U.S. Robotics Offers 5X Acceleration Service for 56K Modems

U.S. Robotics will bundle Propel Software's Propel Accelerator 3.0 software and service with its line of analog modems, enabling dial-up users to browse at speeds up to 5x faster than before, according to the companies. Propel Accelerator is a subscription-based service that works with existing ISPs. Propel Accelerator speeds up the delivery of Web pages by using compression algorithms, caching and
proprietary techniques to create "persistent connections" that eliminate the constant opening and closing of TCP/IP flows. The Propel Acceleration Service will be available to U.S. Robotics customers at an MSRP of $7.95 per month, or $59.95 per year, in early June 2003.
http://www.propel.com
http://www.usr.com

• In November, Propel Software announced a distribution deal with Earthlink.
• 
  
  Propel Software is headed by Steve Kirsch, who previously founded Infoseek Corporation (acquired by Disney).
  

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GlobespanVirata Posts 34% Sequential Revenue Growth

GlobespanVirata reported quarterly revenue of $68.7 million, a 34% sequential increase over net revenues of $51.1 million in Q4 2002 but a 19% decrease from net revenues of $84.4 million for Q1 2002. There was a basic and diluted loss of $0.04 per share. The company said it benefited from expanding worldwide demand for DSL equipment and reductions in inventory levels at central office equipment manufacturers.
http://www.globespanvirata.com

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MetaSwitch Supplies its Next Gen Class 5 Switch to Yukon Telephone

Yukon Telephone, an incumbent provider serving several rural towns in Alaska, selected MetaSwitch's VP3500 Next Generation Class 5 Switch to replace its existing Mitel and Redcom TDM Class 5 Switches. The new switch provides both legacy and broadband interfaces, including GR-303, VoATM and VoIP as well as advanced Web-based subscriber services. Yukon Telephone is deploying the VP3500 in its Whittier Central Office as a first step towards an all-IP network. Other platforms evaluated prior to the selection of Metaswitch included switches from Taqua, Gluon and CopperCom. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.metaswitch.com
http://www.yukontel.com

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UTStarcom Signs $30 Million Contract in China's Yunnan Province

UTStarcom signed an expansion contract with China Telecom valued at approximately $30 million to deploy its IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) in the southwestern province of Yunnan. The province has more than 40 million people and only 10% fixed-line penetration. The PAS platform provides a low-cost investment option for wireless local telephone service.
http://www.utstar.com
http://www.chinatelecom.com.cn/english/

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BellSouth Receives $1.5 Billion Repayment from KPN

BellSouth received net proceeds of approximately $1.5 billion resulting from an early repayment by KPN of the entire outstanding balance of the loan BellSouth had extended to KPN as part of their restructuring agreement dated 30-January-2002. The full face value of the loan was repaid, including accrued interest.
http://www.bellsouth.com

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Qwest Commits Additional $75 Million to DSL Rollout

Qwest Communications will invest an incremental $75 million to expand the availability of DSL in its 14-state region. The additional rollout will expand Qwest's current DSL service area by more than 20%, to nearly 1,550 new neighborhoods across its region. As a result, approximately 900,000 additional homes and businesses will be DSL-qualified.
http://www.qwest.com

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MCI Introduces Global Video Streaming by Yahoo!

MCI announced a new global video streaming service, powered by Yahoo! Broadcast Solutions. The new MCI service lets companies use existing videoconferencing systems to webcast large-scale meetings and events. Any Internet-connected PC can access the webcast. In addition, streamed events can be archived and accessed on-demand to meet participants' schedule constraints.
http://www.mci.com/conferencing

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Sonus Floats 20 Million Shares of Common Stock

Sonus Networks completed a public offering of 20 million shares of Common Stock at a per share price of $3.05. All of the shares were offered by the company and management did not sell any shares in the offering. Sonus Networks said the transaction bolsters its balance sheet.
http://www.sonusnet.com

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Lufthansa and Connexion by Boeing Declare Success for In-Flight Broadband

Lufthansa and Connexion by Boeing declared that their 3-month trial of on-board, W-Fi broadband services along a transatlantic route was a success based on passenger usage and response. Lufthansa began testing the service on 15-Janaury-2003 on its Frankfurt-to Washington/Dulles route. An average of 50-80 simultaneous users per flight accessed the service, with 95% of respondents to post-flight surveys reporting being very or extremely satisfied with the service. In the months ahead Lufthansa and Connexion by Boeing will complete a thorough analysis of data gathered during the service demo and incorporate those results into the ongoing service refinement. Lufthansa will decide whether to equip its long-haul fleet of aircraft with the Connexion by Boeing service, which would commence in 2004.
http://www.boeing.com/connexion/

