France's Outremer Telecom Selects Redback's SmartEdge 800 Service Gateway

Outremer Telecom, a private telecommunications operator based in France, has deployed Redback Networks' SmartEdge 800 Service Gateway platform to offer high-bandwidth services to both its business and residential broadband subscribers. The SmartEdge Service Gateway platform combines subscriber management capabilities with edge routing functions. Outremer Telecom is using the SmartEdge 800 in its POPs to deliver VPN services to its corporate customers and DSL to residences. Redback said its service gateway was selected for the deployment because it supports the necessary subscriber level features for DSL, such as PPP termination and RADIUS authentication, while also offering VPN services using a variety of methods, such as Layer 2 and Layer 3 MPLS and GRE encapsulation. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.redback.com

• In June 2003, Redback Networks announced the integration of its subscriber management systems (SMS) technology into its SmartEdge platform. The combined feature set will allow service providers to utilize the same Redback network management, policy management, user profiles and billing systems in an edge platform with dynamic policy enforcement, carrier-class IP routing, ATM mediation, MPLS VPNs, multicast and QoS capabilities. At the same time, Redback is introducing the SmartEdge 400 , a smaller version of its SmartEdge 800 platform. The new platform is designed for deployment in smaller central offices and POPs, whereas the SmartEdge 800 is positioned for larger POPs.

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Avanex Completes Acquisitions of Alcatel Optronics, Corning Assets

Avanex completed its acquisition of Alcatel Optronics France SA, a subsidiary of Alcatel that operates the optical components division of Alcatel, and the purchase of certain assets of the photonic technologies business of Corning Incorporated. Avanex said the acquisitions give it the "necessary scale and resources to be the leading supplier of optical solutions." The combined company is headquartered in Fremont, California, and includes former Alcatel facilities in France and Scotland and former Corning facilities in the U.S. and Italy.
http://www.avanex.com

• In May 2003, Avanex first announced plans to acquire Alcatel's and Corning's optical components businesses in combined transactions valued at approximately $63.5 million. The deal brings together the optical businesses of three of the industry's leading providers of optical components, modules and subsystems for fiber optic transmission networks. After the mergers, the new Avanex would offer products that address optical wavelength generation and modulation, multiplexing and demultiplexing, signal amplification, wavelength routing and dispersion compensation. Alcatel and Corning said they would assign approximately 1,400 patents to Avanex and additionally license several thousand patents to Avanex as part of the transaction. In return, Alcatel and Corning will receive as consideration 28% and 17% respectively of Avanex's outstanding common stock of the post-transaction company.


• 
  
  Alcatel will contribute its key optical component operations in France and the UK. Alcatel's optical component division had sales of EURO 7.3 million for Q1 2003. The division has 950 employees. Key products include lasers, photodetectors, optical amplifiers, transponders and key passive devices such as arrayed waveguide gratings and Fiber Bragg grating filters. As part of the deal, Alcatel would also contribute over $110 million in cash and Avanex will be designated a key supplier to Alcatel for a 3 year period.


• 
  
  Assets purchased from Corning include optical amplifier, dispersion compensation, and micro optics operations located in New York and Corning modulator operations located in Italy. These businesses have 490 employees. Key products include optical amplifiers, dispersion compensation modules, Lithium Niobate and electro-absorptive modulators, and micro optics products. Quarterly sales amounted to approximately $11 million in Q1 2003.


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  The new Avanex expects to have over $250 million in cash and 1,600 employees on the closing date.

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NETGEAR Raises $98 Million in IPO

Shares of NetGear began trading on the NASDAQ National Market under the ticker "NTGR." Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $98 million. NetGear offered seven million shares of its common stock at $14 per share. Trading ended on 31-July-2003 at $17.69.
http://www.netgear.com

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MCI WorldCom Barred from Future Government Contracts

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) will bar MCI WorldCom from receiving new U.S. federal government contracts. Specifically, the GSA concluded that "MCI WorldCom lacks the necessary internal controls and business ethics" to be eligible to compete for new government contracts. Neither GSA, nor any other U.S. federal agency, may award a new contract while MCI WorldCom is on the excluded parties list. The GSA is a centralized federal procurement and property management agency.


