OptXCon Inc., a venture-backed company that develops all-optical cross-connect technologies targeted at the service provider and large enterprise marketplaces, announced that its founder, president and CEO Don Bouchard has been named as a finalist in the Ernst & Young 2001 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Selected from more than several hundred entrants, Bouchard is among 29 finalists in North and South Carolina. ElectroniCast announced that it will offer a new, continuing series of analysis and forecast reports of optical communication advanced photonics. These Rapid Reaction Reports will address emerging technologies, applications, vendors and markets. Quantities, average prices and values year by year through 2005 will be forecasted in the reports.