A subsidiary of Columbia-based Corvis Corp. that aims to sell its technology to the federal government said yesterday that it has landed a new customer.

Corvis, which makes fiber-optic equipment, said the deal is with the U.S. government but would not say which government entity the customer is and did not disclose financial terms.

Several telecommunications companies are searching for revenue in the government market, said David Gross, a senior analyst who covers optical networking for Communications Industry Researchers Inc.

"Right now, there are a lot of people in this industry who are looking at the government, and that's not necessarily because there's an opportunity there, but because the government isn't cutting spending like the large carriers are," Gross said.

A technical advisory board will help guide Corvis' subsidiary, Corvis Government Solutions Inc., which was created this year. Kim D. Larsen, senior vice president of business development at Corvis, is president of the subsidiary.

"As the largest bandwidth user in the world, the U.S. government represents an important and growing market for Corvis," Larsen said in a statement.

"We plan to leverage the telecommunications systems expertise of our technical advisory board members as we pursue this new business opportunity."

The customer Corvis announced yesterday is its sixth. Analysts have long said that the company needs more customers, and some have said Corvis' technology is too far ahead of its time.

Its stock price, which was as high as $108.06 in August 2000, is trading for less than $1.

The company announced last week that its stock listing would move from the Nasdaq national market to the Nasdaq small-cap market.

The shares fell 0.9 cents to 51.1 cents yesterday.