XO Expresses Disappointment in Global Crossing Court Decision

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court handling the Global Crossing case approved a purchase agreement amendment that extends the exclusivity period under which only Singapore Technologies Telemedia PTE bid is considered for acquiring the company. In a press statement, XO said it remains highly skeptical that Singapore Technologies Telemedia PTE will be able to obtain the needed regulatory approvals to consummate this transaction. Furthermore, XO argues that Global Crossing should not be owned and controlled by an entity owned by a foreign government. It also noted that present cash flow projections indicate that Global Crossing could run out of unrestricted cash in October.
http://www.xo.com

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Tellabs Expands its Next-gen SDH portfolio

Tellabs introduced a new high-density Ethernet-over-SDH switch that uses Layer 2 MPLS to offer true QoS for data transport. The Tellabs 6345 is a 10 Gbps multi-service provisioning platform designed to provide lower-order access, integrated Fast and Gigabit Ethernet ports and full Layer 2 switching in both metropolitan and regional networks. The Tellabs 6345 features a cross-connect capacity of 384 x STM-1 and 8,064 x VC-12, making it the most powerful and compact ADM-64 system on the market, according to Tellabs. First customer shipments are expected in Q4 2003.
http://www.tellabs.com

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ITU Allocates Additional 455 MHz of Spectrum for WLANs

Delegates to the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) World Radio Conference (WRC) in Geneva, Switzerland agreed to allocate 455 MHz of unlicensed spectrum in the 5-GHz band for global WLAN use. Once the agreement achieves final plenary approval, 100 MHz of spectrum (5.150-5.250 GHz) will be allocated for indoor WLAN use, while an additional 355 MHz will be allocated for mixed indoor/outdoor use (5.250-5.350 GHz and 5.470-5.725 GHz). The international agreement at the WRC effectively opens at least 19 non-interfering 5GHz channels for global WLAN use.


Atheros Communications described the agreement as "a defining moment for the WLAN industry as a whole." Atheros noted that the universal 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g networks that it supports with its chipsets will offer access to nine times as many non-overlapping channels as 802.11b and 802.11g-only networks in the U.S., and seven times as many non-overlapping channels in Europe.
http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/conferences/wrc/wrc-03/index.asphttp://www.atheros.com

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NTT East Selects Efficient's DSL Provisioning Software

NTT-East selected Efficient Networks' Tango broadband access software suite as its standard platform for facilitating DSL self-installation and access. The software suite, which includes Tango installer and Tango manager, provides a simple, efficient and cost effective way to quickly provide DSL service to the carrier's growing broadband customer base. NTT-East has purchased 1.2 million licenses of Tango installer and Tango manager through Japanese network solution integrator Terilogy. Efficient Networks is a subsidiary of Siemens AG.
http://www.efficient.com

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Netopia Debuts Integrated ADSL Wireless Gateway

Netopia introduced a new Cayman 3347W ADSL Wireless Gateway based on chipsets from TI and Conexant Systems. Netopia's gateway incorporates dual antennas specifically tuned to enhance Wi-Fi coverage inside the home. It also provides a 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch.
http://www.netopia.com

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Korea's DACOM Chooses Cisco 12000 Series Routers

DACOM, a communications service provider in Korea, is deploying Cisco 12406, 12410 and 12416 series routers to expand its BORANet backbone. The network supports Internet leased-line service for corporate customers, including small office-home office (SOHO) environments, and Internet PC cafes. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.cisco.com

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Sanera Raises $35 Million for its SAN Switch

Sanera Systems, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, received $35 million in third round financing to support the development of its terabit, protocol transparent SAN switch. Sanera's DS10000 datacenter-class director, introduced in April 2003, scales to as many as 256 non-blocking 2 Gbps ports or up to 64 10 Gbps ports per chassis. The platform can be used for SAN consolidation, large fabric deployment and in-network storage services integration. It features a unique dynamic partitioning feature that allows enterprises to consolidate SANs into a single system while maintaining the administrative autonomy and security of independent SAN islands. It includes native multiprotocol support for Fibre Channel, Ethernet/ iSCSI, and FICON. The new funding round was led by Sanera's current investors, including ArrowPath, CMEA Ventures, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, Goldman Sachs, Greylock and Storm Ventures. Sanera has raised a total of $101 million in financing to date.
http://www.sanera.net

• Sanera Systems is headed by Larry Sanders, who previously was the president and CEO of Crossroads Systems, a maker of storage routers. Prior to Crossroads, he served as President and CEO of Fujitsu Computer Products of America.

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Internet2 Releases Privacy-Preserving Web Authorization Software

The Internet2 initiative announced the first production version of open-source software designed for active privacy management. The Shibboleth 1.0 software provides an authentication and authorization architecture that enables inter-institutional sharing of Web resources subject to access controls. Shibboleth also aims to provide a policy framework that will allow inter-operation within the higher education community. A key concept within Shibboleth is "federated Administration," in which the origin campus (home to the browser user) provides attribute assertions about that user to the target site. A trust fabric exists between campuses, allowing each site to identify the other speaker, and assign a trust level. A number of leading universities are participating in the project. The Shibboleth software was developed under the auspices of the National Science Foundation's Middleware Initiative (NMI). Enterprise software companies are also expected to incorporate Shibboleth into their products are services.http://shibboleth.internet2.eduhttp://www.internet2.edu

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Marconi Demonstrates 10 Gbps Packet Encryption on its BXR-48000

Marconi has demonstrated the encryption of IP and ATM data at 10 Gbps rates for safeguarding the mission-critical, real-time applications and services required for secure government communications across the world. The demonstration used Marconi's BXR-48000 multiservice switch router, its 10 Gbps ATM interface card, and the 10 Gbps General Dynamics UltraFastlane KG-75A encryptor. Marconi supported encryption of 10 Gbps IP traffic over ATM, 10 Gbps of pure ATM traffic, and the simultaneous encrypted transport of 5 Gbps of IP and 5 Gbps of ATM. Marconi said that at present only ATM will support the encryption of IP packet and TDM traffic at 10 Gbps rates, while IP traffic over Ethernet is limited to encryption rates of 100 Mbps. The company noted that the demands on a global communications grid require secure, multi-gigabit streams of data with low latency and QoS. Examples include secure, high-speed transport of encrypted surveillance data, real-time control and harvest of data from networked military and intelligence assets such as the Global Hawk and Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), transport of high-definition video steams, distributed supercomputing, and the integration of large storage files with real-time, desktop video telephony, including multi-person and multi-site conferencing for collaborative decision-making.
http://www.marconi.com

• In May 2003, Marconi announced support for the Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) for Simple Network Management Protocol, version 3, as a means to encrypt and secure the messages that manage its multiservice switch-routers. SNMP is a commonly used protocol for managing devices in a network. SNMPv3 improves security over previous versions by helping to ensure that each management message comes from an authenticated, verifiable source and has not been altered by unauthorized users. Marconi's 3DES for SNMPv3 is enabled with Marconi's management software and interoperates with the management software provided by other vendors. The combination of 3DES and SNMPv3 aims to ensure that unauthorized users cannot disrupt critical communications between network devices in commercial or government networks.
• 
  
  In January 2003, Marconi confirmed that the U.S. Department of Defense had become the first customer for its new 10 Gbps (OC-192c/STM-64) ATM port card, which interfaces to its flagship BXR-48000 multiservice switch- router. The Department of Defense will use the 10 Gbps ATM interface for classified applications in multiservice, broadband network expansion projects.

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Marconi Teams with Ethernet Port Extension over SDH

Marconi will incorporate MRV's Ethernet Port Extension (EPE) technology into its own PacketSpan solution for data over SDH. The MRV EPE technology extends Ethernet-over-SDH services to smaller and more geographically remote enterprises by taking PacketSpan Ethernet interfaces out of the operator's exchange or central office and placing them in customer premises. It uses electrical or optical Ethernet interfaces to connect to end customers' LAN infrastructures. Traffic is relayed over optical fiber, up to several kilometers long, terminating at a PacketSpan tributary card in the operator's network. PacketSpan then maps the end-customer's Ethernet traffic onto SDH. The service provider manages the PacketSpan CPE remotely, as if it were part of a network tributary card. The new Ethernet Port Extension solution is managed by Marconi's ServiceOn Optical network-management system. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Marconi's PacketSpan, which is part of Marconi's next-generation SDH portfolio, supports new mapping techniques such as GFP (Generic Framing Procedure), LCAS (Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme) and Virtual Concatenation.
http://www.marconi.com
http://www.mrv.com

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NEC America Adds Resiliency for Enterprise VoIP

NEC America introduced several new enterprise voice products:

• a new NEAX 2000 IPS-DMR communications platform, which is a new remote component for NEC's NEAX 2000 IPS and NEAX IPS-DM mid-range VoIP systems. It offers a unique remote survivability function that automatically connects to the public network should the IP network connection with the central site be interrupted. The DMR essentially converts a remote office to a standalone system until the IP network is restored.
• 
  
  a new "Dterm" IP phone featuring a failover adapter that provides immediate connectivity to the public network if the corporate IP network is down or should a power failure occur. A manual control is also available to switch between the central office trunk and IP network control if desired.

New software expected later this summer for NEC's large enterprise NEAX 2400 IPX platform will add automatic and transparent failover for Dterm IP phones to an alternate controller in the WAN or LAN, restoring essential services and features.
http://www.cng.nec.com

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Santera Qualifies its Switch for Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Financing

Santera's SanteraOne switching platform is now eligible for low-interest financing from the Rural Utilities Service program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The program provides independent and rural utilities and telecommunications service providers with low-interest financing to assist them in the purchase of new equipment. The approval for RUS financing follows on-site equipment trial of the SanteraOne platform by the Kerman Telephone Co. of Kerman, California.


