ATLANTA, June 4 -- Agere Systems and Nortel Networks announced today at Supercomm 2002 that four additional companies will support a multisource agreement (MSA) that establishes an industry standard for 10 gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) surface-mount optical receivers. The new members are Hitachi Limited, Multiplex Inc., Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. and Velocium. They will independently develop and market receivers that conform to the form-factor and electrical and functional characteristics defined by the MSA, originally announced by Agere and Nortel Networks in March 2002. As defined by the MSA, surface-mount receivers are small-form-factor devices that can be mounted directly to printed circuit boards without the need to modify or cut the board, making them easy to implement. This design also allows systems manufacturers to save on valuable board space, Agere said, and the specified layout can accommodate future integrated features. For information about MSA, contact Roger Harley at Nortel Networks at 1-613-765-4185, or Ley Mee Hii at Agere Systems at 1-484-397-2525.