Thursday, June 19, 2003

DMT Line Coding Specified for VDSL Standard in North America

The T1E1.4 committee, which is part of The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), decided to specify only Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) line coding in its American National Standard (ANS) for VDSL. The DMT modulation method will be specified in the American National Standard, and the Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) method will be specified in a Committee T1 Technical Requirement (TRQ).


The decision follows the release of data from the "VDSL Olympics," a series of performance tests conducted by Telcordia Technologies and BT to help evaluate DMT and QAM's compatibility with VDSL. Among the findings: VDSL-DMT achieved the highest "payload" performance, the longest reach, and outperformed in burst noise conditions.


Richard Sekar, Vice President of Marketing for Ikanos Communications, a supplier of DMT-based VDSL silicon solutions, said the results of the VDSL Olympics and the T1 Committee decision provide the conclusive determination the industry has been waiting for on this issue. Ikanos expects that the certainty of a single VDSL line coding standard will give carriers the confidence to move ahead with plans to upgrade current DSL networks for customers wanting higher speed VDSL connections. On this front, Sekar noted that Millinet, a supplier of VDSL equipment in Korea, has recently decided to switch to the Ikanos DMT VDSL chipset instead of using a competitors' QAM solution.


Mark Tyndall, VP of Business Development for Infineon Technologies, a supplier of QAM-based VDSL silicon, acknowledged the T1 Committee decision as setting a standard for North America, but suggested that the standards question might still be open for carriers in Asia-Pacific and Europe. Tyndall said the rapid adoption of QAM-based VDSL in South Korea of the past year indicates that the technology is market ready. Infineon is hoping the ITU will specify dual line code options for its VDSL standards, allowing each carrier to choose for itself which modulation scheme is best. Infineon will also continue to push for QAM as a solution for Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) solutions. Tyndall further noted that the VDSL Olympics testing compared existing VDSL silicon implementations rather than comparing actual line codes. Earlier this month, Infineon announced a new VDLS Modem-on-Chip (MoC) solution that it claims delivers aggregate data rate of more than 100 Mbps, including asymmetric data-rates of 70/40 Mbps and symmetric data-rates of 50/50 Mbps over single-pair copper wires. This was not the chipset that Infineon submitted for the VDSL Olympics. Sampling of the new silicon is expected in August.
http://www.atis.org/atis/PRESS/pressreleases2003/062003.htm

France Telecom Sells its 5% Stake in Sprint PCS for $330M

France Telecom sold 56 million Sprint PCS shares through a block trade on the New York Stock Exchange for US$330 million. With the sale, France Telecom finalized the divestment of its remaining 5.4% stake in Sprint PCS.htttp://www.francetelecom.com

BellSouth to Offer Network Equipment Test Services

BellSouth is expanding its internal testing and assessment facility, BTAC, to include an outsourced service for test creation and execution for equipment suppliers and other service provider. Once a commissioned test has been completed, the client will receive a report documenting performance results that they can share upon request. The BellSouth Test and Assessment Center (BTAC) is located in an 85,000 square foot lab in Birmingham, Alabama. BTAC has 59 network specialists supporting the full range of fault insertion and recovery testing.
http://www.btac.com

Riverstone Reports Quarterly Revenue of $12.7 Million, Possible Nasdaq Delisting

Riverstone Networks reported quarterly revenues of $12.7 million for the period ending 31-May-03, compared with revenues of $15.1 million in the prior quarter and $30.1 million for the same period last year. GAAP net loss for the first quarter was $19.1 million or $0.15 per share. This compares with a GAAP net loss of $40.6 million or $0.33 per share for the prior quarter.


Riverstone announced that it has received a Nasdaq staff determination indicating that its common stock is subject to delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Market due to noncompliance with Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14), which requires the timely filing of Form 10-K. Riverstone said its filing has been delayed by an internal review of its accounting practices and that it intends to appeal the Nasdaq determination.http://ir.riverstonenet.com

Touch America Files for Chapter 11, Sells Unit to 360networks

Citing the difficult economic environment, Touch America and all is subsidiaries filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions in bankruptcy court. The company has received a commitment for a Debtor-in-Possession credit facility for $5 million from WLR Recovery Fund II, LP, a fund managed by WL Ross & Co. Touch America is undertaking various cost cutting measures, including staff reductions, and said it is planning for the smooth continuation of its business.


Touch America also announced the sale of its Private Line and Dedicated Internet businesses to 360networks for $28 million. The sale proceeds will be used to pay pre- and post-filing obligations. 360networks is also financially backed by WL Ross & Co.
http://www.tamerica.com
  • Touch America, which is based in Butte, Montana, resulted from the formation in 1983 of a telecommunications subsidiary of a diversified electric utility. The company operates an optical backbone consists of 22,000 miles of SONET based OC192 facilities, mostly across the western U.S.. It has ATM, Frame Relay and IP networks.


  • In December 2002, Touch America sold approximately 70,000 of its switched long-distance-voice customers to Buyers United of Salt Lake City.


  • In October 2002, Touch America activated its next-generation optical backbone, marking the first commercial deployment of Nortel Networks' OPTera Connect HDX optical switch. The HDX switches are being used at large hubs where numerous fiber routes come together. Software and optical switching is then used to connect specific fibers, rather than manually provisioned crossconnects.


  • In June 2000, Touch America acquired Qwest's wholesale, private line and retail long-distance business in its regulated 14-state region.