U.S. Court of Appeals Rules on Cable Internet Services

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling on cable Internet services in a case concerning open access for independent ISPs. In March 2002, the FCC issued a Declaratory Ruling in which it concluded that "cable modem service, as it is currently offered, is properly classified as an interstate information service, not as a cable service, and that there is no separate offering of telecommunication service." The FCC ruling meant that cable operators would not be regulated as common carriers, but would instead be classified...

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Critical Telecom Introduces DSL Extenders for 25km Reach

Critical Telecom, a privately held company based in Ottawa, introduced its Full Rate Extended DSL (FRED) platform designed to transparently extend DSL up to 82 kft (25 km) from telecom providers' central offices. The platform comprises central office and outside plant equipment. ADSL data streams from a central office-based DSLAM are converted into a multiplexed optical signal and, using 1 or 10-Gigabit transport components, the optical signal is sent from the central office to an existing cross-connect cabinet. At the outside plant cabinet, the...

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Motorola Confirms Plans to Spin-off Semiconductor Operations

Citing its intention to increase its focus on communications and integrated electronic systems, Motorola announced plans to separate its semiconductor operations into a publicly traded company. Specifically, Motorola is considering an initial public offering (IPO) of a portion of its Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS) group, followed by a distribution of remaining shares to shareholders in a tax-free manner.Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector is the leading producer of embedded processors. Its product line includes a its "DigitalDNA" system-on-chip...

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ITC^DeltaCom and BTI Close Their Merger

ITC^DeltaCom completed its previously announced merger with BTI Telecom Corp. (BTI), creating one of the largest CLECs in the southeastern U.S. As of the merger closing, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) invested $35 million for new equity in the firm. The combined company will operate under the name ITC^DeltaCom.The new ITC^DeltaCom has a fiber optic network spanning approximately 14,500 route miles and approximately 230 Points of Presence (POPs). It offers a full suite of voice, data and Internet services including local, long distance,...

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iBasis Signs India's Vebtel for International VoIP

Vebtel, a provider of PC-to-Phone voice services in India, selected iBasis to provide international long distance service for its business and residential customers. Vebtel joins the more than 180 carriers worldwide who have interconnected with iBasis.The companies noted that VoIP was legalized in India in April 2002 as the country officially deregulated its international long distance market. By the end of 2002, VoIP traffic accounted for approximately 6% of India's international long distance traffic (inbound and outbound). iBasis expects VoIP...

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Conexant and Huawei Develop DSL Management Software

Conexant Systems and Huawei Technologies have developed new remote management software that enables service providers to administer DSL networks from a central location. The software automatically configures the customer premise modem to the correct network parameters as soon as it is activated. This is accomplished by utilizing the simple network management protocol (SNMP) over the existing high-level data link control/embedded operations channel (HDLC/EOC), as opposed to Web-based remote management via data path or dedicated management permanent...

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Cramer Systems Marks its 50th OSS Customer Win

Essent Kabelcom, the second largest MSO in The Netherlands with over two million customers, has selected Cramer Systems' centralized inventory management solution to replace multiple inventory systems. Cramer Systems said the deal represents is 50th carrier customer win. http://www.cramer....

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Mintera Unveils its First 40 Gbps Product

Mintera, a start-up based in Lowell, Massachusetts, announced its first product aimed at the migration to 40 Gbps optical transport in metro-core, regional, long-haul, and ultra-long-haul optical networks. Mintera believes that carriers will migrate from 10 Gbps optical trunks to 40 Gbps systems during the second half of the decade and that during 2004 and 2005 carriers will be pursuing 40 Gbps trials. Mintera's MI 40000 product-set multiplexes 4 x 10 Gbps SONET/SDH services onto a 40 Gbps long haul wavelength. Mintera promises plug and play...

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Excel Switching Accelerates Wireless Application Development

Excel Switching Corporation has extended the wireless capabilities of its Converged Services Platform (CSP) with the addition of full Intelligent Network (IN) wireless protocol support. The new capabilities enable the Excel CSP to be used for developing wireless applications across SS7, SIP, and wireless protocol signaling. Carriers could use the CSP to get to market quickly with applications spanning 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi networks. For instance, the Excel platform could be used to create and localize a host of wireless services for 2G, 3G, and WiFi...

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Lantern Communications Signs Japanese VAR for 10 Gbps RPR

Japanese-based Network Value Components will distribute Lantern Communications' Metro Packet Switch platform, which offers dual 10 Gigabit trunks in a Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) configuration. Lantern said its 10 Gigabit Ethernet 10km trunk modules are priced at $9,500. http://www.lanterncom.com http://www.nvc.co...