In addition, Santera introduced two new switching products: SanteraOne RS (available Q4), a next-generation switch with a smaller media gateway for independent and rural carriers; and SanteraOne ESA, an emergency backup softswitch that gives carriers with remote systems the ability to continue carrying traffic in cases of a fiber cut between the host and the remote systems. The SanteraOne RS provides the same features as the larger SanteraOne Class 5 switches, including AMA billing, local number portability (LNP), E911 and CALEA. Additional features include services such as call waiting, call blocking and last-number redial. Santera is a Tekelec company.
http://www.santera.com

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Verizon to take $3 Billion Charges for Accounting Changes

Verizon Communications will take approximately $3.0 billion in charges in Q2 primarily driven by an accounting change in its directory business and by the effect of its recent decision to sell its consolidated interest in Grupo Iusacell in Mexico. Regarding the directories business, Verizon said it has changed its method for recognizing revenues and expenses, resulting in an after-tax, non-cash charge to earnings of approximately $1.6 billion, or $0.59 in fully diluted EPS, retroactive to 02-Jan-2003. As a result of Verizon's recent decision to sell its consolidated interest in Grupo Iusacell, the company expects to record a Q2 after-tax charge to earnings of $0.9 billion, or $0.33 per diluted share. Verizon also anticipates recording second-quarter after-tax charges to earnings of approximately $0.4 billion to $0.5 billion, or $0.14 to $0.19 per diluted share, related to severance, the early redemption of debt, and impairments of long-lived assets primarily due to consolidation and integration of facilities.
http://www.verizon.com

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XO Acquires More of Global Crossing's Debt

Through the tender offer that expired on 27-June-2003, XO Communications acquired approximately $495 million principal amount of Global Crossing's Senior Secured Loans. With the tendered amount, XO will own approximately $790 million principal amount of the approximately $2.214 billion of such loans outstanding.
http://www.xo.com

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Juniper Networks Expands Edge Routing Capabilities

Juniper Networks introduced several enhancements to its Service-Built Edge portfolio aimed at supporting new service models for carriers. The rollout includes:

• the ERX-310 edge router featuring 3-slots and 10 Gbps backplane. The ERX-310 is the smallest edge router in Juniper's portfolio and positioned for deployment in smaller POPs supporting up to 16,000 subscribers. The ERX-310 is aimed at untapped markets, such as smaller DSL nodes and 802.11 hotspots
• 
  
  new Ethernet services PIC offered in 1-port and 2-port Gigabit Ethernet versions. It provides per-VLAN QoS and accounting. It complements Juniper's existing ATM services PIC. Both PICs could be deployed simultaneously in the same M-series router.
• 
  
  new BRAS enhancements for providing secure remote access for IPSec, IPv6 capabilities, and the ability to support 48,000 subscribers with full services. The secure remote access capabilities would enable carriers to terminate an IPSec client session at an E-series edge router for interconnection into a corporate VPN. Juniper is also adding support for Ethernet-connected DSLAMs.
• 
  
  new Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) support based on the Kompella draft. Juniper's VPLS Kompella delivers inter-metro Ethernet LAN services by leveraging BGP signaling. The solution supports autodiscovery and Inter-AS for large carrier-to-carrier partnerships
• 
  
  new J-Flow accounting capabilities for aligning billing with actual resource consumption. Juniper said its flow-based accounting is distinguished by being independent of the data path, thereby ensuring no performance hit for turning on the accounting capabilities.
  

http://www.juniper.net

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LSI Logic Offers ADSL, VoIP and Ethenet HomeBase Design

LSI Logic introduced a VoIP/ADSL gateway design that uses its ADSL modem chipset and its open architecture ZSP digital signal processor (DSP). In addition to the hardware, the gateway includes software such as router, NAT (Network Address Translation) and Firewall based on a royalty-free Linux operating system. A comprehensive VoIP software suite is also included with multiple voice codecs including G.711, G.723.1, G.726, G.728 and G.729 and supporting signaling protocols such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and MGCP (Media Gateway Control Protocol). In addition to VoIP, the design also supports VoATM services.
http://www.lsilogic.com

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Extreme Debuts Fixed Configuration Edge Switch

Extreme Networks unveiled two new Summit 200 fixed configuration switches featuring enhanced security capabilities, including Network Login, 802.1x, DOS, SSH2, Layer 2/3/4 ACLs and many other features. The switches also features Extreme's unique Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching (EAPS) and Ethernet Standby Routing Protocol (ESRP), as well as link aggregation, rapid spanning tree and OSPF. The Summit 200-24 has a list price of $1,850, and the Summit 200-48 has a list price of $3,350. Both switches will be available in early July.
http://www.extremenetworks.com

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Mindspeed Completes Spinoff as Independent Public Company

Shares in Mindspeed Technologies began trading on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "MND." The company develops semiconductors for enterprise, access, metropolitan and wide area networks. The company's three key product families include multiservice access solutions designed to support voice and data services across wireline and wireless networks, T/E carrier physical-layer and link-layer products, and ATM/MPLS network processors. Mindspeed employs more than 650 people and is based in Newport Beach, California.
http://www.mindspeed.com

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Conexant Focuses on "Driving the Digital Home"

Following last week's spin-off of Mindspeed Technologies into a separate company, the ongoing Conexant Systems company adopted the slogan "Driving the Digital Home" as its corporate positioning statement. The company will focus on silicon solutions for client-side connections, especially set-top boxes, residential gateways, PCs and game consoles using broadband connections. Conexant Systems now has 1,400 employees and remains headquartered in Newport Beach, California.
http://www.conexant.com

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SureWest Selects Occam for Video over DSL

SureWest Communications, an integrated communications provider based in Roseville, California, has selected Occam Networks' BLC 6000 System to deliver video service to telephone subscribers.
Occam's broadband loop carrier platform supports an IP-service delivery model in which Gigabit Ethernet is used to provide feeder bandwidth. It also provides IGMP multicast capabilities at every node and delivers IP integration with digital head-ends, middleware and set top boxes. The selection of Occam Networks follows extensive lab trials for video-over-copper service delivery. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.occamnetworks.com
http://www.surewest.com

• In May 2003, SureWest Communications said DSL is being used in 18% and is available to 100% of the homes in the its ILEC service area. The company reported approximately 17,500 DSL customers. SureWest has also deployed a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Sacramento that offers a 10 Mbps standard to residential customers. This Sacramento operation currently has nearly 6,000 high-speed data customers. SureWest serves in excess of 135,000 access lines in its 83-square mile territory near Sacramento, California.
• 
  
  SureWest is using Cisco Systems as a vendor for its FTTH project in Sacramento. The deployment includes the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series and the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series switches.
• 
  
  SureWest is also using Minerva Networks' video services management software to offer interactive television services to its subscribers.
• 
  
  In May 2003, Occam Networks introduced its new BLC 6000 Broadband Loop Carrier System for delivery of voice, data and video services using Gigabit Ethernet transport. Occam's BLC 6000 is a modular loop carrier system designed to eliminate the need for additional pieces of access equipment such as a DSLAM, Ethernet switch, Optical Add Drop multiplexor and VoIP gateway. The platform supports TDM services, such as lifeline POTS and T1s, as well as an IP Service Delivery model for the delivery of video and softswitch-controlled voice services. IP support includes Internet Group Multicast Protocol (IGMP) and Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP). The BLC 6000 System can scale from 24 to thousands of subscribers, sharing blades across a variety of chassis sizes.
  

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Intersil, ViXS Collaborate on 802.11g Video Streaming

ViXS Systems and Intersil are collaborating on tools for the transmission of video over 802.11g networks. ViXS offers a chipset that can adjust the bit-rates, resolutions and formats of multiple MPEG video streams in real time, adapting each stream to changing network bandwidth. Intersil offers 802.11g chipsets. The combination of the two chipsets would enable consumer electronics manufacturers to build appliances capable of delivering high-quality digital video over a wireless network. Potential applications include digital video recorders (DVRs), media gateways, set-top boxes, HDTVs, plasma and LCD TV monitors, PDAs, web tablets, personal computers and personal video recorders (PVRs).
http://www.vixs.com
http://www.intersil.com

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BT Awards Key Network Access Contract to Marconi

Marconi will supply its Access Hub multiservice access node (MSAN) equipment to support the ongoing rollout and development of BT's broadband access service in the UK. Marconi's Access Hub combines the functionality of a DSLAM with the ability to aggregate multiple traffic types. The platform offers up to 40 Gbps of bandwidth on the backplane. In addition to the Access Hub platforms, Marconi is expected to provide BT with network installation, commissioning and support, as well as its ServiceOn Access network management system. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.marconi.com

• As of 16-May-2003, BT had 936,000 broadband end users. The company was adding about 25,000 new DSL accounts per week . At the time, BT's footprint was covering about 69% of UK households.
  

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Cypress Samples High Performance Network Search Engine

Cypress Semiconductor began sampling a new high-performance network search engine (NSE) optimized for multi-protocol packet classification and forwarding at 266 million searches per second (MSPS). Cypress claims its new device effectively doubles the search performance of existing NSE solutions. The network search engine could be used in Internet routers and switches to offload search functions from the network processing ASIC or FPGA.
http://www.cypress.com

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AT&T Discounts Dial-up Service for Local/Long Distance Customers

Consumers who choose AT&T for residential local and long distance bundle will be able to add unlimited, dial-up Internet access for $11.95 per month. The bundling saves customers more than $140 a year on dial-up Internet service from AT&T. The package is initially offered in New Jersey.
http://www.att.com

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Sandia National Labs Builds 128 Node InfiniBand Supercomputer Cluster Node

Sandia National Labs selected Fabric Networks to supply a 128-node Linux cluster based on InfiniBand switched fabric networking technology. The project is described as the largest public, fully integrated cluster of this magnitude in the U.S. based on 10 Gbps InfiniBand technology.
http://www.fabricnetworks.com

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Cogent Supplies 100 Mbps Link for Distance Learning Network

C-SPAN has selected Cogent to provide a 100 Mbps connection to Pace University's midtown Manhattan campus. This is the second such connection that Cogent has provided to C-SPAN to use for its expanding distance learning program. Cogent offers either 100 Mbps or 1,000 Mbps dedicated, non-oversubscribed bandwidth at $1,000 and $10,000 per month respectively.
http://www.cogentco.com
http://www.C-SPAN.org.

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Vitesse Participates in Darpa Research into Indium Phosphide Chips

Vitesse Semiconductor, BAE SYSTEMS and the University of Illinois Urbana Champain (UIUC) are collaborating on a $6 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop next generation indium phosphide (InP) integrated circuits for military communications. The research program will leverage Vitesse's sub-micron VIP-2 Indium Phosphide Heterojunction Bipolar Transmitter (InP HBT) technology. The initial circuits are for direct digital frequency synthesis (DDFS) for electronic warfare and radar applications.
http://www.vitesse.com

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Level 3 Announces Offering of $250 Million of Convertible Senior Notes

Level 3 Communications announced a public offering of $250 million in Convertible Senior Notes due 2010. Level 3 said it will use the money for working capital, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes, including new product development, debt repurchases and acquisitions. The company will also grant to the underwriters an option to purchase an additional $37.5 million aggregate principal amount of its Convertible Senior Notes solely to cover over-allotments.


