Fergie's Tech Blog

Alcatel-Lucent to Acquire Tropic Networks

Loring Wirbel writes on EE Times:

Alcatel-Lucent has agreed to buy all assets and intellectual property of Tropic Networks Inc., a Canadian startup specializing in reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer systems.

Tropic had merged with two Canadian oil companies, Chamaelo Exploration Ltd. and Tournament Energy Ltd., as a means of raising close to $10 million in operating capital.

Alcatel-Lucent first approached Tropic when Alcatel joined a $33 million round of financing for Tropic in 2004. That round was followed by a $48 million venture-led round, bringing total funding close to $200 million. The difficulty of raising more capital after five rounds prompted Tropic's deal with the oil companies.

WaveTracker WDM and Roadm capabilities now will be integrated into Alcatel-Lucent optical transport products. In January, Tropic claimed the use of WaveTracker along with tunable transponders would help carriers solve chromatic dispersion problems.

posted by Fergie @ 4/03/2007 07:15:00 PM