March 12, 2004 Nashua, NH -- This year's crop of Lightwave OFC Attendees' Choice Award winners include some repeat victors. However, several of the results raised a few eyebrows among the Lightwave staff.
Lightwave has held the Attendees' Choice Awards contest at OFC since 2001. The parameters are simple. Exhibitors nominate a product that will appear in their booths at the show. Descriptions of each product appear in the issue of Lightwave distributed at the event. We compose ballots from these entries, which we distribute to attendees at OFC. Only exhibitors appearing at the show may nominate products, and only attendees on the show floor may vote. We collect the completed ballots at our booth, tally them up, and hand out the kudos.
This year's winners include:
- Systems: The OPTera Metro 3500 from Nortel Networks
- Subsystems: The IntelliGuard Optical Channel Performance Monitor from BaySpec
- Design Tools: BandSOLVE, RSoft Design Group
- Components: The VSC8477 16:1 SerDes Transceiver from Vitesse
- Test Equipment:The Optical Vector Analyzer from Luna Technologies
- Installation: The Ferrule Mate from Seikoh Giken
- Manufacturing: Automation 3200 from Aerotech
The victory for BaySpec represents their second in as many years, albeit for different products. The company won last year in the Test Equipment category for its 018-1260 athermal VPG-based OSA spectral engine.
The victory by Vitesse's SerDes was unexpected, in that it represents the first time an IC has won in the Component category.
Lightwave will hold its next Attendees' Choice Awards competition at this year's NFOEC. For additional information on the contest or to ensure that your company has an opportunity to participate, contact Editorial Director and Associate Publisher Stephen Hardy.