Internet Photonics and Jedai Broadband Enter Cable Partnership

Internet Photonics and Jedai Broadband Networks have formed a partnership aimed at cable operators. The alliance combines Internet Photonics' LightStack family of Optical Ethernet multi-service switching and transport products and the Jedai FrontRunner 3200 Access Switch Router family. The Jedai FrontRunner 3200 supports 10/100BaseT, 100BaseFX, T1/E1 and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. At a cable operators' hub, Internet Photonic's LightStack MX or LightStack GSLAM can aggregate or switch the traffic of several FrontRunner 3200 access systems for...

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Nortel Networks Announces New Security Products

Nortel Networks announced new products, product enhancements and a security partner program for enterprise customers. The line-up includes:a new Alteon Operating System (AOS) 21.0 software release, currently available for Alteon Application Switch products, that provides Advanced Denial of Service (DoS) Protection, fault-tolerant Web Services enabled by Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) inspection for Web Services-aware traffic management, and intelligent peer-to-peer application management.a new Alteon...

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Equipe Adds MPLS LSR Functionality to its E3200 Platform

Equipe Communications released a software upgrade that adds MPLS LSR functionality to the native ATM switching and ATM/MPLS Interworking support of its E3200 platform. Equipe said having all three functionalities in a single platform is the key for making an MPLS core a reality for incumbent Layer 2 service providers. Unlike router-based implementations of MPLS, the Equipe 3200 offers the ability to Interwork ATM and MPLS or switch both in their native formats; provide per-connection traffic guarantees and operational visibility for all traffic...

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Canada's SaskTel Selects Lucent for Optical Upgrade

SaskTel, the incumbent service provider in Saskatchewan, Canada, will deploy Lucent Technologies' new optical management system to provide real-time provisioning and virtually instantaneous restoration of its optical backbone. Under the contract, Lucent will supply products from its Metropolis DMX family of access multiplexers and optical amplifiers from its Metropolis Wavelength Extension Solution to build regional transport rings in the province of Saskatchewan. Lucent will also supply the new Navis Optical Management System (OMS). SaskTel is...

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Centillium Revenues up 22% Sequentially, Cites 24 Mbps DSL in Japan

Centillium Communications reported Q2 revenue of $33.9 million, a 22% increase from the $27.8 million of revenues for Q1 2003, and a decrease of 1% from revenues of $34.4 million for Q2 2002. The GAAP net loss for Q2 was $511,000, or $0.01 per share. Centillium said the DSL market in Japan continues to grow, adding approximately 1.2 million new subscribers in Q2, for a total of 8.3 million lines in use at the end of June nationwide. Japan is a key marker for Centillium, where its customers are migrating to silicon systems supporting 24 Mbps...

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MCI Launches Review of Least Cost Routing Operations

MCI hired Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, a law firm based in Washington D.C., to investigate competitor claims surrounding the company's handling of call routing and access fees. MCI said it routes approximately 8% of its traffic to Least Cost Routing (LCR) companies, which it claims are legitimate businesses that provide long-distance and competitive local exchange carriers with an alternative to terminate traffic and reduce access fees. The company denied charges that some secure U.S. government traffic could have been compromised in any way....

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Eutelsat selects Alcatel to build HOT BIRD 7A satellite

Eutelsat selected Alcatel to build a new HOT BIRD 7A communications satellite. The original HOT BIRD 7 satellite was lost during a launch in December 2002. In addition to the original specifications, HOT BIRD 7A's mission has been expanded to provide additional back-up and replacement capacity at Eutelsat's key orbital slot, 13 degrees East. The new satellite will be based on Alcatel Space's Spacebus 3000 B3 platform. Launch is planned for the autumn of 2005. http://www.alcatel.comOn 11-December-2002, Arianespace's first Ariane 5 rocket carrying...

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Alcatel Returns to Profitability

Alcatel returned to profitability in Q2, with all of its major segments at break-even or better. Reported quarterly sales were EUR 3.149 billion, up 6% compared to the previously quarter but down 26% compared to Q2 2002. Alcatel said its restructuring is on-track and starting to deliver positive results, despite a weak telecom environment overall. Some highlights:revenues for Fixed Communications (service providers) increased sequentially by 6.8% to EUR 1.405 billionrevenues for Mobile Communications increased sequentially by 4.5% to EUR 834 millionrevenues...

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Verizon's DSL Growth Slows and UNE-P Loss Continues, Strong Free Cash Flow

Verizon Communications added 101,000 net DSL customers in Q2, compared to 160,000 net additions in Q1. On the financial front, Verizon reported operating revenues of $16.8 billion for Q2 2003, compared to $16.3 billion in the preceding quarter. The company described the quarter as very solid, especially for strong growth in wireless and long distance services. Key metrics include:Verizon Wireless: 1.2 million net retail customer additions, up 10 percent from last year's quarter (1.3 million total net customer additions); record-low churn; strong...

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Telefónica Reaches 1.9 Million ADSL Subscribers

The Telefónica Group reported growth in semi-annual revenues, EBITDA and operating profits, which grew 5.2%, 10.7% and 22.8%, respectively. Strong free cash flow from operations and reduced CAPEX and OPEX was used to cut the company's net debt by EUR 2.5 billion to EUR 19.9 billion. By geographical region, Spain now accounts for 62% of the Group's overall revenues, compared to 55% a year ago. ADSL connections across the whole Telefónica Group totaled 1.9 million at the end of June 2003, up 88% over a year ago. Spain accounted for 1.3 million...

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Telecom Italia acquires Germany's HanseNet

Telecom Italia will acquire HanseNet Telekommunikation GmbH, a broadband operator with approximately 80,000 subscribers in the Hamburg area. HanseNet is a facilities based operator that uses unbundled local loop elements for local access. The deal was valued at EUR 250 million. http://www.telecomitalia...

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Airspan Introduces Major Improvements in its Wireless DSL

Airspan Networks announced increases in performance, capacity and operational range for its non-line-of-sight broadband wireless platform, which operates in frequencies between 1.9 and 4.0 GHz. Specific improvements include an improved link budget of up to 165dB using high gain subscriber antennas; higher capacity CPE units supporting 2.3 Mbps downstream and 1.5 Mbps upstream of IP and four 64 kbps PCM voice lines; and better latency of 1ms for 64 kbps for voice Lines and less than 12ms for IP traffic. A new compact Base Station delivers 170...

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MIPI Alliance to Define Open Standards for Mobile Application Processors

The Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Alliance, a new industry initiative backed by ARM, Nokia, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments, announced its charter to define and promote open standards for interfaces to mobile application processors. The MIPI Alliance is intended to complement existing standards bodies such as the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and 3GPP. While these organizations focus on services and air interfaces, respectively, the MIPI Alliance is focused on microprocessors, peripherals and software interfaces. The alliance...

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France Telecom Stabilizes Local Competitive Threat

France Telecom said the impact of the opening of the local telecommunications market to competition, which affected its telecommunication revenues in 2002, has substantially subsided. The quarterly decline in revenues from fixed line telephony in France slowed to 2.0% in Q2 2003 compared to a decrease of 4.8% in Q1 2003 and a decrease of 7.5% in Q4 2002. France Telecom's market share in local traffic in June 2003 amounted to 77.8% compared to 79.1% in March 2003, representing a decrease of 1.3 points over the second quarter compared to a decrease...

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