PMC-SIERRA ACQUIRES AANETCOM, EXTREME PACKET DEVICES
PMC-Sierra will acquire AANetcom, a start-up developing a CMOS octal backplane transceiver, for 4.8 million PMC-Sierra shares (valued at $964.8 million, Friday’s prices).   AANetcom’s octal backplane transceiver boosts the bandwidth between line cards and a switching fabric, reducing hundreds of parallel backplane signals into a few high speed serial links. The device can operate either as eight independent Gigabit channels or as a trunked 10 Gigabit channel. Each bi-directional channel converts 8 or 10-bit parallel data into a differential serial stream that can run up to 1.56 Gbps.  Potential applications include line cards supporting WDM, Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and FibreChannel. AANetcom was co-founded in September 1997 and has 50 employees in Allentown, Pennsylvania and San Jose, California.  http://www.aanetcom.com/

PMC-Sierra will also acquire Extreme Packet Devices, a start-up developing IP and ATM traffic management silicon, for approximately US$415 million in stock (March 2). Extreme Packet Devices has 60 employees in Kanata, Ontario.  The company is developing packet processing devices for use in OC-48 and OC-192 multi-service switches.  The company was founded in early 1999 by Dr. Mark Janoska, Albert Heller and Henry Chow, all previously with Newbridge Networks. http://www.extremepacket.com/  http://www.pmc-sierra.com/
PMC-Sierra, March 3, 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

CORETEK ANNOUNCES ITS TUNABLE LASER PRODUCT LINE
CoreTek, a start-up based in Wilmington, Mass., unveiled its plans for a line of DWDM tunable lasers covering 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 recently announced its $20.5 million second round of financing led by Oak Investment Partners and which also included Adams Capital Management, Hillman Capital, JK&B Capital, and Broadview.   http://www.coretekinc.com
CoreTek, March 5, 2000

SDL PUSHES OPTOELECTRONIC INTEGRATION WITH 10 GBPS MODULATOR/ATTENUATOR
SDL introduced an optoelectronic device that combines functions of optical modulation and attenuation in a single fiber coupled module. Optical modulators are used to encode data on the transmitted optical signal. Attenuators are required to set the transmitted optical power to the appropriate level for a specific network configuration.  SDL said its lithium niobate Modulator/Attenuator chip can be used at any wavelength in the L- or C-Band range of erbium doped fiber amplifiers.  It also features continuously tunable attenuation to accommodate variable network configuration requirements.  The device is designed for 10 Gbps transmission in long haul fiber optic networks.  http://www.sdli.com
SDL, March 3, 2000

AGILENT DEVELOPS OC-48 TRANSCEIVERS FOR TERABIT ROUTERS
Agilent is developing OC-48 small-form-factor (SFF) fiber-optic transceivers for SONET/SDH short reach (SR) and intermediate reach (IR) links.  The new transceivers are compliant with the ATM Forum 2488 Mbps physical layer specifications.  Sampling expected by mid-year.  Agilent has been OC-48 SR transceiver with SC duplex fiber connectors since December 1998, and laser-based SFF transceivers since January 1999.  http://www.semiconductor.agilent.com/fiber/sffhome.html
Agilent, March 3, 2000

FLAG ATLANTIC-1 TERABIT CABLE CAPACITY 50% SOLD ONE YEAR BEFORE LAUNCH
FLAG Atlantic-1, a new terabit-capacity, triple-ring, dual cable that will link New York City, London and Paris, already has sales commitments for over 50% of its capacity.  The transatlantic cable is being built as a joint venture between FLAG Telecom and GTS.  Commercial services are scheduled for Q1 2001.  http://www.flagtelecom.com
FLAG Telecom, March 5, 2000

JUNIPER RAISES $1 BILLION IN BOND SALE
Juniper Networks raised $1.0 billion through the sale of 4.75% corporate bonds.  The company said it would use the money for general corporate purposes, including possible acquisitions or strategic investments.  http://www.juniper.net/news/pressreleases/pr-000303.html
Juniper Networks, March 3, 2000

GADZOOX ACQUIRES SMARTSAN SYSTEMS FOR ROUTING TECHNOLOGY
Gadzoox Networks, which provides Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN) solutions, acquire SmartSAN Systems, a start-up developing routing and management technologies, for approximately $23.5 million in stock.  Gadzoox plans to integrate SmartSANs routing and agent technologies into its SAN switches.  The company said it sees new SAN opportunities emerging in the ISP, ASP, co-location and telecom markets.  SmartSAN Systems is based in Santa Clara, California.  Gadzoox is headquartered in San Jose, California.  http://www.smartsan.com/
http://www.gadzoox.com/insidegadzoox/pressroom/030300smartsan.html
Gadzoox Networks, March 3, 2000

APOGEE NETWORKS RAISES $17 MILLION FOR ITS IP BILLING SOLUTION
Apogee Networks, a start-up developing a usage-based IP billing solution, raised $17 million in second round funding from Oak Investments, Fidelity Investments, Hambrecht & Quist, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (a subsidiary of Telefonica), Intel and Japanese investors CTC (Itochu Techno-Science Corporation) and NetOne Systems.  Apogee Networks is developing its content and Usage-Based accounting and billing facilities for both service provider networks as well as enterprises.   Apogee Networks is based in Rochelle Park, New Jersey.   http://www.apogeenetworks.com
Apogee Networks, March 3, 2000

TERAYON AND NEXT LEVEL PARTNER FOR MPEG-2 OVER DSL
Next Level Communications and Terayon are working together to deliver seamless MPEG-2 digital feeds from a video head-end to a consumer's TV using DSL.  The goal is to eliminate costly digital-to-analog conversions.  Terayon currently offers a digital video management system that uses statistical re-multiplexing to create custom channel line-ups using content from a variety of sources.  Next Level is developing Residential Gateway set-top boxes that provide connectivity from a DSL line to multiple appliances inside the home, including telephones, PCs and TVs.
http://www.terayon.com
Terayon, March 3, 2000

AT&T CANADA AWARDS $50 MILLION DSL CONTRACT TO NEWBRIDGE
AT&T Canada selected Newbridge Networks for its nationwide DSL network.  The three year, $50 million contract covers deployment of the Newbridge 350 Integrated Versatile Services Node (IVSN), a multiservice ATM and IP access switch, and the MainStreetXpress 46020 Network Manager. AT&T plans to equip all of its approximately 90 collocations in incumbent telephone company switching centres by the end of 2000.  AT&T Canada expects to launch DSL-enabled services to Canadian business customers in buildings not yet directly connected to its local fiber optic networks.  http://www.newbridge.com
Newbridge, March 5, 2000