Separately, Level 3 reaffirmed its previously issued financial guidance for Q2 and the rest of 2003.
http://www.Level3.com

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UTStarcom Lands First European Contract

The Cyprus Telecommunications Authority selected UTStarcom's AN-2000 Broadband Multi-Service Access Network (MSAN) to support its rollout of a "Fiber-to-the-Cabinet" (FTTCab) network of voice, data, and ADSL services serving enterprise and residential subscribers. The selection marks UTStarcom's first contract in Europe. UTStarcom's AN-2000 access platform can be used to deliver traditional analog voice services; digital voice and data over ISDN; analog and digital leased-line services over IDSL or SHDSL; broadband data over SHDSL and ADSL; and Internet access. It connects to the PSTN on V5.2, V5.1, or two-wire interfaces and it supports ATM or IP backhaul for data services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.utstar.com

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UTStarcom Signs Another $43 Million Contract with China Netcom

In just six months since China Netcom began offering a low-cost wireless local telephone service using UTStarcom's IP-based Personal Access System (iPAS) in China's northern HeiLongJiang province, over 800,000 subscribers have signed-up. Over half of these new subscribers are in the provincial capital of Harbin. China Netcom has signed a contract valued at approximately $43 million to deploy additional iPAS equipment. UTStarcom said the explosive PAS subscriber growth is indicative of what is happening in other metropolitan and suburban regions of China.
http://www.utstar.com

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TelstraClear Deploys Broadsoft/Cisco for Carrier Hosted Applications

TelstraClear, a competitive carrier in New Zealand, will begin deploying BroadSoft's BroadWorks platform and Cisco infrastructure to provide converged voice and data services. BroadSoft's BroadWorks supports a range of carrier applications, including IP Centrex, Hosted PBX, and Voice VPN. Financial terms were not disclosed. BroadSoft and Cisco now have over 20 joint customers worldwidehttp://www.broadsoft.com/

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Juniper and Alcatel to Build Telecom New Zealand's New IP Network

Telecom New Zealand is using Juniper Networks' M- and E-series platforms for its next generation IP network. The equipment was deployed in Telecom New Zealand's network by Alcatel. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.juniper.net

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Loral Space and Alcatel Settle Disputes

Loral Space & Communications and Alcatel settled all outstanding issues between them, including a contract dispute that has been in arbitration. Loral will pay Alcatel $5 million now and an additional $8 million within one year of closing. As part of the settlement, Alcatel will transfer its minority interest in CyberStar to Loral, and Loral will transfer to Alcatel its minority interests in two Alcatel affiliates (Europe*Star and SkyBridge) that Loral had previously written off.
http://www.loral.com

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Motorola Invests in Bitfone

Bitfone, a start-up based in Laguna Niguel, California, has secured additional funding from Motorola Ventures for its over-the-air (OTA) firmware update technology for mobile phones. Bitfone's technology enables the updating of a mobile phone's entire firmware over the air in a fault-tolerant manner. Total funding in Bitfone now stands at over $35 million. Previous investors include Nokia Venture Partners, St Paul Venture Capital, 3i, Nexit Ventures, Orange Ventures, KTB Ventures and CIR Ventures. Bitfone said it is the first company to receive funding from both Motorola Ventures and Nokia Venture Partners.
http://www.bitfone.com

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Orthogon Unveils Wireless Ethernet Bridge in Unlicensed 5.8 GHz

Orthogon Systems (formerly Pipinghot Networks), a start-up based in Waltham, Massachusetts and Ashburton, UK, announced commercial availability of a Wireless Ethernet bridge that operates in the license-exempt 5.8GHz spectrum band. Orthogon Systems uses intelligent orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) along with a special multi-beam space time coding technique to provide far greater radio coverage than has previously been possible with non-line-of-sight (nLoS) technology. Unlike conventional systems that use a single channel radio, Orthogon Systems transmits several data beams via multiple antennas. These beams are recombined by multiple receivers at the other end of the point-to-point connection. If any one radio path is faded, there is a high probability that other paths are not, so the signal still gets through. Orthogon's Wireless Ethernet Bridge also employs adaptive modulation from BPSK to 64QAM based on the received signal quality, as well as an intelligent dynamic frequency selection that switches to another clean radio channel when any interference is detected on the current channel. The company claims link availability approaching 99.9999% (six nines). The technology is also expected to deliver 8 times the nLoS range and much greater probability of installation than the best of current generations radios. The effective range depends heavily on terrain, foliage and the presence of buildings in the radio path. Orthogon's first product release supports data rates of 15 Mbps, although subsequent updates to the software defined radio will optimize the transmission for data rates or 23 Mbps and later 30 Mbps and above. A pair or radios in a weatherproof casing for creating a Wireless Ethernet bridge is expected to cost $11,995.


Separately, Orthogon Systems announced $7 million in new venture capital from Atlas Venture and The Carlyle Group, bringing total funds raised to $28 million. The funding will be used for the sales, marketing and ongoing development of its products.
http://www.orthogonsystems.com/

• The Orthogon Systems team includes Phil Bolt, Nigel King and Grant Grafton, each of whom previously served in Nortel Networks' Broadband Wireless business unit. Orthogon Systems was founded in January 2000 as Pipinghot Networks.

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Verizon Endorses Principles of Open Internet, No New Regulations

Verizon Communications endorsed the principle of the Open Internet. The company is encouraging the FCC to adopt national broadband policies that ensure consumers will continue to have unlimited or "boundless" access to the Internet, no matter what underlying wireline technology they are using, said Tom Tauke, senior vice president for Public Policy & External Affairs at Verizon. Speaking at the Net Neutrality Conference sponsored by the Progress and Freedom Foundation, Tauke warned against turning such principles into new regulations. Verizon believes the FCC should ensure that all new broadband services brought to the market are placed in a "regulatory-free zone." Tauke argued that a competitive market will ensure that all content providers will be able to reach any Internet-connected customer without interference from software, hardware or access providers, regardless of affiliation.
http://www.verizon.com/newshttp://www.pff.org

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Support Grows for Advanced Switching Specification

Twenty more companies have joined the Arapahoe Work Group, an industry consortium developing the Advanced Switching specification. Advanced Switching is a switched interconnect and data fabric technology based on the PCI Express architecture for joining components and system boards in low-to-midrange communications and embedded applications. The PCI Express architecture, builds on the highly successful PCI standard, is designed as a general-purpose chip-to-chip interconnect technology.
It uses the same physical and link layers as the PCI Express architecture. However, at the transaction layer, Advanced Switching is optimized to provide an array of specialized communications features, including high-availability functions, peer-to-peer and multicast networking, congestion and system management, scalability, and support for virtually any networking protocol.


Intel said it plans to adopt the proposed Advanced Switching specification into a wide array of its communication products, including network and storage processors, Ethernet controllers and chipsets that support embedded Intel architecture.


New companies joining the Arapahoe Work Group include Agere Systems, Alcatel, Altera Corp., EMC Corp., Fujitsu Limited, Hitachi Ltd., Huawei Technologies, National Semiconductor, Nokia, Petalynx, OSE Systems, PMC-Sierra, Siemens AG, Sun Microsystems Inc., Synopsys Inc., TeraChip Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., Xyratex and ZettaCom..
http://www.intel.com
http://www.express-lane.org.

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Dell Promotes T-Mobile HotSpots

Dell will offer 2,000 free minutes of the T-Mobile HotSpot service to customers purchasing its notebook computers. There are now 2,600 T-Mobile HotSpots across the US in Starbucks coffeehouses, numerous airports and airline clubs, Borders Books and Music stores, and other locations.
http://www.dell.com

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Cisco Opens New Campus in Boxboro, Massachusetts

Cisco Systems opened a new campus in Boxborough, Massachusetts that will be used to consolidate various of its operations in New England, including its Development Engineering, Customer Advocacy, and other groups. The new Cisco facility comprises 350 acres of land in the Boxborough vicinity. It encompasses 430,000 square feet of office space and can accommodate up to 1,500 employees. In addition to the new facility, Cisco owns another 138-acre facility in Boxborough.
http://www.cisco.com

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Alcatel Releases Enterprise VoIP Assessment Tool

Alcatel released a new tool to help enterprises assess, monitor, and troubleshoot VoIP in their networks. The Alcatel Assessment for VoIP Solution (AVISO) uses a PC-based server to generate "QoS tickets" at the end of each call to an IP phone. The tickets are logged in a detailed report. The AVISO tool is platform-agnostic and supports multi-vendor voice and data networks.http://eservice.ind.alcatel.com/profservhome/

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Marvell Closes Acquisition of Radlan

Marvell closed its acquisition of Radlan Computer Communications, a provider of embedded communications software based in Israel. Marvell said its portfolio of networking chipsets combined with RADLAN's networking software uniquely positions the company to fuel the next wave of growth for its communications systems customers.
http://www.marvell.com

• In February 2003, Marvell first announced plans to acquire Radlan. Marvell, which previously owned 9% of Radlan, offered a combination of cash and shares of Marvell common stock valued at $49.7 million based on the 05-Feb-03 closing price of Marvell in exchange for the remaining outstanding shares of Radlan capital stock and employee stock options.

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Sun to Acquire Pixo for Java Content Server

Sun Microsystems will acquire Pixo, a start-up offering Java -based server software to manage the secure distribution and monetization of digital content for end users' mobile devices. Pixo's server software enables network operators and enterprises to centrally manage content, customize multiple subscriber interfaces and allow rapid downloads of secure digital content, including Java applications. It will also provide a consolidated platform to add, manage, market, download and bill for all types of wireless content regardless of where that content is physically located. The Pixo software will be offered in conjunction with Sun's recently announced mobility programs, which includes the Sun Developer Network Mobility Program, Business Mobility Initiative and Unified Testing Initiative for Wireless Java Applications. Financial terms of the all cash transaction were not disclosed.
http://www.sun.com
http://www.pixo.com/

• Pixo was founded in 1996 and was funded by Altos Ventures, BayPartners, ComVentures, Conexant and Hikari Tsushin. The company is based in San Jose, California.



• Pixo is headed by Dave Rothschild, an early employee of Netscape who served as Vice President of Netscape/AOL's Client Products.

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City Düsseldorf Builds a Wi-Fi Net with a Municipal Model

The German city of Düsseldorf selected Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems division to build a municipal Wi-Fi network. T-Systems is assembling the network, and T-Com will be running the relay stations. Düsseldorf's citizens and visitors will be able to access the city's website for free. General web surfing and emailing will require an ISP account. The city is inviting multiple ISPs and mobile operators to participate in the network. T-Online customers use their accustomed log-in data to access the Düsseldorf net, and the bill for the service will then appear on their regular phone invoices. The first 50 public access points will be up this summer.
http://www.t-systems.de/

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NTT Deploys Nortel Networks' OPTera for Fibre Channel Leased Lines

NTT Communications is deploying Nortel Networks' OPTera Metro 5200 DWDM systems to provide Fibre Channel leased lines and other services in metropolitan Tokyo. The NTT Com Gigaway service provides high-availability connectivity across a range of interfaces up to 10 Gbps. The service is used by ISPs, service providers and enterprises for private networks, remote back-up, disaster recovery, and other applications. The OPTera Metro 5200 is a protocol and bit-rate independent DWDM multiservice platform that delivers 32 wavelengths. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www..nortelnetworks.com

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FCC Joins FTC on Do Not Call List

The FCC will coordinate with the Federal Trade Commission on the implementation of a national do-not-call registry for consumers who wish to avoid telemarketing calls. The registry is nationwide in scope, includes all telemarketers (with the exception of certain non-profit organizations), and covers both interstate and intrastate telemarketing calls. Calls regarding political and religious speech will not be subject to the do-not call requirements.


