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Cost Implications and Financial Trending 219

Cable & Wireless USA, Inc., plans to install DWDM multiplexers
in 60 metropolitan areas across the country. The plan calls for the
first 60 cities to be completed between 2000 and 2001. Because of
such rapid deployments, research houses expect North American
carrier purchases of local DWDM equipment to increase from $115
million to $923 million in 2003, as shown in Figure 9-2.
As this ramp-up on the local loop occurs, the source of network
bottlenecks could very well shift again. Corporations and employees
can fill this bandwidth with various multimedia applications, such
as videoconferencing. Services may quickly use the extra capacity in
the long-haul network, and suppliers will be looking for ways to push
DWDM capacity even higher.

It Is in the Glass

Optical fever has swept Wall Street and Silicon Valley. Internet traf-
fic doubles every three months, placing an insatiable demand for
bandwidth with which it is tough for the providers to keep pace. The
demand has brought the once high-minded and academic discipline
of light physics from the back room of laboratory research into the

1,000,000
Figure 9-2
Increased 900,000
installation of 800,000
DWDM 700,000
in US $,000 500,000
equipment. 600,000

400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
2000 2001 2002 2003

DWDM EQUIPMENT