ShoreTel Names New CEO

ShoreTel, a supplier of enterprise IP telephony solutions, named John W. Combs as its new president and CEO, succeeding Thomas T. Van Overbeek, who will remain on the company's board of directors. Combs has previously served as a senior executive at Mitel and Nextel. He joins ShoreTel from wireless infrastructure supplier Littlefeet, where he served as CEO and Chairman. Before that, he was CEO of InternetConnect, a broadband networking solutions provider. ShoreTel said its revenues more than doubled between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2004, with...

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Airspan to Supply Fixed Wireless in Colombia

Airspan Networks will supply its broadband fixed wireless access solution to the Comsat International - America Inalambrica Consortium for the deployment of a turnkey project in Colombia. The Colombian government, through COMPARTEL, conducted a competitive tender for the installation and operation of a turnkey telecommunications network which will provide broadband internet access to locations throughout the country. The tender called for bids on 5 designated zones, of which the Comsat-led Consortium bid on three. The Consortium bid an innovative...

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Nortel Networks Declares Preferred Share Dividends

The board of directors of Nortel Networks Limited declared a dividend on each of the outstanding Cumulative Redeemable Class A Preferred Shares Series 5 and the outstanding Non-cumulative Redeemable Class A Preferred Shares Series 7. The dividend on each series is payable on September 13, 2004 to shareholders of record of such series at the close of business on August 31, 2004. http://www.nortelnetworks....

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American Fiber Sys. to Acquire Marietta

American Fiber Systems, which operates metro fiber networks in five cities nationwide, to acquire Marietta FiberNet, a CLEC, offering voice, data and Internet services to business clients in the north metro Atlanta area. Financial terms were not disclosed. Marietta FiberNet was the first municipally owned telecommunications operation to be certified in the State of Georgia. AFS has deployed over 76,000 miles of metropolitan fiber optic cable since 2000 in several cities, including Cleveland, OH; Kansas City, KS/MO; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; Nashville,...

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Korean Government Endorses 801.16

South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication issued a statement endorsing the IEEE802.16 standard as Korea's base technology for portable wireless broadband access. Plans are being developed for the licensing of carriers interested in offering "WiBro" portable broadband services based on the standard. Initial commercial services are forecast to launch in 2006. http://www.mic.go.kr/eng/index.jspIn April 2004, the U.S. Trade Representative and South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) negotiated a compromise agreement...

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SIP Forum Releases SIP Test Framework

The SIP Forum announced the completion and release of its first SIP test suite, called the SIP Forum Test Framework. The open source test framework allows SIP device vendors to test for common protocol errors. It is freely available under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL) to test implementations against a test suite and framework that is SIP RFC 3261 compliant.This license, commonly used in the software engineering community, enables anyone to copy, distribute and modify the open-source program, thus insuring wide distribution and use. RFC3261...

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India's Reliance Infocomm and MCI Partner on MPLS VPNs

Reliance Infocomm, in partnership with MCI, launched India's first MPLS Global VPN service. The agreement enables Reliance Infocomm to offer its business customers seamless global MPLS-based VPN connections by leveraging MCI's expansive global network. MCI is installing MPLS network nodes in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore that will enable MCI to deliver seamless access to its global Private IP network throughout India using connections to the nationwide Reliance Infocomm MPLS VPN network. http://www.relianceinfo.comReliance Infocomm is India's...

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Canadian Government Embraces IP for its Embassies

Bell Canada was awarded a three-year $68 million contract by the Government of Canada to design, deliver, install, integrate and manage all engineering, implementation and network monitoring services for MITNET 2004, a global network that will provide international voice and data communications for the country's diplomatic missions around the world. The contract provides a fully managed, end-to-end IP communications solutions for Foreign Affairs Canada. Bell Canada's plans are currently in place to commence the migration of Foreign Affairs Canada's...

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Tropos Cites Growing Deployments of Municipal Wi-Fi

Tropos Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, cited another deployment of its metro-scale Wi-Fi. The City of Corpus Christi, Texas, will deploy the Tropos Wi-Fi system for use by the city-owned water and gas utilities, public works departments, and public safety agencies. In addition to the utility applications, the network will be available for use by city public works crews, as well as the Corpus Christi Police and Fire Departments. The public safety agencies, with more than 315 police, fire, and EMS vehicles in their collective...

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UTOPIA Gets Financial Go-Ahead for Municipal FTTP

The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) closed $85 million in revenue bonds to finance Phase I of a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network that will serve residents of 11 pledging member cities across the state. Construction of the FTTP network will begin in August. Phase I will connect more than 50,000 premises in portions of six cities in Salt Lake County (Murray, West Valley and Midvale) and Utah County (Orem, Payson and Lindon). Phase II, which will expand the network to other cities (Brigham City, Centerville, Layton,...

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Cox Reaches 2.2 Million Cable Modem Users

Citing growth in digital cable, high-speed Internet access and telephony services, Cox Communications reported Q2 sales of $1.6 billion, an increase of 12% over the same period last year. Higher basic cable rates, an increase in business service customers, as well as an increase in advertising sales, also contributed to overall revenue growth. Cox ranks as the nation's third-largest cable television provider. Some highlights for Q2:Ended the quarter with approximately 6.3 million basic video customers, up 0.6% from June 30, 2003.Ended the quarter...

