Alcatel Returns to Profitability, Upgrades Outlook

Alcatel reported a net profit in Q1 of EUR 80 million, with all business segments positive -- it's first quarterly profit in three years. The company also upgraded its financial outlook for the rest of 2004, noting that the prolonged decline in sales is now ending and that operating margins are improving due to the restructuring steps it has taken. Alcatel's overall sales for Q1 2004 were EUR 2.740 billion, compared with EUR 2.828 billion in Q1 2003, down 3% at actual exchange rate and up 2% at a constant rate. Income from operations amounted to EUR 80 million, compared with a loss of EUR (150) million in the same period last year. Net income (pre-goodwill) for the quarter was registered at EUR 234 million or diluted EUR 0.18 per share (USD 0.22 per ADS) and net income after goodwill at EUR 134 million or diluted EUR 0.10 per share (USD 0.12 per ADS).



"Our performance in Q1 2004 is a clear confirmation that Alcatel is on the right track. With the sales decline stopping, our margins can now benefit from the intense restructuring which has been carried out. We are pleased to see, in this traditionally weak quarter, positive operating income generated in all segments and our earnings per share getting back in the black , said Serge Tchuruk, Alcatel's Chairman and CEO. "At this point, we are upgrading our expectations of year over year revenue growth going forward, both for the coming quarters and for the full year 2004. For the second quarter, as well as for full year, we expect high single digit year over year sales growth at a constant EUR/Dollar rate, which translates into significant growth at the current rate."



Some highlights:

• Sales about stable year over year


• Gross margin up at 36.6% compared to 30.3% last year.


• Income from operations at EUR 80 million at 2.9% of sales


• A total of 5.5 million DSL lines were delivered during the quarter


• The IP service routing business added nine new customers in the quarter, making a total of twenty customers to date.


• Twelve new customers were added in the quarter for NGN/VoIP products


• While the optics revenue has not yet reflected the market upturn, nine new customers were added for the data-aware OMSN products and ten new customers in metro WDM.

http://www.alcatel.com

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Primal Offers Flow-based Management for VoIP

Primal Solutions announced a new release of its usage management solution for MSOs. The Connect IXC platform supports flow-based usage accounting for high speed data services and usage based billing for VOIP services on the same platform. Primal said its system enables MSOs to apply charges to specific service flows that were previously difficult to track, such as peer-to-peer traffic, through their network. MSOs can utilize flow-based accounting and rating for cable modem using a standards-based interface. The streaming delivery of usage data from the cable modem termination system (CMTS) is based on the Subscriber Account Management Interface Specification (SAMIS) for DOCSIS. Primal Solutions is headquartered in Irvine, California. http://www.primal.com

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nCUBE and Digeo Collaborate for On-Demand Solution for Moxi

nCUBE and Digeo announced an agreement to integrate nCUBE's nABLE interactive management software and video server with Digeo's Moxi software platform for deployment on Motorola's Broadband Media Center (BMC) 9000 Series media centers. The Moxi interface delivers consistent navigation features that provide viewers with access to thousands of VOD titles in the same way as they access the rest of their digital cable services. Throughout the Moxi Menu, VOD titles have prominent multiple placements alongside live broadcast and show listings making it easier for viewers to find titles and initiate the purchase process.



Adelphia Communications, the nation's fifth-largest cable television company, will trial the integrated solution in selected markets in the greater Los Angeles region starting in Summer 2004. http://www.ncube.com

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Carlos Slim Steps Down at Telmex, Son Takes Over

Carlos Slim Helú resigned as chairman of Teléfonos de Mexico (Telmex). He will be succeeded by his son, Carlos Slim Domit, who has been serving as co-chairman of the company. Telmex is Mexico's incumbent carrier and has 15.1 million telephone lines in service and 74,000 km of fiber. The company was privatized in December 1990. http://www.telmex.com

• In March, Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) agreed to acquire MCI's 19% equity stake in Embratel for $360 million in cash. MCI's share in Embratel is a 19.26% economic interest and a 51.79% voting interest. Embratel offers a full range of telecom services across Brazil, including local and long distance telephony, advanced voice, high-speed data transmission, Internet, satellite data communications, and corporate networks. Its nationwide fiber network extends approximately 29,000 km.

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Cox Launches VOD Services with Concurrent's 4G MediaHawk

Cox Communications has launched VOD in two of its metro markets (New Orleans and Omaha) using Concurrent's 4th Generation (4G) MediaHawk On-Demand Platform. This represents the most recent launch of Cox Entertainment on Demand service for Cox Motorola-based cable systems. Concurrent's platform supports Movies-On-Demand (MOD), Subscription VOD (SVOD), Free-On-Demand (FOD), Long-Format Advertising (LFA), network-basked Digital Video Recording (NDVR) and high-definition VOD (HDVOD), as well other new applications and services. http://www.ccur.com

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PointOne Debuts Wholesale Residential and SOHO VoIP

PointOne is launching new VoIP services for the residential and SOHO (small office/home office markets) markets. PointOne will make the StarPoint IP service immediately available to cable operators throughout the U.S. PointOne has been conducting service trials since October. Since September 2000, PointOne has built out an advanced converged voice and data network that covers 75% of the U.S. population.



The residential broadband telephony service provides long distance and local voice, including e911, directory assistance and operator services • Enhanced features include call waiting, call return, call forward, caller ID/ID block • Voice mail: receive and check via toll free access or existing email • 3 -- way conferencing and a service provider web portal for automated subscriber activation and management. The VoIP service for small enterprises includes all the residential features, plus abbreviated dialing, call hunt, reservationless conferencing -- multiway, auto attendant, and free fax line. http://www.pointone.com

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RAD Introduces TDMoIP Solution for MSOs

RAD Data Communications introduced a unique IPMux product that provides voice and T1/E1 circuit emulation services over cable HFC/metro infrastructures. A second Vmux product combines TDMoIP with voice compression to very efficiently deliver T1/E1 commercial voice services over DOCSIS cable modems with greater resiliency to packet loss and significantly better bandwidth utilization than VoIP. RAD said its TDMoIP is transparent to signaling protocols, ensuring support for existing, rich PBX features sets, as well as carrier class 5 telephony features, including Centrex.
The company claims its compressed voice solution requires only 100 Kbps for a full T1 (24 Voice Channels) over DOCSIS cable modems. http://www.rad.comwww.TDMoIP.com

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Finisar to Acquire Infineon Fiber Optics Business

Finisar agreed to acquire Infineon's fiber optics business unit 135 million shares of Finisar common stock. The acquisition transaction implies a valuation of US$263 million based on the closing share price as of 28-April-2004. Following the transaction, Infineon will hold a 38% equity interest in Finisar. Infineon's fiber business is based in Munich, Germany. Finisar is based in Sunnyvale, California.



The acquisition involves the transfer of Infineon's fiber optic development, manufacturing, and certain marketing activities and approximately 1,200 employees. The Infineon Fiber Optics Business Unit develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of fiber optic datacom and telecom modules supporting the common MSA standards, BIDI components that allow bi-directional transmission on a single fiber for fiber-to-the-home applications (FTTH) and Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) components that are used in automotive applications, specifically, for media and safety systems.



"This combination will be an important step in the ongoing consolidation of the fiber optic market," said Thomas Seifert, CEO of Infineon's Wireline Communications Business Group. "In Finisar, we have found an excellent strategic partner with a mutual interest in securing the future of the Fiber Optics Business unit. As one of the largest pure-play optical components companies, the combined forces will be able to provide more flexibility, broader product portfolio and cost efficiency to meet our customer requirements."http://www.finisar.comhttp://www.infineon.com

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Corvis Reports $146.8 Million in Revenue

Corvis Corporation reported Q1 revenues of $146.8 million, generated primarily from communications services revenues recorded by its subsidiary, Broadwing Communications, as well as from equipment sales to the U.S. government and Qwest Communications. The Broadwing Communications services division contributed $141.7 million in recorded revenues in the first quarter. The remaining $5.1 million was generated from the company's equipment and equipment service contracts. Reported net loss for the quarter was $33.9 million, or $0.07 loss per share, for the current quarter as compared with a reported net loss of $47.0 million, or $0.12 loss per share, for the first quarter of 2003. http://www.corvis.com

• In March 2004, Corvis agreed to acquire Chicago-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) Focal Communications for $210 million. The deal is comprised of approximately $101 million in equity to be issued to Focal's existing equity holders and the assumption of about $109 million of Focal's existing debt and other obligations.



• Focal Communications, which operates in 23 Tier 1 markets across the U.S., claims 4,000 enterprise and wholesale/carrier customers for its CLEC services. Focal also has its own metro fiber footprint in nine Tier 1 national markets. Focal expects to report annual revenues of approximately $320.0 million for fiscal 2003. As of December 31, 2003, Focal had cash and cash equivalents of $24.9 million.

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Nokia Powers Orange 3G Launch in Toulouse

Orange France has launched its first pre-commercial 3G network in Toulouse using a complete Nokia radio-access network solution. This is the first pre-commercial launch of 3G in France. In addition to Toulouse, Nokia is also supplying its WCDMA 3G network to the north, east and southwest regions of France. In coming weeks, launches of Nokia-supplied networks will take place in these regions and in the UK. Nokia is also providing its professional services for the project.



To date, Nokia is a supplier to nine of the 21 commercial WCDMA networks in the world. In addition, Nokia has 39 public 3G references and is rolling out 26 WCDMA 3G networks in 15 countries. http://www.nokia.com

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Cox Continues Circuit-Switched Telephony Rollout

Cox Communications is preparing to launch its Digital Telephone in Northern Virginia beginning next month to compete with the incumbent local carrier, Verizon. Cox will be using circuit-switched technology in Northern Virginia. Cox's Northern Virginia cable system includes franchises in Fairfax County and Fredericksburg. Cox said it is already the third largest local exchange carrier in Virginia, with existing service in two other Cox markets - Hampton Roads and Roanoke.



This marks the 13th telephony market nationwide for Cox. Cox Digital Telephone has more than 1 million residential and commercial customers across 12 telephone markets. http://www.cox.com

• In December 2003, Cox Communications launched its first VoIP-based cable telephony service in Roanoke, Virginia. The VoIP architecture provides lifeline service, including Enhanced 911 and features such as call waiting, caller ID and voice mail. Cox's self-managed VoIP architecture also supports number portability, thereby enabling customers to switch their existing phone number over to Cox Digital Telephone service.



