Hey, whats BRCD up to with this??
ANCR you on top of this?
Looks to be a group of vendors making end to end systems by supplying their respective commponents?
Kind of like SUNW/Enron?
Will there be more links between optics and SANs soon?
Any help on this?
Optical Networks Has Raised $75M, Bringing its Total to $125M in Financing
Top Data and Telecom Network Companies -- BROCADE, E-TEK Dynamics, Juniper Networks and Williams Communications -- Participated in Latest Investment Round
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 2000-- Optical Networks, Inc., a Silicon Valley-based optical networking system provider, today announced that it has received an additional $75 million in funding from strategic partners and financial institutions, bringing its total to $125 million to date. Bowman Capital Management was the lead investor.
Other investors include: Amerindo Investment Advisors, Integral Capital, J. & W. Seligman and Mohr, Davidow Ventures.
Strategic partners investing in this round include: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (BROCADE®), the leading supplier of Fibre Channel fabric solutions for Storage Area Networking (SAN), Juniper Networks®, Inc. (Nasdaq:JNPR - news), a leading provider of next-generation IP infrastructure systems, E-TEK Dynamics (Nasdaq:ETEK - news), an optical component supplier, and Williams Communications (NYSE:WCG - news), a leading international provider of telecommunications services and products for the carrier market.
''Optical Networks' talent and expertise give them a definite advantage when it comes to building Metropolitan optical networking equipment,'' said Matthew Cowan, general partner at Bowman Capital Management. ''The Company has customers and has executed as planned. They have demonstrated their commitment to the Metro market.''
''We are pleased at the breadth of support for our Dynamic Transport System and the company's strategy, as exemplified by this round,'' said Hugh Martin, president and CEO of Optical Networks. ''The addition of these strategic partners increases our confidence that we will be able to obtain the supply of critical optical components we need for our transport system.
''We're also able to deepen relationships with client-side equipment manufacturers and we have the potential to expand our customer-base.''
Storage area networking connectivity solutions and Internet Protocol (IP) routers are helping drive the Metro network revolution. Juniper Networks manufactures next-generation backbone routers specifically designed for Internet applications, such as backbone bandwidth management, Web hosting, IP services and high-speed access for service provider networks.
New data-intensive services, such as those enabled by BROCADE and Juniper Networks, are rapidly consuming resources in the current public-switched network and, as a result, fueling the need for equipment like the Optical Networks' Dynamic Transport System(TM) (DTS(TM)).
The DTS allows service providers to beat the bandwidth crunch by deploying a high-capacity optical wavelength to accommodate a wide variety of data, video, and traditional voice traffic with advanced service provisioning, management and protection schemes for transport across a Metropolitan area.
An investment from E-TEK Dynamics, a leading optical component manufacturer, further demonstrates their role as a supplier to Optical Networks, which will enable Optical Networks to deliver its state-of-the-art Metro transport system.
In addition to Williams Communications' investment, Matthew Bross, senior vice president and CTO for Williams Communications, has joined Optical Networks' Board of Directors.
''We are very impressed with Optical Networks' management team, vision, and state-of-the-art, all-optical system, the Dynamic Transport System,'' said Bross. ''For these reasons, Williams Communications is pleased to be able to contribute the success of Optical Networks through its seat on the Board of Directors.''
Optical Networks' DTS is an optical networking system that enables Metro network operators to deliver a wide range of Internet and other broadband services to enterprise networks and consumers. DTS integrates three essential elements -- an optical transport platform (ONLINE 9000(TM)), an optical network operating system (OPTX(TM)), and an optical link management protocol suite for internetworking (OLMP(TM)) -- to create a fully functional and economically viable all-optical Metro network solution.
Related News
Optical Networks also announced today relationships with key companies who operate Metropolitan networks: COLT Telecom Group plc (Nasdaq:COLT - news), KVH, Marietta FiberNet and MetroRED. These companies will establish a presence for Optical Networks in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States (see ''Optical Networks Targeting $50M in Sales of its Metro Optical Equipment to COLT, KVH, Marietta FiberNet and MetroRED'').
In addition, Optical Networks will be opening a new 58,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in San Jose, Calif. (see ''Optical Networks to Open Manufacturing Facility to Meet Surging Worldwide Demand for All-Optical Metro Telecommunications Networks'').
About Optical Networks
Optical Networks combines state-of-the-art optical transport systems with data networking technology to deliver true optical networks. These networks will fulfill the promise of wavelength-routed services, while solving the practical issues facing Metro Operators today. Visit Optical Networks' Web site at www.opticalnetworks.com.
Background info here.......
opticalnetworks.com
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