Sorrento Networks wins a deal in Switzerland; stands by for additional financing

June 12, 2001

2 Min Read
Swiss Sweet on Sorrento

Sorrento Networks Corp. (Nasdaq: FIBR) announced today that the Swiss Academic and Research Network (SWITCH) would be using Sorrento's GigaMux DWDM boxes in its optical backbone, a network that handles some 70 terabytes of data traffic per month (see Sorrento Wins Swiss Deployment).

5982.gifSorrento says its solution will be deployed over a 340-kilometer network that connects five cities. The gear will deliver gigabit Ethernet and STM16 (2.5 Gbit/s) services. Over time, the company plans to upgrade the boxes at each network node to 10-gigabit Ethernet and STM64 (10 Gbit/s) services. “One of the requirements was that we could use the same system and expand capacity to 10 Gbit/s without disrupting service,” says Demetri Elias, Sorrento’s vice president of marketing.

SWITCH's network will connect Switzerland's universities, the ETH Computer Centers in Zurich and Lausanne, as well as the Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research. Zurich's DeltaNet AG, a systems integrator that has been reselling Sorrento gear since 1998, will support SWITCH's GigaMux installation, the company says.

SWITCH, founded in 1987, was conceived to set up and run an academic and research network in Switzerland. In a prepared statement, John Mason, president of Sorrento Networks Europe, implied that SWITCH's selection of Sorrento as a vendor was a testament to Sorrento's technological appeal to Swiss scientists.

"To have one of the world's most advanced scientific communities turn to Sorrento technology to meet its next-generation network requirements is extremely gratifying," Mason is quoted as saying.

It's hard to assess what financial impact this deal will have on Sorrento, since the company wouldn’t say how much gear SWITCH was buying nor would it say how much it would make from the deal. Last month, Light Reading reported that Sorrento’s financial stability was in question as the company seems to be running low on cash (see Sorrento Teeters on the Edge).

Elias says Sorrento is still working to secure a credit line from Silicon Valley Bank and will make a public announcement when that transaction is complete.

SWITCH officials couldn’t be reached for comment.

Sorrento's other customers include AT&T Broadband, Belgacom SA, Cox Communications Inc. (NYSE: COX), Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT), El Paso Global Networks, Focal Communications (Nasdaq: FCOM), Inrange Technologies Corp., Southern California Edison, TeraBeam Corp., and United Pan-Europe Communications NV (UPC) (Nasdaq: UPCOY).

- Phil Harvey, Senior Editor, Light Reading
http://www.lightreading.com

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