Optical networking chips get faster in a slow market

Tremendous network traffic growth, along with an increase in multimedia and other data-intensive traffic, has driven the potential need for high-performance networking technology offering transmission rates of 10 to 40 Gbits per second. Companies such as Internet exchange providers, which connect ISPs to one another, are currently buying 10-Gbps networking products. Companies such as Broadcom, Intel, and Quake Technologies are thus continuing to produce new, faster optical networking chips and hoping their business will turn around when the economy does.