Siemens Announces Optical Transmission Breakthrough

Researchers at Siemens, in collaboration with partners at BT and the Technical University of Eindhoven, have develop an extremely fast optical switch known as a TD-OADM (Time-Domain Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer) that enables the transmission and routing of diverse data elements in a single light wave length through the network. Conventional optical switches can only direct complete waveguides.


Over a two-year period, Siemens researchers collaborated with workers from the COBRA Institute of Eindhoven Technical University (Netherlands) and BTexact in the EU-sponsored FASHION project (Ultra Fast Switching in High-Speed OTDM Networks). In a recent field test BTexact made available four 70-km optical routes between the English towns of Ipswich and Newmarket. The test succeeded in cascading sixteen 10 Gbps signals into a single wavelength and carrying the 160 Gbps data error-free along the entire 280 km stretch. The TD-OADM, which is to assume the role of the TD-OADM in future networks, read out some of the data elements at around the halfway stage of the total route and replaced these data elements by others. The optical switch filtered out individual bits in the 160 Gbps stream by means of laser control pulses.

• Ultra Fast Switching in OTDM Networks
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Occam Secures $16.1 million from Investors

Occam Networks, a supplier of Ethernet and IP-based loop carrier equipment, secured $16.1 million from existing investors in the first closing of its previously announced Series A-2 Preferred Stock financing. The company had previously announced plans for the sale and issuance of up to a currently anticipated maximum of $20 million of Series A-2 Preferred Stock.
http://www.occamnetworks.com

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FCC Rejects Delay Request for LNP

The FCC denied a petition from United States Telecom Association (USTA) and CenturyTel to delay the implementation of local number portability rules due to take effect next week. The new rules require that wireline carriers must port numbers to wireless carriers where the requesting wireless carrier's coverage area overlaps the geographic location of the rate center in which the customer's wireline number is provisioned, provided that the porting-in carrier maintains the number's original rate center designation following the port.
http://www.fcc.gov

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EZchip Ships AdvancedTCA Board for its 10Gbps Processor

EZchip Technologies introduced a new evaluation board for its NP-1c 10-Gigabit network processor based on the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (AdvancedTCA). The solution is provided as a blade that can be plugged into an AdvancedTCA chassis or as a stand-alone, self-contained box. It features ten 1-Gigabit Ethernet ports and a complete data plane and control plane solution. EZchip's 7-layer processor provides 10 Gbps data plane processing and classifying, while a mezzanine card provides control plane processing.


AdvancedTCA is the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) specifications for Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture and forms the basis for standard compliant hardware for next generation telecommunications equipment.
http://www.ezchip.com

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European Commission Finds Telecom Sector Recovering

A report from the European Commission finds that the communications sector is stabilizing. The report points to renewed business and consumer confidence, saying that broadband and mobile communications are the main drivers of growth. Overall, the European telecom sector has grown faster in 2003 than the overall rate of growth of the EU economies. The rate of growth in telecom revenues is expected to reach between 3.7% and 4.7% for 2003, compared to an estimated 0.8% for the EU's overall GDP for 2003. Some additional highlights:

• The number of fixed broadband access lines has almost doubled over the last year but the competitive situation must improve further if the broadband sector is to truly thrive.



• There were 17.5 million broadband connections in the EU as of 30-June-2003. Of these, 12.46 million were DSL (71%), while 4.1 million (24%) were cable modems. The remaining 0.9 million were satellite, fiber or fixed wireless.



• Between January and July 2003, an average of 25,000 broadband connections per day were being activated across the EU.



• As of July 2003, EU countries with the highest broadband penetration were Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, with a penetration rate of about 10% (total number of broadband lines per 100 population).



• The number of new unbundled lines has grown by 828,000 between July 2002 and July 2003. This is double the number compared to the previous year but is still low as a proportion of total subscriber lines. Local loop unbundling is rather unbalanced across the EU and has not really taken off. Germany accounts for 63% of all unbundled lines.



• The weighted average price for the monthly rental of a 2 Mbps leased line (E1) has gone done from EUR 512 in 2001 to EUR 375 in July 2003.



• The economic downturn has discouraged new fixed line operators from entering the market. The number of large competing operators in each market has remained more of less stable. Many operators have refocused their efforts on their national market.



• Competitive pressure seems to have hit the local call segment, where the incumbent operators' fixed market share has on average decreased by 6% since December 2002.



• EU incumbents' market share in long distance seems to have stabilized at around 70%.



• The number of mobile subscribers has grown at a higher rate than in 2002, notwithstanding that the penetration rate is already close to 90% in a number of EU countries.



