update

Level 3 Communications (www.level3.com) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Broadwing Corp., a publicly held provider of optical network communications services. Per the agreement, Level 3 will pay $8.18 in cash plus 1.3411 shares of Level 3 common stock for each share of Broadwing common stock outstanding at closing. In total, Level 3 currently expects to pay approximately $744 million in cash and issue approximately 122 million shares.

American Fiber Systems Inc.(www.afsnetworks.com) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire competitive metro network provider IDACOMM. IDACOMM’s fiber-rich network includes more than 45,000 local and regional long-haul fiber-strand miles that pass approximately 150 buildings in Boise, ID, and Las Vegas and Reno, NV.

Turin Networks(www.turinnetworks.com) has acquired the product portfolio and the majority of the material assets of White Rock Networks, provider of next-generation optical transport products for metro networks. According to Turin Networks, the White Rock transaction simultaneously expands its product portfolio and carrier customer base to more than 300 customers worldwide.

Zarlink Semiconductor(www.zarlink.com) has sold the assets of its packet switching product line to Conexant Systems Inc. (www.conexant.com) for cash and other consideration, including a cash payment at closing of $5 million and additional amounts based on revenue performance of the product line over the next 2 years. Zarlink’s packet switching product line includes a range of Fast Ethernet aggregation switches for network ­access equipment.

Tektronix Inc. (www.tektronix.com) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Minacom, provider of active probe test equipment used by telecom carriers, cable multiple-system operators (MSOs), and wireless and voice-over-IP providers worldwide, for approximately $27 million. Minacom’s 35 employees will become part of Tektronix, and the business will continue to be located in Montreal, Minacom’s headquarters. The new group will become a center of excellence for IP active test within Tektronix.

Alcatel (www.alcatel.com) has signed a multiyear, $300 million agreement to upgrade the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) communications infrastructure. The IP network transformation project, which will commence at the beginning of 2007, includes the upgrade of UPMC’s wired and wireless data infrastructure, enterprise telephony system, and contact center platforms and applications to a converged IP infrastructure. Under the joint venture, Alcatel and UPMC also will each invest $25 million to develop applications and technologies for the healthcare industry.

Maine-based telecommunications provider Tidewater Telecom(www.tidewater.net) has purchased several of Siemens’ (www.siemens.com/networks) SURPASS hiD 6650 Carrier Ethernet platforms, utilizing a 10-Gigabit Ethernet ring to provide voice and data services to hospitals and other healthcare providers in the Rockport, ME, area.

The City of Auburn, IN, has selected Wave7 Optics’ (www.wave7optics.com) Trident7 Optical Access Platform for a new municipal FTTP network. Construction will begin this month, with first priority given to connecting the school system. The second phase, to be completed by the end of 2007, will provide voice and high-speed data services to all of the city’s business districts, including more than 1,200 homes and businesses.

Home Telephone Co.of Berkeley County, SC (www.hometelco.com), has deployed the Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 3000RE optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) from ADVA Optical Networking(www.advaoptical.com). In July, ADVA acquired Movaz Networksand its RAYexpress product line, which has been renamed the FSP 3000RE.

Tyco Telecommunications(www.tycotelecom.com) has signed a contract with Houston-based BP America Inc.(www.bp.com) to supply an undersea fiber-optic system serving offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The system will comprise the undersea backbone of a regional communications network, providing diverse connectivity from BP’s Gulf of Mexico offshore production facilities back to the regional operating center in Houston.

Pannaway Technologies Inc.(www.pannaway.com), designers and developers of next-generation, converged IP broadband systems to telecommunications companies, has closed an additional funding round of $10 million with participation from more than 30 private investors. To date, the company says it has shipped over 70,000 subscriber ports worth of triple-play xDSL2+ and FTTH equipment.

Discovery Semiconductors (www.chipsat.com) has provided 25-GHz multimode photodiodes to the Technical University of Berlin for its research on directly modulated 980-nm lasers. The university recently reported the development of directly modulated, sub-monolayer grown quantum dot vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) at 980 nm for 20-Gbit/sec error-free operation at 85°C. The lasers were characterized and tested using a Discovery DSC30S multimode, 25-GHz photodiode coupled to a 62.5-µm graded-­index multimode fiber.

El Tamarindo Resort and Spa has deployed Alloptic’s (www.alloptic.com) GEPON system to provide voice, data, video, building automation, and security services throughout the resort. The contract is Alloptic’s first in Mexico.

