NEC and Borland Collaborate on SIP

NEC and Borland Software have formed a partnership aimed at Web-based applications with SIP-based multimedia capabilities. The companies are jointly developing software to enable voice and video communications such as IP telephony and IP video conferencing over online applications, including portal sites and Intranets. The relationship combines NEC's IT/Network integrated solutions using SIP technology with Borland's distributed object technology. NEC plans to launch adaptor software based on this collaboration by the end of this year to the Japanese...

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Flextronics to Acquire FutureSoft

Flextronics has agreed to acquire FutureSoft, a supplier of communication software for network equipment OEMs, for an undisclosed sum. FutureSoft's product portfolio includes a range of protocol stacks, including LAN, WAN, IP, Internetworking, ATM, Telecom Signaling and Network Management software suites. FutureSoft employs 524 software engineers and is expected to generate about $23 million in revenues for its fiscal year ending March 2005. FutureSoft is headquartered in Chennai (Madras), India with subsidiaries in the U.S. and the U.K. http://www.futsoft.comhttp://www.flextronics.comIn...

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Swedish R&D Institute Tests Mintera's 40 Gbps Wavelengths

Acreo, a leading Swedish research and development institute operating the National Broadband Test-bed, is using Mintera's platform to integrate 40 Gbps wavelengths on a 2.5 Gbps line system over 820 km of installed standard single-mode fiber. The technology trial utilized a fiber link running from Kista in Stockholm to Hudiksvall, north of Stockholm, and back to Kista. Mintera's 40 Gbps terminal plugged into a commercial 2.5/10 Gbps system and simultaneously ran 40 Gbps traffic along with 2.5 Gbps traffic without any modifications to the existing...

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Incumbent Carrier in India Selects Veraz

An incumbent carrier in India has selected Veraz Networks' carrier-class voice compression systems for deployment across domestic and international links. The equipment will be provided with partners HTL Ltd., United Telecoms Limited (UTL) and Priyaraj Electronics Ltd. Veraz's solution includes its own DSP technology, which tailors bandwidth-optimizing features within stringent carrier requirements in any type of network environment. Veraz recently announced the opening of a Center in Pune, which will further assist with its carrier customer...

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India's VSNL Granted U.S. Telecom License

VSNL America, a local affiliate of India's Tata managed Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, was granted an International Common Carrier 214 License from the FCC to own and manage a U.S. network. The company plans to serve U.S. multinational corporations looking to penetrate key emerging markets such as India. http://www.vsnl.co...

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University of Utah Selects Sprint for Converged Network

The University of Utah has selected the Sprint IPx communications system portfolio to connect its buildings to a converged communications system. The five-year deal, led by Americom Technology, Inc., will migrate the university's communications system to an IP platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.sprint.com/http://www.americomtech.c...

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Wi-Fi Alliance Completes First WPA2 Certification Round

The Wi-Fi Alliance has completed the first product certification round for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) capability. WPA2 is based on the IEEE 802.11i specification, which was ratified in July, and uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), allowing for compliance with FIPS140-2 government security requirements. Companies obtaining WPA2 certification for certain products include Atheros Communications, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Gateway, Intel and Realtek. http://www.wi-fi....

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Hong Kong's PCCW Expands TV/DSL with Tut Systems

PCCW, Hong Kong's incumbent operator, has purchased additional encoding and content processing equipment to expand the channel line-up of its existing Tut Systems digital headend system. Tut Systems' Astria Content Processor (CP) serves as the core of PCCW's digital headend. As part of the expansion, PCCW purchased Tut Systems' next-generation encoder, as well as additional stream processor cards. An IP set-top box is used to decode the MPEG-2 switched digital video. The companies said PCCW's growing installed base of TV over DSL subscribers confirms...

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Level 3 Signs Wholesale VoIP Deal with Lightyear Network Solutions

Level 3 Communications will provide its wholesale VoIP services to Lightyear Network Solutions, a national sales and marketing organization providing telecommunication services and solutions to both commercial and residential customers. Lightyear purchased Level 3's (3)VoIP Enhanced Local service to support its Lightyear XSTREAM products, a new suite of services that will be sold to residential and business customers through Lightyear's authorized agents and representatives. Lightyear also purchased (3)VoIP Local Inbound service. http://www.Le...

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Spain's Al-Pi Deploys NetCentrex for Hosted IP Telephony

Al-Pi Telecommunications, a subsidiary of Uni2 and France Telecom serving the Catalonian region of Spain, has deployed NetCentrex' IPCentrex softswitch to launch "IPhone", a hosted VoIP business communications service. IPhone" enables enterprises to access any voice and data services required for their activities over one single converged network. It also introduces new multimedia applications such as unified messaging, conferencing, and other PC integration applications. A self-care provisioning tool allows enterprises to manage the telephony...

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Communications Workers of America Plan Leadership Change

Morton Bahr, who has served as president of the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America since 1985, will retire at the end of his term one year from now. CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen was named as Bahr's successor. http://www.cwa-union.org/The Communications Workers of America is the largest communications and media union in the U.S. representing over 700,000 workers in both private and public secto...

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AT&T and Adelphia Enter Residential VoIP Pact

Adelphia Communications, the nation's fifth-largest cable operator, entered into a residential VoIP agreement with AT&T. Under the deal, Adelphia will now serve as AT&T's preferred broadband solution for customers wishing to sign up for AT&T CallVantage Service in areas served by Adelphia. The agreement gives AT&T the ability to facilitate consumer orders for broadband cable service while signing up consumers for AT&T CallVantage Service. Consumers will then receive self-install kits for both services. Customers will also have...

