Cisco co-founder launching optical network start-up

Cisco co-founder Len Bosack is launching a company that claims it will bring “fundamental change to worldwide telecommunications” with an optical transport system allowing IT departments to easily and quickly deploy in-house metropolitan optical networks that make efficient use of space and power.

Bosack, who founded Cisco in 1984 with his wife Sandy Lerner, is not yet talking publicly about his new venture, XKL, LLC. The company doesn’t plan to speak on the record with media until early August but makes plenty of details about its products available on its Web site.

The DXM optical transport system developed by XKL allows IT departments to use existing management resources to deliver ultra bandwidth network services over a fixed-cost dark fiber infrastructure.

XKL, based in Redmond, Wash., says the product responds to a trend in which IT departments are deploying more and faster connections between offices, data centers and customers every day. “The sophistication and expense of these network deployments is substantial and grows with each additional network connection,” XKL states on its Web site.

XKL says its own system allows IT to bypass the expense of using an external telecom carrier service, but the vendor does not make DXM pricing information available on its Web site.

“XKL's revolutionary DXM architecture provides an integrated optical transport solution that can be quickly deployed, is power and space efficient, and uses well-known management standards,” XKL states. “XKL's DXM optical transport system does not require costly integration and support contracts, expensive training, or complicated and proprietary network management suites. Simply install it in a rack, make the proper connections, and realize carrier-class optical transport.”

The product is apparently available already, as XKL’s Web site says sales representatives are available via phone. The vendor says it is also “developing products in addition to the DXM Optical Transport System that further our mission."

In 1990, Bosack left Cisco, which remains the most dominant provider of network routers and enjoys success in the switch, security, storage, VoIP and wireless markets.

This is the second time Bosack has founded a company named XKL. The first XKL was founded in 1991 under the name XKL Systems Corp. An XKL spokesman said he could not say when the current XKL was founded or release any details in addition to those that are already publicly available.