Slim Competition Gives Market Edge To Rugged, Tested, Low-Cost Optical Switches From AOMEMS

Full Product Lineup Debuts at OFC 2003 Booth 3112; All Switches Available for Immediate Shipment

ATLANTA, March 25, 2003 -- When San Diego-based Optical Micro Machines (OMM) announced earlier this month it was closing its doors, it further narrowed the choices of customers looking for immediate help in connecting "the last mile" of their metropolitan area fiber optics network expansion with optical switches.

It also opened up new opportunities for Advanced Optical MEMS, Inc, a privately held manufacturer of opto-mechanical switches that are as much as 60 percent lower in cost, use components that are proven and accepted by the telecommunications industry, and are rugged enough to withstand the infrastructure environment, according to Michael Young, chief executive officer of the Irvine, Calif.-based firm exhibiting at the Optical Fiber Conference, Booth 3112 at the Georgia World Congress Cent March 25-28.

Until now, companies like Cisco, Nortel, Siemens, Lucent and others have been waiting for the major suppliers, ie: OMM, JDSU, DiCon and Lightech to deliver the next generation switches based on the heavily publicized micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology.

However, Young points out that "after five years and billions of dollars invested in research and development, nearly all the firms have failed because they exhausted their funds and were unable to deliver products in a timely fashion. JDSU, DiCon, Lightech and others currently have a limited variety of products," he said.

He added that potential manufacturers have been thwarted by the long, highly complex and expensive production cycle required to produce and deliver the all-optical MEMS switches.

"MEMS switches are still in the ‘vaporware' stage. They are still largely prototypes, but our full line of all-optical switches is ready for immediate delivery to meet today's market demands," Young said.

"With the reliability of electro-mechanical switches and the precision of MEMS technology, all of our products feature superior optics, greater tolerance to vibration and other real-world environments, and are less fragile than competitive switches, making them ideal for field operations," he said.

Other features and their benefits include:

• Low Cost. With prices from 40 to 60 percent lower than any competitors, AOMEMS switches are an attractive alternative for Metro applications where many switches are required. Telcos can reduce cap spending and operations costs while gaining performance features and introducing new and improved services. The bottom line: increased revenues.
  
• Lower insertion loss. One of the most important factors in any optical switch is the level of insertion loss. Most AOMEMS switches feature the lowest insertion loss levels in the industry, ranging from 1.0 to 3.5 decibels (dB), (the industry average is 5.0 dB and higher).
  
• Ten times greater repeatability than competitive switches, essential for system diagnostics.
• Millisecond switching time is less than 50msec established by SONET communication protocol. Currently, optical layer restoration takes minutes to hours.
  
• Low crosstalk, isolating other channels from disturbing the switchedchannel. AOMEMS switches feature half the crosstalk of their competitors.
  
• Low polarization dependent loss (PDL). 0.1dB gives network designers greater flexibility for future implementation as more components are cascaded in line. AOMEMS switches feature half the PDL of its nearest competitors.
  
• Wide passband. One switch can serve from 1300 to 1700mm bands – the entire usable band range for fiber telecommunications – eliminating the need to replace switches in future implementations.
  
• Latch at both on/off positions. Only AOMEMS products feature in-place latching, providing even greater protection against power blackouts or brownouts. This feature dramatically reduces power consumption.
  
• Non-blocking. When one fiber pair is switched, other pairs are not disturbed, a key feature when switching live traffic.
  
• Protocol and data rate independent. Compared to an O-E-O switch that is dependent on protocols and data rates, AOMEMS switches do not require the carriers to replace all the equipment when they want to increase transmission speeds. Since the switches are mirror-based, they are independent of communication protocols, ie: Ethernet, SONET, ESCON, etc., and also ensure communication speed upgrades without the need to repeat capital investments as demand for broadband service increases.
  
• Switch configuration readout. Unique to AOMEMS, this feature improves system configuration and management by providing feedback electrically.
  
• Multimode. It is the only switch capable of multimode fiber cross-connect, reducing production costs and making it more affordable for Metro applications.
  
