Marconi Introduces Next-Gen Multihaul WDM

Marconi introduced a new, scalable, WDM transmission platform that could serve metro, long-haul and ultra-long haul distances of up to 4,000 km. The Marconi "SmartPhotoniX Multihaul" platform leverages Marconi's SmartPhotoniX transmission technology, which uses dispersion-managed solutions. Marconi said the basic philosophy behind its new platform is to provide modular and flexible architecture with "plug and play" features that reduce the time taken to provision new services, such as lighting up additional wavelengths to satisfy bandwidth demand. Channel upgrades are carried out by inserting the appropriate transponders at the terminal nodes, without the need for manual intervention or re-configuration. The SmartPhotoniX Multihaul also integrates Marconi's SDH optical transmission expertise and includes optical bypass technologies for traffic passing straight through a node, eliminating the need for costly signal regeneration. The new multihaul platform has also been developed to inter-work seamlessly with Marconi's MSH2K optical Switch.
http://www.marconi.com

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Agilent Offers VoIP Service Assurance for SIP Push-to-Talk

Agilent Technologies announced an OSS analysis system for monitoring the voice quality of wireless SIP-based push-to-talk (PTT) services. Push-to-talk enables wireless users to connect in a "walkie-talkie" mode with other individuals or with groups of mobile phone users at the push of a button. There is increasing interest in using SIP to establish and maintain the connection between PTT-enabled handsets. The new Agilent OSS NgN Analysis System enables VoIP service providers to monitor, troubleshoot and identify call quality and failure issues over such connections. Packet protocols supported by NgN Analysis System include SIP, MGCP, H.323, NCS, TGCP, IPDC, SS7 and RADIUS, as well as leading proprietary protocols such as Q.931/RUDP.
http://www.agilent.com.

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SureWest Selects Allied Telesyn for FTTH

SureWest Communications has agreed to purchase 5,000 of Allied Telesyn's Broadband Residential Gateways and single fiber media converters for its FTTH deployment in the Sacramento, California area. Allied Telesyn's residential gateway distributes traditional voice and multiple IP-based services throughout a home, including broadband Internet access, VoIP, broadcast television, and video on demand. The gateway features two analog phone ports, three 10/100 Ethernet LAN ports, and supports IGMP for secure and efficient multicast video.
http://www.alliedtelesyn.com
http://www.surewest.com

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Shaw Cablesystems Calls on Canadian Regulator to Stop Below Cost DSL

Shaw Cablesystems, Canada's second largest cable and Internet service provider, filed a petition asking the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to order a stop to anti-competitive pricing of DSL. Shaw is especially concerned about aggressive DSL promotional packages from Telus in Alberta and British Columbia. Shaw contends that Telus' "predatory pricing practices" could significantly reduce competition in the Internet access market in western Canada. Shaw specifically asks the CRTC to forbid Telus from offering Internet promotional pricing at below-cost rates for periods in excess of three months. It also asks that the CRTC prevent Telus from offering competitive service bundles that include local telephone service in contravention of CRTC regulations.


In its filing, Shaw noted the following comparison:

• Shaw charges a regular retail rate of $42.95 (Canadian) for its high-speed Internet service, including the lease of a cable modem. Customers who own a cable modem are charged $37.95 per month



• The regular retail rate of Telus high-speed Internet service is $42.95 (Canadian), or 37.95 per month when the customer owns a DSL modem. The price is further reduced by $3 per month if the customer also subscribes to Telus Long Distance service.



• Since May 2003, Telus has been offering DSL promotional packages as low as $16.95 per month for six months, followed by a rate of $24.95 per month thereafter.



• Telus has over 95% of the local residential phone market in Alberta and British Columbia.

http://www.shaw.ca

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Data Connection Marks its 22nd Year of Profitability

Data Connection, a privately-held developer of networking software, and its MetaSwitch subsidiary, announced record earnings were $12 million on record revenues of $40 million for its fiscal year ended 30-Aug-03. This marks the 22nd straight year of profitability for Data Connection. The company noted increases in performance from all three of its divisions.

