PMC Sierra Supplies Chips for Lucent's Metropolis DMX

Seven of PMC Sierra's metro ICs have been selected by Lucent Technologies for its Metropolis DMX system, which provides seamless integration and interworking capabilities for adding data services onto SONET/SDH networks. The products are now being deployed in network trials.
http://www.pmc-sierra.com/

Read More

Level 3 Increases Network Capacity into Stockholm

Level 3 Communications is increasing its network capacity into Stockholm and expects to begin offering services in Copenhagen in October 2003. The Level 3 network serves 17 of the largest markets in Europe, as well as 66 markets across North America. In addition, the company operates metropolitan networks in 36 cities, including London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt. Level 3 also has network capacity on high-speed transatlantic cable systems.
http://www.level3.com

Read More

West Ridge Networks Raises $8 Million in Seed Funding

West Ridge Networks, a start-up based in Littleton, Massachusetts, closed an $8 million Series A round of funding. The company is developing technology to enable large network service providers to improve the operational efficiency and service quality of their networks. Product plans have not been disclosed. Bay Partners and Advent International participated in the round.
http://www.westridgenetworks.com

Read More

AT&T Launches Local High-Bandwidth Ethernet Services

AT&T introduced a local Ethernet service for connecting multiple branch offices in a VPN within a metropolitan area. AT&T Ethernet Switched Service-Metropolitan Area Network supports the transport of data, voice and video at speeds of 50 Mbps to 1 Gbps. It is a committed bandwidth service that also offers a "self-healing" option for resilient access to critical servers, data and applications. The service is supported by 24x7 proactive monitoring, network management reporting and SLAs. The service is available in 67 metropolitan areas, 90 cities and more than 6,400 office buildings on-net nationwide. Where necessary, the service will use multiple access suppliers to extend the reach of the footprint.



Franco Callocchia, AT&T's Ethernet Services Director, said AT&T continues to make strong investments in Ethernet both within its networks and as a customer interface.


In addition to AT&T Ethernet Switched Service-Metropolitan Area Network, AT&T offers:

• Ethernet Private Line Service - Metropolitan Area Network/Wide Area Network, which provides point-to-point Ethernet connectivity at speeds of 50 Mbps up to 1000 Mbps for both Metropolitan Area Networks and Wide Area Networks.


Managed Internet Service - Ethernet Access, which provides Ethernet access to AT&T's dedicated Internet access service -- Managed Internet Service -- at speeds of 2 Mbps to 100 Mbps and 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps.


• "Ultravailable" Managed OptEring Service, which provides optical access at Ethernet transport speeds of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 1 Gbps over fiber rings in 1 Mbps increments. This service leverages Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) and Generic Frame Procedure (GFP) technology and provides a scaleable, rapidly provisioned and highly reliable (up to 99.999%) means of supporting a business's extension of Ethernet capabilities into Metropolitan Area Networks and Wide Area Networks.



• ACCU-Ring Ethernet Service Channels, an access method for AT&T ACCU-Ring Network Access Service, a private SONET ring that provides businesses with dedicated high-speed access for consolidating traffic, including private line, switched and enhanced services, and all distance carrier traffic (voice, data and video). AT&T ACCU-Ring connects ring nodes at speeds from 50 Mbps to 1 Gbps.

http://www.att.com

Read More

CapRock Teams Up with Eutelsat

CapRock Communications, a satellite communications provider for the drilling industry, will gain access to Eutelsat's SESAT satellite. Positioned at 36 degrees East, SESAT provides extensive widebeam and steerable coverage from the North Sea to India.
http://www.caprock.com
http://www.eutelsat.com

Read More

Marvell Scales its System Controller for Networking Applications

Marvell introduced its Discovery III line-up of system controllers targeted at routers, switches and wireless base stations, as well as storage and laser printer applications. Keeping pace with the continuous improvement of processors, the new system controllers support the 200 MHz interface for next generation high performance PowerPC and MIPS CPUs. Marvell's new devices have received support from leading CPU vendors, such as IBM, Motorola, and PMC-Sierra. The Discovery III system controller integrates several I/O peripherals on-chip, including Gigabit Ethernet, PCI-X bridges, storage functions and DDR memory interface. The Discovery III is software compatible with the existing Marvell system controllers.
http://www.marvell.com

Read More

HyperTransport Consortium's DirectPacket Spec Targets Chip-to-chip Traffic

The HyperTransport Technology Consortium released a new specification aimed at increasing the efficiency of packet-based chip-to-chip traffic. The new DirectPacket HyperTransport 1.1 specification provides four new capabilities: native packet handling for efficient transport of user packets through board-level systems, a robust retry protocol for high reliability server and communications systems, peer-to-peer routing for direct connection between I/O devices, and three new sets of Virtual Channels including 16 channels optimized for streaming traffic.


