InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[F6]

Re "last mile" -- new development to watch:


(COMTEX) B: XEROX: Xerox researchers develop breakthrough technology to bring benefits of
fiber optics to small businesses, homes available for licensing, innovation expected to drive down cost to extend fiber optic reach

Rochester, N.Y, Mar 26, 2003 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Although the
information superhighway is here, the "off-ramps" are more like one-lane dirt
roads because of the high cost of routing fiber optic networks that last mile.
However, a new technology from Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) could help change
that, by assisting the effort to bring affordable, high-capacity fiber optics
directly to businesses and even homes for the first time.

The technology breaks the bandwidth barrier that exists today by integrating an
Optical MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) photonic switch with planar
light circuits on a single silicon chip small enough to fit on a fingertip - a
first ever achievement.

The new switch promises to provide rapid delivery of optical services by
providing the functionality of a Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer
(R-OADM), a routing device that's commonly used today but is 10 to 100 times as
large and costly.

"Optical networks based on our technology could go way beyond delivering
on-demand DVD-quality videos in homes," said Joel Kubby, a technical manager at
Xerox's Wilson Center for Research and Technology in Webster, N.Y. "Our switch
could help usher in a new era of undreamed-of Internet applications, changing
the way we do business, seek information and find entertainment."

Advantages Today's optical networking equipment must switch from the optical to
the electronic domain. Xerox's technology enables switching in the all-optical
domain. Because it controls the flow of light rather than the flow of electrons,
it is ultimately faster, smaller and cheaper.

"With the Xerox switch, an entire R-OADM can be compressed into 2 cm x 1.5 cm in
size, and can direct enormous amounts of data in ways that currently require
large racks of assembled equipment," Kubby said. "Our technology would let
telecommunications companies install systems locally and even on utility poles."

"Waveguides" are very small conductors of light, about 5 to 6 microns or 1/10
the thickness of a human hair. The Xerox MEMS waveguide shuttle acts like a
miniature train track switch for the fine waveguides, avoiding the problems of
earlier, mirror-based MEMS switches.

The MEMS switches and waveguides are made together on a single crystal silicon
wafer using widely available semiconductor processing equipment. Such on-chip
integration avoids the complex alignment issues associated with manually
connecting different and larger components with optical fibers, and avoids the
cost and space associated with manufacturing, assembling and packaging the
separate components of Add/Drop Multiplexers.

In addition, the new technology eliminates the need for technicians to make
routing changes in the field, ultimately bringing bandwidth to consumers faster.

Kubby created a working prototype 8-channel reconfigurable OADM. Xerox intends
to commercialize this technology through licensing to leading companies in the
optical switching market.

"Global consumption of OADMs was $101 million in 2001 and will surge to $1.03
billion in 2006," according to Jeff D.

Montgomery, chairman and founder of market research firm ElectroniCast Corp.
"The most rapid growth is expected in fully reconfigurable devices."

Xerox MEMS Heritage The new optical switch technology builds on a broadly
enabling MEMS fabrication platform developed under a grant provided by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology in its Advanced Technology
Program. Xerox is the lead partner in the Optical MEMS Manufacturing Consortium,
and Kubby is the principal investigator for the consortium's project. Other
partners include Palo Alto Research Center, a subsidiary of Xerox; Corning
IntelliSense, a MEMS foundry and software company; Microscan, a data acquisition
firm; and Coventor, a MEMS software company. They are tasked with developing a
manufacturing process for Optical MEMS, which can be used broadly.

"Taking advantage of our MEMS knowledge to create breakthrough technology for
telecommunications and other industries is an outgrowth of our core MEMS
research for internal Xerox applications in digital printing," said Kubby.

At Xerox, Kubby and his team began conducting MEMS research in 1993, Optical
MEMS in 1998. Using Optical MEMS, Xerox is working to improve color image
quality during the color reproduction process. Optical MEMS devices could
eventually eliminate the need for high-cost precision manufacturing of
components that stabilize movement in Xerox photoreceptor belts.

Xerox Corporation, one of the world's top technology innovators, spends about $1
billion annually on research and development. It operates research and
technology centers in the United States, Canada and Europe that conduct work in
color science, computing, digital imaging, work practices, electromechanical
systems, novel materials and other disciplines connected to Xerox's expertise in
printing and document management. Xerox consistently builds its inventions into
business by embedding them in superior Xerox products and solutions, using them
as the foundation of new businesses, or licensing or selling them to other
entities. For more information, visit www.xerox.com/innovation.

Xerox innovation is expected to help telecommunications companies go "the last
mile" of their fiber optic networks, with a new Optical MEMS switch. Joel Kubby
and Kris German, two of the Xerox researchers responsible for developing the new
chip technology, examine the super-small "waveguide" patterns made by the new
switch. (Photo by: John Griebsch) Larger View (JPG, 6.5 MB) Back to Top

Xerox: The Document Company

1999-2003 XEROX CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

CONTACT: Tony Paine, Xerox Innovation Business Development Tel: [phone]
x 336 e-mail: [e-mail] Bill McKee, Xerox Corporation USA Tel: +1
585 423 4476 e-mail: [e-mail] Karen Arena, Karen Arena Media
Relations for Xerox USA Tel: [phone] e-mail: [e-mail]

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