Alcatel Acquires VoIP Session Border Controller from Aravox

Alcatel has acquired a system from Aravox Technologies designed for carrier-to-carrier VoIP interconnect and for supporting IP PBXs. The Aravox session border controller, which is based on the IETF Midcom standard, makes real-time packet peering over IP secure. It also ensures QoS and high availability of network resources to the end-to-end communications it controls. Alcatel said it would offer the session border controller as part of its Alcatel 5020 Softswitch solutions. The acquisition was finalized in December 2002. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.alcatel.com

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Qwest Offers its own UNE-P Proposal

Qwest Communications is proposing a new regulatory scheme that it says would help the industry shift from the UNE-P resale paradigm to facilities-based competition. The Qwest proposal would eliminate the unbundled switching requirement in areas where multiple CLECs have deployed their own switches. Where there are three or more CLEC switches within a geographic area known as a LATA, the switching requirement would be removed promptly. The Qwest proposal also establishes a role for state regulatory commissions to determine the transition timetable for eliminating unbundled switching as a UNE in all other remaining areas. In LATAs where there are fewer than three such CLEC switches, the state commissions, interpreting the guidelines established by the FCC, would look at additional factors to determine reasonable timetables to remove switching. The proposal has been filed with the FCC.
http://www.qwest.com

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FCC Reallocates Spectrum for New Wireless Services

The FCC reallocated 30 megahertz of spectrum from the 2 GHz Mobile Satellite Service (2 GHz MSS) to fixed and mobile services. The Commission also announced that it is seeking comment on potential uses of an additional 15 megahertz of spectrum previously identified for new wireless services and on increased flexibility in the Unlicensed Personal Communications Service (UPCS) band.
http://www.fcc.gov

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FCC Grants Terrestrial Flexibility for Mobile Satellite Services

Mobile satellite services in three frequency bands will be granted FCC permits to operate ancillary terrestrial components in their networks. Specifically, the mobile satellite operators will be able to use their existing spectrum for both satellite-provided connectivity and terrestrial or tower-based repeaters. They will not be permitted to use their spectrum to offer terrestrial-only services. The terrestrial component would serve only to augment the satellite signals in areas where coverage would otherwise be difficult, such as urban areas or to solve indoor coverage problems. The decision covers three spectrum bands: 2GHz, Big LEO and L-band. The FCC concluded that technically it would be more efficient, feasible and practical to permit MSS licensees to include a terrestrial component in their satellite systems to serve consumers than to award terrestrial rights in the band to third parties.
http://www.fcc.gov

• Companies that have been granted authorizations to operate mobile satellite services in the 2 GHz band include Boeing, Celstat America, Constellation Communications Holdings, Globalstar, ICO Services, Iridium, Mobile Communications Holdings, and TMI Communications.
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  The ruling was opposed by wireless carriers, including AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless.

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WSJ: Sprint's Willam Esrey to Step Down

Sprint's Chairman and CEO William Esrey and Chief Operating Officer Ron LeMay plan to step down in a matter of days, according to The Wall Street Journal. Esrey is currently undergoing cancer treatment.
http://www.wsj.com

• Sprint declined to comment on media speculation regarding management succession. Its quarterly financial results are expected 05-February-2003.

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TNT Systems to Market dynamicsoft SIP Stack in North America

TNT Systems, a Petaluma, California-based developer of network protocol software, was selected as the exclusive North American reseller of the dynamicsoft SIP User Agent stack. TNT Systems will be distributing the SIP User Agent Version 6.0 software, one of the first stacks to be compliant with the recently ratified SIP RFC 3261.
http://www.dynamicsoft.com
http://www.tntss.com/

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TigerJet Implements 802.11b in Native / Host based Architecture

TigerJet announced an 802.11b solution that is implemented using the native / host based architecture for the MAC and base-band functions. The native / host based architecture leverages the host CPU and memory rather than requiring an embedded CPU like most that is dedicated to the 802.11b function. The company said its solution cuts the number of gates required by more than half and eliminates the CPU duplication. Both the 802.11b MAC and base-band have been implemented using less than 40K gates for each function. A CardBus form factor demonstration unit can be evaluated on a PC running Windows.
http://www.tjnet.com/

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GIGA STREAM Raises Euro 10 million for UMTS Broadband Switch

