Corning Inc. recently announced it would buy 90% of Italian cable company Pirelli's optical components and devices business for as much as $3.6 billion. The deal gives Corning additional production facilities and expands its reach into Europe at a time of exploding demand for its products. It also comes two months after the Corning, N.Y.-based company ended talks to buy an optical components business from Canada's Nortel Networks Corp. Corning will make an initial payment of approximately $3.4 billion, and could make a further payment of $180 million if the unit meets certain performance targets. Cisco Systems Inc. owns the remaining 10% of the business.