Nortel Networks Ltd.
announced this month that it will shut down Xros, a company it acquired in June 2000 at a cost of US$3.25 billion. Xros had developed an all-optical switch that spelled massive throughput for carriers – up to 1,000 Terabits (one Petabit) of data. Nortel officials said that the switch could still be released in the future, but without the degree of marketing that was originally planned to accompany it.