GIGA STREAM UMTS Technologies, a start-up based in Saarbruecken, Germany, raised € 10 million in second round funding for development of a broadband switch for 3G networks. The GIGA STREAM UMTS Navigation Switch is designed to enable seamless roaming between 2G (GPRS), 3G (UMTS) and WLAN networks. The platform combines core switching elements and multiple access technologies in a single cabinet. The new funding was led by PolyTechnos Venture Partners GmbH and included first round investors 3i and SWG.
http://www.giga-stream.de

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Acterna Adds Lawful Intercept and Intrusion Detection to Analyzer

Acterna has added lawful intercept and intrusion detection functionality to its DA-3600 Data Network Analyzer. The analyzer, which was designed for law enforcement, defense and security agencies, is capable of operating on Ethernet and Packet-over-SONET/SDH data networks and supports rates up to 2.5 Gbps. With the new capabilities, Acterna's DA-3600 is able to intercept and forward packet streams based on parameters defined by the user. It has the capacity to analyze up to 160K IP flows and delivers flexible filtering capabilities by IP addresses and keywords. These new capabilities allow the monitoring and interception of data traffic such as email, web and chat. More specifically, the analyzer can search and filter all traffic for keywords suspected to be associated with a threat to security. When a keyword is identified, the DA-3600 will automatically begin to monitor those users and forward their traffic to a collection device for forensic analysis.
http://www.acterna.com

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Marconi to Supply Broadband Payphones in Australia

Marconi announced a reseller agreement with WebPoint to distribute Web-enable payphones in Australia. The Marconi Neptune 800 is a fixed broadband gateway with touch screen technology. Potential installations will include hotels, train stations and sporting venues. The Australian reseller agreement follows BT's decision to rollout the world's largest network of interactive kiosks in the UK, where some 2,000 Web-enabled payphones will be installed by April.
http://www.marconi.com

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Australia's Optus Selects Lucent for Multiservice Switching and VoDSL

Optus, a national Australian service provider, has deployed Lucent's voice over DSL (VoDSL) technology, including its PacketStar 1250 Multiservice Media Gateway, Cellpipe integrated access devices, and Navis AQueView Element Management System. Financial terms were not disclosedhttp://www.lucent.com

• Lucent offers a range of PacketStar (PSAX) media gateways for deployments scaling from small hub locations to central offices. The Lucent PacketStar gateways enable any-service, any-channel flexibility for circuit emulation, Frame Relay and ATM in Nx64 blocks within the same T1/E1 line. The gateways also offer an Edge Router Module for multiservice interworking to IP and multiservice Layer 2 VPNs. The largest, 15-slot PSAX 4500 media gateway handles up to 120,000 DS0s in a seven foot rack. The PSAX 1250 media gateway is available in 10-slot or 14-slot models.

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BT Installs its First 80 Wi-Fi Hotspots

BT launched services from its first 80 Wi-Fi public hotspots across the UK. The hotspots are located in Hilton hotels, airports and motorway service stations. Agreements are in place for a further 40 locations. BT is also working on plans for Wi-Fi in railway stations and coffee shops. The company also has a roaming agreement with TeliaSonera for providing access to more than 500 HomeRun hotspots in Sweden, France, Italy, Denmark and the US.
http://www.bt.com

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8x8 Announces Unlimited Calling over SIP Phone Service

8x8 introduced an unlimited calling plan for its SIP-based broadband telephony service. Customers can choose a direct-dial phone number from any of the over 100 area codes offered by the service, and then use an 8x8-supplied telephony adapter to plug regular phones into a broadband connection (Ethernet). Unlimited calling is priced at $34.95/month (with a 12-month commitment) or $39.95/month (month-to-month). The new unlimited PSTN calling plan is in addition to two lower-priced service plans.
http://www.packet8.net

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Kansas City School District Moves to IP Convergence with Siemens

The Kansas City, Missouri School District has awarded a $15.8 million contract to the Enterprise Networks division of Siemens ICN to expand the existing communications infrastructure of 45 schools and add a telephone to every classroom. Siemens will install IP gateways, cabling and data infrastructure equipment based on its HiPath platform. The deployment includes 45 HiPath 3000 SMGs (survivable media gateways), which support conventional circuit-switched telephone services as a fall-back from their IP functionality.
http://www.siemensenterprise.com

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Canada Launches Agile Photonic Network Research Project

