Infinera's Data Deluge Bet

Infinera filed for a public offering that will test the market's appetite for another optical networking chipmaker.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., tech shop makes chips that handle multiple-colored light waves used to carry traffic on optical networks. The company has caught the attention of industry observers who see the technology as a cheaper, more efficient method of managing greater volumes of data over network pathways.

The company, originally named Zepton Networks, was co-founded by Jagdeep Singh, who was named CEO in 2001. Among Singh's earlier accomplishments was the sale of a company he ran named Lightera to Ciena (CIEN Quote) in 1999 for $500 million. Lightera provided the foundation for Ciena's popular CoreDirector optical switch.

Like many tech upstarts, Infinera is phenomenally unprofitable. Last year, the company lost $89.1 million on $58.7 million in sales. Its total accumulated loss as of the end of last year was $313.1 million.

And as happens occasionally in tech, Infinera has been charged with patent infringement. Last year, Cheetah Omni sued Infinera over patents related to gear sold to Level 3 (LVLT Quote). Infinera filed a response denying the infringement claims.

Investors are likely to see Infinera as a sort of flashback to a time before the telecom boom collapsed in 2000-01. Back then, optics held great promise and -- for a few brilliant years -- names like JDSU (JDSU Quote), Nortel (NT Quote) and Corning (GLW Quote) delivered eye-popping returns.

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