• Cox Communications has implemented VeriSign's NetDiscovery Service to help ensure compliance of its VoIP-based cable telephony services with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). CALEA requires carriers to assist Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in lawfully authorized surveillance. To comply, carriers often have to purchase dedicated hardware, have trained operation staff and are called upon to maintain connectivity with a variety of LEAs.

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ClearPath Delivers Enterprise VPN Appliance / Service

ClearPath Networks introduced the first in a line of enterprise-class network security appliances for the small and medium business (SMB) market. ClearPath, which operates a nationwide MPLS/ATM backbone, offers managed network services that can integrate access links from various third-party carriers and provide an end-to-end QoS environment.



The company's new Secure Network Access Platform "SNAP" provides a range of capabilities, including: Secure Site-to-Site VPN connectivity, remote access VPN, firewall protection, Intrusion Detection & Prevention, antivirus scanning, content filtering, and network management, monitoring & reporting.



The SNAP VPN appliance leverages the company's web-based management and monitoring tool, which provides the ability to track bandwidth utilization to and from the device, latency, packet delivery, and jitter intervals. In addition, network settings may be adjusted, in real-time, through a graphic user interface (GUI) that provides visibility and control over the network environment from any Internet-enabled web browser.



The first two members of the SNAP VPN family -- the 1200 and 1400 series -- support 10 users/10 concurrent encrypted VPN tunnels and 25 users/30 tunnels, respectively. ClearPath is also introducing SNAP VPN usage based pricing. Per user pricing starts at $49 per month, and is discounted as additional users are added. The SNAP VPN equipment starts at $595 for the 1200 series, and $895 for the 1400 series. http://www.clearpathnet.com

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France Telecom Adds 770,000 DSL Lines in Q1

As of 31-March-2004, France Telecom was serving over 4.1 million ADSL lines, up from 3.3 million at 31-Dec-2003 and up from 1.8 million at the same time in 2003. This represents nearly 770,000 additional ADSL lines activated during Q1 2004.



Of the 4.1 million total ADSL lines, Wanadoo was serving 2.042 million lines; third party ISPs were serving 1.618 million lines, and 456,000 were being delivered over unbundled local loops.



France Telecom's consolidated Q1 2004 revenues were EUR 11.45 billion, compared to EUR 11.4 billion for Q1 2003 on a historical basis (EUR 10.9 billion on a comparable basis). This represents a 4.8% increase on a comparable basis (0.6% on a historical basis).



The increase in revenues was attributed to Orange and Wanadoo, which recorded increases of 12.1% and 15.3% respectively, on a comparable basis, and 9.9% and 12.2% on a historical basis. Revenues for the Fixed, Distribution, Networks, Large Customers and Carriers segment experienced a limited decrease of 0.6% on a comparable basis and of 0.7% on a historical basis. Revenues in France from ADSL were EUR 239 million for Q1 2004 (excluding unbundling), compared to EUR 157 million for Q1 2003, an increase of more than 50%.



Revenues from Consumer Services recorded a decline of 3.1% on a comparable basis (a decrease of 3.2% on a historical basis). The impact of lower prices (calls from fixed to mobile phones; unlisted number service free of charge since August 2003) and the continued decline in market share are partly compensated by fast-paced growth in ADSL service in France (sales to Wanadoo France).



Business Services recorded a 4.3% decline in revenues on a historical basis (a decline of 4% on a comparable basis) due to a decrease in revenues from voice calls, reflecting increased competition, particularly the development of alternative local loops in dense areas. Meanwhile, the growth in volume of business networks has continued, accompanied by fast migrations to new technology: the number of IP VPN accesses has more than doubled in one year, and represented 28% of Business Internet accesses at 31-March-2004, compared to 16% one year earlier.



Revenues from Networks and Carrier Services increased sharply compared to Q1 2003, rising 12.4% on a comparable basis and 12.3% on a historical basis, compared to an annual decline of 0.3% in 2003. This significant improvement was due mainly to strong growth in the installed ADSL base in France (wholesale services for third-party ISPs and operators), as well as to the unbundling of telephone lines.



Equant revenues decreased 4.2% on a comparable basishttp://www.francetelecom.com

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Siemens SURPASS Softswitch Gains PacketCable Status

Siemens' Surpass hiQ 8000 softswitch was awarded the PacketCable 1.0 qualification by CableLabs. The Siemens Surpass hiQ 8000 softswitch successfully completed an extensive series of interoperability tests as a Call Management Server (CMS). The CMS functions as a softswitch in the PacketCable architecture and performs many critical functions necessary for voice communications, including connection management, implementation of subscriber features, and call accounting. http://www.siemens.com

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Scientific-Atlanta Adds Viewership Measurement to Set-tops

Scientific-Atlanta introduced new Operations Support System (OSS) featuring tools to help cable operators insight into consumers' viewership habits and for proactive monitoring of set-top and network performance at the subscriber's TV set. The new "Retriever" application also includes automated backup, disaster recovery, revenue assurance and VoIP launch applications.



The viewership measurement tool collects data based on the consumer's "clicks" of the set-top remote - every time a new channel is selected, the activity is logged at the set-top for eventual relay to the headend data collection server. Scientific-Atlanta said that in order to protect the consumer's privacy and operate within the boundaries established by the Cable Communications Act of 1984, its application can aggregate the set-top viewership data it receives into a trends-based report for geographic node areas or by zip code. The viewership data is encrypted and stripped of customer-specific information before it is sent to a headend server for aggregation. http://www.scientificatlanta.com

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New Specifications Support ATM at Edge of MPLS Cores

The ATM Forum has released two new specifications to help service providers leverage the benefits of ATM at the edge of their networks while deploying MPLS as part of their core network consolidation.



The new specifications enable ATM routing and signaling (PNNI and AINI) to be extended among ATM networks attached to an MPLS core, thus maintaining the availability and resource efficiency of ATM services. MPLS can thereby be used as a transport for the existing ATM traffic without potentially costly changes being made to the network edge.



The new specifications describe how to continue supporting current ATM SVC & SPVC services, and other services that depend on them, together with ways to support ATM Quality of Service.



The two new specifications are available for download on The ATM Forum website:



ATM-MPLS Network Interworking, Version 2.0 ftp://ftp.atmforum.com/pub/approved-specs/af-aic-0178.001.pdf

ATM-MPLS Network Interworking Signalling Specification 1.0 ftp://ftp.atmforum.com/pub/approved-specs/af-cs-0197.000.pdfhttp://www.atmforum.com

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Extreme and Avaya Meet DoD Interoperability Requirements

Extreme Networks and Avaya demonstrated an IP telephony solution that was rigorously tested by the DoD's Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC). Testing by the U.S. Department of Defenses' Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) have determined that Extreme Networks' switching solutions, when combined with Avaya's media servers, gateways and the Avaya Communication Manager, met the critical interoperability requirements for certification and use by national defense agencies. JITC certification is required for all products that support voice, data or video communications connecting to the Defense Switched Network. The combined solution leverages Avaya's IP telephony and Extreme's high-performance IP data network infrastructures. http://www.extremenetworks.com/http://www.avaya.com

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CWA Union Members Vote SBC Strike Authorization

Members of the Communications Workers of America working at SBC Communications voted overwhelmingly to give CWA leaders authorization to call a strike if they deem it necessary. The union reported that 90% of the 100,000 CWA-represented workers at SBC voted in favor of the strike authorization.



Contract negotiations currently are underway covering SBC operations in 13 states: Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, California and Nevada.



For a strike to take place, the next step would be for CWA's 18-member executive board to authorize President Morton Bahr to set a strike date. http://www.cwa-union.org

• Earlier this month, The Communications Workers of America issued a 30-day notice that its union members working at SBC Communications may go on strike if a new contract is not reached. CWA's local unions at SBC will begin the strike authorization vote among their members, with the results to be announced on April 29. If members vote to strike, the next step would be for CWA's executive board to authorize CWA's president to set the strike date.



• The union alleges that SBC is not addressing workers' concerns about employment security, noting that CWA members are seeking limits on excessive subcontracting as well as gaining access for workers to jobs in growth areas of the company. SBC is outsourcing thousands of jobs in such areas as call centers, DSL tech support and others. Much of this work is being sent by contractors offshore to India and other countries. Health care is another issue.

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BellSouth Rejects AT&T Proposal

BellSouth quickly rejected AT&T's UNE-p proposal, describing it as "a desperate attempt to perpetuate the regulatory scheme that was vacated by the D.C. Circuit Court on March 2, 2004."



BellSouth also announced the signing of long-term commercial agreements with three carriers including Dialogica Communications Inc., International Telnet and CI2 for the provisioning of wholesale local phone services throughout the nine-state BellSouth region. BellSouth further noted that since the FCC's call for the negotiation of commercial agreements, it has executed nondisclosure agreements with over 60 telecommunications carriers. These non-disclosure agreements set the framework for ongoing, private negotiations of commercial terms. http://www.bellsouth.com

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Foundry Networks Reports Revenue of $104 Million

Foundry Networks reported Q1 revenue of $104.0 million, compared to $91.1 million in the first quarter of 2003. Foundry earned net income of $19.9 million, or $0.14 per diluted share in the first quarter, compared to net income of $13.4 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2003.



"We saw several positive signs during the quarter. Our domestic business improved, sales to the Federal Government remained strong and continued to represent more than 30% of our revenues, and most regions performed to our expectations. However, our revenues in Japan, which reached record levels in 2003, were below our expectations in the first quarter. We believe this was due to the timing of several service provider follow-on orders through our largest customer/reseller in Japan, Mitsui," said Bobby Johnson, President and CEO of Foundry Networks. http://www.foundrynetworks.com

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MCI Trims 2004 Earnings Guidance

MCI issued new financial guidance for 2004, saying it now expects to generate revenue at the lower end of previous guidance of $21 billion to $22 billion. In 2003, the company reported revenue of $27.3 billion, which included $3.0 billion from Embratel. MCI announced in March 2004 its plans to sell its Embratel interest and, accordingly, will classify Embratel as a discontinued operation in the second quarter of 2004. The projections for 2004 exclude the operations of Embratel. Some main points:

• revenue from the company's global, high-end enterprise and government markets businesses to decline approximately 7% versus 2003, outperforming the overall Business Markets segment, which remains exposed to a challenging wholesale pricing environment. Overall Business Markets revenue is expected to decline 12% to 14% compared to 2003 revenue of $14.1 billion.



