Sunday, July 20, 2003

Hammerhead Names Ex-Lucent Exec as CEO

Hammerhead Systems, a start-up based in San Jose, California, named Joe Sigrist as President and CEO. Sigrist joins from Lucent Technologies where he was President of the Edge Access Systems division. Hammerhead Systems is developing data communications equipment for service providers. http://www.hammerheadsystems.comHammerhead Systems was founded was founded in January of 2002 by Rob Keil, a former Cisco/StrataCom executive, and John Yu, formerly of SBC. Hammerhead has secured $18 million in Series A funding from Foundation Capital, Mayfield,...

Riverstone to Restate 2002 & 2003 Financial, Trading Halted

Riverstone Networks will restate its financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 2, 2002, and the first three quarters of fiscal year 2003. The company cited certain accounting irregularities that called into question the appropriateness and timing of revenues recognized from certain customers. In some cases, it appears that sales to customers in which the company made investments were subject to rights of return and other contingencies that were not accounted for at the time the transactions were originally recorded. The Nasdaq Stock...

GlobespanVirata Posts Revenue of $74.4 Million, up 8% Sequentially

GlobespanVirata posted Q2 revenues of $74.4 million, an 8% sequential increase over Q1 2003 and a 62% increase over the same period last year. Net loss and basic loss per share were $12.1 million and $0.09, respectively. Gross margin was 46.7% during Q2 2003. This compares to a gross margin of 50.2% in Q2 2002 and 49.6% in Q1 2003. http://www.globespanvirata....

Intel and Linksys Enter WLAN Marketing Partnership

Intel and Linksys (a division of Cisco) established a technology and marketing program aimed at making it easier for consumers to use wireless networks in homes and small offices. Initially, Intel is conducting engineering testing or "verification" of Intel Centrino mobile technology with Linksys wireless access points and routers that are currently available. The companies also plan to develop technology that will allow notebook PCs based on Intel Centrino mobile technology to detect the presence of Linksys wireless products and configure them...

Sprint Announces its Wi-Fi Plans

Sprint will begin providing Wi-Fi access this summer through approximately 800 hotspots in key locations across the U.S. The hotspots will be either built and managed by Sprint or made available through roaming agreements with Wayport. Sprint is planning to have over 2,100 Wi-Fi locations by the end of the year. Airpath Wireless will provide hosted services to Sprint including credit card authentication services, end user management and integrated customer care. Initially, customers will be able to subscribe to PCS Wi-Fi Access using their credit...

Network Processing Forum Extends Benchmarks for IPv6

The Network Processing Forum (NPF) released new benchmarking specifications for measuring the performance of network processing elements. Specifically, the NPF extended its IP forwarding benchmark to include both IPv6 and a more robust set of routing tables in an updated IP Forwarding Application Level Benchmark Implementation Agreement (IA). The NPF also released two new benchmarking Implementation Agreements focused on fabrics: the Performance Testing Methodology for Fabric Benchmarking IA and the Switch Fabric Benchmark Test Suites IA. http...

Metalink Plans for a Five Fold Speed Boost over 802.11x

Metalink is developing a wireless LAN technology that it claims will deliver a five-fold boost in link speed compared to the currently available 802.11x WLAN technology. The company expects to be ready to demonstrated its WLANPlus chipsets before the end of the year. Metalink is a developer of QAM-based VDSL silicon. http://www.metalink.co...

Qwest Partners with DIRECTV and Echostar to Offer Satellite in Bundle

Qwest Communications signed a strategic marketing agreement with DIRECTV to offer satellite TV as part of its consumer bundle of consumer services. Initially, Qwest will offer satellite TV services available to its customers in single family homes in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, and Seattle through DIRECTV. The company expects to rollout these services to more markets throughout the remainder of 2003 and into 2004. The partners are exploring ways to further enhance this relationship with next-generation services as well as migrating to a more...

Calix Ships its 1,000th Platform for Telco Voice, Data, And Video

Calix, a start-up based in Petaluma, California, has shipped over 1,000 of its flagship products, the C7 simplified services platform, which facilitates the delivery of voice, data and video services to business and residential subscribers over copper and fiber access media. Calix said more than 80 service providers worldwide have deployed its platform. As of the end of Q2, 2003, Calix had shipped over 100,000 ports, including POTS, DSL, Ethernet, DS1, DS3, and OC-3/12/48 SONET, into production service provider networks. http://www.calix.comThe...

