Sorrento Networks tries again

Sorrento Networks International, a metro DWDM equipment supplier that looked to be a goner last year, will get a new lease on life. The Comtek Group, a UK-based provider of communications repairs and support services that acquired Sorrento's assets last year based on its experience repairing the company's gear, has relaunched Sorrento and promises product line extensions.

The new Sorrento now calls Pleasanton, CA, home after formerly residing in San Jose. As part of its new DNA, the company will offer support and repair services, including for equipment from other vendors, as well as sales of its own equipment The company will focus on Tier 1 and Tier 2/3 wholesale carriers, cable MSOs, utilities, ILECs, and enterprises in North America and Europe.

The company was founded as a subsidiary of Osicom Technologies during the telecom boom of the early part of this century. It became a standalone company in 2000. It offered optical transport products based on its flagship GigaMux hybrid CWDM/DWDM platform. Sorrento made at least one acquisition (see "Sorrento Networks acquires Redfern Broadband Networks") before being acquired itself by Zhone Technologies in 2004 (see ""). The company regained its independent status in January 2008 when co-founders Jim Nevelle and Tim Anderson, with the support of VCs, bought the GigaMux line back from Zhone. Sorrento subsequently bought access multiplexer company LuxN later in the year (see "Sorrento Networks to acquire LuxN Inc.").

However, Sorrento appeared to run out of steam by the beginning of 2014 before its acquisition by Comtek last September. "We have a history of giving customers a viable alternative to rip-and-replace when their supplier has folded, and we intend to use the unrivalled expertise of our engineering team to ensure this isn't the only option available to Sorrento Networks' customers," Askar Sheibani, The Comtek Group's founder, managing director, and CEO, was quoted as saying in the acquisition announcement.

The new Sorrento management team includes Sheibani as CEO; Vice President of Operations Gene Norgard, whose career includes a stint as vice president of engineering at Sorrento; and Group Vice President John Freebairn, a former managing director at Nortel and Comtek's current director and vice president of business development.

The team may need to put a quick upgrade of the GigaMux line on its to-do list. A data sheet on the Sorrento site describes the GigaMux 3200 Series as a platform built for 10-Gbps transport (although it is said to be capable of transmitting 100-Gbps alien wavelengths).

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