Movielink 2.0 Aims for Broadband VOD

Movielink, a joint venture of major Hollywood studios, released a new version of its on-demand system for downloading films. Movielink 2.0 enables users with broadband connections to begin viewing the film within two to 10 minutes from the start of the download. The download process is not interrupted and continues while a customer is watching the film. A number of other user enhancements are also provided in Movielink 2.0


Movielink also announced that it will now offer Disney films. With the addition of the Disney titles (including films from Buena Vista, Touchstone and Miramax), Movielink's online library will grow to 450 titles by October. Movielink is planning a national advertising campaign to promote the service.
http://www.movielink.com

• In August 2003, BellSouth announced plans to launch a customized version of Movielink's online movie rental service to its DSL customers. BellSouth broadband users will have a special Movielink site designed for them. Movies on the service currently range between $2.95 and $4.99 for a 24-hour viewing period.



• Movielink is a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios.

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Netopia Launches Turnkey "Hotspot-In-A-Box''

Netopia introduced its "hotspot-in-a-box" WiFi-certified ADSL or Ethernet gateway that is pre-configured for public or private Wi-Fi services. Netopia's gateways are coupled with a Web-based transactional back-end system that provides real time credit card processing designed to be interoperable with all major authentication and billing service providers. Additionally, Netopia's hotspot solution provides Web-based user authentication and session metering with enhanced firewall security that can separate business employees from public users on the LAN.
http://www.netopia.com

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White Rock Adds Widely Tunable Optics to ADM

White Rock Networks introduced widely tunable, DWDM, ITU-grid OC-192 optics support to its OC-48/192 SONET product family. The single OC-192 ITU-optics card is tunable across the full C-band at 50 GHz wavelength spacing as defined in ITU G.692 and are available in both Long Reach and Ultra Long Reach versions. Wavelengths can be software provisioned while the White Rock ADM is in or out of service via its graphical user interfaces, or via TL-1.
http://www.whiterock.com

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Cardiff University Plans 40 Gbps Campus Backbone

Cardiff University, a major university in the United Kingdom, has deployed Foundry Networks' 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) for its campus backbone. Later this year, Cardiff expects to be one of the first UK organizations to deploy Foundry's new 40-Gigabit-ready BigIron MG8 switching and routing system.
The Foundry network will provide connections for up to 20,000 users at the University's main campus and for 5,000 users at the University of Wales College of Medicine, which is located nearby. Pervasive Networks serves as integrator for the project. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.foundrynetworks.com

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Looking Glass Supplies Fiber to Verizon in 3 Cities

Verizon Global Networks selected Looking Glass Networks to provide dark fiber for locations in Atlanta, Chicago and Seattle. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.lglass.net

• Looking Glass currently provides fiber connectivity to more than 350 buildings in twelve U.S. markets.

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Linksys Debuts New Wi-Fi Enable Video Camera

Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, introduced a new Wireless-B Internet Video Camera that contains its own IP address. The camera uses MPEG-4 video compression to produce live, high-quality video with 320x240 resolution. Advanced features include sending email notifications when motion is detected, and recording images with date and time stamps. The estimated street price is $229.


Linksys is offering an optional Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS) Service to make its wireless home products easier and friendlier to access for users whose ISP assign them dynamic IP addresses. The DDNS service keeps track of the IP address of the camera, even when it changes, with an easy to remember web address the customer selects so the camera's video stream can be found quickly using any Web browser worldwide. The price of the SoloLink service starts at $19.99 for a 1-year subscription.
http://www.linksys.com

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Harmonic Introduces 3rd Gen Narrowcast Gateway

Harmonic introduced its third generation Narrowcast Services Gateway (NSG) smart edge video-on-demand (VOD) delivery solution for cable operators. Harmonic's new NSG 9000 series delivers a broad range of narrowcast services--from Everything-on-Demand to HDTV and switched broadcast. The platform is available as a single rack-unit with options for 8, 12 and 16 output QAM channels. Harmonic's NSG incorporates capabilities such as multiplexing and routing, program filtering, conditional access scrambling supporting session-based encryption, systems cascading and redundancy. The new NSG 9000 series supports standard definition as well as high definition video in all the various formats. Harmonic said its narrowcast EdgeQAM devices have been deployed in virtually all of the commercially launched VOD networks.
http://www.harmonicinc.com

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McLeodUSA Expands Bundle with AT&T Wireless

McLeodUSA will expand its portfolio of CLEC services across 25 states through a multi-year wholesale agreement with AT&T Wireless Services. McLeodUSA said the addition of wireless services is another key element of its strategic plan to design and deliver value-added business services to its customers in one bundled offering.
http://www.mcleodusa.com

• As of 30-June-2003, McLeodUSA's network included 38 ATM switches, 45 voice switches, 584 collocations and 435 DSLAMs. It has 3,710 employees.


