AT&T Adds POPs to Global Network
Driven by demand in Europe, Latin America and Japan, AT&T plans to add more nodes to its state-of-the-art data network. (more)

Venture Capital News

Arriso Networks Raises $16.8M
Arriso Networks, an Richardson, Texas-based provider of telecommunications products that enable network infrastructure providers to offer high-bandwidth converged network services, has closed its Series A round with $16.75 million, according to VentureWire. Further details were not immediately available on the round.

Rubicon Tech Raises $9.5M
Rubicon Technology, Inc., a Chicago-area manufacturer of optical-grade materials for the opto-electronics market, raised $9.5 million in its second round of investment. The investment was syndicated by four leading venture firms, including international venture capital firm Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Chicago-based KB Partners, Cincinnati-based River Cities Capital Funds, and lead investor, Indianapolis-based Gazelle TechVentures.

Rubicon will use the funds to continue to expand production of single crystal sapphire substrates -- materials used in the manufacturing of opto-electronic devices, as well as compound semiconductors, and optical and laser applications. Specifically, Rubicon will use the funds to meet market demands by increasing its production capabilities and furthering its technology development of larger diameter sapphires and new exotic materials.

Single crystal sapphire substrates, which are commonly used in light emitting diodes or LEDs for public signage and video displays, also are used in products expected to replace white light and incandescent light bulbs and will be available to consumers within the next three years.

Product News

Inphi Rolls Out High-Speed NRZ-to-RZ Converter
Privately held electro-optical components company Inphi Corp. said it is introducing the 13705RZ non-return-to-zero (NRZ) to return-to-zero (RZ) converter. This device electronically converts NRZ input signals to RZ output signals, which are then fed into a modulator driver for transmission over a fiber optic network.

The 13705RZ is designed for use in SONET OC-192 long haul and ultra long haul optical transport systems that require a high-quality signal to be maintained along the entire length of the fiber, ensuring the information carried can be interpreted correctly at its final destination. The 13705RZ supports data rates of up to 12.5 Gbps with sufficient overhead for forward error correction (FEC) while holding power consumption to less than 1 watt. Inphi's converter has an output voltage of 1.2 volts peak-to-peak differential, typical rise and fall times of less than 15 picoseconds, and typical jitter of less than 1 picosecond rms. The 13705RZ has an adjustable pulse width and operates off a -5.2 volt power supply. It is compatible with both differential and single-ended RZ modulator drivers.

Agilent, ACCRETECH and Cascade Microtech Intro Parametric Test Solution
Agilent Technologies Inc. has announced a new parametric test platform, developed in cooperation with ACCRETECH and Cascade Microtech Inc. The Agilent 4070 DC/RF parametric test solution is a complete, integrated test solution for direct current (DC) and radio frequency (RF) testing of RF-CMOS devices used in wireless, consumer electronics, high-speed Internet and other applications.

The new DC/RF parametric test solution provides high signal integrity and a fully automated wafer test environment and enables customers to measure both DC and RF parameters using a single system, thereby reducing test space and time, simplifying data management issues, and improving product yields, officials said. The new solution integrates the Pyramid Probe Card made by Cascade Microtech, the UF300A wafer prober made by ACCRETECH and the Agilent 8720E series network analyzer. Through this collaboration, the DC/RF parametric test solution enables customers to simultaneously measure 100 fA DC and up to 20 GHz RF with an unsurpassed degree of repeatability in a fully automated production environment, which results in increased test throughput and provides more improved yield for the RF-CMOS device.

Other News

China Telecom Selects Alcatel 7670 RSP For Edge And Core
Alcatel has announced selection of the Alcatel 7670 Routing Switch Platform (RSP) by China Telecom's Anhui Corp. The win, through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, is one of the largest in China for Alcatel's routing switch and enables this leading service provider to contain costs and more effectively plan for network utilization by consolidating all traffic in the edge and core on a single multiservice, multiprotocol platform, Alcatel said.

The Alcatel 7670 RSP scales in-service from 2.4 Gb/s at the edge to 450 Gb/s in the core, enabling Anhui to align its investment with deployed capacity over the full network lifecycle. This gives the flexibility to deploy a wide range of scalable configurations to meet actual traffic needs and ensure capital is never tied up in under-utilized assets. The Alcatel 7670 RSP can address such key applications as Internet Protocol (IP) and managed data services, broadband aggregation, and unified mobile and voice infrastructures, Alcatel added.

University of Miami to Deploy Nortel Next-Gen Metro Optical Solution
Seeking to provide faster, more cost-effective information sharing and collaboration on academic research ranging from diabetes to ice flows, the University of Miami plans to deploy a next generation metro optical solution from Nortel Networks across three of its south Florida campuses. In addition, the university intends to establish -- through its Information Systems Institute -- an optical equipment lab dedicated to "hands on" instruction.