Corvis bolsters government biz for optical work

Corvis Corp. has established a new subsidiary and advisory board to provide optical networking solutions to the government, the company announced Oct. 7. The Columbia, Md., company has made its sale to the government for its optical networking products; details were not released.


Corvis Government Solutions Inc. was launched earlier this year with the appointment of John McGowan as vice president. Previously he has held senior management positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories, AT&T Defense Markets and Lucent Government Solutions. He also was founder and vice president of Qwest Government Systems.


Members of the Corvis Government Solutions Technical Advisory Board include Art Money, former assistant secretary of defense for command, control, communications and intelligence and chief information officer of the Defense Department; Tom Hartwick, former executive with Hughes Aircraft Co. and TRW Inc.; and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Walker.


"As the largest bandwidth user in the world, the U.S. government represents an important and growing market for Corvis," said Kim Larsen, president of the government solutions subsidiary and senior vice president of business development. "We plan to leverage the telecommunications systems expertise of our technical advisory board members as we pursue this new business opportunity."


Corvis was founded in 1997 and went public in 2000. The company's fiscal 2001 revenue was $188.5 million, and it has 863 employees, according to Hoover's Inc., an online business information service.