• International revenue is expected to decline 2% in 2004, reflecting stable volumes in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA), new entries into emerging markets and an assumed favorable effect of foreign currency exchange. In 2003, International revenue (excluding Embratel) was $3.9 billion. MCI continues to operate the largest facilities-based network, with the highest number of Company-owned points-of-presence of any international carrier.



• Mass Markets revenue is expected to decline 20% to 25%, reflecting the negative impact of Do Not Call legislation, increasing wireless substitution and ongoing pricing pressure. To offset these challenges, the company's Mass Markets group will continue to focus on U.S. local services and expects to launch a VOIP initiative this year. In 2003, MCI's Mass Markets revenue was $6.4 billion.



• capital expenditures for 2004 are expected to equal approximately 5% of revenue. MCI is expanding its MPLS footprint that supports the convergence of voice and data, as well as investing in network security products and advanced applications features.

Further details were also provided. http://www.mci.com

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Level 3 Reaffirms 2004 Business Outlook

Level 3 reported Q1 revenue of $899 million, compared to $988 million for Q4 2003. Communications revenue was $389 million versus $399 million for the previous quarter, and information services revenue was $494 million compared to the seasonally strong fourth quarter revenue of $565 million. The net loss for Q1 2004 increased to $147 million or $0.22 per share compared to a net loss for the previous quarter of $121 million or $0.18 per share. Included in the net loss for Q1 2004 was a $23 million gain on the sale of the company's remaining investment in Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises, Inc., or $0.03 per share. Included in the net loss for the previous quarter was a $37 million gain on extinguishment of debt and a $38 million tax benefit.



"Despite a challenging market environment, we are pleased with our market share gains and customer wins, including the government sector, as well as our improved operating margins in the first quarter," said James Q. Crowe, CEO of Level 3. "Consistent with the past few quarters, Level 3 continues to focus on launching new services and is gaining momentum in our addressable markets. We are encouraged by the initial response from our distribution partners and their customers, and expect to benefit from the continued migration of voice from traditional circuit-switched services to softswitch-based VoIP services."http://www.level3.comIn April 2004, Level 3 Communications acquired the wholesale dial access business of ICG Communications for approximately $35 million in cash. The business unit provides dial-up Internet access to America Online, EarthLink, MSN, United Online and other leading ISPs.

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AT&T Proposes Roadmap to Facilities-based Competition

AT&T issued a public proposal to the each of the four Bell companies offering a new roadmap to facilities-based local competition. AT&T is proposing increases in the price of UNE-P by at least $3 in phases over the next 2 1/2 years so as to impose a financial penalty on competitors that continue to rely on UNE-P. In exchange, however, competitors would be able to obtain operational and economic access to "last-mile" loop facilities on terms that are reasonable and fair.



AT&T said it would support UNE-P price increases in exchange for reasonable reductions in the costs and necessary improvements in the provisioning required to support facilities-based competition. The framework also provides incentives for AT&T to accelerate deployment of its own facilities.



If the agreement is accepted, AT&T would enter into long-term commercial wholesale agreements with the Bell companies that will accelerate facilities deployment by addressing operational barriers associated with the provisioning of unbundled loops, increasing prices for UNE-P facilities, and reducing costs associated with the use of unbundled loops.



As part of its public proposal, AT&T also published a term sheet for negotiations. http://www.att.com

• FCC Chairman Michael Powell issued a statement applauding AT&T's effort to move forward on the contentious issue of access to local phone network elements. Powell stated "In the long run, the transition to facilities-based competition holds out the best promise of real benefit to America's telephone consumers."

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Spirit Telecom Selects Alcatel IP Service Router

South Carolina-based Spirit Telecom will migrate its data network to an IP/MPLS backbone using Alcatel's IP service router. Specifically, Spirit will use the Alcatel 7750 Service Router (SR) and the Alcatel 5620 network management portfolio to converge the carrier's national network onto a single network. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.alcatel.comhttp://www.spirittelecom.com

• Earlier this month, Alcatel unveiled a number of hardware and software enhancements for its Alcatel 7750 IP/MPLS edge routing platform, including a new hierarchical QoS model, greater scalability and support for VPLS, new traffic engineering capabilities, channelized DS3 and OC-12 interfaces, new CALEA capabilities, a new mid-range chassis, CWDM capabilities, and support for 1000BaseTX SFP.

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Verilink to Acquire Larscom

Verilink Corporation agreed to acquire Larscom for approximately 6 million shares of Verilink common stock, with each Larscom share being converted into 1.166 Verilink shares, subject to certain adjustments. The deal is valued at about $26.5 million.



Larscom offers a range of metro access products, including optical edge access multiplexers for both TDM and Ethernet over SONET, integrated access devices (IADs), inverse multiplexers and CSU/DSUs. Larscom is based in Newark, California.



Verilink provides customer premises voice and data access solutions to service providers, strategic partners and enterprise customers. Its product line encompasses voice over packet and voice over TDM IAD solutions including VoIP, VoDSL and VoATM. Data only offerings include access routers, probes, CSU/DSUs, DACS and network monitoring solutions. Verilink is based in Madison, Alabama. http://www.verilink.comhttp://www.larscom.com

• Earlier this month, Larscom announced a significant software upgrade for its Orion 7400 Ethernet over SONET (EoS) multi-service access platform. New capabilities include: 1) Ethernet "Q-in-Q" VLAN Tagging support, 2) Advanced Ethernet Performance Management for Service monitoring, and 3) Dynamic WAN bandwidth allocation using LCAS capability. Additionally, the Orion 7400 Release 2 software breaks new ground by providing a full suite of SONET performance parameters for its 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, enabling providers to support a variety of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) by utilizing performance reporting capabilities.



• In June 2003, Larscom acquired VINA Technologies, a start-up supplier of integrated access devices.

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Multiservice Switching Forum Gains Members, Elects Officers

Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC), Cable & Wireless, Ericsson and Nortel Networks have joined the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF), a global association of service providers and system suppliers committed to developing and promoting open-architecture, multiservice switching systems. Applied Innovation, a network management solutions company and Holland's Teledata Networks, also joined the MSF this year.



The MSF also announced its board of directors for 2004 -- 2005:

• Byung-Sun Lee, Core Technology Group director at ETRI



• James McEachern, Succession Standards Strategy director at Nortel Networks



• Tatsuro Murakami, executive research engineer at NTT

Other MSF officers:

• Avri Doria, visiting researcher at ETRI was elected chairperson of the Technical Committee.



• Juliet Bates, systems architect in the Fixed Solutions Division at Alcatel was elected as vice chair of the Technical Committee.



• Neil Anderson, senior director of services at Spirent Communications, was reelected chairperson of the Marketing Awareness and Education Committee.



• Jason Grooms, vice president of sales at Leapstone Systems was reelected vice chairperson of the Marketing Awareness and Education Committee.



• Paul Drew, product manager at MetaSwitch was elected chairperson of the Architecture Working Group.



• Brian Down, director of network transformation at Marconi was elected chairperson of the MSF Management Advisory Group.

http://www.msforum.org/

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Lessons from Telecom Act of '96 -- Part II

"If Rip Van Winkle fell asleep in 1994 and woke up in 2004, he wouldn't think he'd missed a beat if telecom regulation was any guide," wrote Adam Thierer, Director or Telecommunications Studies at The Cato Institute, in testimony presented at the second day of hearing by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The good news, according to Thierer, is that, over this same time period, we have witnessed amazing strides in terms of technological progress, benefiting consumers in countless ways. The three highest priorities that he believes should frame future telecommunications policy are 1) Rationalizing regulatory classifications (2) dealing with jurisdictional matters and (3) getting FCC power and size under control.



Thierer argues that regulatory classification, such as Title II for common carriers, Title III for wireless, Title IV for cable, have been made irrelevant by technology convergence, pitting these formerly distinct sectors against one another in heated competition. He believes that these old walls could be torn down by adopting "the equivalent of a 'most favored nation' (MFN) principle for communications. In a nutshell, this policy would state that: Any communications carrier seeking to offer a new service or entering a new line of business, should be regulated no more stringently than its least regulated competitor."



On jurisdictional matters, Thierer observed that America's telecom market remains riddled with a patchwork of differing policies. He called for the country to "get serious" about adopting a national policy framework that pre-empts state and local regulations. His final "big picture" reform involves containing or cutting back the size and power of the FCC.



***



The United States is performing exceptionally poorly in broadband deployment, and more generally in local telecommunications services, reported Charles Ferguson, Senior Fellow of Economic Studies at The Brookings Institution, in his Senate testimony. Ferguson argued this underperformance raises national security concerns, puts a drag on the economy, and creates a social digital divide. He blames the dominant providers of local telecommunications for blocking "true competition and the development of a modern, open-architecture industry." Ferguson recommends: (1) a national broadband policy with the primary goals of establishing a competitive, open architecture industry; providing universal broadband service; and providing continuous improvements that keep pace with the information technology sector. (2) True mandatory unbundling of existing telephone and cable television local loops, including open-architecture access points analogous to those used in the Internet. Access rights should be expanded to all potential providers, rather than being restricted to common carriers as is the case under the 1996 Act. (3) Subsidies may be helpful. However, they must be linked to actual broadband use, and possibly restricted to services provided by non-dominant carriers. For example, a subsidy for each unbundled loop used for new broadband service, in exchange for low loop resale rates, would potentially be helpful. (4) Antitrust investigations and actions directed at the incumbent telephone firms should be seriously considered. (5) Reform of the FCC, DOJ antitrust division, and other Federal regulatory systems to improve the political independence, efficiency, and high technology expertise of Federal regulation and policymaking.



***



The broadband experience in Korea and Japan proves there was no Internet "bubble" and that the American Internet "bubble" was actually a crisis of policy, argued George Gilder, Senior Fellow for the Technology and Democracy Project at the Discovery Institute, in his Senate testimony. Gilder believes the Telecom Act of 1996 only succeeding in producing a "a carnival of lawyers, micro-mis-management by bureaucrats, price controls, the socialization of infrastructure, the screeching halt of innovation and investment in the "last-mile" local loop--and the Great Telecom and Technology Crash of 2000-2003."



