Companies that make the guts of fiber-optic systems: lasers, filters, amplifiers and multiplexers.

FORBES: Young guns...

It was early to market with the telecom switches, routers and multiplexers that handle data over phone lines.

FORBES: Celtic charm

Since then such "wave division multiplexers" have steadily increased the number of wavelengths per fiber and the capacity carried on each.

FORBES: Hooked on photonics

These were the first multiplexers.

FORBES: The Fall Of The Texting Empire