Brix Networks Offers Enterprise VoIP Assessment Tool

Brix Networks introduced a VoIP assessment tool to help enterprises predict how well their networks will support widespread IP telephony deployment. The system uses performance-monitoring appliances, called Brix Verifiers, at specified enterprise locations. These appliances simulate voice calls between sites, collect the resulting performance statistics, and then transmit the statistics back to the BrixWorx server for additional analysis. The system has a list price of $5,000.
http://www.brixnet.com

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Linksys Introduces New Gigabit Switches, 8-Ports for $420

Linkysys introduced a new line of unmanaged gigabit switches aimed at small and medium business workgroups. The products offer either eight or twelve 10/100/1000Mbps, half/full duplex, switched ports with the ability to forwards and filter packets based on MAC address. The unmanaged switches also support 802.3x flow control and head-of-line blocking prevention. The eight-port switch is priced at $419.99 and the 12-port price start at $859.99.
http://www.linksys.com

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WildBlue Plans Ka-band Satellite Launch in 2005

WildBlue Communications awarded a contract to Arianespace for the launch of its first Ka-band communications satellite, which is now scheduled for early 2005. -- WildBlue, which will be owned by Intelsat, Liberty Media and NRTC - will provide broadband service to rural and remote areas in the United States. The satellite will be built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California.
http://www.arianespace.com
http://www.wildblue.com

• In December 2002, Liberty Satellite & Technology, Intelsat, National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and David Drucker, WildBlue's chairman, agreed to invest $156 million in Wild Blue Communications. The company hopes to begin offering its services in 2004 using its license for the US Ka-band payload aboard Telesat Canada's Anik F2 satellite, which is scheduled for launch in late 2003. Liberty Satellite, Kleiner Perkins and David Drucker are existing shareholders. Intelsat and NRTC are new investors. In addition, WildBlue's existing strategic investors include TeleSat, EchoStar, Gemstar - TV Guide, TRW, and Arianespace.
  

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Intelsat 907 Satellite Successfully Launched

Intelsat 907, the seventh satellite in the Intelsat IX series, was successfully launched into orbit over the Atlantic Ocean. Intelsat 907 carries 22 Ku-band and up to 76 C-band transponders (in 36 MHz equivalents), making it one of the largest satellites built by Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. The satellite was launched from the European Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 44L rocket.
http://www.arianespace.com

• A total of 116 Ariane 4 rockets were launched from June 1988 to February 2003. Ariane 4 placed 182 satellites in orbit for over 50 different operators. With the success of Flight 159, Ariane 4 performs 74 successful launches in a row. In December, Arianespace's first Ariane 5 rocket carrying a 10-ton payload for Eutelsat and the French space agency CNES failed soon after launch from Kourou, French Guinea.
  

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Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens Team on Push-to-Talk Solution

Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens agreed to jointly develop an open standard to speed the adoption of direct-call push to talk service over GPRS. Push-to-talk enables walkie talkie like services over cellular networks by pushing a button on a mobile handset. Users receiving the transmission hear the sender's voice automatically without having to answer the call. The Ericsson/Nokia/Siemens technology uses the capabilities of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) as specified by 3GPP for enabling IP connections between mobile phones. Initial trials are expected to begin in the second half of 2003. AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless support this initiative.
http://www.siemens-mobile.com

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NTT DoCoMo Tests RadVision's Gateway for Real-Time Mobile Video

NTT DoCoMo is using the RADVISION viaIP gw-P20/M gateway as a component for a trial service that enables real-time video telephony between users' 3G (FOMA) video phones and IP based H.323 video phones. The gateway uses the 3G-324M standard for real time multimedia communications over WCDMA and CDMA2000 3G networks.
http://www.radvision.com

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Nanjing Cable Operator Deploys ADC's Cuda IP Access Switch

China's Nanjing CATV has deployed ADC's DOCSIS 1.1-qualified Cuda IP Access Switch. The cable operators will use multiple Cuda 12000 platforms to begin the rollout of broadband Internet access to its base of 800,000 subscribers. The contract marks the first deployment of the ADC platform in China. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.adc.com

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Alcatel's Mobile Beacon Technology Tracks Wireless Service Levels

Alcatel introduced a Mobile Beacon system that transforms users' phones into service level monitors for wireless networks. The technology uses a lightweight mechanism to detect network coverage issues and interaction issues between applications, SIM cards and phones. Application providers could set flags, or beacons, in their mobile applications in order to detect events of interest for analysis, reporting & alerts. Alcatel said these beacons can warn against service malfunctions, guide towards service improvements, and measure the fit between the operator's target market and the subscribers who actually use the services.
http://www.alcatel.com

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Vivato Introduces Indoor Wi-Fi Switch for 300m reach

Vivato, a start-up based in San Francisco, 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, which transmit and receive Wi-Fi on a packet-by-packet basis to maximize capacity and minimize interference. A single switch can support about 150 enterprise users-tracking active users as they move about the office within its 100-degree field of view. The list price is $8,995.
http://www.vivato.net

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Internet2 Abilene Network Upgrades to 10 Gbps Backbone

Internet2 Abilene network is upgrading to a 10 Gbps backbone along 13,000 route miles. Qwest Communications, Juniper Networks and Indiana University are providing equipment and services to implement the network upgrade. Upgraded links currently reach from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, passing through New York City, Chicago, Kansas City and Sunnyvale, California.
http://www.internet2.edu

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Agere Unveils 5 Gbps Network Processor

Agere Systems has integrated four separate chips to create what it describes as the world's fastest network processor. The 5 Gbps PayloadPlus APP540 combines four previously separate devices -- a programmable traffic manager, a multi-field classifier search engine, a network processor, and an Ethernet media access controller (MAC). Agere's chip uses external dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips to house classification tables and rules. Competitors use more expensive content addressable memory (CAM) or static random access memory (SRAM) chips. Agere Systems is also announced a separate PayloadPlus APP520 chip, which is essentially the same device as the APP540 yet targeted at lower-cost platforms. Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) is using the APP540 network processor as the key engine for creating a countrywide next generation network.
http://www.agere.com

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