• Accepted actuators. AOMEMS switches employ actuators that are already deployed in the telecommunications industry and are widely accepted for their reliability and customer satisfaction.
  
• Easy integration. System houses can outsource entire module designs and functions quickly to AOMEMS custom modules, reducing their internal staff's workload.

AOMEMS' new product lineup includes 1x4, 1x8, 4x4-2, 4x4-3, 4x4-4, 8x8-2, 8x8-3, 8x8-4 and 16x16-2 Optical Switches, 4x4 and 8x8 Optical Broadcast Switches and Optical Switch Development Kits.

Optical Switches:

-1xN: A cross-connect optical switch for network applications with 1.0dB insertion loss, +/-0.02dB repeatability and -5 to +70 degrees centigrade operating temperature range.
-4x4-2: A two-sided 4x4 cross-connect optical switch designed for minimal footprint requirements. Insertion loss is 1.5dB, repeatability is +/-0.02dB, PDL is 0.1dB and operating temperature range is -5 to +70 degrees centigrade.
-4x4-3: A three-sided 4x4 cross-connect optical switch designed to provide switching plus add or drop functions. Insertion loss is 1.5dB, repeatability is +/-0.02dB, PDL is 0.1dB and operating temperature range is -5 to +70 degrees centigrade.
-4x4-4: A four-sided 4x4 cross-connect optical switch can perform 8x8 functions in a re-configurable add-drop module with switching protection. Insertion loss is 1.5dB, repeatability is +/-0.02dB, PDL is 0.1dB and operating temperature range is -5 to +70 degrees centigrade
-8x8-2: A two-sided 8x8 cross-connect optical switch designed for minimal footprint requirements. Insertion loss is 3.5dB, repeatability is +/-0.02dB, PDL is 0.1dB and operating temperature range is -5 to +70 degrees centigrade.
-8x8-3: A three-sided 8x8 cross-connect optical switch designed to provide switching plus add or drop functions. Insertion loss is 3.5dB, repeatability is +/-0.02dB, PDL is 0.1dB and operating temperature range is -5 to +70 degrees centigrade.
-8x8-4: A four-sided 8x8 cross-connect optical switch can perform 16x16 functions in a re-configurable add-drop module with switching protection. Insertion loss is 3.0dB, repeatability is +/-0.02dB, PDL is 0.1dB and operating temperature range is -5 to +70 degrees centigrade.
-16x16-2: A two-sided 16x16 cross-connect optical switch built from four 8x8-3 switches. Insertion loss is 5.0dB, repeatability is +/-0.02dB, PDL is 0.1dB and operating temperature range is -5 to +70 degrees centigrade.

Optical Broadcast Switches:

-4x4: The AOMEMS any-to-any 4x4 Optical Broadcast Switch has "multicast" and "broadcast" functions. Any input channels can be routed into any combination of output channels.
-8x8: This one-to-one 8x8 Optical Broadcast Switch also supports "multicast" and "broadcast" modes, which can route any input channel to any combination of output channels for applications requiring information to be distributed from one source to multiple destinations.

Optical Switch Development Kits:

The AOMEMS Development Kit, containing both hardware and software needed to operate and auto-configure AOMEMS optical switches, allows network designers to easily and quickly evaluate the switches.

"With electronics becoming more and more complex," said one industry analyst, "the telecommunications industry is looking to optical technology as the Holy Grail for high-speed communications."

In a recent report from Communications Industry Research Inc., experts expect the U.S. Metro core market, driven by the demand for advance optical switches to replace obsolete equipment, will reach $2.6 billion by 2006.

Young said his company is "in the right place at the right time" to take advantage of what is certain to be the next wave of technological growth.

About AOMEMS
Advanced Optical MEMS Inc. optical switching modules and subsystems enable communications equipment manufacturers to build the next generation of optical switching systems for the metropolitan and local access segments of the global communications network. Company headquarters are at 45 Parker, Suite B, Irvine, Calif. 92618. Phone: (949) 472-3698. Fax: (949) 472-3699. Web site: www.aomems.net.