Neotel (www.neotel.co.za), the first national infrastructure-based competitor in the fixed-line telecommunications sector in South Africa, has selected ECI Telecom’s (www.ecitele.com) XDM and BroadGate (BG) line of products to support its network roll-out. ECI will provide a full access-to-core network for all of Neotel’s transmission requirements by deploying the XDM and the BG families of products. The network is managed via ECI’s centralised LightSoft Network Management System, providing end-to-end multilayer management. Spescom Telecommunications, ECI’s local partner in South Africa, is supplying installation and integration services.
Verizon Business (www.verizonbusiness.com) says it will begin an aggressive roll-out of its next-generation optical transport network in Europe. The first phase will include ultralong-haul (ULH) equipment deployed on the core backbone network routes between Verizon Business’s main European network hubs in London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, and Brussels, providing the first 3,230 km of ULH transport in the Verizon Business European network. Nortel (www.nortel.com) will provide optical equipment for the pan-European ULH network, including its Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 and Common Photonic Layer platforms.
Global investment house Arcapita will deploy Alloptic’s (www.alloptic.com) GEPON equipment as the enterprise communications infrastructure within its new corporate headquarters. The facility, scheduled for completion in 2009, is being constructed in the new development of Bahrain Bay in Manama, Bahrain. The infrastructure will enable Arcapita to migrate all of its IT services-VoIP, building management services, data communications, and operations-onto a single network, which simplifies support requirements and operating expenses.
The particle physics group at the University College London has chosen a Polatis (www.polatis.com) all-optical switch for a data acquisition system testbed, targeting data collection from a detector at the International Linear Collider currently in development. The group is investigating fast network approaches in order to aggregate data, reducing hardware requirements and costs. The 20-msec switching time of the Polatis device is consistent with the interval between two data bursts of about 200 msec. No more than one data burst is lost in any rerouting event. Polatis adds that once the International Linear Collider begins operation it will be able to give a much more precise picture of elementary particle physics than the Large Hadron Collider, which will start to produce data toward the end of this year at CERN in Geneva.
Serbia Broadband (SBB; www.sbb.co.yu), the largest cable operator in Serbia, has selected Transmode (www.transmode.com) to supply equipment for its metro and regional backbone networks. SBB is deploying the Transmode TM-Series optical networking platform to manage existing cable-TV traffic backhaul and other internal and wholesale capacity demands. The network carries protocols including Gigabit Ethernet, 10-Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, native SDH, and GFP over SDH traffic. The network design uses all pluggable optics, even for long-haul 10 Gbit/s traffic, in the form of Transmode’s Dual 10G Transponder with G.709 forward error correction and XFP optics.
MC-link (www.mclink.it), a multiregional operator headquartered in Rome, Italy, has selected Zhone Technologies Inc. (www.zhone.com) as its equipment provider for applications ranging from network access to optical transport. In addition to voice services, ADSL2+, and WDM optics, MC-link will deploy Zhone’s Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) line card for its flagship MALC multiservice access platform (MSAP). More than 90% of all local telephone exchanges in Rome connect to MC-link’s fibre backbone.
TEO LT AB (www.teo.lt), Lithuania’s incumbent integrated telecommunication, IT, and TV services provider, says it has completed the installation of a “new-generation network” that will enable it to provide higher-quality services to customers and access speeds up to 1 Gbit/s. The company expects it will have invested more than 75 million Lithuanian litas (LTLs-approximately US$31 million) in the new network’s infrastructure by the end of the year. TEO expects to initially target the residents of the five largest cities in Lithuania for service roll-out over the fibre-optic network. TEO is 60% indirectly owned by TeliaSonera AB.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Sciences Network (www.es.net) and Internet2 (www. internet2.edu) have completed five interconnected rings, each consisting of one or more 10 Gbit/s paths, that form a coast-to-coast network that is the backbone of DOE’s next-generation scientific network. Called ESnet4, the new network is a highly reliable, high-capacity nationwide network that will greatly enhance the capabilities of scientists at national laboratories and universities across the subhead, say representatives for both organisations. The network is managed by ESnet and operated across Internet2’s backbone infrastructure.