Gilder also argued against the a new "big idea" in telecom regulation -- one he attributed to former FCC authority Kevin Werbach, Stanford law professor and technology author Lawrence Lessig, industry analyst Roxanne Googin, and IPioneer Vint Cerf. This new "big idea" is mandated open access to the logical layers of the network. Gilder contends that technology convergence will ultimately make it impossible to be neatly define and "quarantine" layers of the network. In his words, "The real threat to monopolize and paralyze the Internet is not the communications industry and its suppliers, but the premature modularizers and commoditizers, the proponents of the dream of some final government solution for the uncertainties of all life and commerce."



***



In his submitted testimony, Reed E. Hundt, the former Chairman of the FCC during the Clinton Administration, stepped around the debate about the extraordinarily prolonged judicial fights that resulted from the Telecom Act of 1996, instead highlighting some of the great innovations, productivity gains and overall market growth that nevertheless occurred since the Act was implemented. What comes next? Hundt noted that the rapid penetration of broadband in South Korea was supported by $1.5 billion in government subsidies to finance infrastructure build-out. More significantly, Hundt urged legislators to grant a modest amount of spectrum below 1 GHz to enable new wireless broadband applications that reach inside a building. He also urged that spectrum currently used for analog TV transmission be opened to wireless broadband use. http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1166

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MCNC Researchers Develop Just-In-Time Optical Protocol

Researchers at MCNC and North Carolina State University have developed a Just-in-Time (JIT) optical networking protocol for ultra-fast provisioning and management of all-optical network connections.



The JIT protocol provides out-of-band control signal processing to maximize set up time and optical switch bandwidth efficiency. Signal messages travel in advance of the data they are describing and undergo electro-optical conversion at each intermediate node. Switching elements inside the switches are configured for the incoming data (a tell-and-go approach), thus minimizing network latency by eliminating round-trip waiting time. In JIT, data remains transparent to the intermediate network, which means data channels being transmitted on individual wavelengths can convey analog (e.g. radar) and digital traffic in any format, data rate or modulation scheme. Significantly, time synchronization between network nodes is not required.



The developers claim the protocol represents a significant breakthrough in the transmission of high-capacity signals by addressing the frequency, availability and data rate challenges facing current and emerging bandwidth-intensive applications.



"JIT provides a mechanism to establish end-to-end optical connections in microseconds, where data can be as small as packets or as large as long-lived light paths," said Dan Stevenson, vice president of MCNC-RDI's Advanced Network Research Division. "Multi-wavelength, reconfigurable optical networks offer greater capabilities than current transport SONET and IP router technologies when applications need large data units to achieve and maintain sustained data rates as high as 10 gigabits per second."



The protocol was recently demonstrated for the FCC at the Naval Research Laboratory's Center for Computational Science. The demonstration transported uncompressed digital 1.5 Gbps High HDTV signals through an all-optical light path. The HDTV transmission required no conversion processing within the network as it remained in the all-optical data plane from source to destination. http://www.mcnc.org/rdi/index.cfm?fuseaction=news_item&id=305

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Cisco and Ericsson Sign Strategic Alliance

Cisco Systems and Ericsson announced a strategic alliance agreement to offer joint solutions for the wireline communications market. As a part of the multi-year agreement, the two companies will jointly define, integrate and offer multi-service network solutions.



Core network solutions offered under the alliance will be built around Ericsson's ENGINE softswitch portfolio and Cisco's core routing products. A broadband access offering will be based around Public Ethernet over DSL, using Ericsson's IP-based DSLAM, Ericsson's IP Service Engine and Cisco Systems' Ethernet Access Solutions and Ethernet Switches. http://www.cisco.comhttp://www.ericsson.com

• In February 2004, HP announced a worldwide agreement with Ericsson to jointly deliver a unified communications solution for businesses. The solution converges both telephony and information technology infrastructures, as well as service provider and private enterprise networks. The companies said their converged solution would also integrate with mobile services that are provided through wireless operators.



• Ericsson has an existing sales agreement with Juniper Networks.

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Russia Launched its Second Express AM11 Satellite

The Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) successfully launched its second "Express AM11" satellite this week on a Proton launch vehicle from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. The satellite is equipped with 32 C-band transponders (including 6 onboard spares) and 6 Ku-band transponders (2 spares), along with a fixed antenna and two mobile spotbeam antennas. It will be used for television, telephone and data transmission services over an area spanning Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Asia. Two additional Express AM satellites are planned.



Alcatel Space supplies Express AM satellite payloads to prime contractor NPO-PM. Collaboration between France and Russia started a dozen years ago through industrial agreements between Alcatel and NPO-PM. http://www.alcatel.com

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Alcatel Launches VoIP-based Push To Talk Application

Alcatel introduced a Push To Talk (PTT) application as part of its IP multimedia communication portfolio. The Alcatel Push To Talk is a VoIP streaming service that turns a mobile phone into a Walkie-Talkie in GPRS and UMTS networks.



Alcatel said its PTT solution can run on a wide variety of handsets already commercialized and equipped with this function. It is based on industry standards such as SIP for signaling and RTP for voice broadcasting. This follows the early specifications of the OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) and uses the capabilities of the IMS (IP Multimedia Sub-system) as specified by 3GPP. http://www.alcatel.com

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France's Cegetal Tests Alcatel's 8 Mbps SHDSL

Cegetel, France's first alternative national fixed telecommunications operator, has activated an 8 Mbps DSL link between two pilot sites located in Paris and Lyon. The rate is four times the market standard DSL service. The deployment uses Alcatel's SHDSL technology, aggregating 4 copper pairs (2 Mbps each) into a single 8 Mbps link. The aggregation ability is made possible by the simultaneous use of SHDSL technology and inverse multiplexing ATM. The first 8 Mbps SHDSL link allows Cegetel and Alcatel to confirm high network performance, in particular back and forth data transfer, in less than 20 milliseconds. http://www.alcatel.com

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Foundry Hires Force10 Sales Exec

Foundry Networks appointed James F. Brear as vice president of U.S. sales, western area. Brear joins Foundry from Force10 Networks, where he served as vice president of worldwide sales. Prior to his tenure at Force10, Brear spent five years at Cisco Systems, including serving as operations director for Service Provider sales in the UK. http://www.foundrynetworks.com

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AFC Reports Q1 Revenue of $92.8 Million

AFC reported quarterly revenue (GAAP) of $92.8 million. Revenues generated by North American Access (NAA), a business unit of Marconi Communications, were included in the results from the 20-Feb-2004 acquisition date through quarter end. Revenues in Q4 2003 were $84.8 million. Revenues for the first quarter of 2003 were $80.5 million. Net loss for Q1 2004 was $2.7 million, or $0.03 loss per share. The first quarter of 2004 included costs associated with the acquisition of NAA. Net income in the fourth quarter of 2003 was $5.7 million, or $0.06 per share. http://www.afc.com

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Level 3 Provides MPLS Backbone for Teliris' Virtual Meetings

Level 3 Communications will provide MPLS-based data networking and other services to Teliris Ltd., a leading provider of virtual meeting solutions to corporate customers. Level 3 is supporting Teliris' "GlobalTable" service in both North America and Europe. GlobalTable is a multi-screen, multi-location conferencing solution that offers DVD-quality video and audio, signal delay below perceptible thresholds, and real-time collaboration tools.



Specifically, Teliris is using (3)Flex, a high-performance data networking service from Level 3 that delivers "the same reliability and security as traditional ATM with the economics of Internet Protocol."



Teliris has also purchased colocation from Level 3 in London to establish a new a Video Network Operations Center (VNOC). Teliris uses the VNOC to manage and monitor conference scheduling, conference set-up, reporting and diagnostics.http;//www.Level3.com

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Time Warner Telecom Cites Challenging Environment

Time Warner Telecom reported $161.6 million in Q1 revenue and a net loss of $(38.8) million compared with revenue of $165.0 million and a net loss of $(33.3) million or $(.29) per share for the same period last year. During the quarter, the company grew its enterprise revenue by $12 million, which was offset by a reduction in carrier and related party revenue of $12 million and a reduction in intercarrier compensation of $3 million. There was a $9.9 million net decrease from carriers and ISPs. The company said it continues to experience a high level of service disconnections, which resulted in the loss of $2.4 million of monthly revenue for the quarter versus $2.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2003.



"This continues to be a challenging environment for us, however, I believe we are on the right path with our current initiatives," said Larissa Herda, Time Warner Telecom's, Chairman, CEO and President. http://www.twtelecom.com

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Comcast Reports Continued Growth

Comcast reported "robust demand" for its services in Q1, as evidenced by the addition of 35,000 basic cable subscribers in the quarter, continuing the trend of steady growth in its core business for the fifth quarter in a row, and growth of 192,000 in the number of digital cable subscribers. The company said its revenue growth is being driven by consumers' increasing demand for new digital features and services, including VOD, HDTV and digital video recorders (DVRs).



Financially, Comcast Cable reported revenue of $4.647 billion for the quarter, representing a 9.8% increase from the $4.231 billion in the first quarter of 2003. Video revenue increased 6.7% driven by a 6.0% increase in average monthly revenue per subscriber.



Some highlights for Q1

• Comcast ON DEMAND is now available in 29 markets.



• HDTV is now available to 91% of the company's basic cable customers. During Q1, 176,000 subscribers signed up for Comcast's HDTV service to finish the quarter with 469,000 HDTV customers, a 60% increase from Q4 2003.



• DVRs are being rolled out in 14 markets. Comcast said early adoption rates are encouraging. DVRs will be available in every Comcast market by the end of this year.



• Revenues for cable modem service increased 41.9% to $698 million for Q1. Comcast Cable added 394,000 HSD customers to finish the first quarter with nearly 5.7 million subscribers, representing a penetration rate of 15.7%. Average monthly revenue per subscriber was $42.46 in the first quarter of 2004, relatively stable with the first quarter of 2003 and a 2.7% increase over the $41.33 reported in Q4 2003. The company added over 1.4 million homes to its the high-speed Internet service footprint in Q1, making the service now available to 36 million or 90% of its overall network.



• Cable phone revenue declined 20.3% from 2003 to $178 million in Q1 2004, reflecting a 12.1% decrease in subscribers to 1.2 million and a 9.5% decline in average monthly revenue per subscriber to $47.34.

Separately, Comcast withdrew its proposal to merge with Disney, citing a lack of interest "on the part of Disney's management and Board in putting Comcast and Disney together."http://www.comcast.com

• For Q4 2003, Comcast cable revenue was $4.507 billion, representing an 8.6% increase over the $4.149 billion in the fourth quarter of 2002. Comcast Cable added 70,000 basic cable subscribers and over 383,000 digital cable subscribers during the quarter. Comcast ended 2003 with 5.3 million cable modem customers, compared to 4.9 million at the preceding quarter. In Q3, Comcast added 472,000 new cable modem customers. The high-speed Internet penetration rate reached 15.2%.

