Millennial Net Names Former Paradyne Exec as CEO

Millennial Net, a start-up developing hardware and software for self-organizing, wireless sensor networks, named Andy May as its new CEO, replacing company co-founder Tod Riedel, who remains as VP of business development and marketing. May previously served as CEO of Paradyne Corporation, where he oversaw the company's leveraged buyout from AT&T in 1996 and its subsequent IPO in 1999. Previously, May also served as vice president and general manager of 3Com's Network Service Provider Division.


Millennial Net recently launched the latest version of its ultra-small, ultra-low power wireless sensor networking device, the i-Bean 5000. The device has potential applications in industrial automation, building automation, supply chain management, automatic meter reading, security, homeland defense and other low-power, low data-rate applications. Millennial Net is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
http://www.millennial.net

• Millennial Net's technology forms a reliable, scalable star-mesh wireless network by combining micro-power sensor interface endpoints and routers with a gateway. Small, self-configuring wireless sensors form a mesh network. Millennial Net uses a portfolio of radio technologies including ultra-low-power narrowband solutions as well as IEEE 802.15.4 wireless personal area network (WPAN) components. The company traces is technical roots to MIT.

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Terayon Expects Stronger Q3 Financial Results

Terayon Communication Systems expects revenues for its third fiscal quarter, ending 30-Sep-03, to be in the range of $37 million to $38 million, ahead of previous expectations in the $33 million to $36 million range. Net loss per share for the quarter is now expected to be in the range of $0.10 to $0.12.


Terayon cited higher unit shipments of its DOCSIS 2.0 CMTS (Cable Modem Termination System), stronger sales of its video headend product line, and higher than anticipated sales of its legacy S-CDMA products, partially offset by somewhat lower than expected DOCSIS 2.0 modem sales.
http://www.terayon.com

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OFS Enhances Performance of its Zero Water Peak Fiber

OFS announced enhancements to attenuation, dispersion slope and geometry ots its full spectrum zero water peak, AllWave fiber. OFS is now specifying maximum loss across the 1400 nm band to be less than 0.03 dB/km relative to the AllWave fiber benchmark 1383 nm loss of 0.31 dB/km. The company said it maintains a leadership position in attenuation at 1383 nm by specifying a maximum of 0.31 db/km, 11% better than major competition. The maximum values for attenuation at 1550 and 1625 nm for AllWave fiber are also improved. In an effort to lower network cost, OFS has lowered dispersion slope for AllWave fiber to 0.089 ps/nm2-km.



Improved loss performance and lower dispersion slope enables the Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) service providers to increase reach by the use of low cost transmitters, improve system margins and increase network planning flexibility.



The splicing performance of AllWave fiber has also been significantly improvedhttp://www.ofsoptics.com

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OFS, Wave7 Optics and Microsoft Show Online Gaming over FTTP

OFS, Wave7 Optics and Microsoft are demonstrating a live online gaming application, with simultaneous voice, video and data services, over a Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network at this week's FTTH Conference in New Orleans. The demo uses OFS' Access ADVANTAGE FTTP System and Wave7 Optics' Last Mile Link optical access platform. The gaming features Microsoft's Xbox Live service with enhanced performance over the FTTP connection. Voice capabilities are provided with the Xbox Live Communicator headset.
http://www.wave7optics.com
http://www.ofsoptics.com

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ADC Restructures Sales and Marketing

ADC announced a new geographic-based sales and marketing leadership and structure for the company.



Steve Mitchell has been named Vice President, North America Sales and Marketing. Mitchell joined ADC earlier in 2003 as Vice President of National Accounts. He previously served more than 10 years at Marconi in various sales positions.


Hubert Schanne has been named Vice President, International Sales and Marketing. Schanne previously served as ADC's Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa Sales. Prior to joining ADC in 2002, Schanne served Nortel in various sales leadership positions over a 12-year period.


Jay Hilbert, ADC's former Senior Vice President of Global Sales is no longer with the company.
http://www.adc.com

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General Bandwidth Gains Momentum in FTTP Voice Deployments

General Bandwidth's G6 Packet Telephony Migration Platform is being deployed as a voice gateway in a growing number of FTTP networks, including those of Bristol Utilities, Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD), Dalton Utilities, Hancock Telecom, Rochester Telephone Company, and FCI Broadband. General Bandwidth's G6 offers support for voice over IP and ATM networks.
http://www.genband.com

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Alcatel and Carrier Access Test FTTP Interoperability

Alcatel and Carrier Access completed interoperability testing between the Alcatel 7340 FTTU product line and the Carrier Access Exxtenz optical network terminal (ONT). Both product lines are based on the ITU-T G.983 broadband PON (BPON) standard. The companies said the tested interoperability status marks a turning point for the industry, as carriers will now have more flexibility in planning their FTTP deployments.
http://www.alcatel.com
http://www.carrieraccess.com

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Dual-Layer DVDs Now Hold Up to 16 Hours of Video

The DVD+RW Alliance, whose membership includes top consumer electronics and PC companies, announced the feasibility to make a dual layer DVD+R disc compatible with the dual-layer DVD-ROM standard (DVD9). The dual layer DVD+R disc nearly doubles the storage capacity from 4.7 Gbytes to up to 8.5 Gbytes, while remaining compatible with existing DVD Video players and DVD-ROM drives.



