Deutsche Telekom Expands SDSL Deployment with Siemens

Deutsche Telekom AG selected Siemens ICN for its rollout of SDSL services. The SDSL capabilities are provided using new SDSL cards into the Siemens' DSLAMs.
http://www.siemens.com

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Covad Adds 23K Lines in Q4

Covad Communications added 23,000 lines in Q4 2002, giving it 381,000 lines in service. Churn decreased each month throughout the fourth quarter, averaging 3.4% in Q4, an improvement from an average of 4.0% in Q3 2002. Covad ended the 2002 fiscal year with $205 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Fourth quarter net cash usage was approximately $24 million, representing approximately $8 million per month.
http://www.covad.com

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inCode Telecom Transforming Payphones into Wi-Fi Hot Spots

inCode Telecom, in partnership with Bell Canada, launched a new pilot service that enables North American wireline carriers to transform everyday payphones into Wi-Fi hotspots. inCode's plan calls for payphones in high traffic areas to be fitted with Wi-Fi technology; typical locations include airports, train stations, hotels, convention centers and corporate campuses. inCode is based in La Jolla, California.
http://www.incodetel.com
http://www.bell.ca

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Megisto Systems Appoints Joel Halpern as CTO

Megisto Systems, a start-up developing core infrastructure equipment for carrier-class mobile services, announced the appointment of Joel Halpern as CTO. Prior to joining Megisto, Halpern was founder, CTO and VP of Engineering at Longitude Systems and before that he was Director of the Internet Working Architecture Group at Newbridge Networks. Halpern has also served as the IETF Routing Area Director and is now serving as the co-chair for the Policy Framework Working Group. http://www.megisto.com

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SolarFlare Raises $17.5 Million for Physical Layer Silicon

SolarFlare Communications, a start-up based in Irvine, California, raised $17.5 million in second round funding for its development of physical layer semiconductors. SolarFlare is building PHY products for running 10Gbps Ethernet over structured Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) copper cabling for LAN applications. The IEEE 802.3 Working Group, which develops standards for Ethernet based LANs, recently approved a Study Group to investigate the development of a standard for 10GBASE-T technology. The new funding was led by Anthem Venture Partners and included previous investors Foundation Capital and Sequoia Capital, and new investors Intel Capital, Miramar Venture Partners, and Windward Ventures. The company has raised $29.8 million to date.
http://www.solarflare.com

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SiGe Semiconductor Secures $43 Million in New Funding

SiGe Semiconductor, a start-up based in Ottawa, Canada with operations in Boston, San Diego and Hong Kong, raised US $42.8 million in Series B funding for its role as a supplier of analog integrated circuits for wireless access, cable telephony and high-speed optical systems. SiGe Semiconductor's integrated circuits are designed using silicon germanium, which improves performance, battery life and size of a wide range of wireless and broadband products. The new funding round was led by Boston-based TD Capital Technology Ventures, joined by new investors 3i US and Prism Venture Partners, along with returning investors VenGrowth Capital Partners, CDP Capital, Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Capital Alliance Ventures, and Canadian Science & Technology Growth Fund.
http://www.sige.com

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WorldCom Plans New Business and Consumer Telecom Services

WorldCom's new CEO, Michael Capellas, outlined plans to launch new consumer and business products and services. Plans for enterprise services include "The WorldCom Connection", which will be based on the convergence of the company's voice and data network. Specifics were not disclosed. On the consumer side, Capellas announced a series of initiatives to address the local and long-distance markets, including the expansion of its integrated offering, The Neighborhood built by MCI, as well as new standalone long-distance products. Product announcements are expected shortly.
http://www.worldcom.com

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Fujitsu Microelectronics Delivers ASICs to Chiaro Networks

Fujitsu Microelectronics America completed a set of seven ASICs that will form the basis for Chiaro Networks' new routing platform. The new ASICs range from more than 300,000 gates to 8.8 million gates and incorporate very high-speed interfaces from 622 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps. One typical device delivers 28 channels of 1.25 Gbps clock/data recovery.
http://www.fma.fujitsu.com
http://www.chiaro.com

• In November 2002, Chiaro Networks and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Cal-(IT)2) announced a partnership to develop an optical networking Grid to support data-intensive scientific research and collaboration, especially in earth and biomedical sciences. The OptIPuter will leverage Grid middleware and multiple wavelengths of light to provide a better means of accessing and processing large, remote databases. Chiaro Networks is supplying its Enstara optical routing platform for the project. Chiaro said its platform employs several innovative technologies such as nanosecond optical packet switching, centralized switch fabric scheduling, and the use of programmable network processors.



