F5 Networks Acquires uRoam for SSL Remote Access

F5 Networks acquired the assets of privately-held uRoam, a developer of SSL-based remote access solutions, for $25 million in cash. uRoam's line of "FirePass" servers enable secure web-based access to any network application from any remote client-including wireless devices-with no client set-up and no additions or modifications to the back-end resources being accessed. uRoam's largest customer is SAP America. F5 has hired substantially all of uRoam's employees, including core founders, key development and sales personnel. uRoam is based in Sunnyvale, California.


Separately, F5 also announced quarterly revenue and earnings of $29.2 million and $0.05 per share respectively, above management's prior guidance of $27.5 million to $29.0 million and $0.02 to $0.04 per share.
http://www.f5.com
http://www.yroam.com

• uRoam is headed by Skip Glass, who previously served as a venture partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.
  

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BellSouth Sees Continued Line Loss, Growth in DSL

Major trends at BellSouth continued during Q2 2003: the company added DSL and long distance subscribers, lost local access line to UNE-P competitors and technology substitution, continued to cut its capital expenditures, held its operational costs steady, and further reduced its debt. Service bundling is leading to better retention and reacquisition of residential and small business customers. Some specifics of the quarterly report include the following

• Q2 revenue was $5.6 billion, compared to $5.8 billion in Q2 2002.
• 
  
  BellSouth added 103,000 net DSL customers in Q2 for a total of 1.2 million at quarter-end. BellSouth began offering tiered DSL service levels this month. In Q1 2003, BellSouth added 101,000 DSL customers.
• 
  
  BellSouth added 856,000 net long distance customers in Q2 and now serves a total of 2.8 million customers.
• 
  
  BellSouth now has 2.1 million customer for its Answers consumer bundle, which has ARPU of $62.
• 
  
  Communications Group revenues were $4.6 billion compared to $4.7 billion in Q2 2002, a decline of 1.8%.
• 
  
  Total data revenues of $1.1 billion were essentially even with second quarter a year ago, and included retail data revenue growth of 11.5%, driven primarily by DSL.
• 
  
  Residence and business access lines served by UNE-P competitors increased 249,000 in Q2 and now exceed 2 million, an 80% increase over last year. Residential UNE lines increased sequentially by 18% while business UNE lines remained relatively flat. UNEs now account for 86% of all wholesale lines served by BellSouth. In Q1 2003, UNE-P lines served to competitors grew by 231,000. Meanwhile, BellSouth's total access lines are down by 988,000 to 24.25 million, representing a drop of 3.9% year-over-year. The company said it remains cautious in its outlook for line loss.
• 
  
  Consolidated operating expenses were $4.2 billion, compared to $4.6 billion in the same quarter of 2002. Net income was $951 million compared to $263 million in the same quarter a year ago.
• 
  
  Operating free cash flow (defined as cash flow from operations less capital expenditures) was $1.8 billion. The company has generated over $3 billion in free cash flow this year.
• 
  
  CAPEX in Q2 2003 was $729 million for a total of $1.4 billion year-to-date, a reduction of 33% compared to $2.0 billion in the first half of 2002.
• 
  
  For Q2, the CAPEX-to-revenue ration was 13.0%. For the year to date, this ratio now stands at 12.3%.
• 
  
  Total debt was reduced by $1.2 billion in the quarter and now stands at $15.4 billion. Net debt is $11.3 billion.
• 
  
  Cingular Wireless added 540,000 net customers.

http://www.bellsouth.com

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RedClover Achieves 10Gbps NRZ Transmission

RedClover Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California with a subsidiary in Ottawa, Canada, announced a new performance benchmark for 10 Gbps NRZ optical data transmission. RedClover has pushed the reach of its Transdaptor interface sub-systems beyond 240 km over SMF-28 fiber, without the need for any additional NRZ data encoding, spectral shaping, forward-error-correction (FEC), or dispersion-compensating fiber (DCF) modules. In addition, RedClover has demonstrated that, when used in conjunction with the company's Transdaptor products, conventional 80 km 10 Gbps transponders can have their reach extended to greater than 150 km. RedClover said its technology could provide plug-and-play replacement for conventional 10 Gbps transponders, thereby improving access, storage, metro, CATV, or long-haul optical networks.
http://www.redcloverinc.com

• In March 2003, RedClover introduced its “Transdaptor�? family of highly integrated and adaptive universal transponders. The product line includes a 10 Gbps universal transponder module that combines the functionality of a standard SFI-4 electrical interface, 10 Gbps optical interface, and ultra-compact embedded adaptive fiber transmission impairment compensation. It also includes a WDM Optical Transdaptor that adds the functionality of a tunable laser for full C-band or L-band operation. Both products are compliant with 300 pin MSA standards, and support multiple data rates: 9.95 Gbps (OC-192, 10GE WAN), 10.3125 Gbps (10GE LAN), 10.664 Gbps and 10.709 Gbps for different FEC applications. RedClover has targeted its Transdaptor family of interface products at intelligent optical hardware for access, storage, switching, and transport networks. Separately, RedClover announced partnerships with Ixia and with Oki Electric Industry Co. focused on 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps optical interface components and subsystems.

