Titanic Quarter Ltd., an urban mixed-use regeneration of a 185-acre site in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, announced that Redstone plc (www.redstone.co.uk/) has been granted exclusive rights to develop an advanced FTTH infrastructure. All future residential and business occupants of Titanic Quarter will have access to fully fibred high-speed and high-quality voice, Internet, IP television, and other services. The network will initially be able to support the delivery of services to households at up to 100 Mbits/sec in both directions. The Titanic Quarter network will be based on a Point-to-Point active Ethernet star technology.
Nokia Siemens Networks (www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com) has announced plans to focus on DSL and next-generation optical access technology and limit its investment in existing GPON technology due to its belief that the mass market roll out of FTTH is �unlikely in the short term.�
Alcatel-Lucent (www.alcatel-lucent.com) has signed a contract to deploy the Atlantic-Mediterranean segment of the 15,000-km (9,000-mile) Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable system. According to Alcatel-Lucent representatives, EIG is the first direct, high-bandwidth optical fibre submarine cable system from the United Kingdom to India. With completion scheduled in the second quarter of 2010, EIG will deliver an ultimate capacity of up to 3.84 Tbits/sec.
Net Insight (www.netinsight.se), developer of optical transport equipment for media, IP, and broadcast networks, has received an order from HTN Communications (www.htncom.com) to expand its Nimbra-based transport network. In 2007, Net Insight received a first order from HTN for a Nimbra-based network for its media transport services in several locations in the U.S. HTN has continued to expand its services during 2008 and has now placed a further extension order with Net Insight. The new Nimbra equipment will be delivered in the third quarter 2008.
LightPath Technologies Inc. (www.lightpath.com), a manufacturer of precision optical products, has raised gross proceeds of approximately US$2,929,000 through the sale of 8% convertible debentures to a group of institutional and private investors. LightPath says it will use the funds as working capital.
Enablence Technologies Inc. (www.enablence.com) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Enablence Technologies USA Inc., have completed the acquisition of DuPont Photonics Technologies LLC (www.photonics.dupont.com). Concurrent with the closing, DuPont Photonics� original parent company, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., has invested $5 million in Enablence. Enablence issued 6,847,638 common shares, at a price of $1.42 per share, as consideration for the acquisition of DuPont Photonics assets and the investment by DuPont, for a total value of $9.5 million.
The Pirelli Group (www.pirelli.com) and CyOptics Inc. (www.asipinc.com) have formed a strategic alliance in integrated photonics. The agreement between PGT Photonics, the Pirelli Group�s photonics company, valued at about $40 million, including available cash, and CyOptics, a privately held U.S. company that focuses on optical components based on indium phosphide technology. As part of the agreement Pirelli will participate in a CyOptics capital increase with a cash contribution of $20 million.
Global multi-network operator Global Telecom & Technology Inc. (www.gt-t.net) has entered a strategic agreement with U.S.-based network provider FiberLight LLC (www.fiberlight.com) to provide GTT with high-capacity metro transport in several strategic U.S. markets. GTT says this agreement enables it to offer customers access to FiberLight�s dense metro ring-based network, providing competitive, last-mile connectivity across the United States.
Union Communications, a New Hampshire-based independent local exchange carrier (ILEC) serving 7,000 rural subscribers, has selected Pann-away Networks� (www.pannaway.com) Multi-Service Access Platform (MSAP), the MAGNM-20. Union Communications says it is implementing the MAGNM-20 for active point-to-point (P2P) FTTH as it upgrades its existing copper network. Pannaway also says it has successfully implemented a new FTTH network for Manti Tele Communication Co. in Manti, UT. The network is built with Pannaway�s Broadband Access Switches for FTTH ports, Broadband Access Routers for the transport layer, and Broadband Access Manager, Pannaway�s broadband element management system.
Alloptic (www.alloptic.com) has been granted a patent by the Japan Patent Office for �Point-To-Multipoint Passive Optical Network That Utilizes Variable-Length Packets� (No. 2002-546329284479). This patent applies to the way in which that critical function occurs in popular PON technologies that are deployed not only in Japan, but also around the globe, say company representatives. Japan is the fourth subhead to affirm Alloptic�s intellectual property rights for this technology, adding to the list of similar patents held in the U.S. (U.S. Pat. 7,031,343), Taiwan (#90128223), and China (#ZL01821736.2).