The new specification could be used in servers, storage systems and network equipment when integrating board-level systems to high speed, packet-based I/O technologies. The protocol uses 8 bytes of overhead for Write operations and 12 bytes of overhead for Read operations. In addition, the new peer-to-peer routing allows direct communication between HyperTransport-enabled devices without routing traffic through the attached host when PCI ordering is not required by the application.



HyperTransport is a universal chip-to-chip I/O connectivity technology that provides 12.8 Gigabyte/second bandwidth, frequency and width scalability. It also provides software compatibility with the legacy Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and PCI-X I/O technologies.
http://www.hypertransport.org

Read More

N2 Broadband and ICTV Create Web Services Interface for VOD Menuing

N2 Broadband and ICTV are developing a new Web Services interface for providing VOD menuing capabilities on N2 Broadband's OpenStream solution, which is a widely-deployed commercial VOD back-office solution. The new interface, which combines HeadendWare's support of standard Web technologies with N2 Broadband's open platform, allows cable system operators to bring to market new applications. For example, operators and programmers delivering VOD via OpenStream's "plug-and-play" environment could deploy headend-based menuing and merchandising that overcome the constraints of the digital set-top box. Using ICTV's HeadendWare support for audio and full-motion video and its access to web-based application logic, VOD providers could increase "take rates" and revenue through multimedia promotional elements, detailed information about on-demand titles, content reviews, and preference engines that help content "find" subscribers. N2 Broadband will offer the interface as an enhancement to the currently-deployed CORBA-based interface for OpenStream.
http://www.n2bb.com
http://www.ictv.com

Read More

LightPoint Deploys Redback's SmartEdge 800 Router

LightPoint Communications, a service provider based in Portland, Oregon, has selected Redback Networks' SmartEdge 800 Router to build its broadband IP network, including aggregating customer data traffic and providing a reliable connection to Internet backbone carriers. LightPoint will utilize the SmartEdge Router to deliver IP services, such as hosting and network-based storage. The SmartEdge 800 can be partitioned into many separate virtual routers, each having it's own forwarding table and management console. Redback said this feature provides the scalability to support a large number of active subscribers, as well as the ability to effectively implement large-scale, low-cost network-based VPN solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.redback.com
http://www.lightpointcommunications.com

Read More

DirecTV Increases its Guidance on Stronger than Expected Demand

DirecTV increased its full-year guidance to one million net subscriber additions in 2003, up from the prior guidance of approximately 900,000. The company cited its ongoing promotion with the NFL as well as solid churn management for the stronger than expected performance. DIRECTV U.S. expects to add about 320,000 net new owned and operated subscribers in the quarter. The company is also increasing its revenue guidance for the third quarter and full-year to approximately $1.93 billion and $7.6 billion, respectively, due to the higher demand for its NFL SUNDAY TICKET package, local channels and multiple set-top boxeshttp://www.DIRECTV.com

Read More

UTStarcom Announces $47 Million in New Contracts in China

UTStarcomm announced a new contract with China Telecom valued at approximately $27 million to expand its IP-Based PAS (Personal Access System) in Zhejiang Province.


Separately, UTStarcomm signed a contract with China Netcom valued at approximately $20 million to expand its IP-based PAS platform in two cities in the province of Liaoning.
http://www.utstar.com/

Read More

Quintum Releases Call Relay Session Border Controllers for Service Providers

Quintum Technologies launched a Session Border Controller designed for call relay requirements of service providers. Quintum's original Call Relay session border controller supports 16 simultaneous VoIP calls, and is software upgradeable to 32; its new Call Relay SP supports 120 simultaneous VoIP calls, and is software upgradeable to 672. The products allow VoIP endpoints such as gateways, IP phones, and IP soft phones which are behind a Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall, to communicate with VoIP endpoints on external IP networks.
http://www.quintum.com

Read More

Intel Releases NetMerge Call Manager Beta Software

Intel began beta testing of a new NetMerge Call Manager software that runs on Intel processor-based servers to enable speech and advanced voice solutions for enterprise customers. The software provides a way integrate the Microsoft Speech Server with an enterprise's existing telephony network. The software uses advanced capabilities within Intel's telephony hardware to construct complex telephone services from the simpler programming elements that are presented to the application developer.



