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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
-
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.
-
Last
week, Agilent Technologies unveiled a Photonic
Switching Platform that uses inkjet technology to alter the
optical properties of a cross-point switch, causing light
waves to be reflected down a new path. Alcatel
announced plans to use the Agilent
technology for an optical switch matrix
aimed at carrier backbones.
LUCENT
ACQUIRES IGNITUS FOR ITS OPTICAL EDGE PLATFORM
Lucent Technologies
will acquire the remaining 44% it does not already hold in
Ignitus Communications, a start-up developing a high-density,
SONET and ATM edge device designed for hybrid, metropolitan
networks. Financial
terms were not disclosed. Ignitus
was founded by former developers of the Ascend/Cascade GX 550
platform. The Ignitus
platform combines a 5 Gbps ATM switch and an integrated 1.2 Gbps
SONET cross-connect switching fabric.
The box supports port interfaces from DS1 to OC-12 in
either ATM UNI or circuit drop formats, as well as WAN OC-12 and
OC-48 ring support and DWDM interfaces.
The architecture leverages per virtual circuit queuing and
scheduling. It also supports Unidirectional Path Switched Rings (UPSR)
for circuit traffic protection and ATM virtual path and PNNI
routing for ATM traffic protection.
Ignitus received its primary funding from Lucent
Technologies. The
company has 75 employees and is led by Mahesh Ganmukhi, former Director
of Technology at the Core Switching Division of Ascend
Communications. Ignitus is based in Acton, Massachusetts.
http://www.ignitus.com/
http://www.lucent.com/press/0300/000314.coa.html
Lucent Technologies, March 14, 2000
NEW
ACCESS COMMUNICATIONS CHANGES NAME TO ZAFFIRE, TARGETS OPTICAL
ACCESS
New
Access Communications, a start-up developing a service-aware
optical networking solution, changed its name to Zaffire Inc.
The San Jose, California-based company is developing a packet-enabled
DWDM platform that uses a proprietary Fractional Wavelength
technology and MPLS to maximize control over bandwidth and QoS in
metropolitan area networks. The
Zaffire Fractional Wavelength technology multiplexes diverse
traffic types (IP, ATM, Frame Relay, Gigabit Ethernet, Voice and
TDM) within a single wavelength.
At the same time, traffic can be packed efficiently across
wavelengths and appear as a single trunk to the network.
The optical architecture eliminates multiple network
elements, including digital cross-connects and SONET add-drop
multiplexers (ADMs), while scaling to distances of 400 km.
Products are expected in Q2.
Zaffire
also announced new financial backing from BroadBand Office Inc.,
Williams Communications, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
(KPCB) and Juniper Networks.
Total funding in the company now
exceeds $26 million.
MRV Communications provided seed funding.
Zaffire is led by Tony Lavia, who previously served
as vice president and general manager of the ATMnet business unit
at Newbridge Networks. http://www.zaffire.com
Zaffire, March 14,
2000
BROCADE
ADDS ATM WAN SUPPORT FOR ITS FIBRE CHANNEL SANS
Brocade Communications
Systems released a of Remote Switch module adds ATM support at
OC3, T-3, and T-1 speeds to its line of SilkWorm Fibre Channel
fabric switches. The
new option adds remote connectivity for Fibre Channel storage area
networks (SANs). Compaq
resells the Brocade switch on an OEM basis.
http://www.brocade.com/BrocMarket.nsf/News/PR-WASup-03-14-00
Brocade Communications, March 14, 2000
WIRELESS
VENDORS FORM ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLEXING FORUM
Ericsson, Nokia,
Philips Semiconductors, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Sony, Wi-LAN
and CalTrans announced the formation of a standards body to
develop Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
technology for high-speed wireless products and services.
OFDM is a modulation method that encodes and transmits data
on multiple high-speed RF signals concurrently.
The technology highly tolerant to noise and multipath
interference. http://www.ofdm-forum.com/
OFDM Forum, March 14, 2000
Lucent
to Resell JetStream's VoDSL Solution
Lucent Technologies will resell JetStream
Communications' CPX-1000 voice-over-DSL solution. The
JetStream voice gateway will be resold as part of a complete
voice-over-broadband offering for ATM and frame relay networks
that includes Lucent's Stinger DSL Access Concentrator, DSL MAX 20
and the AnyMedia Access System. http://www.lucent.com/press/0300/000314.nsa.html
Lucent Technologies, March 14, 2000
TOLLBRIDGE
AND BROADCOM TEAM ON PACKET VOICE OVER CABLE
TollBridge Technologies
and Broadcom agreed to co-develop voice-over-cable services based
on DOCSIS 1.1 standards. The
voice-over-cable services would be delivered either from a Class 5
switch via GR-303 or from an NCS/MGCP call agent.
The companies are demonstrating the technology using
Broadcom's 4-Channel BCM93310V DOCSIS 1.1 VoIP Cable Telephony
Reference Platform communicating with a TollBridge TB200 gateway.
http://www.tollbridgetech.com/
TollBridge Technologies, March 14, 2000
EQUANT
LAUNCHES IP VOICE/DATA SERVICE
Equant introduced an
integrated voice and data over IP service for its global network.
The new 50-country service uses modular multi-service
routers and voice-over-IP technology from Cisco Systems.
http://www.equant.com/home.html
Equant, March 14, 2000
In February,
Equant and Reuters announced plans for a joint venture network
company serving the financial community.
EQUINIX
SIGNS LEVEL 3, NORTHPOINT AND TELEGLOBE FOR NY INTERNET EXCHANGE
Equinix said that more than 75% of its new Internet
Business Exchange facility in New Jersey is now booked after its
first three months of operation.
Customers include Atlantic Media, The Global Exchange Net,
Level 3, Locus Telecommunications, NaviNet, NonStopNet.net, Inc.,
NorthPoint Communications, Onyx Networks, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Pacific Gateway Exchange, Teleglobe and others.
http://www.equinix.com/press/2000/03-14-00.htm
Equinix, March 14, 2000
- In December, Equinix secured
$280 million in financing from Cisco Systems, Microsoft,
America Online, Dell, E*TRADE, Enron, Reuters, Morgan Stanley
Dean Witter , Goldman Sachs and others for its development of
highly secure Internet Business Exchanges.
CISCO/MOTOROLA'S
SPECTRAPOINT VENTURE APPOINTS NEW PRESIDENT
Myron Wagner was named
president and general manager of SpectraPoint Wireless LLC, the
jointly owned venture of Cisco Systems and Motorola that is
developing LMDS broadband wireless solutions. Wagner previously
led several of Motorola's large engineering development projects.
http://www.spectrapoint.com/
SpectraPoint, March 14, 2000
TRANSWITCH
RELEASED OC-3 THROUGH OC-48 VLSI DEVICE
TranSwitch Corporation released an OC-3 through OC-48 VLSI
device for processing mixed TDM, ATM, and PPP payloads over
SONET/SDH. The chip
supports TDM, ATM, and PPP on the terminal side while supporting
OC-3, OC-12, and channelized OC-48 on the line side.
It can map and demap TDM, ATM, and PPP traffic carried over
155 Mbps to 2.4 Gbps SONET/SDH transport.
http://www.transwitch.com
TranSwitch,
March 14, 2000
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