Smartoptics Group AS completes IPO

 Smartoptics Group AS completed an initial public offering of its shares on Euronext Growth in Oslo, Norway.  The public listing follows a successful private placement raising gross NOK 100 million in new equity.

“The IPO is a milestone in Smartoptics’ history. We have over the last year experienced tremendous traction in the market, as we have developed technology and services that are perceived as more innovative and flexible than those of our competitors. As a listed company, we now have added fuel to power our ambitions of reaching USD 100 million in revenue and 15-20 percent EBITDA margin by 2025-2026,” said CEO Magnus Grenfeldt.

In 2020, Smartoptics had a revenue of USD 34.8 million and an EBITDA margin of 6 percent. The start of 2021 has been strong, with first quarter revenues growing 52 percent to reach USD 10 million and an EBITDA margin of 13.8 percent.

“We have positioned ourselves perfectly in this market. We have become a preferred vendor for many small and medium-sized operators and enterprises. Our technology, size and business culture make it possible for us to maneuver faster than the giants of the industry, and most of the other medium-sized players have been acquired. Hence, we face limited competition in our segment,” said Grenfeldt.

The Smartoptics shares were sold at NOK 10.38 per share in the private placement, equivalent to a post-money capitalization of approximately NOK 1 billion. The transaction included a secondary share sale of NOK 150 million. Among the investors are Danske Invest, Ålandsbanken and Varner Invest.

https://www.smartoptics.com/

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Smartoptics introduces new ROADMs for flexible open line systems

Smartoptics introduced its DCP-R family of DWDM ROADMs for flexible open line systems. The ROADMs are designed for use of the new PAM4 and 400ZR traffic formats mixed with legacy protocols, such as Ethernet and Fibre Channel.

The first members of the DCP-R family are the 9-degree DCP-R-9D-MS and the DCP-R-9D-CS where the MS model supports mixed traffic formats and the CS model is optimized for coherent traffic formats. These products will be followed by higher degree ROADMs optimized for regional applications.

The DCP-R-9D is a dedicated 1U per degree ROADM with Flexgrid, directionless, contentionless and colorless capabilities for 9 degrees The ROADM, with integrated mux/demux for local add/drop, is designed for use with PAM4 and 400ZR transceivers mixed with 100G QPSK, 200G 16QAM, Ethernet and Fibre Channel traffic formats.

Magnus Grenfeldt, CEO Smartoptics, commented: “With our DCP-R ROADMs Smartoptics takes yet another step in serving operators wanting to take advantage of disaggregated, open line systems in their optical infrastructure. Thanks to our unique design it is now possible to combine new traffic formats such as PAM4 and 400ZR for extremely high data rates with Ethernet, Fibre Channel and other legacy formats in the same flexible ROADM-based open line system all the way to the edge of the network.”

https://www.smartoptics.com/press-release/smartoptics-announces-the-dcp-r-family-of-roadms-for-flexible-open-line-systems/

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First Colo GmbH picks Smartoptics for DCI

First Colo GmbH, which offers data center and managed services to companies across Germany and central Europe, has chosen Smartoptics’ DCI open line system to connect their data centers. The new solution is based on Smartoptics’ flexible DCP-M open line system for smart, flexible 100G DWDM connectivity.

Smartoptics said that by combining PAM4 transceivers embedded directly in Juniper Networks switches with Smartoptics’ flexible DCP-M open line system, First Colo gets a highly-automated 100G DWDM solution.

Xantaro is the service integrator Xantaro for the project. The DCI solution was chosen while First Colo was upgrading its data center infrastructure with new high-capacity Juniper Networks switches and routers to support 100G traffic.

“Our new DCP-M family of products is designed to meet the needs for flexible, cost-efficient data connectivity for DCI and Metro applications. We’re very happy that First Colo trusts our open optical networking solution to connect their data centers. It proves that we are on the right track developing products that really meet the needs for high-speed data connectivity in demanding environments,” says Magnus Grenfeldt, CEO of Smartoptics.