• The Internet Application Group (IAG) enjoyed strong continuing success with its web-conferencing solution, MeetingServer, and its carrier-class unified communications suite. Customers include British Telecom, COLT, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, SBC, SUN, Documentum and Spectel.



• The Network Protocols Group (NPG) reinforced its position as a supplier of portable protocol software, with customers including Alcatel, Lucent, Nortel, Siemens, Cisco, IBM, CIENA and NEC. Its suite of IP routing protocols, including OSPF, ISIS and BGP, has been gaining market share and is being enhanced with IPv6 and multicast functionality. SIP software is a second area of major customer and revenue growth, in addition to the group's established products - ATM, MPLS (packet and optical), MGCP and Megaco/H.248.



• MetaSwitch, which supplies the VP3500 Next Generation Class 5 Switch, now has more than 30 deployments in North America and Europe, including with ILECs, CLECs, IOCs and cable/MSOs.

http://www.dataconnection.com

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Nortel Networks Enhances Optical Ethernet Portfolio

Nortel Networks unveiled significant enhancements to its Optical Ethernet portfolio, including new features on the Ethernet over Fiber solution. Nortel Networks estimates that in the long term Ethernet over Fiber (EoF) will allow service providers to lower access costs by 35-50% compared to traditional Frame Relay and ATM solutions. EoF, which is based on the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard, can span distances of up to 70km. Nortel Networks said its newest EoF innovation, called the Logical Provider Edge, leverages the benefits of MPLS with the additional benefits of greater scalability and dramatically fewer Label Switch Paths in the core.


The Optical Ethernet rollout also includes two new products: the Metro Ethernet Services Unit 1800 and Metro Ethernet Services Module 8668 for the Passport 8600 Routing Switch. The two new products could be used to enable a ring-based, switched Ethernet network with 50 milli-second resiliency. Such an Ethernet ring could be used to aggregate customer traffic with cost-effective Ethernet switches. Additionally, the Metro Ethernet Services Module 8668 will work with stacked VLAN implementations.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com/solutions/opt_ethernet/fib/

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Nortel Networks Introduces Media Application Server

Nortel Networks introduced a Media Application Server for delivering customized packet telephony applications that incorporate speech recognition, text-to-speech, and DTMF detection and other processing-intensive capabilities. Nortel Networks will implement enhanced media processing capabilities in software rather than hardware. The new Media Application Server, which will work with Nortel Networks Multimedia Communication Server 5100 and 5200, will support open interfaces -- such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and VoiceXML (VXML). By the second half of 2004, Media Application Server will also support multiple scripting engines for third party development, including Application Development Toolset (ADT), VoiceXML 2.0, CCXML, and SALT.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com

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SnowShore Debuts Software Media Server

SnowShore Networks introduced a Software Media Server designed for advanced SIP and VXML services. The 1U appliance, which is driven by dual Intel Xeon processors and a Linux OS, is a multi-function media processing platform that supports multiple SIP, MSCML and VXML services including announcements, IVR, unified messaging, and conferencing services. The media server features an entry-level 25-port capacity that can scale up to 250 ports in 25 port increments. It is capable of supporting multiple applications simultaneously or could be dedicated to a single customer application.
http://www.snowshore.com

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Telica Unveils PLUS, its Second-Generation Softswitch Architecture

Telica unveiled its new PLexus Unified Service Architecture (PLUS), a second generation, carrier-grade softswitch supporting a mix of legacy TDM, packet, Class 4, Class 5, wireline and wireless services. Telica said scalability to process an increasing number of packets and signaling messages was a chief design requirement of the second generation platform. Its new PLUS architecture, which leverages is existing Plexus 9000 platform, consists of a Media Gateway, a Media Gateway Controller, a Signaling Gateway and a related management suite. New Compute Modules have been added to the design of the Media Gateway Controller. Each module delivers processing power that is equivalent to an entire first-generation softswitch platform. A single PLUS second-generation softswitch now supports up to 7.5 million calls per hour, the equivalent of five to 10 legacy switches. The PLUS architecture also is designed to interoperate with other softswitches provided by other suppliers via either SIP-T or BICC protocols. Commercial availability is expected in Q4.
http://www.telica.com

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Level 3 Introduces VoIP MARKETPLACE

Level 3 Communications introduced a new (3)VoIP MARKETPLACE service targeted at call center operators, voice portals, and conferencing providers. The service allows customers to establish a local presence on the PSTN and receive locally dialed calls. Calls can be placed into the network via
Level 3-assigned or customer-ported local telephone numbers. Level 3's softswitch platform converts the calls to IP and routes them to Level 3's MPLS-enabled backbone for delivery to the customer's own IP voice application. Local VoIP-PSTN presence is provided in 73 markets across the U.S. The service also utilizes Level 3's extensive local networks.


