"Market Research Companies and Available Reports" includes information on how to contact market research companies nationwide that study the trends in the premises market. The directory also provides a listing of the research reports issued by each company along with the date of publication and its length. The reports listed cover components such as cable, cable assemblies, connectors, hubs, routers, switches, NICs, and optoelectronics; they address different protocols such as Ethernet, FDDI, ATM and Gigabit Ethernet; and include general market forecasts.

"We receive a lot of calls from network planners, MIS managers and end users with questions about different aspects of an optical network, market information and trends" said Trish Dawson, Chair of the Fiber Optics LAN Section. "We compiled our directory in response to this interest, hoping that it will help these individuals make educated choices about their LANs, especially when they consider bringing fiber all the way to the desktop. Although optical networks are gaining in popularity," she continued, "many misconceptions still exist in the market. By helping to publicize some of the excellent research that�s available on the market, we hope to dispel some of these myths and drive home the advantages of fiber, namely fiber�s error-free transmission rate over longer distances; fiber�s ability to support higher data rates without recabling; the ease of handing, installing and testing optical fiber; and fiber�s long-term economic benefits.