Evolution of innovation : fiber optics and the communications industry

Abstract

Innovations can be the single source of industry's growth. How innovations themselves grow or decline also has a direct affect on the health of the industry in which they play. This thesis looks at fiber optic technologies and their impact on the communications industry. The relative importance of the fiber optic technology is evidenced by its speed and effectiveness in shaping the communications infrastructure in a short period of the recent years. Advent of this relatively new technology, coupled with deregulation policies and the changes in the nature of the network traffic, has caused several disruptions to the communications value chain. Effects of these disruptions and their eventualities are the focus of this thesis. To study these effects, this thesis looks in detail at the interplay of various life cycle stages of innovations and industry. The innovation stages are classified as: Fluid, Transitional, and Specific. Each of these three stages affects the dynamics value chain of the industry in different ways. The characteristics of each stage are studied in detail. There are few innovations that can bring about an impact as extensive as the advent of fiber optics communications has. The review of the processes in the evolution of innovation from birth to potential re- birth provides great insights on the industry's life cycle. The study is based on current theories on the subject of management of technology applied to the communications sector. Most examples and data are based on the telecommunication networks in North America; the timeline of the study is the decade from mid 1990's to present. In closing various strategies in treading the evolution of innovation are described. The evolution life cycle

(cont.) model can be used in several other industries for managing innovation and technologies. Several related research topics are described, and citations for further suggested readings on the topic are provided.