Smartoptics is based in Oslo, Norway.

https://www.smartoptics.com/

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Smartoptics debuts passive optical mux/demux and OADM

Smartoptics announced its H-Series platform for passive optical layer nodes, such as CWDM and DWDM multiplexers/demultiplexers and OADMs.

Smartoptics said its new passive multiplexing and OADM solutions take advantage of new component technology. Special attention has been paid to handling, compactness and flexibility, resulting in a 1 RU chassis housing a variety of filter modules and giving up to five times higher packing density than previous solutions.

The H-Series platform comprises a high-density 1 RU chassis that can be equipped with combinations of filter modules for state of the art CWDM and DWDM mux/demux and DWDM OADM applications.

The H-Series is fully compatible with the ITU optical grid and interconnects seamlessly with Smartoptics transponder and muxponder products as well as with other vendors’ products. It is available for immediate delivery, and shipments have already begun to initial customers.

Kent Lidström, CTO of Smartoptics, says: “Smartoptics’ long time experience of open line systems for CWDM and DWDM has taught us the importance of a cost-efficient passive optical networking platform. Therefore, we have used best of breed components to achieve maximum flexibility and compactness at the lowest possible cost when building the new H-Series. We can now proudly offer the smartest solution to your passive optical networking needs.”

Smartoptics is based in Oslo, Norway. The company was founded in 2006.

https://www.smartoptics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/SO-DS-H-Series_overwiev_R4.0.pdf

IX Australia deploys Smartoptics’ low cost 100G Open Line System

Thursday, December 06, 2018  Australia, DWDM, OLS, Smartoptics  

Internet Exchange Australia (IX Australia) has deployed Smartoptics' DCP-M40 Open Line System and Pluggable DWDM QSFP28 PAM4 transceivers to provide high capacity links to metro locations in Sydney.

The new, automated, network was delivered by Independent Data Solutions (IDS) and provides IX Australia with lowest cost 40 x 100 Gb/s traffic capability over a single pair of fibers.

The new Smartoptics DCP-M40 Open Line System enables up to 40x100G wavelengths over spans exceeding 50km with fully automated addition of new channels for ease of use.

Oslo-based Smartoptics AB said space and power considerations were important factors in the technology choice due to the cost of colocation and available power in hosting facilities. The 1U form factor and max 45W power consumption for a fully loaded 40 channels system were significantly differentiating factors over more traditional coherent transponders.  

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IX Australia deploys Smartoptics’ low cost 100G Open Line System

Internet Exchange Australia (IX Australia) has deployed Smartoptics' DCP-M40 Open Line System and Pluggable DWDM QSFP28 PAM4 transceivers to provide high capacity links to metro locations in Sydney.

The new, automated, network was delivered by Independent Data Solutions (IDS) and provides IX Australia with lowest cost 40 x 100 Gb/s traffic capability over a single pair of fibers.

The new Smartoptics DCP-M40 Open Line System enables up to 40x100G wavelengths over spans exceeding 50km with fully automated addition of new channels for ease of use.

Oslo-based Smartoptics AB said space and power considerations were important factors in the technology choice due to the cost of colocation and available power in hosting facilities. The 1U form factor and max 45W power consumption for a fully loaded 40 channels system were significantly differentiating factors over more traditional coherent transponders. 

Magnus Grenfeldt, CEO Smartoptics, commented, “In winning this important network expansion project, Smartoptics demonstrates continued success in commercializing PAM4 technology, our unique open line system and network automation technology as new foundation for Data Centre Interconnectivity. IX Australia has seamlessly expanded the capabilities of its network selecting the most optimal technology for their interconnects. Selecting PAM4 over coherent technology for less than 80km interconnects is clearly significantly advantageous in terms of cost, complexity, availability and latency.”

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