WORLD WIDE PACKETS ANNOUNCES ITS RESIDENTIAL GIGABIT ETHERNET GATEWAY
World Wide Packets’ unveiled plans for its Gigabit Ethernet home gateway featuring a One Gigabit Ethernet uplink port (full duplex), eight dedicated, 10/100 Mbps ports for connecting Ethernet devices within the subscriber's premises and the option of three POTS interfaces with built-in VoIP.  A six-hour battery backup will also be optional.  The device will be self-configuring when attached to the service provider's fiber network.  World Wide Packets also promises pricing comparable to xDSL, cable modem and PONs solutions.  The start-up company is also developing an optical Gigabit Ethernet aggregator and related management and provisioning software.  Commercial launch is now slated for early 2001. http://www.worldwidepackets.com
World Wide Packets, August 21, 2000

• World Wide Packets is conducting beta testing with the Grant County Washington Public Utility District for connecting 100 homes using a fiber-to-the-subscriber model. 

AVANEX DEVELOPS OPTICAL DISPERSION MANAGEMENT PROCESSOR FOR 40 GBPS
Avanex announced a new Dispersion Compensation Management Processor operating at 40 Gbps (OC-768).  The processor aims to extend the transmission distance of optical signals by compensating for the tendency of high bit rate data-carrying wavelengths of light to disperse as they travel over longer distances, which results in transmission errors.  Avanex will also be showing a processor providing variable dispersion compensation for C or L broadband operation, as well as its switch-less re-configurable optical add/drop multiplexing processor.  http://www.avanex.com
Avanex, August 21, 2000

CYPRESS ENTERS MARKET FOR OC-48 SONET TRANSCEIVER
Cypress Semiconductor introduced its first OC-48 SONET transceiver and announced its commitment to develop physical layer silicon for OC-192 and OC-768 (40 Gbps).  The company estimates that OC-48 systems currently carry over 80% of Internet and WAN traffic.  http://www.cypress.com
Cypress Semiconductor, August 21, 2000

INTEL OFFERS PACKET PROCESSING OC-48 GIGABLADE
Intel introduced an OC-48 GigaBlade server card that acts as a front-end processing subsystem for viewing traffic flows and for extracting data from an optical network.  The card enables standard servers to provide visibility into optical networks. Extracted data could then be processed by a wide range of standard applications running on the server, including billing, provisioning, hacker intrusion detection and asset deployment.  http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/fe082100.htm
Intel, August 21, 2000

• Intel acquired Softcom MicroSystems, the developer of the OC-12 GigaBlade, in July 1999. 

CALIENT READIES ITS 1000X1000, ALL-PHOTONIC SWITCH
Calient Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, plans to exhibit its all-optical switch at next weeks’ National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC) in Denver.  The company said its platform is scalable to 1000x1000 ports in a single 7-foot rack.  http://www.calient.net
Calient Networks, August 21, 2000

• Calient's photonic platform will be based on nanoscale SCREAM (Scalable Control of a Rearrangeable and Extensible Array of Mirrors) technology to support full lambda switching.  The company said its architecture will provide a seamless "opto-electronic to photonic" migration path that is non-disruptive to legacy operations.  
  

• Calient Networks is led by Charles Corbalis, who most recently served as the Vice President and General Manager of the Multiservice Switching/WAN Business Unit at Cisco Systems.  He previously was a co-founder and Vice President of Engineering for StrataCom.  Calient Networks was co-founded by Dr. Daniel Blumenthal and Dr. John Bowers, both professors at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  The company recently raised $50 million in second round of financing with the support Juniper Networks, Tellabs, Greylock, Enterprise Partners, Telesoft Partners and Storm Ventures.

NU-WAVE BECOMES ZENASTRA PHOTONICS, TARGETS LARGE SCALE, PASSIVE OPTICAL PRODUCTION
Nu-Wave Photonics, a start-up based in Ottawa, Canada, changed its name to Zenastra Photonics and announced plans to launch its first commercial products.  The company will specialize in the production of low-cost, high volume, composite passive optic components using Planar Waveguide technology.  The company said it would address the need for integration of components into sub-assemblies by eliminating the costs and inefficiencies of existing manual manufacturing processes.  http://www.zenastra.com
Zenastra Photonics, August 21, 2000

• Zenastra recently appointed Dr. Peter D. Scovell as its president and CEO.  Scovell formerly served as vice-president of Nortel's Semiconductor Components Group and was a former managing director of Nortel's Optoelectronics Group.  
  
• In April, Zenastra raised US$40 million in venture funding from Yorkton Securities, HSBC Securities (Canada), VenGrowth Investment Fund Inc., the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Ventures West, Bank of Montreal and the Eastern Technology Seed Investment Fund.  The $40 million funding round was believed to be the most ever for a start-up in the Ottawa region.

ENTERASYS ACQUIRES INDUS RIVER NETWORKS FOR ITS VPN PLATFORM
Enterasys Networks, one of the four spin-offs from Cabletron, will acquire Indus River Networks, a developer of virtual private networking (VPN) solutions, for approximately $170 million in stock (4.1 million shares of Cabletron stock).  Enterasys plans to integrate the VPN technology from Indus River into a new unified security portfolio for enterprise networks.  http://www.enterasys.com
Enterasys Networks, August 21, 2000

• Indus Rivers' remote access system provides unique policy management elements for dial-up, cable modem and LAN attached clients.  The system offers dedicated VPN processing capacity and is designed to handle unlimited user connection requirements and traffic volume by using stacked and clustered tunnel server hardware.  Indus River Networks is based in Acton, Mass.  The company was founded in late 1996.

VENDORS RELEASE FIRST USB 2.0 CHIPS FOR CONNECTIONS AT 480 GBPS
Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group and Philips Semiconductors each announced their first peripheral interconnect chipsets conforming to the USB 2.0 specification, which will enables plug-and-play connections between peripherals at 480 Gbps.  Current USB 1.1 devices operate at up to 11 Mbps.   Lucent is offering a USB 2.0 single-chip transceiver that performs parallel-to-serial data conversion (and vice versa). Lucent also offers a USB host integrated chip for PCs, PC add-in cards and set-top boxes.  Philips Semiconductors is sampling a USB 2.0 device controller that enables a direct interface with ATA/ATAPI peripherals such as fast external re-writeable CD-ROM drives and hard disks.  With USB 2.0, a gigabyte of PC hard drive data could be backed up in under a minute, compared to 15 minutes for a USB 1.1 connected drive.  http://www.lucent.com/micro/usb  http://www.philips.semiconductors.com
August 21, 2000