Level 3 noted that its softswitch platform has successfully processed more than 300 billion minutes in calls to date.
http://www.level3.com/press/3938.html

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Vonage Activates 50,000th Broadband Phone Line

Vonage has activated its 50,000th broadband telephony line. The company said it is now adding more than 2,000 lines to its SIP-based network every week. The number of completed calls has topped the 60 million mark and call volumes continue to grow. Vonage believes it represents over half of all broadband telephone lines and calling activity in the U.S., based on a June 2003 report from Merrill Lynch.
http://www.vonage.com

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AT&T Announces New VoIP Capabilities for Large Enterprises

Beginning in 2004, AT&T will offer VoIP as an option on its managed Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, which runs over its MPLS backbone. AT&T said its corporate VoIP service would deliver the first global VoIP-specific and ITU standards-based service level guarantee for voice quality. To monitor call quality, customers could view online reports with the scored quality of each and every call placed. The VoIP service would also benefit from dynamic real-time bandwidth allocation and prioritization between voice and data traffic. The service will provide on-net calling nationwide and to more than 40 countries worldwide, with hop-off to many more.
http://www.att.com

• Earlier this month, David Dorman, AT&T Chairman and CEO, said his company was testing a "bring your own access" consumer VoIP service similar to the Vonage model. Dorman expects these trials will be expanded soon.

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Tut Systems and Teleste Partner on TV and VOD

Tut Systems and Teleste announced today a joint marketing and sales agreement to offer standards-based video solutions for FTTP/FTTH, Fiber to the Curb (FTTC), and hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks.
The joint system architecture, which is based on the global DVB-C open transmission standard for digital TV, optimizes the use of RF-based analog, RF-based digital, and IP-based digital TV channels over fiber and cable networks. The architecture is an extension of Tut Systems' IP TV over xDSL and Teleste's analog and digital product lines aimed at HFC environments. Under the partnership, Tut Systems will focus its marketing and sales efforts for this solution within North America and Teleste will focus its efforts on opportunities in Europe and the Middle East. The companies will take a joint approach to markets in Asia.


The joint Tut System + Teleste solution has already been deployed at Atlantic Telephone, a North Carolina telephone cooperative of over 35,000 members.


The companies are actively working with and openly inviting additional manufacturers of DVB digital set-top boxes, conditional access systems, and FTTH/HFC access systems to participate in this drive to leverage the open DVB-C standard.
http://www.tutsystems.com
http://www.teleste.com

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Telcordia Unveils "Elementive" Management Portfolio for IP, Optical and Wireless

In what it calls a pivotal shift for the telecommunications industry, Telcordia Technologies unveiled its "Elementive" portfolio for managing IP, optical and wireless networks. The open, configurable Elementive portfolio is based on industry standards including J2EE and TMF 513, and would let carriers implement modularized OSS/BSS components either from Telcordia or its partners. The Elementive Portfolio is comprised of three solution sets:

• the Telcordia Managed IP Portfolio, which allows carriers to optimize resources and lower costs, speed delivery of high-margin IP services, improve network performance and QoS, benefit from rapid service creation and better manage service level agreements (SLAs) and IP network services.



• the Telcordia Optical Management Portfolio, which allows carriers to centralize management of complex optical networks, accelerate integration of current and legacy systems, and gain new levels of control over their networks.



• the Telcordia Mobility Portfolio, which provides wireless carriers an opportunity to transform their networks' capabilities through an open framework, create an automated, low-cost business process environment and construct a platform for network and organizational growth.