In April 2002, Forstmann Little & Co. became a 58% shareholder in McLeodUSA.

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Korea's DACOM Selects Laurel's Service Edge Router

Dacom, one of South Korea's leading wireline and broadband service providers, selected Laurel Networks' ST200 Service Edge Router to deliver scalable, QoS-enabled Layer 2 and IP VPN services from the edge of its network. DACOM will use the equipment to extend its ATM service across its metropolitan Ethernet access network. DACOM is also using the Laurel edge router to introduce next-generation Ethernet services delivered with QoS. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.laurelnetworks.com

• In August 2003, Lucent Technologies announced a contract to supply optical networking systems to expand DACOM's DWDM backbone network and also to build out a storage DWDM network for DACOM's customer, Korea's Supreme Court. The contract covers Lucent's Metropolis Enhanced Optical Networking (EON), a 32-channel DWDM metro optical system, in three metropolitan areas of Seoul, Inchon and Daejeon as well as major cities in Gangwon province.

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LambdaNet Adds 70 Corporate and Carrier Customers

LambdaNet Communications, which operates a European fiber network, added 70 new corporate and carrier customers to its IP and backbone network between January and July 2003. LambdaNet now claims 300 customers, including Completel, Easynet, Equant, MGN, Telefonica Deutschland GmbH and Vodafone D2. LambdaNet operates Metro Area Networks (MANs) in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasburg, Lyon, Madrid, Vienna, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Munich, Hamburg and Copenhagen. It is also extending the network to Geneva and Prague.
http://www.lambdanet.net

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Lumera Develops Smart Antennas for Wi-Fi and Wi-Max

Lumera, a majority owned subsidiary of Microvision, demonstrated a smart antenna design that uses proprietary patch array technology to form single beam or multi-beam disbursement patterns. The company said it has also made major advances in the design of proprietary polymer-based radio frequency (RF) phase shifters that significantly reduce power consumption for smart antennas. The Lumera designs use readily available printed circuit board technology. The smart antenna technology could be used in 802.11b and "Wi-Max" 802.16 applications.
http://www.lumera.com

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Optical Solutions Raises $15 million for FTTH

Optical Solutions, a start-up based in Minneapolis, raised $15 million in third round funding for its fiber-optic broadband platforms. Existing investors that participated in the round included Sprout Group, St. Paul Venture Capital, Boston Millennia Partners, Coral Ventures, Intel Capital, and Menlo Ventures. Cisco Systems also joined the Series III financing as a new corporate investor.
http://www.opticalsolutions.com

• In August 2003, Optical Solutions introduced a new FiberPath 500 fiber to the premises (FTTP) system that uses either BPON (ITU G.983, 622 Mbps downstream/155 Mbps upstream) or GPON (ITU G.984, 1.2 Gbps downstream/622 Mbps upstream) standards. The network protocol is software selectable.



• Optical Solutions' FiberPath 500 architecture is based on a central office (CO) FiberDrive Optical Line Terminal (OLT), and features an integrated GR-303/TR-08 voice gateway for interface directly to all the commonly deployed Class 5 switches. The FiberDrive OLT has an aggregate capacity exceeding 9 Gbps. A passive optical network (PON) is used to drive the FiberPoint Optical Network Terminal (ONT) unit installed at the subscriber's residence or business.



• Optical Solutions is offering five different versions of its customer premise device, the FiberPath 500 ONT. The line-up offers a choice of either two or four POTS lines, one 10/100 BaseT port and 1 CATV port. All models support switched digital video services, while two of the models support RF video overlay services. Using a standard FSAN single-fiber network design, the FiberPath 500 fully supports RF video deployments including those with RF return set top boxes. RF performance exceeds 48 dB carrier-to-noise ratio at 20 kilometers/12 miles on a fully loaded PON.



• A business version of the FiberPoint ONT provides 20 POTS lines, 4 10/100 BaseT Ethernet, 8 T1s and 4 CATV ports. All ONT models are powered by 120 volt, 60 Hz AC power via an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). They also provide battery backup for 8 hours after disruption of local AC power. Battery charge and end-of-life are monitored and reported through the FiberPoint ONT to the management system.

