Chorum Technologies, a start-up based in Richardson, Texas, is exiting the optical networking business and will focus its efforts on liquid crystal display technology for flat panel monitors, according to The Dallas Morning News. Chorum had been selling a line of all-optical processors and subsystems. The restructuring includes the layoff of 150 employees out of a workforce of 250.
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- Chorum’s Optical Harmonic Equalizer (OHE) that dynamically adjusts the gain profile of an optical amplifier to ensure that the power levels of DWDM optical signals are equalized without requiring a conversion from optical-to-electrical-to-optical. In addition, Chorum has announced three optical devices based on liquid-crystal technologies: a non-mechanical, all-optical, Fast Add/Drop switch; an optical switch designed for optical restoration, protection, test, and provisioning applications; and a voltage-controlled solid-state optical variable attenuator for broadband or single-channel applications. The company is also developing “Optical Slicers”, which are ultra dense optical interleave filters for use in either long haul or metro networks. Chorum’s DWDM router components, which will use the Optical Slicers, are being designed for passive optical multiplexing and demultiplexing systems that support hundreds of channels at data rates of 10 Gbps and higher.
Chorum filed for an Initial Public Offering in November, 2000, and withdrew its filing in March, 2001.