Comcast and Time Warner to Trial Microsoft TV Software

Comcast, the leading cable operator in the U.S., will launch a trial of Microsoft TV software for delivering new digital TV services to its customers. Initially, Comcast will conduct a limited trial of the Microsoft TV Interactive Program Guide (IPG) beginning this fall in Seattle using Motorola DCT2000 set-top boxes. Microsoft TV is a family of standards-based client (set-top box) and server software that can be used for as video on demand, On-Demand Storefronts, interactive program guides, managed content services, digital video recording, enhanced...

Broadcom Unveils Latest Wireless Network Processor

Broadcom introduced a new wireless network processor that includes a 200MHz MIPS32 processor, 54g MAC/baseband, integrated 10/100 Ethernet and USB interfaces, and 2.4 GHz radio. Broadcom said its new chip enables secure 802.11g wireless LAN access points, routers and gateways to be produced in smaller form factors and at lower costs than previously possible. The wireless network processor includes hardware-based AES acceleration for upgradeability to the future IEEE 802.11i security standard. http://www.broadcom....

Luminous Appoints Former Marconi Exec to Head Operations in China

Luminous Networks appointed Yudan Jin as general manager and president of Luminous China. Jin previously served as president of Marconi, Asia Pacific. He has also held several senior level positions at 3Com, Beijing, China Hewlett-Packard and the Ministry of Electronic Industry (MEI). Luminous has its China headquarters in Shanghai and recently opened a new sales and support office in Beijing. http://www.luminous....

Fujitsu Offers Slimline DWDM Chassis for Access Networks

Fujitsu Network Communications announced new enhancements for its FLASHWAVE 7420 managed wavelength services platform, including a new slimline chassis and variable-rate transponder. The FLASHWAVE 7420 slimline chassis is a compact (two-service slot) version of the standard (eight-service slot) chassis. It can be mounted in both 19" and 23" racks and is only three rack units (5.25") in height. The slimline chassis supports distances up to 120km without regeneration; optional integrated EDFAs and regenerators enable signal transport up to 300km....

UTStarcom Partners with NEC to Enter Brazilian Market

UTStarcom is partnering with NEC to provide its broadband solutions in Brazil. The deal is one of several partnerships between the two companies aimed at bringing high-speed voice, data, and video services to Latin America. NEC Brazil has actively participated in the broadband market since the inception of a growth in demand in mid 2002. The company has 35 years in operation in Brazil. The partnership will offer UTStarcom's AN-2000 IB IP-DSLAM platform to provide a "triple play" solution for carriers. http://www.utstar.com. http://www.nec.com...

StoneFly Networks Raises $12 Million for IP Storage

StoneFly Networks, a start-up based in San Diego, closed $12 million in Series C funding for its IP-based storage provisioning appliances. StoneFly's Storage Concentrator products are based on the iSCSI standard. The products were launched in June 2002. The new funding was led by Rustic Canyon Partners. Existing investors, including Crescendo Ventures, El Dorado Ventures and Palomar Ventures, also participated in the funding round, bringing the company's total equity investment to $34 million. http://www.stonefly....

Spirent Teams with VeriTest on Layer 4-7 Testing

Spirent Communications announced a strategic partnership with VeriTest, the testing division of Lionbridge Technologies, to deliver outsourced Layer 4-7 testing services to network equipment manufacturers and enterprise networks. The companies recently collaborated on an SSL test bed that was used to evaluate a market-leading intelligent data center switch. The final validated performance result from the data center switch using the jointly developed testbed was a record 18,700 unique SSL transactions per second, or more than 67 million transactions...

Avaya Introduces Security Gateways for Converged Enterprise Networks

Avaya introduced five new security gateways for increasing the security and simplifying the deployment of IP telephony applications in converged enterprise networks. Each of the security gateway integrates VPN functionality, firewall coverage and IP telephony support. The platforms feature an integrated bandwidth manager that can be customized to allocate specific bandwidth for up to 4 different classes of communications (such as e-mail, Internet access, and voice). They can also be configured to automatically recognize and prioritize IP telephony...

AT&T Combines Home and Wireless Calling

AT&T introduced a new calling plan that combines home telephone service and mobile services. The AT&T One plan offers unlimited night and weekend calling that can be used on either telephone. AT&T One also includes local service where available, weekday daytime long-distance calling from home for 7 cents a minute and nationwide wireless long-distance calling with no roaming charges while in the home service area, or elsewhere on the AT&T Wireless Network. AT&T is launching the plan initially in the San Diego and Tampa areas....

SBC Partners with Echostar on Satellite TV Bundle

SBC Communications is teaming with EchoStar Communications to offer a co-Branded satellite TV service as part of its integrated local, long distance, wireless and DSL bundle. The deal is an exclusive telecom partnership for single-family residences throughout the SBC 13-state traditional service area, where SBC provides service to more than 56 million access lines. The two companies will begin work immediately on integrating operations, including order entry, customer service and billing, so they can begin offering customers the co-branded service...