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Comcast and Motorola Team on Cable Modem Consumer Promotion

Motorola Broadband Communications Sector and Comcast are launching a nationwide sweepstakes promoted through television, print, radio and Web advertising aimed at demonstrating the companies' commitment to developing advanced broadband solutions for the home. Motorola is a key supplier of cable modems to Comcast. The new marketing campaign leverages Motorola's existing sponsorship relationship with the National Football League (NFL).
http://www.motorola.com

• Comcast is currently deploying Motorola's SB5100 and SB5120 cable modems, which are DOCSIS 2.0 certified and backward compatible with DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1.

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Verizon Wireless Selects Nortel Networks for US$1 Billion Contract

Verizon Wireless, the leading mobile operator in the U.S. with 34.6 million customers, awarded a multi-year contract to Nortel Networks worth an estimated $1 billion for expansion and upgrade equipment of its nationwide network. Under this new agreement, Verizon Wireless plans to deploy CDMA2000 1X radio base stations, switching, Passport IP platforms, and other related equipment from Nortel Networks in key markets including San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Detroit, Atlanta and Cleveland. The agreement also includes a new market build-out and deployment of CDMA2000 1X technology in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.


Nortel Networks said its solutions would also be used by Verizon Wireless to offer Wi-Fi (802.11b) service, providing connections between the Verizon WAN and hot spots across the country.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com

• Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless selected Nortel Networks to provide CDMA2000 1X infrastructure in Georgia and Alabama.

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Cox Selects Terawave's PONs for Business Services

Cox Communications has selected Terawave Communications as a vendor for their passive optical network (PON) deployments. Cox plans to use Terawave in addition to its other solutions to expand the footprint where Transparent LAN service, Virtual Private Networks, and traditional DS1 and DS3 services are available. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.terawave.com

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Lockheed Martin Selects Partners for Next Generation GPS

Lockheed Martin selected Raytheon, ITT, and General Dynamics as its strategic partner to help develop the U.S. Air Force's next generation Global Positioning Satellite system. The GPS III platform will feature advanced anti-jam capabilities, improved system security and accuracy, and reliability. It also aims to set a new world standard for positioning and timing services.


Lockheed Martin had previously announced Spectrum Astro as a key partner on the program.
http://www.lockheedmartin.com

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Qwest's UNE-P Line Losses Continue, DSL Weak

Qwest Communications reported Q2 revenue of $3.6 billion, down about 0.8% percent from Q1 primarily due to competitive pressures in local voice services. These losses were partially offset by continued growth in long-distance and data services. There was a net loss of $91 million or $0.05 per share. Some highlights from the quarter:

• Access lines declined 1.4%, excluding the impact of services reduced as part of the WorldCom bankruptcy. Total access lines declined 2.3% in the second quarter, primarily because of increased competitive activity and seasonal trends. Unbundled Network Element-Platform lines in service increased to 675,000 and represent approximately 4.1% of total access lines.



• Qwest noted increased UNE-P activity from MCI and AT&T in selected markets. Richard C. Notebaert, Qwest's CEO, said these losses are still "way too high" and that Qwest was "late to market in introducing all-you-can-eat bundles of local + long distance service."



• Total access lines at the end of Q2 were 16,504,000, compared to 16,740,000 at the end of Q1. The Q1 total was adjusted to reflect the loss of 145,000 lines due to the WorldCom bankruptcy.



• DSL subscription figures were not disclosed but Notebaert described the numbers as "pretty dismal." Qwest has re-negotiated its partnership with MSN. On 06-August-03 new pricing for DSL bundles were introduced and since then the daily DSL activation rate has increased.



• During Q2, Qwest added 590,000 long distance voice access lines in its local service area. In 2003, Qwest has signed up 1.12 million access lines for long-distance service.



• Qwest continued to build out its service bundle through a wireless wholesale agreement with Sprint PCS and through video sales agreements with EchoStar Communications and DIRECTV.



• There was "increased stability" in Qwest's wholesale division in the quarter.



• CAPEX in the quarter was $490 million.

http://www.qwest.com

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Cox Expands Use of MetaSolv's Network Resource Management

Cox Communications, the fourth-largest U.S. cable company, has extended its use of MetaSolv's network resource management solution to include its fiber network. Cox Business Services, the company's commercial broadband division, is using MetaSolv to provision and manage its portfolio of commercial voice and data services including Optical Internet and Transparent LANs. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.metasolv.com

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