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British Government Moves to IP Telephony with Siemens

Siemens Information and Communication Networks (ICN) and Global Crossing will supply an IP telephony solution serving more than 110,000 public sector personnel in the U.K. in over 550 locations. The project is described as a first step towards ultimately migrating government users to a fully converged IP VPN communications solution. The deployment will use Siemens' HiPath technology, providing the ability to use any device, in any location to gain the functionality of the desk phone. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.siemens.com...

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Japan's KVH Telecom Deploys Atrica's Optical Ethernet

Japan's KVH Telecom, a competitive carrier, is deploying Atrica's Carrier-class Optical Ethernet Systems to support a new Ether-MAN Plus next-generation Ethernet service offering in the Tokyo metropolitan region and other selected areas of Japan. Financial terms were not disclosed. KVH's Ether-MAN Plus service, which is enabled by Ethernet over Multi Protocol Label Switching (EoMPLS), combines the reliability of leased lines with the flexibility of a wide-area Ethernet service to deliver integrated voice, video, and data connectivity. The service...

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Siemens Forms New Communications Unit focused on Convergence

Siemens has formed a new business unit combining wireless and wire line infrastructure, devices, and IP convergence applications. Siemens Communications, which will be based in Boca Raton, Florida, will combine all Siemens wire line and mobile businesses. It will serve all major customers in the industry -- wireless and wire line carriers, enterprises, cable operators and service providers. Andy Mattes, who has been leading Siemens' U.S. networking business, will be appointed president and CEO of the new U.S. companyhttp://www.usa.siemens.c...

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BT Reaches 2.7 million DSL Users, Adds 36K per Week

BT reported quarterly turnover of £4,567 million, down 0.4% including the impact of mobile termination rate reductions. However, BT noted that turnover for its "New Wave" services rose 32% over last year to £936 million. New wave turnover is mainly generated from Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions, broadband, mobility and managed services. ICT turnover grew by 15 per cent to £634 million partly reflecting the strong order intake last year. Mobility turnover at £43 million achieved growth of 169 per cent. Broadband turnover...

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Ericsson/Juniper Selected for IP Backbone Upgrade by China Mobile

China Mobile Communications Corporation (China Mobile) selected Ericsson to provide a major IP backbone upgrade in all 31 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions. The expansion will leverage MPLS to improve overall scalability in China Mobile's network and facilitate more efficient use of bandwidth. Ericsson is the IP/MPLS routing platforms through its long-term strategic relationship with Juniper Networks. Ericsson was also the sole equipment supplier of China Mobile's Phase One IP backbone network in 2000. Financial terms were not disclosed....

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Riverstone to Deliver Active Ethernet FTTP to 14 Utah Cities

Riverstone Networks will immediately begin shipping Ethernet equipment to the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) for its FTTP municipal networks across the state. The network design uses an open, active Ethernet architecture recommended by DynamicCity. The UTOPIA project uses Riverstone's RS 38000 core routers and RS 8600 metro aggregation routers. It also employs MPLS-based Ethernet to support Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) that carries a combination of voice, video and data traffic to end-users . The UTOPIA project...

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Alcatel Reports Rise in Q2 Sales with Growth in Broadband Access

Alcatel reported Q2 sales or EUR 3.078 billion, compared with EUR 2.967 billion in the second quarter 2003, up 3.7% and 7.2% at a constant EUR/USD exchange rate. Net income pre-goodwill for the quarter was EUR 125 million, or diluted EUR 0.09 per share (USD 0.11 per ADS). Some highlights for the quarter:Fixed communications : Revenue was stable at EUR 1.353 billion from EUR 1.360 billion in Q2 2003. Significant growth was registered in broadband access, data networking, and solutions. In broadband access, growth was seen both in Western Europe...

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Level 3 Reports Revenue of $391 Million

Level 3 Communications reported revenue of $391 million for its Communications business, compared to $389 million for the previous quarter. Revenue for Level 3's information services business was $503 million compared to $494 million for the previous quarter. The net loss for the second quarter 2004 decreased to $63 million or $0.09 per share compared to a net loss for the previous quarter of $147 million or $0.22 per share. During the quarter, the company announced two new consumer VoIP services aimed at cable operators, enhanced service providers,...

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Sprint and Novatel Offer Wi-Fi/PCS Connection Card

Sprint and Novatel Wireless are offering a new PCMCIA that offers seamless always-on connectivity via the Sprint Nationwide PCS Network and Wi-Fi networks. The Sprint PCS Connection Card by Novatel Wireless (Merlin C201) now comes packaged with Sprint PCS Connection Manager Software. While connected to the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network that covers 99% of the nation's largest cities, customers can wirelessly access the Internet and corporate applications at data speeds averaging between 50 and 70 Kbps, with peak speeds up to 144 Kbps prior...

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Telefónica Reaches 3.7 million ADSL Lines

Telefónica reported a 5.6% growth in operating revenues to EUR 14.324 billion for the first half of 2004, compared to the same period in 2003. First-half operating profit was EUR 3.421 billion, 21.4% more than in the year-ago period. Some highlights:Telefónica enlarged its worldwide customer base by 12.6% to 103.8 million.The number of ADSL connections rose by 1.7 million net versus June 2003 to 3.7 million. The 2 million connections operative in Spain (+58.2% vs June 2003) equate to an estimated 74% share of the overall broadband market, while...

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Motorola to Offer Apple iTunes on its Mobile Phones

Motorola is partnering with Apple to enable users to transfer songs from the iTunes jukebox on their PC or Mac, or from the iTunes Music Store, to Motorola's next-generation mobile phones. Apple will create a new iTunes mobile music player, which Motorola will make the standard music application on all their mass-market music phones, expected to be available in the first half of next year. The interface will be USB or Bluetooth. http://www.motorola....