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AT&T Expands its IP Based Services in Mexico via Alestra

AT&T and Alestra announced an agreement to extend AT&T's advanced services for multinational companies in Mexico. AT&T will expand the reach of its MPLS network to provide EVPN (Enhanced Virtual Private Lines) and GMIS (Global Managed Internet Service) services, as well as the AT&T international Packet Services family. The companies estimate the annual market potential of such services at US$1 billion. Alestra's connection to the AT&T Global Network (AGN) expands direct network coverage from 3 to 28 cities in Mexico and increases...

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Marconi Adds 15-way Conferencing to Virtual Presence System

Marconi has enhanced its ViPr Virtual Presence System with new tools for remote video communications, including up to 15-way videoconferencing and improved display of streaming video with larger video presentation windows on the same screen used by conference participants. Marconi' s ViPr, which was introduced in the fall of 2002, is a SIP-based multiparty desktop video telephony platform offering DVD-quality. It utilizes compression and imaging technologies such as MPEG-2 video, progressive scan HD video and active image processing for high picture...

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IPv6 Test Scenario Added to GMI 2004 Interoperability Event

The Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF) has added an IPv6 test scenario into its GMI 2004 interoperability event, which is scheduled for next month (October 4 -16) at four carrier test labs: Qwest in the United States, BT in the United Kingdom, NTT in Japan and KT in Korea. The event will test state-of-the-art network elements that are key to supporting a fully integrated VoIP solution such as application servers, media servers, service brokers, call agents, bandwidth managers and other control and management systems against the specific protocols...

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Lucent Lands $4.6 Million Optical Contract from U.S. Army

Lucent Technologies was awarded $4.6 million contract with the United States Department of the Army to provide optical networking systems and professional services to upgrade military communications systems at Fort Drum. Lucent will provide its Metropolis DMX Access Multiplexer and its new Metropolis Wavelength Services Manager (WSM). The new agreement is part of the Army's Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization Program (I3MP) aimed at upgrading and modernizing the voice and data infrastructure at Army bases worldwide. http://w...

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Convedia Claims Lead in IP Media Server Market

Convedia Corporation has captured a 47% share of the global market for media servers, according to figures from iLocus cited by the company. Convedia said its media servers are now operational in more than 50 in-service networks in 20 countries. The media servers are used for consolidating the functions of traditional announcement and recording servers, interactive voice response units (IVR/VRU), audio/video conference bridges, voice mail servers, and speech platforms onto a single shared media processing platform. http://www.convedia....

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T-Systems Teams with Spanish VoIP Provider

International Carrier Sales & Solutions (ICSS), the carriers' carrier division of T-Systems announced a seven year strategic collaboration agreement with Aló Comunicaciones, a leading Spanish VoIP telephony and broadband provider. The operators will collaborate to launch a broad range of telecommunications services in Spain, which are currently part of T-Systems' Service Offering Portfolio. The carriers will also use their respective networks for the termination of national and international voice and data traffic. http://www.t-systems.com...

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Xten Appoints Robert Sparks as CTO

Xten has appointed Robert Sparks as its Chief Technology Officer, succeeding Rob Raymond, who will stay on with the company as Vice President of Engineering. Sparks has been an active contributor to IETF protocol development, with a strong focus on improving interoperability of SIP and SIMPLE implementations. He spent the past 4 years as a principal engineer with dynamicsoft. Before that, he was a senior engineer with MCI WorldCom, where he was co-designer of MCI's SIP-based IP communications infrastructure; responsible for driving vendor development...

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Copper Mountain Networks Explores Strategic Options

Copper Mountain Networks, a supplier of broadband access solutions, has retained Raymond James & Associates to explore strategic options, including a possible sale of the company. Copper Mountain said the recent cancellation of a large carrier broadband upgrade project and potential delays in decisions from several other large carriers made it necessary to explore these options. The company's VantEdge provides high-density interfaces for aggregation from T1/E1 for remote DSLAMs and access points, to OC-12/STM-4 and Gigabit Ethernet for video...

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Marconi Opens R&D Center Near Boston

Marconi has opened a new research and development facility near Boston that will focus on a new a family of products to address the IP services market. The new carrier-class platform, which will provide virtual private networks in the mission-critical applications, is based, in part, on the technology of Crescent Networks' that Marconi purchased last year. The new platform will include Marconi's network management and quality of service capabilities. Marconi also operates development centers in both Vienna, Virginia, Pittsburgh. http://www.m...

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Foundry Doubles Performance of Load Balancing Switches

Foundry Networks is rolling out enhancements to its ServerIronXL family of load balancing application switches, including new configuration options, an enhanced operating system that doubles application switching performance, and reduced pricing. New configuration options for the ServerIronXL include a 16-port 10/100 model with two ports of Gigabit Ethernet-over-Copper (GoC) and a 16-port 10/100 model with two ports of Gigabit Ethernet-over-Fiber. Foundry also offers higher-density 24-port 10/100 Ethernet systems with options for one or two ports...

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Chelsio's 10GE Adapter add Support for Sun

Chelsio Communications, a start-up offering 10-Gigabit Ethernet adapter cards and protocol acceleration technology, is collaborating with Sun Microsystems to develop drivers for the Solaris Operating System for SPARC, AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon-processor based systems. Chelsio is currently shipping the driver for the Solaris OS for its N110 10Gb Ethernet NIC and will have a driver available for its T110 10Gb Ethernet Protocol Engine adapter later this year. http://www.chelsio.com/In August, Chelsio Communications, a start-up based in Sunnyvale,...

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Netgear Delivers Gigabit Card bus Adapter for $60

NETGEAR introduced a Gigabit PC Card for notebook computers at a retail price of $59.99. http://www.netgear....

