As with any new technology, the potential applications for DWDM are in their infancy. Many new applications will emerge that can take advantage of the capacities and capabilities of DWDM. Already it has proven to be particularly well suited for several vital applications.

DWDM is ready-made for long-distance companies that use point-to-point or ring topologies. The immediate access to 16 new transmission channels replacing one dramatically increases the operator s chances of success and acceptance by the user community.

This increased capacity is critical to self-healing rings, which characterize today s most sophisticated telecom networks. Deploying DWDM enables a carrier to construct a 100 percent protected ring using two fibers. Operators building or expanding their networks also will find DWDM as an economical opportunity to incrementally increase capacity. Network wholesalers can take advantage of DWDM to lease capacity, rather than entire fibers, either to existing operators or to new market entrants. DWDM will be especially attractive to companies that have low-fiber-count cables that were installed primarily for internal operations but that could now be used to generate telecommunications revenue.