The national database will be administered by the FTC. The FCC will not require states to discontinue the use of their own do-not-call lists once the national do-not-call registry goes into effect. A state may choose to implement a more restrictive do-not-call list for in-state telemarketing, but any names on the national list must also be included on the state-level do-not-call-list.
http://www.fcc.gov

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Department of Defense (DoD) Sets Sights on IPv6

The Department of Defense is ready to begin trials of equipment and applications based on IPv6 protocol within 30 days, said John Osterholz, director of architecture and interoperability for the Department of Defense, in a keynote address at the IPv6 Summit in San Diego. The DoD, which has an annual IT budget exceeding $30 billion, will focus its information resources to create "predictive battlespace awareness" that combines intelligence and operations technologies in a connected, real-time environment.


In a memorandum issued earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Defense adopted a new policy for the enterprise-wide deployment of IPv6. John Stenbit, the DoD's Chief Information Officer, stated that the achievement of net-centric operations and warfare, envisioned as a Global Information Grid of interconnected sensors and systems, depends on the effective implementation of IPv6. The DoD is planning for a complete transition from IPv4 to IPv6 by FY 2008. The memorandum orders that as of 01-October-2003 all equipment developed, procured or acquired be IPv6 capable. The memo is online.
http://www.defenselink.mil/nii/org/cio/doc/IPV6.pdf

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XO Offers 'Insurance' Policy for Global Crossing Restructuring

XO Communications issued a revised proposal for a bankruptcy restructuring of Global Crossing that would run in parallel with the company's current efforts to emerge from bankruptcy under the terms of its current Purchase Agreement with Singapore Technologies Telemedia. XO said it is making the new offer because of Global Crossing's deteriorating financial condition coupled with its pending request to extend, until mid-October, STT's exclusive rights to close a deal with Global Crossing. If approved, Global Crossing's request would prevent the bankrupt company from soliciting other potential offers - a circumstance that would likely prevent an alternative plan from being presented, approved, and consummated until the first quarter of 2004, at the earliest. XO worries that Global Crossing might run out of cash by that point. XO's new offer would provide Global Crossing with an alternative plan should the STT acquisition fail. Financial details are posted online.
http://www.xo.com

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Secure Optical Ethernet Connections Multiply into NYSE, AMEX

The Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC), the technology subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), has signed over 100 enterprise customers to access its Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure (SFTI) network. The milestone was reached less than two years after the events of September 11, 2001. SFTI uses designated access centers and a highly redundant infrastructure to offer firms physically and geographically diverse routing, thus reducing the likelihood of service-impacting outages. There are multiple data centers and numerous access centers in the New York, Boston and Chicago areas, interconnected by a fiber optic backbone comprised of Nortel Networks OPTera Metro 3500 Multiservice Platform devices. SIAC uses Nortel Networks' Optical Ethernet solution for access and its Passport 8600 Routing Switch to provide Layer 3 switching capabilities to both NYSE and AMEX. Network planners envision having 1,000 customers transferred to the new network by 2004. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com

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Broadcom Expands Wi-Fi Chip Portfolio

Broadcom announced three additions to its wireless LAN product portfolio: 802.11g and 802.11a/g USB 2.0 adapters, and a new wireless networking processor for secure 802.11a/g enterprise access point and router applications. Broadcom said the USB interface gives users the ability to easily add standards-compliant 802.11g and 802.11a/g to desktop systems without removing the PC chassis cover. USB 2.0 technology delivers 480 Mbps of bandwidth, which is necessary to support 54 Mbps wireless connections, while legacy USB 1.1 systems are capable of only 12 Mbps.


Broadcom's new network processor is the next-generation of its BCM4702 chip, which it describes as the most popular wireless network processor in the industry. The new model adds a network processing core that is capable of wire-speed Ethernet routing/bridging, as well as VPN termination on an integrated IPSec security acceleration engine.
http://www.broadcom.com

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Orative Receives $6 Million for Enterprise Mobile Telephony

Orative, a start-up based in Menlo Park, California, raised $6 million in its first round of venture capital financing to support its development of enterprise mobile telephony software. Product plans have not been disclosed. The investment came from Mayfield and Diamondhead Ventures.
http://www.orative.com

• Orative is headed by Paul Fulton, who previously was Executive in Residence at Mayfield. Prior to joining Mayfield, Fulton was Vice President and General Manager of 3Com's Wireless Division.

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Argonne National Lab Deploys CIENA's ONLINE Metro DWDM

Argonne National Laboratory, one of the U.S. Department of Energy's largest research centers, has deployed CIENA's ONLINE Metro DWDM platform in two separate networks. The first application is to provide OC-48 and OC-192 channels between the Laboratory located 25 miles southwest of Chicago, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in Champaign, Illinois and several other research and education institutions in the state. The second application is to provide OC-48/OC-192 links between locations in the TeraGrid and Illinois Wired/Wireless Infrastructure for Research and Education (I-WIRE) networks, including StarLight, a global experimental optical network exchange facility. Argonne is also using the ONLINE Metro platform to test Fibre Channel over SONET, as well as for experimenting with extended Ethernet transport solutions.
http://www.ciena.com

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Sorrento Networks to Acquire LuxN

Sorrento Networks agreed to acquire LuxN, a start-up provider of optical access solutions, for a combination of stock, warrants, and cash, including some of the cash currently held by LuxN. LuxN claims 25 customers, including Time Warner Telecom, Hawaii I-Net, Yipes Enterprise Services, and numerous universities for its optical access products, which combine CWDM and DWDM on the same platform. Warrants to purchase 400,000 shares of Sorrento will be issued to the Series A-1 Preferred stockholders of LuxN upon the completion of the transaction, which is expected to occur on or before 08-August-2003. Shares in Sorrento are currently trading at $2.62. Sorrento said its merger with LuxN is merely the first step in a growth strategy that includes expanding its product line breadth, adding new customers, and penetrating new markets.
http://www.sorrentonet.com
http://www.luxn.com

• LuxN was founded in 1999 and raised over $159 million in funding. Investors included Azure Capital Partners, Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity, E-TEK Dynamics, CommVest, Storm Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, U.S. Venture Partners, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Siemens. LuxN is based in Sunnyvale, California.

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Twentieth Century Fox and Shaw Enter Long-Term VOD Agreement

Twentieth Century Fox signed a long-term agreement to provide movies and other programming content for Shaw's Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Pay-Per-View (PPV) services. Shaw serves 2.9 million customers in Canada. Twentieth Century Fox is one of the first major Hollywood studios to partner with Shaw on these new services.
http://www.shaw.ca

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SMC Pushes Gigabit to the Desktop at $50 per Connection

SMC Networks announced two new 10/100/1000 Gigabit switches and a new 32-bit Gigabit Ethernet PCI network card at new price points for the industry. SMC's five and eight port EZ Switch 10/100/1000 will be available in July, and carry MSRPs of $134.99 and $194.99, respectively. The new EZ Card 1000 PCI network card has an MSRP of $29.99. The new products bring Gigabit Ethernet prices to just over $50 per connection MSRP.
http://www.smc.com

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FCC Sees Very Healthy Competition in Wireless

In its just released Eighth Annual Report on Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS), the FCC found the wireless industry is fundamentally competitive and delivering on the promise of greater service, more extensive coverage and lower prices. Highlights of the 2002 report include:

• the number mobile telephone subscribers in the U.S. rose from 128.5 million to 141.8 million, resulting in a nationwide penetration rate of roughly 49%
• 
  
  the mobile telephone sector generated more than $76 billion in revenue for 2002
• 
  
  more than 95% of the total U.S. population lives in counties with three or more different mobile telephone operators and 83% of the population has access to five or more mobile operators
• 
  
  digital mobile telephone services were used by approximately 88 percent of all mobile telephone subscribers at the end of 2002, up from 80 percent at the end of 2001
• 
  
  minutes-of-use per month averaged 427 between June and December 2002, an increase of 12 percent from 380 during the same period in 2001. Estimates for the decrease in the price of mobile telephone service during 2002 range from one to nine percent depending on the methodology employed.
• 
  
  while mobile data services generated only 1% percent of total industry revenue during 2002, an estimated 11.9 million, or 8%, of the 141.8 million mobile telephone subscribers at the end of 2002 subscribed to some type of mobile Internet service. An additional 2.3 million consumers subscribed to mobile Internet services on data-only mobile devices at the end of 2002. About 20% of all mobile telephone subscribers used text messaging services during Q4 2002.
• 
  
  As of March 2003, operators were offering services in at lease some parts of counties containing 265 million people, or 93% of the population

http://www.fcc.gov

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KT Tests Lucent's Universal Gateway for Circuit-to-Packet Migration

KT (formerly Korea Telecom) is testing Lucent Technologies' APX 8000 Universal Gateway system as a means of migrating traffic from circuit networks to an IP-based network. Lucent's APX 8000 Universal Gateway will be deployed at KT's Research Center in Daeduk by the end of July. The equipment will act as a trunk access media gateway accepting dial, VoIP and fax-over-IP traffic and then interfacing with KT's softswitch. Lucent's multi-protocol system supports H.248, IPDC, SIP, H.323, V.92, and Personal Handyphone System (PHS) protocols. It achieves toll quality voice that meets G.711, G.729, G.728, G.723.1 standards. Lucent supplied its AnyMedia Line Access Gateway for KT's access network build-out last October. In addition, Lucent has previously supplied KT with traditional voice switching systems, such as the 4ESS Toll Switch and 5ESS Switch, as well as optical transport and crossconnect gear since the 1980s.
http://www.lucent.com
http://www.kt.co.kr

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IPv6 Sets Internet2 Land Speed Records

Researchers from Caltech and CERN set a new Internet2 Land Speed Record by transmitting a single IPv6 stream at 983 Mbps for more than an hour from Geneva, Switzerland to Chicago, Illinois, a distance of 7,067 km (more than 4,000 miles). The new record was set through the efforts of the DataTAG project and CERN using a standard Linux TCP implementation. The researchers said the efficient use of long distance networks at gigabit per second speeds is critical to the future of the high energy and nuclear physics community. The Internet2 Land Speed Record is an open and ongoing competition. Details of the winning entries, complete rules, submission guidelines and additional details are available online.http://lsr.internet2.edu

• Caltech and CERN also hold the current Internet2 Land Speed Record in the IPv4 class. The team transferred one terabyte of data across 10,037 km (Sunnyvale, California to Geneva, Switzerland) in less than one hour at a sustained TCP rate of 2.38 Gbps.
• 
  
  The DataTAG project, which is co-funded by the European Community and the US, is testing a large-scale intercontinental grid computing testbed. The project addresses a number of high-performance networking issues, including sustained and reliable high performance data replication, end-to-end advanced network services, and novel monitoring techniques. http://datatag.web.cern.ch/datatag/

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IEEE Selects VDSL DMT Line Coding for Ethernet in the First Mile

The IEEE's 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) Task Force selected DMT as its worldwide line-coding standard for VDSL. The selection of DMT by both the IEEE and the T1E1.4 Working Group (see below) paves the way for carriers to expand their deployments of VDSL. Ikanos Communications said that since its VDSL-DMT chipsets became available in Q4 of 2002, it has shipped more than 500,000 ports.
http://www.ikanos.com

• Last week, the T1E1.4 committee, which is part of The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), decided to specify only Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) line coding in its American National Standard (ANS) for VDSL. The DMT modulation method will be specified in the American National Standard, and the Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) method will be specified in a Committee T1 Technical Requirement (TRQ).
• 
  
  The decision follows the release of data from the "VDSL Olympics," a series of performance tests conducted by Telcordia Technologies and BT.

