IBM Unveils Thin-Silicon SiGe Bipolar Transistor

IBM demonstrated a "thin-silicon" SiGe bipolar transistor that promises a fourfold boost in performance or a fivefold reduction in power consumption in wireless devices compared to the state-of-the-art thin-silicon bipolar technology. IBM said its new chip design uses a revolutionary thin wafer that combines CMOS and SiGe bipolar technology. The company presented details of its new chip design at this week's 2003 Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting.
http://www.ibm.com

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Comcast Sees Acceleration in Cable Modem Growth

Sales of cable modem services are accelerating, said Brian Roberts, President and CEO of Comcast, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XII Conference. Comcast is on track to add 1.6 million cable modem customers this calendar year, which would give it a total of 5.2 million subscribers by year's end. New customer additions in July-August 2003 were up by 30% compared to the same period in 2002. Penetration rates are in the 12-13% range, leaving significant room for subscriber growth. Roberts said the revenue opportunity for cable modem service remains consistent in the $40+ range. Roberts expects the high-speed data platform will scale to much higher data rates of 50 Mbps or more over time, as broadband applications continue to improve.


Roberts also said Comcast is "more bullish than ever" regarding VoIP but is not yet ready to announce its plans. The big question is not whether Comcast can offer residential VoIP, but whether it can make money with the service. Comcast will continue to test the technology and the business model in 2004. Right now, Roberts sees the biggest business opportunity in continued gains for cable modem and VOD services.


Some other highlights of his presentation include:

• Comcast is intently focused on the market opportunity for VOD, which Roberts describes as a "fantastic product and superior to a Tivo-type solution"


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  As cable plant upgrades are completed, Comcast expects a 50% decline in its CAPEX budgets over the three year period from 2002 to 2005. According to projections, this will lead to a corresponding and significant increase in free cash flow over the same period.


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  Comcast's' overall debt has declined from $34.8 billion in November 2002 to $26.7 billion as of June 2003.

http://www.comcast.com

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Shaw Licenses Universal Studios Content for its VOD Offering

Shaw Communications, which provides cable TV services to approximately 2.9 million customers in Canada,entered into a long-term licensing agreement with Universal Studios Pay-Per-View (USPPV) to provide major Hollywood movies and other programming content for Shaw's Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Pay-Per-View (PPV) services. Universal Studios, which is part of Vivendi UNIVERSAL Entertainment (VUE), is now licensing and marketing its movies to pay-per-view and video-on-demand distributors worldwide.
http://www.shaw.ca/http://www.universalppv.net/

• In June 2003, Twentieth Century Fox signed a long-term agreement to provide movies and other programming content for Shaw's Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Pay-Per-View (PPV) services.

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Cablevision's Rainbow DBS to Introduce Nationwide HDTV Service

Rainbow DBS, the satellite service division of Cablevision Systems, is getting ready to launch an array of high-definition television (HDTV) programming to customers across the continental U.S. The new "VOOM" satellite service will eventually carry as many as 39 HDTV channels, as well as 88 channels in standard-definition format. VOOM will initially broadcast in MPEG-2, with an upgrade to MPEG-4 currently expected for the third quarter of 2004. Using MPEG-4, Rainbow DBS will be able to broadcast more than 200 channels, including at least 39 HDTV services. Rainbow DBS will also provide local digital over-the-air programming. Hardware for the VOOM service will include a satellite dish and a specially designed set-top receiver manufactured by Motorola, as well as a digital antenna for local broadcast signals. The Motorola set-top is upgradeable to MPEG-4. To date, rival U.S. satellite and cable services have offered no more than seven syndicated HDTV channels. The consumer launch is scheduled for 15-October-2003.
http://www.cablevision.com

• Cablevision's Rainbow DBS division is headed by Mickey Alpert, who has provided consulting services in the communications and entertainment industries since 1986. The Rainbow DBS senior management team also includes Bill Casamo, executive vice president, marketing and sales, who held a similar position at DIRECTV and also was vice president, sales for the Americas, for Thomson Consumer Electronics.

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Hawaii's Oceanic Cable Upgrades its Transport Network

Oceanic Time Warner Cable, which serves the state of Hawaii, has deployed a Scientific-Atlanta Prisma DT digital transport system to provide a variety of interconnect services for its cable TV and cable modem customers on the islands of Oahu, Maui and Hawaii. A fourth segment of the system is currently being installed on Kauai. The Scientific-Atlanta transport system will be used to deliver five major applications for Oceanic on the four islands via an undersea fiber optic cable network:

• Video on Demand -- at the master headend on Oahu, library servers are used to store all VOD content. This central master site downloads content updates to remote servers that are located close to customers on each island. Oceanic is using a variety of Scientific-Atlanta Explorer set-tops.