LSI Logic Office Two New Rapidchip Approaches to ASICs

LSI Logic unveiled two new families of pre-built slices, the RapidChip Xtreme and the RapidChip Integrator. The Xtreme family is optimized for high performance, high-bandwidth, market specific applications such as communications, storage and computing. While the Integrator family also targets these markets, it is additionally suited for uses in consumer electronics, industrial, security, instrumentation, imaging and others. Both families use 0.11-micron process technology and build upon the company's RapidChip concept, which provides lower cost...

LG Electronics Deploys Agere's ATM TM Chips

LG Electronics is using Agere Systems' ATM traffic management switching chips in its wireless base station and multiservice router equipment. For LG's base stations, Agere is providing such ATM chips as its ATM Port Controller (APC) and ASX/ACE. In addition, LG's multiservice router houses Agere's APC, Pi-X and Pi-C (Protocol Independent, 10 Gbps), and PayloadPlus chips for ATM-based multi-protocol service. LG plans to use Agere's PI-40X and PI-40C (40 Gbps) chip solutions, as well as the company's APP550 single-chip, traffic management network...

Foundry Networks Launches New ISP Link Load Balancer

Foundry Networks introduced a new ISP load balancing product based on its new TrafficWorks Ironware operating system that powers its ServerIron family of Layer 4 - 7 switches. The new ServerIron Link Balancer product helps enterprises with multiple ISP connections to more efficiently distribute traffic loads across the multiple links. The product provides link optimization based on key metrics, in-band traffic flow monitoring, and dynamic measurement of performance parameters. Two configurations will be available: $9,995 for a 16-port 10/100...

DSL.net Closes $30 Million for Continued Network Rollout

DSL.net, a broadband service provider, closed $30 million in new financing led by Deutsche Bank. VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of DSL.net's current major institutional shareholders, is the other participant in the financing. DSL.net plans to use the money to accelerate the roll out ofits recently introduced integrated voice and data service over its network in the mid-Atlantic and northeast states, fund strategic acquisitions and retire outstanding debt at a discount. The financing package is comprised of $30 million of three-year senior...

Wave Three Software Launches SIP Session Conference Server

Wave Three Software introduced its SIP-based Session Conference Server software, a multipoint communication and collaboration application for Windows or Mac desktops. The SIP server software runs on standard servers over any IP network, including the public Internet. It consists of three modules: Conference Management Services, Call Control Services and Multimedia Services. The Conference Management Service module uses a browser-based interface for scheduling. The Call Control Services module provides the SIP signaling and setup. The Multimedia...

Marvell Offers SOHO Secured Gateway Reference Design

Marvell announced a SOHO secured gateway reference design supporting Windows CE .NET, Monta Vista Linux and Wind River Vx Works. The gateway router integrates an IPSec VPN engine, a 64-bit MIPS processor for wire-speed packet routing, the company's Fast Ethernet PHY technology with Virtual Cable Tester diagnostics, and an on-chip PCI bus enabling the addition of WLAN modules. Marvell said its desig provides up to a 6X performance gain over current generation SOHO security products. http://www.marvell....

MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance Focuses on Service Interworking

The MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance, which also met in Vienna, Virginia earlier this month, announced a new project to address FR/ATM service interworking as well as increased focus on FR/ATM/Ethernet service interworking. These projects align with the results of a June MPLS/Frame Relay industry survey in which more than 200 service providers and vendors identified ATM/Frame Relay/Ethernet Service Interworking as the most important work area for the Alliance. Some of the specific items from the meeting included the following.the Frame Relay (FR) working...

ATM Forum Cites Progress in MPLS Interworking

The ATM Forum reported progress on several fronts from its quarterly meeting earlier this month in Vienna, Virginia. Highlights of the meeting included: a continued focus on the interworking of ATM and MPLS. A new specification that enables PNNI to support MPLS label distribution went to final ballot. The new specification provides an easier means of using MPLS to bridge two separate ATM networks (ATM-MPLS-ATM). Previously, manually configured permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) were required to route ATM traffic into an MPLS backbone. Alternatively,...

Excel Switching Signs China Distribution Partnership with Orientel

Excel Switching Corporation signed an exclusive distribution partnership with Orientel covering the resale of Excel's Converged Services Platform throughout China. Excel said its highly customizable platform is well-suited for applications that are in high demand in China, including prepaid, 160/168 information desk, call center, and color ring back tone. Oriental is a provider of computer telephony products for systems integrators throughout China. The company is based in Shanghai. http://www.xl.com http://www.orientel.com.cnIn June 2003, Excel...