China Telecom Selects Nortel Networks in Zhejiang, Hubei

China Telecom awarded two contracts to Nortel Networks covering the deployment of Shasta 5000 Broadband Service Nodes (BSNs) in Zhejiang province, and Shasta 5000 BSNs and Nortel Networks Passport 8600 Routing Switches in Hubei province. The Shasta 5000 BSN supports wholesale dial, DSL, fixed and mobile wireless, metro optical and Ethernet extension, ATM, Frame Relay and leased-line subscribers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com

Read More

Deutsche Telekom Tests Marconi's Core Optical Switches

Deutsche Telekom is using specially enhanced versions of Marconi's MSH family of optical switches to form the intelligent core of its Global Seamless Network (GSN) research and demonstration project. Deutsche Telekom has installed four nodes comprising Marconi's core optical switches at sites in Berlin and Darmstadt. Each node is connected to the others with an advanced WDM system, also supplied by Marconi. The nodes are equipped with a distributed control plane based on the latest ASTN standards. The ASTN control plane automates multiple network functions and significantly improves network operation.
http://www.marconi.com

Read More

Cox Anticipates VoIP Rollout in 2004, Revenues Up 14% in Q2

Cox Communications, the fourth largest cable operator in the US, reported Q2 revenue of $1.4 billion, an increase of 14% over Q2 2002 and up from $1.366 billion in the prior quarter. Cox continues to gain traction in advanced services (including digital cable, high-speed Internet access and telephony). It also cited higher basic cable rates and a $5 price increase on monthly high-speed Internet access adopted in certain markets in Q4 2002 for its 14% increase in revenues year-over-year.


Some highlights, as of 30-June-2003:

• 6.3 million basic video customers, up 0.5% from 30-June-2002 and flat from the prior quarter.


• 
  
  10.7 million total revenue generating units (RGUs), up 2% for the quarter, driven by 6% growth in advanced-service RGUs for the quarter. Total RGUs and advanced-service RGUs were up 12% and 34%, respectively, compared to June 30, 2002.


• 
  
  Added 112,452 cable modem customers, ending the quarter with 1.7 million high-speed Internet customers, representing year-over-year growth of 50%. In Q1, Cox added 154,433 cable modem customers. The company cited the end of the school year and other seasonal factors for slower growth, but added that net gains are expected to increase again for the rest of the year. Seventy percent of new cable modem customers are converting from dial-up service.


• 
  
  Added 56,170 Cox Digital Telephone customers, ending the quarter with 0.8 million telephone customers, representing year-over-year growth of 45%. The Cox cable voice network is now handling 29 million calls per day. Cable phone penetration rates for existing Cox customers in Orange County, California has now reached 53%. Service bundling and integrated billing are keys to the success.


• 
  
  Cox said that is VoIP service trial in Roanoke, Virginia is proceeding "very well." The company believes that technology is now sufficiently mature for a major VoIP rollout to begin during 2004. Cox believes it is best positioned among the cable operators to succeed with a VoIP cable service.


• 
  
  Achieved Cox Digital Cable net additions of 69,100 customers, ending the quarter with 1.9 million digital cable customers. Cox Digital Cable is now available to 98% of the homes in Cox's service areas with penetration of the basic video customer base exceeding 30%.


• 
  
  Early results from VOD implementations indicate that VOD customers are buying twice as much video content as households with pay-per-view services.


• 
  
  Video on demand is now available in four markets and will be launched in five more markets by March 2004.


• 
  
  Reduced CAPEX to $337.2 million for the quarter, down 32% from Q2 2002. CAPEX in Q1 2003 was $325.7 million.


• 
  
  For the full year 2003, Cox expects year-over-year growth in basic video subscribers of just under 1%.

http://www.cox.com

• In June 2003, Cox began to move its long distance voice traffic onto its national IP backbone. Cox is using Nortel Networks' Succession cable VoIP solution and Nuera Communications' media gateways. The companies confirmed that this is the first packet trunking deployment by a cable operator in North America.


• 
  
  In May 2003, Juniper Networks announced that Cox Communications had deployed its T-series routing platforms in a national IP backbone. Juniper's T320 platforms serve as peering points in Cox's new IP backbone.

