Analysis of EMS and OTMS Application

The use of light in communications technology is no longer limited to fiber-optic networks. Light can now carry information from home and office to computers and many other products and devices. Where electronics once served as the foundation of computing devices, photons now hold the key. This evolution is creating new product, market and manufacturing pressures throughout the photonic supply chain.
The optoelectronics (OE) market is defined by speed. With demand oscillating rapidly, the pace of technology evolution and product convergence is incredible. To meet this challenge, optoelectronics original equipment manufacturers (OE-OEMs) are looking to outsource facilities, processes and related services. As a result, some optical technology manufacturing service (OTMS) providers now offer complete services, including design, supply chain management, manufacturing, testing and repair.
Their success is measured by improving time to market, reducing costs and providing global mass production. OTMS providers achieve these goals, in part, by cultivating strong relationships with printed circuit board (PCB), connector and component manufacturers. These manufacturers must also cope with interactive leaps in technology requirements and extreme reliability demands.
Market Overview
The traditional optoelectronics market has been structured in core networks, edge networks, and metro networks. The core network transmits analog (voice) and data (Internet) signals over long distances from city to city, and then data is distributed to metro networks through edge networks to serve large companies and communities.
Much of the demand for improved metro networks has been to bring broadband Internet access to homes and offices. Optical networks are required to replace aging copper-based systems, with wires getting closer and closer to each other. There is also a growing demand for optical infrastructure as Internet service providers begin to develop integrated data centers (IDCs). These integrated data centers (IDCs) provide computing services from storage to application rentals over the Internet. This market is booming as these startups invest heavily in new optical equipment to meet their customer service guarantees. Several
new wireless communication protocols and technologies also hold the promise of growing demand for high-speed data access at the metro and core network levels. For example, third-generation cellular phones are expected to provide Ethernet-like access speeds to mobile devices. Today, mobile data access is limited to 9,600 bits per second (bps), which is much slower than the original desktop modem. This limitation has dampened the appeal of mobile computing because Internet content developed for these slower devices is very limited. Nevertheless, third-generation technology will provide speeds of 2-10 megabits per second (Mbps), allowing many multimedia applications to receive high-quality video and audio information over long distances.
The growing demand for multimedia content, especially rich video content, from consumers and corporate users will require greater bandwidth initially at the metropolitan network level and eventually at the edge and core level. As Internet use increases, optical networks will provide a cheaper way to transmit more information over various distances.
However, the optoelectronics market does not only rely on optical network products. There are also points where high-speed photonic information must be converted into electronic information. In the near future, optical components and communication media will be used on PCBs, pushing information to the chip set level. Basically, optical components will be used where speed is important.
The Case for Outsourcing
A characteristic of the optoelectronics market is the violent fluctuations in product demand and market conditions. While some segments are slow, such as dense wave division multiplexers, others are advancing at a dizzying pace, including highly tunable lasers. As a result, OE-OEMs are increasingly relying on OTMS suppliers to deal with sudden changes in product configurations and customer needs.
OE-OEMs include some established manufacturers and some innovators. Each type approaches OTMS suppliers for different reasons.
Innovators are often fully oriented to research and development. Their products are truly revolutionary, but must also reach a marketable stage. Many of these emerging companies have little or no experience in developing and manufacturing products.
For innovators, the capital asset costs of developing a system through prototyping, testing, manufacturing, and repair are very high. However, OTMS suppliers can provide all of these services. They are experts in automating and accelerating production processes.
OE-OEMs can benefit from outsourcing in several ways. They can redirect engineering and design resources toward the end product rather than toward subcomponents. They can also take advantage of the OTMS supplier's knowledge of global suppliers of commonly used parts and optical components. This capability allows OE-OEMs to leverage the global facilities and infrastructure of OTMS suppliers, thereby accessing a global resource of components, labor, and customers that was previously unavailable.
Manufacturing Overview
All OEMs have the same needs: to improve time-to-market and reduce costs in the face of rapid technological evolution. Meeting these needs is a key indicator of success.
However, in the optoelectronics market, the focus is still on proprietary technologies, and there is intense competition in setting standards through early market entry. In contrast, in the more "mature" computing industry, most components are interoperable or standardized.
Even with the large number of proprietary components, the optoelectronics business is no different from the pure electronics business in terms of the solutions provided by OTMS suppliers. OE-OEMs also need help in design, supply chain development and management, process development and optimization, high-speed analog and digital testing, system build, customer delivery, establishing inventory centers, and providing post-market services.
There is also a growing interest in pushing manufacturability and cost considerations to the forefront. While adding functionality is important, costs must also be controlled. Therefore, standardized components and processes are being accepted.
To meet the needs of OE-OEMs, OTMS suppliers must work closely with component suppliers at both the design and production stages. The first step in developing acceptance of standardized components is to establish a product roadmap. OTMS suppliers must demonstrate how standardized components will evolve and how much opportunity this will generate now and in the future. Although acceptance of reference designs even at the board level is less than in computing manufacturing, there is a general change in that direction that will provide real value to OE-OEMs in the long term.
Challenges of PCB Manufacturing
The primary concern of those in the optoelectronics market is reliability, followed closely by cost. For example, in the telecommunications market, 99.999% reliability must be achieved. When the end user picks up the phone, they expect a dial tone every time. Ensuring this level of reliability in the long term while meeting the needs of denser, more powerful optical systems presents numerous challenges to the design, manufacturability and assembly processes themselves. In
high-end computing environments, there is some margin of accuracy in the placement of parts - albeit marginal. Nevertheless, the interface of optical connectors to fibers and boards requires sub-micron alignment. Misalignment by one or two microns can affect performance and even cause device failure. Current technology is adequate for today’s requirements, but as optical components become part of the PCB, maintaining quality will require many new investments in research, development, and engineering.
To ensure that these stringent quality requirements continue to be met, manufacturers must invest in automated and accelerated equipment to achieve the highest accuracy and the fewest errors. For example, PCB manufacturers can embed optical fibers or create optical channels, thereby avoiding manually assembled connectors.
Another key area that needs to be used to help optical components enter the board is the transmission of light between components. Today's soldering technology is sufficient to ensure the movement of electrons between components and PCBs. However, the technology to move photons as easily as electrons is still in the board drawing stage.
Several promising technologies are under development, and OE-OEMs and PTMS suppliers must get involved early. For example, once the infrastructure for mobile broadband communications is in place, OE-OEM suppliers will be required to manufacture consumer and commercial positioning devices that may contain optical components themselves.