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HP Acquires PipeBeach for VoiceXML System

HP has acquired PipeBeach AB, a Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of speech-based products and technology that enable the delivery of interactive voice solutions. PipeBeach offers a VoiceXML system that lets users speak into their mobile phones and devices to obtain Web-based information such as news, stock prices and e-mail, as well as conduct transactions, such as online banking. The information and options are conveyed to the user through speech -- instead of text or images. HP said it intends to integrate PipeBeach's VoiceXML-based products into its OpenCall suite of enhanced telecommunications software. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.hp.com

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Lucent Posts Q2 Revenues of $1.96 B, Down 18% Sequentially

Lucent Technologies reported Q2 revenues of $1.96 billion, down 18% compared to the previous quarter and down from $2.95 billion in revenues in the year-ago quarter. The net loss for the quarter was $254 million or $0.07 per share. The loss included charges associated with an impairment of goodwill related to certain multiservice switching products and the revaluation of warrants that are expected to be issued as part of Lucent's global settlement of shareowner litigation. Lucent cited a decline in revenues for its Mobility business but said it continued to make progress on its improving its bottom line.

• Gross margins were 29% of revenues, compared to 32% in the previous quarter.
• 
  
  Revenues in the U.S. were $1.2 billion, a decrease of 17% compared to the previous quarter and down 41% compared to the same period last year.
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  International revenues were $763 million, a decrease of 20% compared to the previous quarter and down 15% compared to the same period last year.
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  Revenues for Integrated Network Solutions (INS) were $1.06 billion, an increase of 2% sequentially and a decrease of 22% compared with the year-ago quarter.
• 
  
  Revenues for Mobility Solutions were $826 million, a decrease of 36% sequentially and a decrease of 45% compared with the year-ago quarter.

Lucent now expects a return to profitability in 2004 instead of later this year. The company does not provide forward-looking quarterly revenue guidance.
http://www.lucent.com

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China Unicom to Deploy Alvarion Broadband Wireless

China Unicom, the second largest cellular communications operator in China, selected Alvarion's wireless broadband solutions for deployment in seven cities: Tianjin, Xining, Huhehaote, Nanning, Dalian, Changsha, and Zhengzhou. China Unicom has licenses to operate 3.5GHz networks across the country. The deployments will use Alvarion's WALKair 1000 Broadband Multiservice Platform to support TDM legacy voice, data and multimedia services, including videoconferencing. Alvarion's local partners include Datang and BISC. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.alvarion.com

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Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) Advances Closer to Standardization

The IEEE 802.17 Working Group approved the latest Working Ballot of the Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) standard (draft 2.3) at its meeting this week in San Francisco, moving RPR one step closer to standardization. The Resilient Packet Ring Alliance, an industry advocacy group promoting RPR technology, said more and more vendors are developing standards-compliant silicon, systems, and test equipment.
http://www.RPRAlliance.org

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Telstra Deploys Juniper Edge Routers in Wi-Fi Hotspot Rollout

Siemens is supplying Juniper Networks' E-series platform and the SDX-300 Service Deployment System to Telstra to support new Wi-Fi hotspot services. The Telstra Wireless Hotspots initially are being deployed in selected Qantas Club Lounges and Rydges Hotels in Australia.
http://www.juniper.nethttp://telstra.com

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AT&T Wireless Selects Nortel Networks, Ericsson for W-CDMA

AT&T Wireless selected Nortel Networks and Ericsson for what is expected to be the first commercial W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple band Access) wireless network in North America. AT&T Wireless and DoCoMo plan to launch W-CDMA in four U.S. markets by the end of 2004. The W-CDMA radio equipment will operate on the 1900 MHz spectrum and use the same core equipment AT&T Wireless currently employs to support advanced voice and data services through GPRS and EDGE radio technologies. The deployments will also support an all IP-based network architecture. AT&T Wireless said W-CDMA would allow it to significantly increase subscriber capacity on the networks and pave the wave for 3G services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.attwireless.com

