MEMSCAP To Take JDS Uniphase's Cronos
The French-based MEMS provider will get a bargain for technology once thought to be crucial in the development of next generation fiber-optic networks (more).

Sprint, Covad Unveil Biz DSL Deal
Less than a year after scrapping its Sprint ION and Broadband Direct high-speed Internet services, Sprint has inked a wholesale third-party deal with Covad Communications to jump into the enterprise DSL business. (more)

Juniper Has 10 Gig Ethernet Down to a 'T'
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based firm says the latest addition to its T-series routing family is pushing Gigabit Ethernet and is destined to be a 'Cisco-killer.' (more)

Alcatel, Sprint in Optical Pact
Optical-networking giant Alcatel said Sprint has selected its cross-connect technology for implementation in its international IP network. Under the terms of the contract, Sprint will install the Alcatel 1630 GSX (global synchronous cross-connect) in Europe and Asia Pacific. (more)

Venture Capital News

Internet Photonics Gains $31M
The Marlborough, Mass., optical Ethernet startup raises new financing to expand as it gains carrier and cable-system customers. (more)

Metrobility Completes $3.5M Funding Round
Metrobility Optical Systems today announced that it has closed a $3.5 million round of funding led by North Atlantic Capital. The funding includes participation from both new and existing investors.

Metrobility develops and manufactures a wide range of network products which enable businesses to deploy fiber connectivity. The newer Radiance fiber access products offer the potential for businesses to further monitor, manage, test and provision network connections. Metrobility primarily uses worldwide resellers to deliver products to end user customers including the New York Stock Exchange, The American Stock Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, and other customers with mission-critical network requirements.

Two weeks ago, Metrobility received approval for its amended plan of reorganization, filed while being protected by bankruptcy laws, according to The Telegraph of Nashua, N.H. The company filed for bankruptcy in September of last year.

Product News

Stratos Lightwave Intros Multimode Optical Transceivers
Stratos Lightwave Inc. is introducing a new family of Multimode optical transceivers for the Fast Ethernet and OC-3 data rates. Stratos Lightwave has added the Transmit Disable Function, previously available only in Fast Ethernet and OC-3 Single Mode Transceivers, to its family of LED-based Multimode 2x5 Small Form Factor transceivers. These MSA-compliant, duplex LC-interface transceivers are ideal for the next generation of Wide and Metropolitan Area Networking equipment applications.

All Stratos Lightwave Multimode transceivers are available for standard Commercial temperature (0 degrees to +70 degrees C) or Industrial temperature (-40 degrees to +85 degrees C) rating applications. These transceivers exhibit exceptionally low levels of jitter over the full Bellcore operating temperature range of -40 degrees to +85 degrees C.

Pricing for Stratos Lightwave's Multimode Fast Ethernet and OC-3 SFF transceivers with the Transmit Disable Function depends upon the requirements of the specific application, and ranges from $50 to $80 in production quantities.

Inphi Flip-Flops on ICs
Privately-held electro-optical components concern Inphi Corp. announced the introduction of its D flip-flop family of high-speed logic circuits operating at data rates ranging from 13 to 50 gigabits per second (Gbps). These devices are designed for applications requiring precise timing of digital signals, such as SONET OC-192 long haul and ultra long haul optical transport systems and OC-768 test and measurement applications.

Available in both positive and negative power supply versions, the new circuits can be integrated into existing and next-generation networking and instrumentation equipment. Each circuit is designed specifically to provide the optimum combination of high performance and low power dissipation. For example, Inphi's 50 Gbps D flip-flop devices typically consume 510 milliwatts of power, which is up to 66% less than competitive products, officials said.

Inphi's D flip-flop circuits are currently sampling with OEM customers. The 13 and 25 Gbps products are available in surface mount packages, and the 43, 47, and 50 Gbps parts are available in metal packages with V connectors or as bare die.

Other News

New SERDES Specs Being Developed
Nine communications companies announced the formation of the High Speed Backplane Initiative (HSBI). The purpose of the group is to develop serial link technology capable of sending data at rates of 4.976 to 6.375 Gb/s across a backplane environment up to a distance of 30 inches including two connectors. Future work of the HSBI group will address 10 Gb/s and higher data rates over the backplane.

The HSBI brings together leading networking, system, optical module, semiconductor, and connector companies from both the telecommunications and data communications markets. Founding member companies are: Agilent, Cadence, Gennum Corp., Intel, Marvell, Mindspeed, Texas Instruments, Tyco Electronics, and Velio Communications. In addition to the founding members, twenty-eight other companies are contributing to the specification.

The HSBI will work to create an interoperable solution for higher speed backplanes by addressing issues associated with electrical signaling and protocol. Specifications will be developed that define basic I/O levels and performance levels achieved when interfacing to the backplane environment. The other is multi-protocol support. The HSBI will develop specifications for 8b/10b, SONET/SDH, and 64B66B encoding schemes, so that they may be carried over an HSBI link.

Korea Telecom Chooses Lucent
Korea Telecom said it has chosen Lucent to supply an advanced optical system that will allow KT to quadruple capacity of its existing networks. This marks the first major introduction of 10-gigabit technology to South Korea's largest communications service provider's long-distance transmission networks, officials said.

Under the terms of the contract, Lucent will deliver 25 WaveStar TDM 10G (STM-64) systems by the end of September to upgrade KT's current 2.5 gigabit-based city-to-city networks in Gyunggi, Chungcheong, Jeonra and Gangwon province to 10G capacity-based networks. The commercial service is scheduled to start this November.