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SBC to Install Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 4500 Optical Transmission Platform

SBC Communications has approved Fujitsu Network Communications' FLASHWAVE 4500 next-generation multiservice optical transport platform for use and network deployment. The Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 4500 platform provides an optical hub for multiple, new and existing SONET rings and reduces requirements for digital cross-connect systems. Initial deployments will provide OC-3, OC-12 and OC-48 connectivity with potential for future OC-192 configurations. SBC will use the NETSMART 1500 element management system and FLEXR GT craft interface tool to turn-up, provision, monitor and manage its entire network of Fujitsu platforms. Financial terms were not disclosed. Fujitsu said its FLASHWAVE 4500 platform can be deployed for both Interoffice Facility (IOF) and customer dedicated ring applications.
http://www.fnc.fujitsu.com

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NEC America Launches New Line of IP-Enabled Telephony Gear

NEC America introduced its Aspire Key Telephone System for small and medium-sized businesses. The platform, which can support as many as 512 users and can scale from 16 to 512 lines, can be deployed in a traditional TDM environment or an IP network, or any combination of both. NEC America will sell the Aspire line through its nationwide network of dealers.
http://www.cng.nec.com

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D-Link Adds Cable Testing to Ethernet Broadband Router

D-Link released a new version of its Ethernet Broadband Router that now includes Virtual Cable Tester (VCT) technology to help users troubleshoot cabling connectivity issues. VCT technology enables consumers to troubleshoot connectivity issues with any Ethernet-equipped device, including videoconferencing appliances, gaming consoles and print servers that are not normally visible through networking software. The Ethernet Broadband Router has an estimated street price of $30. D-Link plans to add the cable testing capability to other products.
http://www.dlink.com

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AirFlow Networks Closes $8 Million for WLAN Management

AirFlow Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, closed $8 million in an initial round of funding for its development of WLAN management and security solutions. AirFlow Networks is developing a new wireless LAN architecture which it describes as far simpler to deploy than current systems. AirFlow's first products are slated for launch in the second half of 2003. Specifics have not yet been disclosed. The funding round includes $2 million in seed funding from the company's founding in January 2002. AirFlow also named Bob Machlin as its new president and CEO. Prior to AirFlow, Machlin was President & CEO of Catena Networks, a DSL remote access telecommunications manufacturer, and was previously vice president of worldwide marketing for Ascend Communications through its acquisition by Lucent.
http://www.airflownetworks.com

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Nokia Acquires Eizel for Application Transformation Gateway

Nokia agreed to acquire Eizel Technologies, a start-up developing enterprise security solutions, for a net price of US$21 million. Eizel employs advanced computer science technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, pattern recognition and natural language processing to transform email messages, attachments, intranet applications and web content into accessible formats that can be viewed from any mobile device on any network.
http://www.nokia.com
http://www.eizel.com

• Eizel Technologies was founded in 2000 by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University. The company was backed by Innovent, a business unit of Nokia, and ITU Ventures LLC.
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  A list of Nokia's previous networking acquisitions: http://www.convergedigest.com/Mergers/mergersNokia.htm
  

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Shiva to Acquire Memotec for its Access Equipment

Shiva is acquiring the assets of Memotec, a privately-held supplier of multi-service platforms for IP, Frame Relay and ATM. Memotec has more than 100,000 products installed in over 94 countries. Memotec is based in Montreal. Financial terms were not disclosed. Shiva said the acquisition supports its corporate strategy of providing secure business communications to distributed global enterprises and service providers.
http://www.shiva.com
http://www.memotec.com

• In a management buyout in October 2002, Memotec became a privately-held company following a period in which it was owned by Kontron Canada.

