Cisco Says Andiamo!
Networking giant picks up a high-end storage switch company as part of its foray into the SAN arena. (more)

Fiberspace Purchases Tunable Photonics Assets
Tunable semiconductor laser products developer Fiberspace Inc. has bought the assets of Fiberspace, Inc. today announced that it has acquired the assets of Tunable Photonics of Altadena, Calif., a privately held company specializing in solutions for network tunability. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (more)

Metro Fiber Glut Smaller Than Long-Haul - Study
New data from research firm TeleGeography shows that while intra-city network deployments far outstrip demand, the gap between supply and demand is narrower on short-haul connections than in the long-haul market. (more)

Metro Ethernet Forum Advances Technical Specs
The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) has completed its first year of existence by moving forward several technical specifications, including the Metro Ethernet Service Model and Definition Technical Specifications, and the Metro Ethernet Services OAM Technical Specification. The group also added three ILECs to its board of directors. (more - .PDF file)

Product News

Tyco Rolls Out New Fiber-Optic Cable
Tyco Electronics said it will provide a line of fiber optic cable to support its AMP NETCONNECT end-to-end cabling system solutions. The fiber optic cable, branded under the AMP NETCONNECT label, is manufactured to industry specifications and Standard requirements. The AMP NETCONNECT cables are also fully interoperable with all AMP NETCONNECT components.

These Tyco Electronics private network fiber cables are now available in North America to support AMP NETCONNECT end-to-end cabling system solutions. The AMP NETCONNECT Fiber Optic cable will be backed by the standard AMP NETCONNECT 25-year warranty. The 25-year System Performance warranty will be applied to all AMP NETCONNECT fiber-based systems and its 25-year Component Warranty to all AMP NETCONNECT fiber cable products installed by a Tyco Electronics' authorized AMP NETCONNECT contractor.

Tropic Networks Demos Advanced Optical Layer Management Technology
Tropic Networks will be demonstrating what it calls the industry's first metro-optical management capability at next month's National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC) in Dallas.

Tropic's Wavelength Tracker is a wavelength-tracking technology that is integrated into the company's TRX-24000 metro-optical transport platform. The technology identifies and tracks individual wavelengths, even multiple instances of the same wavelength, traveling within a Metro Area Network (MAN). Wavelength Tracker also enables carriers to detect faults and power degradations, before service is affected.

Other News

NEMI Launches Project to Improve Fiber Optic Splicing
The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI), an industry-led consortium focused on strengthening the North American supply chain, is launching a new project to improve optical fiber splicing. An informational meeting is scheduled for September 18 at the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC) in Dallas.

The goal of the new NEMI Fiber Optic Splice Improvement Project is to develop industry-wide splice quality criteria and test methods that will allow for systematic investigation of variability, comparison of equipment and procedures, improved yield and lower costs.

Specific project activities will include:

• Develop and validate test methods for insertion loss, strength and extinction ratio
• Test splices made using different equipment
• Based on actual data, define the splice acceptance criteria more precisely (statistical metrics, e.g. Cp, Cpk, parameters to quantify the high IL tail)
• Identify major cause(s) of splice variability.

Also at next month's event, presentations will be made on other NEMI optoelectronics projects and will include information about the recently developed draft standard for fiber carriers for automated component assembly, and an update from the Fiber Optic Signal Performance Project.

Sorrento, FiberNet Ink Rural Optical Pact
Sorrento Networks, a supplier of intelligent optical networking solutions for metro and regional applications, today announced a contract with FiberNet Communications, L.C., an Iowa-based consortium of independent telecommunications companies. FiberNet is deploying a high capacity, interstate optical network in Iowa and South Dakota to carry both traditional and emerging IP services.

FiberNet will use Sorrento Networks' GigaMux, a metro and regional dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) platform that expands the capacity of new or existing fiber networks up to 64 times, transforming any fiber plant into a high-performance, multi-protocol transmission network. Working in conjunction with GigaMux is the EPC product family, consisting of sub-rate aggregation multiplexers that increase bandwidth utilization by combining a wide variety of traffic for transmission over a single wavelength.

Takin' the Fiber to the Streets
Fiber-to-the-community provider Optical Solutions Inc. said it has been awarded a contract from Etex Communications, LP, a subsidiary of Etex Telephone Cooperative of Gilmer, Tex. Optical Solutions will install its FiberPath 400 solution to Gilmer's Main Street area businesses as part of the town's Streetscape revitalization effort. The area designated for the overbuild is currently served by an incumbent regional bell operating company (RBOC).

Etex, a customer-owned cooperative with over 16,000 access lines, has served Upshur County (pop. 34,000) and six other counties in Northeastern Texas since 1952. Etex will commence its fiber overbuild of Gilmer's town square in August, and is targeting October for service start-up. Main Street businesses will receive multiple voice lines and high-speed data.