Expand Networks Raises $9 Million for its WAN Compression

Expand Networks, a start-up based in Roseland, New Jersey with R&D in Israel, announced a $9.0 million round of financing for its WAN compression and acceleration appliances. The company claims its technology increases average network capacity of WAN links by 100-400%, with peaks of 1000+%, through a combination of byte-level caching, packet header reduction and adaptive packet compression. Expand Networks also uses advanced packet classification techniques to provide application-level control across WAN links. The company has shipped over 15,000 units to more than 600 customers including Motorola, Texas Instruments and the U.S. Department of Defense. The new funding was led by Tamir Fishman Ventures and included existing investors Weiss Peck & Greer, RBC Capital Markets, Comcast Interactive Capital, America Online, Inc., Omninet Capital, LLC and EURcom Holdings. Expand Networks has raised close to $40 million to date.
http://www.expand.com

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Alcatel to Resell WaterCove's Mobile Data Service System

Alcatel signed a strategic OEM agreement to resell WaterCove Networks' Mobile Data Service System (MDSS) as part of its expanded packet data portfolio for 2.5G and 3G networks. The WaterCove MDSS provides an extended billing solution that allows operators to offer a larger suite of high margin GPRS data services including mobile email, Internet access or multimedia messaging (MMS). Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.alcatel.com
http://www.watercove.com

• Orange UK is using the WaterCove Mobile Data Service System to provide prepaid data services billed in real time.


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  Key elements of the WaterCove architecture include an intelligent server that creates and manages subscriber profiles and network policies. It provides streamlined provisioning for subscriber data profiles by leveraging existing systems that contain this information, as well as open systems interfaces to third party and/or internally developed applications and services. WaterCove's Mobile Data Support Node performs switching, service delivery, subscriber aggregation and network resource management. Deep processing power enforces policies and for real-time metering.


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  In January 2003, WaterCove raised $20 million in third round financing. Charles River Ventures, Sprout Group, Orange Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners participated in this round. The company has raised a total of $70 million of equity financing to date.


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  WaterCove Networks is led by Peter Lojko, previously VP and General Manager of Excel Switching, developers of programmable voice switches. Lucent acquired Excel Switching in August 1999 for $1.7 billion in stock.

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Tellabs Signs Distribution Deal with Russia's AMT Group

The AMT Group, a leading systems integrator based in Russia, will distribute Tellabs' managed access and next-generation optical networking equipment to telecommunications operators in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The agreement will extend the AMT Group's portfolio of telecommunications equipment by adding the Tellabs 6300 managed transport systems and the Tellabs 8100 managed access systems.
http://www.tellabs.com
http://www.amt.ru

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ECI Posts Q2 Results, Adds Former Deutsche Telekom Exec to Board

ECI Telecom reported Q2 revenue of $102 million compared to $119 million in Q1 2003 and $174 million in Q2 2002. Gross profit was $37.3 million (36.7% of revenues), compared to gross profit of $48.7 million (41.0%) in Q1 and $67.5 million (38.8%) in Q2 2002. The operating loss for the second quarter of 2003 was $34.3 million compared to an operating loss of $5.6 million in Q1 and an operating loss of $3.2 million for Q2 2002. The net loss for Q2 2003 was $35.0 million, or $0.32 per share. Some other highlights:

• ECI's Broadband Access Division (formerly the Inovia Broadband Access Division) recorded revenues of $45 million in Q2 compared to $51 million in the first quarter of 2003 and $73 million in the second quarter of last year. The division recorded improved gross margins for the quarter and announced the completion of the OSMINE process for Telcordia Systems Integration. The division also cited progress in "triple-play" services - voice, data and video -- including a key contract with the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA) for tens of thousands of DSL lines.


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  ECI's Optical Networks Division (formerly the Lightscape Optical Networks Division which consisted of Lightscape and Enavis) recorded revenues of $40 million in Q2 compared to $42 million in Q1 and $60 million in Q2 last year. The division has released its new network management system to select customers and is on track to deliver Ethernet switching on the XDM during Q4.


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  ECtel, in which ECI holds a 58% stake, reported Q2 revenues of $10 million compared to $15 million in Q1 2003 and $24 million in Q2 2002.


