Terafly, your question fits perfectly with the discussion started earlier. I think most of the companies listed in the document posted by np are making PICs to prepare data for fiber optic communication.

Here's a neat video from the Infinera site:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/DXxHBHqQQPs

POET should have applications for everything from distances as short as inter-chip (and even intrachip) optical communication to long-haul and FTTH.

To me the really interesting stuff is here in POET's White Paper:

http://www.odisinc.com/documents/WhitePaper28Mar11_Si_Photonics_vs_POET.pdf

It involves the short distance communication between CMOS chips, and later between POET chips, which will greatly simplify by removing the need for optical interfaces.

The take home message I think is that if POET is properly promoted and deployed it might change the world.

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I think I'll remind everyone as I have multiple times in the past that I'm not an engineer, and I'm learning this stuff as I go along. If anyone out there thinks that anythiing I've written needs to be refined or even deleted don't worry about hurting my feelings, please set the record straight. To me the power of these message boards comes from the number of people who can review and moderate the content until what comes out of the other end of the meat grinder leaves us pretty confident we have approached the truth.

Sorry if I sound like a broken record with this stuff, but I worry that someone new to these discussions might think I'm more qualified than I am:)