Innovation Seen as Key to DWDM Filter Market

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., June 24 -- The DWDM filter market still offers opportunities for suppliers that find ways to stand out from the crowd, according to a new report from Communications Industry Researchers Inc. (CIR), an optical industry market research firm.

"The Market for Optical Filters" identifies more than 70 companies that compete in the filter space. It says filter suppliers can still be successful by using filters as a way to lower costs in equipment and networks, by enhancing service provider productivity and by adding value to basic filter products.

Success will go to filter firms that can offer not just the lowest prices for filters, but that can also market their products as enabling broader cost advantages to both systems houses and carriers. As an example of how filters can be marketed as lowering the total costs for equipment vendors, the report says that both Hitachi Cable and NEL have been able to distinguish themselves by athermalizing their arrayed waveguide (AWG) products. This means that their customers can lower costs by eliminating space requirements for heaters, and this may help expand the market for AWGs by making them economically viable in the metro space.