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  Sales to Veraz Networks totaled $6.5 million in Q2 compared to $8.7 million in the first quarter. ECI holds 43% of privately-held Veraz. ECI manufactures and sells DCME (Digital Circuit Multiplication Equipment) and Voice over IP products to Veraz for resale.


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  Gerd Tenzer, former Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom, has joined the ECI Board of Directors.

http://www.ecitele.com

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MCI Responds to AT&T's Claims

MCI fired back at AT&T with a public statement again accussing AT&T of attempting to obstruct its emergence from Chapter 11. Specifically:


MCI refuted the claim that national security has been compromised by routing government calls through Canada


MCI reiterated that least cost routing is an acceptable and legal industry practice santioned by the FCC and even used by AT&T


MCI stated that it routes only a small percentage of its traffic through Least Cost Routing companies, and only 0.5 percent of that traffic through Onvoy, yielding a savings to MCI of 0.02% of the company's total telecommunications expenses. MCI insists that the amount of money at issue in any such claim would be immaterial to plan of reorganization.

Separately, the U.S. bankruptcy court overseeing its case approved MCI's settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement calls for a civil penalty to the company of $2.25 billion to be satisfied by a $500 million cash payment and $250 million in common stock to shareholders and bondholders upon emergence from Chapter 11 protection.
http://www.mci.com

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Founder of MP3.com Launches SIPhone Promising Free Services

Michael Robertson, the founder and former CEO of MP3.com and current CEO of Lindows.com, launched a new company promising a free, worldwide SIP phone service. SIPphone plans to sell a SIP phone that would use a broadband Internet connection to automatically connect with the company's SIPhone directory. The company will assign a unique SIP number formatted to the standard numbering convention of a 3-digit area code (747) and a 7-digit phone number such as 555-1212. Users would be able to talk for free for as long as they like with other any other SIP user worldwide. SIP phone users are limited to calling other SIP numbers. A pair of SIP phones is priced at $129.
http://www.sipphone.com

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SBC to Deploy more than 20,000 Wi-Fi Hotspots

SBC plans to deploy more than 20,000 Wi-Fi wireless LAN hot spots in 6,000 venues over the next three years and create an integrated Wi-Fi and 3G service. The new Wi-Fi service will be marketed as "FreedomLink" throughout the SBC 13-state region. Where possible, SBC intends to use its public telephone infrastructure to establish access points and to use SBC DSL or T1 service as the backhaul. About 1,000 Wi-Fi hot spots are expected to be online in several hundred venues by year-end, more than 9,000 hot spots in 2,000 venues by the end of 2004 and more than 20,000 hot spots in 6,000
venues by the end of 2006.


Initially, the FreedomLink service will be offered to customers on a transactional basis with a one-time fee for daily sessions. SBC intends to offer deeply discounted pricing for customers who combine FreedomLink with other SBC services and packages, including SBC Yahoo! DSL and SBC Total Connections, the company's flagship bundle, which includes local, wireless, DSL and long distance (where available) service. SBC also intends to leverage its ownership interest in Cingular Wireless to build a seamless Wi-Fi + 3G service by late 2004 or early 2005. Cingular is currently deploying Enhanced Datarate for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology.


SBC has also entered into a roaming agreement with Wayport, giving it access to 650 locations across the U.S. Wayport will also provide services that include Wayport's access control and customized SBC splash pages. To give subscribers access to additional hot spots, SBC companies will also pursue roaming agreements with other Wi-Fi service providers.
http://www.sbc.com
http://www.ipass.com

• Wayport has now signed deals with SBC, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, McDonalds, MCI, AT&T Wireless, Boingo, iPass and GRIC.

