Communications equipment provider Ciena Corp., of Linthicum, which manufactures fiber optic telecommunications equipment, said it received clearance to proceed with its $290 million acquisition of World Wide Packets Inc.

By Tom Sowa, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. Oct. 3--Two area high-tech companies landed among the top 15 in the annual Deloitte Fast 50 ranking of fastest-growing businesses in the Pacific Northwest. Liberty Lake-based ISR Inc. came in ninth in the new survey.