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British Government Considers Future of Telecom Sector

Ofcom, the official telecom market regulator for the UK, is launching a wide ranging Strategic Review of the UK telecommunications sector. The Review will assess the options for enhancing value and choice in the sector and will have a particular focus on assessing the prospects for maintaining and developing effective competition in UK telecommunications markets, while having regard for investment and innovation. The Review is expected to consider whether and how BT might be required to open up its network, as well as rules for VoIP.



The UK government licensed the first competitor (Mercury) in 1980s and encouraged the company to build its own network. From 1994 to 1997, the regulator at that time (Oftel) favored competition between fixed-line companies that owned their own networks - and particularly those with networks that actually came into homes and offices, such as cable operators. Oftel also licensed two extra mobile networks, so that there were four network operators competing from the mid-1990s. However, in the mid-1990s Oftel was less favourable to companies that did not own a network. In fact, it has only been since 1998 that regulation has made it easier for service providers such as Centrica and Carphone Warehouse to launch phone-call services.



Ofcom noted that telecom competition today is alive and well in some sectors, but less available in others. For example, there are five mobile network operators, plus others which offer services by using another company's network. On the other hand, BT has an 80% share of the residential phone market, and supplies most business lines as well. For Internet access, it seems at first glance that there's a whole variety of internet service providers (such as AOL and Freeserve) supplying narrowband and broadband services to homes and offices. However, almost all of them use just one of two networks to bring those services to you - the cable networks, upgraded with cable modems, or DSL, provided by BT.



Public input is sought by 22-June-2004. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/current/telecoms_review/

• In response, BT said it welcomes Ofcom's comprehensive review of the UK telecoms sector, noting that the UK market is one of the most highly competitive in the world with over 350 other licensed operators as well as a host of successful mobile operators. BT observed that the country also has a vibrant cable infrastructure passing 13 million homes. BT claims that it currently accounts for 35% of the total UK calls market by value.



• BT believes that one of the key issues for Ofcom must be to create the proper environment to encourage investment. "Those who take the risk must have some certainty about the level of reward. A proper investment environment is crucial if the UK is to have a communications infrastructure fit for the new technologies and services that people and businesses want. The next generation of networks, enabling communications between a variety of devices, will not build itself."

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Nortel Networks Replaces Executive Team

Nortel Networks named William Owens as its new president and CEO, replacing Frank Dunn, who was dismissed "for cause." Nortel Networks also fired its former chief financial officer, Douglas Beatty, and former controller, Michael Gollogly, both of whom had been placed on paid leave of absence by Nortel Networks on 15-March-2004. Four other individuals who were senior line of business finance executives have also been placed on leave of absence.



Nortel Networks Audit Committee has been undertaking an independent review of the circumstances leading to the restatement of Nortel Networks financial statements for 2000, 2001 and 2002 and the first and second quarters of 2003. Although the review is ongoing, the company has determined that financial results for 2003 will need to be revised. It has also determined that Nortel Networks will need to restate the financial results reported in each of its quarterly periods of 2003 and for earlier periods including 2002 and 2001. These restatements are likely to include:

• a reduction of approximately 50% in previously announced net earnings for 2003; these amounts will largely be reported in prior periods, resulting in a reduction in previously reported net losses for such periods including 2002 and 2001;



• a reported net loss for the first half of 2003 compared to the previously announced net earnings for that period;



• no material impact to prior period revenues; and



• no material impact to the Company's cash balance as at December 31, 2003.

In a statement, Nortel Networks' Board of Directors said the action was "about accountability for our financial reporting and are in the best interests of the Company and all of its stakeholders, including our investors, customers and employees."



The new CEO, William Owens, has been a director of Nortel Networks since February 2002. Until this appointment, he was the chairman and CEO of Teledesic LLC, a satellite communications company.



Nortel Networks also announced the appointments of William Kerr as chief financial officer and MaryAnne Pahapill as controller have been made permanent. http://www.nortelnetworks.com

• Teledesic, a broadband satellite venture backed by Bill Gates, Craig McCaw Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, The Boeing Company and others, suspended its development work in September 2002.

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BT Reduces Wholesale Broadband Migration Costs

BT is reducing the prices it charges other service providers when they sign up broadband customers from other suppliers. BT is also making it cheaper for service providers to move their existing customer base from a BT IPStream based service to one based on BT DataStream. Migration prices will fall to £11 per end user from May 1. The cost of switching a customer from one BT IPStream based supplier to another has fallen from £35 per end user, whereas the cost of moving a customer from a BT IPStream based service to one based on BT DataStream has come down from £50 per end user.



BT IPStream is a wholesale ADSL product sold to internet service providers (ISPs). In simple terms, it is an end-to-end wholesale broadband service that ISPs use to sell on to their end user customers.



BT DataStream is an ATM transport product which tends to be bought by other network operators. These alternative network operators can then use their own ATM and IP networks to sell services directly or indirectly through their ISP customers to consumers and businesses. http://www.btplc.com

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Broadcom Ships 2nd Generation DOCSIS 2.0 Chip

Broadcom introduced its next generation single-chip cable modem solution -- a DOCSIS 2.0-based cable modem chip that addresses the increased performance and reliability demands of data, voice and gateway modem designs. The device is Broadcom's second generation DOCSIS 2.0 chip. Broadcom said cable modems using its new BCM3349 will operate 25% faster than modems using previous solutions, due to a new integrated processor performing at 250 MIPS, and will support individual modem throughput at the full-channel capacity of the DOCSIS 2.0 specification.



The DOCSIS 2.0 specification enables the tripling of upstream data capacity, from the consumer to the cable operator, creating a cable network that operates at up to 40 Mbps downstream and 30 Mbps upstream. http://www.broadcom.com

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BT Exact Names Former Qwest Exec as CEO

BT announced the appointment of Al-Noor Ramji as chief information officer of BT Group and chief executive officer of BT Exact. Ramji joins BT from Qwest Communications, where he held the position of executive vice president, chief information officer and chief e-commerce officer.



BT Exact is the carrier's research, technology and IT operations business. http://www.btplc.com

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WilTel Carries 4 Billion Voice Minutes per Month

WilTel Communications has enhanced its On-Net voice capabilities to enable its carrier customers to and terminate on-net voice traffic to Hawaii and Puerto Rico. WilTel said its network is delivering nearly 4 billion minutes each month -- double the traffic volume delivered by WilTel just one year ago -- for CLECs, IXCs, resellers and UNE-P carriers. WilTel's nationwide domestic voice network using Feature Group-D (FG-D) facilities originates and terminates 100% of all domestic traffic on-
net, and is not dependent on third party network providers.

In light of the FCC's recent ruling, customers can rest assured that traffic carried by WilTel originates and terminates on the PSTN and is routed to a FG-D-based solution," said Blaine Gilles, vice president of WilTel voice services and strategic markets. "In addition, we have already developed transport solutions for IP-originated voice traffic and plan to offer substantial enhancements to these services later this year."http://www.wiltel.com

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Verizon Wireless Spends $1 Billion in Q1 CAPEX

Verizon Wireless has invested more than $1 billion in the first quarter to install new cell sites, grow the network's capacity and engineer countless other service improvements.



Verizon Wireless serves some 39 million customers, operating more than 150 switching facilities and 20,500 cell sites. http://www.verizonwireless.com

• In March 2004, Verizon Wireless announced equipment contracts with Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies for the expansion of its BroadbandAccess 3G service across the U.S. The company also announced agreements with SK Telecom, Citrix and Zumasys. Verizon Wireless' BroadbandAccess, which will be launched in many major U.S. cities later this year, is powered by a CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) 3G technology. The network offers average user speeds of 300-500 kbps.

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Agere Reports Sales of $462 Million

Agere Systems reported quarterly sales of $462 million, up 4% over the year-ago quarter, and down 10% sequentially. The sequential decline was due primarily to the forecasted decrease in sales of 3G chipsets for mobile phones related to delays in 3G deployment. Net income (GAAP) was $74 million or $0.04 per share, compared to the year-ago net loss of $125 million or $0.08 per share, and a net loss of $39 million, or $0.02 per share, in the preceding quarter.



The quarter marked Agere's third consecutive quarter of positive cash flow from operations



Agere's Infrastructure Systems business reported revenues of $128 million, an increase over the year-ago quarter and up 8% sequentially, driven by growth across the business in wireless, wireline and enterprise applications. The company's Client Systems business reported revenues of $334 million, up 6% over the year-ago quarter, and down 16% sequentially, due primarily to the decrease in sales of 3G chipsets for mobile phones in the quarter. http://www.agere.com

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Scientific-Atlanta Offers VoIP Launch Service to MSOs

Scientific-Atlanta is launching a new "SciCare Broadband Service" to assist cable operators in areas that are critical to a successful VoIP rollout -- speed to market, quality of voice service and infrastructure assessment. The program includes:

Project Planning -- Business process and network consulting, VoIP service implementation process review, site evaluation and survey, and project planning workshop

Assessment Services -- Includes assessments of data network, voice network, security, HFC network, facilities and OSS integration

Design Services -- Complete documentation of each location, element modifications needed and remote site connectivity design

Staging Services -- Network elements can be collected at SciCare labs for system assembly, "rack and stack," burn in and preliminary parameter configuration

Solution Implementation -- Integrated, configured systems installed at customer locations, solution and element testing, on-site support, and issue management and resolution

Training Services -- Comprehensive curriculum designed for multiple levels of cable operator personnel; includes VoIP techniques, protocols, element configuration and practical applications, plus detailed engineering concepts

Post-Install Support -- Centralized issue management through troubleshooting and resolution with third-party vendors to release operators from post-install support burden. http://www.scientificatlanta.com/

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Connexion by Boeing and NTT DoCoMo to Link

Connexion by Boeing will make its in-flight, high-speed Internet service available to NTT DoCoMo's mZone wireless LAN service users. Airline passengers who have an Mzone account will enter their user identification and password to access the Connexion by Boeing service, and they will be able to subsequently receive their billing for service access as an add-on to their existing Mzone bill. The companies will also consider jointly developing new in-flight wireless services for international passengers. http://www.connexionbyboeing.comhttp://www.nttdocomo.com/

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UTStarcom Sees Record Revenues of $622.3 Million

UTStarcom reported Q1 sales of $622.3 million, an increase of 88% over net sales of $330.5 million reported in the first quarter of 2003. Net income for the first quarter of 2004 was $54.8 million, or $0.40 per share, compared to net income of $37.3 million, or $0.33 per share, for the first quarter of 2003, an increase in net income of 47% year-over-year.