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Cisco's Linksys Group Prices 5-port Unmanaged Gig Switch at $199

Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, introduced a new family of compact desktop and rack mount unmanaged gigabit switches. Estimated street pricing for a 5-port, unmanaged 10/100/1000 switch is $199, an 8-port version is $279, a 16-port version is $959 and a 24-port, rack-mountable version with 2 mini GBIC uplinks is $1499.
http://www.linksys.com

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LightSand Raises $7 Million, Acquires SANcastle

LightSand, a start-up based in Milpitas, California, raised $7 million in new funding to support its high-end Fibre-Channel over SONET, DWDM or direct fiber gateway products. The new funds will also be used for the acquisition of SANcastle Technologies, another start-up offering FCIP gateways and inter-fabric switch (AR/DAT) technology. SANcastle products and employees will be integrated into LightSand, which is headquartered in Milpitas, California. The Company will retain the LightSand name and will be headed by Philip Black, LightSand's current CEO. Investors in this round include Baring Equity Partners Asia, Concord Venture Partners, Fremont Ventures and Genesis Partners Group. SANcastle was based in Irving, Texas with R&D in Israel.
http://www.lightsand.com
http://www.sancastle.com

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IP Infusion Unveils Enhanced Layer 2 Software Suite

IP Infusion released a new version of its ZebOS Advanced Routing Suite (ARS) featuring Layer 2 switching protocols and an interface mapper solution that enables communication between IP Infusion's Network Processor API and the Intel CP-PDK software toolkit. Layer 2 support now includes Ethernet bridging, Spanning Tree, and VLAN software.
http://www.ipinfusion.com

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Telecom New Zealand Migrates International Voice to AAL2 ATM

Telecom New Zealand has completed the second stage of a migration from a circuit switched to a packet voice network. Telecom New Zealand is now carrying live international voice traffic using Alcatel's A2G (AAL2 Gateway) Card in conjunction with the Alcatel 7670 RSP. The new AAL2 ATM voice card provides advanced voice processing capabilities, enabling Telecom New Zealand to optimize its bandwidth use of the Southern Cross undersea cable to the US mainland. The Alcatel A2G card offers an STM1/OC3 optical interface and supports 2,000 calls with voice compression, silence suppression and echo cancellation.
http://www.alcatel.com

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AT&T Fires Back at MCI/WorldCom Regarding Fraud Charges

AT&T fired back at MCI/WorldCom regarding the ongoing saga of call-termination fraud and MCI's pending emergence from bankruptcy protection. In a public statement and in a filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court, AT&T said the that MCI/WorldCom's response of Monday, 04-Aug-03, purposely avoided addressing the charge that AT&T had been duped into paying termination fees that should have been paid by WorldCom. While acknowledging that least cost routing is the common practice of shopping for the lowest access charge available from the terminating carrier, AT&T alleges that MCI deceptively caused it (AT&T) to pay that terminating access charge. "We're talking about the difference between shopping for bargains and shopping with somebody else's credit card. The latter is clearly a crime that people can go to jail for," said AT&T Chief Counsel James Cicconi.


AT&T's filing today also cited additional instances of domestic U.S. Government telephone calls that were routed through Canada for completion, including calls for the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.


Further, the AT&T filing included examples of in-state calls between the Wisconsin district offices of U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisconsin.). AT&T alleges that these offices are pre-subscribed to MCI/WorldCom for long-distance calling, but calls between the offices were routed over AT&T's network after being diverted through Canada.


Elsewhere in its filing, AT&T outlined the elaborate steps taken by MCI/WorldCom to disguise the fraud.
http://www.att.com

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General DataComm Receives Court Approval to Emerge from Bankruptcy

A U.S. bankruptcy court confirmed General DataComm's Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, enabling the company to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of the month. Creditors will receive payment of 100% of their claims over a five-year period, and shareholders will retain their shares subject to a one-for-ten reverse stock split.
http://www.gdc.com

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FCC Launches Broadband Initiative for Rural America

The FCC launched a sixteen-month effort to inform consumers about the policies, rules and federal programs available to improve access to telecommunications services in rural areas of the U.S., especially tribal lands, Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta. The first step is to build support and awareness for the federal Universal Service Lifeline program, which provide discounts for local phone service to eligible low-income consumers, and Link-Up, which provides discounts for low-income consumers for phone line installation. The FCC further hopes to stimulate the deployment of broadband and digital TV services in rural America. The Commission is launching a proceeding to establish policies for the transition to digital television for low-power TV, TV translators and TV booster stations. The FCC will also convene a Rural Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) Showcase and Workshop to take place 17-September-2003 in Washington, D.C.


Approximately one-fifth (20%) of the nation's population lives in rural areas.
http://www.fcc.gov

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