In a press statement, MCI said it accepts the General Services Administration's (GSA) decision for proposed debarment, noting that the decision does not affect its ability to serve its existing federal government customers. Michael Capellas, MCI chairman and CEO, also stated that the GSA decision does not in any way affect the timing of the company's planned emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
http://www.gsa.gov

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BT's Earnings Rise on Flat Revenue Growth

BT reported strong earnings of 4.1 pence per share, up 64% compared to the period last year, despite flat quarterly revenue of £4.586 billion. The company credited financial discipline for its ability to generate free cash flow of £618 million for the quarter. Net debt has now been reduced below £9 billion, £4.4 billion less than at this time last year. Some key operating statistics:

BT Operating Statistics
	30-June 2003	31-Mar 2003	30-June 2002
BT Group exchange lines
Business, incl. wholesale	9,215,000	9,197,000	9,122,000
Consumer, incl. service provider	20, 492,000	20,448,00	20,192,000
BT Retail
BT Openworld Broadband	333,000	292,000	167
BT Broadband	203,000	137,000	-
Total ISP customer base	2,035,000	1,948,000	1,754,000
BT Wholesale
ADSL lines provided	1,058,000	800,000	277,000
network volume growth	3%	6%	3%
% UK households where available	71%	67%	66%
BT Global Services
Inter city fiber (kms)	48,000	48,000	57,000
Web hosting centers	22	22	19
Dial access ports (000s)	615,000	606,000	637,000

http://www.bt.com

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Cavium Hires Intel Executive

Cavium Networks announced appointment of Rajiv Khemani as Vice President of Marketing. Khemani joins Cavium from Intel Corp., where as a Director of Marketing in its Network Processor Division, he led the product management, technical marketing and ecosystem development for Intel's network processor product line. During his five-year tenure with Intel, he also served as general manager of its high-end network processor business unit. He joined Intel through Intel's acquisition of Netboost, a venture-backed network processor startup. Before that, he managed strategy and business development at Network Appliance.
http://www.cavium.com

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Cavium Networks Secures $18M for its Security Processors

Cavium Networks, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, raised $18 million in an oversubscribed Series C round of funding to support its rollout of security processing chips. In the two and a half years since its founding, Cavium has introduced three security processor families, with over 20 security processor and board products, targeted for IPsec, SSL, Wireless LAN and Multiservice applications. Cavium claims over 30 customers, including several tier-1 communication OEMs, who are using its security chips in VPN gateways, SSL VPNs, wireless gateways, SSL load-balancers, routers, switches, web-servers and SANs. New investors in this round include NeoCarta Ventures, NTT Leasing Co. (investment arm of NTT), China Development Industrial Bank and William Jones and Associates. Current investors Menlo Ventures, Alliance Ventures and Diamondhead Ventures also participated in the round. The closure of this round brings the total funding received by Cavium Networks to $ 41.5 Million.
http://www.cavium.com

• Earlier this week, Cavium Networks introduced its NITROX Wireless family of security macro processors for enterprise access and aggregation points. The processors support the full range of security algorithms currently used in WLAN security and the emerging 802.11i standard -- including AES, 3DES and ARC4 and the various modes of each algorithm. Additionally the Cavium NITROX Wireless processors perform protocol processing of CCMP, IPSec, IKE, MPPE and functions of TKIP. They also feature a true hardware Random Number Generator. Cavium will offer ten versions to target a range of price / performance points.


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  Aruba Wireless Networks, a start-up offering high-performance wireless network switching systems for enterprises and hot spot service providers, has adopted Cavium's NITROX Wireless security processors. The devices are also being used by several server motherboard and OEM vendors for VPN gateways, SSL VPNs, wireless gateways, server load-balancers, routers, switches, web-servers and SANs.

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U.S. Court Issues $4.26B Judgment to Motorola in Telsim Case

A U.S. District Court issued a $4.26 billion judgment against the Uzan family of Turkey, ruling that the Uzans perpetrated massive fraud against Motorola. The court ruled that the Uzans fraudulently induced Motorola to loan $1.8 billion to Telsim Mobil Telekomunikasyon Hizmetleri A.S. ("Telsim"), a telecommunications entity owned and controlled by the Uzan family. Members of the Uzan family and the companies they control have been ordered by the court to pay Motorola $2.13 billion in compensatory damages and another $2.13 in punitive damages. Nokia plans to use the court ruling to pursue its own legal case against the Uzans.
http://www.motorola.com

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net.com and Digiquant Enter Alliance

