Hibernia Atlantic (www.hiberniaatlantic.com) will deploy a branching unit off its existing northern cable, giving Iceland direct connectivity to North America, Ireland, London, Amsterdam, and the rest of continental Europe. The new cable link will provide connectivity to Iceland at 192 × 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) wavelengths. This allows for communications traffic from Iceland to go either east or west, with direct access to 42 cities and 52 network points of presence and the ability to steer traffic around major metropolitan areas and bypass traditional backhaul routes. Hibernia Atlantic projects the system will become fully operational for customer traffic in the fall of 2008.
ATM S.A., an integrator and carrier of carriers in Poland, has selected ECI Telecom Ltd.’s (www.ecitele.com) optical transport platforms to build its first national converged TDM-packet-DWDM backbone network. The converged architecture will allow ATM to offer its carrier customers multiple high-speed circuit, data, and wavelength services. ECI’s XDM line of platforms, with All-Range WDM optics, supports distances from metro access to regional and long haul, and will be used by ATM to bridge very long fiber spans and expand the network into other parts of Poland next year.
AboveNet Communications UK Ltd. (www.above.net) has expanded its Metro-Wave service, which provides customers private wavelengths between strategically placed hubs in and around London. AboveNet will use Nortel’s Optical Metro 5000 series equipment to extend connectivity to a new hub in Slough. As a result, AboveNet says its Metro-Wave footprint now will span from the Docklands in the east through the city, out to Heathrow and Slough in the west.
On Telecoms Greece (www.ontelecoms.com), the second largest carrier in the region, has selected Zhone Technologies Inc.’s (www.zhone.com) WDM optical transport gear to extend the capacity and reliability of its IP network. According to Zhone, On Telecoms Greece is one of the first operators to deploy a pure-packet, all-fibre network. This approach greatly increases network efficiencies, enabling On Telecoms to offer highly competitive, bundled triple-play while eliminating bottlenecks to its serving area, a region that extends to 80% of the businesses and residences in the Attica province, Zhone adds.
PT Comunicações (www.telecom.pt), the fixed communications division of Portugal Telecom, has deployed ADVA Optical Networking’s (www.advaoptical.com) Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 3000 and FSP Network Manager in new metro deployments throughout Portugal’s major cities. According to the companies, the new deployments enable PT Comunicações to ease traffic congestion and relieve fibre exhaust in the metro core as it continues to roll out new bandwidth-intensive business and residential services to a wider market.
Xtera Communications (www.xtera.com) has purchased the U.K. fixed-line enterprise service and first line maintenance organisations from AlanDick UK (www.alandick.com), part of the AlanDick Group of companies, for an undisclosed amount. AlanDick UK provides services and products on a global basis to satisfy the communication network infrastructure needs of cellular, broadcast, radar/surveillance, and enterprise markets. Xtera says this acquisition accelerates its expansion into the global communication service market, widens its customer base, and provides an immediate revenue boost. The acquisition will be managed and operated as an independent company called Traxe Global Services Ltd.
Intune Networks (www.intunenetworks.com) has raised $17.75 million from a consortium of international investors, including Amadeus Capital Partners, Balderton Capital (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe), and Spark Capital. Intune says the funds will be used to commercialise its tunable technology for the telecommunications market. New products are expected next year.
SEACOM Ltd. has awarded the SEA Cable System supply contract to Tyco Telecommunications (www.tycotelecom.com). The 13,000-km project will involve the construction of an undersea fibre-optic network providing high-capacity bandwidth connectivity between South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, India, the Middle East, and Europe. SEACOM says it will complement communication carriers of South and East Africa through the sale of wholesale international capacity to global networks eastward through India and westward through the Mediterranean. SEACOM, a privately funded submarine fibre-optic cable system, intends to launch services the first half of 2009.
RED-C Optical Networks Ltd. (www.red-c.com) and Fabrinet (www.fabrinet.com) have announced the execution of a strategic supply agreement, according to which RED-C has selected Fabrinet as its contract manufacturing partner for full turnkey production services. RED-C’s production site at Fabrinet is expected to be fully operational by the beginning of 2008. The site is designated for high-volume production and will be gradually expanded as per RED-C needs.
