As part of its review of its operations, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has decided to cease the manufacture of communications cables. The operations are part of the company’s Networks business unit.

Proving that it’s all how you look at things, analysts at Infonetics Research say there’s reason for optimism among optical transport equipment vendors in 2013, despite the fact that sales during the first quarter declined year on year.

Chinese telecommunications equipment vendors Huawei and ZTE are in hot water again, this time in Europe. The European Commission, via Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, cited the two firms this past Friday, May 17, for violating EU rules against dumping and subsidies in connection with the prices the two companies have charged for mobile network equipment, according to Reuters.

Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX; TASE: MLNX), which focuses on interconnect for servers and storage systems, says it has agreed to purchase silicon photonics technology developer Kotura Inc. for approximately $82 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) pleased Wall Street yesterday when it announced net sales for its fiscal third quarter of $12.2 billion and GAAP net income of $2.5 billion ($0.46 per share). The revenue numbers were within Cisco’s guidance of $12.05 billion to $12.28 billion, but surpassed consensus pre-announcement estimates of $12.18 billion.

Coherent transmission technology developer Acacia Communications has closed a new $20 million funding round. The money will be used for a variety of purposes, according to a company press release: expansion into new markets, development of new products and, potentially, acquisitions.

Cable maker Prysmian Group says it has a new fiber-optic cable production facility at its campus in Slatina, Romania. The new production capability will triple the factory’s fiber-optic cable capacity to 1.5 million km, with the potential to reach 3 million km.

Cable & Wireless Communications PLC (CWC) says it has entered into a strategic alliance with Columbus Networks Ltd. to develop its international wholesale capacity business. Under the alliance, CWC and Columbus will form a joint venture in the pan-America region that will provide international wholesale capacity to both companies, as well as to third-party carriers.

Optical component and subsystem supplier NeoPhotonics Corp. (NYSE: NPTN) says that the $56.1 million it earned in its fiscal first quarter ended March 31 not only beat consensus of $52.8 million, but set a first quarter revenue record for the company, making the quarter the best first quarter in NeoPhotonics' history. Products for 40-Gbps and 100-Gbps applications accounted for 39% of that revenue, also a record.

Canadian service provider Fibrenoire has expanded its network with the acquisition of Société des Réseaux Dédiés et Privés Inc. (SRDP Telecom) and Réseau du Haut-Richelieu Inc. (RHRI), two independent fiber-optic networks in the Greater Montreal area. Fibrenoire says the acquisitions will create the largest fiber network in Quebec exclusively dedicated to business customers.

Packet-optical transport and SDN platform vendor Cyan, Inc. (NYSE: CYNI) is ready for its initial public offering. The company has offered 8,000,000 shares of common stock at $11.00 per share on The New York Stock Exchange today. The shares will trade under the symbol CYNI.

Optical component and subsystems vendor Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR) has taken out a series of short-term bridge loans – and plans to sell some assets to help pay them off.

Infonetics Research says the results of its latest Optical Transport Network (OTN) study indicate that 86% of carrier respondents to the survey plan to deploy OTN switching.

Nearly 70% of operators interviewed say they are either in trial or actively deploying VDSL2 vectoring technology, according to a recent global survey by market research firm Broadbandtrends LLC.

JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU; and TSX: JDU) revealed May 1 that it plans to stop selling test instruments for certain low-speed wireline applications. However, the company isn’t yet detailing the specific products that have faced the ax.

Marlin Equity Partners says it has closed its acquisition of Nokia Siemens Networks’ Optical Networks business. The milestone means that Coriant is now officially “unleashed,” to use the term at the center of its first marketing campaign.

The board of directors at optical transport equipment vendor Tellabs has elected Vincent H. Tobkin as chairman of the board. Tobkin succeeds Michael J. Birck, Tellabs' co-founder and chairman, who has retired due to health reasons.

While celebrating Finisar's 25th anniversary on the show floor of OFC/NFOEC 2013, Executive Chairman Jerry Rawls takes the time to offer his take on Cisco's CPAK transceiver and whether silicon photonics is a threat to his business.

Much has been written about "carbon footprint." But for data-center designers and managers, reducing footprint is not just about going green.

By 2016 nearly two-thirds of data-center traffic will be cloud traffic.

Conferences such as OFC/NFOEC are, of course, great places to pick up news of technological breakthroughs, hints of application trends, gossip, and the odd but interesting factoid.

Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) says that the revenue momentum the DTN-X created last year continued into the first quarter of 2013 and likely won’t abate anytime soon. Meanwhile, it began delivering prototypes of new technology during the quarter as well.

Polish cable operator INEA SA says it has received a strategic investment from an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The investment firm has committed additional funding for growth and consolidation, including planned roll out of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) said on Tuesday that it will spend about $2 billion less in capital expenditures (capex) in 2014 and 2015 than originally planned. While capex this year should meet the previous $21 billion expectation, the company now believes it will spend approximately $20 billion on capex in 2014 and 2015, rather than the $22 billion each year it had previously announced.