Network Equipment Technologies (net.com) and Digiquant entered into a product and marketing alliance focused on carrier-class VoIP solutions. The alliance combines net.com's SHOUTIP programmable packet telephony platform with Digiquant's Internet Management System (IMS), a software solution that authorizes and bills for network usage. Together the products deliver a fault-tolerant, distributed system that allows service providers to offer and precisely bill for services such as calling cards, toll bypass, and wholesale voice offerings.
http://www.net.com
http://www.digiquant.com

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Comcast Increases Subscriber Forecasts, Network Integration Proceeding Well

Comcast increased its 2003 guidance for subscriber growth and financial performance following significant gains during Q2, which normally is a seasonally slow quarter. Pro forma Comcast Cable revenue for the quarter was $4.379 billion (not including QVC), representing a 9.2% increase over the $4.009 billion in the second quarter of 2002. QVC's consolidated revenues for the quarter were $1.101 billion, an increase of 11.3%. Last month, Comcast agreed to sell its 57% stake in QVC to Liberty Media for $7.9 billion. Some highlights for the quarter:

• Comcast added 12,100 basic subscribers, which the company described as a "remarkable turnaround" from the loss of 133,300 subscribers in the same quarter last year. In Q1, Comcast added 56,900 basic subscribers. The company feels it has reversed the previous losses to DBS TV providers. For the second time this year, Comcast is increasing guidance for basic subscribers to 125,000 to 150,000 net additions. Previous guidance was for 75,000 to 100,000 net additions.


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  The digital cable customer base grew by 19.4% year-over-year to 6.950 million subscribers. Comcast said it is focusing heavily on the profitability of digital services rather than fast subscriber growth.


• 
  
  VOD is now available to 20% of subscribers and is expected to increase to 50% by the end of this year as Comcast accelerates the VOD deployment into new markets during the second half of 2003.


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  HDTV is available to 54% of the customer base at the end of Q2 and is expected to increase to 65% by year end.


• 
  
  The company added 350,900 cable modem users, a pro forma increase in net additions of 32.8% over the same period one year ago, to finish Q2 with nearly 4.4 million subscribers, representing a penetration rate of 13.7%. Cable modem ARPU is now $43.34, up 3.6% compared to a year ago. More than 81% of the homes in Comcast's footprint, or 32.1 million homes, are now eligible for cable modem service. Growth in the second half of 2003 is expected to be driven by continuing expansion of the service's footprint, to 34 million homes, expanded retail distribution through more than 3,800 retail outlets and a new "Instant Install" marketing initiative. Comcast expects to add 1.6 million cable modem users for all of 2003.


• 
  
  Comcast does not plan to reduce cable modem pricing, saying the current level is "fair" especially compared to AOL dial-ups users with a second home phone line. The company is looking to retail channels and partners to increase subscriber numbers. Comcast is also looking to increase average cable modem downlink speeds from 1.5Mbps to 3.0 Mbps in its major markets. Comcast believes it can increase these speeds without bearing a major cost.


• 
  
  Comcast had under 1.4 million cable telephony customers at the end of Q2, down by 52,000 compared to the previous quarter. Comcast lost 20,000 cable telephony subscribers in Q1. The company said it is focusing on profitability of its cable telephony operations by eliminating bad debt customers. Comcast believes it will lose a total of 150,000 cable telephony customers for all of 2003.


• 
  
  CAPEX for Q2 was $1.05 billion as Comcast Cable completed the upgrade of nearly 16,000 miles of plant to end the quarter with more than 89% of its footprint upgraded to provide two-way digital and high-speed Internet services.


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  Newly-acquired AT&T Broadband systems are now 85% upgraded to deliver two-way digital cable and high-speed Internet service, up from 80% at the end of Q1. The company said the integration is ahead of its expectations in every metric.


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  Cable cash flow margin was 36.5% for Q2 and annualized cable operating cash flow per subscriber was nearly $300.

http://www.comcast.com

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AT&T and Oracle Collaborate on Managed Hosting, Outsourcing Contract

Michael Baker Corporation, an engineering and energy management firm based in Pittsburgh, awarded a three-year, multi-million dollar managed hosting and application management outsourcing contract to AT&T and Oracle. Oracle will manage Baker's applications with its E-Business Suite Outsourcing services; AT&T will provide managed hosting services from one of its Internet Data Centers that support 24x7 monitoring and maintenance and includes performance-based SLAs.
http://www.att.com
http://www.oracle.com

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Cisco Systems Ships its 2 Millionth IP Phone

Cisco Systems reached a major milestone by shipping its 2 millionth IP phone. The milestone phone was delivered to SouthTrust Corp., a bank that has replaced over 10,000 traditional phones on its legacy circuit-based PBX network in favor of a new virtual Enterprise IP PBX. The new system employs more than 10,000 Cisco IP Phones.
http://www.cisco.com

• In August of 2002, Cisco announced that it reached the 1 million milestone for shipped IP phones. Its first IP phone was introduced in 1999.