During Q1, UTStarcom announced over $500 million in new contracts in China and signed $100 million in new contracts outside of China.



The number of UTStarcom PAS subscribers in China reached 26 million at the end of Q1, while total PAS subscribers in China are approximately 45 million.



Revenues for the second quarter are anticipated to be approximately 650-$660 million, with a 7% anticipated sequential increase targeted each quarter for the balance of the year. http://www.utstar.com

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Avaya Reports Revenue of $1.006 Billion

Avaya reported quarterly revenues of $1.006 billion, compared to $950 million in the same period last year. Income from continuing operations was $103 million, or 22 cents per diluted share, compared to a loss of $55 million, or a loss of 15 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year ago.



"We grew revenues, expanded operating margins and increased cash flow. At the same time, we completed the integration of Expanets a full quarter ahead of schedule, reduced debt and took further steps to globalize our business with the announcement of our intent to acquire a majority stake in Tata Telecom," said Don Peterson, chairman and CEO, Avaya. http://www.avaya.com

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Atheros' Revenues Up 14% Sequentially

Atheros Communications $43.1 million, compared with $37.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003, an increase of 14%. Gross margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2004 was 44.2%. Net income (GAAP) in Q1 was $2.4 million, or earnings of $0.05 per diluted share on 48.2 million average shares outstanding. This compares with a net loss of $0.2 million, or a loss of $0.02 per diluted share on 13.1 million average shares outstanding in Q4 2003. http://www.atheros.com

• Atheros completed its initial public offering (IPO) in February.

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SBC Yahoo! DSL Returns $26.95 a Month

SBC Communications returned its DSL promotional pricing to $26.95 a month when ordered online or through retail outlets as part of an SBC Total Connections bundle (other monthly charges apply). SBC local service and one year term required. The basic package provides downlink speeds of 384 Kbps - 1.5 Mbps and uplink of 128 Kbps. An SBC Yahoo! DSL Pro package. With pricing starting at $36.99 a month, delivers up to twice the bandwidth with 1.5 - 3.0 Mbps x 384 - 416 Kbps. (other monthly charges apply). http://www.sbc.com

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Marvell Ships 16 port- and 24 port- Managed GigE Devices

Marvell announced the availability of its high performance Prestera-DX160 and -DX240 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) packet processors with integrated SerDes interfaces. The new, Layer 2, managed-16 port and -24 port single-chip devices are targeted at the Small-to-Medium Business (SMB) market. Marvell also announced today that NETGEAR has selected the new Prestera - DX240 for their currently shipping GSM7224, a Layer 2 managed, 24-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch. http://www.marvell.com

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Force10 Networks Reports Accelerated Sales

Force10 Networks, a privately-held company based in Milpitas, California, reported that sales expanded at the fastest pace in the company's history during the first quarter, ending March 31. Force10 noted a diverse base of new customers, including service providers, educational institutions and companies in data intensive industries.



Force10 also announced promoted Mark Cooper to vice president of sales. Most recently, Cooper led Force10's worldwide alliance team as vice president for global alliances. Prior to Force10, he spent four years at Cisco Systems. http://www.force10networks.com

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Ikanos Closes over $15M Strategic Financing Round

Ikanos Communications, a start-up based in Fremont, California, the receipt of more than $15 million in Series E funding for its broadband silicon solutions. Ikanos recently announced that global shipments of its programmable chipsets surpassed two million ports since volume production began in Q4 2002, with orders more than doubling since October of last year. The company said its Fiber-over-Copper Extension technology now supports equipment in the world's most advanced carrier networks in Korea and Japan, with demand accelerating in Europe and North America. The Ikanos family of chipsets includes the Fx family for FTTP/FTTH over copper and the SmartLeap family for the VDSL-DMT over copper markets. These chipsets deliver Ethernet or ATM services at data rates up to 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream, or symmetrical rates of 50 Mbps over single-loop copper.



The new funding was led by Copan, a venture capital fund with offices in Munich, London, and Silicon Valley, and was joined by PMC-Sierra. Ikanos' current investors, including Greylock Partners, Intel Capital, JP Morgan, Ridgewood Capital, Sequoia Capital, Telesoft Partners, TL Ventures, Walden International and VentureTech Alliance (an affiliate of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) also participated. http://www.ikanos.com

• Ikanos' announced customers to date include Sumitomo Electric (SEI) and NEC (in Japan; ECI Telecom in Israel; Marconi, Siemens in Europe; Samsung, Dasan Networks, Woojyon Systec, and Millinet in Korea; and ZyXEL in Taiwan.



• In March 2004, Ikanos Communications introduced a programmable chipset aimed at extending FTTx deployments from a neighborhood site into homes over a final stretch of existing single copper pair. Carriers could deploy fiber to the neighborhood, curb, or building and take advantage of last-mile copper for 100 Mbps connections supporting voice, high-speed data and video, including High Definition Television (HDTV). Ikanos estimates that its strategy could greatly accelerate mass provisioning of FTTx services, while cutting CapEx per subscriber to as low as $300.Ikanos Communications introduced a programmable chipset aimed at extending FTTx deployments from a neighborhood site into homes over a final stretch of existing single copper pair. Carriers could deploy fiber to the neighborhood, curb, or building and take advantage of last-mile copper for 100 Mbps connections supporting voice, high-speed data and video, including High Definition Television (HDTV). Ikanos estimates that its strategy could greatly accelerate mass provisioning of FTTx services, while cutting CapEx per subscriber to as low as $300

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CableLabs Expands Lab To Assist Vendors

CableLabs has expanded its development laboratory facilities in order to accelerate product development for devices that are intended to interoperate under the CableLabs DOCSIS, PacketCable and CableHome specifications. CableLabs said its development lab concept is one that has been successful in support of CE Manufacturers that have worked aggressively to develop and to advance products intended to interoperate under the OpenCable and Plug-and-Play specifications. http://www.cablelabs.com

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Lessons from Telecom Act of '96

"Today's uncertain telecommunications policy landscape, wrought largely by rapidly developing technology, an outdated statutory framework unable to keep pace, and federal regulations mired in litigation from their outset, requires us to reexamine the very assumptions under which the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was put into law," said Senator John McCain (R-AZ) at the opening of special hearings by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. McCain, who chairs the Senate Committee, described the Telecom Act as a "fatally flawed piece of legislation, written by lobbyists" and in need of updating.



David Dorman, who headed Pacific Bell (now part of SBC Communications) at the time the Telecom Act was passed and who now serves as Chairman and CEO of AT&T, credited the 1996 Act for launching "the very valuable process of opening the telephone exchange market to competition." However, Dorman stressed that gains made over the past eight years are now under "mortal threat" by the recent court decision that invalidated the FCC's UNE-p rules. Dorman argued that access to the local networks of ILECs remains essential for competition. "While UNE-P and circuit-switched facilities are the "now" for competitors serving mass market consumers, VoIP is the future. VoIP holds the promise of choices and capabilities far beyond today's offerings..... But if national carriers cannot remain in the market today, they will not be able to generate the revenues they need to make the investments necessary to make this service a reality in the near future. VoIP will be yet another technology controlled by the Bells -- who held back DSL from consumers for some ten years so customers would have to take their other, higher priced services."



"The Telecom Act of 1996 went wrong in three key areas," testified Richard Notebaert, Chairman and CEO of Qwest Communications. First, it was far too complicated. Second, the regulatory process took too long, especially in view of today's market realities. For instance, Notebaert observed, when Qwest responded to consumer demand and filed for permission to provide stand-alone DSL, that process cost $130,000 and took 45 days. Third, the Telecom Act created greater uncertainty and this "ongoing limbo makes it impossible to raise capital, to build a business plan, or to justify infrastructure investment." Notebaert recommended that any future legislation take into account the fact that telecommunications--at least voice services--is a commodity. Future laws should also recognize that customers are embracing new technology -- such as VoIP -- now.



"The Telecom Act of 1996 is not perfect, but competition is working," testified James Geiger, CEO of Cbeyond Communications and Chairman of the Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS). Geiger pointed out that:

• Facilities-based CLECs invested nearly $75 billion from 1996 through 2003



• CLECs generate $46 billion in annual revenues, which is close to that of the cable industry



• CLECs employ nearly 60,000 in the U.S.



• CLECs currently serve 10 million access lines, in addition to the 19 million lines served by UNE-p carriers.



• After 8 years, CLECs have about 15% of the local market.

However, Geiger observed "I would have to count as a major deficiency of the 96 Act that it was not sufficiently clear in expressing Congress's view that broadband goals should be achieved by competition, not protecting incumbents from competition." His testimony warned that in current negotiations over local access lines the RBOCs are seeking "to impose unacceptable price increases for high-cap loops and transport by transitioning them to their special access rates."http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1164

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Verizon Adds 1.4 Million Wireless, 345,000 DSL Lines

Citing its highest year-over-year revenue growth in three years, Verizon Communications reported consolidated revenues of $17.1 billion, up 3.9% compared with $16.5 billion in Q1 2003. For the quarter, Verizon's reported earnings were $1.2 billion, or 43 cents per share.

"While Domestic Telecom revenues were down, we recognize that this is part of the evolution of our business model, and we are on track with where we want to be. It's significant that new growth businesses, such as wireless, data, long-distance and broadband, now account for more than half of our revenues," said Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon chairman and CEO. Some highlights from Q1.



Verizon Wireless:

• Verizon Wireless' retail customer base grew 15.8% year-over-year and represented 37.2 million of the company's 38.9 million total customers at the end of the quarter. Retail gross additions were up 8.6% over Q1 2003. Retail net additions were up 58.9% to 1.2 million -- a first-quarter record -- of the company's 1.4 million total net additions.
  
  
• Verizon Wireless is a net beneficiary of the local number portability (LNP) rules that went into effect in November 2003.



• Customer loyalty reached an all-time high, with record-low total churn of 1.60% for Q1 2004. Churn in the retail post-pay segment, which is 91% of the company's base, was 1.35%, about flat with the previous quarter.