Ciena Corp. (www.ciena.com) announced that the JANET national research and education network (NREN) in the U.K. has successfully delivered its first 40 Gbit/s service using the new 40 Gbit/s capabilities of Ciena’s CoreStream Agility Optical Transport System. According to Ciena, JANET is the first NREN in Europe to deploy a true 40 Gbit/s signal across a single optical wavelength to carry live production traffic between sites.
Ericsson (www.ericsson.com) and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA) have signed a contract for an FTTH network based on Ericsson’s GPON system. The contract includes delivery of central office optical equipment and devices for the homes (including the EDA1200 and EDA1500), passive infrastructure such as fibre systems and cables, and various services. The pilot project also includes a point-to-point network using Ericsson’s switches and customer premises equipment.
ECI Telecom Ltd. has entered into a definitive merger agreement for the company to be acquired by affiliates of the Swarth Group, an investment vehicle controlled by Shaul Shani, and certain funds that have appointed Ashmore Investment Management Ltd. as their investment manager in a transaction valued at approximately $1.2 billion. ECI shareholders will receive $10 per share in cash at closing, representing a premium of approximately 22% over ECI’s average closing share price during the 30 trading days ended June 15, 2007.
Alcatel-Lucent (www.alcatel-lucent.com) has signed a contract with Libyan Post Telecommunications & Information Technology Company (LPTIC) to supply a nationwide fibre-optic backbone network that will serve all of Libya. The contract is valued at more than €90 million. The backbone will link all major cities with more than 4,400 km of fibre.
LuminentOIC Inc. and Fiberxon Inc., both wholly owned subsidiaries of MRV Communications (www.mrv.com), now will be branded under the name Source Photonics (www.sourcephotonics.com). The name change reflects the operation of the two companies as a combined business under a unified management team since MRV closed its acquisition of Fiberxon on July 1, 2007. While the transition is being completed, all LuminentOIC and Fiberxon product lines and customer engagements will continue to be supported without disruption, says the company. Going forward, all new product introductions will be made under the new Source Photonics brand.
Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc. (www.afop.com), a supplier of fibre-optic components, subsystems, and integrated modules for the optical network equipment market, has announced that its SC/UPC, LC/UPC, and LC/APC pigtails have successfully completed Independent Test Laboratory (ITL) qualification to the rigorous GR-326 requirements. The company’s filter WDM modules also successfully completed GR 1209 and GR 1221 qualification recently. These add to the SC/APC pigtail GR-326 qualification already completed last year.
Furukawa Electric North America (FENA) and its subsidiary OFS Fitel (www. ofsoptics.com) recently announced they had reached an “extremely favourable” settlement of a lawsuit they had filed against FiberCore for patent infringement. Draka Comteq Americas Inc. (www.drakacomteq.us), a joint venture of Alcatel-Lucent and Draka Holding NV, is facing a similar patent suit. The company says it “completely and categorically denied all allegations that it has infringed any patents allegedly owned by FENA.” To back up its claim, Draka Comteq Americas has asserted counterclaims based on its position that the FENA patents are unenforceable, and has filed its own patent infringement suit against FENA in turn.
Cox Communications (www.cox.com), the third-largest cable company in the U.S., has selected Infinera Corp.’s Digital Optical Network for its national transport network. The 12,000-mile Cox national build extends from coast to coast and is designed to enable Cox to offer leading-edge services, including voice, video, data, and wireless to residential and business customers.
PacketFront (www.packetfront.com) has announced that its U.S. subsidiary, PacketFront Inc., has completed its acquisition of DynamicCity (www.dynamic city.com), the operational force behind the UTOPIA FTTH initiative in Utah. The company says it will integrate DynamicCity’s operations in North America over the next several months, with the Utah office emerging as the primary operations centre and the new Denver location serving as the management and sales office.
NEL, Hitachi Cable, Gemfire, Fitel, NEC, and NeoPhotonics have announced the addition of a new option within the multisource agreement (MSA) for thermally stabilised array waveguide grating (AWG) modules for a small-form-factor package configuration. The new small form factor provides all of the benefits of standardisation while saving precious board space, say the companies. The recently published Version 2.0 of the MSA (www.awgmsa.com) contains descriptions of both the standard and small-form-factor AWG packages.