CyOptics Inc. (www.cyoptics.com), developer of indium phosphide (InP) optical chip and component technologies, has acquired Inplane Photonics (www.inplane.com), manufacturer of planar lightwave circuits for optical networks in telecommunications and defence applications. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. The acquisition expands CyOptics’ Photonic Integrated Circuits technology platforms through the combination of monolithic and hybrid integration of InP laser and detector arrays onto PLCs, says the company.
FiberNet Telecom Group Inc. (www.ftgx.com), a provider of complex interconnection services, has deployed a transcontinental network connecting its metropolitan networks in New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles. The provider’s customers can purchase on-net transport services between these key gateway markets, say company representatives. Utilising multiple 10 Gbit/s wavelengths in a diverse network architecture, FiberNet says it is capable of delivering traffic in multiple transmission protocols, including SONET, SDH, and Ethernet, with increased speed, capacity, and flexibility.
Danaher Corp.(www.danaher.com) and Tektronix Inc. (www.tektronix.com) have reached a definitive agreement under which Danaher will make a cash tender offer to acquire all outstanding common shares of Tektronix for $38.00 per share. The aggregate purchase price is approximately $2.8 billion, including debt, transaction costs, and net of cash acquired. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007. Tektronix would become part of Danaher’s Electronic Test platform, joining the company’s Fluke and Fluke Networks businesses and nearly doubling the platform’s revenues, say Danaher representatives.
Sterlite Technologies Ltd. (www.ster litetechnologies.com) says it will double its annual optical fibre manufacturing capacity to 12 million km from its current capacity of 6 million km. This expansion at the company’s existing facilities at Aurangabad, India, is estimated to incur a capex of 140 Crores (US$35 million). Commercial production is expected to commence by June 2009. The facility will be capable of manufacturing the company’s existing range of optical fibre products as well as products meeting evolving international telecom standards for high-bandwidth applications. Sterlite currently supplies more than 45% of India’s demand and more than 4% of the global demand for optical fibre.
Henan Power, China’s fifth-largest power utility, has selected ECI Telecom (www.ecitele.com) to expand its optical transmission network. The new network will provide greater communication capacity to Henan Power’s plants throughout the southern cities of the Henan Province. The deal comes as the result of a five-year plan to create an advanced next-generation transmission network for Henan Power. ECI’s XDM-1000 multiservice transport platform (MSTP) was deployed, supplying integrated SDH and Ethernet services over both 2.5 and 10 Gbit/s for more than 200 km, depending upon bandwidth needs and locations.
Ignis Photonyx (www.ignis.com), a 100% owned subsidiary of Ignis ASA, has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Chinese optical component supplier Accelink Technologies Co. Ltd. (www.accelink.com), covering “significant deliveries” of athermal and thermal arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) and optical splitters over the next three years. A formal supply agreement will be finalised in the fourth quarter of this year, and the two companies will also jointly develop new chip design and packaging technologies. Ignis’s current AWG technologies for WDM-PON networks have not yet been included in the agreement, but may be included in future agreement expansions.
France’s Department of National Defence (the SGDN) has announced the launch of ISIS, a highly secure government Intranet rolled out by Orange Business Services (www.orange- business.com), France Telecom Group’s business services division. The SGDN is the French prime minister’s department in charge of coordinating state action in terms of defence and national security. The SGDN chose Orange Business Services to develop and install this secure inter-ministerial network based on its expertise in providing secure electronic communications services, FT says. Orange Business Services set up the network and the related services in response to the very high demands required to manage defence secrecy and for the handling of crisis situations by the government.
Alcatel-Lucent has announced an agreement with BELNET (www.belnet.be) to roll out a new, highly flexible optical-data network and services to link 160 national research and education institutions throughout Belgium. The BELNET network will offer high-speed Internet services and new Ethernet-based and grid computing applications. Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its 1696 ROADM and provide managed services capabilities to monitor and operate the multivendor network from its Global Network Operations Centers across Europe.