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Widevine Signs TVN Entertainment for Content Security

TVN Entertainment, a provider of on-demand and pay-per-view television programming, has selected Widevine Technologies' Cypher Suite for secure transport of its VOD assets. TVN will use Widevine's Cypher Suite to provide persistent encryption of media from content provider to docking station. Widevine in turn would then be positioned to extend asset protection to the home for any video service provider. As a result of the agreement, TVN's affiliates will have the ability to protect content all the way from the provider to the consumer premise....

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T-Com Carries 35 Petabytes Per Month with Juniper T640

T-Com, the fixed-line division of Deutsche Telekom, is routing more than 35 petabytes of data per month across its German IP network. Juniper Networks' T-640 routing platforms are used in the T-Com network. In the last two years T-Com has experienced massive traffic growth driven by strong demand for its DSL broadband services. This growth has contributed significantly to the overall traffic mix. The companies said that T-Com's T-640-based Points of Presence (PoPs) has been running without outages since the deployment was completed in 2003....

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Covad Deploys Cisco for Nationwide VoIP

Covad Communications is offering business-class VoIP services based on Cisco equipment to business customers nationwide. The services utilize the Cisco 3662/5350 Gateway, Cisco 7600 Series Routers and Cisco Catalyst 3550 switches. Covad is now part of the Cisco Powered Network program. http://www.covad.comIn August, Covad Communications announced the availability of its hosted, business-class VoIP service in 42 markets across the U.S. The VoIP services, which are aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, are managed end-to-end. Two versions...

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Kasenna Expands Its VOD Patent Portfolio

Kasenna has been awarded three more key patents, adding to the company's patent portfolio in the area of media-on-demand and content management. The first patent, "System and method for media stream indexing," protects Kasenna's technique for implementing VCR "trick-modes" in a video-on-demand system. Trick-mode access allows users to pause, rewind, and fast-forward video or audio streams being served from a video server, the same way they currently interact with a VCR or DVD playback system. The patented technology provides a way for time synchronizing...

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Path 1 Hires Former Ciena Sales Exec

Path 1 Network Technologies named Jeff C. Hale as its new vice president of sales. Hale previously served as Director of Sales, Western U.S. at Ciena, where he handled direct and channel sales to enterprise accounts of the company's line of DWDM, storage and enterprise products. He formerly was with Akara, until that company was acquired by Ciena. http://www.path1....

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Singapore Polytechnic Deploys Cisco IP Telephony

Republic Polytechnic, Singapore's newest polytechnic serving some 1,900 students, has deployed an IP telephony system from Cisco Systems. The installation, which was handled by Radiance Communications, includes Cisco IP phones in the administrative offices, Cisco CallManager for software-based call processing, Cisco Unity Unified Messaging; and Cisco IP Communicator on the laptops and personal computers of Republic's staff. The Cisco IP Communicator is a software-based telephony application. The school has a vision of a totally wireless and mobile...

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Worldspan Awards AT&T $30 Million Networking Contract

Worldspan, which provides 16,000 travel agencies and other users worldwide with travel data and booking capabilities, awarded AT&T a three-year, $30 million networking contract. AT&T will deploy a secure IP VPN connected to an AT&T Ultravailable fiber ring at the host site. Worldspan customers -- from the largest airlines to small, independent travel agents -- will be able to access Worldspan's systems via a number of different technologies. Major airlines and large, high-volume travel agencies, for instance, can access Worldspan's...

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Parama Networks Announces Centralized Architecture for ADM-on-a-Chip

Parama Networks, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, announced a new centralized architecture for SONET/SDH Add/Drop Multiplexers that leverages its ADM-on-a-Chip (AoC) family. The company said it simplified architecture enables network equipment manufacturers to centralize the framing, cross connect and overhead processing functions of SONET and SDH. The architecture enables 50ms restoration in mesh networks, per service protection schemes, and transparent transport services. It also allows vendors to tap the bandwidth in the "overhead"...

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Redback Enhances its SmartEdge with LNS and LTS Capabilities

Redback Networks announced a new software release that enables its SmartEdge platforms to receive high bandwidth tunnels from broadband wholesalers. Specifically, the new software enables the sending, receiving or balancing of wholesale broadband L2TP tunnels, including L2TP Network Server (LNS), L2TP Access Server (LAC) and L2TP Tunnel Switch (LTS), on the SmartEdge edge router. The new enhanced L2TP functionality includes:a new level of reliability for maintaining the individual sessions within L2TP tunnels, even in the event of a hardware...

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Level 3 Provides Dark Fiber to Michigan Universities

Level 3 Communications is providing its (3)Link(R) Intercity Dark Fiber and (3)Link Metro Dark Fiber services in the Chicago and Detroit areas to Michigan's three largest public universities -- Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University -- to create a high-performance network to support advanced collaborative research. The multi-year, million-dollar-plus IRU contract was signed with the National Research and Education Fiber Company (FiberCo). The new research network, called the Michigan LambdaRail (MiLR),...

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Broadcom Licenses LSI Logic's DSP for Set-Top Box Audio

Broadcom has licensed LSI Logic's ZSP500 digital signal processor (DSP) core to service multiple encoding and decoding audio applications in the set-top box market. Since adopting the ZSP architecture, Broadcom has already gone into mass production with several VoIP semiconductor products based on ZSP processing solutions. In addition to Broadcom, LSI Logic has recently licensed the ZSP processing solutions to Huawei Technologies, Pulsus Technology, UTStarcom, Datang Microelectronics, AVID Electronics Corp., ICC and Socle Technology. Conexant,...

