ALCATEL AND JUNIPER NETWORKS SIGN DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
Alcatel will resell Juniper Networks' IP routers as part of its "2IP" network architecture strategy. The 18-month contract was valued at $30 million. Juniper's M40 Internet router, which began commercial shipments in September 1998, offers OC-48 interfaces, 40 million packets per second (Mpps) performance, a 40 Gbps switching fabric and MPLS-based traffic engineering features. http://www.juniper.net/news/pressreleases/pr-991009.html
Juniper Networks, October 10, 1999

Juniper also has a strategic OEM partner relationship with Ericsson and a number of country specific distributors. The company has previously disclosed commercial deployment of its M40 router by UUNET, Verio, Frontier Global Center (now Global Crossing), Cable & Wireless USA and MCI WorldCom's vBNS. 

3M TO COMPETE IN MARKET FOR ENTERPRISE OPTICAL SWITCHES
3M announced its entrance into the enterprise switching market. Forthcoming products will include 10 Gbps switches and, later, all photonic switching solutions. Specific product plans were not disclosed. 3M's data/telecom product portfolio currently includes  Fiber Bragg Gratings for DWDM, 1550nm polarization-maintaining fiber, erbium-doped optical fiber, connector systems, a Fast/Gigabit Ethernet switch, and fiber-to-the-desktop cabling solutions. http://www.3m.com/telecom/
3M, October 10, 1999

PIRELLI TESTS DISPERSION COMPENSATING GRATINGS FOR DWDM
Pirelli successfully tested dispersion compensating gratings for the first time in a DWDM field application with 10 Gbps traffic. Pirelli's WaveMux 6400 DWDM system achieved 10 Gbps transmission over two 179 km spans of SMF-28 single-mode fiber without SONET regeneration. The successful use of dispersion compensating gratings is significant because carriers would not need to deploy as much signal regeneration equipment in their networks. The installation occurred in Bestel's new optical fiber route between Leon and Aguascalientes in Mexico. Bestel is building a 60-fiber count 
network parallel to Mexico's national railway system. http://www.pirelli.com/cables
http://www.bestel.com/
Pirelli, October 10, 1999

GLOBAL CROSSING CHOOSES ALCATEL TO OPERATE ITS EUROPEAN NETWORK
Alcatel will provide ongoing operation and maintenance of Global Crossing's forthcoming Pan European Crossing (PEC), an 11,000 km network connecting over nine European countries. Current plans call for 27 major POPs and traffic nodes. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.alcatel.com/press/current/1999/10_08.htm
Alcatel, October 10, 1999

ALCATEL TO BUILD NORTH SEA NETWORK FOR PANGEA
Alcatel was awarded a contract worth US$84 million provide two submarine cables across the North Sea for Pangea Ltd., a new venture based in Bermuda. Each cable will have an initial capacity of 16 X 10 Gbps, upgradeable to 60 X 10 Gbps. The self-healing network will link London, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and  Copenhagen. http://www.alcatel.com/
http://www.pangea.bm/
Alcatel, October 10, 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 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. 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

ELECTRIC LIGHTWAVE APPOINTS NEW CEO
Electric Lightwave, which operates a nationwide ATM - Frame Relay network, appointed Rudy J. Graf as its new CEO, succeeding Daryl A. Ferguson, who is retiring. Citizens, which owns 83% of Electric Lightwave, has also announced that Mr. Graf has been elected President and Chief Operating Officer of Citizens. ELI has 6,000 miles of fiber in the western US. Its major nodes are currently connected via multiple OC3s. Last month, Electric Lightwave announced plans to consolidate its East Coast and Mid-Western sales operations to focus on its core territory. Nationwide data POPs 
will be maintained. http://www.eli.net
Electric Lightwave, October 8, 1999