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Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) says it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BroadLight, Inc. for $195 million net of cash assumed. Privately owned BroadLight develops processors and related software for passive optical network (PON) applications, specifically GPON.

The deal calls for Broadcom to buy all of the outstanding shares of capital stock and other equity rights of BroadLight. Broadcom will pay cash, less a portion of the price attributable to certain unvested employee stock options that will be paid in Broadcom restricted stock units. The company also may pay an additional amount of up to $10 million in cash to holders of BroadLight capital stock and other rights if the new acquisition meets certain performance goals.

The acquisition of the GPON-centric BroadLight complements Broadcom’s 2010 purchase of Teknovus (see “Broadcom expands portfolio with Teknovus EPON technology”), which made EPON semiconductors. Broadcom now can play on both sides of the street when it comes to PON architectures.

"The need for increased bandwidth for IPTV services, HDTV broadcasting, and high-speed Internet access are driving momentum for deploying fiber networks," said Dan Marotta, executive vice president and general manager of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group. "Combining BroadLight's PON solutions with the strength of Broadcom's broadband access portfolio will enable us to offer a complete, end-to-end solution for customers - from OLT at the central office to CPE at the home. BroadLight's strong engineering team and broad IP will complement and extend our ability to deliver next-generation access technologies to customers."

Excluding any purchase accounting related adjustments and fair value measurements, Broadcom expects the acquisition to be roughly neutral to earnings per share in 2012. The transaction is expected to close in Broadcom's second quarter of 2012 and remains subject to customary closing conditions.

The State of Indiana has launched a 100-Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE) research and education network using routers from Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD). The Monon100 network is up to 10X faster than current networks in the state and will enable Indiana University scientists, medical researchers, and students to share and expedite the processing of the massive amounts of data created by modern digital instruments, such as revolutionary DNA sequencers, advanced electron microscopes and large-particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider.

Monon100 takes its name from the Monon Railroad, which connected Indiana's higher education institutions in major metropolitan areas to Chicago. Indiana University and Purdue University Indianapolis will be the first institutions to connect directly to Monon100. The link will be a resource available to all Indiana GigaPoP members, including Purdue, Notre Dame, and IU.

"A network as fast as Monon100 dramatically improves researchers' ability to handle very large data sets," said David Jent, associate vice president of networks for Indiana University. "It's not uncommon for scientific instruments used to study things like human genes and complex climate change to produce data sets of 1 petabyte or greater. To move a data set this large on our current network connection takes 10 or 11 days. On Monon100 with Brocade 100GbE connections it will take just over 24 hours."

The Momon100 network use Brocade MLXe Series Core Routers, which support 32 wire-speed 100GbE ports, delivering a total switching capacity of 15.36 terabits in a single chassis. The two-port 100 GbE blades are significantly less expensive than competing offerings, Brocade asserts, and offer the widest range of supported CFP optics. When installed in the Brocade MLXe routers, these blades enable customers to deploy the industry's first Terabit-per-second trunk, which utilizes multiple ports in a single logical link for greater bandwidth and reduced management up to capacities of 1.6 terabits, Brocade adds.

Communications semiconductor developer Cortina Systems, Inc. says that Opnext, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPXT) has selected its CS604x and CS605x family of 10G/40G and 100G transport processors for Opnext's next-generation optical transport subsystems.

Cortina’s CS604x and CS605x devices are the latest generation of Optical Transport Network (OTN) processor families supporting aggregation, mapping, and transport of 10G, 40G, and 100G signals (see "Cortina Systems 100-Gbps ASSP targets converged OTN and Ethernet"). The chips also include integrated jitter attenuation clean-up PLLs and a direct interface to 10, 40, and 100G optical modules.

Opnext says it has used the part to develop a highly efficient line card capable of mapping and transporting multiple protocols, including OTN, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and SONET/SDH.

"This project will enable Opnext to deliver solutions that support higher-capacity, faster, and more efficient networks," said Jin Hong, vice-president, product line management at Opnext.

ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, completed a comprehensive frame agreement with the Qtel Group, which will see the two companies become strategic partners.

The agreement will make available new network solutions from ZTE, including the latest innovations in WCDMA and LTE technology, across Qtel Group operations in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. A major part of Qtel Group’s revised strategy for tackling the changes affecting the communications sector is to invest in new growth. Frame agreements with major companies like ZTE provide the necessary infrastructure foundations for its pursuit of this goal.

Through the partnership, Qtel Group and ZTE will agree on long-term, sustainable pricing models that will offer significant benefits for customers across the Group’s companies. These include Indosat, Asiacell, Wataniya Kuwait, Nawras, Tunisiana, Nedjma and Qtel.

Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Qtel said: “ZTE has ambitions for global growth, and a delivery and pricing model designed to ensure success. The Qtel Group believes it will derive significant, long-term value from a strategic frame agreement with ZTE. This agreement will deliver world-class technology priced to reflect the realities of a new global economy.”

ZTE Corp