Intel also introduced Intel NetStructure Host Media Processing 1.1 software, which aims to reduce the cost and complexity of voice-enabling enterprise applications by eliminating the need for specialized telephony boards with digital signal processors. Developers could use the software to build IP media servers for interactive voice response services, voice mail, conferencing, fax servers and other telephony applications. The software is compliant with SIP, H.323 and H.450.2.
http://www.intel.com/pressroom

Read More

Updated U.S. Optical Fiber Communities List Released

A total of 94 communities across the U.S. are currently providing FTTH broadband services to customers, according to an updated list released by the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). The groups cited Provo, Utah as an example of where FTTH is making in-roads as a municipal goal. In Provo, city officials are reviewing a plan to make FTTH services available to all of the city's 32,000 homes and businesses by the end of 2005. Provo recently completed a FTTH pilot program and is currently delivering voice, video and/or data services to approximately 1,100 homes.



The "U.S. Optical Fiber Communities" study listed 70 FTTH communities when it was last released in March 2003.
http://www.ftthcouncil.orghttp://www.tiaonline.org

Read More

Disney Launches MovieBeam Service using Over the Air Datacasting

The Walt Disney Company launched its "MovieBeam" on-demand movie rental service using over-the-air datacasting transmission medium and PVR-style set-top boxes. The service, which is being launched initially in three U.S. market (Jacksonville, Florida; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Spokane, Washington), provides access to 100 movies stored in digital format on the set-top hard disk drive. Each week, about 10 new movies are transmitted via a digital wireless signal to the MovieBeam receiver's small indoor antenna, replacing 10 titles. The data transmissions take the form of secure data streams and are sent through the broadcast spectrum of television stations owned by ABC and National Datacast's network of PBS stations. MovieBeam will work whether or not a consumer has a cable or satellite television subscription. A telephone line is used to provide the uplink for movie rentals. There is no up-front equipment cost. There is a $6.99 per month equipment service fee and a per movie viewing fee of $3.99 for new releases or $2.49 for popular favorites.



The MovieBeam receiver is provided by Samsung Electronics. Retail channels supporting the launch include Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears, Huppin's Hi-Fi, Magnolia Audio Video, RC Willey, Sound Advice and Ultimate Electronics.


MovieBeam provides Disney with a relatively inexpensive way of controlling its own VOD service, comparing to buying or building its own wireline network. An article in The Wall Street Journal estimates it will cost $250,000 per market to equip a local TV station for datacasting. Future plans might include other forms of on-demand content.www.MovieBeam.com

• Disney's MovieBeam receiver, which is provided by Samsung, uses over-the-air datacasting to download content and a telephone link for the upstream connections. It also features a USB expansion port.



• In July 2003, Walt Disney Internet Group expanded the use of its proprietary DIG Motion video technology to the Movies.com and ABC.com sites. After a one-time activation process, DIG Motion technology automatically launches full-motion video clips, typically lasting one to three minutes, when a consumer visits a participating site. Video is pre-downloaded directly to users' computers so there is no buffering, streaming or waiting. The technology first debuted on ESPN.com in February 2003.



• Walt Disney Internet Group's DIG Motion video technology pushes Windows Media Encoder 9 Series content down to a viewer's PC several times daily. The video will play automatically when logging on to ABC.com, ESPN.com, or Movies.com.

Read More

Ericsson to Resell Atreus Systems' Service Fulfillment OSS

Ericsson will market and sell Atreus Systems' "xAuthority" as the service fulfillment engine within its IP service solution worldwide. The Atreus platform unifies front-end, customer-facing self-service portals with the back office operational systems that execute flow-through provisioning, authentication, and activation across the network.
http://www.atreus-systems.com

Read More

Verizon Wireless Launches 3G CDMA 1xEVDO Networks

Verizon Wireless is activating commercial service on its 3G 1xEVDO (1X evolution-data optimized) networks in Washington D.C. and San Diego. The new BroadbandAccess service provides mobile VPN connections with typical access speeds of 300-500 Kbps with bursts of up to 2.0 Mbps. BroadbandAccess service is available for a flat rate of $79.99 a month. Verizon Wireless is offering a wireless PC card manufactured by Sierra Wireless for $149, after a $100 rebate. In the future, Verizon Wireless plans to offer additional BroadbandAccess products, including cards, modems and handheld devices. CDMA 1xEVDO provides its own data protection and authentication security. Coverage in Washington D.C. includes the District of Columbia, the Reston and Alexandria, VA areas and the Rockville, MD area. In San Diego, CA, coverage extends from Oceanside south to National City and east to include Escondido, Poway and El Cajon.



The network in San Diego uses Nortel Networks' CDMA2000 1xEV-DO technology, and is powered exclusively by Nortel Networks CDMA core and access solutions.



Lucent Technologies supplied the equipment for the mobile data network in the Washington, D.C. area.
http://www.verizonwireless.com

Read More