Xtera Communications has closed on a $52 million private placement co-lead by existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and ARCH Venture Partners and by new investor Wellcome Trust of London. Wellcome Trust took down approximately 50% of the offering.
Network processor company Bay Microsystems Inc. (www.baymicrosystems.com) has closed a $16 million round of capital funding, led by new institutional investors Quicksilver Ventures and W Capital. Existing institutional investors, including Selby Venture Partners, Needham Capital, Pacifica Fund, Glenbrook Capital, Crossbridge Partners, and Franklin Park Investment Partners also participated in the round. Bay Microsystems says it will direct the proceeds towards enhancing operations and continuing its global expansion.
Qwest Communications International Inc. (www.qwest.com) has announced ultralong-haul upgrades to its nationwide fibre-optic network that quadruple broadband capacity for customers and triple geographic availability of ultrahigh-speed services, claim Qwest representatives. When combined with Qwest’s metro Ethernet or private line services, the upgrade provides an end-to-end connection scalable from 1 to 40 Gbit/s, says the carrier.
Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd. (www.sterliteoptical.com) says it has received a contract from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL; www.bsnl.co.in) for manufacture and supply of high-fibre-count ribbon fibre-optic cables. These cables will be installed in BNSL’s Pan-India Optical Fiber Access Network (OAN). The contract is valued at Rs 380 million and supplies will be completed within the next six months, says Sterlite.
Sycamore Networks Inc. (www.syca morenet.com) has opened a research and development centre in Shanghai’s Caohejing Hi-Tech Park. The Sycamore Networks (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. Research and Development Center, which currently employs more than 30 networking engineers, will focus on advanced features for existing products as well as new product development, including products that support intelligent multiservice switching, ASON control plane technology, and advanced IP/Ethernet interworking, say company representatives.
Cortina Systems (www.cortina-systems.com) has announced the opening of offices in Hong Kong and Korea. Cortina says the new offices will expand its ability to provide local sales, technical support, and professional services for customers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Corning Inc. has announced plans to expand its optical fibre manufacturing facility in China. Company representatives say the decision is based on continued growth in the Chinese optical fibre market. The expansion of Corning’s Shanghai optical fibre manufacturing facility will begin “immediately” and is expected to be completed in 2009.
Sumitomo Electric Networks Inc. (www.sei-networks.com) has signed a contract for investment in Wuhan Yangtze Optical Technology Co. Ltd (YOTC; www.yotc.com.cn), manufacturer of FTTH communication equipment in Wuhan City of Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China. Sumitomo Electric Networks will invest 25 million Chinese yuan for an approximately 18.9% stake in YOTC, and the YOTC board will have two members from Sumitomo Electric Networks. The two companies will collaborate in expanding sales of GEPON products in the Chinese market.
Fujitsu Ltd. (www.fujitsu.com) has signed a contract for the upgrade of the Japan-U.S. Cable Network, a submarine fibre-optic cable system, with a consortium of seven telecom carriers, including AT&T Corp., KDDI Corp., NTT Communications Corp., Qwest Communications International Inc., Reach Global Networks Ltd., Softbank Telecom Corp., and Verizon Business. Fujitsu’s FLASHWAVE S650 submarine line terminal equipment will be implemented at three landing points each in Japan and the U.S. The new equipment will more than double the network’s original design capacity of 640 Gbit/s to beyond 1.28 Tbit/s.Corning Inc. (www.corning.com) has announced the development of a new optical fibre-based technology that resists bend-induced losses. The fibre will be aimed initially at FTTH applications. Corning’s new trademarked “nanostructures” optical fibre design enables cabled fibre to be bent around very tight corners with virtually no signal loss, which will enable carriers to economically offer high-speed Internet, voice, and HDTV services to virtually all commercial and residential (apartment and condominium) buildings, Corning says.
Following a deal with H2O Networks (www.h2o-networks.uk.net), the University of Aberdeen expects to have a new high-bandwidth Internet network in place by the start of this autumn’s term. H2O Networks says its Fibre Optical Cable Underground Sewer System will provide the University of Aberdeen with a high-capacity link for the next 10 years, enabling students to access the Internet in their bedrooms in university halls of residence, improving the overall student living experience and widening the choice of studying options available to students, say H2O Networks representatives.