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Covaro Introduces Demarcation Product for Ethernet Over DS3

Covaro Networks, a start-up based in Richardson, Texas, introduced a new "new CC-301" product with the ability to map Ethernet over DS3s. Covaro's CC-301, which serves as the demarcation point at the customer site, is designed to take advantage of available DS3 transport systems or leased DS3 facilities to deliver Ethernet services either on or off net. The platform leverages Covaro's "Etherjack" technology, which provides remote monitoring and diagnostics for Ethernet services. In addition, Covaro said multiple CC-301s could be used in a back-to-back...

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i3 micro's IP Set-Top Box Integrates AMD Processor

i3 micro technology has selected AMD's Alchemy Au1550 processor to help accelerate networking capabilities within its third-generation "Mood Box" set-top box solution. The MIPS-based processor enables the set-top box to run enhanced, high-performance applications at low wattage. http://www.amd.comhttp://www.i3micro....

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LG Electronics Selects Sigma Designs for IPTV Set-tops

LG Electronics (LGE) has selected media processors from Sigma Designs to power its new IP set-top boxes, which will be deployed by Korea Telecom (KT). LG expects to begin volume shipments in September 2004. In March 2004, KT announced the pilot launch of its new Home N network service for Seoul and the surrounding area. The broadband home networking service that provides a variety of applications, including wired and wireless high-speed Internet access, high-quality video and audio, home automation, and two-way TV using a home gateway developed...

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C-COR to Acquire Optinel Systems for Optical Transport

C-COR agreed to acquire Optinel Systems, a developer of optical Ethernet transport solutions, for an initial cash payment of approximately $9.5 million and the assumption of certain liabilities. The deal also provides for the payment of an additional $6 million in cash if certain sales goals are met. Optinel's flagship PLEXiS platform combines Gigabit Ethernet transport modules with DWDM and CWDM hardware to provide cable operators with a server-to-hub transport solution for services such as VOD, HDTV, broadcast video, high-speed Internet, and...

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Siemens Claims Leading Market Share in DSL CPE Revenue

Siemens Subscriber Networks has captured the number one position globally in terms of DSL CPE revenue earned, according to figures from the Dell'Oro cited by the company. Siemens supplies DSL modems, gateways and routers, both wired and wireless. The company's cumulative global unit shipments reached 15.85 million as of June 2004. http://www.usa.siemens....

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Charter to Accelerate Entry into Cable Telephony

Charter Communications announced plans to accelerate its push into consumer telephony services through a partnership strategy. The cable operator has signed agreements with Level 3 Communications and Sprint Communications to provide long distance and local telephone service connectivity in selected cable markets across the U.S.. In addition, Charter has selected Accenture to provide telephony provisioning services. Charter said the partnerships would enable it to reduce the cost and time required to deploy telephony services across many markets....

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BroadSoft Names Chris MacFarland as VP of Operations

BroadSoft has appointed Chris MacFarland as its new vice president of operations. MacFarland comes to BroadSoft from Allegiance Telecom, Inc., a facilities-based national local exchange carrier, where he served as the company's senior vice president and CTO. Prior to Allegiance MacFarland held various management positions at Verio, OnRamp Technologies, and CompuNet. http://www.broadsoft....

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Optical Solutions Supplies FTTP in Utah

All West Communications, which serves 7,300 access lines in Utah and Wyoming, will deploy Optical Solutions' FiberPath 500 GPON in a triple play network. The equipment will be used to overbuild several new subdivisions in a mountainous area six miles east of Park City, Utah. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.opticalsolutions....

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FCC to Appeal Brand X Cable Modem Ruling

The FCC filed papers to appeal the "Brand X" cable modem case to the Supreme Court. A Supreme Court ruling is consider critical because the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had overturned the FCC's classification of cable modem service as an "information service." FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell said: "This is about ensuring that high-speed Internet connections aren't treated like what they're not: telephones. A successful appeal of this case would ultimately mean lower prices and better service for American consumers. Applying taxes, regulations...

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SingTel Partners with Telefonica on VPNs

Singapore Telecommunications is turning to Telefonica International Wholesale Services to enhance its reach and presence in Latin America. Under a partnership agreement, SingTel initially will offer Frame Relay and ATM services over virtual networks terminating in countries where Telefonica Wholesale already has infrastructure. SingTel plans to enhance the service by incorporating MPLS-based IP VPNs. http://www.singtel.comhttp://www.telefonica....

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Optus and Vodafone Australia to Share 3G Network

Optus and Vodafone Australia agreed to share 3G network sites and radio infrastructure across Australia. Under the agreement, Optus and Vodafone will work together to build and operate a joint national 3G radio network infrastructure. Although they will share the 3G infrastructure, the companies said they would provide completely separate customer services and continue to compete vigorously for customer business. http://www.singtel....

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Vodacom South Africa Selects Siemens for 3G/W-CDMA

Vodacom has signed a framework agreement making Siemens the sole supplier in building its 3G/W-CDMA network in South Africa. Under the contract, Siemens mobile is to upgrade Vodacom's existing GSM and GPRS network nationwide with 3G radio equipment and switches. This is Siemens' first 3G/W-CDMA contract on the African continent. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.siemens.comVodacom is a pan-African cellular carrier serving South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mozambique commenced operation in December...

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Sprint and SBC Announce Wi-Fi Roaming Pact

Sprint and SBC Communications announced a reciprocal Wi-Fi roaming agreement, enabling their respective customers to roam on the Wi-Fi networks of each company using their existing user ID's and passwords. Service charges will be billed according to the customers' current billing agreements. The parties expect to complete integration efforts and enable roaming at the respective venues as soon as possible. This the second major service provider roaming contract signed by Sprint, which earlier reached agreement with AT&T Wireless regarding reciprocal...