• There were 305.6 million mobile users in the EU as of 01-Aug-2003, representing 81% of EU citizens.



• Mobile number portability (MNP) only became compulsory in the EU on 25-July-2003, however most EU states had already implemented MNP at that point. As many as 11% of mobile numbers are ported in Denmark, 5% in the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K. In absolute terms, about 6 million numbers have been ported in EU, representing about 2% of all mobile numbers.

The EC, however, expressed concern about the regulatory environment, noting that only eight EU member states have completed their transposition of the new EU legislation into national law. The new EU regulatory framework entered into force in July 2003. Infringement proceedings against the Member States that have not adopted the new legislation were opened in early October 2003.http://europa.eu.int

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Lucent Lands ADSL Contract with Portugal Telecom

Portugal Telecom awarded a two-year framework agreement to Lucent Technologies covering more than 100,000 DSL lines in its home territory. Lucent will install its Stinger ADSL equipment in more than 300 locations across Portugal, spreading out from initial installations in and around the capital city of Lisbon.


Lucent has been a major supplier of solutions such as CDMA mobile networks, network management software, optical backbone equipment and services to Telesp Cellular, a Brazilian mobile operator and subsidiary of Portugal Telecom, for more than five years.
http://www.lucent.com

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ADVA and NEC Deliver Optical Transport for Asahi

Asahi National Broadcasting Company, one of Japan's largest television and broadcasting companies, is using ADVA's Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 2000 to connect its new headquarters facility to its data center. TV Asahi is currently transporting primarily Gigabit Ethernet traffic over 20 kilometers in a point-to-point application. ADVA's DWDM and TDM platform can transport up to 512 applications at speeds between 8 Mbps and 10 Gbps over a single fiber pair. NEC is a partner on the project.
http://www.advaoptical.com

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Lucent Signs Optical Expansion Contract with Beijing Com. Corp

Beijing Communication Corporation (BCC), a subsidiary of China Netcom, has selected Lucent Technologies' LambdaUnite Multi-Service Switch (MSS) and the Metropolis ADM MultiService Mux for its optical transport network. The expansion project, to be cutover by the year end, marks the first win for LambdaUnite MSS in BCC. Lucent valued the contract at several million U.S. dollars.


The LambdaUnite MSS bridges traffic between metro networks and optical core networks, connecting cities, campuses and corporate networks to larger, long-haul public networks.


The Metropolis ADM Multi-Service Multiplexer is an integrated Ethernet over SDH metro access multiplexer. It integrates 2Mbps access and cross-connect functionality for 10 Gbps applications.
http://www.lucent.com

• In June 2003, Beijing Communication Corporation awarded a contract valued at tens of millions of dollars to Lucent Technologies to build an optical network connecting the suburbs of Beijing. Specifically, Lucent will supply its Metropolis ADM MultiService Mux, WaveStar ADM16/1, Navis Optical Dynamic Network Analyzer (DNA), Navis Optical Network Management System, and WaveStar ITM-SC to construct 10G optical rings for BCC.

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Verizon Cites Progress in Nationwide Enterprise Data Services

One year after unveiling an ambitious plan to expand its high-speed data network nationwide, Verizon Communications has closed over 900 sales with more than 550 of its largest customers, including 65 Fortune 500 corporations as well as many educational institutions.


Verizon's Enterprise Advance portfolio offers Frame Relay, ATM, SONET and Ethernet-over-SONET connectivity in some 40 markets across the country. The company has previously disclosed plans to enter 56 markets.


In the initiative's first year, Verizon has added over 6,800 fiber miles to its network, expanding nine regional optical rings in the Northeast, Northwest and the Great Lakes regions. Verizon also launched Verizon Optical Networking (VON), an optical service that provides long-distance, point-to-point communications over the public network.


In the next phases of Enterprise Advance, Verizon plans to connect its regional optical rings across the nation. The company will also deploy almost 300 MPLS routers that will be capable of integrating Frame Relay and other protocols into an IP VPN. Verizon has already deployed more than 80 of these routers in some 30 markets. The full rollout of MPLS will support additional services such as IP-VPN on a national basis.
http://www.verizon.com/enterprisesolutions

• In October 2003, Verizon Communications selected the Cisco 12000 Series Router platform for its national IP VPN network. The platform, which will be used to deliver Layer 3 IP/MPLS VPN services, will be deployed as Verizon's Local Access Transport Area (LATA) core router as well as one of the service edge router platforms for Verizon's Enterprise Advance initiative.