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Comcast Adds 4 Mbps to Service Tiers

Comcast has added a new 4 Mbps cable modem service tier. Comcast customers now can choose between two options: 4Mbps and 3Mbps, which are priced at $52.95 and $42.95 respectively, for customers also buying cable TV service. Comcast is also increasing e-mail storage for its users to 1.7GB, as compared to the previous 70MB. http://www.comcast.c...

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Alcatel provides BT with SIP-based Solution

BT awarded a multi-million EUR contract to Alcatel to supply a suite of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based multimedia applications. The Alcatel solution will help BT generate additional revenue through the new BT Communicator with Yahoo! Messenger service offering. The contract includes the Alcatel 8690 Open Services Platform (OSP) - which allows the customization and rapid roll-out of high-value services and hosts the Alcatel 8605 multimedia application suite - and the Alcatel 5020 Softswitch, which provides the necessary bridge between the...

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Verilink Closes its Acquisition of Larscom

Verilink closed its merger with Larscom. The company is aiming to become a leading provider of next-generation broadband access solutions. Its portfolio encompasses voice over packet and voice over TDM IAD solutions including VoIP, VoDSL and VoATM. The Larscom merger adds to the company's position in the integrated access space as well as introducing solutions for the Optical Ethernet Access market. http://www.verilink.c...

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Nortel Networks Expands Carrier VoIP, Multimedia Developer Program

Products from AFC, ARRIS, Mediatrix, Ubiquity and Verilink have successfully completed interoperability testing with its Carrier VoIP and Multimedia portfolio. As a result, these companies have each been awarded a Certificate of Compatibility under Nortel Networks Developer Program. In addition, Nortel Networks also announced the following new program members: Bloophone, Computer Talk Technology, Inc., Entrisphere, i3micro, Interval Research, NewHeights, Polycom, SS8 Networks, Inc. and Terayon. http://www.nortelnetworks....

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SEC Drops its Investigation in Charter's Cable Business

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded its enforcement action against Charter Communications. The investigation generally concerned the Charter's determination of the number of its customers, various accounting practices and procedures concerning capitalization of certain expenses and dealings with certain vendors, including programmers and digital set-top terminal suppliers. In the Settlement Agreement and Cease and Desist Order, Charter neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing, and the SEC assessed no fine against the...

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Time Warner's Road Runner Accelerates to 6 Mbps

Time Warner plans to introduce a new option for its Road Runner Premium cable modem service that doubles the top download speed to 6 Mbps. The uplink will run at up to 512 kbps. Pricing for the premium service ranges from $64.95-$84.95 per month, depending on the package or bundle of other services they take from Time Warner Cable. This compares to the core Road Runner cable modem service, which offers speeds of up to 3Mbps downstream and 384kbps upstream, and is typically priced at $44.95 retail, with discounts in a bundle or multi-service...

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Kasenna Announces Secure Video Delivery Network Design

Kasenna outlined its plans for a Secure Video Delivery Network (Secure VDN) for enabling widespread broadband service provider distribution of premium video content. Kasenna's Secure VDN delivers content in an encrypted format all the way from the studios to viewers' homes, thereby addressing the digital rights management (DRM) concern that has so far impeded direct broadband delivery of first-run studio content. Over the past few months, Kasenna has introduced its own management and application development platforms and acquired ViewNow, which...

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Alvarion to Acquire interWAVE for GSM/CDMA Expertise

Alvarion agreed to acquire interWAVE Communications International in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $56 million. interWAVE is a provider of compact mobile GSM and CDMA network equipment and services, primarily aimed at low density markets in developing regions, as well as specialty vertical applications. The company's solutions are deployed in over 50 countries by more than 100 operators, mainly local and regional cellular operators. interWAVE, which is based in Mountain View, California with engineering facilities in China and...

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Mpower Plans Launch of VoIP Hosted PBX Services

Mpower Communications, a facilities-based broadband communications provider serving areas throughout California, Nevada, and Illinois, announced its plans to launch a VoIP Hosted PBX service beginning in Q4. Mpower will utilize the hosted IP platform of VocalData. The VoIP Hosted PBX application will extend Mpower's services into the customer premise, providing access to advanced features and functionality remotely through a web portal interface tied directly to an Mpower application server. http://www.mpowercom.com/http://www.vocaldata.c...

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MCI Raises Bar on Internet SLAs

MCI tightened its service level agreements (SLA) for IP traffic between key global business centers. All of MCI's Internet service customers worldwide are automatically covered by the enhanced SLAs, which include more stringent network performance guarantees for latency and additional packet delivery guarantees for Latin America, Asia Pacific and EMEA. The North American performance guarantees for average round-trip transmission is now 45 milliseconds or less between hub routers in North America, representing nearly 20% faster transm MCI is also...

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Comcast Surpasses 6.0 Million Cable Modem Users

Comcast reported strong operating cash flow for Q2, reflecting robust growth in new video and high-speed Internet services and a decrease in capital expenditures now that its network rebuild program is essentially complete. Some highlights:Comcast Cable reported revenue of $4.839 billion for Q2, representing a 10.4% increase from the Q2 2003. Video revenue for the quarter increased 6.9%, driven by a 5.7% increase in average monthly revenue per basic subscriber and a 20.5% increase in digital revenue primarily reflecting a 1.1 million increase...

