RealNetworks' RHAPSODY Streams 500,000 Songs per Day

RealNetworks' RHAPSODY subscription services is streaming an average of 500,000 songs per day to its customers. The company streamed more than 16 million on-demand songs to RHAPSODY subscribers in August. Customers pay a flat fee for unlimited access to a library of more than 25,000 albums of music. http://www.realnetworks....

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Comcast Considers All-Digital Migration, Plans to Boost Cable Modem Speeds

With upgrades to its physical cable plant nearly complete, Comcast is contemplating its next big upgrade: the leap to an all digital network. Speaking at the at the Morgan Stanley Global Media & Communications Conference in Boston, Steve Burke, president of Comcast's cable division, said that about 50% of the bandwidth in its network is consumed by broadcasting about 80 analog channels. If all analog customers were converted to digital, this bandwidth could be used for the equivalent of about 500 more digital channels. The liberated bandwidth...

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Redback Boosts SMS Performance 2-3X with Upgrade Board

Redback Networks introduced a new XFE Forwarding Engine module that boosts the performance of its SMS 1800 and 1000 platform by 2 to 3 times. The Redback SMS 1800 and 1000 are widely deployed across the industry for managing DSL broadband subscribers, including by eight of the top ten DSL providers worldwide. Redback's new XFE Forwarding Engine module, which can be installed into the forwarding engine slot of the SMS 1800 system, leverages high performance network processors from Broadcom, as compared to the generic PowerPC processors in use since...

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Spirent to Develop Remote Network Testing for Alcatel ASAM

Spirent Communications will integrated its remote test capabilities into the widely-deployed Alcatel 7300/7301 Advanced Services Access Manager (ASAM). A remote test probe in combination with Operations Support System (OSS) software allows service providers to carry out remote tests to determine the nature and location of a customer's service problem. As part of the development, Alcatel is providing an interface to its 7300/7301ASAM, while Spirent is producing test hardware that conducts the actual circuit testing. This hardware -- in the form...

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TI Debuts Multi-service ADSL Chipset for CO Equipment

Texas Instruments introduced a new 16-port, multi-service ADSL central office (CO) chipset for both new and legacy ADSL standards. The two-chip "AC7" implementation, which represents TI's seventh-generation CO solution, enables multi-service and multi-standard support of ADSL, including legacy protocols, as well as ADSL2 and ADSL2plus. Included among the features in AC7 are support of reach- extended ADSL2 (G.992.3 Annex L), enhanced-upstream operation enabling upstream bit rates over POTS as high as 3.5 Mbps (G.992.3 Annex J and G.992.5 Annexes...

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ECI Unveils its Next Generation Multiservice Access Gateway

ECI Telecom introduced Hi-FOCuS 4, its next-generation multiservice access gateway platform for use in all types of broadband networks, including DSL and FTTx. The platform provides very high port density of 960 lines per shelf and 3,840 lines per rack and can be deployed with optional functionality of multi-direction test access and line card redundancy. Furthermore, Hi-FOCuS 4 features a unique non-blocking backplane architecture that supports more than 20,000 simultaneous users with an aggregated capacity of more than 500 Gbps and with multiple...

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Rogers AT&T Wireless To Deploy Telica's Wireless Gateway

Rogers AT&T Wireless, which serves more than 3.8 million wireless customers across Canada, has selected the Telica Plexus 9000 Gateway Mobile Switching Center (MSC) for deployment starting this quarter. Telica's Plexus 9000 is a carrier-grade switch that includes all the elements of a softswitch-based solution, media gateway, media gateway controller and signaling gateway, to provide Class 4/5 switching for wireline and wireless networks. Rogers AT&T Wireless will use the Plexus 9000 Gateway MSCs to achieve greater efficiency in traffic...

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Springboard Telecom Selects Occam's BLC

Springboard Telecom, a competitive communications provider based in North Carolina, has selected Occam Networks' Broadband Loop Carrier (BLC) platform to provide voice and high-speed data services to residential and business subscribers. The BLC system will be deployed initially to deliver service to a new urban development in Charlotte, N.C. called "The Town of Ayrsley." The new development includes a closed fiber optic network, which ultimately will enable fiber to the premises for every customer in the 140-acre community. Financial terms were...