• Chiaro has secured $210 million to date from backers such as Intel Capital, Siemens Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds, and STAR Ventures

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SingTel Introduces Singapore's First Public 3G Video Calls

SingTel completed the first 3G public video calls in Singapore using a trial system supplied by Ericsson. In November of 2002, SingTel successfully completed 3G voice calls using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and a consortium comprised of Siemens IC Mobile, NEC Corporation and ITOCHU Corporation. All three trial systems were able to demonstrate mobile video telephony. SingTel expects to be able to offer 3G services on a selective basis in 2003.
http://www.singtel.com

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Taiwan's HiNet Deploys Juniper's M-series Routers

HiNet, the ISP division of Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom, has selected Juniper Networks M-series platforms for the expansion of its backbone. HiNet is currently serving more than 1,600,000 ADSL subscribers, making it one of the world's top broadband providers. HiNet has previously deployed Juniper's E-series platforms at the network edge. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.juniper.net

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China's Jiangsu Unicom Selects Lucent's Ethernet/SDH Metro Gear

China's Jiangsu selected Lucent Technologies' Metropolis Ethernet/SDH metro access multiplexer and Metropolis ADM MultiService Mux for deployment in five cities across Jiangsu province. The optical backbone will be used to connect wireless base stations and mobile switching centers to long-distance networks. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.lucent.com

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BT Deploys Nortel Networks' Contivity Secure IP Services Gateways

BT has deployed Nortel Networks' Contivity Secure IP Services Gateways to provide secure remote access to office applications for its enterprise customers. The same network will also be used to provide 60,000 BT teleworkers with remote access to the same applications typically available only in the office. BT Openzone Wireless LAN access points already integrate Nortel Networks Contivity Gateways. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com

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Cirpack Introduces Carrier-Class SIP Gateway for Public Telephony over IP

CIRPACK announced commercial availability of its SIP Gateway solution for telecom operators deploying voice services over IP local loops and for carriers migrating their transit networks to IP. Cirpack G16S SIP Gateway converts voice traffic and signaling between the PSTN and IP networks by using SIP. It can handle up to 1024 RTP channels with echo cancellation per interface board and convert VoIP/RTP traffic to TDM circuits or ATM cells to connect service providers' IP infrastructures to any other local loops and core backbones. It also supports nearly all voice signaling protocol variants (SS7/ISUP, ISDN, VoATM) and offers advanced Class-4 routing features. Cirpack said its SIP Gateway is currently deployed in field trails with various European telecom service providers. Several SIP Phones and CPEs from vendors such as Cisco Systems, D-Link, Innomedia, Pingtel, Snom AG and others have been fully certified for full interoperability.
http://www.cirpack.com

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Motorola, Avaya and Proxim to Collaborate on Converged Wireless LANs

Motorola, Avaya and Proxim will collaborate on the creation and deployment of converged cellular, WLAN, and IP telephony solutions. New products will include a Wi-Fi/cellular dual-system phone from Motorola, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-enabled IP Telephony software from Avaya, and voice enabled WLAN infrastructure from Proxim. Motorola said that by tying together wireless LANs, IP Telephony, and cellular technologies in a single handset, the companies will extend the mobility of cellular networks inside the enterprise. Avaya will provide its IP telephony system, Motorola will provide software to control the hand-off between local (WLAN) and cellular networks; and Proxim will provide voice-enabled Wi-Fi WLAN infrastructure, quality of service software, and centralized management systems to facilitate hand-offs between access points.
http://www.avaya.com
http://www.proxim.com

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City of Adelaide Plans One of the Largest Public Wi-Fi Networks

The city of Adelaide, Australia is planning one of the world's largest open-space public wireless networks, with more than 70 access points. The multi-cell network, named StreetWise, is being developed by an Adelaide based consortium of technology companies including Cisco, Adelaide's three universities and key public authorities. The network will use Cisco Aironet Series Wi-Fi equipment.
http://www.cisco.com

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ArrayComm Demonstrates Seamless Handoffs for its iBurst Wireless Broadband System

ArrayComm, a start-up based in San Jose, California, demonstrated for the first time seamless handoffs between base stations in its i-BURST broadband wireless system. The i-BURST system's handoffs between base station coverage areas provide consumers with continuous video streaming, file transfer, e-mail and other standard Internet applications while walking, driving or stationary. A pre-commercial deployment of the system is currently underway in Sydney, Australia, where 12 base stations covering 150 square kilometers will be tested.
http://www.arraycomm.com

• ArrayComm's i-BURST technology uses spatial processing software to significantly increase radio spectrum efficiency. The technology uses adaptive smart antennas to deliver data rates of up to 40 Mbps per cell, which could be shared between many simultaneous users at user data rates in excess of 1 Mbps in a fully loaded system.

