NORTEL NETWORKS ACQUIRES CORETEK FOR TUNABLE LASERS
Nortel Networks will acquire CoreTek, a start-up developing DWDM tunable lasers and optical micro-electromechanical systems (MEMs), for up to US$1.43 billion in stock.  CoreTek's solutions use tiny, movable mirrors to alter the wavelength of light emitted by semiconductor lasers and other optical components. Its DWDM tunable lasers cover the full ITU band, including versions for both C-band and L-band coverage.  The company’s forthcoming tunable transmitter card will be able to replace 32, 80, or more separate transmitter cards seen in existing DWDM platforms, yielding significant savings.  CoreTek is also testing a tunable VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) designed for metropolitan area applications.  The VCSEL tunable laser has been tested to operate error free at OC-48 over a 510 km test bed.  CoreTek is based in Wilmington, Mass. and is funded by Adams Capital Management, Hillman Capital, JK&B Capital, and Broadview. http://www.coretekinc.com  http://www.nortelnetworks.com/
Nortel Networks, March 21, 2000  

NORTEL ACQUIRES XROS FOR ITS MICRO-MIRROR OPTICAL CROSSCONNECT
Nortel Networks will acquire Xros, a start-up developing an optical crossconnect based on micro-mirrors, for US$3.25 billion in stock (Mar 13 prices).  Last week, Xros (pronounced KAI-ros) announced a massive optical cross-connect system that uses silicon micro-mirrors to connect up to 1,152 pairs of inputs and outputs with an all-optical pathway from each input to output.  The Xros cross-connect uses two facing, 6-inch by 6-inch arrays of 1152 mirrors each.  An incoming beam of light may be directed to any destination by reflecting it off of two of these tiny, movable mirrors.  The Xros mirror is fabricated out of pure silicon, allowing it to be tilted in several dimensions by computer-controlled electrical signals, to a precision of one five-millionth of a degree.  The all-optical pathway is bit-rate and protocol independent. Xros said connections can be established on demand in less than 50 milliseconds, making the crossconnect suitable for both provisioning and protection applications.  The company is based in Sunnyvale, California.  Nortel Networks said it would combine the Xros technology with the ultra-long-reach optical platform acquired from Qtera to deliver an all-optical backbone solution.  http://www.xros.com/   http://www.nortelnetworks.com
Nortel Networks, March 14, 2000

XROS UNVEILS MASSIVE OPTICAL CROSSCONNECT BASED ON MICRO MIRRORS
Xros (pronounced KAI-ros), a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California announced a massive optical cross-connect system that uses silicon micro-mirrors to connect up to 1,152 pairs of inputs and outputs with an all-optical pathway from each input to output.  The Xros cross-connect uses two facing, 6-inch by 6-inch arrays of 1152 mirrors each.  An incoming beam of light may be directed to any destination by reflecting it off of two of these tiny, movable mirrors.  The Xros mirror is fabricated out of pure silicon, allowing it to be tilted in several dimensions by computer-controlled electrical signals, to a precision of one five-millionth of a degree.  The all-optical pathway is bit-rate and protocol independent. Xros said connections can be established on demand in less than 50 milliseconds, making the crossconnect suitable for both provisioning and protection applications. The company’s first product is standalone, scaleable, 1152x1152 transparent optical cross-connect system supporting single-mode optical fiber via standard optical port connectors.  Evaluation systems are expected by September.  Xros was founded in 1996, and funded by Menlo Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and Greylock.   http://www.xros.com/
Xros, March 6, 2000

• In November 1999, Lucent Technologies announced plans for an all-optical Wavestar Lambdarouter that uses an array of micro-mirrors to direct and route individual wavelengths from fiber to fiber.  Lucent’s design called for an array of 256 micro-mirrors fabricated on less than one square inch of silicon, allowing individual wavelength to be passed to any of 256 input and output fibers.  Lucent estimated the all-optical crossconnect would be 16 times faster than optical-electric-optical solutions.  First product availability was forecast for July 2000.

