Lucent Airs Another Crimp in Telco Sector
Lucent warns that third-quarter revenues are likely to be off, and says the bottom line impact is 'too early to call.' (more)

Via Net.Works Sells Three Subsidiaries
Internet service provider continues turnaround plan to reduce cash burn. (more)

Star Trek Goes High Speed with EarthLink
Paramount and EarthLink expand their co-branded StarTrek.net Internet access service with a DSL offering. (more)

WorldCom Offers DSL Wholesale
The communications giant commercially launches its Private Label DSL offering. (more)

Optical MANs Not in the Dark - Study
Despite recent press coverage that has painted optical Metro Area Network (MAN) services -- Ethernet, DWDM SONET -- in both a positive and a negative light, these services are neither a panacea for all bandwidth needs, nor another data service doomed to failure based on false promises, according to In-Stat/MDR. The high-tech market research firm reports that, even with a decline in overall telecom service revenues, optical MAN services continue to be an attractive market.

Overall U.S. optical MAN services revenues will grow from $1.9 billion in 2001 to $6.9 billion by 2006, as both consumers and business users move to higher speed Internet connections, businesses outsource corporate IT functions, and the localization of data traffic continues, InStat/MDR said. "Growth in this market, however, will not occur unabated, as there remain several challenges to be overcome," said Daryl Schoolar, a senior analyst with In-Stat/MDR. "The soft business economy and worsening financial position of many network providers are the biggest challenges to growth.

In-Stat/MDR also found that DWDM will have the strongest growth from 2001-2006 primarily due to the fact that it is a lower-cost alternative to purchasing dark fiber, and has flexibility in handling multiple data protocols. Also, DWDM will overtake SONET in the U.S. by 2006, in terms of MAN service revenues. SONET growth will be constrained as data traffic continues to grow. It will, however, account for the majority of revenues for optical MAN services for the next several years.

Venture Capital News

Broadview Closes $40M Funding
One of a handful of surviving CLECs nets an equity financing to help it close acquisitions of other distressed telco assets. (more)

Speakeasy Receives $6 Million Equity Infusion
National broadband service provider Speakeasy said it has secured $6 million in new capital funding. Led by a new investor, Colorado-based Cornerstone Ventures, LP, this second round of funding included original investors Matthew G. Norton and Granite Ventures.

Speakeasy currently serves all U.S. markets and was the first broadband service provider to offer diverse packages for specific applications: residential packages, including online gaming and music, and business packages serving branch offices and telecommuters, officials said. The funds from this most recent investment will be used to accelerate expansion into the small and medium business market, build-out of the company's network into regional areas and add further depth to its coverage in targeted urban markets.

Product News

CiDRA Rolls Out New Optical Fiber Products
CiDRA Corp.'s Specialty Fiber Services business announces a line of specialty fiber products that will lead the industry in price-performance metrics, officials said. CiDRA leverages a most experienced specialty fiber team and a state of the art fiber production facility to deliver specialty fiber with unprecedented tolerances and manufacturing consistency.

The new fiber offerings target optical sensing and optical component fabrication and manufacturing applications. These products include 980/1550nm single mode fiber with high dimensional tolerances for device pigtailing and packaging; 980/1550nm fused coupler fiber with a special glass dopant profile to yield stable, repeatable optical performance during the fusion-tapering process; 830nm and 1550nm sensor grade polarization maintaining (PM) fibers with reduced 80im cladding diameter and an extended operating range coating system; 980nm and 1550nm telecom grade polarization maintaining (PM) fibers with standard 125im cladding diameter and matched mode parameters to standard telecom fiber; and High non-linear (HNL) fiber ideally suited for discrete Raman gain elements and distributed Brillouin temperature sensing.

Metrobility Rounds Out Fiber TDM Capabilities
Metrobility Optical Systems, a provider of intelligent, carrier-class optical Ethernet solutions, introduced T3-to-fiber and E3-to-fiber interface models capable of achieving extended distances of up to 2km over multimode (1310nm) and 100km over singlemode fiber (1550nm). The company now supports traffic requirements for both T1/E1 and T3/E3 services.

The Radiance T3/E3 interface is a high-speed integration and conversion of T3 (44.736Mbps) or E3 (34.368Mbps) serial copper TDM communication lines to fiber optic links. Regardless of line codes or framing, the copper data stream is converted to optical signals for greater noise immunity and longer transmission. In order to ensure reliable transmission, the Metrobility TDM interface, which converts the TDM data stream to fiber, supports a self-clocking code using a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) scheme that converts TDM clock information to a format suitable for fiber optic communication.

T3/E3 products will be offered as Radiance interface line cards and as standalone units. They are available 30 days ARO and are priced from $799 to $3599.

Other News

Hitachi, OpNext Do a Transfer
OpNext and Hitachi, have announced plans to transfer Hitachi's Semiconductor and Integrated Circuit Group (SIC) Opto-device division to OpNext. The transfer, which will provide OpNext with unique technologies in lasers, receivers and packaging, is expected to be effective October 1st, 2002. The transaction will cover the opto-device division of the SIC as well as the opto-electrical device development and manufacturing team and fabrication facilities from Hitachi Tohbu Semiconductors, Ltd.

OpNext was formed from Hitachi's fiber optic components business unit in 2001, so this transfer is completely in line with Hitachi's strategic vision for OpNext to maximize the value of its technology assets, officials said. All of SIC's existing customers will be fully supported by OpNext after the merger.

SIC designs, manufactures and sells devices and modules for the access communication, fiber-optic backbone and metro markets, in addition to the information and industry markets. SIC has developed unique technologies in lasers, receivers, and packaging, including high-power lasers, and maintains low-cost mass production capabilities.