MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - May 7, 2001. Silicon Valley based Strategies Unlimited, the leading market research firm for optical networking components, has announced the first business conference focused exclusively on optical amplifiers. Strategies in Optical Amplifiers will present the business outlook, application prospects, supply trends, and technology trends in the optical amplifier market. This one-and-one-half day meeting, to be held at the San Francisc o Airport Marriott in Burlingame, California, on September 13-14, 2001, will include the leading buyers and manufacturers of optical amplifier components and subsystems from around the world.

The conference will address the commercial outlook for optical amplifiers, given recent reductions in capital spending by carriers, deployment of next-generation network architectures, and the new designs for the amplifiers themselves. Suppliers and buyers will examine the principal applications for optical amplifiers, including ultra-long-haul, long-haul, and metro applications, as well as the changing roles of Raman, EDFA, SOA, and planar products. Representatives from Wall Street and the venture capital sector will discuss the changing financial picture for carriers, systems manufacturers, and component makers.

Notwithstanding the current downturn in network equipment sales, the optical amplifier market is expected to grow from $3 billion in 2000 to over $7 billion by 2004. New technologies are enabling ultra-long-reach transmission, all-optical network designs, and increased channel counts on metro dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) networks. New 40 Gbps technology is creating new opportunities for amplifiers. Sophisticated subsystems are emerging that integrate amplification with trans mission, switching, dispersion compensation, and other dynamic network control functions. New well-funded suppliers are emerging to serve the market.

Further information on Strategies in Optical Amplifiers will be posted soon on Strategies Unlimited's website at www.strategies-u.com and also can be obtained by contacting the company on +1 650-941-3438 (voice), +1 650-941-5120 (fax), or e-mail at info@strategies-u.com.

Founded in 1979, Strategies Unlimited specializes in market research and strategic consulting directed at the optical networking, optoelectronic, RF/wireless, compound semiconductor materials, and photovoltaics component industries. The company is based in Mountain View, California.