In January, Uniphase Corp. announced the creation of a networks component division based on the grating product line manufactured and marketed by the company's fiber components division (formerly Indx Pty. Ltd., which Uniphase acquired in November 1997).
Products will include channel add-drop modules and dispersion-compensation modules for high-speed wavelength division multiplexing. These new offerings, however, do not signify a major shift in market strategy in relation to companies such as Lucent Technologies and Ciena Corp.
"Right now we see them as our customers," said Gary Ball, the recently named president of the Uniphase division. "It doesn't make any sense to go head-to-head with your customer base."
Nearly a month after the Uniphase announcement, SDL Inc. also launched a line of fiber optic components based on fiber Bragg grating technology. The first products slated for development will support the next generation of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. Several components that are in various stages of development include
noise-suppression, gain-flattening, dispersion-compensating and add-drop multiplexing filters, and 1550-nm reflectors.