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European Broadcasting Union Streams Olympic Video via Akamai

Akamai Technologies announced that its global streaming network was utilized by leading broadcasters throughout Europe for the delivery of live and archived footage of the Athens 2004 Olympic Game. The video content was made available on the broadcasters' respective Web sites. The agreement between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the EBU marked the first time in Olympics history that live Internet streaming of the Games to European end users was authorized by the IOC. To adhere to syndication guidelines set forth by the IOC for...

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Telewest Takes Aim at "Capped" DSL Services

Telewest, a provider of cable modem services in the U.K., is predicting that new budget broadband services from the likes of BT and Wanadoo will be a disappointment to consumers. Telewest argues that the lower cost, higher speed DSL services are made possible by imposing harsh usage caps on customers. Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer at Telewest Broadband, said "a low-cost 1Mbps service with a 1Gb or 2Gb monthly cap defeats the whole point of faster broadband. Telewest said it recently increased the speed of its blueyonder...

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U.S. Court Dismisses VeriSign's Anti-Trust Claim Against ICANN

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has issued an order dismissing VeriSign's anti-trust claims against ICANN, the organization responsible for coordinating the Internet's root server system management, IP address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top- Level Domain name system management. The court tossed out VeriSign's anti-trust claims and held that VeriSign has not alleged and cannot allege that the "co-conspirators" named by VeriSign controlled ICANN's board....

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SupportSoft Rolls Out Broadband Service Automation Suite for Japan

SupportSoft is rolling out a localized version of its Service Automation Suite for Broadband for the Japanese market. The Service Automation Suite for Broadband is designed to help digital service providers deliver real-time self-service and assisted service to their broadband customers. SupportSoft provides for ongoing, automated resolution of customer service issues related to use of the customer's broadband connection. http://www.supportsoft.com/SupportSoft's broadband service automation software is being used by 6 of the top 8 North American...

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Hong Kong's PCCW Gains Momentum with TV/DSL

PCCW, the incumbent operator in Hong Kong, said now Broadband TV, it's a la carte pay-TV service for broadband subscribers, has achieved "critical mass", with over 316,000 customers (or nearly half of its major competitor's customer base) signing up by the end of June 2004, less than one year after launch. Now Broadband TV, which launched in September 2003, has since gained exclusive Hong Kong rights to broadcast ESPN and Star Sports. The company is also creating an exclusive 24-Hour Cantonese news channel. Overall, PCCW reported a total of...

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Alcatel Claims Leading Share of Global DSL market.

Alcatel's DSL market share for the second quarter of 2004 was 40.6% of the global amount of DSL lines shipped, close to three times that of the nearest competitor, according to figures from Dell'Oro Group cited by the company. Alcatel said DSL shipment growth in APAC, and to a lesser extent EMAI, experienced a dip during Q2, whereas the regions which have shown slower relative growth so far, such as North America and Latin America, saw a higher take-up. DSL shipments in North America by about 33% compared to the first quarter of 2004. In Latin...

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Metaswitch Cites Accelerating Deployments of Class 5 Packet Voice Switching

Metaswitch reported accelerating adoption of its VP3500 Series Class 5 Softswitch among its target customer base of independent and competitive telephone companies. During Q2, sixteen units were shipped for $5.9 million in revenue, more than all its competitors combined, according to Infonetics Research. The next generation voice products market, including Class 5 packet switches, softswitches and media gateways, is forecast to grow from $1.3B in 2003 to $4.8B in 2007. Based on Infonetics Research's latest quarterly report, Metaswitch claims 58%...

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Sprint Certifies Apple for Mobile Video Services

Apple's Xserve G5 and QuickTime software have been certified as mobile multimedia delivery platforms for Sprint's new PCS Vision Multimedia Services. The technology enables professional content service providers to deliver streaming audio and video clips to Sprint customers. The streams are available to customers using recently announced Sprint Vision Multimedia Services. http://www.apple....

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CenturyTel to Bundles EchoStar's TV Service

CenturyTel, the 8th largest local exchange telephone company in the U.S. based on number of access lines, will offer EchoStar's DISH Network satellite television service to its customers in 22 states. The relationship allows CenturyTel to offer customers multi-channel digital TV as part of its full suite of bundled product and service offerings. CenturyTel expects to begin offering its co-branded satellite TV services by the end of the year in a one-bill, one-point-of-contact service. CenturyTel will be the primary point of contact for CenturyTel...

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Intel Adds Tri-mode (802.11a,b,g) Wireless Module

Intel announced a new tri-mode wireless module (supporting IEEE standards 802.11a, b and g) for notebooks based on Intel Centrino mobile technology. The module supports the new IEEE 802.11i security standard and existing Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WEP. Intel also released wireless software to help make it faster and easier for end-users to set up a wireless connection with any Wi-Fi network, at the maximum available data rate. The Intel Smart Wireless Solution provides a configuration wizard, advanced troubleshooting and automated security...

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Alcatel and Pirelli Completed Undersea Networking Deal

Alcatel and Pirelli completed the transacticion involving their respective submarine networking operations. Under the deal, which was first announced in May, Alcatel has acquired certain Pirelli related assets and obtain intellectual property rights, while Pirelli has taken a 5% shareholding in Alcatel's submarine business, with associated mutual put and call options. http://www.alcatel.comLinksys is a division of Cisco Systems. createSummaryAndThumb("summary9179808627316378619...

