Competitive local exchange carrier icg Communications Inc., Englewood, CO, and netcom On-Line Communication Services Inc. of San Jose, CA, have merged. The combination makes icg a single source provider of telecommunications services ranging from local dial tone and long distance to Internet access and Web page hosting. icg has switched fiber-optic networks and offers local, long-distance, and enhanced telephony and data services in California, Colorado, the Ohio Valley, and parts of the southeastern United States.

LightPath Technologies Inc., Albuquerque, NM, has completed a series of technical breakthroughs that make it possible to build full optical systems of all-gradium-glass components. LightPath develops and manufactures gradium products for industrial, consumer, medical, telecommunications, and solar energy applications. New developments include gradium Crown glass for color correction, a single lens that carries light to its target with no visible color distortions, a gradium BiAxial lens, and improved ultra-miniature videoconferencing cameras, solar concentrators, and other technologies.