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FTTH Council Encouraged by Supreme Court Decision to Review Issue

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to review a case between the FCC and the Missouri Municipal League concerning the rights of municipalities to deploy their own FTTH networks. The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council, an industry advocacy group, said it was encouraged by the Supreme Court's willingness to hear the case, as three courts have ruled in favor of municipal broadband while one has ruled against it. The FTTH Council believes municipalities should play a key role in a national broadband strategy. As of September 2002, municipalities accounted for one quarter of all U.S. FTTH networks, according to the group.
http://www.ftthcouncil.org

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Lucent Supplies ATM Access to Germany's E-Plus

E-Plus, Germany's third largest wireless carrier, awarded a multimillion contract to Lucent Technologies to supply data networking equipment and services to manage and consolidate voice and data traffic from the operator's 3G UMTS network. Lucent's PacketStar 1000, 1250, 2300 and 4500 Multiservice Media Gateways will be use to provision and aggregate traffic onto an ATM network.
http://www.lucent.com/packetstar

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Dutch Hospital Deploys SpectraLink's WiFi Telephones

The Medical Center Leeuwarden in the Netherlands has deployed SpectraLink's newly released NetLink e340 and NetLink i640 Wireless Telephones to run over its network of Cisco Aironet Wi-Fi access points. SoectraLink's NetLink Wireless telephones have been seamlessly integrated with the hospital's Cisco CallManager IP telephony application. SpectraLink Voice Priority, a QoS mechanism, is employed on the wireless LAN to ensure voice quality.
http://www.spectralink.com

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New Edge Networks Achieves EBITDA Breakeven Point

Privately-held New Edge Networks announced it achieved for the first time positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, a key financial target. The company expects to begin producing surplus cash flow in July 2003.
http://www.newedgenetworks.com

• In April 2003, New Edge Networks announced a strategy to acquire additional broadband carriers and data networking providers as a means of adding to its cash flow growth. The company placed classified ads in various telecommunications trade magazines and posted messages on Internet bulletin boards soliciting interest among communications companies that could add customers, network traffic, product set, or geographic reach. New Edge Networks primarily provides data and broadband services to business customers.

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Verio Rolls out IPv6 Service

In conjunction with NTT Communications' extension of IPv6 service worldwide, Verio began offering pre-commercial IPv6 service in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. NTT Communications and Verio envision IPv4/IPv6 dual stack service delivery on the NTT/VERIO Global IP Network during the companies' commercial launch scheduled for Q4 2003. Verio noted that the Department of Defense has decided to implement IPv6 to facilitate integration of the essential elements of its Global Information Grid, including sensors, weapons, platforms, information and people.
http://www.verio.com/access/ipv6.cfm

• Verio is a subsidiary of NTT Communications.

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TI Unveils Two Digital Media Processors

Texas Instruments unveiled two new digital media processors tailored for the video and imaging market, specifically video over IP, video-on-demand (VOD), multi-channel digital video recording applications and high-quality video encoding and decoding solutions. Target applications for the digital media processors include IP-based video recorders, set-top boxes, security surveillance and network cameras. The processors are capable of performing up to four simultaneous MPEG-2 main-profile-at-main-level video decodes at full D1 resolution in real time. They also offer support for broadcast-quality Windows Media 9 encode and decode technology, as well as MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) decode.
http://www.ti.com

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Equant and China Netcom Implement IP VPNs

Equant and China Netcom have implemented an IP VPN with converged data and voice in China for APL, one of the world's largest container transportation companies. The cross-carrier IP VPN for APL includes 24 sites in China, eight of which are voice-activated. In addition to APL, Equant currently serves more than 100 customers with 500 connections in China. APL was one of the first customers to select Equant IP VPN service in China after Equant and China Netcom announced a strategic partnership in 2001. The Equant-CNC network is identical in features, including resiliency, with the standard Equant network topology. This allows the customer to have the same visibility into its network in China as it does for all its IP VPN locations around the world.


Altogether, APL currently has 113 sites in 30 countries with Equant IP VPN connections. A total of 33 sites also have Equant Voice for IP VPN, and five locations have Equant IP Telephony for desktop-to-desktop calling.
http://www.equant.com
http://www.cnc.net.cn

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Procket Networks Partners with Technica on Government Sales

Procket Networks signed a sales and systems integration partnership with Technica Corporation, an IT systems integrator for military, security and civilian government agencies. The agreement covers Procket's PRO/8000 High-Availability Routers. Technica's core competencies include large-scale network and security program planning, deployment of high-speed global networks, optical networking, information assurance, and performance/compliance testing.
http://www.technicacorp.com

• In April 2003, Procket Networks, a start-up based in Milpitas, California, announced commercial availability of its PRO/8801 router, its first product in a series. The Procket platforms are based on a customized chipset that includes a fully programmable 40 Gbps network processor and a Terabit Switch Engine. The scalable chipset can be used in platforms that range from 80 Gbps to 960 Gbps. The first PRO/8801 router features 80 Gbps of total capacity and can support up to 40 high speed interfaces in a chassis that takes up 1/8 of a rack. The PRO/8812 router, which will ship later this quarter, features 960 Gbps of total capacity and a forwarding rate of 1.2 billion packets per second. The routers support OC-3c, OC-12c, OC-48c, OC-192c, Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. All Procket routers use common line cards and media adapters, and the company estimates that its systems offer a reduction in power consumption and floor space of up to 50%. Pricing for the PRO/8801 starts at US$65,000, while the PRO/8812 starts at US$237,000.

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KT Expands Nationwide Network with Riverstone

KT (formerly Korea Telecom) will deploy additional RS 8600 routers to expand the capacity and service capabilities of its nationwide Ethernet network. Last year, KT deployed Riverstone's RS 38000 routers in its metropolitan core to provide Gigabit Ethernet capacity and uplinks to its backbone routers. Riverstone's RS routers are also deployed in the access network. Financial terms were not disclosed. KT is engaged in a multiphase project called "Ntopia" linking residential users in Korea's large-scale apartment complexes. KT had more than 5 million subscribers at the end of January, representing 48% of the Korean broadband market.
http://www.riverstonenet.com

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Verizon to Speed Deployment of Juniper's E-Series Edge Routers

Verizon awarded a multi-year contract to Juniper Networks for its E-series edge routers.
The equipment will be used to consolidate a wide range of IP-based services in a single platform over a variety of media including leased line, Frame Relay, ATM, DSL, Ethernet and wireless. The first phase of the new deployment will support Verizon's "Enterprise Advance" initiative, which is aimed at Fortune 1000 corporations, government, finance, education and healthcare entities. Using the Juniper edge routers, Verizon will be able to deliver value-added services such as secure VPNs, MPLS, DSL aggregation, commercial wireless hot spots (WiFi) and Transparent LAN Service (TLS). Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.juniper.net

• In November 2002, Verizon launched a new "Enterprise Advance" initiative to deliver long distance data services to large enterprises and government agencies. Verizon said its Enterprise Advance initiative will create a network with national reach. The new enterprise services arsenal will include transparent LAN, fast packet and IP services, optical networking and voice switching enhancements. The service will be based on an optical and IP backbone providing "any-to-any" transmission. Verizon initially is targeting business and government customers in the Northeast's I-95 corridor, reaching from Boston to Virginia. Verizon will then build out its IP backbone to further connect its national service territory in locations such as Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle and Tampa. Verizon's Enterprise Advance eventually will extend to 56 key US markets.

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Fabric Networks Introduces Non-Blocking Switch for Fabric Clusters

Fabric Networks, a start-up based in Westborough, Massachusetts, introduced a 32-port non-blocking switch for InfiniBand-based fabric computing. Fabric Networks' switch supports 10 Gbps full duplex throughput per port and 320 Gbps throughput per chassis.
http://www.FabricNetworks.com

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RIAA Begins Tracking P2P Networks for Copyright Violators

In a press statement, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that is beginning to gather evidence and prepare lawsuits against individual computer users who are "illegally offering to 'share' substantial amounts of copyrighted music over peer-to-peer networks." Beginning on 26-June-2003, RIAA will use software to scan the public directories available to any user of a peer-to-peer network. When copyrighted music files are available, the RIAA software will download some of the infringing files, along with the date and time it accessed the files. The RIAA then plans serve a subpoena on the ISP requesting the name and address of the individual it has identified. The RIAA said it expects to use the data it collects as the basis for filing what could ultimately be thousands of lawsuits charging individual peer-to-peer music distributors with copyright infringement. The RIAA noted that the major music companies have made vast catalogues of music available to dozens of legitimate downloading services over the past year.
http://www.riaa.com

• The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recently won its legal case forcing Verizon Communications to disclose the identity of a subscriber whom it believed was in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

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Seaway Debuts 5 Gbps Network Content Processor

Seaway Networks, a start-up based in Ottawa, Canada, introduced a Network Content Processor (NCP that delivers 5 Gbps (full duplex) of layer 4-7 processing. Seaway's silicon architecture manages up to 2 million simultaneous TCP connections, enabling multiple advanced services at multi-gigabit rates. The device is specialized for data path processing but also provides layer 5-7 processing, including content searching, examination, modification, and replication. Seaway also incorporates advanced stream management and switching features to maximize processing efficiency, minimize memory and bandwidth usage, and enable multiple simultaneous applications.
http://www.seawaynetworks.com

• Seaway Networks is headed by Kit Fung, who previously was Vice-President of Research and Development at Nortel Networks for the Passport Multi-Service Switch product line. Seaway's technical team also includes David Lapp, who formerly led Nortel Networks' research on DiffServ/IP-CoS, security, and content networking.
• 
  
  Seaway has raised CDN$23 million in venture funding since its founding in 2001. Investors include VenGrowth Capital Partners, JK&B Capital, NovaCap and VentureCoaches.