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  Cable modem service -- traffic is transported among the islands to the system's master headend on Oahu.


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  Off-air broadcast channels -- on each island, local off-air broadcast content is captured at the broadcasters' studios and transported to the Prisma DT network using the Prisma DTx service adapter.


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  High-speed data service for government -- existing networks on three islands have been interconnected over OC3 and OC48 rings.


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  Content delivery -- Oceanic is satellite downlinking its entire cable programming at its facilities on Oahu and using ASI to transport it on the Prisma DT system for delivery to customers.

http://www.scientificatlanta.com

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Extreme Networks All-in-One Wired And Wireless Switch

Extreme Networks introduced a unified wired and wireless, Layer 2/3 stackable Ethernet switch designed for companies that want to deploy a single, secure network architecture for both wired and wireless access. Extreme's new Summit 300-48 switch is a 48-port (plus four copper and mini-GBIC ports) Layer 2/3 WLAN switch with an expansion slot for future upgradeability and emerging mobile applications. The product provides extensive encryption and security services -- such as AES, WES and WPA -- to the wireless ports. List pricing is $6,995. Extreme Networks is also releasing wireless ports for simultaneous 802.11 a/b & g networking. The Altitude wireless port has a list price of $695.
http://www.extremenetworks.com

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Acme Packet Closes $15 Million for its Session Border Controllers

Acme Packet, a start-up based in Woburn, Massachusetts, raised $15 million in second round funding for its session border controllers for service providers. Acme Packet's Net-Net products solve the critical problems across IP network borders, including security, service assurance, revenue and profit assurance, and law enforcement. Current deployments include VoIP trunking network peering, hosted IP services for business and residential customers, and voice ASP services in the data center. The new funding round included Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) along with initial backers Menlo Ventures and Canaan Partners. The company has raised $31 million to date.
http://www.acmepacket.com

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Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Upgrades GSM Network with Nortel

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom is deploying Nortel Networks' radio, core switching and intelligent network equipment to upgrade its GSM network for GPRS wireless voice and data services. The upgrade will improve radio frequency (RF) coverage, prepare for seamless 2G/3G interworking, and provide a platform for new revenue-generating services like Personalized-Ring Back Tone, Prepaid Short Message Service, and others. The deployments are covered under agreements signed in June and August 2003 and collectively estimated at US$64 million.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com

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Lucent Supplies ATM Infrastructure for KPN Mobile

Lucent Technologies was awarded a multimillion dollar contract to supply ATM infrastructure and software for KPN Mobile's 3G UMTS network. Specifically, Lucent will deploy its GX 550 Multiservice WAN Switch at six locations across the Netherlands to develop a high-speed backbone network that is able to support ATM, Frame Relay and IP traffic. KPN Mobile will manage the ATM network with the Lucent NavisCore Element Management System and NavisXtend Fault Server to provide centralized end-to-end provisioning. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.lucent.com

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Marconi Wins $9M Contract from US Government for Core Switch Router

Marconi Corporation has been awarded a $9 million contract to supply additional BXR-48000 multiservice switch-routers to the U.S. Federal government. The contract also includes installation services. The new routers will be used in a different Federal Government network and by a different department than the currently deployed BXR-48000 multiservice switch-routers, which the US Department of Defense purchased for its ATM network last year. Marconi also said that the federal government is currently evaluating the platform's IP/MPLS capabilities.
http://www.marconi.com

• In September 2002, Marconi announced that the U.S. Department of Defense had purchased the BXR-48000 switch-router to transport data at up 10 Gbps using ATM. In January 2003, the U.S. Department of Defense became the first customer for Marconi's 10 Gbps (OC-192c/STM-64) ATM port card, which supports Type 1 encryption.


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  In July 2003, Marconi demonstrated the encryption of IP and ATM data at 10 Gbps rates on its BXR-48000 multiservice switch router. The company says that at present only ATM will support the encryption of IP packet and TDM traffic at 10 Gbps rates, while IP traffic over Ethernet is limited to encryption rates of 100 Mbps.

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EU Announces Major Investments in R&D

The European Union will commit one billion EURs for 236 R&D projects related to Information Society Technologies (IST). The R&R projects are aimed at extending today's Web, Internet and mobile communications technologies, transforming the delivery and performance of services and adding to their variety.


Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, said the R&D funding would help ensure Europe's competitiveness.


