Multiservice start-ups Equipe, WaveSmith make progress
 
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Two start-ups in the multiservice switching market are making significant progress of late.
Core ATM/Multi-protocol Label Switching switch maker Equipe Communications this week announced that optical powerhouse Ciena invested in the company and plans to exchange technology. Ciena's investment will range from $2 million to $5 million, sources say, but neither Ciena nor Equipe would comment on the amount.
Sources also say Ciena will also resell Equipe's E3200 switch but neither company would confirm that or divulge plans for the technology exchange.
"We haven't discussed how we will use it," a Ciena spokesman says. "We're not willing to talk about that right now."
Ciena will be a new investor in Equipe's $40 million third round. The round was led by another new investor, Sequoia Capital Partners.
Multiservice edge switch maker WaveSmith Networks, meanwhile, has made the short list for Verizon's $100 million Fast Packet CAS frame relay build-out, along with two or three other vendors, sources say. The identity of the other vendors could not be learned by press time. Sources say they may be Nortel and Alcatel.
Both WaveSmith and Verizon declined to comment.
WaveSmith recently announced the frame relay version of its Distributed Node switch.
Both Equipe and WaveSmith recently reduced staff in anticipation of further funding.
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