Another Chromatis
Mark Savolainen Smith 5/28/2000 16:20
TRADER TALK
MRV's partner company Zaffire also is developing metro WDM gear.
In all likelihood optical networking equipment company Chromatis Networks Inc. will soon be acquired by Lucent Technologies (LU) for a breathtaking sum rumored to be approaching $6 billion.
Chromatis is a leading developer of next- generation optical transport solutions for carriers' metro networks, but they are not the only such company with Israeli roots. MRV Communications' (MRVC) partner company, Zaffire, is also positioned as a leader in the metro and regional optical networking marketplace.
Zaffire, formerly known as New Access, was founded in 1998 by Dr. Near Margalit, son of Shlomo Margalit, Chairman of the Board and Chief Technical Officer of MRV. Dr. Near Margalit invented the award winning MetroFusion architecture that has evolved into Zaffire's Advanced Optical Services Network Architecture, a packet-enabled, dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) optical solution designed specifically for deployment in metro and regional area
networks.
Backed by best-of-breed technology leader Juniper Networks (JNPR) and heavyweight venture capitalist Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Zaffire certainly has the pedigree for success.
More on Zaffire can be found below in our feature article from February of this year: "The Day the Street started taking MRV seriously".
Since February, Zaffire has continued to pick up momentum. Hiring at the rate of 25/month, Zaffire already has more than 100 people in the company.
This spring Zaffire announced a new advanced optical services network architecture and additional strategic investors: Williams Communications (WCG) and Broadband Office.
In addition to previous awards, Zaffire was named "Most likely to succeed" at the recent Network Outlook Investor conference in San Francisco.
Like Chromatis, Zaffire is in the enviable position of having product up and running. Both Williams Communications and Broadband Office are currently testing Zaffire's product. It is also rumored that Juniper Networks has been conducting interoperability tests with Zaffire's Z3000.
All indications are that Zaffire is in the right place at the right time.
The market for Metro WDM gear, although just starting to take off, is expected to explode within the next 5 years, reaching several billion dollars/year.
By the end of this year Zaffire is expected to have product shipping commercially, setting the stage for its IPO, which is rumored to be scheduled as early as the Q4 '00 / Q1'01.
The Chromatis acquisition gives some indication of what Zaffire might be worth. MRV is currently Zaffire's largest shareholder with 23% of the company.
If Zaffire can measure up to Chromatis, this stake alone could be worth almost as much as MRV is today. |