The EC has recently finalized selection of the 236 R&D projects out of 1,400 proposals that were received. Two specific areas of focus for the IST project include pervasive wireless access and new technologies for extending broadband to every home.
http://www.cordis.lu/ist/call1.htm

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Siemens Adds Wi-Fi Calling to its Corporate Unified Messaging App

Siemens Information and Communication Networks introduced version 2.0 of its HiPath CorporateConnect application that allows employees to use a single communications device, telephone number and voicemail box for corporate voice communications. The new version offers two new graphical user interface options that allow users to leverage Windows Pocket PC PDA devices or a standard Web browser to manage their real-time communications anywhere they have wireless access, including WiFi 802.11b/e hotspots. This includes placing and receiving calls over WiFi-enabled PDAs. Siemens said the new functionality is aimed at leveraging the emerging WiFi wireless networks in corporate environments as well as in the growing number of public WiFi access points. Users can also direct calls to reach them via an alternative telephone, including mobile phones, by entering that phone's number into the CorporateConnect client profile.
http://www.icn.siemens.com

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RAD Data Communications and ECI Announce Partnership

RAD Data Communications and ECI Telecom agreed to incorporate each other's equipment within their individual product portfolios. The first products to be paired are RAD's Multiservice Access Platform (MAP) and ECI's XDM converged optical platform, providing a solution for the metro access market. The companies said they have been collaborating for several years but have just recently formalized the agreement.
http://www.rad.com
http://www.ecitele.com

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AudioCodes Selects Motorola's Network Processor for Media Gateways

AudioCodes has selected the Motorola C-5e network processor to perform packet forwarding in the company's next-generation gateways, including its high-density VoIP gateways, Voice over ATM (VoATM) gateways, 3G gateways, and media servers. The processor's architecture comprises 16 fully-programmable RISC cores that can support any protocol, including ATM AAL-2/AAL-5, VoIP/Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP)/User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Packet-over-SONET/Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), and MPLS. It also supports interworking between IP and ATM, such as switching within and between RTP and AAL-2 flows. The AudioCodes media gateway solutions range from media gateway blades within CompactPCI or PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) form factors to complete high-availability media gateway platforms.
http://www.audiocodes.com
http://www.motorola.com

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Path 1 Supplies Video-over-IP Gateway for Japanese Broadcaster

Path 1 Network Technologies is supplying its video-over-IP gateways to a major Japanese broadcaster for use in a trial transmitting live video material between stations in different geographic locations within Japan using a best effort service optical line. Path 1's platform offers Gigabit Ethernet capability, enabling uncompressed SDI, as well as compressed DVB-ASI MPEG2 video feeds over Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet network interfaces.
http://www.path1.com

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CinemaNow Introduces Television Interface to Internet VOD

CinemaNow is introducing a television interface that lets users of Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 browse, purchase and watch movies on-demand by using their remote control and television set or PC display. Font sizes and page layouts have been optimized for viewing on a TV display from a distance, rather than on a PC monitor.
http://www.cinemanow.com

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Microsoft Unveils Windows XP Media Center 2004

Microsoft unveiled its Windows XP Media Center 2004 operating system and announced key digital content providers. Major PC manufacturers planning to offer Windows XP Media Center PCs include Dell, Sony, Gateway, HP, Toshiba and more than 40 other OEMs worldwide.


The key new capabilities of Windows XP Media Center 2004 include:

• the ability to connect the Media Center PC to a standard or widescreen TV or a high-resolution display, such as a plasma or projection TV, to create a dynamic home theater environment. This includes enhanced support for 16 x 9 displays.


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  support for adaptive de-interlacing and video scaling, enabling a sharper picture on high-resolution progressive scan displays


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  PVR capabilities to record live TV and radio


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  the ability to record TV shows on standard DVDs or Video CDs and play them back on virtually any set-top DVD player or PC


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  the ability to browse an online programming guide up to 14 days in advance, or to select category filters to display just the programming you want, such as sports, movies, news, music, or kids


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  better tools for viewing full-screen images of digital photographs on a monitor or TV screen


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  better tools for building a digital Media Library using Windows Media Player 9 Series


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  support for 5.1 surround sound in Windows Media Player 9


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  an Online Spotlight service that highlights downloadable content from Microsoft partners, including CinemaNow (1,200 movies on-demand), Movielink (new releases and classic films from the big Hollywood studios), MSN TV (news, weather and financial information), Napster (500,00 tracks of downloadable music), WildTangent (online gaming), Musicbrigade (an archive of music videos), and Live365 (an Internet Radio network with some 5,000 stations).

http://www.microsoft.com

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