Lets not forget Luxtera is listed as one of the potential 13 companies that POET is engaged with and could very well be one of the 3 that are in the process of active qualification for co - development.
https://poet-technologies.com/docs/presentations
page 26.
Perhaps (and this is purely speculation), Mr Don Listwin opened up his rolodex.
A win win situation for Cisco, as Mono said they bring in much needed in house Module Makers who could potentionaly be qualifying POET IP.
Wake