• Average monthly service revenue per customer was $48, up 1.8% from Q1 2003. Service revenue for the quarter was $5.5 billion, up 18.0%. The company does not include taxes and regulatory fees in service revenue.



• Cash expense per customer decreased 2.9% over the prior-year first quarter. This is the third consecutive quarter in which cash expense per customer has declined over the preceding sequential quarter.



• Verizon Wireless' operating income margin of 19.5% for Q1 surpassed all quarters since the company was formed in April 2000. Quarterly operating income grew 37.5% year-over-year to $1.2 billion.



• Verizon Wireless moved forward with national deployment of its third-generation EV-DO network. The company committed to expanding its BroadbandAccess service to cover one-third of its network by the end of this year.



• Data services contributed more than 3.6% of first-quarter total service revenue, up from 3.2% in Q4 2003 and 1.5% in Q1 2003.



• For the quarter there were 2.1 billion text messages, 19 million "Get It Now" application and ringtone downloads and 21 million picture messages.

Domestic Telecom:

• Verizon's had a total of 2.7 million DSL lines at the end of Q1, up by 345,000 net additions for the quarter. In the quarter, the company continued to see declines in acquisition costs.



• Approximately 45% of Verizon's local wireline customers have chosen Verizon as their long-distance carrier.



• Approximately 51% of Verizon residential customers have purchased local services in combination with either Verizon long-distance or Verizon DSL, or both.



• The average revenue per month per Verizon residential wireline customer increased more than 5% in Q1 2004, compared with Q1 2003.



• Total revenues for high-capacity and data services were $1.9 billion in Q1 2004, a 2.9% increase compared with $1.8 billion in Q1 2003.



• Domestic Telecom's cash expenses, excluding net pension and OPEB expenses, were reduced from $6.1 billion in Q4 2003 to $5.7 billion in Q1 2004. The business unit saw more than a $200 million decrease year-over-year in wage and salary expenses, attributable to last year's voluntary separation plan. In addition, cost-effective e-commerce channels operated at company-record levels, with Verizon.com registering 328,000 wireline product sales in Q1 2004.



• In the first quarter, Verizon's Enterprise Solutions Group continued to increase the company's presence in the large-business market, offering advanced local and long-distance data services to Enterprise customers. The quarter included nearly 500 Enterprise Advance sales.

Information Services:

• Verizon Information Services (VIS) revenue of $999 million decreased 2.2% for Q1 2004 compared with Q1 2003, primarily due to reduced domestic print advertising revenue and the elimination of revenue from the 2003 sale of European operations.

International:

• First-quarter revenues were $468 million compared with $517 million in Q1 2003. This 9.5% decline primarily resulted from deteriorating foreign exchange rates in the Dominican Republic.

http://www.verizon.com

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U.S. Senate Looks for Lessons from Telecom Act of '96

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is holding two public hearings this week on "Lessons Learned from the Telecom Act of 1996." Senator McCain will preside. The tentative list of witnesses includes David Dorman, CEO of AT&T; Richard Notebaert, CEO of Qwest Communications; James Geiger, CEO of Cbeyond Communications; Adam Thierer, Director of Telecommunications Studies at The Cato Institute; Charles Ferguson, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; Reed E. Hundt, the former Chairman of the FCC during the Clinton Administration; and Raymond Gifford, president of the Progress & Freedom Foundation.



The sessions will be webcast live starting on Tuesday, April 27 2004 starting at 9:30 AM ESThttp://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1164

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Bush Calls for Internet Access Tax Ban

Noting that the U.S. now ranks 10th amongst industrialized nations in broadband availability, President George Bush issued a call for Congress to permanently ban taxes on Internet access. His speech also included passing references to government policies that would encourage carriers to invest in broadband. He also mentioned a need for standards that encourage broadband-over-powerline deployments. Bush also affirmed his support Michael Powell's chairmanship of the FCC. http://www.whitehouse.gov

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David Juliano Named President of Comcast Online

David Juliano has been promoted to president of Comcast Online, which handles the company's residential and commercial High-Speed Internet services.



Previously, Juliano served as the division's senior vice president and general manager. Since 1999, Comcast Online has grown under Juliano's leadership from 80 thousand customers to become the nation's number one broadband provider - with over 5.3 million customershttp://www.comcast.com

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Conexant Reports $243.8 Million in Revenue, up 38%

In its first earnings report following the completion of its merger with GlobespanVirata, Conexant Systems reported quarterly revenues of $243.8 million, up 38% over the preceding quarter and up 74% over the same period in 2003. The net loss for the quarter was $143.4 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $68.0 million, or $0.26 per diluted share in the preceding period.



The company cited strength in growth areas, which include products for DSL connectivity and wireless local area networking as well as digital set-top box and PC video solutions. This strength was partially offset by normal seasonal weakness in its universal access business.



Conexant also disclosed plans for approximately 200 job cuts. http://www.conexant.com

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Major Service Providers Join WiMAX Forum

The WiMAX Forum today announces that major service providers including BT, France Telecom Qwest Communications, Reliance Telecom and XO Communications have joined the organization. Service providers now make up nearly 25% of the WiMAX Forum membership. http://www.WiMAXForum.org

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Net2Phone and Navini Combine VoIP with Wi-Fi

Net2Phone has adapted its broadband VoIP telephony service to operate over Navini Networks' wireless broadband infrastructure equipment. Under a partnership, Net2Phone will offer VoIP telephony solutions to Navini's wireless broadband customers.



Net2Phone's wholesale VoiceLine service provides inbound and outbound calling with applications such as phone number selection, call waiting, caller ID and voice mail. Calls are routed over Navini's Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN) solution to Net2Phone's SIP-based platform, which performs call routing and management, supplies CLASS 5 features, provides billing and provisioning integration and distributes the infrastructure required for interconnecting onto and off of the PSTN. Customers can place and receive local, long distance and international phone calls miles from the Navini Ripwave Base Station while stationary or portable throughout Navini's wireless metropolitan area broadband network. http://www.net2phone.comhttp://www.navini.com

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Telica Adds Voice Routing Engine to its Softswitch

Telica has enhanced its Plexus 9000 and PLUS second generation softswitch family with a new Advanced Multi-key Routing application that allows service providers to route calls based on hundreds of parameters, including least-cost routing, time-of-day routing, class/quality of service routing, switch ID routing, domestic and international routing, and other factors. Telica said carriers could use this capability to define multiple routing plans that support individualized handling of each customer's traffic. Some examples include:

• Route voice calls based on quality of service per the subscriber directory number (DN), which allows a carrier to offer tiered pricing structures, especially for international calling plans.



• Allow the same called number to take two entirely different routes, depending on the originating DN or carrier.



• Choose call-by-call routing plans based on DN parameters for some calls and blanket plans for all calls offered on certain trunk groups. This allows subscribers and wholesale customers to be accommodated on the same switch.



• In-service routing modifications, which allow carriers to redirect traffic in real-time to take advantage of facility price fluctuations.



• Time sensitive and emergency override plans provide value-added services for terminating high traffic customers such as call centers or service bureaus. Calls can be redirected as required either by hour/day/day of week/holiday or for disaster recovery.



• Fraudulent calls can be detected by pre-screening against calling or called area codes, country codes, DNs, etc. and either noted with an alert or immediately blocked.

http://www.telica.com

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Alcatel Invests $15 Million in General Bandwidth

Alcatel has invested US$15 million in General Bandwidth, a start-up based in Austin, Texas that has developed a VoIP Media Gateway. The investment further strengthens the three-year OEM relationship between the two companies and allows for additional development enhancements to their joint FTTP and VoIP offerings. http://www.alcatel.comhttp://www.genband.com

• In December 2003, SBC Communications announced a four-year primary supplier agreement with Alcatel for SBC's FTTP initiative. As part of that supplier agreement, General Bandwidth provides the packetized voice technology to Alcatel for the SBC deployments.

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Allied Telesyn Goes Live with ADSL2+

Allied Telesyn announced the deployment of ADSL2+ technology in "Triple Play" networks at Vernon Telephone Cooperative in Westby, Wisconsin and Coon Valley Telephone Company in Coon Valley, Wisconsin. Allied Telesyn is delivering ADSL2+ in both its 9400 and 9700 Multiservice Access Platforms -- both of which use an "Any Service, Any Slot" architecture that simultaneously supports ADSL, ADSL2+ and FTTH. The platforms are complemented by Allied Telesyn's RG-634 residential gateway, which provides an ADSL2+ modem, VoIP ports, Layer 3 routing and IGMP. http://www.alliedtelesyn.com

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Qwest to Eliminate Access Charges on True VoIP Calls

Qwest Communications is adopting a new policy that makes all "true VoIP traffic" terminating on the public switched telephone network (PSTN) free from access charges. Additionally, Qwest also plans to begin offering local services to VoIP providers, including primary rate interface ISDN circuits (ISDN-PRI). ISDN-PRI is a local exchange service that uses "enhanced T-1" facilities and allows VoIP providers to serve multiple channels within a single broadband connection. Qwest said this would enable VoIP providers to have direct access to the PSTN and avoid historically regulated fees, such as access charges.



Qwest said its definition of "true VoIP" includes only enhanced services, as defined by the FCC, and does not include standard telephony services that use IP simply as a transmission medium between switches.



While Qwest is adopting this policy within its local service territory, the company is also urging the FCC to adopt similar rules nationally. http://www.qwest.com

• Last week, the FCC ruled against AT&T in a case over whether telephone calls placed over the PSTN, converted to IP, transmitted over an IP backbone, and then terminated on the PSTN should be subject to access charges.
  The FCC found this type of phone-to-phone IP telephony "lacks the characteristics of an information service and bears the characteristics of a telecommunications service." AT&T's phone-to-phone Internet telephony is therefore subject to access charges. An FCC ruling earlier this year found that pulver.com's Free World Dialup (FWD) service is neither a “telecommunications service�? nor “telecommunications,�? and therefore not subject to traditional telephone regulation. The FCC also declared FWD to be an unregulated information service that is subject to federal jurisdiction.



• In December 2003, Qwest Communications announced the first of a phased deployment of VoIP services to residential customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, making it the first RBOC to offer such a service. The company plans to offer the service nationwide this year.