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Reaches 2.7 Million DSL Users

Chunghwa Telecom, the incumbent operator in Taiwan, reported 2.7 million ADSL subscribers as of 30-June-2004, up by 138,000 over the preceding quarter and up by 33.5% over a year earlier. Chunghwa's total fixed line subscriber base stood at approximately 13.2 million as of 30-June-2004, an increase of 1.1% year over year. However, total fixed line revenues for the first half 2004 declined by 6.9% due mainly due to fixed line competition, mobile substitution and continuous migration of dial-up subscribers to ADSL. Chunghwa continues to be the leading...

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Korea's Asiana Airlines Signs On for Connexion by Boeing

Korea-based Asiana Airlines will begin installing the Connexion by Boeing mobile connectivity service on new aircraft scheduled for delivery in July 2005. Connexion by Boeing now has definitive agreements with Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines System, Japan Airlines, ANA and Kingdom Holding Co. to equip their long-haul aircraft with the service. In addition, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Korean Air have announced their intent to install the Connexion by Boeing system on their long-range aircraft. http://www.connexionbyboeing....

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France Telecom Licenses Turbo Code Patents to Broadcom

France Telecom has granted Broadcom a worldwide license to its Turbo Code patents for use in Broadcom's satellite applications. Broadcom's advanced single-chip satellite receiver is the first commercial chip supporting (8PSK) modulation and turbo code forward error correction (FEC). It allows satellite service providers to increase the information throughput by 35% in a given bandwidth or radio frequency link with no additional power requirements. France Telecom's Turbo Codes technology has been adopted into the W-CDMA, CDMA2000, and DVB-RCS standards....

Unwired Australia Launches Wired Broadband in Sydney

Unwired Australia Pty Limited has launched a wireless broadband service in Sydney using non-line-of-sight equipment from Navini Networks. The deployment is described as the largest broadband wireless network in Australia, covering more than 1,200 square miles. In addition to the initial roll out in Sydney, Unwired has targeted Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and other key regions in Australia for service expansion. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.navini.comhttp://www.unwired.com...

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Occam Adds ADSL2Plus to Broadband Loop Carrier

Occam Networks announced the availability of two new blades for its BLC 6000 Broadband Loop Carrier System. The first is a 48-port ADSL2Plus blade and the second is a 48-port ADSL2Plus and Lifeline POTS blade. Both blades are currently in customer trials and will begin shipping in September 2004. The new blades use ADSL2Plus technology, which delivers significant performance and interoperability improvements such as higher data rates, greater reach, advanced management, expanded diagnostics, enhanced power management and real-time rate adaptation....

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Hong Kong's PCCW Plans Exclusive All-News TV Channel for DSL

PCCW, the incumbent operator in Hong Kong, will create an exclusive 24-hour Cantonese-language news channel for customers of its DSL-based "now Broadband TV" service. The broadband TV channel, which is slated to launch in November, will consist of round-the-clock news updates including main news broadcast, finance programs and sports news. "now Broadband TV", which is supplied via PCCW's Netvigator broadband access service, has attracted more than 300,000 customers as of July 2004. A total of 59 channels are available on an à la carte pricing scheme...

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NTT DoCoMo Extends Wi-Fi Roaming to 33 Countries

NTT DoCoMo has signed a roaming agreement with iPass for extending its public wireless LAN service to 33 countries. The 33 countries span North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. This currently includes some 3,000 hotspots in hotels and airports. http://www.ntt.co...

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Verizon and Granite Sign UNE-p Deal

Verizon and Granite Telecommunications announced a deal that will replace their existing wholesale UNE-p leasing arrangement. The new agreement includes restructured pricing and a number of high-value services not offered under the existing government-mandated UNE-P plan. Granite Telecommunications is one of Verizon's largest buyers of wholesale services under the current UNE-P system. The company serves customers in 28 states where Verizon has a presence. Nationally, Granite serves over 200,000 local lines in 49 states. Verizon said its Wholesale...

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Telstra Acquires UK Operations of PSINet Europe

Telstra has acquired the UK businesses of PSINet Europe from the Israel Corporation for £50 million in cash. PSINet UK supports in excess of 3,200 corporate and government customers. The deal marks Telstra's third UK acquisition in nine months. Previous acquisitions include Powergen's telecoms network infrastructure (Oct '03) and Cable Telecom, a leading provider of telecom services to small and medium business customers (Feb '04). http://ww.telstra.co...

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Vonage Raises Another $105 million in New Funding

Vonage closed $105 million in a fourth round of venture funding, bring total investment in the company to $208 million. Vonage said the money will be used to accelerate the expansion of service both in the United States and abroad, including Canada, the UK, the Pacific Rim and Latin America . The latest funding round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and included the participation of 3i, Meritech Capital Partners and existing investors. http://www.vonage.comIn July, Vonage announced the activation of 200,000 total VoIP lines on its network,...

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Las Vegas Installs Wireless Mesh Network for Public Safety

The city of Las Vegas is installing a wireless broadband network throughout its downtown to serve transportation and public safety agencies. MeshNetworks, a provider of mobile mesh networking solutions, is partnering with Cheetah Wireless Technologies on the project. The network offers symmetric uplink and downlink data rates of 512Kbps to 1.5Mbps, and provides "always-on" connectivity, even to emergency vehicles traveling at high speed. http://www.meshnetworks.comMeshNetworks leverages battlefield networking technology originally developed for...

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WSJ: Phone Industry Faces Upheaval as Ways of Calling Change Fast

The RBOCs have lost some 28 million local access lines since the end of 2000 -- a drop of more than 18% -- due to wireless substitution and, increasingly, competition from VoIP competitors, according to a front page article in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal. The newspaper compares the looming threat faced by local phone business to the ordeal of the railroads following the widespread availability of automobiles in the boom years after World War II. Doreen Toben, Verizon's CFO, is quoted as saying that cable VoIP has become a "real threat."htt...