Central American service provider Navega(www.navega.com) has selected Tellabs (www.tellabs.com) to expand the capacity of its transport network. The Tellabs 6300 Managed Transport and ­Tellabs 8100 Managed Access systems will enable Navega to meet the voice, video, and data demands of its growing customer base in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

Interoute(www.interoute.com), owner of Europe’s most advanced next-generation voice and data network, will deploy new optical equipment across its pan-European footprint designed to cut service delivery times for high-capacity bandwidth. Interoute is investing more than €22 million on the technology upgrade using a combination of the Infinera(www.infinera.com) DTN Digital Optical Network system in its European network andCiena’s (www.ciena.com) CoreStream in Central and Eastern Europe.

JSC Comstar-United TeleSystems(www.comstar-uts.ru/), a provider of integrated telecommunications services in Russia and the CIS, has acquired a 100% stake in two telecom operators in Kiev, Ukraine-DG Tel and Technologic Systems-through its local subsidiary, Comstar-Ukraine, for a total cash consideration of $4.7 million. DG Tel is an alternative fixed-line telecommunications company providing integrated services to corporate customers over a 90-km fiber network in Kiev. Technologic Systems is an Internet service provider focusing on offering broadband services; it holds one of eight licenses in Ukraine for provision of domestic and international long-distance voice services over IP.

China Telecomannounced the results of its extensive interoperability testing at the recent China Lightwave FTTH conference. Teknovus’s (www.teknovus.com) TK3715 EPON ONU chipset passed or exceeded all testing parameters, incorporating China Telecom’s specifications in the areas of security, dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA), and interoperability with other EPON chip vendors. China Telecom representatives confirm that system vendor interoperability testing will be completed by year-end, with major EPON deployments expected in 2007.

Optical Communication Products Inc. (OCP-www.ocp-inc.com) has reached an agreement with SAE Magnetics (H.K.) Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of TDK Corp., which will enable the company to manufacture certain product lines in China beginning in the summer of 2007. OCP will maintain its existing manufacturing facilities in Woodland Hills, CA, and Hsinchu, Taiwan, but will reduce these workforces once manufacturing begins at SAE.

Siemens (www.siemens.com) and Juniper Networks Inc.(www.juniper.net) say that Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.(SingTel) has deployed Juniper Networks’ SDX Service Deployment System and E-series Broadband Services Routers to support the introduction of new premium IP services, including a new bandwidth-on-demand service. With the E-series and SDX, SingTel customers will be able to dynamically request and change their bandwidth metrics, throttling connection speeds from 125 kbits/sec up to as much as 25 Mbits/sec.

The China Education and Research Network Information Center (CERNIC) has deployed Juniper Networks’ T-series core routing platform in its next-generation China Education and Research Network (CERNET2). CERNET2 is one of the world’s largest, purely Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) networks and includes the first long-haul 40-Gbit/sec link between the major Chinese cities of ­Beijing and Tianjin.

NEC Corp.(www.nec.com) has completed the second phase of a ¥10 billion telecommunications and broadcasting project to improve and expand the subheadwide network in Uzbekistan. In the second phase, the network was extended to neighboring towns and villages of the main cities, and a circular optical network was constructed linking four eastern cities of Tashkent, for a total of 3,487 km. The second phase also included construction of a new television broadcasting transmission network, comprising 41 stations and 89 bases.

Australian incumbent Telstra (www.telstra.com) has tapped Ericsson(www.ericsson.com) to help evolve its intercapital, regional, and rural transport networks. The 3-year project, valued at more than $230 million, will expand the capacity of Telstra’s network-up to 10 Gbits/sec-through the use of optical (SDH and DWDM) and radio (PDH and SDH) technology.

Nine system, optical module, semiconductor, and connector companies have formed the X40 Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) Group(www.x40msa.org), a collaboration to develop a new, integrated, data-agnostic, multirate optical transceiver intended to support a range of 40-Gbit/sec links that may be used for telecom (SONET/SDH and G.709) and datacom (packet switching) applications. X40 MSA Group members include Aeluros Inc., Broadcom Corp., Emcore Corp., Finisar Corp., Infinera Corp., Juniper Networks, MergeOptics GmbH, Tyco Electronics Corp., and Vitesse Semiconductor Inc.

JDSU (www.jdsu.com) has acquired the technology and patent portfolio of Metconnex Canada Inc., developer of wavelength-selective switch modules. JDSU did not acquire any of Metconnex’s business operations. Per the agreement, JDSU will acquire Metconnex’s intellectual property for $2.5 million. In connection with the acquisition and the liquidation of Metconnex, both parties agreed to dismiss all pending litigation, including litigation commenced by JDSU against Metconnex and certain of its officers and employees for alleged violation of JDSU patent and intellectual property rights.