Yafo Networks succumbs to bubble burst
Raising $61 million in financing, qualifying its products with major carriers, and employing a staff that at one time exceeded 100 people were not enough to keep Yafo Networks (Hanover, MD) from ultimately succumbing to the burst telecom bubble. "There was just not enough of a revenue stream to warrant keeping the company going," said Yafo chairman and CTO Henry Yaffe. "So before we ran into bankruptcy, we decided to dissolve the company and return money to the investors."
Centerpoint Broadband calls it quits
After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year, Centerpoint Broadband Technologies (San Jose, CA) will shut down completely and is liquidating its intellectual property and physical assets, according to founder and CEO Dana Waldman. The company employed about 100 people in May, down from the more than 400 in mid-2001.
Transmode CWDM systems go underground
Transmode Systems (Stockholm, Sweden) has delivered CWDM systems to SL Infrateknik, the network owner of Stockholm Underground, which is building a network that will connect all 115 of the underground stations and key centers in the Stockholm public transport network for data communication between stations, and for transport traffic from video surveillance and the speaker system as well as IP telephony traffic.
Alcatel, Hitachi, and NEL to multisource
Alcatel Optronics (Paris, France), Hitachi Cables (Tokyo, Japan), and NEL (Glasgow, Scotland) have formed a multisource agreement for thermally stabilized arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) modules., which will provide multiplexing and demultiplexing interfaces for DWDM optical equipment. The specifications are intended to ensure that network equipment manufacturers have a choice among compatible sources, while the foremost suppliers are able to reduce AWG lead-time and cost. The thermally tuned AWG MSA group is an open forum that welcomes applications from AWG manufactures that wish to join.
Preferential transfers spawn lawsuits
The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings of 360networks (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) and its subsidiaries has brought suit seeking to recover approximately $100 million from Nortel Networks (Brampton, Ontario, Canada). The committee expects to file hundreds of such suits against other recipients of preferential transfers, although the action against Nortel is expected to be the largest.
EXFO trims losses in first quarter
EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering (Quebec City, Canada) has posted sales growth for a third consecutive quarter according to first-quarter results for fiscal 2003. Sales increased 3% to US$17.7 million in the first quarter ended Nov. 30, 2002, from US$17.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2002, but decreased 12% from US$20.1 million in the first quarter of 2002. EXFO's pro forma net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2003 amounted to US$1.4. Net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2003 decreased to US$2.2 million from US$3.0 million for the previous quarter and a net loss of US$19.1 million for the first quarter of 2002.
Also in the news . . .
Lightconnect (Newark, CA) has signed a strategic agreement with ZTE, China's largest listed telecommunications equipment manufacturer, to supply its Dynamic Gain Equalizer (DGE) for ZTE's 10 Gbit/s long-haul DWDM transport system with 160 channels operating in the C- and L-bands. . . . Micro-Metric (San Jose, CA) has announced an alliance with TCP & Associates of Fremont, CA, for sales representation in Taiwan, China, and Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. . . . Tellium (Oceanport, NJ) is expanding its operations in Europe by opening a sales office in Paris, France. . . . Ericsson Network Technologies (Stockholm, Sweden) has appointed 3SAE Technologies (Nashville, TN) as the exclusive Authorized Service Center in North America. . . . Sumitomo (Tokyo, Japan) a subsidiary SC ComTex has signed an exclusive sales and distribution agreement with ReefEdge (Fort Lee, NJ). . . . Opto Speed (Rüschlikon, Switzerland) has signed a distribution agreement with Unistand Technology (Taichung City, Taiwan) to sell and support Opto Speed's products in the Taiwan market. Opto Speed is also collaborating with Infomax Optical Technology (Taoyuan, Taiwan) in engineering, manufacturing and sales of their optoelectronic product portfolios. . . . Sorrento Networks (San Diego, CA) announced that all of its convertible debenture holders have executed waiver and consent forms supportive of the capital restructuring plan that the company hopes to complete by the end of March 2003.
Hassaun A. Jones-Bey
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