Tropic Networks has agreed to sell substantially all of its assets, including all intellectual property related to metro WDM networking, to Alcatel-Lucent. Alcatel-Lucent expects that with the combination of technologies, it will be able to provide cable operators with greater control of optical backbones.

The acquisition brings in-house technology that Alcatel funded 2.5 years ago. In July 2004, Alcatel led a $33 million investment round (Tropic’s other investors are venture capital firms).

Tropic focused on ROADM technology. Alcatel-Lucent already has a ROADM portfolio. The key to the deal, Alcatel-Lucent said, was further integration of key intellectual property developed by Tropic Networks, namely, the Wavelength Tracker.

Wavelength Tracker, integrated with Tropic’s TRX-2400 optical platform, tracks and monitors each wavelength in a DWDM system as it passes through the optical network. By applying a unique optical signature to every wavelength that enters the DWDM network, Wavelength Tracker delivers performance monitoring, wavelength path trace, sectionalization, dispersion measurement and fault isolation to networks, according to Tropic.

"Through this transaction, we are strengthening our value proposition for photonic networks with innovative solutions that complete both cable and telecom service providers’ requirements," said Romano Valussi, president of Alcatel-Lucent's Optics activities.