The decision has no immediate impact on the company, as OMM will continue to ship its bread-and-butter products: smaller devices and cards for all-optical switching. But development of a 256 x 256 or 1,000 x 1,000 optical switch has been discontinued, said Conrad Burke, senior vice president of marketing.

OMM officials decided that such switches won't be needed for at least the next year. "It's about revenues and about getting to profitability quicker," Burke said. "The market for these big optical cross-connects is too far out."

OMM builds cross-connects that use micromirrors to switch light from one port to another. The company's early products have used what is commonly referred to as two-dimensional microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors, in which a mirror can pop up to deflect light to a particular location. More elegant 3-D MEMS systems allow the mirrors to pivot, so that fewer mirrors are required.

OMM had begun development of a 3-D MEMS device last year, but the project required building a full switch, not just the MEMS element. "You're forced to do that, because with 3-D MEMS, you have to have a lot of electronics to control the mirrors," Burke said.

Development of the full switch was handled with a partner but proved too expensive to continue, considering that sales of the equipment were so far off, Burke said.

Smaller OXCs, on the other hand, do appear to be developing some business. OMM has seen revenues increase every quarter since it began shipping 2-D MEMS products in March 2000, Burke said. And the company won't be alone in sticking to smaller MEMS parts; both Texas Instruments Inc. and Optical Switch Corp. have chosen not to build larger devices, citing the lack of a market.