By the end of 2000, more than 50 carriers worldwide had deployed 5.3 million fiber-km and 170,000 route-km of dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF), according to a new briefing report from KMI. With more than 10 years of in-house data sources, supplemented with vendor and carrier interviews, KMI identified carrier-specific deployments of DSF since 1985. Optical fiber and cable manufacturers estimate 7 to 8 million fiber-km of DSF was produced since 1985, so the amount of DSF tallied in the KMI report represents as much as three-quarters of total DSF deployments. The report and accompanying database itemize DSF deployments by carrier and by year deployed and provide summaries by geographic region and for submarine applications. When possible, specific routes are identified. This report is intended as a starting point for fiberoptic equipment manufacturers to identify potential customers for L-band solutions or dispersion-compensating products to enable high-bit-rate DWDM over DSF.

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