ALCATEL RECEIVES LARGEST DSL ORDER TO DATE -- 1.26 MILLION LINES
Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom selected Alcatel to supply 1.26 million ADSL lines for deployment in the major cities of Taiwan.  Alcatel believes the contract to be the world's largest order of ADSL lines by one telecom operator to date.  In addition, Microelectronics of Alcatel will provide DSL chips for both the central office and customer premise side of the DSL solution.  Financial terms were not disclosed.  http://www.alcatel.com/vpr/?body=/latestnews/15032001_1uk
Alcatel, March 15, 2001

• As of December 31, 2000, Alcatel had shipped 7.7 million xDSL lines to operators worldwide.

VDSL SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES ITS HIGH-SPEED DSLAM AND CPE
VDSL Systems, a start-up based in Espoo, Finland, introduced an IP-based Very-high-speed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) hardware solution consisting of a central office DSLAM and customer premise equipment.  The company claims its VDSL platform can achieve data rates up to 13/13 Mbps symmetric and 26/3 Mbps asymmetric over a single pair connection and 26/26 Mbps symmetric over a two pair connection in good condition.  The effective range is up to 2.5 miles (4 km), although data rates depend on cable quality, noise and the cross-talk environment.  The system will be IP-based and provide a migration path from current ATM based DSL technologies.  VDSL Systems has opened a US office in Denver, Colorado.  http://www.vdslsystems.com
VDSL Systems, March 15, 2001

INFINEON INTEGRATES VOICE AND ADSL ON A LINE CARD
Infineon Technologies introduced the first chipset to integrate Voice and full rate ADSL services on a single line card, eliminating the need for splitters on the network side.  The device is an integrated, 8-channel POTS and ADSL transceiver for DSLAMs and Digital Loop Carrier (DLC) equipment.  Infineon expects the integration of ADSL and voice will reduce system costs and provide integrated line testing and pre-qualification, thus enabling service providers to offer immediate on-demand ADSL service without additional truck rolls.  http://www.infineon.com/news/press/103_053e.htm
Infineon Technologies, March 15, 2001

OPTISPHERE DEBUTS 32-CHANNEL METRO DWDM SYSTEM, OPTICAL CROSS-CONNECT
Optisphere Networks introduced a new version of its metro DWDM platform capable of supporting 32 wavelengths (64 wavelengths unprotected) with up to nine nodes on a 100 km ring.  The product features a "universal interface" that is protocol (SONET, ATM, IP, ESCON and Gigabit Ethernet) and bit-rate independent (up to 2.5 Gbps).  Future upgrades will scale to 10 Gbps.

Optisphere Networks also announced plans for a next-generation optical cross-connect (OXC) slated for commercial availability in early 2002.  The device will use 3-D micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology developed by OMM Inc. for all-optical wavelength switching from up to 4,096 input ports to 4,096 output ports.  Optisphere's first-generation OXC, available this spring, is a transparent, all-optical routing device that uses OMM's 2-D MEMS technology to switch up to 128 ports.  Optisphere, which is based in Reston, Virginia, is a subsidiary of Siemens Information and Communication Networks. http://www.optisphere.com
Optisphere, March 15, 2001

• Last October, Optisphere completed a laboratory demonstration that carried 176 wavelengths at 40 Gbps with 50 GHz spacing over 50km over fiber.  The company said it used a special bi-directional transmission system to ensure a spectral efficiency of 0.8 bit/s per Hz bandwidth.
• Earlier this week, Optisphere and WorldCom announced a month-long technology trial that carried 3.2 Tbps over a single fiber using Optisphere’s DWDM platform.  The companies deployed 80 wavelengths of 40 Gbps traffic over three spans of existing standard single mode fiber in WorldCom’s Dallas metropolitan area network with a total link length of 250 km. 