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Fujitsu Introduces 10 Gbps Ethernet Switch Chip

Fujitsu Microelectronics America introduced a 10 Gbps Ethernet switch chip developed for layer 2 functions in high-performance servers and advanced storage systems. The new chip incorporates twelve 10 Gbps Ethernet ports along with high-speed buffer memories and high-speed I/O macros. Aggregate total bandwidth is 240 Gbps. A XAUI SERDES interface and 10 Gbps Ethernet MAC are provided. Development of the device was partially funded by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a government agency. Fujitsu predicts its chip will help reduce the per-port price of 10 GigE switches to approximately $200, from current levels of about $20,000. The chip, which is currently sampling, is fabricated using Fujitsu's 0.11-micron process. Prices start at US $750 each in 10,000-unit quantities.
http://www.fma.fujitsu.com

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California Research Network Deploys Multiple 10 GigE Wavelengths

The California Research and Education Network (CalREN) is deploying multi-tiered, statewide 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) long-haul backbone using dark fiber it has acquired. CalREN is an end-to-end Cisco IP and Optical network. Equipment deployed includes the Cisco ONS 15540 Extended Services Platforms and the Cisco ONS 15530 Multiservice Aggregation Platforms, which use DWDM and provide 10 Gigabit Ethernet LAN PHY transport from the campus edge to the backbone. The IP component is powered by the Cisco 12000 Series routers delivering non-blocking 10 GigE core routing performance. Additionally, the Cisco ONS 15808 Extended Long-Haul DWDM systems are used for 10 GigE LAN PHY transport across the backbone. Each network span has up to 400 Gbps capacity. Deployment is currently underway and completion is anticipated by the end of summer. CalREN is operated by the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC).
http://www.cenic.org

• In July 2002, Level 3 Communications signed agreements to provide both metropolitan and inter-city dark fiber to CENIC, a non-profit corporation founded by California's public and private universities. Specifically, Level 3 will provide metro fiber in San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose as well as inter-city fiber linking those cities with Sacramento, San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles. The multi-million-dollar agreements have a 20-year term.

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Qwest Reaches 1 Million Long Distance Customers

Qwest Communications has signed up its one millionth long distance voice customer. Qwest is offering unlimited, direct dialed domestic long- distance service for $20 per month for the first 12 months to residential customers.
http://www.qwest.com

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CSG Systems Teams with HP to Support Prepaid Solutions

CSG Systems will offer an integration point between its CSG Kenan Prepaid billing platform and the HP OpenCall Service Controller. The integration paves the way for open, standards-based prepaid billing for advanced voice networks using standard protocols for exchanging data. The HP OpenCall Service Controller resides within a service provider's circuit-switched network to provide call processing for intelligent network services running in SS7. It feeds transaction-based information to the CSG Kenan Prepaid billing engine using standards specifically designed for 2G, 2.5G and 3G networks (Parlay). The companies noted an increasing trend amongst service providers around the world to adopt the prepaid services model. The CSG Kenan Prepaid platform supports both voice and data prepaid services.
http://www.csgsystems.com

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Vonage: Wall Street Sees the VoIP Challenge to Residential Phone

In the past two weeks, Banc of America and Merrill Lynch have both alerted investors that North America's residential telephone market faces potentially dramatic changes from VoIP challengers in the months ahead. New "virtual phone services," served over the Internet using SIP and low-cost telephone-to-Ethernet adapters, are now on the radar screens of the investment community because they could add to the wireless substitution trend and further erode the RBOC's residential phone business. VoIP cable services are seen as the largest threat. Both reports also cite Vonage and its broadband telephony service as a leader in a wave of independent "virtual service providers" that could take up any telephony voids left by cable.
http://www.vonage.com

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Microsoft and Portal Software Announce Telecom Billing Alliance

Microsoft and Portal Software announced a strategic alliance aimed at transforming legacy telco billing systems for future Web services. More specifically, Microsoft will integrate Portal's billing and subscriber management software platform with its own .NET technologies. This would provide the communications industry with a .NET-connected solution for rolling out and billing new voice, data and content services. The new "BillingAgility" is a billing and subscriber management solution built on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (64-bit) with the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit). It will use XML and SOAP to enables faster and easier integration with other applications and legacy systems. The companies expect it will scale to support more than 25 million subscribers. Microsoft and Portal continue to work at a strategic level to align their longer-term product road maps.
http://www.microsoft.com
http://www.portal.com

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Belgium National Research Network Upgrades with Juniper

BELNET, the Belgium national research network, has deployed Juniper Networks M-series routing platforms in 14 POPs of its GigaNet network throughout Belgium, including two super POPs in Brussels. BELNET supports more than 150 research and educational institutions. The network will now support multicast and IPv6 functionality. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.juniper.nethttp://www.belnet.be

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KDDI Tests IPv6 Network between Japan and the U.S.

KDDI has launched an IPv6 trial network between its labs in Japan and U.S. locations, in cooperation with Japan's government funded WIDE Project. The transpacific IPv6 network is being used to test an IPv6 application called "QualityMeeting," which can transmit VGA-quality video and CD-quality audio using the company's proprietary Bandwidth Adaptive Rate Control and Audio Video Error Concealment technology. KDDI is also testing a portal system that provides IPv6 equipment hostname registration, a portal for access to a user's IPv6 equipment, and IPv4/IPv6 translation. In addition, KDDI is testing automatic tunneling gateways called "6to4 Relay Routers" that enable users with an IPv4 address to connect to the IPv6 Internet. Currently there are approximately ten open 6to4 Relay Routers globally and one in Japan, including the systems provided by KDDI Labs.
http://www.kddilabs.com
http://www.6to4.jp/e-index.html

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Verizon Chooses Fujitsu's FLASHWAVE 4500 ADM

Verizon has selected Fujitsu as one of its suppliers of next generation optical add/drop multiplexers. More specifically, Verizon has selected Fujitsu's FLASHWAVE 4500 core transport system, the FLASHWAVE 4300 aggregation system and the FLASHWAVE 4100 access system. Verizon will be utilizing the FLEXR GT craft interface software and the NETSMART 1500 element management system to manage the Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 4000 product family. The selection is the culmination of Verizon's NGADM RFP process, which included rigorous lab testing and a comprehensive field trial. Initial commercial shipments are beginning. Fujitsu said it was excited to be continuing a 20-year relationship with Verizon. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.fnc.fujitsu.com

• Earlier this month, Fujitsu Network Communications unveiled two new capacity enhancements for its next-generation FLASHWAVE 4500 multiservice optical transport platform--support for multiple OC-192 protected interfaces on a single FLASHWAVE 4500 shelf and a new 70G STS switch fabric with the ability to groom up to 1344 STS channels. Combining two OC-192 rings or 1+1 protected connections into a single shelf enables carriers to reduce cost, space, power and heat in their central offices. Earlier versions had required two slots for supporting protected OC-192 interfaces. The new 70G STS switch fabric increases the FLASHWAVE 4500 platform's STS grooming capacity by more than 55% over the size of the existing 45G (864x864 STS) switch fabric.

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Orange Unveils New Group Strategy

Orange SA, the largest mobile operator in both the UK and France, unveiled a new corporate strategy that emphasizes customer intimacy, capitalizing on its intelligent network and developing key industry alliances. Orange is implementing a common technology platform across the entire Orange Group, adding intelligence to the network infrastructure to deliver new services and applications quickly. Orange also intends to form an alliance with TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), Telefonica Moviles and T-Mobile to deliver seamless voice, data and mobile internet services across multiple markets. The company said it is on track to meet guidance of 5% revenue growth in 2003. Orange expects its CAPEX-to-sales ratio to be around 11% in the long term.
http://www.orange.com

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FutureSoft Receives Investment from IIML and Intel Capital

FutureSoft, a developer of communications and embedded software solutions, announced strategic investments from IL&FS Investment Managers Limited (IIML) and Intel Capital. FutureSoft plans to scale up its IP business targeting global original design manufacturers (ODMs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company is based in Chennai (Madras), India and has offices in the US and the UK.
http://www.futsoft.com

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NTT Com to Expand IPv6 Across Asia-Pac and North America

NTT Communications is expanding its IPv6 coverage to include Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and the U.S. The service provides direct connection to the NTT/VERIO Global IPv6 Backbone, offering IPv6 Internet access over leased circuits. ISPs can use the NTT Comm backbone to provide IPv6 services in their local areas. NTT first launched a commercial IPv6 service in Japan in April 2002. NTT Europe introduced an IPv6 gateway service in February 2003.
http://www.ntt.com/

• The North American Global IPv6 Summit is being held this week at San Diego State University.

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PlanetLab Creates Testbed for Internet Applications/Services

PlanetLab, an initiative led by the academic community in partnership with HP and Intel, is building a global test bed for new Internet applications and services. PlanetLab consists of 170 Linux-based computers distributed at 60 research centers around the world. The computers are configured in an overlay network to the public Internet using their own intelligent routers and servers. The goal is to enable new applications that are decentralized, with pieces running on many machines spread across the global Internet. Some form of application processing could occur inside the network (instead of at the edges). PlanetLab, which was first proposed in March 2002, brings together researchers from the University of California (Berkeley), the University of Washington, MIT, and Princeton University and other universities overseas. The goal is for PlanetLab to grow to 1,000 widely distributed nodes that peer with the majority of the Internet's regional and long-haul backbones. Some 95 research projects are currently running on PlanetLab.
http://www.planet-lab.org

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AtlasONE Malaysia Selects Santera's Switch

AtlasONE Malaysia, an emerging provider of telecommunications services in Malaysia, will be utilizing Santera's SanteraOne platform for delivering Class 5 traffic over its soon to be launched next-generation network. The deployment will be supported by CommVerge Solutions, a network integrator. The network will initially service the Klang Valley district of Greater Kuala Lumpur, before a phased nationwide expansion. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.santera.com/

• The SanteraOne platform is a carrier-grade integrated voice and data switch supporting IXC Tandem, Class 4/5, PRI Offload, packet/cell switching and Voice over Broadband (VoB) services.
• 
  
  Earlier this month, Tekelec completed its transaction with Santera Systems to form a majority owned next-generation switching subsidiary. Santera remains based in Plano, Texas.