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France Telecom Reaches 4.7 Million ADSL Lines

France Telecom reported consolidated revenues for the first half of the year of EUR 23.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.2% on a comparable basis, driven by strong performance by Orange, which recorded an 11.2% increase in revenues on a comparable basis and by Wanadoo, which saw revenues rise 11.9% on a comparable basis. Growth in wireless and Internet businesses offset the decline of 1% on a comparable basis in revenues from the Fixed Line, Distribution, Networks, Large Customers and Carriers segment. Some highlights:ADSL: The total number...

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RCN Boosts its Top Cable Modem Speed to 7 Mbps

RCN Corporation will begin providing its premium cable modem customers a top download speed of 7 Mbps. The premium service previously offered 5 Mbps download speeds. Customers of RCN's 3 Mbps cable modem service will be automatically boosted to 5 Mbps rates. This is the second time in the last 12 months that RCN has increased the speed of its cable modem service at no additional cost to its customers. RCN provides service in the Boston, New York, Eastern Pennsylvania, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan markets. http://www....

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Brazil's VIVO Selects Motorola SoftSwitches for its CDMA Network

VIVO, the largest mobile telephone carrier in South America with more than 22 million subscribers, will deploy Motorola SoftSwitches for CDMA (MSS-C) in its established networks as well as in new greenfield locations. The MSS-C is a packet-based switching platform. The CDMA interface between the Motorola radio access network and the softswitch is fully compliant with the InterOperability Specification (IOS) open standard. In addition, the open architecture of the MSS-C, built on the same platform as the portfolio of Motorola's core solutions including...

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Motorola Measures Peak OFDM Downlink Speeds of 300 Mbps

Motorola Labs has demonstrated that existing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology can support high-speed mobile networks with a peak downlink speed of up to 300 Mbps. The company said future all-IP mobile networks using OFDM technology have the capability to provide a broadband user experience that was previously thought to be unattainable. Motorola Labs recently completed a series of mobile wide area broadband wireless field experiments using OFDM on a 20 MHz bandwidth channel with multiple antenna handheld devices. Applying...

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8x8 Enhances its Broadband Phone and Videophone Service

8x8 added a number of enhancements to its residential broadband telephone and videophone service. The new features include: Call Return (*69), Call Waiting Disable (*70), Do Not Disturb (*78/*79), Anonymous Call Blocking (*77/*87), and Local Number Portability (LNP). http://www.8x8....

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UTStarcom Reports Q2 Revenue of $689.6 Million, Competitive Pressure in China

UTStarcom reported Q2 revenue of $689.6 million, an increase of 70% over net sales of $405.8 million reported in the second quarter of 2003. GAAP net income for Q2 was $43.2 million, or $0.32 per share. This compares to net income of $39.4 million, or $0.33 per share, for Q2 2003. Q2 gross margins came in at 25.4%, as compared to projected gross margins of 27-28%. UTStarcom blamed competitive pricing pressure in China as well as supply-chain constraints that delayed recognition of some higher-margin international revenues for margins that were...

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Alcatel Invests in Tropic Networks for ROADMs

Alcatel has made and equity investment in Tropic Networks, a start-up offering metro-area optical networking gear. In addition to the financial investment, Alcatel has also entered into a global agreement to market and distribute Tropic Networks products and technology. Financial terms were not disclosed. Tropic Networks, which is based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, developed a Reconfigurable OADM (ROADM) that enables service providers to remotely reconfigure add and drop capacity at each node. Tropic's system features an advanced optical layer...

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Calix Ships ADSL2+ Line Cards

Calix announced volume shipments of ADSL2+ interfaces for its Calix C7 platform. The company said its Calix C7 ultra-broadband loop carrier (UBLC) has the capacity to drive all ADSL2+ ports at peak line rates on a sustained basis. The Calix C7 offers 200 Gbps of capacity in a compact form factor, supporting 2,400 ADSL2+ ports in a single seven foot rack and as many as 1,920 ADSL2+ ports from its line of patented outdoor cabinets. Individual ADSL2+ ports can be clocked at downstream speeds as high as 24Mbps and will typically support services consuming...

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Taiwan's Seednet Selects Nortel's SIP-based Portfolio

Seednet, one of the leading ISPs in Taiwan, has selected Nortel Networks' Multimedia Communications Portfolio to deliver VoIP and multimedia communication services to its customers. With Nortel Networks MCS 5200 Multimedia Communication Server, Seednet is planning to provide a wide range of multimedia services to customers, including: Video Calling; Find Me/Follow Me features; Personal and Group Directories; Whiteboard and Web Push Services -- collaborative web tools to enhance the communication and collaboration between individuals, regardless...

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NoaNet Deploys CIENA's CoreStream in Pacific Northwest

The Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) is deploying CIENA's CoreStream Agility Optical Transport System to upgrade its network serving utility and rural community customers in the Pacific Northwest. NoaNet is a non-profit wholesale carrier providing TDM, Ethernet and IP terminations, primarily to a rural customer base. The carrier is deploying CoreStream Agility on a new route extension requiring OC-192 capacity. Financial terms were not disclosedhttp://www.ciena....

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CinemaNow Secures $11 Million in New Funding

CinemaNow has secured $11 million in Series D financing led by Menlo Ventures. Additional investments were made by Cisco Systems, and existing investor Lions Gate Entertainment. The company said the proceeds will be used to further technology development, content acquisition and marketing. The company also expects to broaden its presence in Europe and Asia to meet the rising market demand for its products and services. CinemaNow's Web site currently boasts over 5,000 titles with content from nearly 200 licensors including Disney, Fox, Lions Gate,...