AGILENT SUPPLIERS OPTICAL SWITCH MATRIX TO ALCATEL
Agilent Technologies will provide a key optical switch matrix design to Alcatel for use in developing optical network switching elements.  Financial terms were not disclosed.  The companies said Agilent’s optical switch matrix would handle signals or any data rate and format without reversion to the electrical domain.  Further details are expected at this week’s Optical Fiber Communication Conference.  http://www.alcatel.com
Alcatel, March 3, 2000

NANOVATION AND CRONOS ALLIANCE TO INTEGRATE MEMS TECHNOLOGY INTO OPTICAL COMPONENTS
Nanovation Technologies will integrate micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology from Cronos Integrated Microsystems into its optical product line for high-speed optical networking applications.  Nanovation Technologies is developing a Microcavity Semiconductor Laser and a photonic waveguide technologies for use in photonic switches and multiplexers.  The products will be unveiled during the Optical Fiber Components Conference in March.  Nanovation is headquartered in Miami, Fla., with facilities in Evanston, Ill. and Burlington, Ontario. Cronos Integrated Microsystems is based in RTO, North Carolina. http://www.nanovation.com/index.html  http://www.memsrus.com
Nanovation, January 19, 2000

OMM Secures $22 Million in Funding
Optical Micro Machines Inc (OMM), a start-up based in San Diego, secured 22 million in second round venture capital funding led by Atlas Venture in conjunction with new investor Rho Management and existing investors Sevin Rosen and Bessemer Venture Partners.  The company is developing optical switching systems based on micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.   http://www.omminc.com/news-revolutionarymemsopticalswitch.html
OMM, December 9, 1999

LUCENT ANNOUNCES WAVESTAR LAMDAROUTER
Lucent Technologies announced an all-optical router that uses an array of micro-mirrors to direct and route individual wavelengths from fiber to fiber.  Lucent said the micro-mirrors are tilted so that an individual wavelength can be passed to any of 256 input and output fibers. All 256 mirrors are fabricated on less than one square inch of silicon. This switching fabric provides more than 32 times greater density than electronic fabrics. By not using optical-electrical-optical conversion, Lucent expects its LambdaRouter to provide up to a 100-fold reduction in power consumption over electronics.  The WaveStar LambdaRouter could be used to create instant, all-optical links without digital switches. It could also provide mesh-based optical networking for multiservice core ATM switches and packet routers.  Lucent anticipates shipping the product to select customers in July 2000, followed by commercial release in December 2000.  http://www.lucent.com/press/1199/991109.nsa.html
Lucent Technologies, November 9, 1999

NGN KEYNOTE: LUCENT’S GERRY BUTTERS ON THE FUTURE OF OPTICAL NETWORKING
In a keynote speech at NGN 99, Gerry Butters, Group President for Optical Networking at Lucent Technologies, heralded “the next wave of disruptive information networks.”   While advances in optical technology have already yielded a 100 to one improvement since 1996 in the cost of moving traffic, Butters noted that we have barely begun to tap fiber’s full potential.  New innovations will require carriers to replace their infrastructure or become obsolete.  Butters said networking electronics will move to 40 Gbps line rates, possibly up to 100 Gbps, but photons will see a much more dramatic boost.  In September, researchers at Bell Labs were able to create 1,022 DWDM channels over a fiber using 10 GHz spacing and 80nm amplifiers.  Using spectral splicing, Lucent now believes it is possible to create 2,500 channel DWM systems with multilevel coding.  OTDM may yield up to 2.5 Gbps per channel.  Butters also described Lucent’s work with micro-electromechanical (MEMs) technology for creating micro mirror arrays for optical crossconnects and switches, digital optical logic (3 to 5 years away), passive optical PicoCells that could provide a cheap entrance ramp for RF-enable devices (radio cameras, PDAs, etc) onto optical networks, and holographic storage system with 6 orders of magnitude capacities.
Converge! Network Digest, November 2, 1999

CORETEK RAISES $20.5 MILLION FOR MICRO-ELECTROMECHANICAL DWDM LASER
CoreTek, a start-up based in Wilimington, Mass., raised $20.5 million round in venture funding for its development of a micro-electromechanical, tunable 1.55 um laser for DWDM applications. CoreTek recently announced a prototype product that combines micro-electromechanical (MEMs) technology with semiconductor laser technology to create a single mode VCSEL operating in the 1550 nm range. The MEMs structure is a mirror that can move to change the cavity length of the laser and thus the emitted wavelength. CoreTek said its MEMs laser is tunable over 30 nm and can be quickly set at any ITU channel over the full C or L band. The new funding came from Oak Investment Partners, JK&B Capital, Chicago and Broadview; as well as the first round investors Adams Capital and Hillman Investments. http://www.coretekinc.com
CoreTek, October 8, 1999

BELL LABS BUILDS MICRO-ELECTROMECHANICAL OPTICAL SWITCH
Bell Labs announced the first microscopic optical switch based in micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.  The product uses micro-mirrors that moves when the switch is energized.  http://www.lucent.com/ideas/perspectives/trends/trends_v3n1/20.html
Lucent Technologies, March 1999

BELL Labs' MEMs work 

For more information on Lucent's MEMs work, see