Silicon Photonics Fast Becoming a Commercial Reality, Report Finds

As silicon photonics emerge in telecom and networking technologies, OEMs should understand new developments to better their businesses, says Light Reading Insider

PRNewswire
NEW YORK
Aug 13, 2008

NEW YORK, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- First-generation silicon photonics products are now available from a handful of suppliers, a development that promises to have major implications for a wide range of telecom and networking technologies, according to the latest report from Light Reading Insider (http://www.lightreading.com/insider), a paid research service of TechWeb's Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/).

Silicon Photonics: A Market Takes Shape analyzes the short- and long-term prospects for the silicon photonics market. It identifies and evaluates the early products now being brought to market, considers where the technology might go, and compares and profiles 11 vendors now leading the way in research, development, and commercialization of this new technology.

For a list of companies analyzed in this report, please see: http://img.lightreading.com/lri/pdf/lri0808companies.pdf

"The silicon photonics market is potentially enormous," notes Simon Sherrington, research analyst for Light Reading Insider and author of the report. "The technology is being considered for nearly every type of communications, including on-chip communications within computers, inter-chip communications, backplane connections within servers and switches, communications between servers and switches, connectivity in the consumer and business electronics environment, and the wider area for access network communications and metro network communications. The only places vendors are not thinking about using silicon photonics is in the long-haul communications environment, where the cost benefits of replacing optoelectronic components with silicon photonics are minimal."

Sherrington says the telecom and high-performance computing industries need silicon photonics for two key reasons: cost and capacity. "Silicon photonics has the potential to be cheaper than the electronics-based solutions for micro-, short-, and medium-range data transmission," he explains. "It promises to cost less in terms of materials, components, and ongoing power consumption. At the same time, silicon photonics offers a potential increase in communications bandwidth at cost-effective price points."

  Key findings of Silicon Photonics: A Market Takes Shape include:

  -- The most pressing need for silicon photonics is in short-range
     applications, such as within data centers.
  -- Silicon photonics is likely to play an important role in metro and
     access network applications, but not until higher-capacity broadband
     services are firmly in place.
  -- Makers of optical equipment are keeping their silicon photonics
     strategies under wraps, but they are likely to move quickly once
     commercial viability of the technology is established.
  -- Silicon photonics has the potential to be disruptive in both the
     telecom and computing supply chains.

Silicon Photonics: A Market Takes Shape provides critical insight and analysis for a range of industry participants, including:

  -- Telecom equipment manufacturers needing independent insight into
     current and potential developments in silicon photonics, as well as a
     view into likely timeframes for future product development in this
     sector
  -- Developers of silicon photonics and photonic integration technologies
     looking for a concise evaluation of market positioning and likely
     market demand for their products
  -- Network operators looking for an assessment of how the silicon
     photonics sector will develop, and how it will affect product
     performance and cost in the long term
  -- Investors needing a better understanding of the scale of the
     opportunity that silicon photonics presents to technology developers
     and telecom equipment manufacturers

Silicon Photonics: A Market Takes Shape is available as part of an annual single-user subscription (12 monthly issues) to Light Reading Insider, priced at $1,595. Individual reports are available for $900 (single-user license).

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: http://www.lightreading.com/insider. For more information on all of Light Reading's Insider services, please visit http://www.lightreading.com/research.

To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact:

  Jeff Claudino
  Director of Sales
  Insider Research Services
  619-229-9940
  claudino@lightreading.com

  Press/analyst contact:

  Dennis Mendyk
  Managing Director
  Insider Research Services
  201-587-2154
  mendyk@heavyreading.com


  About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/) is the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. It reaches an extensive audience of executives and technologists within the telecom and enterprise networking communities, as well as the financial/industry analysts and investors who track these sectors. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005, and operates as a unit of UBM.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

* 13.3 million business decision-makers: based on # of monthly connections

SOURCE: Light Reading Insider

CONTACT: Jeff Claudino, Director of Sales, Insider Research Services,
+1-619-229-9940, claudino@lightreading.com; or Press, analyst, Dennis Mendyk,
Managing Director, Insider Research Services, +1-201-587-2154,
mendyk@heavyreading.com

Web site: http://www.lightreading.com/
http://www.lightreading.com/insider
http://www.lightreading.com/research
http://www.techweb.com/
http://img.lightreading.com/lri/pdf/lri0808companies.pdf