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Charter Deploys Motorola's Broadband Media Center With Moxi

Charter Communications began offering the Motorola Broadband Media Center (BMC) with Digeo's Moxi Service in Charter's Rochester, Minnesota market. The Motorola BMC is an advanced digital set-top that integrates high- definition television (HDTV) with a dual-tuner digital video recorder (DVR), providing the ability to watch one channel while recording another.



In July 2003, Charter made a commitment to purchase 100,000 Motorola BMC units. The companies said consumer trials of the BMC has been positive.



Separately, Comcast announced a planned commercial trial of Motorola Broadband Media Centers (BMC) with Moxi. Deployment of approximately 40,000 Motorola BMCs is slated to begin later this year. http://www.motorola.com

• Earlier this year, Digeo and Adelphia Communications announced plans to deploy 25,000 Motorola BMCs with Moxi.



• The BMC platform with the Moxi Service is part of Motorola's "connected home" strategy. The BMC enables consumers to store, manage and share all types of media (television programming, movies, music, photos, games, etc.) throughout their home. MSOs can use the BMC to offer features such as dual-tuner PVR, HDTV, DVD, video-on-demand (VOD) and pay-per-view (PPV) through an integrated gateway with one consistent interface.



• Paul G. Allen founded Digeo in 1999. In the spring of 2002, Moxi merged with Digeo to provide advanced media center platforms and iTV services.

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Atheros Ships Single-Chip 802.11g

Atheros Communications announced volume shipments of a single-chip IEEE 802.11g WLAN solution -- an industry first, according to the company. The CMOS device integrates a Media Access Controller (MAC), a baseband processor, a high-performance 2.4-GHz radio, and many of the discrete components used in earlier 802.11g designs, resulting in a 35% part count reduction from products based on two-chip solutions, and a similar reduction in BOM (bill-of-materials) costs.



The new Atheros chip leverages better signal processing technology that extends the battery life of mobile devices by dynamically adjusting power consumption in response to system and network activity. Atheros said this technique delivers up to 98% lower power consumption than multi-chip WLAN solutions on the market today. The chip also supports Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) and 802.11i Enhanced Security using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in hardware. It also fully supports the Wireless Media Extensions (WME) Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities defined in the IEEE 802.11e draft standard. http://www.atheros.com

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Connexion by Boeing Selected by Korean Air

Korean Airlines will install Connexion by Boeing mobile connectivity service on its long-haul fleet of 747-400s and 777ERs in early 2005, with service beginning shortly after that. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/

• Connexion by Boeing now has agreements with Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines System, Japan Airlines, ANA and Kingdom Holding Co., to equip their long-haul aircraft with the mobile connectivity service. Singapore Airlines and China Airlines also have announced their intent to install the Connexion by Boeing system on their long-range aircraft.

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Dialpad Launches Broadband Phone Service

Dialpad Communications launched a broadband phone service. Dialpad is offering the Cisco ATA 186 and the Sipura SPA2000 gateways for use with this service. Dialpad has also announced that in the coming months it will be adding other broadband phone devices to its offerings and rolling out several special calling features for its broadband phone users. http://www.dialpad.com/

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Lucent Chooses Xilinx FPGAs for its Optical Translator Unit

Lucent Technologies has selected Xilinx FPGAs for a new 10 Gbps Tunable Optical Translator Unit, a key component in one of its DWDM metro optical systems. A Xilinx Virtex-II Pro with embedded PowerPC processor running Linux is used for the control and communications functions in its OTU. http://www.xilinx.com/

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ARRIS Develops Edge Product for Digital Video and On-Demand Content

ARRIS introduced a new class of edge network device for cable operators that is designed for simultaneous delivery of MPEG- 2TS and DVB-C based digital video content and emerging DOCSIS-based IP digital multimedia content and signaling. The ARRIS Q5 Digital Multimedia Termination System (DMTS) couples QAM and DOCSIS/EUR-DOCSIS 2.0 CMTS technologies with integral multiplexing features. These capabilities enables the ARRIS Q5 DMTS to produce a dynamically allocated multiplex of digital video broadcast, Video on Demand (VoD), IP Multicast, IP Unicast and DOCSIS data content that is compatible with a variety of MPEG-2 and IP Set-Top Boxes along with IP-enabled consumer devices.



The ARRIS Q5 DMTS is a 2 RU device configured with 4 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) WAN ports with a 1:1 WAN redundancy option, along with a fully flexible mix of up to 6 HFC transport modules. These modules are the Dual Quad QAM module and the Quad Upstream DOCSIS/EUR-DOCSIS module that enable a wide variety of user-defined configurations. Supported configurations include any combination of 8 to 48 independently provisioned MPEG transport downstream channels in 4 block converted channel groupings, as well as up to 24 DOCSIS 2.0 downstream channels and 12 independently mappable DOCSIS/EUR-DOCSIS 2.0 upstream channels, and a next generation "Phy-less" 24 upstream CMTS with GbE downstream interface. http://www.arrisi.com

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Greenfield Networks Unveils Ethernet Switch Silicon for IPv6, MPLS

Greenfield
Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, unveiled
its silicon solutions designed for a new generation of
enterprise and metro/ISP edge equipment. Greenfield, which has
been operating in stealth mode since 2001, said today's Ethernet
market is sharply divided between low-end, commodity switches
with limited capabilities and high-end, ASIC driven platforms
that are really only suited for core applications. It's
"Packetry" merchant silicon offers the combination of
low-cost Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and advanced packet
processing capabilities and is targeted at four market segments:
core chassis switches, edge chassis switches, high-end fixed
Ethernet switches and WAN aggregation switches.



Key features of Greenfield's family of Ethernet switching
solutions include full IPv6 routing in hardware, extensive QoS
and security features, scalable packet buffering, and scalable
MAC, route and classification tables. Greenfield also features a
number of service provider capabilities, such as MPLS switching,
stacked VLAN support, Layer 2 VPNs, VPLS, Layer 3 VPNs and IP
tunneling.



There are three initial members of Greenfield's Packetry family:
the G525 Packet Engine, the G750 Shared Memory Fabric, and the
G120 Intelligent Multiplexer. All devices are available now.

• G525 Packet Engine: a packet processing engine capable of
  wire speed operation for 16GE ports, or one 10GE/OC-192
  port. The G525 packet engine provides packet processing for
  Layer 2/3/4, IPv6 & MPLS, and also supports advanced
  services such as QoS classification, packet filtering and
  Layer 2/3 VPNs. The G525 interfaces to an external TCAM to
  provide scalable MAC, IPv4/v6 route tables and
  classification/filtering tables.
  
  
• G750 Shared Memory Switch Fabric: a single-chip 32G shared
  memory switch fabric/traffic manager that enables a variety
  of buffering and queuing functions including fair queuing,
  scheduling, traffic shaping, congestion control, multicast
  and resource management. The G750 provides scalable external
  packet buffering up to 256MB. The G750 may be used in fixed
  configuration switches or mid-range chassis systems as the
  central switch fabric of the system, or in a large
  distributed chassis as a traffic manager on a linecard.
  
  
• G120 Intelligent Mux -- an intelligent multiplexer device
  used to develop high-density and ultra low-cost Gigabit
  Ethernet linecards for edge chassis systems. The G120
  supports advanced multi-tuple classification, policing, and
  class-based queuing to guarantee bandwidth for high priority
  traffic. The G120 can interface with up to 128MB of external
  packet buffer memory to absorb short-term congestion in the
  network.

http://www.greenfieldnetworks.com

• Greenfield Networks was founded in 2001 and has about 40 employees. The company is funded by Sequoia Capital, Global Catalyst Partners and Walden International.



• Greenfield Networks is headed by Gary Smerdon, who previously served as VP of Marketing at Marvell. He joined Marvell through its acquisition of Galileo Technology, another supplier of Ethernet silicon solutions.



• Greenfield's engineering team is headed by Kamran Torabi, who previously was the senior manager at Cisco Systems responsible for the design and development of the Cisco Catalyst 2900XL, 3500XL and 3550XL. He joined Cisco through its acquisition of Grand Junction in 1995.



• Greenfield's CTO is Harish Devanagondi, who is formerly from Cisco Systems, responsible for the forwarding ASICs used in the Catalyst 2900XL, 3500XL and 3550XL. He too was previously with Grand Junction.

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telx Selects Turin's Multiservice Transport Platform

telx, which operates the "SuperNode" carrier-neutral interconnection facility at 60 Hudson Street in New York City, is using Turin Networks' Traverse Multiservice Transport Platform for two new network interconnection services.



First, telx's "Brilliant Platform" provides international gateway services specifically tailored to international service providers and those wanting to extend their reach globally. This Platform provides seamless translation of a wide range of international synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) interfaces to the North American synchronous optical network (SONET) counterpart, and vice versa. Bi-directional interface conversions supported include Optical Carrier-48 (OC-48) to Synchronous Transfer Mode-16 (STM-16), OC-12 to STM-4, OC-3 to STM-1, and DS3 to E3. Also available as an optional service are bi-directional virtual cross-connecting and mapping of SONET STS-1/Nc framed payloads to SDH VC-3 or VC-4 structures as well as VT1.5/2 to VC-11/12.



Second, telx's Brilliant Platform provides Ethernet transport services for service providers and large enterprises for applications such as Ethernet-based private lines, transparent LAN services and Internet access, as well as applications with more stringent latency and QoS requirements such as VoIP and IP Video. Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet connections are available up to full wire-speed rates. http://www.turinnetworks.comhttp://www.telx.com

• In February, Turin reached its 75th customer milestone. The company said it is gaining momentum with Independent Operating Company (IOC) customers and other service providers due to its ability to provide SONET transport, multi-bandwidth management as well as Ethernet capabilities a compact, highly integrated system.



• Turin's Traverse platform integrates scalable OC-3 to OC-192 SONET transport, multi-ring bandwidth management, wideband and broadband DCS, and Ethernet over SONET switching in one system. It is based on a custom, distributed ASIC switch-fabric that grooms and switches both TDM and packet traffic. It supports the full SONET feature set, including UPSR, BLSR and 1+1 APS. It also incorporates a unified optical control plane and advanced bandwidth management system, including virtual concatenation and rate shaping features, as well as capabilities that enable the fast activation and delivery of dynamically scalable Ethernet services.



• In June 2003, telx began offering RAPID VoIP service that provides carriers with access to its interconnection marketplace of over 100 network carriers. Telx said its service is tailored specifically to respond to the accelerating shift from traditional TDM to Internet telephony as the switching method of choice for providing voice services.

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