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Internet2 Launches Video Collaboration Service

The Internet2 initiative launched an H.323 video conferencing service. The Internet2 Commons Videoconferencing Service enables university users to reserve videoconferencing ports for time-sensitive meetings such as remote research collaborations and regularly scheduled distance learning classes. They can also set-up multi-party videoconferences on the spur-of-the-moment.http://commons.internet2.edu/h3...

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Boingo Wireless Raises $10 Million for its Wi-Fi Network

Boingo Wireless raised $10 million in series B funding for the continued rollout of its Wi-Fi network in the U.S. and internationally. Boingo serves as a network aggregator for dozens of Wi-Fi hot spot operators. The company recently began expanding outside of the U.S. and has hot spot locations in Europe, Japan, Australia, Latin America, India and Canada.The lead investor for the round was Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners. Other investors in the round include Infonet Services Corporation and clients of Amerindo Investment Advisors, Inc. Boingo's...

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NTT Comm Outsources IT to EDS

NTT Communications awarded a multi-year, helpdesk outsourcing support contract to EDS. Under the deal, EDS will provide remote management, system support, and web-based self- help services for more than 15,000 desktops in Japan. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. http://www.eds....

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Nokia Launches its "N-Gage" Game Deck + Phone Combo

Nokia officially launched its "N-Gage" game deck + mobile phone combo device, which features online 3D multiplayer games over Bluetooth and GPRS, a digital music player (MP3/AAC), stereo FM radio, as well as a tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 mobile phone. The Nokia N-Gage platform will provide online games of its own as well as a growing list of games from major game publishers, such as Electronic Arts. Sales of the Nokia N-Gage game deck will start across several continents in over 60 countries. In the U.S. market, the device has a retail price of...

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Nokia Unveils Mobilizer for Access to Corporate Data

Nokia introduced an "Access Mobilizer" application for providing corporate email, calendar and contact data in a format that is optimized for each mobile device accessing the application. The Nokia Access Mobilizer appliance is installed behind the corporate firewall and acts like a web server. Users simply open the browser on their device and specify the secure URL unique to their company. All transferred data is retained on the original server, not the mobile device. http://www.nokia....

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European Regulators Group Discusses Bitstream Access Policy

At its meeting held last week in Brussels, the European Regulators Group discussed the preliminary results of its public consultation on bitstream access. The European Regulators Group (ERG) is composed of the heads of each national regulatory agency of nations in the European Union. The ERG has been considering the adoption of a common policy that would ensure bitstream access to broadband networks, especially the DSL networks of incumbent operators. The public consultation process was initiated in July.A common ERG position on further steps...

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Terayon Strengthens Senior Management Team

Terayon Communication Systems named Jeffrey Barco as Vice President and General Manager of its Digital Video Solutions Group. Barco most recently was the President and CEO of BroadbandHome, a home networking company spun-off from IBM. Prior to BroadbandHome, Barco was Managing Director of Microsoft's Digital TV Platforms Group, coming to the company via its acquisition of WebTV, where he was Senior Director of the Broadband Networks Group. Before WebTV, Barco worked in the Digital Media and Interactive TV groups of Silicon Graphics, and prior...

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Utah's UTOPIA Project Plans Widescale FTTH Deployment

Salt Lake City and 17 other cities across the state of Utah are planning to build a publicly-owned, fiber telecommunications network that would reach nearly 250,000 homes and 35,000 business, representing a population of about 724,000. The Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) plans to build the network and then act as a municipally-owned wholesale carrier. The project plans to issue 15 to 20 year bonds that would be paid for by leasing capacity on the network to various service providers and ISPs. It does not expected...

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Pedestal Networks Unveils Line-Powered Remote DSLAM

Pedestal Networks, a start-up based in Fremont, California, introduced a line-powered, remote Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) designed to extend a carrier's ADSL reach to 100% of subscribers. In addition to operating over long loops of up to 45,000 feet with loaded pairs, the platform can be deployed beyond existing Digital Loop Carriers (DLCs). Pedestal Networks' Universal Broadband Server (UBS) features a proprietary line-power technology, automated provisioning, and an environmentally hardened "brick" design. The platform...

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Wave7 Optics Selected for Large FTTP Deployment in Tenn.

The Jackson Energy Authority (JEA) of Jackson, Tennessee, a municipal utility company, selected Wave7 Optics for a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network that is expected to pass some 31,000 homes and businesses in 2005. Jackson Energy is the local electrical utility. Wave7 is scheduled to begin delivering network equipment in December 2003 and JEA anticipates it will initiate deployment in Q1 2004. The network will be used to deliver over 250 analog and digital cable television channels, high-speed (up to 500 Mbps) two-way business and residential...

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