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McLeodUSA Launches VoIP Service Trials

McLeodUSA launched its first market trials of a new VoIP Dynamic Integrated Access service for medium-to-large business customers. The integrated services run over a single T-1 facility to the customer location. McLeodUSA plans to expand its VoIP service offerings into major markets across its 25-state footprint while adding additional VoIP features, functionality and products beginning in early 2005. http://www.mcleodusa....

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Verizon Posts 6% Growth in Revenues, Strength in Wireless

Led by wireless growth of 25%, Verizon Communications reported Q2 operating revenues of $17.8 billion, compared with $16.8 billion in Q2 2003 -- exceeding market forecasts. Growth businesses, such as wireless, data and broadband, accounted for 52% of Verizon's Q2 revenues, compared with 46% of the company's second-quarter revenues last year. Some highlights for Q2:Wireless: industry-record 1.5 million total net customer additions, 40.4 million total customers; 25.0% growth in total revenues; The company posted record-low churn of 1.45% per month....

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Avaya Unveils Voice-over-Wireless Gateway and APs

Avaya introduced a new set of converged mobility products for bridging Wi-Fi and cellular networks for enterprise users. The products form part of a converged mobility architecture that Avaya is developing with Motorola and Proxim. Avaya said its aim is to improve the delivery of IP applications and voice communications for a mobile workforce. The new products -- the Avaya W310 WLAN Gateway and Avaya W110 WLAN Access Points -- incorporate co-developed technologies from Avaya and Proxim. The gateway and access points, along with Avaya's Communication...

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AT&T Wireless to Provide Wireless Priority Service

AT&T Wireless was selected to provide Wireless Priority Service (WPS), which helps national security officials, emergency responders, and those in critical infrastructure industries communicate during times of emergency. WPS works by giving a limited number of government-authorized wireless phone users priority access if the wireless network capacity is strained during an emergency. The National Communications System (NCS) oversees the WPS program. AT&T Wireless will implement WPS on a phased-in basis, beginning with Boston and the Democratic...

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Cox Selects Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 4020 Access Platform

Cox Communications has selected the Fujitsu Network Communications' FLASHWAVE 4020 Ethernet Service Platform (ESP) for delivering business services. Cox will use the FLASHWAVE 4020 to extend SONET to the edge of their metro networks and simultaneously deliver low cost DS1 and Ethernet services to customer premises within all their U.S. markets. The FLASHWAVE 4020 ESP is a compact optical access module that supports up to seven DS1 and four 10/100Base-T Ethernet services simultaneously over protected or unprotected OC-3 or OC-12 network interfaces....

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Sandburst Supplies Merchant Silicon for 10GigE Boxes

Sandburst Corporation and Accton Technology Corporation of Taiwan announced a reference design for a 10 Gigabit Ethernet MetroBox switching platform which the companies are positioning as a "category killer" due to its line rate IPv6 switching performance, scalability and low-cost. The MetroBox, designed by Accton, features Sandburst's HiBeam packet switching chipset. It supports 20 ports of Gigabit Ethernet and two 10-Gigabit uplinks. The 40-gigabit platform delivers packet forwarding capabilities including IPv4 and IPv6 forwarding and Ethernet...

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ADVA Optical Networking acquires Ethernet Start-up

ADVA Optical Networking agreed to acquire the remaining 70% ownership stake in privately-held Metro Packet Systems that it doesn't already own for EUR 4.1 million in stock and up to EUR 4.5 million in cash if certain 2005 sales targets are met. ADVA said the acquisition underscores its commitment to building up a second core business around Ethernet access solutions. ADVA initially purchased a thirty percent (30%) stake in Metro Packet Systems in September 2003. Metro Packet Systems has a team of nine engineers focused on systems targeted at metropolitan...

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Paradyne To Acquire Net to Net for DSLAM Portfolio

Paradyne Networks will acquire Net to Net Technologies' complete product line and intellectual capital portfolio for up to $3 million in cash and 604,839 shares of Paradyne stock, subject to certain purchase price adjustments. In addition, Paradyne will issue to Net to Net a warrant to purchase up to 1,008,065 shares of Paradyne stock at an exercise price of $5.95 per share, which will expire on December 31, 2005. Following closure of the deal, Paradyne plans to offer positions to many of Net to Net's engineering, sales and support personnel in...

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Verizon Wireless Awards 3-Year Contract to Motorola

Verizon Wireless awarded a three-year general purchasing agreement to deploy Motorola's CDMA2000 1X radio base stations, Internet Protocol (IP) call processing platforms, and advanced messaging solutions in major markets, including Denver, Minneapolis, Sacramento, and the Carolinas. The upgrades will increase Verizon Wireless' network capacity and coverage. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.motorola.c...

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HP's iPAQ Handhelds Bundles T-Mobile Connectivity

HP announced new suite of HP iPAQ handheld devices and an alliance with T-Mobile USA aimed at the growing converged data/voice market. HP is partnering with T-Mobile USA to offer customers an enhanced mobile experience by seamlessly linking its iPAQ handhelds to T-Mobile's national GSM/GPRS wireless voice and high-speed data network, as well as the T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi Internet service. The handheld devices will automatically connect to the fastest available network and automatically switch to an alternate network if the initial connection is...

