Nortel Warns of Lower Q1 Revenues
One of the big names in telecom equipment says its revenues will come in below expectations, and it will report a slightly larger than expected pro-forma loss. (more) Global Crossing to Take $8B Write-Down
The troubled broadband telecom provider plans a fourth quarter goodwill write-down of $8 billion, and inadvertently reveals its bidder list. (more)

Investors Eye Asia Global Crossing
A group of investors is considering a bid for the Asia-Pacific telecommunications provider; meanwhile the company renegotiates vendor financing agreements in order to retain cash for a restructuring. (more) Nortel Takes Passive Stake in Savvis
Nation's second largest telecom equipment maker gains 6.4 million shares of network provider. (more)

Metromedia Loses 2 Big Pacts
Troubled digital communications infrastructure Metromedia Fiber Network Inc. (Quote) (MFN) said it has received notices from Verizon Global Networks and Genuity Solutions terminating their respective fiber optic agreements with MFN. These pacts had called for MFN to lease capacity to Verizon and Genuity for $350 million and $200 million, respectively, of which $235 million and $140 million, respectively, have already been paid to MFN. Verizon is continuing to engage in discussions with MFN concerning their relationship. (more)

Cogent Expands Dallas Network
Agreement with Colo4-Dallas enhances optical ISP's ability to provide ultra high-speed Internet connectivity. (more)

Venture Capital News

Lumentis Secures $19M in Round Two
Lumentis, which supplies unamplified systems for metro DWDM networks, closed a second round of funding totaling $19 million from partners Deutsche Bank and Santec. The funding will enable Lumentis to continue to focus on sales, partnerships and customer needs by further developing the functionality of its unique system architecture. In addition, Lumentis has formed a strategic alliance with Santec, a developer of DWDM system components, which will include support for research and development and production ramp-up for Lumentis.

Product News

Laurel Networks Rolls Out New Interfaces for ST200 Service Edge Router
Laurel Networks, Inc., a provider of high-performance service edge routers, announced the introduction of T1/E1 interfaces via channelized OC-12 ports for the ST200 Service Edge Router. With the addition of T1/E1 interfaces, the ST200 now scales from 64 Kbps to OC-48, offering the widest range of interfaces and multi-service support available in an edge router. Announced in June 2001, the ST200 Service Edge Router is generally available and used in production networks within the U.S. and Europe.

Mindspeed Intros Single-Chip Digital Solution for Difficult Signal Timing Challenges
Mindspeed Technologies, the Internet infrastructure business of Conexant Systems Inc. (Quote)), introduced the industry's first single-chip digital solutions for performing critical jitter-attenuation and signal de-synchronization functions in both telecommunications and data communications equipment surrounding the edge of the optical network. The first devices to use Mindspeed's DJAT technology are the 12-port M28320, 6-port M28326 and 4-port M28324. Mindspeed's DJATs join one of the industry's broadest families of line interface units (LIUs), mappers, integrated framers and physical-layer (PHY) devices, and are used to perform jitter-attenuation and signal de-synchronization functions for add/drop multiplexers (ADMs), routers, cross-connects and other traffic-aggregation equipment.

Other News

NEC Eluminant Compares ATM-Based And Ethernet-Based Passive Optical Networks
NEC Eluminant Technologies, Inc. (eLUMINANT) has published a comparative analysis of two passive optical networking (PON) technologies, APON and EPON, that are considered promising for delivering Fiber-to-the-Home functionality. The critique, called "Fiber Fight: Ethernet Duels ATM for Home Access", was written by Dr. Zheng-Yang Liu, a principle engineer at eLUMINANT. The article has appeared as the cover story of the March 2002 issue of Communication Systems Design magazine and may be viewed on the company's Web site.

Qwest in Telecom Pact with Mellon Financial
Broadband provider Qwest Communications International Inc. (Quote) announced that it has reached a multi-year telecom services agreement with Mellon Financial Corp. (Quote) Qwest will provide Mellon with a wide range of secure, reliable data and voice services to support its worldwide operations. As part of a comprehensive communications solution, Qwest Local Broadband built two private, high-speed diversified and redundant networks for Mellon's exclusive use, enabling Mellon to connect directly to Qwest's 190,000-mile global broadband network. To round out the solution, Qwest also will provide dedicated and switched inbound and outbound voice services, as well as ATM, frame relay and private line connectivity.

IEC Issues Optical Report
A new report from the International Engineering Consortium says that optical networking has had a wilder ride than most technologies during the telecom boom/bust cycle, promising more bandwidth at cheaper prices but, in the eyes of some, delivering mostly over-capacity and debt so far. But the near future for optical networks looks surprisingly bright in selected areas, according to the new report titled Optical Networks: Architectures and Advances. And over the longer term, networks will migrate inexorably to an all-optical architecture, achieving dynamic bandwidth allocation with scalability, cost-efficiency.