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Jungo Raises $5.5 Million for Residential Gateway Software

Jungo Software Technologies, a start-up based in San Jose, California, with R&D in Israel, secured $5.5 million in a third round of funding for its residential gateway software. Jungo develops OpenRG), a software suite that enables broadband access device manufacturers to add home networking applications and managed broadband services to cable and DSL modems, residential and small office/home office (SOHO) gateways, wireless access points, and integrated access devices (IAD). OpenRG includes an optimized Linux-based operating system, optional...

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Cisco Adds Fibre Channel to its ONS 15454 MSPP

Cisco Systems announced the ability to deliver Fibre Channel-based storage-area-network (SAN)-extension services over SONET/SDH using its Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP). A new SL-Series interface for the Cisco ONS 15454 supports four gigabit-interface-converter (GBIC)-based ports, each capable of 1- and 2-Gbps Fibre Channel at line rates. This provides the Cisco ONS 15454 with a potential density of 40 Fibre Channel interfaces. A Cisco ONS 15454-based service network can use the Cisco ML-Series and SL-Series interfaces...

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NFOEC: Meriton Networks Unveils its Metro Services Network

Meriton Networks, a start-up based in Ottawa, Canada, unveiled a managed, access- to-regional, high-speed metro (HSM) services architecture based on a new transparent optical multiplexing device for the access network. This new device, the Meriton 3300 OSU (Optical Services Unit), collects and aggregates traffic at the customer premise or the carrier's point of presence. The traffic is then carried over wavelengths to the metro core by the Meriton 7200 OADX (Optical Add/Drop Switch). The platform serves as the metro transport, including all...

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Mahi Names New Customer for its Metro Core Aggregation System

Buckeye TeleSystem, a facilities-based carrier located in Toledo, Ohio, has deployed Mahi Networks' Mi7 MCAS platform to aggregate and switch multiple SONET rings for its hub switching facilities. For the initial application, Buckeye has cutover existing service from several SONET facilities that serve a large local institution with more than 70 sites, and has aggregated the associated rings onto the Mi7. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.mahinetworks....

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UTStarcom's PAS Subscribers in China Top 15 Million

During August, more than 1.5 million new subscribers in China were added to networks served by UTStarcom's city-wide Personal Access System (PAS). The total PAS customer base in China has now exceeded the 15 million mark. In the first half of 2003, PAS accounted for over 40% of all the fixed-line subscriber additions in all of China. http://www.utstar....

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NFOEC: Nortel Networks Extends Reach of Metro DWDM

At this week's NFOEC (National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference) 2003 in Orlando, Florida, Nortel Networks is unveiling plans to extend the reach of its metro DWDM platforms. In the first phase, scheduled for availability in Q4 2003, Nortel Networks OPTera Metro 5200 Multiservice Platform will extend the reach of metro DWDM networks to as much as 350 kilometers over 2.5 Gbps channels and 110 kilometers over 10 Gbps without dispersion compensation. The second phase enhancement, scheduled for availability in the Q1 2004, will extend this reach to...

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Bell Canada Outlines Plan for Packet Telephony Services

Bell Canada plans to invest CDN$200 million (approximately US$146 million) over three years in Nortel Networks' IP and multimedia messaging platforms to provide new services to its large enterprise customers. Bell Canada is pursuing a "One Network" approach to the development and delivery of services," said Michael Sabia, Chief Executive Officer of BCE and Bell Canada, based on an "evolutionary" strategy as opposed to a totally new network implementation. However in western Canada, the approach may be more as a greenfield deployment.Bell Canada...

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NFOEC: OFS and Alloptic Extend EPON Reach to 16km

OFS and Alloptic are demonstrating a Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) solution with a reach of 16 km, about 60% further than conventional EPON solutions. The demonstration, which combines voice, video, and data in a triple play service, consists of Alloptic EdgeGEAR 2000 Chassis connected to Alloptic HomeGEAR Ultra over 16 km of the Access ADVANTAGE cabling system. OFS said that optical power is conserved due to the zero water peak characteristics of its AllWave Fiber cable used in conjunction with its low loss...

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Broadcom Ships Single-Chip Wi-Fi Solution

Broadcom began shipping a single-chip, all CMOS Wi-Fi solution designed for pocketsize electronic devices, including PDAs, cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and other portable devices. The new chip, which is described as the "size of a postage stamp" integrates a 2.4 GHz radio, power amplifier, IEEE 802.11b baseband processor, medium access controller (MAC), Tx/Rx and diversity switches and all other radio components onto a single silicon die. The power management of its new chip consumes an average of 70-97% less power than existing solutions....

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