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VPIsystems Teams with Cisco on Optical Network Configuration Software

VPIsystems will provide its optical network configuration software to Cisco Systems and its customers to help optimize network designs. VPI's software captures carrier's network requirements and detailed product specifications to automatically calculate a deployable, optimized network design and create a list of required equipment.
http://www.VPIsystems.com

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Ikanos to Show 150 Mbps EFM Solution using VDSL-DMT

Ikanos Communications plans to demonstrate an Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) solution at an aggregate rate of 150 Mbps over a single copper pair using VDSL-DMT silicon. The demonstration coincides with a meeting of the IEEE's 802.3ah EFM Task Force, which is considering the issue of line codes for EFM.
http://www.ikanos.com

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Top Layer Debuts New Family of ASIC-based Security Switches

Top Layer Networks, a start-up based in Westboro, Massachusetts, announced a new family of ASIC-based access control security switches for wired and wireless networks. Top Layer's Secure Controller switches force users to authenticate themselves prior to gaining any network access. Top Layer's idea is to help networks stay secure even in those locations where physical security is not sufficient to prevent unauthorized access, such as university classrooms and computer labs, common work areas at hospitals, and within enterprises at conference rooms, open cubicles, and visitor lounges. The Secure Controller family consists of a Secure Edge Controller and Secure Core Controller. The Secure Edge Controller is designed to be installed at or near the edge of the network to ensure that unauthorized traffic from wireless and wired access networks is intercepted before it has a chance to enter the network core. The Secure Core Controller is designed to be installed at points within the network where large numbers of users access the network through the unit.
http://www.TopLayer.com)

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IP Infusion Adds VPLS to its Routing Suite

IP Infusion has added support for Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) to its ZebOS Advanced Routing Suite. The company said its VPLS implementation supports the IETF VPLS draft submitted by Marc Lasserre and Vach Kompella. VPLS allows multiple customer sites connected across a MPLS network to share a single bridged domain. So, all customer sites appear to be on the same LAN regardless of their geographical location. Unlike Layer 2 VPN (draft Martini), VPLS supports multipoint-to-multipoint VPNs, allowing service providers to quickly connect three or more VPN sites together. IP Infusion is offering ZebOS VPLS as a modular source code solution to OEMs. The company also released an enhancement to the Linux implementation of 802.1d MAC bridging in its source code. ZebOS Layer 2 Protocol Offering is Linux-based and includes support for 802.1d Spanning Tree.
http://www.ipinfusion.com

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GoBeam Offers Flat-Rate Softswitch PBX Service

GoBeam, an integrated service provider based in Pleasanton, California, began offering flat rate pricing on its vPBX managed voice and Internet service. Pricing begins at $36.95 a month per station with unlimited outbound calls for local and domestic long distance and unlimited inbound calls on GoBeam's virtual PBX. All call forwarding associated with the service's "Find Me" feature is included in the flat rate. All vPBX installations receive free DID porting, which enables customers to keep their existing phone numbers.
http://www.gobeam.com

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Consumer Electronics Companies Form Digital Home Working Group

Seventeen consumer electronics, computer, and mobile companies have formed a new Digital Home Working Group (DHWG) dedicated to the simplified sharing of digital content among networked devices. The vision is to establish content interoperability, based on open industry standards, between PCs, TVs, set-top boxes, printers, stereos, mobile phones, PDAs, DVD players, digital projectors and other devices. The Digital Home Working Group will endorse a baseline of interoperability standards and then promote a set of programs to communicate the benefits of the digital home to consumers. These programs will including certification, compliance logos, and marketing initiatives. Founding members include Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Intel, IBM, Kenwood, Lenovo, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Microsoft, NEC CustomTechnica, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, STMicroelectronics and Thomson.
http://www.DHWG.org

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BellSouth Launches Wireless HomeNetworking Service

BellSouth began offering three new residential services for its DSL customers: BellSouth FastAccess Wireless HomeNetworking Plus service, Parental Controls Plus and Firewall Monitor. The first service helps consumers set-up either a wired or wireless network serving up to four PCs. The service's wireless gateway combines a DSL modem, home networking router and a firewall. Parental Controls Plus and Firewall Monitor are included as part of BellSouth Wireless HomeNetworking Plus service at no additional charge. Parental Controls Plus assists customers in limiting the amount of time children can spend on the Internet while blocking objectionable content. The Firewall monitoring service provides ongoing and automatic software updates as well as detailed logs and notification when potential threats are detected. BellSouth said it also eliminates the need to install security softwall on each PC behind the firewall. The home networking service is offered at $10 per month in addition to DSL charges.
http://www.bellsouth.com

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Agere Provides Traffic Management Chips to Laurel

Agere Systems has supplied its PayloadPlus traffic management and network processor chips for use in Laurel Networks' ST200 Service Edge Router. Laurel has used Agere's chips since the product's introduction. The customer announcement was made at this week's Network Processor Conference.
http://www.agere.com

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Telica Supports Number Portability for Wireless Carriers

Telica is now offering Wireless Number Portability (WNP) and Wireline Local Number Portability (LNP) support on its Plexus 9000 platform. Specifically, the Plexus 9000 supports WNP for standards-based ANSI-41 and GSM mobile networks, extending from 2/2.5G through to 3G evolution phases. In a wireless carrier's network, the Plexus 9000 acts as intermediary between its MSCs and other wireless carrier networks, performing the necessary queries, routing, and signaling manipulation to ensure that calls are sent to the ported subscriber's network. Telica said its Plexus 9000 platform enables wireless carriers to be fully compliant with the FCC WNP ruling while avoiding costly changes to their legacy MSCs.
http://www.telica.com

• Telica's Plexus 9000 is a carrier-grade switch that includes elements of a softswitch-based solution, including a media gateway, media gateway controller and signaling gateway, to provide Class 4/5 switching for the PSTN as well as ATM and IP networks.
• 
  
  In March 2003, Telica expanded its Plexus 9000 Class 4/5 switching platform to include packet-based wireless capabilities, including Gateway Mobile Switching Center (GMSC), Soft MSC Media Gateway and an All-IP Wireless Solution. The announcement adds support for applications that can be applied in wireless network architectures; 2G, 2.5G or 3G, including GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, TDMA, CDMA2000, and UMTS. Telica said the flat topology of wireless networks is proving difficult to scale because of the large number of highly-meshed trunks required between Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs).
• 
  
  As a Gateway MSC, Telica's Plexus 9000 can be deployed like a Class 4 switch in a wireline network, using TDM, IP, or ATM-based trunking to support Tandem switching and long distance services. Specific to wireless networks, the Plexus 9000 Gateway MSC, which supports IS-41 and GSM MAP services, accepts calls from the PSTN and routes directly to the intended mobile subscriber's Serving MSC, bypassing the Home MSC entirely. The routing efficiency frees up tens of thousands of legacy MSC ports and reduces PSTN interconnect facilities and associated leased line costs through consolidation. The Plexus 9000 could also operate as a wireless media gateway.
• 
  
  In June 2003, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld FCC rules allowing for number portability for mobile telephone subscribers. The ruling, which rejected the arguments of Verizon Wireless and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, would allow consumers to keep the mobile number when switching providers.

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Vivato Raises $44.5 Million for Wi-Fi Switches

Vivato, a start-up based in San Francisco, raised $44.5 million in third round funding for its Wi-Fi switches. The new funding was led by Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV), joined by all of Vivato's previous investors, including Leapfrog Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, Walden International and Intel Communications Fund.
http://www.vivato.net

• In March 2003, Vivato introduced its 2.4 GHz Outdoor Wi-Fi Switch capable of extending outdoor coverage for up to 4 km. The Vivato switch can penetrate exterior and interior walls to provide Wi-Fi coverage throughout an entire structure. Designed to support standard 802.11b Wi-Fi devices, the Vivato 2.4 GHz Outdoor Wi-Fi Switch provides three simultaneous beams of Wi-Fi throughout the coverage area. Its unique PacketSteering technology directs up to 33 Mbps of Wi-Fi capacity to active clients through an electronically controlled phased array antenna that creates high gain beams of Wi-Fi. The U.S. list price for the Vivato 2.4 GHz Outdoor Wi-Fi Switch is $13,995.
• 
  
  In February 2003, Vivato introduced a 2.4 GHz Indoor Wi-Fi Switch that provides an indoor range of up to 300 meters with standard Wi-Fi clients. The Vivato switch is a flat panel unit, which resembles a plasma television screen, operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency band and delivers three simultaneous beams of Wi-Fi. Designed to be wall-mounted, the panel employs Vivato's PacketSteering technology to dynamically shape very narrow beams, about nine degrees each. The list price is $8,995.

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BellSouth Increases its Dividend by 9.5%

BellSouth increased its dividend by $0.21 per common share, a 9.5% increase. Over the last five quarters, BellSouth has increased its quarterly dividend 21%.
http://www.bellsouth.com

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Southampton Photonics Develops High-power Fiber Laser

SPI (Southampton Photonics) and the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton (UK) demonstrated over 600 Watts from a single fiber laser while preserving beam quality. This is believed to be one of the highest powers reported to date with a single fiber gain module. The company anticipates that single-mode output powers well in excess of a kW will be achieved in the not too distant future. The work was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under their High Power Fiber Laser program.
http://www.spioptics.com
http://www.orc.soton.ac.uk

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Alcatel Performs Deep-sea Cable Repairs in the Pacific

Alcatel successfully repaired a fiber communications cable in water depths close to 9,400 meters in the Pacific Ocean about 700 km off the coast of Japan. The Alcatel operated cable ship, C.S Heimdal, completed the fiber optic cable repair on a transpacific cable system connecting Japan to the US. Due to water depths varying from 5,300 to 9,400 meters, Alcatel developed a purpose-built grapnel to avoid the cable breaking under its own weight, while drawing it up from the sea bed for repair.
http://www.alcatel.com

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Equant Signs Four-Year IP VPN Contract with Sweden

Equant was awarded a four-year, $12 million contract to provide an IP VPN-based solution for 100 Swedish embassies and foreign service offices around the world. The government of Sweden also has signed an additional contract of $1.7 million for satellite services.
http://www.equant.com

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EZchip Unveils 10 Gbps Network Processor

EZchip Technologies announced its third-generation 10-Gigabit network processor. The NP-2 is a single chip, full duplex, 7-layer, 10-Gigabit network processor (NPU) that integrates a classification search engine, ingress and egress traffic managers, IPSec and SSL security co-processors, and storage and TCP co-processors. The company said putting all network processing elements in a single chip will enable system designers to reduce chip count, power and cost by as much as 80%. EZchip's new NP-2 uses low-power, high-density DRAM memories for all its lookup tables, data, statistics and control information.
http://www.ezchip.com

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Lattice Semiconductor Announces Low Power 10 Gbps SERDES

Lattice Semiconductor introduced a low-power 10 Gbps SERDES transceiver based on 0.13-micron CMOS technology. The new device is designed for SONET OC-192 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet applications, consumes only 0.8 Watts of power, and supports optical transponder modules such as the 300-pin Multi Source Agreement (MSA) as well as those for 10 Gigabit small form-factor pluggable (XFP) applications. The transceiver meets both SONET and Ethernet jitter requirements. Sampling is underway.
http://www.latticesemi.com

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Cradle Technologies Raises $21.5 Million for Digital Convergence Silicon

Cradle Technologies, a start-up based in Mountain View, California, completed an oversubscribed $21.5 million round of venture funding to support its development of programmable Soft-Silicon solutions for digital convergence. Cradle's Enhanced Communications Engines target the network-centric Internet digital convergence markets while its Media Processing Engines target media-centric digital convergence markets. The chips contain multiple RISC and DSP processors, offering a programmable solution for combining secure data, voice, image and video services. The new funding round added new investors NeoCarta Ventures, Prodea, and East Gate Capital to a number of existing investors that also participated in the round including Smart Technology Ventures, Charter Ventures, Mingly Capital, Winston Partners and others.
http://www.cradle.com

• Cradle Technologies is headed by Arthur Chang, who previously was an Entrepreneur In Residence (EIR) with several Silicon Valley venture capital firms, including Allegis Capital and Charter Ventures. Prior to that, Chang was CTO of Parallan Computer (now Snap Appliance), and VP of Systems Engineering for PLX Technologies.

