Nortel to Acquire CoreTek for $1.43 Billion

BRAMPTON, Ontario, Mar. 23 -- Nortel Networks has announced that it will acquire optical component maker CoreTek, of Wilmington, Mass., for up to $1.43 billion in Nortel's common shares. Nortel expressed its belief that CoreTek's tunable lasers and other optical components will further Nortel's drive for an all-optical Internet. CoreTek's capabilities are an important building block in our vision to transform today's Internet into the all-optical Internet of tomorrow, said Clarence Chandran, president of Nortel's Service Provider and Carrier Group.
Nortel anticipates that CoreTek's components, which are designed to operate in 10-Gbs systems, will evolve to operate in tomorrow's 40- and 80-Gb/s systems. In addition, Nortel expects CoreTek's technology to complement its recent acquisition of Qtera and its proposed acquisition of Xros, which was announced last week.