Money Can't Buy Metromedia Any Love
Despite hundreds of millions in loans, the long-haul fiber carrier is courting bankruptcy with its decision to forgo a $30 million interest payment due to Verizon. (more)

GoAmerica Wins WAN/LAN Integration Race
The unified network will be launched in the second half of 2002. hereUare Communications and Boingo Wireless have already signed on. (more)

DirecTV Broadband Signs Deal With WorldCom
Agreement expands DirectTV's DSL reach across Western and mid-Western states. (more)

Broadview Nears Network Plus Buy
The New York firm's $15.75 million bid for the bankrupt Randolph, Mass., telecom is approved by bankruptcy court and now only needs to pass muster with regulators. (more)

Venture Capital News

Polaris Networks Completes $52M in Funding
Polaris Networks, a San Jose, Calif.-based developer of new generation optical transport switching systems, announced completion of $52 million in new venture funding. This brings the total funds raised by Polaris Networks to $74 million since its incorporation in June 2000, and represents the largest round raised in metro core network equipment since the start of this year, officials said. The latest funding was led by Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV), with other new equity investors including WK Technology, First Hand Capital Management, Granite Global Ventures, Riverside Management Group, Presidio Venture Partners, Western Technology Investment, Pac-Link Management and KTB Ventures. Previous investors, Redpoint Ventures, Venrock Associates and SToRM Ventures, also participated in this round.

Yafo Networks Raises $22M
Yafo Networks, a Hanover, Md.-based developer of adaptive optical subsystems, has closed a third round of funding, raising $22 million to support the commercialization of its market-leading solutions for polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensation. This funding was led by US Venture Partners. Other participants in the round included Boulder Ventures, Mellon Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Wheatley Partners, and WorldCom Venture Fund. Yafo Networks has now raised a total of $61 million to date.

Alphion Closes $15M in Series B Funding
Alphion Corp., a provider of enabling photonic technologies for the deployment of all-optical networks, today announced that it has completed its second round of private financing totaling $15 million. The investment was led by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Tallwood Venture Capital. First-round investors Battery Ventures and Cypress Semiconductor, also participated in this round of funding, bringing the aggregate venture investment to $32 million. Alphion said it will use the funds to complete the development of its suite of products for next-generation photonic networks. The product line will be formally announced in the second half of 2002.

Essient Photonics Lands $7M in First Round
Glasgow, Scotland-based Essient Photonics said it has secured its first round of funding totaling $7 million, led by Pond Ventures. The Glasgow-based company is a supplier of integrated III-V optoelectronic components for modulation and detection in 10Gbps and 40Gbps systems. Essient said it has already achieved significant breakthroughs in the design and manufacture of these components, and will offer products that demonstrate significant reductions in physical size and power requirements. Its products use drive voltages of only 100mV, a fraction of today's levels.

Product News

Intel, Picolight and Infineon Team for Small 10Gbit/s Fiber-Optic Modules
Intel Corp., Picolight Inc. and Infineon Technologies North America Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Infineon Technologies AG, have established a multisource agreement (MSA) to define a smaller, more cost-effective form factor for 10 Gigabit fiber optic modules optimized for enterprise, storage area network (SAN) and switching center market segment applications. The new form factor, named XPAK, provides new levels of density, power efficiency, and ease of integration to network equipment OEMs implementing 10 Gigabit links up to ten kilometers. These features allow deployment of 10 Gigabit Ethernet to move from today's aggregated uplink applications to high-volume server-to-switch and storage-to-switch links. A draft of the XPAK specification will be available in April, and the MSA will be opened for other optical transceiver vendors and network equipment suppliers to join at that time.

OpNext Unveils Small Form Factor 10Gbit/s Transceivers
OpNext, which develops high-performance optical networking components, today introduced a new family of short-reach (SR) 10Gbit/s optical transceiver with an uncooled laser, meeting the ITU-T G.691 specifications for 2km to 12km applications. The transceiver series is a compact, low power solution used in short haul client side applications. The uncooled laser allows system makers to reduce costs while conforming to high specifications set by the ITU-T G.691.

Alcatel Rolls Out 10Gbit/s Multimode GLight Fiber and Connectivity Solutions
Optical-neworking giant Alcatel introduced a new 10-gigabit multimode GLight fiber with associated cable solutions and connectivity hardware that will increase data speeds for Local Area Networks (LANs) and Storage Area Networks, officials said. Compatible with 10-gigabit Ethernet transmission technology, the fiber is capable of delivering up to 10 Gbit/s over distances of up to 300 meters at frequencies of 850 nanometers, and potentially several kilometers at decreased speeds.

Other News