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Nayna Offers Gigabit Class EFM Access Switches

Nayna Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, three new gigabit class intelligent EFM access switches. The new products build on Nayna's intelligent multi-network, multi-service ExpressSTREAM platform to allow triple play service to campus and high-density residential and business buildings. The products work over point-to-point or point-to-multipoint (multi-network) topologies. Key features include QoS capabilities such as individual upstream and downstream per port rate control, and hot swappable SFP Ethernet transceivers for long...

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Provo, Utah Deploys World Wide Packets for FTTP

The city of Provo, Utah has begun widescale deployments of World Wide Packets' LightningEdge suite for one of the nation's largest municipal fiber-optic service delivery networks. World Wide Packet's solution is based on Active Ethernet, which supports a fully symmetrical, dedicated 100 Mbps connection per user. The company estimates the cost-per-subscriber for its access equipment and the fiber infrastructure is under $1,500 per home, compared to other FTTP deployments which can cost upwards of $3000 per subscriber and deliver significantly less...

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Taral Networks Acquires Schlumberger Messaging Solutions

Taral Networks, a start-up focused on messaging infrastructure to mobile operators and content aggregators, has acquired Schlumberger Messaging Solutions (MSG), a UK-based supplier of messaging infrastructure. The two companies will be combined into a new entity called airwide solutions. Taral Networks provides carrier grade platforms that enable wireless operators to set-up, maintain and grow a dynamic and highly profitable content messaging business. Specifically, Taral Networks focuses on multimedia messaging (MMS) and enabling the delivery...

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BellSouth Reports Flat Revenue, Continued Line Losses

BellSouth reported Q2 revenue of $5.1 billion, equal to revenue for the same quarter of the previous year. Overall income from continuing operations was $939 million compared to $908 million in the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations was 51 cents, a 4.1% increase over the same period last year -- exceeding market estimates. However, overall access line losses outpaced gains in DSL. Some highlights from the quarter:Operating free cash flow from continuing operations was $1.3 billion.Capital expenditures...

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Toshiba Selects Avaya IP Telephony Solutions to Connect 12,000 Employees

Toshiba Corporation will deploy Avaya's SIP-enable IP telephony solutions at their headquarters building in Tokyo, Japan. When completed in early 2005, Toshiba will host one of the largest SIP-enabled IP telephony implementations, connecting 12,000 employees. The installation will include the Avaya Communication Manager, Avaya Media Servers and Avaya Converged Communications Servers. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.avaya....

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Fujitsu Access and Metalink Announce 100 Mbps VDSL Plus

Fujitsu Access Limited announced the commercial availability of a VDSL platform capable of delivering 100 Mbps access speeds; The Fujitsu Access platform incorporates Metalink's VDSLPlus chipset, which leverages a 5 band VDSL implementation to enable speeds exceeding 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream. Metalink said its VDSLPlus chipset also offers a migration path to 6-band VDSL, which targets 100 Mbps symmetric communication over copper. Testing of the Fujitsu Access VDSL-163G system is underway in Japan by major carriers. http://www....

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Aruba Wireless Networks Raises $42 Million

Aruba Wireless Networks, a start-up based has secured an additional $27 million in equity financing and a $15 million, fully-committed debt and working capital facility, for its enterprise-class wireless LAN security systems . This brings the total equity investment in the company, since its inception In April 2002, to $59 million. Aruba said it is now generating predictable quarterly revenue and has shipped over 700 WLAN switching systems to more than 300 customers around the world since it announced general availability of its Wi-Fi switching...

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Marconi and France Telecom Target RF Optimization Software

Marconi's Wireless Business Unit and France Telecom announced an R&D pact focused in RF mobile technologies. Specifically, the companies will develop and integrate France Telecom Research and Development RF design and optimization technologies into Marconi's Planet EV software portfolio. The new tools will complement Marconi's existing portfolio and will be specifically targeted to maximizing the performance, quality and profitability of existing mobile networks. http://www.rd.francetelecom.fr/fr/medias/medias.phphttp://www.marconi.com/In...

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Sprint Expands Business "Complete Access" Competitive Service

Sprint announced the availability in 35 major markets of a customizable telecommunications services bundle and new local-access alternative aimed at mid-size businesses as well as larger enterprise customers. Sprint Complete Access, which provides a competitive alternative to incumbent local phone service, consists of a suite of modular local, long-distance and data services on a single bill. Three primary service offers are available:Local Exchange Services (business lines, digital PBX trunks, ISDN PRI) for local loop access to the network for...

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NewSteps' Calling Service Node Bridges TDM and IP Applications

NewStep Networks, a start-up based in Ottawa, introduced an IP service control solution that enables service providers to integrate telephony services with enterprise applications and deliver them across both TDM and IP networks. NewStep said its "Calling Service Node" extends IP applications across public and private network environments. It connects to legacy and next-generation signaling systems via SS7 or SIP signalling protocols, creating a service control layer between IP-based applications and the underlying signaling systems. This service...

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MCI Closes the Sale of Embratel's Control Stake to TELMEX

Telefonos de Mexico (TELMEX) completed its acquisition of MCI's equity stake in Brazilian carrier Embratel. TELMEX paid an aggregate of US$400 million cash for MCI's 19.26% economic interest and 51.79% voting interest in Embratel. Embratel's network has countrywide coverage with 28,868 km of fiber routes. http://www.mci.comhttp://www.embratel.net....