Read More

Broadcom Introduces 10 Gigabit Ethernet Multi-Layer Switch for Enterprises

Broadcom introduced a 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) multi-layer switch that delivers wire-speed Layer 2 through Layer 7 switching and routing capabilities over a 10GBASE-CX4 copper medium (CX4). The highly integrated single-chip device could be used to build stackable 24- and 48-port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switches with multiple 10GbE interfaces in a compact 1U form factor. Broadcom said the rapid transition from Fast Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet for desktop and notebook computers has accelerated the need for GbE stacking switches in the wiring closet equipped with 10GbE uplinks for data aggregation and routing at the core of the network.
http://www.broadcom.com

Read More

Grand River Mutual Deploys Turin Platform

Grand River Mutual Telephone, the largest telephone co-operative in Missouri, will deploy Turin Networks' flagship Traverse Platform in a new RUS-financed OC-192 SONET network spanning its exchanges in northern Missouri and southern Iowa. Turin's Traverse platform integrates SONET Add-Drop Multiplexer (ADM), digital cross connect (DCS) and edge switch functionality in a single compact system that scales from DS1 to OC-192 per system slot. In addition to SONET transport, Grand River is using the Turin equipment to aggregate traffic from Ethernet-based DSLAMs, as well as to deliver TDM DS1 and DS3 private-line services to their customers. The new OC-192 system could also be used to deliver services such as video transport and bandwidth wholesaling in the future. Grand River's network, which includes 33 exchanges in Missouri and 15 exchanges in Iowa, serves in excess of 25,000 access lines. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.turinnetworks.com/

• Turin's Traverse platform is based on a custom, distributed ASIC switch-fabric that grooms and switches both TDM and packet traffic. It supports the full SONET feature set, including UPSR, BLSR and 1+1 APS. It also incorporates a unified optical control plane and advanced bandwidth management system, including virtual concatenation and rate shaping features, as well as capabilities that enable the fast activation and delivery of dynamically scalable Ethernet services.


• 
  
  In May 2003, Turin added scalable wideband DCS functionality to its flagship Traverse Platform. The new integration of wideband cross-connect functionality further reduces the number of elements needed in the network. Turin said its Traverse Platform supports seamless growth from 96 to 384 STS-1 equivalents (2688 to 10,752 VTs) of fully protected, non-blocking capacity in a single shelf that takes up one fourth of a standard 7-foot rack. Expansion can be accomplished completely in-service, in 48 STS-1 increments.

Read More

ST Demonstrates EoVDS for the First Mile

STMicroelectronics demonstrated Ethernet over VDSL (EoVDSL) in the First Mile (EFM) at the IEEE802 plenary meeting in San Francisco last week. The company said traditional DSL deployments have used ATM framing as the physical interface for copper in the last mile, but that it was seeing a strong interest in Ethernet for delivering voice and data communication to the home. ST's Zipperwire VDSL chipset, which was introduced in March 2003, delivers aggregate bit rates in excess of 100 Mbps over short loops.
http://www.st.com/VDSL

Read More

D-Link Introduces New SOHO/SMB Gigabit Switches

D-Link introduced a new line of Gigabit Ethernet switches with pricing under $30 per port. The line-up includes a 5-port and an 8-port 10/100/1000 switch, both of which are aimed at Small Office Home Office (SOHO) and small to medium businesses (SMB).
http://www.dlink.com

Read More

Taiwan's HiNet Selects Juniper's E-series

HiNet, Taiwan's leading ISP, selected Juniper Networks' E-series platform for its island-wide broadband network. HiNet, which is a subsidiary of the incumbent carrier Chunghwa Telecom, currently has more than 1.5 million DSL subscribers. The company has been using Juniper's E-series for more than a year. The new order will help it double revenues from value-added services and boost subscriber numbers to 4.5 million by the end of 2003. Juniper's E-series combines IP routing, IP service creation and subscriber management in a single platform. It supports 16,000 multicast streams in a single chassis, paving the way for new multicasting services over DSL. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.juniper.net

• In April 2003, Chunghwa Telecom announced an ADSL promotion aimed at helping the government of Taiwan achieve its target of 6 million broadband users by the end of the year.


• 
  
  In June 2003, Juniper Networks introduced several enhancements to its Service-Built Edge portfolio aimed at supporting new service models for carriers. The rollout includes:

• the ERX-310 edge router featuring 3-slots and 10 Gbps backplane. The
  ERX-310 is the smallest edge router in Juniper's portfolio and positioned
  for deployment in smaller POPs supporting up to 16,000 subscribers. The
  ERX-310 is aimed at untapped markets, such as smaller DSL nodes and 802.11
  hotspots


• new Ethernet services PIC offered in 1-port and 2-port Gigabit Ethernet
  versions. It provides per-VLAN QoS and accounting. It complements
  Juniper's existing ATM services PIC. Both PICs could be deployed
  simultaneously in the same M-series router.
  
• new BRAS enhancements for providing secure remote access for IPSec, IPv6
  capabilities, and the ability to support 48,000 subscribers with full
  services. The secure remote access capabilities would enable carriers to
  terminate an IPSec client session at an E-series edge router for
  interconnection into a corporate VPN.
  