Telcordia said its new business model would help carriers increase new enterprise service revenues while lowering their operating costs through the use of off-the-shelf OSS/BSS products. Carriers could choose just the open, modular solutions they require from existing Telcordia partners such as Atreus Systems, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Granite Systems, IBM, JacobsRimell, Micromuse and Openet. Telcordia also unveiled new solutions and OSS/BSS partners, including:


CoManage -- Telcordia and CoManage offer telecom carriers a solution to ensure seamless data integrity and accuracy across service activation, inventory management and network design functions.


ConceptWave -- Telcordia and ConceptWave Software are introducing ConceptWave Order Care into the Telcordia order automation solutions for order negotiation and management and exception management.


Dimension Data -- Telcordia and Dimension Data, jointly develop, market and deliver fully integrated operations management solutions that enable service providers to realize the maximum investment from their next generation networks on a global scale.


Sheer Networks -- Telcordia and Sheer deliver an integrated solution for managing ATM, DSL and IP-VPN services, incorporating Telcordia's Fault management and Inventory database link, together with the Sheer BOS auto-discovery component, which automatically feeds real-time network information to applications such as provisioning, fault, billing and asset management systems, while synchronizing off-line network inventory databases with live, accurate network information.
http://www.telcordia.com/elementive

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Cisco Authorizes Up to $7 Billion in Additional Stock Repurchases

Cisco Systems' board of directors authorized up to $7 billion in additional repurchases of its common stock with no termination date. The board had previously authorized up to $13 billion in stock repurchases. The company said it continues to evaluate the best uses for its cash.


As of July 26, 2003, the company had repurchased and retired 548 million shares of Cisco common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $7.8 billion since inception of the program, and the remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases under the program was $5.2 billion.
http://www.cisco.com

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Lucent Gets Court Approval for Shareholder Settlement

Lucent Technologies received preliminary court approval of its agreement to settle pending shareowner and related litigation against the company, its current and former officers and directors, and certain other defendants. The deal was first announced on 27-March-2003.
http://www.lucent.com

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Verizon Introduces BroadRoute Service for PBXs

Verizon Communications began offering s new "BroadRoute" service for small and medium-sized businesses with ISDN PRI-compatible PBXs. Verizon BroadRoute works by connecting the businesses' LAN and PBX equipment to a Verizon-provided PBX/IP converter. The converter, in turn, connects to the Verizon network via a dedicated T-1 line. The BroadRoute service enables customers to remotely route incoming calls to alternate destinations. In addition, Verizon provides round-the-clock, toll-free technical assistance, extended bandwidth and additional Internet services.


Verizon also has been offering a "BroadFlex" service to small and medium-sized businesses as an alternative to traditional PBX and Centrex services. It provides Web-based features to manage the telephone service, including adding, moving or eliminating lines and calling features. Verizon has been offering "BroadFlex" in Chicago for about a year.
http://www.verizon.com

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Verizon Cuts Estimates for Second Half of the Year

Citing soft demand for business voice services, ongoing consumer landline services technology substitution, and adverse state and federal regulatory rulings, Verizon Communications cut its financial outlook for the rest of the year. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) before special items are now expected to be in the range of $2.56 to $2.60, down from earlier estimates of $2.70 to $2.80. Comparable revenue growth for the year remains in the 0% to 2% range. Verizon is reducing its planned CAPEX for 2003 to $12 billion to $12.5 billion, down from the previous guidance of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion. Investments in wireless remain as previously targeted, with demand-driven declines in Domestic Telecom investment due to decreases in access lines and other reductions due to the sale of the company's stake in Mexican wireless carrier Grupo Iusacell and lower capital spending at subsidiaries.


Regarding the FCC's recently released Triennial Review order, Verizon contends that the FCC failed to deal directly with the UNE-p issue and resulting pricing issues. The company now expects TELRIC reform to be delayed until Summer 2004 with state proceedings to follow.


Somewhat offsetting revenue and expense pressures has been continued growth in Verizon's DSL and long distance businesses. Also offsetting the pressures are expected results from Verizon International, driven primarily by the results at Italian wireless provider Omnitel as well as asset sales. Verizon Wireless now expects a total of more than 4.5 million net retail customer additions for 2003. Previous guidance, announced two months ago, was for more than 4 million.
http://www.verizon.com

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