Tellabs Makes Strategic Investment in White Rock Networks

Expanding upon an existing OEM relationship, Tellabs is making a strategic investment in White Rock Networks, a start-up based in Richardson, Texas. Under the agreement, Tellabs will market and sell a customized version of the White Rock VLX2020, which is a compact next-generation SONET add/drop multiplexer. Tellabs also adds to its portfolio a customized version of the White Rock VLX1010, a WDM platform that supports a seamless migration from coarse WDM to dense WDM. Financial terms were not disclosed. Tellabs and White Rock are working to develop interoperability between the customized White Rock products and the Tellabs 6400 transport switch, the Tellabs 6500 transport switch and the Tellabs 5500 digital cross- connect. In addition, the companies are jointly pursuing OSMINE certification as well as a combined management system.
http://www.tellabs.com
http://www.whiterocknetworks.com

• In December 2002, White Rock Networks closed $42 million in fourth-round venture funding for its next-generation optical transport systems for the local metro transport market. White Rock is focused on the Multi-service Provision Platform (MSPP) market as well next-generation SONET. White Rock has taken a unique approach to the MSPP problem by breaking it into pieces - modular, stackable product elements. White Rock also features a software-based control plane that transforms their modular "building-blocks" into a single network element. White Rock Networks has raised $144 million since its inception in 1999. The new funding was led by Oak Investment Partners, and included all of White Rock's existing major investors: Oak Investment Partners, Mayfield Fund, Meritech Capital, Fremont Communications, Fremont Ventures, Investor AB (through its wholly owned subsidiary, Investor Growth Capital), Hook Partners, Gulf International Bank, and Pacesetter Capital Group. In additional, 3i, a leading international venture capital investment firm, joined the round.

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Conexant Expects to Complete Mindspeed Spin-off by Summer

Conexant's board of directors approved a plan to separate its Mindspeed Technologies Internet infrastructure business in a tax-free spin-off to shareowners. Mindspeed'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- and link-layer products, and ATM/MPLS network processors. Mindspeed also offers a line of optical transmission devices and switching chips. At the time of spin-off, Conexant shareowners will receive a dividend comprised of all of the outstanding shares of Mindspeed on a pro rata basis. Mindspeed will receive an initial capital funding of $100 million in cash from Conexant, plus an additional $50 million cash in contingent financing. The deal is expected to close in the summer. After the spin-off, Conexant will focus on broadband communications chips that are used on the client-side connection, such as in set-top boxes (STBs), residential gateways, PCs and game consoles. These chips include DSL and cable modem solutions, home network processors, broadcast video encoders and decoders, digital STB components and system solutions, and the company's foundation dial-up modem business.
http://www.conexant.com

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Agere Provides MARS Access Chip Solutions to China's Fiberhome

Fiberhome Telecommunications Technologies., a leading, domestic optical network equipment supplier in China, will us Agere Systems' MARS Lite access chips in a new metro platform for data and SONET applications. Fiberhome plans to introduce the multiservice networking platform within this year. Agere has begun providing volume quantities of these chips.
http://www.agere.com

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Vitesse and Xilinx Demonstrate 10 Gbps OIF Interoperability

Vitesse Semiconductor and Xilinx successfully completed SPI-4.2 interoperability test between the Vitesse Meigs-II 10 Gbps Ethernet MAC and the Xilinx Virtex-II series FPGA-based SPI-4.2 core. The companies said hardware interoperability of the OIF-compliant SPI-4.2 interface would accelerate the development of high-density GbE and 10GbE in next-generation L2/3 Ethernet switches, edge routers, and Ethernet-over-SONET/SDH platforms.
http://www.vitesse.com
http://www.xilinx.com

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Network Instruments Offers Multimode 802.11 a/b/g Wireless and Wired Analyzer

Network Instruments announced availability of a wireless and wired analyzer with multimode 802.11a/b/g connectivity. Network Instruments partnered with Atheros for the multimode capability.
http://www.networkinstruments.com/

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Dune Networks Releases its Scalable Switching Fabric

Dune Networks, a start-up based in Agoura Hills, California with R&D in Israel, announced the immediate availability of its FE200 SAND switching fabric, a self-routing switching device that integrates 64 full-duplex 3.125 Gbps serial links. Dune's SAND chipset provides a non-blocking switching fabric, ingress/egress traffic management and scheduling. The design allows equipment to scale in terms of port rates, port densities and service types, without requiring changes to the core switching fabric and traffic management functions. The new FE200 device allows any port rate to be interconnected through the switching system. The FE200 fabric is a self-healing fabric. 1+1, N+1, and N-1 fault-tolerance schemes are supported. The FE200 fabric supports a graceful performance degradation scheme, guaranteeing interconnectivity regardless of functioning fabric capacity. Dune Networks said a system vendor could start with 10Gbps port rates and scale to 40 Gbps and higher future rates of 100 Gbps and 160 Gbps, all switched via the same FE200 device.