• In June 2003, Verizon awarded a multi-year contract to Juniper Networks for its E-series edge routers. The equipment will be used to consolidate a wide range of IP-based services in a single platform over a variety of media including leased line, Frame Relay, ATM, DSL, Ethernet and wireless. The first phase of the new deployment will support Verizon's "Enterprise Advance" initiative, which is aimed at Fortune 1000 corporations, government, finance, education and healthcare entities.

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TiVo Adds Record 209,000 subscriptions in Q3

TiVo added a record 209,000 subscriptions in Q3, pushing its total subscription base to over one million. The company cited strong consumer demand, driven by retail support, broad availability, a $50 rebate, and increased awareness of its service. TiVo added approximately 150,000 net new subscriptions through DIRECTV in the quarter, which is growth of nearly 100% over Q2, and nearly 10 times the number of new DIRECTV subscriptions added in Q3 of last year. DIRECTV has increased its focus in driving demand for DIRECTV with TiVo, including increased marketing directed at existing DIRECTV customers.


Net revenues for Q3 were $43.3 million, a 73% increase over Q3 of last year, and included $22.7 million in service and technology revenues and $24.5 million in hardware revenue. Gross profit for the quarter was $9.0 million, more than double the gross profit from Q3 of last year. Net loss for the quarter was $7.4 million, or $(0.11) per sharehttp://www.tivo.com

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Brocade Reports Revenue of $138M, up 3% Sequentially

Brocade Communications Systems reported quarterly revenue of $137.8 million, an increase of 3% over the prior quarter, but down from $153.1 million for the same period last year. Non-GAAP net income for Q4 03 was $4.6 million, or $0.02 per share.
http://www.brocade.com

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AT&T Files Patent Suit Against PayPal, eBay

AT&T filed a patent infringement suit against PayPal and eBay alleging that their online payment systems infringe an AT&T patent covering transactions in which a trusted intermediary securely processes payments over a communications system such as the Internet. AT&T's patent was originally filed in 1991 and was granted in 1994. AT&T said it has unsuccessfully tried to license the patent to the two companies for the past year.
http://www.att.com

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SBC Introduces Hosted Enterprise VoIP Service

In what it described as "perhaps the most substantial technological advance in telecommunications in 100 years," SBC Communications introduced a new range of enterprise IP services, including a hosted VoIP service aimed at small to medium-sized businesses.


SBC's Hosted IP Communication Service (HIPCS) provides a Web interface for managing a full suite of unified messaging features. These include voice mail, e-mail, "find me, follow me," click-to-call, conferencing and other applications. Users can plug in their IP devices, including IP-enabled phones, from anywhere within a corporate network, or from any broadband connection. The service currently is being launched in select markets across the country and will be available in cities nationwide by the end of 2004. SBC also offers customer premises-based VoIP services, including a managed offering supporting Cisco AVVID IP telephony.


SBC IP-VPN Services have also been enhanced to work with other Internet and data transport services and with applications such as VoIP. SBC said IP-VPN services work seamlessly with existing data network connections, enabling businesses to add IP-based transport connectivity to supplement existing connections or add new business locations to a network.


SBC promised to "take a strong leadership position in the rapidly emerging IP communications market."http://www.sbc.com/

• Earlier this week, Randall Stephenson, Senior Executive VP & CFO of SBC Communications, confirmed that SBC was developing its own consumer VoIP service, which it will launch "when market demand develops." http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=9464
  



• In September 2003, Level 3 Communications announced that it is providing its new, wholesale (3)Tone hosted telephony service to SBC Communications and about 20 other carriers. The (3)Tone service is an advanced version of the suite of services Level 3 obtained through its recent acquisition of Telverse Communications. It is aimed at small to medium-sized enterprises interested in replacing their PBX, IP PBX, and Centrex Systems with an outsourced service. In addition to an estimated 25% to 35% cost savings, the (3)Tone service provides unified messaging boxes (voicemail, email and fax) and conferencing capabilities to handle up to 48 active participants and 400 listen-only participants per conference call.

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Cisco Looks to Process Change for Productivity Gain

Cisco has sought to transform its operations during the industry downturn, said Randy Pond, SVP of Operations, Systems and Processes at Cisco Systems, speaking at the Morgan Stanley European TMT Conference. During the late 90s, the whole industry was "in a tornado" and growth could be achieved in all directions. Post downturn, said Pond, Cisco has changed its goal from growing market share to looking for profitable markets. Cisco has launched a "Six Sigma" program to drive operational efficiencies throughout the company. This includes jettisoning several business that have delivered strong profitability. Cisco has also become much more selective in its industry acquisitions. The pace of acquisitions is down significantly principally because Cisco now expects any deal to be accretive to earnings with a few quarters. Pond said there are huge opportunities within the company to improve its overall productivity through process change.
http://www.cisco.com

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