• Qwest promotes Comfort to EVP of corporate strategy
By Traci Patterson
Qwest Communications has promoted Stephanie Comfort to the post of EVP of corporate strategy. Since September, Comfort headed the strategy function for the operator.
She joined Qwest in 2002 to lead the company’s investor relations program. Prior to Qwest, she was with Morgan Stanley, where she was a portfolio manager, strategist and senior telecommunications services analyst.
• Cisco networking processor combos 40 cores
By Brian Santo
Cisco has introduced an integrated circuit for networking that combines 40 cores on a single chip and can perform up to 160 simultaneous processes. The company did not specify how the chip would be used, but it will no doubt be used in a new generation of networking equipment.
The new chip is a successor to the Silicon Packet Processor (SPP) at the heart of the company’s Carrier Routing System (CRS-1). As an indication of the complexity of the new chip, the SPP integrated 185 million transistors; the QuantumFlow processor integrates 800 million.
Separately, Cisco Capital launched per-user-per-day pricing that makes it easy for North American channel partners to offer their small- to medium-size business (SMB) customers financing for Cisco Unified Communications systems. Cisco did not provide dollar figures for the price range but said the cost would be “roughly the equivalent of a daily newspaper.”
• NeoPhotonics debuts tunable NTL2040 laser at OFC
By Traci Patterson
NeoPhotonics is showcasing a new tunable laser – the NTL2040 – for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) networks at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC).
The tunable laser has an output power of 40 mW and boasts additional features that are ideal for DQPSK coding and 40 Gbps systems, the company said, and it can transmit at twice the output power of a standard ITLA.
The NTL2040 laser also enjoys all of the features of NeoPhotonics’ NTL2000 series tunable lasers, and the device can address all commonly used wavelengths in DWDM systems in the C, C+, L and XL bands, with channel spacing based on the “ITU-T” specified 50 GHz grid. Therefore, one laser can replace any of 120 single-wavelength lasers in the C+ or XL bands.
• CoreOptics unveils next gen of its MLSE technology
By Mike Robuck
CoreOptics, a designer and manufacturer of 40Gbps and 10Gbps optical networking subsystems, announced the availability of the second generation of its Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE) technology for deployment in metro/regional optical networks.
“In addition to significant CAPEX/OPEX savings, optical metro and regional transmission platforms based on MLSE will offer an adaptive compensation capability that will enable ROADM-based installed networks to achieve much faster service activation time,” said Hamid Arabzadeh, president and CEO of CoreOptics.
• JDSU adds to 10 Gbps test suite
By Brian Santo
JDSU introduced stressed receiver sensitivity (SRS) functionality to its TestPoint 10 Gbps product line. SRS is one of the parameters to ensuring interoperability across 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) and fiber channel equipment.
Separately, the company said its pocket-sized family of fiber optic testers is now available through an authorized network of distributors.
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• BlackArrow names chairman of board, CFO
• Juniper intros control plane scaling platform
• NY Post: Dolans mulling sale of Rainbow Media
• Broadband Briefs for 02/25/08