Both layers can be accessed from the same side of the disc, meaning there is no need to turn over the disc to benefit from the extra recording capacity. The DVD+RW Alliance said the new technology would also allow consumers to record DVD quality video up to 4 hours and up to 16 hours in VHS video quality.



Final specifications and the format book are expected to be available this year. First products would follow in 2004.
http://www.dvdrw.com/

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Glowpoint, an IP video service provider, Names CEO

Glowpoint, an IP video service provider based in New Jersey, named David C. Trachtenberg as its new CEO, replacing Richard Reiss, who remains the company's largest individual shareholder and Chairman. Glowpoint operates an IP video communications service featuring broadcast quality images.


Trachtenberg most recently was President and Chief Marketing Officer of StarBand Communications, a provider of two-way satellite Internet services. Prior to StarBand, Trachtenberg was President and Chief Operating Officer at Prodigy Communications.
http://www.glowpoint.com

• In September, Glowpoint, formerly known as Wire One Technologies, completed a transaction to sell its videoconferencing equipment division. The company then changed from an equipment-focused company to a services-driven business.

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DSL Forum's TR-058 and TR-059 Pave the Wave for IP QoS

Two new technical reports (TR-058 and TR-059) from The DSL Forum will provide the foundation for the next generation of DSL network architecture, supporting end-to-end transport of IP with quality of service (QoS) and multicasting. Specifically, the new technical reports are expected to open up a new range and level of service offerings from value-added ASPs and ISPs, such as multiple VoIP channels, video conferencing, streaming entertainment video, rapid interaction online gaming and remote access to hosted applications.


Gavin Young, chairman of the DSL Forum's technical committee, said "Developing the requirements and architecture for the next generation DSL networks has required consensus among many of the world's largest service providers and equipment vendors to define the vision and specify the architecture."


A central element in TR-059 is a new generation of network Gateway Router, also known as a broadband remote access server (B-RAS), which provides broadband aggregation and basic subscriber management, as well as dynamic bandwidth management, billing and QoS on a per-customer basis. TR-059 gives general guidelines for this new class of B-RAS and requires the equipment to fit into existing network architectures, while allowing for interworking with new customer premises equipment (CPE) that supports the traffic management of individual customer sessions, or 'micro flows.' This traffic management employs the traffic types defined in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications for DiffServ. A variety of QoS flows can be supported for multiple real time applications over a single DSL connection.


Full details of the DSL Forum technical reports TR-058 and TR-059 are available from the Forum's website.

Technical Report TR-058
Technical Report TR-059http://www/dslforum.org

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Redline Debuts its IEEE 802.16a System

Redline Communications, a start-up based in Toronto, introduced an IEEE 802.16a broadband wireless system. Redline said its WiMax platform is based on an advanced form of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), combined with several novel technologies, to support operations in partial and complete non-line-of-sight deployment conditions. The platform is configurable for either point-to-multipoint or point-to-point deployments and is suited to both backhaul and high capacity access applications. It will be available at 3.5 GHz in Q1 2004, supporting ranges beyond 80 km and delivering data and real-time applications, including voice and video, with spectral efficiency of 5 bits/second/Hertz (e.g. 70 Mbps in a 14 MHz channel).
http://www.redlinecommunications.com

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RealNetworks' RHAPSODY Streams 21 Million Songs in September

RealNetworks reported sharply increased consumer usage of its RHAPSODY subscription music service in September. RHAPSODY subscribers streamed more than 21 million on-demand songs in September, an average rate of over 700,000 songs per day and an increase of more than 30% in subscribers' on-demand listening since August. Since April, RHAPSODY subscribers have streamed more than 75 million songs on-demand.
http://www.real.com

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Hitachi Unveils FTTx Solutions for North America

Hitachi Telecom (USA) introduced an FSAN compliant B-PON system for the North American market. Hitachi's "triple play" B-PON delivers 622 Mbps in the downstream direction and 155 Mbps upstream. The ITU-T G.983 compliant architecture uses WDM technology to implement bi-directional transmission over a single optical fiber. It supports 10/100Mbps Ethernet services (data, VPN, Internet access, VoIP), POTS and video that accommodate current standard set top boxes and HDTV (in the future). It also features a patent pending RF return capability.