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RedClover Introduces Optical Transdaptor Family

RedClover Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California with a subsidiary in Ottawa, Canada, introduced its "Transdaptor" family of highly integrated and adaptive universal transponders. The product line includes a 10 Gbps universal transponder module that combines the functionality of a standard SFI-4 electrical interface, 10 Gbps optical interface, and ultra-compact embedded adaptive fiber transmission impairment compensation. It also includes a WDM Optical Transdaptor that adds the functionality of a tunable laser for full C-band or L-band operation. Both products are compliant with 300pin MSA standards, and support multiple data rates: 9.95 Gbps (OC-192, 10GE WAN), 10.3125 Gbps (10GE LAN), 10.664 Gbps and 10.709 Gbps for different FEC applications. RedClover has targeted its Transdaptor family of interface products at intelligent optical hardware for access, storage, switching, and transport networks.

Separately, RedClover announced partnerships with Ixia and with Oki Electric Industry Co. focused on 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps optical interface components and subsystems. RedClover also offers an SFI-5 compliant PS40EX 40 Gbps parallel-serial converter (ParSer) module and TR40SL 40/43 Gbps SFI-5 compliant optical transponder. specializes in 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps module, transponder, and adaptive universal transponder sub-systems.
http://www.redcloverinc.com
http://www.oki.com

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Picolight Offers 850nm Optical Transceivers for Cheaper 10 Gbps Ethernet

Picolight introduced 850nm 10 Gbps transceivers and 10 Gbps pluggable modules that will be priced at the cost of 1310nm alternatives. Picolight's new XENPAK modules join its "Accelar" 850nm vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) transceiver family that now spans all major 10 Gbps form factors including XENPAK, XPAK and XFP MSAs. Picolight said its family of XENPAK, XFP and XPAK transceivers could be used to inexpensively link Ethernet ports over installed multi-mode-fiber up to 300 meters.
http://www.picolight.com

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iolon Offers Tunable Optical Band-Pass Filters

iolon, a start-up based in San Jose, California, introduced a line of widely tunable optical band-pass filter products for 50 or 100 GHz channel spacings across the C- or L-bands. Key applications include tunable receivers, ASE suppression, re-configurable OADM and optical performance monitoring. iolon said the filter's design is based on a miniaturized free-space optical monochromator, enabling high adjacent channel isolation, low insertion loss, low polarization dependent loss and low dispersion.
http://www.iolon.com

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Verio Announces Customer Premise-Based VPN IPSEC Service

Verio introduced a managed customer premise equipment (CPE)-based VPN security service. NTT/VERIO SafeGuard implements IPSec tunneling and encryption using a fully managed Cisco IP VPN security device that acts as an IP router, VPN gateway, and Content-Based Access Control firewall, supporting dedicated access speeds from T1 to OC3.. Verio handles all management functions remotely.
http://www.verio.com

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AFC Enhances its Central Office Telliant 5000 Platform

Advanced Fibre Communications announced a series of enhancement for its Telliant 5000 Central Office Multiservice Platform, including:

• Integrated IP BRAS (broadband remote access server) supporting subscriber management and user authentication services
  
  
• Static and dynamic IP Routing with OSPFv2 protocol support



• New PPE (packet processing engine) option that enables Layer 3 IP-based services for Telliant interface modules



• ATM aggregation with a new 24-port T1/E1 UNI/IMA module supporting up to a class-leading 456 T1/E1 ports per chassis



• High-speed trunking and aggregation with three new optical OC-12c/STM4 ATM modules with up to 19 active and 19 protection ports in a chassis

AFC said more than 50 service providers have deployed its Telliant platform so far.
http://www.afc.com

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Tdsoft Announces Inverse VoIP Gateway

Tdsoft introduced its MGLE V5.x Inverse VoIP Gateway that converts traditional circuit switched voice channels into VoIP packets and supports V5 call processes and advanced call services, such as call waiting, call forwarding and caller ID. The platform provides V5.1 and V5.2 switching interfaces towards the access network, and its MGCP signaling interface towards the core enables Soft Switches to control V5 based access equipment.
http://www.tdsoft.com

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VocalTec Introduces SIP-Based Softswitch Architecture

