Two recent entrants into the North American dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) arena

Two recent entrants into the North American dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) arena expanded their market range in opposite directions at the recent National Fiber-Optic Engineers Conference in Orlando, FL. Siemens Telecom Networks (Boca Raton, FL) followed its short-haul debut earlier this year with an entry into the long-distance market, the TransXpress Infinity system. The new point-to-point system can send 16 x 16 channels of OC-192 (10-Gbit/sec) traffic over 600 km of non-dispersion-shifted fiber without regeneration. The system should be upgraded to 32 channels with an optical bidirectional line-switched ring capability next year. Meanwhile, Fujitsu Network Communications (Richardson, TX) complemented its earlier long-haul DWDM debut with a metropolitan-area counterpart. The flashwave Metro system will provide bidirectional and unidirectional transmission with a bit-error rate of 10-15. The OC-48 (2.5-Gbit/sec) system comes in both 4 x 4 and 8 x 8 bidirectional configurations; the unidirectional version will support up to 16 channels.