 | |
| Company type | Public (OTCQB: ORCT)(TASE: ORCT) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications Equipment |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Defunct | 2015 |
| Fate | Bankrupted |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Key people | Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board and President: Izhak Tamir Co-Founder, CEO and Director: Eric Paneth |
| Products | Packet Transport Networking Infrastructure |
| Revenue | $12.7 million USD (FY 2009) |
| Net income | $23 million USD (FY 2009) |
| Number of employees | 200+ |
| Website | www.orckit.com |
Orckit-Corrigent was an Israel-based supplier of telecommunications networking equipment and products that facilitated the delivery of Carrier Ethernet and TDM migration applications for telecommunication providers.
Orckit-Corrigent was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. It went public in 1996, making history as the first Israeli company to face excess public demand at its initial public offering (IPO) in NASDAQ. However, despite those initial large contracts the company was unable to renew them. After years of losses, the company underwent a failed debt restructuring agreement in 2012, and entered bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings in mid-2015.
Corporate history
Orckit was founded in 1990 by Izhak Tamir and Eric Paneth.
In September 1996, Orckit announced an initial public offering (IPO) of 3.3 million of its ordinary shares at a public offering price of $16.00. The company then made history when its initial public offering on the Nasdaq over-the-counter exchange was postponed due to oversubscription. This made Orckit the first Israeli company ever to suffer a deferral on Nasdaq as a result of excess public demand.
In 2000, Orckit founded Corrigent Systems as a fully owned subsidiary. This move marked a transformation of the company, which originated as a DSL vendor, into a packet transport network (PTN) vendor. That year, the company began developing and manufacturing PTN products for metro aggregation networks and, Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) technology was developed and introduced to the market as IEEE 802.17 Standard, as part of the company's packet transport technology.
In 2007, Orckit-Corrigent launched its CM4000 PTN line of products, which currently serves multiple telecom providers worldwide, including leading Indian carrier Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), Deutsche Telekom, a leading Pan-European Scandinavian Service Provider, Mexican redIT (formerly MetroNet), and others.
Global expansion
In August 2009, Orckit-Corrigent opened a new office in Brazil to help strengthen its Latin American presence. In January 2010, Lindsay Ryan was hired as regional sales manager to head a new office in Manila, Philippines. At its peak, the company had international offices in Israel, US, India, Japan, Korea, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, and the Philippines.
In February 2010, VK Aggarwal was appointed new managing director of Orckit-Corrigent's new India headquarters. The company also hired additional employees to better serve existing customers and develop new opportunities in the region.
In March 2010, Orckit-Corrigent opened a new office in Thailand and appointed Monchai Kunwattanakorn as the new VP Sales for Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.
In May 2010, Orckit-Corrigent opened a new sales office and service center in Germany, headed by Bernd Muehlhaus. This was an important move for the company, as the European region captured approximately a third of the global Carrier Ethernet market. Orckit-Corrigent was active in the German market, having signed an agreement with Media Broadcast GmbH for Deutsche Telekom in 2008.
Bankruptcy
Following the "dot com boom", Orckit amassed increasing debt throughout the 2000-2010 decade, ultimately reaching a debt restructuring agreement with its creditors in 2012. In June 2014 the company was valued at US$1.7 million, down from a peak of US$2 billion in the early 2000s. As of June 2015, the company was in liquidation proceedings and was expected to be sold as a stock exchange shell. In 2021, the corporate website merely contained financial runoff information, by 2022 it was no longer operational.
Market
Orckit-Corrigent offered networking infrastructure for the delivery of residential, business and mobile backhauling services in packet-based networks. Orckit-Corrigent focused on what the company termed time-division multiplexing (TDM) migration, whereby carriers operating legacy SDH networks with growing levels of Ethernet traffic are offered the ability to progressively transition to a network where traffic is offloaded to a platform that can handle both TDM and Ethernet services.
Orckit-Corrigent targeted the carrier Ethernet switch (router) market and optical networking equipment market, offering application delivery for the PTN market and TDM migration for MSPP installed-base.
The company's PTN included standard and interoperable MPLS and MPLS-TP switches, enabling packet, as well as legacy services, over packet transport networks. It also offered circuit emulation and packet synchronization technologies as one of the building blocks for the TDM upgrade.