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Tyco to Build Undersea Cable for Norwegian Space Center

Tyco Telecommunications was selected by a subsidiary of the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC) to supply the Svalbard Undersea Cable System linking the island of Svalbard with mainland Norway. At 78 degrees North latitude, Svalbard is in close proximity to the North Pole, and therefore, is ideally situated for collecting data from polar orbiting satellites. Tyco said the undersea system will consist of two diversely routed fiber optic segments with a total route length of 2800 km. Tyco will initially configure the system with 40 Gbps of transmission capacity. However, the system design will enable NSC to upgrade transmission capacity to over 1,280 Gbps.
http://www.tycotelecom.com
http://www.spacecentre.no

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Toshiba America Adds IP Capabilities to Office PBX

Toshiba America Information Systems introduced IP capabilities for its Strata CTX family of business communication systems. Toshiba's Strata CTX is available in a model supporting up to 672 ports or up to 112 ports. With the upgraded Strata CTX, users can mix and match IP, analog, and digital telephones, or use all IP telephones. A new IP telephone extends the functionality of the Toshiba Strata PBX to remote locations served by an IP network. This allows users to take advantage of the features and capabilities of their office telephones from remote locations, such as home or regional offices.
http://www.telecom.toshiba.com

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WildBlue Closes $156 Million for Broadband Satellite

WildBlue Communications, which is planning to launch two-way broadband satellite services for the contiguous United States, closed $156 million in funding from Liberty Satellite & Technology, Intelsat, National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and David Drucker, WildBlue's chairman. WildBlue is expected to initiate its Ka-band spot beam service in 2004. WildBlue initially will offer its services using its license for the U.S. Ka-band payload aboard Telesat Canada's Anik F2 satellite, being built by Boeing and scheduled to launch in late 2003 into the 111.1(degree) WL orbital location. Based on future financing, WildBlue plans to subsequently launch its own satellite, WildBlue-1, being manufactured by Space Systems Loral, into WildBlue's 109.2(degree) WL orbital location. In addition to the new investors, WildBlue's strategic investors include TeleSat, EchoStar, Gemstar - TV Guide; TRW and Arianespace.
http://www.wildblue.com

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Verizon Reports Increased Cash Flow, Steady DSL and LD Growth

Verizon reported Q1 revenue of $16.3 billion, down 0.6% on a comparable basis to the same period last year. Reported earnings were $3.9 billion, including a one-time gain of $2.1 billion associated with new accounting rules on asset retirement obligations. Operating expenses decreased 1.1%, while in long distance and DSL, Verizon saw growth rates similar to recent quarters. The company said it continues to improve its competitive position and generate increased value from its network. Some highlights for the quarter:

• 160,000 net additional DSL lines, compared to 148,000 net DSL addions in Q4 2002. The company had 1.83 million DSL lines at the end of the quarter. DSL results are now reported on the basis of lines billed rather than lines provisioned. About 63% of lines in the Verizon network were DSL-qualified as of the end of the quarter, giving it a potential pool of 36.7 million qualified lines. Verizon is targeting 80% DSL line qualification by year's end.
• 
  
  710,000 net additional long distance lines, giving it a total of 13.2 million LD lines. There was a 23% growth quarter-over-quarter in LD revenue.
• 
  
  There was stabilization or improvement in access line trends due to the popularity of unlimited local+LD service bundles. The number of UNE-P lines rose by 386,000 to 3.57 million lines, compared to 445,000 UNE-P new lines provided to competitors in Q4 2002. The number of resale lines declined by 50,000 to 999,000.
• 
  
  business revenues in Q1 declined 3% over last year due to economic conditions
• 
  
  data transport revenues increased 1.2% compared to last year due to continued strength in SONET, ATM, Frame Relay and DSL sales. However, lower speed services, especially DS0s and private lines, are declining.
• 
  
  free cash flow in Q1 was $2.29 billion, a 173% increase over the prior quarter
• 
  
  capital expenditures in Q1 were $2.47 billion, compared to $2.59 billion in Q2 2002
• 
  
  net debt reduction of $2.7 billion since year-end 2002. Verizon's net debt stands at $49.9 billion as of the end of Q1 2003, down from $61.9 billion at the end of Q1 2002.
• 
  
  Verizon Wireless added 833,000 net subscribers in Q1, giving it a total of 33.3 million users. Wireless ARPU was $47.20 compared to $45.81 for the same period last year.
• 
  
  Verizon had 227,000 employees at the end of the quarter, down from 245,000 last year.
• 
  
  Verizon's 2003 guidance is unchanged: revenue growth of 0% to 2%, adjusted EPS in the range of $2.70 to $2.80, capital expenditures in the $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion range, and net debt of $49 to $51 billion.

http://www.verizon.com

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