iolon ships widely tunable filter to Azea Networks for use in submarine optical network equipment

March 31, 2004 San Jose, CA -- iolon Inc., manufacturer of tunable optical devices, has begun production shipments of what it claims is the industry's first adaptive tracking, widely tunable filter to Azea Networks Ltd., a London-based manufacturer of submarine optical network terminal equipment. The production shipments are the outcome of ongoing qualification and testing activities between Azea and iolon that started in December 2002, when iolon began shipping tunable filter prototypes to Azea.

"iolon's tunable filters enable Azea's system to adaptively track and optimize received wavelength in real time," explains Stuart Barnes, chief technical officer of Azea Networks. "This is a key feature in Azea's ability to deliver a submarine network upgrade solution that provides operators with the ability to unlock additional capacity potential well beyond their systems' original design limits without any changes to existing wet plant."

"iolon's widely tunable lasers are network deployed, transmitting live traffic in telecommunications systems in both North America and in Europe," adds John Clark, president, CEO, and chairman of iolon. "Our success with Azea Networks over the last year with our widely tunable filter provides real-world validation that iolon has extended the advantages of its MEMS-based tunable technology platform to the receive side of the network," he asserts. "Azea Networks' advanced submarine terminal equipment demonstrates the system performance and cost savings that tunability provides to operators of optical networks."

With adaptive tracking features and what the company claims are industry-leading insertion loss, passband, PMD, and chromatic dispersion specifications, iolon's tunable filter products--continuously tunable over the C- or L-bands--enable system vendors to deliver increased levels of network performance and cost effectiveness to their customers.