• Juniper is also adding support for Ethernet-connected DSLAMs and new
  Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) support based on the Kompella draft.
  Juniper's VPLS Kompella delivers inter-metro Ethernet LAN services by
  leveraging BGP signaling. The solution supports autodiscovery and Inter-AS
  for large carrier-to-carrier partnerships
  
• new J-Flow accounting capabilities for aligning billing with actual
  resource consumption. Juniper said its flow-based accounting is
  distinguished by being independent of the data path, thereby ensuring no
  performance hit for turning on the accounting capabilities.

Read More

Thailand's AWC Selects UTStarcom's IP-PAS

Asia Wireless Communication Company (AWC), a subsidiary of TelecomAsia Public Company, selected UTStarcom's IP-Based PAS (Personal Access System) for deployment in key business districts in the Bangkok metropolitan area. Further contracts will be awarded to cover other parts of the business and residential areas in Bangkok. The equipment will be used to rehabilitate the carrier's existing Personal Handyphone System (PHS) network, which covers approximately 1,600 square kilometers of central Bangkok and has more than 600,000 subscribers.
http://www.utstar.com

Read More

Virginia's CavTel offers DSL for $25/month, No Contract

Cavalier Telephone, a facilities-based CLEC based in Virginia, began offering a DSL service priced at $25 per month with free modem, free installation and no contract. Cavalier recently entered into an agreement with Paradyne to deploy ADSL2 technology for faster link speeds. The company said it believes its DSL price to be the lowest in the U.S.


Cavalier has just completed a significant upgrade in its Baltimore/Washington DC network to a fully redundant fiber backbone. The network upgrade eliminates Cavalier's dependence on any third-party carrier throughout the region.
http://www.cavtel.com/

• Cavalier Telephone currently services over 30,000 business and 100,000 residential customers in Richmond, Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, Delaware, Southern New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. During Q2 2003, Cavalier added more than 2,000 business customers and more than 12,000 residential customers.

Read More

Linksys Offers 802.11 b/g Game Adapters

Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, introduced a Wireless-B Game Adapter and a Wireless-G Game Adapter for connecting PlayStation2, Xbox, or GameCube consoles to a broadband connection. A pair of Game Adapters could also be used to form a "cable-less cable" between two game consoles for head-to-head gaming -- in the same room or all the way across the house. The Wireless-B Game Adapter will have an estimated street price of $79 while the Wireless-G will be $129.
http://www.linksys.com

Read More

TI Acquires Radia Communications for 802.11 RF

Texas Instruments (TI) acquired Radia Communications, a start-up developing radio frequency (RF) semiconductor, subsystem, signal processing and networking technologies for 802.11 WLAN multi-band/multi-mode radios. TI and Radia have already developed joint reference designs for 802.11b/g and 802.11a/b/g products as partners, and have customers signed up for the TI and Radia components in those reference designs. TI said its customers now have a single source for their WLAN media access controller (MAC), baseband and RF. Radia is based in Sunnyvale, California and has approximately 50 employees. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.ti.com

• In June 2003, Texas Instruments began shipping its 802.11g chipset solution to customers. The company said current TI customers, SMC Networks and U.S. Robotics, and new customers, NETGEAR, Samsung, and Sitecom, would be using TI WLAN technology for their 802.11g and multi-mode Wi-Fi products.

Read More

AT&T to Add DSL to its Residential Service Bundle

AT&T will begin offering a new residential DSL option as part of its consumer communications bundle of local and long distance voice services. The offer is now generally available in the state of New York and will be expanded nationwide. The DSL bundle is being promoted at $19.95 a month for the first three months and $39.95 a month thereafter. The DSL network is being provided by Covad Communications.
http://www.att.com

• Covad has previously announced DSL partnerships with America Online, EarthLink, Sprint, Speakeasy, MegaPath and XO.


• 
  
  As of the end of Q2, Covad had 453,000 lines in service, a 9% increase since the end of Q1 2003.


• 
  
  Covad services are currently available in 96 of the country's top Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Its network passes some 40 million homes in 35 states.

Read More

FCC to Collect $269 Million in Regulatory Fees for 2003

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimates it will collect $269 million in regulatory fees for FY 2003 from over 2,200 companies in 47 regulated categories -- such as television, radio, cable, wireless telephone, interstate telephone, satellite, paging/messaging, and microwave. The fees are largely used to recover the regulatory costs associated with the Commission's enforcement, policy and rulemaking, user information, and international activities. All regulatory fees are due by 24-September-2003.
http://www.fcc.gov

• In February 2003, the FCC submitted a budget request for $280,798,000 for fiscal year 2004, up 1% from 2003. The FCC said the budget provides for mandatory increases for salaries and benefits and other areas and inflationary increases for contract services. The budget level also includes funds for additional staff to provide engineering expertise to ensure effective management of the electromagnetic spectrum and encourage the provision of new technologies and services to the public, continue infrastructure improvement for the laboratory facility, and enhance the audit capabilities of the Office of Inspector General.

Read More