Werner Answers Qwest's Call
By Karen Brown
from the June 18, 2001 issue of Broadband Week
Tony Werner couldn't resist hopping back over to the network operator side of the fence.
The former chief technology officer at AT&T Broadband, who left the MSO in October to become president and CEO at passive optical networking startup Aurora Networks, is taking a position as executive vice president of strategic technology at Qwest Communications International.
He will oversee technology planning and development in Qwest's 14-state RBOC territory as well as the company's national and international markets.
Werner, who had been commuting from his Denver home to Santa Clara, Calif.-based Aurora, says the chance to keep his family in Denver was crucial in his decision to take the Qwest job.
"I really enjoy doing the startup thing ... I think the Aurora guys are great. I think the technology is great," Werner says. "But my need to stay in Denver combined with my desire to be in the operating role make the Qwest opportunity an exciting opportunity I just couldn't turn down."
But he leaves Aurora in a fairly good position as the company starts to build its business and deploy its passive optical system for hybrid fiber-coax cable networks. The company recently gathered $20 million in second-round funding from lead investor ComVentures, along with Castile Ventures and Battery Ventures--the latter of which also contributed to Aurora's $10 million first round.
Aurora's network products are aimed at cutting operational costs for MSOs because they use passive optical switches instead of energy-hungry, maintenance-needy electrical switches. Several of its products have passed snuff in MSO labs. By the end of July, plans are to start deploying the passive HFC network equipment--headend digital transmitters and receivers as well as the last-mile segments, including optical nodes equipped with 100 Base-T interfaces and digital return system equipment, Werner says.
To begin with, the system is aimed at residential areas in 75-node setups, "but the big interest that we will be doing an awful lot of deployment on is also using this for small businesses and institutional networks serving schools and other requirements of the municipalities," Werner says. "The nice thing about this is the same product can be used for a residential network that is used to enable either campus or metropolitan networks."
The first deployment will be in San Jose with AT&T Broadband. Aurora hasn't announced any other deals, but it does have letters of intent from three major MSOs in the United States. It also has a handful of other orders that are to be announced shortly, Werner says.
Aurora Networks for now will be focusing on cable systems for next nine months to a year "because that's where our product is best suited for," Werner says.
"But we are also looking for business applications, metropolitan areas and things like that," he adds. "It will be a while before we go after telcos, because the product's a lot more similar to what the cable MSOs are accustomed to."
Coming out with network gear at a time when many operators are scaling back their spending can be daunting. But Werner says the fledgling Aurora has a sensible plan to get through the rocky economic period, and it has gathered a good customer base of operators who are spending money on network improvements.
"Nobody likes the economic turndown, but for the most part we've done well," he says. "The people with the money have believed our story and believed in the management team and that's good news. So I think we will be fine and certainly I think Aurora will be one company that survives this economic slow period pretty well."
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