JDS UNIPHASE & SDL MERGER SETS RECORD PRICE FOR NETWORK SUPPLIER
JDS Uniphase agreed to acquire SDL Inc. for a record $41 billion in stock (July 7 prices), the highest price yet for a supplier of networking equipment or components.  The companies said their merger would accelerate delivery of advanced products and basic building blocks for optical networking, including optical amplifiers, lossless optical switches and integrated optical modules.  Key drivers for the merger include increased manufacturing capabilities and larger engineering teams.  The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory approvals.

In May, the companies extended an existing arrangement under which SDL supplies grating-stabilized 980 nm pump lasers to JDS Uniphase for JDS Uniphase's high-performance erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), critical components used in DWDM systems.  SDL has also been a primary supplier of 980 nanometer (nm) pump modules to Corning.

Last week, JDS Uniphase closed its $15 billion acquisition of E-TEK Dynamics, a supplier of passive optical components.

SDL is based in San Jose, California and has approximately 1,700 employees.  It reported sales of $72 million in its first quarter ended March 31, 2000. Its product line also includes 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps modulators, arrayed waveguide gratings used for optical muxing and demuxing, specialized lasers, optical splitters, and other optoelectronic components.  SDL's prior acquisitions include Photonic Integration Research ($1.8 billion, May 00), Veritech Microwave ($590 million, Feb 00), and IOC International plc ($46 million, Mar 99).

JDS Uniphase has over 17,000 employees and reported sales of $395 million in its fiscal third quarter ended March 31, 2000.  The company was created through the merger of JDS Fitel of Canada and Uniphase of San Jose, California.  That deal was valued at $6.1 billion when it was announced in January 1999.  http://www.jdsunph.com   http://www.sdli.com
July 10, 2000

AT&T LAUNCHES DIGITAL MEDIA PLATFORM TO SERVE 10 MILLION SIMULTANEOUS STREAMS
AT&T is building an "Ecosystem for Media" to deliver true, broadcast-scale streaming services over the Internet.  Over the next 18 to 24 months, AT&T plans to scale its data and Internet infrastructure to support 10 million simultaneous streaming media Internet users.  The company will use Microsoft’s Windows Media and RealNetworks’ RealSystem 8 as its initial media formats.  It will also work closely with Inktomi on scalability issues.  The "Ecosystem for Media" will supplement AT&T’s Intelligent Content Distribution (ICD) Services and will also provide turnkey media management, allowing customers to encode and archive audio/video content.  AT&T also announced a corporate ATM multicast service that replicates traffic from a single ATM virtual circuit and replicates to multiple end sites within the AT&T network.  http://www.att.com/press/item/0,1354,3059,00.html
AT&T, July 10, 2000

• AT&T has previously announced plans to open 44 Internet Data Centers and connect them to its OC-48/OC-192 IP backbone.

ROADRUNNER INSTALLS NARUS IP-USAGE SYSTEM FOR INSIGHT INTO TRENDS
Road Runner, the second largest US cable modem service provider, selected the NARUS IP usage platform for deployment in its nationwide broadband network.  Initially, Road Runner is deploying NARUS Analyzers with OC-3 interfaces in seven locations throughout its network, including cable head-ends and traffic aggregation points. NARUS Analyzers will feed usage data into NARUS Logic Servers, running in Road Runner's data center, which in turn aggregate and correlate usage information. Road Runner will use the data to provide insight into network usage trends, such as which applications -- e.g. web surfing, email, content (MP3, etc.) downloads -- are the most popular, what time of day the network is being used the most, in what regions of the country.  Financial terms were not disclosed.  NARUS is working with other partners to turn IP usage data gathered via its platform into billable events.  http://www.narus.com/ 
NARUS, July 10, 2000

YIPES INTRODUCES IP LAN-TO-LAN SERVICE WITH IPSEC
Yipes Communications introduced a secure, wide area IP network service for connecting LANs to distant business locations at customer-selected Ethernet speeds from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps, in 1 Mbps increments.  Yipes offers standard IPSec security and is integrated with the company's Internet access service.  Customer could select to connect to the Internet at each node or through one LAN location.  Yipes is currently operating in Boston, Chicago, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, Riverside, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and suburbs of San Francisco and Denver.  http://www.yipes.com
Yipes, July 10, 2000

IBM AND ALCATEL EXTEND PARTNERSHIP TARGETING INTERNET DATA CENTERS
Alcatel and IBM Global Services agreed to work on joint solutions for Internet Data Centers.  The deal extends a previous agreement under which IBM Global Services has been providing services for Newbridge products to include Alcatel Carrier solutions and Genesys products.
http://www.alcatel.com/vpr/index.htm?body=/latestnews/10072000_1uk
Alcatel, July 10, 2000

TELSEON OFFERS INSTANTLY SCALABLE GIGABIT ETHERNET SERVICES IN EQUINIX CENTERS
Telseon will offer its managed gigabit services in Equinix Internet Business Centers nationwide.  The service will include Telseon's provisioning software that enables companies to increase their bandwidth from one to 1,000 Mbps within 10 seconds via a web browser.  http://www.telseon.com
Telseon, July 10, 2000

