Short Take: Novalux scores $109 million

Novalux, a fiber-optic systems component manufacturer, has secured $109 million in third-round financing. Investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, a previous investor, led the round and was joined by new stakeholders Cisco Systems, Credit Suisse First Boston, Intel Capital, Salomon Smith Barney, US Bancorp Piper Jaffray and several others. Novalux, founded in 1998, makes a laser designed to deliver data over fiber optics that the company believes is technologically unique and more efficient than competing lasers.