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China Telecom Awards $40 Million Contract for UTStarcom's iPAS

China Telecom awarded a contract valued at approximately $40 million to UTStarcom to expand the deployments of its IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) (iPAS) system in 10 cities in Guangdong province. The new contract is in response to robust consumer demand for wireless local services supported over the UTStarcom iPAS platform.
http://www.utstar.com

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FairPoint Communications Selects Occam for Triple Play

FairPoint Communications, a rural telecommunications provider headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, selected Occam Networks' BLC 6000 System to provide voice, video and data services to subscribers. FairPoint maintains more than 250,000 access lines across 18 states. It owns and operates 29 rural local exchange companies. Occam's BLC initially is being deployed to deliver voice, video and DSL in Yelm, Washington. IP is being used to deliver all three services. FairPoint will also use the BLC 6000 in an edge out application, where it will be providing competitive services in selected markets in Idaho. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.occamnetworks.com

• Last month, Occam Networks announced that it was supplying its BLC 6000 System to SureWest Communications, an integrated communications provider based in Roseville, California, to deliver video service to telephone subscribers. Occam's broadband loop carrier platform supports an IP-service delivery model in which Gigabit Ethernet is used to provide feeder bandwidth. It also provides IGMP multicast capabilities at every node and delivers IP integration with digital head-ends, middleware and set top boxes.
• 
  
  In May 2003, Occam Networks introduced its new BLC 6000 Broadband Loop Carrier System for delivery of voice, data and video services using Gigabit Ethernet transport. Occam's BLC 6000 is a modular loop carrier system designed to eliminate the need for additional pieces of access equipment such as a DSLAM, Ethernet switch, Optical Add Drop multiplexor and VoIP gateway. The platform supports TDM services, such as lifeline POTS and T1s, as well as an IP Service Delivery model for the delivery of video and softswitch-controlled voice services. IP support includes Internet Group Multicast Protocol (IGMP) and Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP). The BLC 6000 System can scale from 24 to thousands of subscribers, sharing blades across a variety of chassis sizes.
  

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Netli Signs IIJ as First Partner for High Performance Service

Netli will offer its NetLightning Application Delivery Network (ADN) service in Japan through a partnership with Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ). NetLightning offers global sub-second response times for Web-based applications through Netli's service architecture and proprietary long-haul transport protocol. Under the agreement, IIJ will place Netli Application Access Points (AAPs) into its infrastructure to extend the Netli ADN. The AAPs hosted by IIJ will provide Web applications hosted in Japan an on ramp to Netli's global network. IIJ will market and sell the service under the IIJ NetLightning brand. Netli will manage and operate the ADN and provide marketing and technical support.


The IIJ agreement is part of Netli's new Partner Program, which allows service providers, system integrators, VARs and consultants to add high performance application delivery to their service offerings. The program offers Netli's partners the opportunity to market and sell Netli's NetLightning service and access cooperative sales and marketing efforts and technical support.
http://www.netli.com/

• IIJ is Netli's first service provider customer. Other customers include HP, Millipore and Nielsen//NetRatings.
• 
  
  Netli's NetLightning service provides high availability, secure, transparent access to Web applications with global sub-second response times. The service is designed address the problems of performance and reliability for HTTP and SSL based Web applications while enabling consolidation to a single data center for global access. For full details see:
  http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=7160
  
• 
  Netli is led by CEO John K. Peters, who was previously the founding CEO of Sigma Networks, a provider of metropolitan area broadband network services. Prior to Sigma Networks, Mr. Peters was Executive VP for Concentric Network Corporation.

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SingTel Offers 1.5 Mbps DSL Bandwidth-on-Demand Boost

SingTel began offering its DSL subscribers a 1.5 Mbps Bandwidth-On-Demand (BOD) bursting service that provides a faster, dedicated download speed whenever subscribers need it. In addition, customers pay only for bandwidth used, rather than a monthly flat rate. The service is available to SingTel subscribers with current bandwidth caps of either 256kbps or 512kbps. To use the service, SingNet BroadBand users log-on to a special domain and the faster speed will begin. Bandwidth is charged at an introductory price of 10 cents (Singapore) per MB. Customers then need to log-off when their downloads are over.


SingTel's broadband subscriber base exceeded 158,000 as of 30-June-2003.
http://www.singtel.com

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U.S. House Votes to Roll Back FCC's New Media Rules

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 400 - 21 in favor of an appropriations bill (H.R. 2799) for fiscal year 2004 covering the operations of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and other agencies, including the FCC. The bill contains language that rolls back the new media ownership rules recently approved by the FCC.


FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell defended the broadcast media ownership rules, writing that democracy would not be threatened by allowing large media companies to exceed the previous 35% market penetration cap by acquiring additional local stations. Powell was in favor of raising this limit to 45%.
http://www.house.govhttp://www.fcc.gov

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Agere's Revenues Rise 3% Sequentially to $456 Million

Agere Systems reported quarterly revenue of $456 million, up 3% from the prior quarter but down from $498 million in the same period last year. Net loss on a reported or GAAP basis for the June quarter was $78 million or $0.05 per share. Agere said it was pleased with the continued improvements in its financial performance. The company expects revenues in the September quarter to be up approximately 5 to 8 percent from the June quarter.
http://www.agere.com

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Foundry Reports Revenue of $96 Million, up 5% Sequentially

Foundry Networks reported Q2 revenue of $95.7 million, compared to $91.1 million in the previous quarter, and $75.0 million in the same period last year, an increase of 5% and 28% respectively. Net income was $16.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share in the second quarter. The company said it continues to reach its near-term milestones while positioning itself for long-term success.
http://www.foundrynetworks.com

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AOL Loses 846,000 Dial-up Members in the U.S. in Q2

America Online (AOL) lost 846,000 narrowband subscribers in Q2, ending the quarter with 25.3 million members in the U.S., down 1.2% from the same date last year. Approximately 45% of the sequential decline represents the removal of non-paying subscribers or those who violated the terms of service. Also as of June, the AOL service had 6.2 million members in Europe, a decline of 52,000 from three months earlier.

• Time Warner Cable added 136,000 net digital video subscribers to reach a total of 4.1 million, or 36% of basic cable subscribers.
• 
  
  Time Warner Cable added 170,000 net high-speed data (cable modem) subscribers for a total of 2.9 million, representing 16% of eligible homes passed.

The figures were published in the company's quarterly financial report released today.
http://www.aoltimewarner.com

• The SEC is continuing its investigation of the company's America Online unit.

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Caspian Names Former Cisco Exec as VP of Marketing/Sales

Caspian Networks named Brad Wurtz as senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. Wurtz previously was co-founder and general partner of Ironweed Capital, a seed investment partnership based in Palo Alto. Before that, Wirtz is credited with establishing and running Cisco's carrier packet voice business unit as vice president and general manager in 2000. He had previously served as vice president and general manager of Cisco's multiservice switching business (formerly Stratacom), and led Cisco's acquisitions of Sentient and Transmedia. He also led the development and launch of Cisco's GSR 12000-series service provider router family.
http://www.caspian.com

• In April 2003, Caspian Networks announced the general availability of its Apeiro flow-based router designed for delivering “ATM-equivalent�? QoS using IP. Caspian Networks' core innovation is to examine each packet entering the router, identify flows, and then store to memory the flow's relevant routing information as well as its QoS, loss, delay and jitter characteristics. Subsequent packets in the flow are switched based on the “flow state�? data already in memory. By tracking potentially tens of millions of microflows per 10 Gbps interface per second in hardware, Caspian said its Apeiro platform provides deterministic QoS for premium IP traffic that is equivalent to ATM. Caspian Networks said its ASIC-driven platform is capable of handling 500,000+ flow set-ups per second, scaling far beyond the circuit set-up rates typical of ATM and MPLS. The Apeiro platform interoperates with and supports standard network protocols such as BGP, IS-IS, IPv6, and MPLS. The Caspian platform is in lab trials with a number of RBOCs, IXCs and international PTTs.

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Alaska's Matanuska Telephone Deploys Net Insight for Triple Play

Matanuska Telephone Association (MTA), the largest telephone cooperative in Alaska, is using Net Insight's Ethernet-based transport platform to support is triple play DSL network. Matanuska is offering subscribers 120 TV channels to compete with the local cable company. By the end of 2003, MTA plans to roll out the video service to approximately 33,000 access lines. The Net Insight system is a transport switch used for carrying video from the satellite-fed headend to IGMP-enabled DSLAMs. Net Insight uses DTM (Dynamic synchronous Transfer Mode) multiplexing technology to guarantee QoS and no jitter or packet loss for the video streams. Matanuska's network uses Allied Telesyn's DSLAMs and Minerva's video headend equipment. Phase One of the network went live in June 2003. MTA is also planning to launch video on-demand services. Net Insight is based in Sweden.
http://www.netinsight.sehttp://www.mtasolutions.com

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