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Marvell Introduces Multi-Service Fabric for Core Switches/Routers

Marvell introduced a multi-service fabric targeted at enterprise core switches and metro edge routers. Marvell's new two-chip architecture, which consists of a fabric access processor and a fabric switch element, is designed for extreme scalability in the number of ports it supports, enabling switching systems to expand up to thousands of Gigabit Ethernet ports. The Prestera multi-service fabric also features the ability to scale in port speeds, from Gigabit to 10 Gbps to 40 Gbps and beyond, without changes to the backplane, chassis design or fabric architecture. Marvell achieves this capability using Dune Networks' technology combined with its own 3.125Ghz SERDES technology.


Marvell's Prestera-FX multi-service fabric chipset also features per-flow queuing schemes, where hundreds of thousands of flows are policed, queued and scheduled separately, enabling broad SLA support. The Prestera-FX fabric access processor performs ingress and egress functions to the switching fabric and integrates the complete traffic management functionality and the scheduler. The fabric access processor seamlessly connects to the Marvell Prestera-EX and Prestera-MX packet processors, enabling the connection of Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
http://www.marvell.com

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Domain Name System Celebrates Its 20th Birthday

The first use of the Domain Name System (DNS) took place on 23-June-1983 at the University of Southern California School of Engineering's Information Sciences Institute (ISI). Dr. Paul Mockapetris and the late Dr. Jonathan Postel are credited with developing DNS. All Internet users depend on DNS every time they access a web URL or send an e-mail message, because the system translates words into the numbers needed to locate Internet resources. Dr. Mockapetris, who is chief scientist and chairman of Nomimum, predicts a dramatic increase in the number of ways in which the DNS is used over the next five years. Mockapetris is now working towards the next generation of the DNS to accommodate the growth of IP computing and future applications, such as IP telephony and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, that will depend on the system.
http://www.nominum.com

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Centillium ADSL2 / ADSL2plus Chipset for CPE

Centillium Communications announced an ADSL2/ADSL2plus-compatible chipset for Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), which it claims can deliver data rates up to 50 Mbps or extend the reach of ADSL up to 22,000 feet. The Palladia 220 is a router-on-a-chip solution integrating Centillium's eXtremeDSLMAX technology. The chipset features a 200MHz RISC processor and hardware accelerators for packet processing, a high-speed PCI/Cardbus interface, 10/100 Ethernet, USB and a number of serial interfaces. The Palladia 220 includes a newly designed analog front-end to accommodate the extended spectrum operation enabled by the eXtremeDSLMAX technology. It also features high-resolution analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters and an exceptionally low-noise floor. It complements Centillium's recently announced Maximus central office chipset.
http://www.centillium.com

• In May 2003, Centillium Communications unveiled its "Maximus" 12-channel, central office (CO) chipset compliant with the ITU-T G.992.1 (G.dmt), G.992.2 (G.lite), G.992.3 (G.adsl2) and G.992.5 (G.adsl2plus) standards. The company claims its eXtremeDSLMAX technology is able to deliver up to 50 Mbps of downstream bandwidth for short loops, or reach customers at distances up to 22,000 feet from the central office, while maintaining full backward compatibility with over 30 million deployed ADSL modems. ADSL2plus standard offers downstream data rates of up 24 Mbps over short-to-medium length loops. Centillium's Maximus delivers up to 50 Mbps by leveraging a "quad stream" feature that uses frequency spectrum from 138 Khz to 3.75 MHz. The Maximus chipset supports upstream rates of up to 3 Mbps using frequency spectrum from 25 Khz to 276 Khz.

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Pirelli Introduces ADSL Modular Access Gateway

Pirelli Cables and Systems introduced an ADSL Modular Access Gateway featuring a built-in Smartcard reader and the ability for users to plug-in additional hardware modules for expanding the functionality of the gateway. Expansion modules include a 4-port Ethernet switch and a Wi-Fi access port. A programmable smart-card can be used to customize the Pirelli gateway for each individual user. The Smartcard can store basic information such as passwords and user preferences. It could also be used in lieu of a CD to automate installations, for network-defined services, or for broadband applications in which no PC is present.
http://www.pirelli.com

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SOFTBANK Invests in Korea's Bellwave

SOFTBANK has invested US$13 million in Bellwave, a Korean manufacturer, acquiring a 17% stake in the company. Bellwave specializes in GSM mobile phones and CDMA wireless data modules. The company markets its products mainly in China and Korea. Additional international investors in Bellwave include Texas Instruments and Citicorp.
http://www.bellwave.co.krhttp://www.softbank.co.jp

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Nortel Networks Supplies Metro DWDM for BT's SAN Service

BT's broadband point-to-point data networking division, Short-Haul Data Services (SHDS), will use Nortel Networks' metro DWDM equipment for its Wavestream Connect service. BT SHDS Wavestream Connect service offers dedicated optical fibre links with Nortel Networks OPTera Metro 5200 equipment at either end of a fiber link into which enterprises directly connect their LAN, WAN and SAN equipment. In addition to SAN connectivity, SHDS Wavestream Connect service is defined for the interconnection of Ethernet LAN, ATM, SDH and video services at scalable rates up to and including 2.5 Gbps. The BT Wavestream Connect Service is already being deployed for a large financial institution with Nortel Networks equipment. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com
http://www.bt.com

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MetaSwitch Enters RUS Field Trial with Yukon Telephone

Yukon Telephone, an incumbent telephone provider in Alaska, is testing MetaSwitch's VP3500 Next Generation Class 5 Switch as a first step towards an all-IP network. The testing is a Rural Utilities Service (RUS) field trial. Upon successful completion of the trial, MetaSwitch would be placed on the RUS approved vendor list, allowing other rural service providers to deploy the MetaSwitch VP3500 in their RUS funded network upgrades.
http://www.metaswitch.com
http://www.yukontel.com

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Alvarion Unveils 900 MHz Carrier Access System

Alvarion introduced a new BreezeACCESS 900 system, operating in the unlicensed 902-928 MHz frequency bands and designed for service to areas previously inaccessible for wireless coverage due to heavy foliage. Supporting data rates up to 3 Mbps, the BreezeACCESS 900 uses Hybrid Digital Modulation to penetrate foliage. The platform is currently in several pilot deployments.
http://www.alvarion.com

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Convergys Debuts Infinys Solution for Customer Management

Convergys Corporation unveiled its "Infinys" solution for helping carriers to automate and integrate their order fulfillment, customer service management, and billing functions across multiple product and service offerings. "Infinys" integrates Convergys' Geneva rating and billing engine and Convergys' Cygent customer order management capability. Additional Infinys capabilities are delivered through the integration of optional components for customer care and Web self-care, mediation, settlement, provisioning, inventory management, and service activation functions.


In support of its Infinys launch for wireline service providers, Convergys is announcing strategic alliances with Syndesis, Granite Systems, and Cramer Systems. The partnerships provide for Infinys integration with:

• Syndesis NetProvision, which automates provisioning, activation, and maintenance for the new network - across multiple vendors, network technologies, and network layers; and, Syndesis NetDiscover, which automates network discovery and identifies and classifies inconsistencies between providers' BSS/OSS and the actual end-to-end services and networks they manage, facilitating stranded asset and revenue recovery.
• 
  
  Granite Systems' Xng System, a service resource management solution built on the J2EE environment. The Xng System enables carriers to manage inventories of network resources and capacity, define network configurations, order and schedule resources, automate provisioning and engineering workflows,
  and provide a database of record to other Operational Support Systems (OSSs).
• 
  
  Cramer Systems' Cramer4, which is a network inventory management solution for telecom service providers in wireline, wireless, and data sectors. Cramer4 automates and actively manages inventory-centered processes such as service fulfillment and network implementation.

http://www.convergys.com

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Cox Business Services Offers Software-based VPN Service

Cox Business Services, a commercial affiliate of Cox Communications, is now offering a software-based VPN service in 17 markets across the US. Cox's VPN establishes a remote teleworker connection delivered over Cox's hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network. Corporate and satellite offices in the Cox managed VPN are served on either the company's fiber based network or HFC. The service scales to support up to 1000 tunnels and 200 Mbps of throughput. Cox is using NetScreen Technologies' platform for the service.
http://www.coxbusiness.com
http://www.netscreen.com

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Quantum Bridge Cites FTTP Customer in Kansas

Sunflower Broadband, an independent cable operator in Kansas, is deploying Quantum Bridge's combined Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and Optical Network Terminal (ONT) solutions. Quantum Bridge's switch is deployed at Sunflower Broadband's master headend facility in Lawrence. Optical services are delivered to multiple customer endpoints over Full Service Access Network (FSAN) compliant PON technology. Applications include 10/100 Mbps pipes for Intranet and Internet access over 802.1Q VLANs, as well as private line DS1 service. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.quantumbridge.com
http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com

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Marconi Enhances North American Fiber Access Portfolio

Marconi announced a series of enhancements to its North American access portfolio, including a four-port ADSL plug-in card for its DISC*S MX Broadband Fiber-to-the-Curb (FTTC) solution. The DSL enhancement enables the delivery of full-rate DSL to all subscribers served from the FTTC network. Marconi has also doubled, with plans to quadruple, the telephony capacity of the DISC*S common telephony processing shelf. The company said its FTTC solution was already at or near cost parity with traditional network construction options. Marconi estimates it has shipped over four million lines of Deep Fiber capacity, passing nearly one million homes across North America.


Marconi is also enhancing its FTTH portfolio with a temperature-hardened version of the Optical Network Termination (ONT) device, enabling carriers to terminate the outside plant fiber facility on the outside of the customer building. Marconi has deployed its FTTH solution, called the FTH-1000 system, in a network owned by the City of Palo Alto, Californiahttp://www.marconi.com

• On 29-May-03, BellSouth, SBC Communications and Verizon agreed on a common set of specifications for fiber to the premises (FTTP) local access networks. The common technical requirements will be based on existing technical standards. The three service providers have issued a letter to telecom equipment manufacturers, alerting them that the providers will soon be seeking proposals for equipment based on the common requirements. The companies will independently finalize their FTTP deployment plans for 2004 and beyond based on the evaluation of these proposals, ongoing internal studies, and on the resolution of related regulatory issues.

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Windows Mobile 2003 Supports 300 kbps Video Content

Microsoft has added Windows Media Player 9 support to its new Windows Mobile 2003 OS, enabling better digital media capabilities on PocketPC devices. In addition, enhanced support for Wi-Fi within the Windows Mobile software supports broadband video content at up to 300 kbps. Microsoft said its new Mobile OS also provides Improved Web streaming and fast streaming support (effectively eliminating buffering delays) for users connected to Windows 2003 server.
http://www.microsoft.com

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BigBand Networks Raises $15 Million

BigBand Networks, a start-up based in Redwood City, California raised $15 million in fourth round funding to support its broadband multimedia platform. BigBand's platform, which has been shipping for six quarters, is used for switching/routing video feeds for digital broadcast television, HDTV, transport of high quality video, ad insertion, VOD and iTV. The company claims 20 broadband network operators as customers, including seven of the top ten North American cable operators. The new funding was led by Meritech Capital Partners. Prior investors also participated in the round, including AOL Time Warner Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Evergreen Investments, Pilot House Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. BigBand Networks has raised $75 million to date.
http://www.bigbandnet.com

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