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. (www.hua wei.com) has been selected by China Telecom to build China�s first 40G WDM transmission network between Shanghai and Wuxi. Per the contract, Huawei says it will provide China Telecom with an ultra-high-capacity 80 wavelength � 40G transmission system capable of 10G/40G hybrid transmission to address China Telecom�s ever-increasing Internet bandwidth requirements and to lay a foundation for providing high-bandwidth services.
BTI Systems (www.btisystems.com) has signed a development and supply agreement that covers joint research and development initiatives with Wuhan FiberHome Networks Co. Ltd. (FHN; www.fhn.com.cn/fhneng/index.asp). To ensure close collaboration with FHN and to support its Asian customer and partners, BTI has established a new subsidiary in the People�s Republic of China. The partnership combines BTI�s knowledge in carrier-grade packet optical networking solutions with FiberHome�s design and manufacturing expertise.
Ericsson (www.ericsson.com) and Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), a Malaysian next-generation communications and broadband provider, have signed a two-year contract for the nationwide expansion of TM�s optical network infrastructure and associated network management. The contract is for the supply of an optical network based on SDH and DWDM technologies and the provision of installation works and comprehensive maintenance services.
Alcatel-Lucent (www.alcatel-lucent.com) has deployed its packet optical transport technology for Shanghai Mobile, a subsidiary of China Mobile, as part of the wireless carrier�s IP network transformation. Completed in time for the 2008 Olympic Games, the network is designed to support full packet traffic, including high-speed Internet and video services. The contract was signed through Alcatel-Lucent�s flagship company in China, Alcatel Shanghai Bell. Alcatel-Lucent provided its 1850 Transport Service Switch, to be managed by the 1350 network management system.
GigOptix (www.gigoptix.com) says that ZTE Corp. (www.zte.com) has adopted one of its modulator drivers for use in one of China-based system house�s DWDM systems. The GigOptix part is used to drive both electro-absorption and Mach-Zehnder modulators in fibre-optic transceivers and line cards employed in metro and long-haul lightwave communication systems.
TXP Corp. (www.txpcorp.com), an original design manufacturer for the telecom industry, and Cambridge Industry Group (CIG), an OEM supplier of FTTH customer premise equipment (CPE) based in Shanghai, China, have signed a MOU to merge.
Telecarrier (www.telecarrier.com), a telecommunications service provider in Panama, has selected Occam Networks (www.occamnetworks.com) as the principal broadband access supplier in a programme designed to increase broadband services and push broadband access throughout the subhead. This expansion is intended to help meet the needs of Panama�s national economic development initiative, which has to date attracted significant foreign business investment.
ECI Telecom (www.ecitele.com), a provider of networking infrastructure solutions, announced that Radiográfica Costarricense S.A. (RACSA; www.racsa.co.cr), telecom provider for data, Ethernet, and Internet services in Costa Rica, will expand its network with ECI�s XDM Multi-Service Provisioning Platform.
Gtd Group, a service provider in Chile, has selected Alcatel-Lucent to deploy the subheadâ��s first network based on fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) GPON technology. Installation and deployment of the GPON will start in 3Q08, initially serving residential broadband users in Santiagoâ��s Santa MarÃa de Manquehue district.
Management at Palomar Technologies (palo martechnologies.com), a provider of precision automation equipment and contract assembly services for microelectronics, has bought out the original investor group that spun the company out of Hughes Aircraft in 1995.
LG-Nortel (www.lg-nortel.com) has acquired Novera Optics Inc. (www.noveraoptics.com), a developer of fibre-optic access technology known most prominently for its work in WDM PON. LG-Nortel is a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel. The acquisition costs, including employee retention and transaction costs, were approximately $16 million in cash, plus up to an additional $10 million to Novera security holders based on achievement of future business milestones over the next 18 months.