Products
The CM-4000 product family contained a series of packet transport network switches. It consisted of the CM-4140, CM-4206 and CM-4314T/4314 models. Orckit's CM-401x portfolio of switches included the CM-4011, CM-4012 and CM-4013 products and was fully compatible with the company's metro aggregation products.
References
- ^ ""Orckit Nasdaq IPO makes history," AllBusiness".
- ^ Shauli, Avi (22 June 2014). "הסיפור העצוב של אורכית: כל הדרך מ-2 מיליארד דולר לפחות מ-2 מיליון דולר" [Orckit's Sad Story: From $2 Billion to less than $2 Million]. BizPortal (in Hebrew). Israel. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- "Orckit, which once had a $1.6 billion market cap, could be sold for only NIS 500,000". Globes. Israel. 28 June 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- ""Interview With The President: Orckit Communications Ltd. (ORCT) - Izhak Tamir," Yahoo Finance".
- ""Orckit Communications Ltd. announces commencement of initial public offering," BusinessWire".
- "Bloomberg Businessweek Profile: Corrigent Systems, Inc". Archived from the original on October 8, 2012.
- ""Corrigent Demos IEEE 802.17 RPR," Light Reading".
- ""Corrigent Unveils CM-4000," Light Reading".
- ""Orckit-Corrigent to supply Carrier Ethernet systems for BSNL broadband network in India," Lightwave".
- European Telecom Newsletter – February 28, 1999.
- ""Orckit-Corrigent Signed an Agreement with a Leading Scandinavian Service Provider," Israel Venture Capital Research Center". Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
- ""MetroNet Picks Orckit," Light Reading".
- "redIT Website".
- ""Orckit-Corrigent Strengthens Its Sales Effort in Latin America," BusinessWire" (Press release).
- ""Orckit-Corrigent Strengthens its Sales and Marketing Efforts in the Philippines," Press Release". Archived from the original on 2011-08-13. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
- ""Orckit-Corrigent Strengthens its Presence in India," TradingMarkets.com".
- ""Orckit-Corrigent Continues Global Expansion with Local Addition in Thailand," BusinessWire" (Press release).
- ""Orckit shares jump on new Germany office," Globes". 4 May 2010.
- ""Orckit-Corrigent Signs a Long Term Agreement with Media Broadcast GmbH for Deutsche Telekom's Customer in Germany," BusinessWire".
- Tzalik, Nir (7 September 2015). "איך השלד הבורסאי אורכית שווה כבר חצי מיליארד שקל?" [How is Orckit's Stock Shell Worth Already Half a Billion NIS?]. Calcalist (in Hebrew). Israel. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- "אורכית תקשורת בע״מ (בהסדר נושים)" [Orckit Communications Ltd. (in a creditors' arrangement)] (in Hebrew). Orckit-Corrigent in liquidation. 2021-05-20. Archived from the original on 2021-05-21. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
- ""Interview with Izhak Tamir, Co-Founder, Chairman and President of Orckit-Corrigent," Optical Keyhole".
- ""TDM migration and the path towards unified networks," Orckit-Corrigent". Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
- ""Orckit-Corrigent Successfully Demonstrates Full Product Line Interoperability at Carrier Ethernet World's Industry-Wide Testing Event," Yahoo Finance".
- ""Orckit-Corrigent Unveils Its Enhanced Mobile Backhaul Portfolio," BusinessWire" (Press release).
- ""Corrigent Introduces a New Member in its Carrier Ethernet Transport – CE+T – Product Family," dBusinessNews". Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
- ""Corrigent Enhances Mobile Backhaul with MPLS Aggregation," Converge Network Digest".
External links
- Official Website
- Orckit-Corrigent on Google Finance
- Interview with Izhak Tamir, Co-Founder, Chairman and President of Orckit-Corrigent Optical Keyhole, September 17, 2010
- TDM Migration and the Path Toward Unified Networks TMC Next Generation Networks, July 2010
- Rethinking VPN Architecture at Layers 2 and 3 Converge Network Digest, April 22, 2010
- Next step for MPLS is the metro edge Lightwave, January 1, 2010