Hitachi has deployed more than 200,000 PON and Point-to-Point systems since 1994 throughout Asia, with orders expected to reach 300,000 worldwide by the end of the year.


Separately, Hitachi Telecom (USA) and Wave7 Optics announced a working relationship to combine core competencies in fiber access technology. The companies have already collaborated on a "triple play" B-PON solution in response to the interest in FTTx generated by the RBOCs.
http://www.hitel.com
http://www.wave7optics.com

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ARRIS Announces DOCSIS 2.0 Upgrade Agreements

ARRIS has reached agreement with its major customers on the timing and pricing to upgrade deployed Cadant C4 CMTSs for DOCSIS 2.0 compatibility. The field upgrades will be made possible by the introduction of a new DOCSIS 2.0 Cable Access Module (CAM), which the company said is 100% compatible with the installed base of Cadant C4 CMTSs. Each CAM supports 2 downstream channels and 12 upstream channels with DOCSIS 2.0 features. ARRIS plans to submit its Cadant C4 CMTS with the new upgrades to CableLabs for DOCSIS 2.0 qualification by Q1 2004.
http://www.arrisi.com

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FCC Clarifies WLNP implementation Issues

The FCC issued guidance to the wireless industry aimed at clarifying wireless local number portability (WLNP). Wireless carriers are required to make WLNP available to consumers in the top 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) starting 24-November-2003. The new guidance includes the following key points:

• First, wireless customers who port their numbers should have the same flexibility to switch carriers that non-porting customers have currently, even if they have not settled their account with the old carrier. Thus, while wireless carriers may include and enforce credit requirements, early termination fees, and similar contractual provisions in their customer agreements, carriers may not refuse to port numbers upon receipt of a valid request from the customer's new carrier.



• Second, the FCC held that wireless-to-wireless porting does not require the wireless carrier receiving the number to be directly interconnected with the wireless carrier that gives up the number or to have numbering resources in the rate center associated with the ported number. Although wireless carriers may voluntarily negotiate interconnection agreements with one another, such agreements are not required for wireless-to-wireless porting. In cases where wireless carriers cannot reach an agreement on the terms and conditions of porting, they must port numbers upon receipt of a valid request, with no conditions.



• Third, the FCC encouraged wireless carriers to complete simple ports within the industry-established porting interval of two and a half hours from the time the customer requests service from the new carrier. Although the Commission did not propose to adopt the industry standard as a mandatory rule, it found no evidence that the standard was technically infeasible, and stated that it would reexamine the issue if it received numerous consumer complaints about the length of the wireless porting process.

http://www.fcc.gov

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FCC Implements Open Markets for Secondary Spectrum

The FCC formally implemented new rules aimed at removing regulatory barriers to the development of secondary markets in spectrum usage rights. The new policies enable a wide array of facilities-based providers of broadband and other communications services to enter into spectrum leasing arrangements with Wireless Radio Service licensees. Under the new rules, leases for which there is no change in de facto control are allowed to proceed without prior FCC approval. The new policies affect both mobile and fixed services, including Cellular, Personal Communications Services (PCS), Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR), Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS), fixed microwave, 24 GHz, and 39 GHz, among others.


The FCC said its more flexible policies continue an evolution toward greater reliance on the marketplace to expand the scope of available wireless services and devices, leading to more efficient and dynamic use of the important spectrum resource to the ultimate benefit of consumers throughout the country.


In adopting the new order, the FCC is also seeking public comment on how to encourage the development of information and clearinghouse mechanisms that will facilitate secondary market transactions between licensees and new users in need of access to spectrum. The FCC also seeks comment on further streamlining of application processing for leasing, transfers, and assignments, expanding leasing to additional services not covered by today's order, and modifying or eliminating other regulatory barriers impeding secondary market transactions.


In a joint statement, FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell and Commissioner Kevin J. Martin described the order as "the most important spectrum reform decisions by this Commission in the last decade." They said that access to spectrum is critical to development of wireless broadband. Consumers are expected to benefit by gaining access to new services over spectrum that otherwise would be unused. For instance, a carrier with a business plan that calls for serving only the most densely populated portions of its service area now has every incentive to lease the balance of their spectrum to an entrepreneur. Moreover, ready access to spectrum promotes increased facilities-based competition among wireless service providers and between wireless providers and other platforms.

In a dissenting opinion for the minority, Commissioner Michael J. Copps argued that Congress has not given the FCC the power to effectuate the new policy. Specifically, Copps believes that the FCC is not permitted to transfer any license without first considering whether such a transfer is in the public's interest. Nevertheless, Copps wrote that he was encouraged that the new order is limited only to commercial telecommunications providers that paid for their spectrum licenses at auction, because it would be indefensible to allow "companies that were given their spectrum rights for free to lease it and reap windfall profits."http://www.fcc.gov

• The new spectrum rules were first voted on in May 2003.

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