BT and Toshiba Launch "Hotspot in a Box"

BT and Toshiba have launched a "hotsot in a box" initiative designed to appeal to thousands of local businesses in the UK - like small hotels, bookshops and golf clubs - who want to offer Wi-Fi to their customers. Toshiba will manufacture the hotspot technology and BT will be the wireless ISP. Roaming agreements between the two companies are designed to link up BT's Openzone network with Toshiba's global hotspots. The local hotspots created using the product from BT and Toshiba will be in addition to the BT Openzone access points that will be...

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Tropos Networks Unveils Cellular Wi-Fi Architecture

Tropos Networks (formerly FHP Wireless), a start-up based in San Mateo, California, unveiled a cellular Wi-Fi mesh networking system designed to provide city-sized coverage at a fraction of the cost of current hot-spot architectures. Rather than having wireline backhaul at each Wi-Fi node, Tropos creates an intelligent, switch mesh among overlapping Wi-Fi cells. Routing intelligence embedded into each node enables the Wi-Fi cells to self-organize and, using wireless backhaul, forward data to each other along the optimal path to a wired network...

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D-Link Offers Outdoor Wireless Access Points and Bridges

D-Link introduced two Wi-Fi products designed specifically for outside use, the AirPremier Outdoor Wireless Access Point and the AirPremier Outdoor Wireless Bridge/Router. Both devices feature a die-cast watertight housing with built-in lightning protection, Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) functionality, extended range, advanced firewall features and compatibly with existing 802.11b compliant devices. The D-Link AirPremier Outdoor Wireless Access Point has a range of up to 600 meters. When paired with a D-Link High-Gain Directional Antenna, the D-Link...

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CIRPACK Softswitches Deployed in Belgium

IRISnet, the Region of Brussels' high speed network jointly operated by Mobistar and Telindus on behalf of the regional government, is deploying CIRPACK's softswitches to provide packet telephony over broadband local loops. Cirpack switches are now replacing existing voice infrastructure equipment to connect users' ISDN PBXs to the IRISnet IP/ATM backbone, and later provide voice services directly over IP or ATM networks. Cirpack's equipment manages all voice services and provides the link to Mobistar's network. Financial terms were not disclosed....

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U.S. Army Awards $50M Network Upgrade Contract to Lucent

The U.S. Army awarded a multi-year, $50 million contract to Lucent Technologies for a major data infrastructure upgrade at Army installations in North America and Asia. Lucent will provide a range of professional services, including planning, design, implementation and operations in support of the upgrade, as well as on-going maintenance, program management and engineering services throughout the duration of the contracts. Lucent also is working to integrate the upgraded network into the existing multi-vendor Army environment. http://www.lucen...

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Canada's SaskTel First to Deploy Nortel's Succession VoIP

SaskTel, the incumbent service provider in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, signed a US$5 million contract for the supply of Nortel Networks Multimedia Communications Portfolio and Succession VoIP equipment. SaskTel is expected to be the first service provider worldwide to offer new revenue-generating multimedia and packet voice services using Nortel Networks Succession equipment. SaskTel is evolving its Nortel DMS circuit switched network to the Succession Communication Server 2000 platform. In addition, SaskTel will deploy Nortel Networks...

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Sweden's Tele 2 Selects Tellabs' Next Gen SDH

Tele 2 Sverige AB, a competitive service provider, is deploying the Tellabs 6300 managed transport series to integrate Ethernet into its existing network. Specifically, Tele2 is using the new Tellabs 6350 switch node, a digital cross-connect, and the Tellabs 6310, an edge node platform for access and customer premise installations Applications supported by the Tellabs 6310 include 2 Mbps, 34/45 Mbps, Fast Ethernet and ATM services. All of the Tellabs 6300 managed transport system elements are monitored and managed end-to-end from a single network...

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Indiana's Hancock Telecom Selects Extreme Networks for Ethernet/FTTH

Hancock Telecom, part of a statewide consortium of telecommunications providers in Indiana, selected Extreme Networks' BlackDiamond switching platform with 10 Gigabit Ethernet to meet present and future network needs. High-speed Ethernet delivered over fiber will be made available to consumers for intensive applications such as uncompressed IP video and VoD. Extreme Networks said it captured the number one market share position for Layer 3 10 Gigabit Ethernet port shipments, according to Q1 2003 figures reported by the Dell'Oro Group. http://www.extremenetworks.com...

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VSNL and ITXC Double VoIP Capacity in India

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), an international service provider and ISP in India, and ITXC have doubled their network capacity to handle increasing volume of VoIP traffic. As a result of an interconnect agreement signed in October 2002, VSNL benefits from call termination minutes and revenue originated from all over the world. ITXC brings global traffic to VSNL across ITXC.net. Last month, ITXC announced that ITXC.net carried 10% of all incoming traffic to India during the first year following deregulation in that country. The interconnect...

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China Netcom Launches Fixed Wireless in Beijing with UTStarcom

Beijing China Netcom awarded a contract valued at $57.9 million for deployment of UTStarcom's IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) (iPAS) platform in central Beijing. UTStarcom's softswitch-based iPAS system will offer comprehensive voice and data services to customers in a 400-square-kilometer area in the central city area of Beijing. Beijing China Netcom is launching the fixed wireless service this week targeting large corporate users such as government institutions, hospitals, and universities. Once deployment is complete, PAS will be available...

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FLAG Telecom Enhances Its European Network with Verizon

FLAG Telecom will enhance the reach of its European network through an agreement with Verizon Global Solutions. This agreement is a key element in FLAG's global network plan. FLAG will also open new POPs in Amsterdam and Frankfurt to provide seamless connectivity to its submarine cable systems: FLAG Atlantic-1 (FA-1), FLAG Europe Asia (FEA) and FLAG North Asia Loop (FNAL). Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.flagtelecom.comIn March 2003, FLAG Telecom announced a capacity expansion to key segments of its cable system from Western Europe...

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SBC Handles 100 Million Calls for American Idol Final Voting Night

SBC Communications handled more than 260 million calls during the three-hour voting window for television's American Idol competition on Tuesday night -- over 100 million calls greater than a typical three-hour period of weeknight calling, an 80% spike in traffic. http://www.sbc....

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Lucent Updates Network Management Software

Lucent Technologies released a new version of its VitalSuite Network Management software featuring new tools to identify the root cause of network performance events, such as potential and actual overloads, equipment failures and traffic issues. Some of the key enhancements in the VitalSuite 9.1 software include: topographical views of the network allowing administrators to investigate and accurately diagnose potential problems quickly; enhanced support for monitoring applications over WiFi (802.11b) and 3G networks; and additional capabilities...

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UTStarcom Signs $20 Million Contract with China Telecom Guangdong

UTStarcom signed a contract expansion valued at approximately $20 million with China Telecom Guangdong province for additional handsets for new subscribers, as well as expansion of its IP-based PAS (Personal Access System). In April, five cities in Guangzhou province launched low-cost, fixed wireless local telephony service using UTStarcom's PAS. Demand for the service has been strong, with nearly 300,000 subscribers added in less than two months of service. Additionally, China Telecom Guangdong province will soon offer value-added services with...

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Verizon Sees Fastest Growth in Consumer Services

Despite the most challenging environment in memory, a focus on fundamentals has enabled Verizon to emerge from the telecom storm with a stronger business model, said Doreen Toben, Verizon CFO, speaking at the Banc of America "Media, Telecommunications, and Media" conference in New York.She highlighted consumer services, which already represent the largest percentage of Verizon revenues, as the fastest area of growth and the segment with the greatest upside potential for the company. In the past two weeks, Verizon has launched several initiatives...

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