While China continues to attract investors for its fiber-optics market, Japan’s Sumitomo Electric (News - Alert) released data center connectivity solutions for the optical fiber infrastructure this past week in the dark fiber space. Another interesting announcement in this space came from Boston-based investment firm Berkshire Partners, which has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Lightower Fiber Networks and Sidera Networks (News - Alert) for $2 billion, and two small European companies partnered to offer software-as-a-service (SaaS) for fiber-optic management.

According to a new report released by market watcher TechNavio, China has emerged as a hot fiber optics destination, attracting quite a large number of investors, wrote TMCnet contributor Madhubanti Rudra. The report, “Optical Fiber Cable Market in China 2011-2015,” tends to cover multiple aspects of the optical fiber cable market landscape in China. These include major market drivers, market challenges, key vendor analysis including each vendor’s strengths and weaknesses, current and future trends and more, wrote Rudra. The analysts predict that the optical fiber cable market in China will grow at a CAGR of 21.49 percent over the period 2011-2015.

Following its success with fiber connectors, Sumitomo released its new 4th level data center solutions product line, reported TMCnet Web editor Ashley Caputo. As per this report, 4th Level Solutions will provide the same support as Sumitomo’s previous fiber connector, Lynx2, but with even more integration and scalabilities that industries need in the ever-changing realm of technology. Sumitomo said this product has been designed to increase speed, save space and provide the performance required by high-density data centers.

In a statement, Joshua Seawell, director of the Lightwave Network Products division at Sumitomo Electric  Lightwave, stated, “Our goal is to offer data center managers, design engineers, and installers the freedom and control to customize, rapidly change, repair and restore the network infrastructure in real-time without the logistic delays and the fixed and inflexible solutions of the past.” He added, “With the launch of the 4th Level product line, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave has achieved this goal, meeting the needs of its customers for new and better technology.”  

In other news, Rudra reported that Boston-based investment firm Berkshire Partners is planning to merge recently acquired Lightower Fiber Networks and Sidera Networks and create a new corporate entity. Although not much has been released about the new company, it was revealed that the newly-combined company will be run by Rob Shanahan, Lightower's current CEO. Also, as per the report, other major investors, Pamlico Capital and ABRY Partners, have agreed to continue to inject funds to the new company.

TMCnet’s Carlos Olivera reported that two small European companies, OptiXsoft and Agizer, have announced a partnership to develop Fiberizer Cloud, a new SaaS (News - Alert) service for improved fiber-optic management and analysis.

Also, this past week, fully integrated Transtelco announced the completion of construction of its high-capacity metropolitan fiber-optic network in Mexico City, Mexico, according to a report filed by TMCnet contributor Shankar Pandiath.

Lastly, TMCnet contributor Shamila Janakiraman reported that Brazilian telecom company Telebras has completed 70 percent deployment of fiber-optic network in six cities in Brazil that will be hosting FIFA’s Confederations Cup due to start in June 2013.

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