FTC APPROVES AMERICA ONLINE/TIME WARNER WITH CONDITIONS
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the proposed merger of America Online (AOL), the nation's largest ISP, and Time Warner, a media conglomerate with a cable television network serving about 20% of US cable households.  Conditions of the approval include the following.  AOL Time Warner is:

• required to open its cable system to competitor ISPs;
• prohibited from interfering with content passed along the bandwidth contracted for by non-affiliated ISPs and from interfering with the ability of non-affiliated providers of interactive TV services to interact with interactive signals, triggers or content that AOL Time Warner has agreed to carry;
• prevented from discriminating on the basis of affiliation in the transmission of content, or from entering into exclusive arrangements with other cable companies with respect to ISP services or interactive TV services;
• and required to market and offer AOL's DSL services to subscribers in Time Warner cable areas where affiliated cable broadband service is available, in the same manner and at the same retail pricing as they do in those areas where affiliated cable broadband ISP service is not available. 

 http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/12/aol.htm   http://corp.aol.com   http://www.timewarner.com/  
FTC, December 14, 2000

• AOL and Time Warner are still holding discussions with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is the final regulatory agency whose approval is needed to close the merger.
  
• AOL and Time Warner first announced their intent to merge on January 10, 2000.

QWEST ASKS AT&T TO OPEN ITS CABLE NETWORK
Qwest Communications asked AT&T for permission to connect to its cable networks in Colorado and Washington, saying that it plans to offer consumer Internet access and other services over the facilities.  Qwest cited a Ninth Circuit Court ruling that found that the transport portion of AT&T's high-speed internet access services offered over AT&T's broadband facilities is a telecommunications service, and thus AT&T can not discriminate against its competitors by prohibiting access to those facilities for the provision of such service.  http://www.qwest.com
Qwest, December 14, 2000

SYCAMORE ANNOUNCED ETHEROPTIC SOLUTIONS FOR CARRIER GIGE SERVICE
Sycamore Networks introduced a set of "EtherOptic" solutions for enabling service providers to quickly deploy Gigabit Ethernet services from any point to any point in their network.    The EtherOptic technology comprises two new service modules: an 8-port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) service module (available Q1 2001) for the SN 10000 high capacity long haul/ultra long haul transport platform, and 2-port Gigabit Ethernet module (currently shipping) for the SN 3000 intelligent optical access switch.  France's LDCOM Networks will be using the solution to offer Ethernet based transport services scaling from 50Mbps to 1Gbps in 50 Mbps increments.
http://www.sycamorenet.com/about/news/pressreleases.cfm?news_item_id=373
Sycamore Networks, December 14, 2000

• Sycamore's SN 3000 is a fully redundant, carrier-class Optical Access Switch designed to aggregate and groom TDM, ATM and IP services onto a fast, intelligent optical core. The switch integrates the functionality of SONET/SDH ADMs, digital cross-connects, packet/cell switches, and optical transport.  
  
• Sycamore's SN 10000 long haul transport platform is designed to carry up to 160 waves of OC-192/STM-64. The system could span ultra long-haul transmission distances of up to 4000 km and will leverage a number of “hard-optics” innovations, including optional Raman amplification, dispersion compensation and high-capacity Forward Error Correction (FEC).  Sycamore expects to ship the platform in the first half of next year.   

ALCATEL OPTRONICS UNVEILS OPTICAL PRE-AMPLIFIER AT 40 GBPS
Alcatel Optronics introduced a compact pre-amplifier available for high bit-rate (2.5 Gbps, 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps) applications.  The device could be used in optical cross-connects and DWDM systems.   Alcatel launched its first compact booster amplifier in September 1999.
http://www.alcatel.com/vpr/?body=/latestnews/14122000_2uk
Alcatel Optronics, December 14, 2000

ALFALIGHT RAISES $28 MILLION FOR PUMP LASER DIODES
Alfalight, a start-up developing high-power pump laser products, raised $28 million in second round financing.  The company is developing single-mode 980 nm technology and 980 nm aluminum-free, multi-mode technology.  Investors include Advanced Technology Ventures, Interwest Partners, Centerpoint Ventures, The Infrastructure Fund and ARCH Venture Partners.  Alfalight received $6.1 million in first-round venture funding in May.  The company is based in Madison, Wisconsin and has a packaging facility near Montreal, Canada.  http://www.alfalight.com/
Advanced Technology Ventures, December 13, 2000

• Alphalight was founded in Nov. 1998 by a technical team from the University of Wisconsin. Its products are based on intellectual property licensed exclusively from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).  
   

  Click for a directory of Optical Start-ups

MINERVA NETWORKS ANNOUNCES MPEG-4 ENCODER FOR LIVE STREAMING
Minerva Networks, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, introduced a real-time network encoding appliance capable of streaming video to any desktop computer running a QuickTime or MPEG-4 compliant player.  The carrier-class encoder supports variable frame rates and bit-rates ranging from 50 Kbps to 1 Mbps, at resolutions ranging from QSIF (176x144 pixels) to CIF (352x288 pixels).  It complies with both RTP and RTCP protocols. 
http://www.minervanetworks.com
Minerva Networks, December 14, 2000

• In September, Minerva introduced a software solution for the management and delivery of television services over broadband IP networks.
  
• An administrative component provides billing, subscription management, scheduling, electronic program guide (EPG) generation, channel creation, and advertisement insertion. A client component enables consumers to access a variety of video services including video-on-demand (VOD), near video-on-demand (NVOD), live television, interactive television, and interactive games.
  
• In April, Minerva raised $11 million in venture funding with the support of Intel, Kanematsu Electronics Ltd, BayStar Capital, Alliance Ventures, The Galleon Group, Empire Capital Partners, US Venture Partners and the ETF Group.
  
• Minerva is led by Mauro Bonomi, previously a member of the executive staff of C-Cube Microsystems.

CISCO TO ACQUIRE EXIO FOR IN-BUILDING CDMA/IP NETWORKING
Cisco Systems agreed to acquire ExiO Communications, a developer of in-building, wireless networking based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, for $155 million in stock.  ExiO Communications was founded in October 1999 and has 28 employees in San Jose, California and 10 employees in Seoul, Korea.
http://www.cisco.com  http://www.exio.com/
Cisco Systems,  December 14, 2000

• In July, Exio Communication obtained a development license from QUALCOMM covering wireless infrastructure for in-building or campus networks using QUALCOMM's cdmaOne, cdma2000 and High Data Rate (HDR) technology.