ITF OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES RAISES $28 MILLION IN NEW VENTURE FUNDING
ITF Optical Technologies, a start-up based in Montreal, Canada, received $28 million in new venture financing, bringing total funding to $38 million since its founding in February 1998.  The company is developing a proprietary All-Fiber technology that uses optical fiber as the constituent medium.  The company said that by processing light in the fiber itself, its photonic components could significantly lower transmission losses, accommodate high optical power and provide the flexibility needed for custom requirements.  http://www.itfoptical.com
ITF Optical Technologies, July 10, 2000

WORLD WIDE PACKETS CLOSES $20 MILLION FOR ITS ETHERNET-TO-THE-SUBSCRIBER
World Wide Packets, a start-up led by Bernard Daines (former founder of Packet Engines), raised $20 million in its first round of venture financing.  World Wide Packets is pursuing an Ethernet-to-the-Subscriber architecture that would deliver IP over fiber to residential and commercial subscribers.  The company plans to offer an optical Gigabit Ethernet subscriber gateway, an optical Gigabit Ethernet aggregator, and management/provisioning software.  The products will be targeted at public utilities and municipalities, Investor Owned Utilities, commercial and residential Greenfield developments, government and business entities, CLECs and telcos, and CATV operators.  http://www.worldwidepackets.com/
World Wide Packets, July 10, 2000

World Wide Packets has now has over 70 employees and is based in Spokane, Washington.

INTELLISENSE TURNS ATTENTION TO OPTICAL MEMS
IntelliSense, a developer of MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) software and devices, appointed Dr. Jonathan Bernstein as its Vice President of Technology and Dr. Carlos Mastrangelo as Vice President of Engineering.  Jonathan Bernstein holds 19 patents in the MEMS field and previously developed advanced micromechanical sensors and actuators at Draper Laboratories.  Mastrangelo previously held tenured professorship in the EECS Department of the University of Michigan.  IntelliSense, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Corning, said it intends to bring MEMs optical switches to market.  http://www.intellisense.com/
IntelliSense, July 10, 2000

CANON LAUNCHES ITS 3^RD GENERATION WIRELESS OPTICS
Canon introduced its third generation, "free-space" communications laser system supporting OC-12 transmission over distances of up to 2 km.  The Canobeam III features a narrower beam than previous versions, making it less susceptible to weather conditions.  The system is priced at around $50,000 per pair.  http://www.canon.com/
Canon, July 10, 2000

SPECTRA-PHYSICS UNIT FOCUSES ON PASSIVE OPTICAL
Spectra-Physics renamed its commercial systems group to Spectra-Physics Passive Components to reflect its new emphasis on telecommunications components.  The company's first product is a 200-GHz narrow band pass filter.  The unit is based in Mountain View, California.  http://www.spectra-physics.com/products-new.html
Spectra-Physics, July 10, 2000

LUCENT ADDS LOOP TESTING TO STINGER DSLAMS
Lucent Technologies introduced new integrated metallic loop access and testing capabilities for its Stinger DSLAMs.  The Copper Loop Test (CLT) module allows network operators to remotely access and test DSL lines from the central office.  Testing capabilities include 1) digital multi-meter (DMM), which measures AC/DC voltage, resistance, loop resistance and capacitance, and loop length; 2) line tests, which measure wideband noise, impulse noise, load coil detection, loop resistance, insertion loss and signal to noise; and 3) time domain reflectometry (TDR), which locates bridge taps, load coils, water saturated cable sections and cable faults.  http://www.lucent.com/press/0700/000710.nsa.html
Lucent Technologies, July 10, 2000

AGILENT ADDS MPLS TO ITS ROUTERTESTER PLATFORMS
Agilent Technologies added Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) testing capabilities to its QA Robot and RouterTester platforms.  The solution initially supports testing of Reservation Protocol (RSVP) signaling with traffic engineering extensions (RSVP-TE), including set-up of MPLS label switched paths (tunnels), generation of labeled traffic, verification of labeled traffic flows and interworking between internal gateway and RSVP-TE protocol stacks. The system also allows developers to test interactions between the MPLS protocol and major routing protocols, including BGP-4, OSPF and IS-IS.  http://www.agilent.com/comms/IPTest
Agilent Technologies, July 10, 2000

INTELSAT TO OFFER BROADBAND VSAT SERVICE
INTELSAT' will launch a new Broadband Very Small Aperture Terminal (BVSAT) Service supporting IP, Frame Relay, ATM or ISDN covering the Americas, Western Europe and Africa.   The system is based on INTELSAT's existing fleet of C-band and Ku-band satellites.  COMSAT Laboratories will provide satellite networking terminals and support services. The company plans to extend coverage to Asia and the Middle East at a later date.  http://www.intelsat.com/
Comsat, July 10, 2000