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European Commission Urges More Spectrum for New Wireless Applications

The European Commission issued a report calling on EU member nations to expand their efforts to free up parts of the radio spectrum for innovative wireless technologies. The report looks at measures taken under the new telecoms package (in particular the Radio spectrum Decision) to allocate the radio spectrum more efficiently, to expand the single market for innovative new radio-based technologies. http://europa.eu....

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Verizon Proposes Higher Local Telephone Rates in WA

Verizon filed a rate design proposal with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) for a substantial increase in the basic monthly rate the company charges for telephone service. Under the proposal, Verizon's basic monthly rate in the state would increase by $9.80 - from $13 to $22.80 for residential customers and from $29.70 to $39.50 for business customers. Verizon estimates that these and other proposed changes would generate about $109.8 million in revenue. It noted that the filing represents its first general rate...

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Skype Signs 4 Carrier Agreements to Provide Global Call Termination

Skype Technologies announced agreements with COLT, iBasis, Level 3, and Teleglobe to provide call termination services worldwide. The agreements are in place in preparation for SkypeOut, a soon-to-be-launched pre-pay service that allows people to call any landline or mobile number in the world from anywhere in the world using the Skype software. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed. Skype reports more than 7 million users in over 170 countries for its free VoIP service since its Internet telephony software was launched last year. The company...

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Wave7 Optics Announces $6M in Additional Funding

Wave7 Optics, a start-up based in Alpharetta, Georgia, announced an additional $6M in funding for its active and passive Ethernet- and IP-based FTTP network equipment, Total venture capital investment in the company is now $68.5 million. The additional funding comes on a pro-rata basis from the company's six current investors: Advanced Technology Partners, Armada Venture Partners, Lucent Venture Partners, Mellon Ventures, Morgenthaler Ventures and Oak Investment Partners. Wave7 said it now has over 30 network operator customers around the world....

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ING DIRECT Selects Sprint's "Peerless IP" Network

ING DIRECT, a large bank with more than 1.8 million customers, has selected the Sprint "peerless IP" network architecture for its highly secure communications network services. The service provides an IP-VPN without any connections to the public global Internet. Sprint said its government-grade "peerless IP" network was originally aimed at meeting the security and performance demands of many federal and state government agencies. The FBI, National Guard and other key agencies have implemented the Sprint peerless IP solution. Since announcing government...

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U.S. Senate Committee Amends Proposed VoIP Legislation

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved an ammended version of the proposed "VOIP Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004," which was introduced earlier this year by Senator Sununu (R-NH). This legislation is aimed at encouraging the growth of VoIP by definitively classifying it as an information service and limiting potential state regulations.Two new ammendments to the bill would preserve the ability of states to require VOIP applications to provide 911 and E911 services; and would allow states to continue to require VOIP...

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Broadcom Grows Revenues 12% Sequentially and 70% Year-over-Year

Broadcom reported record Q2 revenue of $641.3 million, an increase of 11.8% from the $573.4 million reported for the first quarter of 2004 and an increase of 69.7% from the $377.9 million reported for the second quarter of 2003. Net income (GAAP) was $63.8 million, or $.18 per share (diluted), compared with GAAP net income of $39.9 million, or $.12 per share (diluted), for the first quarter of 2004.Q2 marked the company's twelfth consecutive quarter of revenue increases. The strongest revenue growth on a sequential basis was experienced in the...

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Telstra Selects 3G Solution from Nortel Networks

Telstra will deploy CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (evolution-data optimized) equipment from Nortel Networks. Deployment of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is underway in major capital cities and selected regional areas across Australia. The network will provide speeds bursting up to 153 kbps nationally and bursting in excess of 1 Mbps in 1xEV-DO coverage areas. 1xEV-DO users can expect 300 to 600 kbps average throughput.The upgrade builds on an existing CDMA network supplied by Nortel Networks to Telstra in 2000 and a subsequent CDMA2000 1X upgrade in 2002. Financial terms...

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AT&T to Withdraw from Consumer Circuit-Switched Services

AT&T announced an historic decision to shift its focus away from traditional consumer wireline telephony. Going forward, the company will concentrate its efforts on business customers and emerging IP services, including consumer VoIP. David W. Dorman, AT&T's Chairman and CEO, said the recent changes in regulatory policy governing local telephone service, meant that AT&T could no longer compete in residential local and standalone long distance (LD) consumer markets. AT&T also reported its Q2 financial results. Some highlights: consolidated...

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Earthlink Adds 47,000 Broadband Subscribers in Q2

EarthLink added 31,000 net subscribers during the second quarter and ended the quarter with 5.3 million paying subscribers, an increase of 296,000 subscribers, or 5.9 percent, from a year ago. During the quarter, EarthLink added 47,000 net broadband subscribers and ended the quarter with 1.2 million broadband customers, an increase of 21.5 percent from a year ago. In the second quarter, the company also added 102,000 net subscribers through PeoplePC Online, EarthLink's value-priced narrowband service, while it lost 113,000 net subscribers in its...

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Juniper Hires Ex Cisco and 3Com Execs to Build Sales Channel

Juniper Networks announced the appointment of three new executives: Tushar Kothari, vice president of worldwide channels, Bob Bruce, vice president of America's channels and Neal Oristano, vice president of America's sales. Tushar Kothari joins Juniper Networks from Cisco Systems, where he served most recently as vice president/General Manager of Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems. From 1997 to 2002, he was vice president of worldwide channels for Cisco. Kothari has previously held positions in sales and marketing with National Semiconductor...