Researchers in Canada launched a five year project to develop an Agile All-Photonic Network (AAPN) based on an efficient, all-photonic switch. The project is funded by a $7 million grant from the government's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Partners in the project include five universities (McGill, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, Queen's and McMaster), three federal research labs and seven private companies (Innovance Networks, Tropic Networks, JDS Uniphase, Bragg Photonics, Institut National d'Optique, ITF Optical Technologies and Adtek Photomask).
http://www.nserc.ca

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Connex Deploys Nortel Networks' Passport 20000 Core Switch

Connex, a mobile operator in Romania, has deployed Nortel Networks' Passport 20000 Multiservice Switches to support 2G wireless traffic while enabling a smooth migration to a 3G packetized infrastructure. The installation, which currently includes 3 switches, marks the first live European deployment of Passport 20000, which has also been deployed in other service provider networks. Connex has previously deployed Nortel Networks Succession softswitches and gateways and Passport 15000 Multiservice Switches. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.connex.rohttp://www.nortelnetworks.com

• Nortel Networks' Passport 20000 is a multiservice core switch designed to scale to 160 Gbps in aggregate capacity. It is positioned to enable service providers to migrate their ATM networks toward IP/MPLS.



• Connex has 2.5 million GSM subscribers in Romania. Its principal shareholders are Telesystem International Wireless (TIW) and Vodafone.

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Broadband Sign-ups Reach 30,000 per Week in the UK

Take up of new broadband subscriptions has now risen to almost 30,000 per week in the UK, according to a new report from Oftel, the official telecom regulator in the UK. The nation currently has about 1.4 million broadband users.
http://www.oftel.gov.uk

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European Commission Presses Microsoft to Alter its .NET Passport system

Following discussion with the European Commission, Microsoft agreed to implement a comprehensive package of data protection measures in its existing .NET Passport system. The most important result of the changes is that users will get much more information and choice as to which data they want to provide and under which conditions these data will be processed by Microsoft or the participating websites. The EC said on-line authentication services need to respect the data protection principles laid down in the 1995 Data Protection Directive and national laws.http://europa.eu.int

• In August 2002, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reached an agreement with Microsoft regarding security and privacy issues related to the .NET Passport system. The agreement called for the formalization, documentation and independent audit of Passport's security procedures.



• Microsoft claims more than 200 million accounts for NET Passport and over 3.5 billion authentications per month. http://www.passport.net

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European Commission Launches Investigation into France Telecom

The European Commission launched a formal investigation of the €9 billion in financial aid presented to France Telecom by the government of France. The European Commission said it wonders whether the French authorities are providing FT with funding that it could have obtained under normal market conditions. The formal investigation procedure will whether the State has acted like a private investor. The Commission also needs further proof from the French authorities that the return on the invested capital would have been acceptable to a private investor. The larger issue is whether the support measures are compatible with the proper functioning of the internal EU market.http://europa.eu.int

• On 05-December-2002, France Telecom announced a financial restructuring that includes €15 billion in new equity. The French government, which holds a 55% interest in the company, is providing € 9 billion of this amount.. Under the “15+15+15�? plan, France Telecom would also make operational improvements to increase free cash flow by €15 billion to reduce debt, and the company would reschedule €15 billion of debt.

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AT&T's David Dorman Urges Caution to FCC Policymakers

AT&T's Chairman, David Dorman, warned that landmark policy changes now being considered at the FCC could change the telecom landscape for decades. Dorman urged regulators to permit the current competitive environment to evolve into facilities competition rather than to take any steps that would lead to the re-monopolization of the Bell networks. Dorman predicted that inter-modal (wired, cable and wireless) competition will develop eventually but that it is not significant yet. He believes that some forms of wireless and satellite could become true last-mile alternatives. The UNE-P platform has enabled AT&T to offer competitive local services in ten states so far. Dorman said this real competition has led to more choices and lower prices. He said AT&T already has significant incentive to build its own local access networks as it currently pays $5 to $8 billion per year to the Bells for local access, but that AT&T could not go ahead with a major network expansion under the old paradigm of "build it and they will come." AT&T must establish a large customer base for local services first and then the new networks can be built. Dorman also expects technological advances such as better DSPs and non-line-of-sight wireless systems to play an important roll in the next 3 to 5 years.
http://www.att.com

• An archived webcast of AT&T Chairman & CEO, Dave Dorman speaking at The National Press Club is available online. http://npc.press.org/ http://www.connectlive.com/events/att/



• The CEO of BellSouth is scheduled to speak at The National Press Club in February.

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