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Sprint Signs Cable VoIP Partnership with Mediacom

Sprint will provide an outsourced VoIP telephone service to Mediacom Communications, the eighth largest cable operator in the U.S. serving 2.7 million homes in 23 states. Mediacom plans to offer the VoIP service as part of a triple-play portfolio that also includes broadband and cable TV services. The companies anticipate launching the telephone service in selected markets in the first half of 2005. Under the agreement, Sprint will assist Mediacom Communications with provisioning capabilities, switching and termination of traffic to the public...

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AT&T Builds Global VPN for Swiss International Air

Swiss International Airlines selected AT&T to provide a global VPN to connect 36 key business locations around the world. The three year $2.4 million deal will link 19 SWISS locations in Europe, 13 in the U.S. and four in Canada thorough the AT&T Global Network (AGN). The MPLS-based VPN will connect SWISS' key airport locations, sales offices and cargo centers. http://www.att....

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Alcatel Opens NGN Reality Centre in Shanghai

Alcatel Shanghai Bell has opened a Next Generation Network (NGN) Reality Centre at its headquarters in Shanghai, China. The new Center provides an open service delivery environment for design and testing of NGN based user-centric broadband services. Alcatel operates a similar facility in Antwerp, Belgium. http://www.alcatel....

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China Netcom Deploys Alcatel's NGN Platforms

Jiangsu Netcom, a subsidiary of China Netcom, selected Alcatel Shanghai Bell to deploy a Next Generation Network (NGN) with a total capacity of 500,000 subscriber lines in Jiangsu province. Under the contract's terms, Alcatel will deliver its end-to-end NGN solutions from the core through to the access network as well as terminals, including the Alcatel 5020 Softswitch, 7515 trunking gateway, the Alcatel IP Centrex application server, media server, session border controller, integrated network management platform, access gateway, IAD and SIP...

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Redback Supplies Edge Gear in Bosnia Herzegovina

Bosnia Herzegovina Telecom selected Redback Networks' SmartEdge Service Gateway platform and NetOp Policy Manager for its new, integrated nationwide broadband and IP network. The network will bring ADSL access and IP services to the country as part of its post-war rebuilding initiative. Initially, BH Telecom will offer broadband and IP service within all larger city centers and then will extend the broadband network to all other urban and suburban parts of the country. Currently the country has dial-up and narrowband fixed-connection Internet...

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China Telecom Purchases Multiple STM-16s from FLAG

China Telecom awarded a multi-million dollar contract to FLAG Telecom for multiple STM-16s providing a substantial 30 Gbps capacity between China and the United States. The STM-16s will provide full-circuit, high quality connectivity to carry large volumes of voice, data and Internet traffic between China and the US West Coast. The circuits will use the FLAG North Asia Loop (FNAL) system and Tyco Telecommunications' TGN Trans-Pacific cable. http://www.flagtelecom.comFLAG Telecom is a member company of India's Reliance Gro...

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Japan's Tohoku Electric Power Selects Juniper's IP/MPLS

The Tohoku Electric Power Company of Japan has selected the Juniper Networks M-series routing platform for its corporate network. NEC, a Juniper Networks strategic partner, provided network design and implementation expertise for the project. Financial terms were not disclosed. Tohoku EPCO's IP/MPLS network links eight sites using Juniper's M-series routers over a transport infrastructure of 2.4 Gbps OC-48 WDM optical rings. The resultant IP/MPLS network is managed by NEC's advanced network management system iNetWorX. The iNetWorX system facilitates...

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T-Mobile USA Awards Contract Extension to Nortel Networks

T-Mobile USA awarded a wireless contract extension to Nortel Networks to provide GSM, GPRS, EDGE and packet core wireless data network upgrades and associated professional services. The contract provides for deployment of Nortel Networks' GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio access portfolio, Base Station Controllers (BSC) and circuit/packet core equipment including Mobile Switching Center/Call Server (MSC/CS) and Nortel Networks Alteon Switched Firewalls and Application Switches, in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Phoenix and Milwaukee. http://www.nortelnetworks.comNortel...

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Ascent Media Chooses Net Insight For Real-Time Video Transport

Ascent Media Network Services (AMNS), which specializes in network origination, video distribution and post-production services, has deployed Net Insight's SONET/SDH based Nimbra platform for its real-time video and data transfers. AMNS is using Broadwing Communications' Media Services Network to connect its facilities in New York, Minneapolis Los Angeles, and London. The Net Insight equipment installed at these locations as well as on the Broadwing network. http://www.netinsight.nethttp://www.ascentmedia....

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Rogers Wireless Chooses Azaire for Hotspots across Canada

Rogers Wireless selected Azaire Networks as its core system provider for Wi-Fi services at its HOTSPOT locations across Canada. Azaire's platform provides Rogers Wireless customers with secure authentication and authorization of Wi-Fi services. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.azairenet.com/In March 2004, Rogers Wireless, Bell Mobility, TELUS Mobility, and Microcell Solutions, signed an inter-carrier agreement that establishes common standards for roaming and interoperability of the public Wi-Fi HOTSPOT locations they each operate....

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Swisscom/Bluewin Readies Launch of Microsoft IPTV over ADSL

Swisscom's Bluewin subsidiary is preparing to launch a trial IPTV over ADSL service next month in collaboration with Microsoft. Bluewin will initially provide 600 homes with 25 TV channels. IP video will be streamed from the Bluewin computing centre via ADSL to the customer's set-top box, where the IP signal is converted for viewing on any TV. The service require between 1.2 and 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth. Bluewin is the first operator in Europe to trial pay-TV services powered by the Microsoft TV IPTV platform. The offering also includes 5 pay-TV...

