Adva, a leader in both coarse and dense wave-division multiplexing (DWDM), had been looking for more reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexing (Roadm) technology it could combine with its own WDM systems to create "hybrid Roadms" for Edge networks. Brian McCann, chief marketing officer for the U.S. operation of Adva, said the development effort at Adva for producing a hybrid ROADM will be canceled, and Movaz’s “eROADM” will become Adva’s hybrid offering.

The more significant play, McCann said, will be Movaz’s original Ray fixed OADM product line, and its full-size Roadm, which has gained traction in a mid-Atlantic academic consortium, and in U.S. Army network upgrade contracts in Europe.

Adva (Munich, Germany) will raise the shares through a capital increase, and pay Movaz an additional $6 million in cash. Most of Movaz’s 150 employees will be offered Adva positions, and will be integrated into Adva’s North American operations. Movaz founder and chief executive Bijan Khosravi will remain with Adva, at least in the short term, to aid in the staff transition.

Adva gains more than Roadm technology with the acquisition. Movaz, founded during the late 1990s optical boom, was a pioneer in the special version of Multiprotocol Label Switching developed for optical transport, called Generalized MPLS.

Lucent Technologies Inc. had signed a joint sales and distribution pact with Movaz after Lucent dropped most of its lambda routing and optical switching programs. Many Movaz Roadm sales internationally had been based on Lucent integration deals.

Despite finally gaining some success in system sales and GMPLS promotion, Movaz was facing several challenges. Farzad Taghizadeh, senior vice president of marketing and product management at Movaz, said the fate of the Lucent pact was uncertain in Lucent’s upcoming merger with Alcatel SA, given Alcatel’s own optical transport skills. Movaz also faced a host of new “edge Roadm” startup competitors, including Nistica and OpVista.

Adva will retain the Atlanta-area research groups as an optical transport development facility, augmenting North American sales and marketing offices of Adva (Mahwah, N.J.).

In recent months, Movaz had outsourced the production of its wavelength-selectable switch at the heart of its Roadms to a new joint venture formed with Olympus, Olympus Microsystems America Inc. OMA will continue to manufacture the 9-inch-square switch component for Adva/Movaz, as well as for external customers.

McCann said that the outsourcing deal will be maintained by Adva, as it makes sense to have WSS components manufactured externally.