VocalTec Communications introduced its "Essentra" SIP-based softswitch architecture for the international long distance (ILD) and national long distance (NLD) markets. VocalTec's Essentra platform integrates high-density media gateways, delivers SIP-based services (such as IP Centrex), and supports legacy PSTN and H.323 networks. The architecture uses a unique SIP-based service integration layer that is transparent to the call control layer and is responsible for maintaining all service and routing logic. Essentra's distributed architecture utilizes advanced fail-over and redundancy mechanisms and runs on Sun Netra servers with Solaris operating systems. The platform is able to integrate with the PSTN using VocalTec's global SS7 connectivity technology. Protocol support also includes interworking for MGCP, MEGACO/H.248, SIP, SIP-T, H.323, SS7, PRI, IUA and SIGTRAN.
http://www.vocaltec.com

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Sprint Chooses Lucent DSLAMs for its Local Networks Division

Sprint's Local Telecommunications Division has selected Lucent Technologies' Stinger Access Concentrators for its DSL networks. Sprint LTD will deploy the Stinger FS+, RT and MRT platforms throughout its entire DSL network, including outdoor cabinets. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.lucent.com

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Cisco Announces 32-Channel DWDM Capability for ONS 15454

Cisco Systems announced a 32-channel OC-192/STM-64 DWDM capability for its ONS 15454 platform. The DWDM capability is targeted primarily at metro interoffice connections between central offices, co-location offices, or enterprise and campus facilities where bandwidth requirements exceed 10 Gbps. Up to 32 wavelengths can be multiplexed together using optical filters such as the Cisco ONS 15216 metro/regional DWDM system, allowing bandwidth scaling to 320 Gbps per fiber. Cisco said the 32-channel OC-192/STM-64 capability used with optical amplification and dispersion compensation is also suitable for use in single-channel applications requiring extended reach.

Separately, Cisco said its ONS 15600 Multiservice Switching Platform (MSSP) and ONS 15216 Metro DWDM optical filter have completed the comprehensive Telcordia OSMINE Services process.http://newsroom.cisco.com

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BellSouth Launches Network IP VPN Services

BellSouth launched a Managed Network VPN Service over its MPLS backbone. The BellSouth suite provides an integrated Layer 2/3 native "Peer-to-Peer" IP-VPN connectivity using Private Line, Frame Relay, DSL or other access means. BellSouth said the IP-VPN offering addresses the remote access, intranet, Internet and extranet application needs of business customers.
http://www.bellsouth.com

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Broadband Alliance Calls for Common Vision to Drive New Services

A group composed of the major DSL service providers, consumer electronics and solutions vendors announced their intention to develop, standardize and support an open model for interactive entertainment services over DSL. The partners are working on a model to deliver profitably for every implied stakeholder of broadband entertainment services. The group includes Alcatel, Belgacom, Bluewin/Swisscom, Philips Consumer Electronics, Telekom Austria, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Thomson.
http://www.alcatel.com

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Centillium's Pushes ADSL up to 50 Mbps

Centillium Communications introduced an "eXtremeDSLMAX" technology that optimizes the use of the ADSL spectrum to make significant improvements in the downstream and upstream bit rates while extending the reach of ADSL service and maintaining backward compatibility with ADSL, ADSL2, and ADSL2plus standards. Centillium said its technology is capable of delivering up to 50 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream using existing ADSL copper network infrastructure. Centillium's eXtremeDSLMAX technology leverages a combination of hardware silicon design improvements, mixed signal design, and advanced software algorithms that support the latest ADSL standards such as G.992.3 (G.dmt.bis). A High Bit-Loading (MAX-HBL) feature allows more than 15 bits to be loaded per each ADSL DMT subcarrier. A Long Reach feature set extends ADSL coverage up to 22,000 feet (7,000 meters).
http://www.centillium.com

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BellSouth Agrees to Provide Earthlink with Expand Access to its DSL Network

BellSouth agreed to provide EarthLink with expanded geographic access to its DSL infrastructure, giving Earthlink with the ability to deliver broadband Internet services to an additional 4.5 million households. The deal expands Earthlink's DSL market presence to 79 cities within BellSouth's markets. EarthLink expects to begin introducing broadband service in the new markets during the second quarter of 2003. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.earthlink.nethttp://www.bellsouth.com

• Earlier this month, EarthLink introduced Unlimited Voice service for its high-speed cable and DSL subscribers. The service includes unlimited local, regional and long distance calling for a flat rate of $39.99 per month. It also includes voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, call return and call forwarding. Web-based account management provides online voicemail retrieval and real-time inbound/outbound calling activity logs. The service is not tied to geography, so customers can select a phone number from a list of over 115 area codes across the US. Earthlink is providing a free ATA (analog telephone adapter) box that connects standard phones to either a DSL or cable modem.



• Earthlink currently has about 779,000 high-speed subscribers, including both DSL and cable modem connected users.



• As of 31-December-2002, BellSouth had 1,021,000 DSL subscribers.

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