The Vorx-XG from Vorx supports multiple services and any network topological framework. it features internal digital matrix function and multilevel sharing.

Makers in Beijing offer products supporting DWDM and PON. Exports forecast to expand in 2007.

Makers of fiber-optic networking products in China are scattered across Beijing, Shenzhen in Guangdong province, Wuhan province, Chengdu in Sichuan province, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province. The industry is led by Huawei Electronics Co. Ltd, which is based in Shenzhen, and FiberHome, based in Wuhan province.

Beijing is the manufacturing base for medium-scale suppliers. It has 10 to 14 locally owned makers, plus branch companies of a growing number of foreign operations. The leading suppliers of fiber-optic broadband networking products based in Beijing are Beijing C & W Optical Communication Technology Co. Ltd, Beijing Vorx Telecommunications Co. Ltd, Beijing Symfun Optical Telecom Technology Development Co. Ltd and Beijing Fibridge Co. Ltd.

Compared with other cities, Beijing has several comparative advantages.

First, the city has a rich supply of technically skilled human resources. Beijing has the most number of universities in China. Most companies can easily fill their technical and managerial workforce requirements through these universities. Moreover, most of the state-level institutes in China are based in Beijing. These institutes can provide technological support to companies. Finally, Beijing enjoys the support of the government. It has the state-level Zhongguan Village, a hightech park hosting many of the top hightech enterprises.

One of the challenges for Beijing-based makers is the high production cost in the capital, especially as compared to the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta. Moreover, Beijing lacks an electronic components supply chain, forcing companies to source their major component requirements from other cities, further increasing costs. In addition, makers cannot ship their exports directly from Beijing. They have to course shipments through the Tianjin port. All these combined weaken some makers' production capability. Other companies outsource production to makers in other cities just to circumvent these difficulties.

Beijing-based makers are developing optical networking products based on DWDM and PON. Suppliers admitted that although both technologies have been available for many years, makers in Beijing started fully adopting the technologies in 2005. Fibridge now uses DWDM technology for its optical network equipment. Symfun carries a series of passive optical networking (PON) product. Vorx focuses on optical transmission applications.

Most Beijing-based makers design their products for use in traffic, commerce and police applications. This helps makers avoid direct competition with large-scale makers, which cater mostly to the ISP market.

Fibridge has developed a managed/unmanaged 10M/100M Ethernet optical media converter, 1-4E1 to 10/100M Ethernet protocol converter, E1 to V.35 protocol interface converter, 4E1/8E1 PDHplus 10/100M Fast Ethernet fiber-optic transmission equipment, 1/2/4/8/16/64-channel digital fiberoptic video transmission system and 1/4-channel network video and audio server.

Product development plans mostly center on enabling multiple services beginning H1 2007. All Beijing makers emphasize R&D, and on average invest 10 percent to 20 percent of their sales in R&D. Companies' R&D manpower typically accounts for more than 30 percent of the total workforce.

Most other Beijing makers, such as Vorx and Symfun, have been concentrating on the domestic market and started exploring the overseas sector only in 2005. Vorx and Symfun generate only about 10 percent of their total sales from exports.

Nonetheless, all makers can offer OEM services, which currently account for about 20 percent to 30 percent of companies' overall export revenue. Makers promote their own brands in the domestic China market.

With the exception of Fibridge, most other fiber-optic networking product manufacturers in Beijing have yet to comply with RoHS requirements. Vorx plans to obtain its ROHS certificate in H1 2007.