Sycamore wins KT backbone contract

Siemens and Sycamore Networks have been selected to supply core optical switching equipment for a nationwide backbone by South Korean carrier KT.

Sycamore won’t quantify the deal, which makes use of the two vendors’ partnership, or discuss other details of the contract.

Standard & Poor's Equity Research called the news a “big win” for Sycamore, which has been seeking “strategic alternatives” as a company since August 2004, including a sale of the company. The company admitted having won no significant new customers in the second quarter but received revenue from 16 customers.

Sycamore, which cut 6% of its staff in April, was threatened with delisting by NASDAQ earlier this summer for failing to file financial reports for the quarter that ended April 30. It also reported having nearly $950 million in cash at the end of April.

Separately, Juniper Networks announced last week that KT, which has been using Juniper’s T-series core routers since 2002, has now deployed the vendor’s thousandth T-series router.