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UTStarcom Wins New IP-DSLAM Contract with China Netcom

China Netcom Corporation awarded UTStarcom its second major contract to deploy over 100,000 lines of its AN-2000 IB IP-based DSLAM solution in ten major cities in the Inner Mongolia, Shandong, and Shanxi Provinces. UTStarcom said the new contract will bring its total IP-DSLAM deployments to more than 500,000 ADSL lines within multiple provinces in China. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.utstar.com

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Charter Continues to Lose Video Subscribers, Cable Modem Growth Slows

Charter Communications reported Q2 revenues of $1.217 billion, an increase of 7.0% over last year's second quarter revenues of $1.137 billion. Income from operations totaled $112 million in Q2 2003, an increase of 31.8% from a year ago. Net loss was $38 million, or $0.13 per share. Charter said Q2 traditionally is weak in terms of subscriber growth due to disconnects from annual price adjustments and seasonality in many of its communities. Some highlights from the end of the quarter:

• Revenue generating units (RGU) totaled approximately 10,463,500, up 5% from a year ago, but down by approximately 10,900 units, or .1%, compared to Q1 2003.


• 
  
  Total advanced service RGUs, defined as digital, high-speed data and telephony units, increased by 748,300 units, or 23%.


• 
  
  A loss of 253,200 analog video customers, or 3.8% over the past twelve months. Charter now has 6,486,900 analog video customers compared to 6,740,100 a year ago. The estimated penetration of analog video homes passed is now 53% compared to 57% a year ago.


• 
  
  There was also a decline in digital video customers. At the end of Q2, Charter had 2,603,900 digital video customers, down from 2,682,800 at the beginning of the year. At this time last year it had 2,380,500 digital video customers.


• 
  
  Added approximately 76,700 cable modem customers in Q2, bringing its total to 1,349,000. Charter added 134,200 cable modem customers in Q1 2003. The estimated penetration of high-speed data homes passed is now 13%.


• 
  
  Cable telephony customers total 23,700, up from 22,800 at the end of Q1 and 17,600 a year ago.

Charter plans to introduce new pricing and service packages in many of its Top 25 markets during the second half of the yearhttp://www.chartercom.com

• In July 2003, Charter Communications ordered 100,000 units of the new Motorola Broadband Media Centers (BMCs) powered by Digeo's Moxi Service. Motorola said the announcement marks the first widescale deployment by a cable operator of a digital cable media center with advanced features such as dual-tuner "watch and record" personal video recording (PVR), high-definition television (HDTV), and a progressive-scan DVD player.

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Lucent Wins Two Optical Contracts with China's Guangdong Eastern Fibernet

Guangdong Eastern Fibernet Company (GEFC) awarded two contracts to Lucent Technologies for expansion of its SDH and DWDM network across Guangdong province. Under the contracts, Lucent's LambdaUnite MSSs will be deployed to form the core ring of the SDH network in the cities of Guangzhou, JiangMmn and Shenzhen. This core ring will connect the metro rings formed by Lucent Metropolis ADM in Zhaoqing, Zhanjiang, Jieyang, Shantou and Huizhou. GEFC also will deploy Lucent's WaveStar ITM-SC network management system to help integrate the new hardware into its existing SDH network. The WaveStar OLS 1.6Tand Metropolis EON will be deployed in the major cities of Guangdong province. Financial terms were not disclosed. Shanghai Tiantong Telecommunications Equipment Co., LTD, a Lucent Business Partner, has provided pre-sales support on both projects.
http://www.lucent.com

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AOL 9.0 Optimized for Broadband

America Online introduced the latest version of its AOL and AOL for Broadband software. The major improvements in the AOL 9.0 release include better anti-spam filters, new instant messaging features for starting phone conversations and sharing files, email enhancements, McAfee Personal Firewall Express for broadband users, multiple simultaneous log-ins for up to seven screen names on one broadband account, and an enhanced Video@AOL media player supporting multiple formats.
http://www.aol.com

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