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Equant to Build MPLS-based IP VPN for Hanjin Shipping

Equant was awarded a three-year contract to provide an MPLS-based IP VPN solution for Hanjin Shipping, which is based in Korea. The network will link more 100 offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Hanjin will use the Equant IP VPN to customize and run a host of business-critical applications. Financial terms were not disclosed. Equant said it now serves more than 100 shipping-related companies with thousands of sites in more than 176 countries.
http://www.equant.com

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France Telecom's Wanadoo Approaches 1.4 Million Broadband Customers

As of the end of 2002, France Telecom's Wanadoo Internet service was serving nearly 1.4 million broadband customers (ADSL and cable modem) in Europe including more than 1 million in France. For comparison, the total number of broadband customers at the end of 2001 was 545,000. Excluding its smaller cable modem service, Wanadoo had 987,000 ADSL subscribers in France and 200,000 ADSL subscribers in other European countries. Including dial-up customers, Wanadoo ended 2002 with more than 8.5 million Internet access customers, up by 2.5 million for the year. The audience of Wanadoo portals and sites reached 1.703 billion pages viewed in December 2002, compared with 1.288 billion in December 2001.
http://www.wanadoo.com

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Senate Grills FCC on Telecom Policy

Speaking at the opening of the Senate's
"Hearing on the State of Competition in the Telecom Industry," Senator
Fritz Hollings (D, SC), the outgoing Chairman of the Committee on
Commerce, Science and Transportation, said that while the Telecom Act of
1996 is finally beginning to work for American consumers, five FCC
commissioners appear ready "to set off on their own" to revise the rules
of the game in the name of a "so-called broadband imperative."  Hollings
charged that the FCC is not fulfilling the duty Congress set forth but
instead pursuing their own agenda with the "wild idea" that they are
promoting jobs and investment.

Incoming committee co-chairman Senator John McCain (R, AZ)
attributed part of the blame for the telecom industry crisis to the
failure of Congress to legislate.  He said massive campaign
contributions have distorted the legislative debate.

Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and
George Allen (R-VA) highlighted their newly introduced Wireless
Broadband Bill that would make more broadcast spectrum available for
Wi-Fi services. (see


http://www.convergedigest.com/regulatory/regulatoryarticle.asp?ID=5673)

FCC Chairman Michael Powell said
we have reached a technology crossroads that demands a more enlightened
regulatory environment.  While competition in local services is taking
hold, Powell said the FCC must act soon to define new rules for
unbundled network elements (UNEs).  Due
to a previous court ruling (see

http://www.convergedigest.com/regulatory/regulatoryarticle.asp?ID=3857),
all existing UNE rules will be vacated on February 20.  A
Triennial Review of network unbundling
rules is underway at the FCC.  Powell could not say what the outcome of the
proceeding would be, but he said the FCC would look towards promoting
long-term, sustainable competition in local access with the presumption
that all competitors bring something to the table in terms of on-going
facilities.  He insisted that any decision would not be as simple as
pro-Bell or anti-Bell, but driven by the public interest and follow in
the spirit of the Telecom Act.  Powell also stated that broadband is the
central telecommunications policy objective today.  The big question is
how to help drive the enormous investment required to rollout broadband
everywhere.

Commissioner Kevin Martin warned
against the dangers of allowing the telecom sector to continue
stagnating -- continued job losses, lower market valuations, less
investment, fewer telecom providers and ultimately fewer network
equipment providers.  There is a risk of being left with too few
providers of critical infrastructure, possible affecting national
competitiveness and security.  Martin said the FCC main objective should
be to create a regulatory environment that encourages the deployment of
new infrastructure while maintaining access to those network elements
that are truly needed for local competition.

Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy
said the industry needs regulatory certainty and policies that can
withstand judiciary scrutiny and are backed by significant and
enforceable penalties.  She expressed concern that universal service
remain viable in any outcome and that competitive service be available
to all Americans.  Abernathy believes the commission should define
broadband service and then craft an appropriate regulatory scheme.

Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein
said the greatest priority should be to speed up broadband deployment to
all Americans and deliver the greatest amount of bandwidth to the
greatest number of people.  Adelstein said a widespread broadband
rollout could fuel a turnaround for the telecom sector.

Commissioner Michael Copps noted
that this hearing takes place at the start of what is likely to be a
very historic year for the FCC.  Copps said the FCC should remain
focused on the public objective.  Broadband is becoming key to America's
future.  Managing the transition from monopoly to competition is always
tricky.  He believes the commission should look toward deliberate and
incremental steps rather than any knee-jerk reactions toward new
policies. Copps also argued that the FCC should not pre-empt the
decisions of state public utility commissions.

http://www.cspan.com

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