WSJ: SEC May Sue Ex-Lucent Executives

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering whether to file civil actions against Nina Aversano, the former head of Lucent Technologies' North American sales, and William Plunkett, a senior vice president of sales, according to The Wall Street Journal. The two reportedly have received SEC notices that allow them to rebut claims prior to any legal action being taken.
http://www.wsj.com

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DIRECTV Chooses Thomson's MEDIAHIGHWAY Middleware

Canal+ Technologies, Thomson's digital video software solutions business, won a major contract to supply its MEDIAHIGHWAY middleware platform for the newly enhanced standard DIRECTV digital set-top boxes. The Java-based MEDIAHIGHWAY interactive solution developed for DIRECTV will be ported on set-top boxes provided by multiple consumer electronics manufacturers. DIRECTV will use the Thomson solution to provide a simplified and more consistent on-screen user interface as well as for the planned deployment of a new suite of interactive shopping, news, weather, games and sports programming services. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Separately, Thomson announced a restructuring of its U.S. tube manufacturing business. Financial news also included a new contract to supply set-top boxes to Sky Italia beginning next year.
http://www.thomson.net

• DirecTV has some 11.4 million subscribers and more than 18 million set-top-boxes deployed.

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FLAG Telecom Appoints New CFO

FLAG Telecom named Alex Gersh as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Gesh has held a number of senior international and national finance roles within Motorola and British Telecommunications and, most recently, was Executive Vice President and CFO at NextiraOne.
http://www.flagtelecom.com

• In February 2003, FLAG Telecom named Patrick Gallagher as its new CEO, replacing Mark Spagnolo who retains his position on the company's board of directors. Gallagher previously served with British Telecom, including five years as the Chief Executive of BT Europe and, most recently, as the Group Director for Strategy and Development also with responsibility for Japan, China, and investments in France, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Korea.

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Corvis and Cequel III Complete Acquisition of Broadwing Communications

Corvis and Cequel III, a St. Louis-based telecommunications and cable management firm, completed their acquisition of Broadwing Communications from Cincinnati Bell, subject to certain remaining state and local regulatory requirements. The companies said that in accordance with the asset purchase agreement, the originally announced network purchase price of $129 million has been reduced to approximately $91 million. In addition, C III Communications is purchasing net working capital of $17 million for which payment, with interest, will be deferred for one year. Cincinnati Bell will be a customer of C III Communications and will continue to market its broadband products to business customers. Cincinnati Bell will also sell long-distance services, under the Cincinnati Bell Any Distance brand, to residential and business customers in the Greater Cincinnati market.


Mark F. Spagnolo has been appointed Interim CEO of Broadwing Communications. Spagnolo has held various executive positions with Electronic Data Systems, as well as the position of President and CEO for UUNET. Prior to founding his own telecommunications consulting firm in 2002 (The Spagnolo Group, LP), Mr. Spagnolo was the President, CEO and Chairman for SiteSmith, a managed services company that delivered outsourced Internet services to the Global 1000. In 2001, Metromedia Fiber Networks (MFN) purchased SiteSmith for $1.4 billion, and later named Mr. Spagnolo President and CEO of MFN.
http://www.corvis.com

• On 25-Feb-2003, Broadwing agreed to sell its broadband business, Broadwing Communications Services Inc., including the Broadwing name, to privately held C III Communications. The sale includes Broadwing's 18,700 mile national fiber network, its all-optical switching platform, a state-of-the-art network operations center and all the other network elements necessary to provide its integrated and managed broadband telecommunications services.



• Cequel III was founded in January 2002 as a privately held company whose mission is to acquire or invest in telecommunication companies that offer platforms for future acquisitions and industry consolidation. In May 2002, Cequel III made equity investments in and assumed management of AAT Communications Corporation, which owns or manages more than 6,000 tower sites across the US. On February 12, 2003, Cequel III announced that it had assumed management of and agreed to invest in Classic Communications, a cable provider with 325,000 subscribers. On February 21, Cequel III announced its intention to acquire Shaw Communications' Texas-based cable systems, which serve approximately 27,000 customers.

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Cisco Offers Training for Former Russian Military Officers

Cisco Systems is partnering with The Institute for Vocational Training and Retraining at the Rostov State Civil Engineering University, to train former military officers in managing computer networks. The Cisco Networking Academy Program enables officers who have been discharged from the Russian Army on medical grounds, or who have served longer than five years, to retrain and obtain qualifications to help them find employment as civilians. The program is financed by the British Ministry of Defence.
http://www.cisco.com

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Ericsson to Integrate InfoVista into Packet Backbone Management

Ericsson will integrate InfoVista's management solutions into its own IP Packet Backbone Network management suite. Specifically, InfoVista will provide Performance Management, Quality of Service Measurement, and Service Level Management functions for integration into Ericsson's Network Configuration and Fault Management suite. In a later stage, integration with Service Provisioning and other core elements will be offered. By automating these management functions, Ericsson enables mobile and fixed networks operators to control costs better and improve the profitability of their multi-service backbones. Financial terms were not disclosed. Infovista is based in France.
http://www.infovista.com
http://www.ericsson.com

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Sun: Java Becomes the Gold Standard for Intelligence at Network Edge

Java is destined to become the "gold standard" for moving applications from the data center to billions of smart devices at the network edge, said Scott McNealy, Sun's Chairman, President and CEO, in a keynote address at the JavaOne Conference in San Francisco. In comparison to Microsoft's .Net initiative, McNealy said Java deserves high marks for maturity, security, affordability and migration into mobile devices. As an example of Java's ability to tie together devices and services across multiple networks, McNealy demonstrated Verizon Communications' forthcoming Digital Companion service, which acts as a virtual agent for wireline and wireless voice services. Shaygan Kheradpri, Chief Information Officer at Verizon Communications, said the J2ME environment allows messaging, presence and applications to follow the user from one network to the next. This enables an integrated address book to synchronize data from Caller ID, email, paging and instant messaging.


Users want access to their music library wherever they go, said Michael Nash, Senior VP of Internet Strategy and Business Development for the Warner Music Group. This creates a tremendous opportunity for delivering personalized streaming audio and video content to mobile devices. Based on the huge market uptake for downloadable ringtones, Nash estimates that by 2008 there could be a $5 billion to $8 billion market for mobile music services. The ringtone phenomenon, which has spread from Asia to Europe and now North America, suggests that a cool downloaded app, such as a game or a catchy ringtone, can quickly zoom up the sales charts.


Java has reached a critical volume threshold, agreed John Gage, Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems, and we are now starting to see the tremendous power of moving intelligence to the network edge. He estimates that the high tech industry is creating 300 million new silicon processors per month, mostly for embedded uses. Java's potential is to ensure that all these devices work seamlessly over a common network.
http://www.sun.com

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Verizon and Vodafone to Sell Equity Stakes in Mexico Iusacell

Movil@ccess, a Mexican telecommunications service provider, agreed to acquire 100% of the capital stock of Grupo Iusacell, a provider of wireless communications in Mexico, for US$10 million. Verizon Communications plans to sell its 39.4% share in Grupo Iusacell into the tender offer by Movil@ccess. Vodafone Americas will also sell its 34.5% stake in Grupo Iusacell.
http://www.iusacell.com.mx/http://www.verizon.com

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