© Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2012 u. s. 1- 800- 829- 4444 canada 1- 877- 894- 4414 N4392A optical modulation analyzer: Compact, portable and affordable Ready for 40/ 100G 32 Gbaud symbol rate 63 GSa/ s sample rate Explore the N4392A OMA, and order your 2012 Lightwave Catalog www. agilent. com/ fi nd/ whywait Why wait? You can have your own OMA. At a fraction of the cost, size and weight of a typical optical modulation analyzer ( OMA), you can put an Agilent N4392A on your bench. Its capabilities let you see the true nature of complex modulated signals. Powered by the Agilent 89600 vector signal analysis software, you get even deeper analysis and greater fl exibility. Why wait? EDITORIAL continued troubles in Europe have been well documented, even carriers in China and North America slowed their spending this year. As just mentioned, 100- Gbps technology has managed to escape the overall belt tightening; broadband accessnetwork deployments also have remained steady. Yet there are no guarantees that sales of optical communications technology won’t decline across the board in 2013 if the world economy doesn’t improve. There were, of course, additional potentially significant stories in 2012 ( Google Fiber and the Huawei/ ZTE contretemps with the House Intelligence Committee, to name two). I’m sure there’ll be even more stories of interest to look back upon at this time next year. stephenh@ pennwell. com GROUP PUBLISHER ERNESTO BURDEN ( 603) 891- 9137 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR & ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER STEPHEN HARDY ( 603) 891- 9454 MANAGING EDITOR RON KARJIAN MARKETING MANAGER JONI MONTEMAGNO PRESENTATION MANAGER CINDY CHAMBERLIN PRODUCTION MANAGER SHEILA WARD SENIOR ILLUSTRATOR CHRIS HIPP AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER DEBBIE BOULEY AD SERVICES MANAGER SARAH PATE DIGITAL MEDIA SALES MANAGER ANGEL BALDWIN EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD DR. DONALD BOSSI Technology Venture Partners WILLIAM J. CADOGAN Nistica ANDY CHRAPLYVY Alcatel- Lucent DONALD T. GALL Pulse Broadband MICHAEL LEBBY Translucent Inc. STAN LUMISH Pilot Photonics STEPHEN MONTGOMERY ElectroniCast Consultants HUNTER NEWBY , Allied Fiber PAUL W. SHUMATE, JR. IEEE LEOS ALAN E. WILLNER University of Southern California EDITORIAL OFFICES PennWell Corporation, Lightwave 98 Spit Brook Road LL- 1, Nashua, NH 03062- 5737 ( 603) 891- 0123; Fax: ( 603) 891- 0574; www. lightwaveonline. com CORPORATE OFFICERS CHAIRMAN FRANK T. LAUINGER PRESIDENT & CEO ROBERT F. BIOLCHINI CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER MARK C. WILMOTH TECHNOLOGY GROUP SENIOR VP & PUBLISHING DIRECTOR CHRISTINE SHAW SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES ( 847) 559- 7520; TDD: ( 918) 831- 9566; Fax: ( 847) 291- 4816; e- mail: lw@ omeda. com; www. lw- subscribe. com We make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that may be important for your work. If you do not want to receive those offers and/ or information, please let us know by contacting us at List Services, Lightwave , 98 Spit Brook Road LL- 1, Nashua, NH 03062. ISSN 0741- 5834