ITU Approves CWDM Specification

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) approved a new specification designed to promote vendor interoperability by specifying transmitter/multiplexer characteristics at one end of a CWDM link and the demultiplexer/receiver at the other end. CWDM is seen as a cheaper and simpler alternative to DWDM. The specification complements the existing ITU-T G.694.2 Recommendation which defines a wavelength grid with 20 nm channel spacing which includes 18 wavelengths between 1271 nm and 1611 nm. CWDM solutions standardized in ITU-T G.695 can be installed both on the already laid and widely deployed single-mode G.652 optical fibres and on the recent “water peak free” versions of the same fiber. The new standard was developed under ITU’s fast track approval process – AAP (Alternative Approval Process).
http://www.itu.int