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Tekelec Report Growing Sales for its Next-Gen Switching Gear

Tekelec reported Q2 sales of $95.6 million, compared to $62.9 million in the second quarter of 2003. Orders received in the second quarter for Tekelec products and services were $123.6 million, compared to $68.0 million in the second quarter in 2003. The $123.6 million of total orders booked during the quarter is the second highest order total in the history of the company, surpassed only by the order level achieved in Q4 2003. Tekelec credited its next-generation switching business unit (Santera) for contributing significantly to this order...

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Global Crossing and TELMEX Sign Bilateral Voice Agreement

Global Crossing and Telefonos de Mexico have signed a commercial agreement for bilateral voice interconnection. The agreement allows Global Crossing to send traffic to Mexico and TELMEX to transport long distance voice traffic to the U.S.Voice traffic exchange has commenced in Los Angeles, where Global Crossing and TELMEX have collocated points of presence (POPs).The agreement expands an existing business relationship between the two companies: TELMEX has been Global Crossing's primary local access provider for data services in Mexico since 2001,...

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Sprint Canada Launches Broadband VoIP

Sprint Canada, a subsidiary of Call-Net Enterprises, launched a nationwide VoIP service aimed at households and small/home offices. Sprint Canada Internet Phone Service (IPS), which rides over any DSL or cable modem connection, is supported on the company's own back office systems.The service is available as a standalone product and includes all standard home phone features such as operator services, 911, 411, and 711. Call waiting, call display and voice mail are also available. IPS is also available as part of bundled package with local home...

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SBC Cites Growth in Data, LD, DSL

SBC Communications reported a return to positve wireline revenue growth, following nearly three years of declines. During Q2, traditional wireline revenue growth was 1.1%, compared to -6.7% for Q2 2003. However, DSL activations were below expectations, which the company attributed to seasonality (end of the school year) and the labor strike at the end of May. Some highlights for Q2 2004:Data revenues - SBC's data revenues increased 9.5 percent to $2.7 billion in the quarter, SBC's best-ever quarterly data revenue total and its strongest year-over-year...

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deltathree Provides Back Office Support for Verizon's VoiceWing

deltathree announced an agreement with Verizon Communications to provide VoIP consulting, management and integration services for Verizon's new VoiceWing consumer service. Specifically, deltathree is providing a suite of back office integration and management services including: account sign-up, billing, account management, credit card processing and fraud management, as well as VoIP telephony features as they relate to the end user experience. deltathree will also provide its Customer Service Interface (CSI) for utilization in supporting the customer...

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Verizon Launches is VoiceWing Consumer VoIP in 139 Markets

Verizon Communications launched its "VoiceWing" consumer VoIP service. The initial rollout allows broadband users to choose area codes in 139 markets in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Verizon's VoiceWing offers features such as unlimited local and domestic long distance calls, call waiting, caller ID, call logs, enhanced call-forwarding and online voice mail. VoiceWing does not support traditional 911 or E911 access to emergency services. The company recommends that users maintain an alternate means of requesting emergency services,...

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VoiceGenie and Data Connection offer VoiceXML-based Unified Messaging

VoiceGenie Technologies is collaborating with Data Connection to offer service providers a VoiceXML-based Unified Messaging solution based on commodity hardware. The co-marketing and technology partnership combines VoiceGenie's " NeXusPoint" VoiceXML-based framework with Data Connection's "MailNGen" next-generation messaging solution. NeXusPoint is an open, VoiceXML-based framework for the development, deployment and hosting of sophisticated speech or touch-tone services. MailNGen is a flexible, modular multimedia messaging solution providing...

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KT Selects Redback's Next Gen SmartEdge

KT has selected Redback Networks' SE800 SmartEdge Service Gateway platform for managing broadband subscribers and services. KT has already deployed platforms from Redback for a significant portion of its existing ADSL networks and now plans to utilize Redback platforms in its expanding VDSL, Wi-Fi, and metro Ethernet networks. Redback's next-generation SmartEdge Service Gateway platforms with its NetOp Policy Manager will provide advanced subscriber management and edge routing functionality supporting KT's value-added services, including managed/integrated...

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Siemens Offers Dual Stack Broadband Client for IPv4 and IPv6

Siemens Subscriber Networks announced dual stack IPv4/IPv6 functionality for its tango Access broadband client software for Windows. The end-user software client gives broadband service providers the flexibility to begin deploying IPv6 over their existing Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) infrastructure. Siemens said its dual stack software approach is transparent to subscribers, except that their access to such advanced broadband services as video-on-demand, IP television, video conferencing, voice and video telephony and multiparty...

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Cox Digital Telephone Receives J.D. Power and Associates Award

Cox Communications received the highest honor in the West in J.D. Power and Associates' 2004 Residential Local Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study for overall customer satisfaction. The local telephone service study rated overall customer satisfaction based on six factors: customer service, billing, performance and reliability, company image, cost of service and offerings and promotions. In a separate study, Cox's bundled customers nationwide also ranked Cox highest for customer satisfaction in J.D. Power and Associates' 2004 Residential Long...

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Nortel Networks Joins Texas A&M Research Project on E9-1-1 for VoIP

Nortel Networks has joined a Texas A&M University research project focused on Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) access for next generation Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The company has donated its Multimedia Communication Server (MCS) to the Texas A&M research project, which looks at what the industry has identified as the future 'third stage' of E9-1-1 deployment - emergency communications in a pure-IP environment. Nortel Networks said the technology for E9-1-1 was originally designed for the traditional circuit-switched telephone network in...

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