SEI to Invest 35 Billion Yen in WDM

TOKYO, Sept. 7 -- Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. will invest 35 billion yen in wavelength division multiplexing-related products in order to boost its WDM-related sales to 200 billion yen by 2002, the company said. The company will concentrate on increasing production capacity and introducing next-generation products.
The bulk of the investment will go toward developing optical communications components, while about 12 billion yen will be dedicated to developing high-performance fiber for WDM and a variety of other optical technology products. The investment is expected to increase the production capacity of each product group by two to five times by 2002.
The company's patented Fiber Bragg grating stabilized pump laser technology will receive a significant portion of the investment as well. This technology is essential to the performance of the Raman amplifiers, the next generation in optical signal amplification technology, which the company forecasts as an area of rapid expansion.