CHINA NETCOM ORDERS 500,000 KM OF CORNING FIBER
China Netcom named Corning as its principal supplier of optical fiber and ordered more than 500,000 kilometers of LEAF advanced non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber over the next three years.  The fiber will be used for a network backbone that will connect 17 major cities across southeast China.  Financial terms were not disclosed.  http://www.corning.com
Corning, March 15, 2001

• Corning's key LEAF fiber customers to date include Aerie Networks, Argus Telecommunications, AT&T, Broadwing Communications, Cable & Wireless, Carrier1, COLT Telecom Group plc, Communications Authority of Thailand, Eurotunnel, Interoute (i-21 network), Impsat, KG Telecom, LD COM, Level 3 Communications, Inc., NEESCom, TransTeleCom, Williams Communications and 360Networks.

DORADO SOFTWARE SECURES $24 MILLION FOR NETWORK PERSONALIZATION SYSTEMS
Dorado Software, a developer of infrastructure software for personalizing network services, closed $24 million in financing.  The funding, which was led by Insight Capital Partners, will be used to accelerate and strengthen Dorado's product development, delivery, and sales and marketing operations.  Dorado is based in Folsom, California.  http://www.doradosoftware.com/
Dorado Software, March 14, 2001

• Dorado Software's flagship product is its Oware, a Java/EJB based development environment for next generation carrier services.  Dorado offers a range of "Redcell" applications based on its Oware environment, including software for subscriber centric network resource and service management; directory-enabled global policy management; configuration, provisioning and activation of infrastructure resources and services; and a life cycle service and resource deployment and management system for DSL broadband access networks.  The software solutions could be used to provide advanced IP layer services through network elements at the edge, aggregation point or core of next generation networks.

SPAIN'S FIRSTMARK DEPLOYS CERAGON 311 MBPS WIRELESS SDH
FirstMark Comunicaciones, a broadband operator in Spain, has begun the first commercial deployment of a 311 Mbps wireless system, Ceragon's FibeAir 3100.  Based on Ceragon's FibeAir 1500, the FibeAir 3100 operates in the same frequency channel in dual polarization, thus doubling the capacity over a single channel.  FirstMark is deploying both systems using the 38 GHz band for wireless metro networks in Spain.  http://www.ceragon.com/
Ceragon, March 15, 2001

ACCELIGHT NETWORKS DEVELOPS PHOTONIC BURST SWITCHING
AcceLight Networks, a start-up based in Pittsburgh, PA and Ottawa, Canada, announced plans for an optical platform that would integrate "photonic burst switching," generalized-MPLS multi layer signaling; and a massively scalable service optimized transport architecture.  The company claims its patented optical switching will deliver speeds up to 100,000 times faster than current optical technology enabling nanosecond switching in a large-scale core fabric and petabit capacity.  Specific product plans have not yet been disclosed.  http://www.accelight.com
AcceLight Networks, March 15, 2001

• AcceLight Networks was co-founded by Dr. Hyong Kim, who previously founded Scalable Networks (acquired by FORE Systems in 1996), Dr. Alberto Leon-Garcia, a noted researcher at the Canadian Institute of Telecommunications Research and at the Ontario Information Technology Research Centre, and Dr. Paul Chow, a researcher with Stanford University and a researcher and professor with the University of Toronto specializing in ASICs.
• In April 2000, AcceLight raised $18 million US in first-round funding from Menlo Ventures and Venrock Associates.

FORCE10 NETWORKS LURES EXECUTIVES FROM CISCO, JUNIPER
Force10 Networks, a start-up developing metro Ethernet solutions, named Michael Kirby as vice president of worldwide sales.  Kirby most recently served as Cisco Systems' vice president of worldwide sales for IP application software.  Other recent appointments include John Jendricks as vice president of business development and CIO, Steve Mullaney as vice president of marketing, and Marc Randall as vice president of engineering.  Jendricks previously was vice president of business development and CIO at Juniper Networks; Mullaney served as vice president of marketing for Growth Networks (acquired by Cisco), and Randall most recently was vice president of engineering at Cisco where he focused on the development and extension of high-end routing platforms.  http://www.force10networks.com/
Force10 Networks, March 16, 2001

• Force10 Networks is led by Prabhat K. Dubey, previously President and CEO of MMC Networks.
• Last April, Force10 secured $50 million in venture financing from New Enterprise Associates, USVP, WorldView Technology Partners and Amerindo Investment Advisors.