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Verizon Vice Chairman Calls for Market-Based Broadband Policies

Verizon plans to invest at least $3 billion in transformative technologies, such as FTTP, Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) broadband wireless, and residential VoIP, through 2005, said company president Lawrence Babbio, speaking at the Progress & Freedom Foundation's Aspen Summit. However, Babbio said current regulatory policy "acts a brake on such investment." Babbio called on regulators to "stop making policy by looking in the rear-view mirror." He offered four principles on which an updated policy should be built:"Do not apply unbundling...

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USTA, Verizon and Qwest Seek to Block FCC's Six Month Freeze

The United States Telecom Association (USTA), Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications filed papers with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia seeking to block the six month freeze in local access rules announced by the FCC last week. The two RBOCs contend that the FCC exceeded its legal authority and has no power to extend the requirement for leasing lines beyond the court's recent ruling. "For nearly a decade, we have waited for the FCC to put lawful rules in place for the telecom industry. Unfortunately, after four...

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Ikanos Cites Korean Traction for its 100 Mbps Chipsets

Ikanos Communications cited two South Korean manufacturers that are using its VDSL chipsets in a range of high-speed access platforms. Dasan Networks is employing Ikanos' 100 Mbps programmable Fx and FxS chipsets in its new high-speed Internet access solution. Aimed mainly at the worldwide broadband markets, the Dasan Networks solution will enable carriers to offer their Multi-Tenant and Multi-Dwelling Unit (MxU) customers Internet access at speeds of up to 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream over ordinary copper telephone lines. Millinet...

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DSL Forum Issues Technical Reports for DSLHome Next Gen Architecture

The DSL Forum issued two newly approved Technical Report (TR) specifications (TR-092 and TR-094) aimed at enabling multiservice DSL applications such as home security and entertainment.TR-094 "Multi-Service Delivery Framework for Home Networks" defines the Forum's "DSLHome" home networking architecture and sets requirements that optimize a home network to take advantage of the full capabilities of manifold broadband access services. The architecture permits multiple users within the home to simultaneously run numerous applications and devices with...

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Paradyne Ships Line-Powered Mini-DSLAMS with ADSL2+

Paradyne announced shipments of its Remote Broadband Access Concentrator (BAC) featuring ADSL2+ . The Remote BAC is features a modular design, in a compact, weather-resistant cabinet that can be mounted on a pole or a wall. In addition to ADSL2+, the Remote BAC can be configured with Paradyne's ReachDSL as well as standards-based SHDSL.. Other features include: Three power options: Line-powered, AC or -48VDC 24, 48 or 72 port configurations GigE Fiber, T1 and E1 uplinks Optional GigE switching Environmentally hardened and sealed architectur...

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Kentucky's Paducah Power Combines Alcatel's OmniSwitch and FTTU

Paducah Power System, a municipally owned electric distribution utility service in Kentucky, has selected Alcatel's fiber-to-the-user (FTTU) and OmniSwitch enterprise data infrastructure range to expand its network. This is Alcatel's second FTTU deployment in Kentucky. Financial terms were not disclosed. Paducah will deploy the Alcatel OmniSwitch product family to deliver next generation Gigabit Ethernet services to its power substations. All substations, connected via redundant GigE links, will also be used to transport voice, video, data, and...

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Fujitsu Microelectronics Targets WiMAX Opportunity

Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) is set to introduce a chipset targeting the WiMAX broadband wireless access market. The company said it is working with leading equipment and infrastructure vendors to design a single-chip solution for deployment in base stations and subscriber stations. FMA is targeting an early 2005 for the launch of the single-chip solution, which will integrate both PHY and MAC functionality. WiMAX-compliant silicon is expected by the beginning of 2005. Its adoption in infrastructure and subscriber equipment is...

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WilTel Collaborates with VeriSign on Managed Security Service

VeriSign and WilTel Communications announced a collaborative relationship to deliver a suite of preconfigured Managed Security Services (MSS) designed to address common enterprise security challenges. Specifically, WilTel selected VeriSign as its preferred provider to develop and deploy a prepackaged MSS suite that allows business customers to expedite and simplify the deployment of firewall and Intrusion Detection Services (IDS), as well as ease the management of these security devices. Through bundling VeriSign's MSS solutions, WilTel will strengthen...

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AboveNet Opens Network Mgt Center in Herndon

AboveNet is opening a new Network Management Center (NMC) located in Herndon, Virginia. The new facility is structured as a consolidated services center for the AboveNet network with the capability to monitor and manage traffic, as well as networked applications performance for clients on a worldwide basis. The new NMC is a 15,000 square feet facility that will serve as a hub for the surveillance monitoring of the company's metro fiber networks, IP network and managed network services. In addition, the NMC orchestrates the installation and maintenance...

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Level 3 to Provide Services to Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom

Level 3 Communications signed a network services contract with Chunghwa Telecom Global, the U.S.-based subsidiary of Chunghwa Telecom, the incumbent carrier in Taiwan. Chunghwa Telecom will be using (3)Link Private Line services to connect its Asian network to key points in the U.S. Multiple private lines will be used to extend the Taiwan-based carrier's Asian network from the Morro Bay transpacific cable station in Los Osos, California to the Peering and Internet Exchange (PAIX) facility in Palo Alto, California and a Level 3 facility in Los...

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TelCove Finalizes Transfer of CLEC Markets in Virginia and New York

TelCove, a provider of business telecommunications services, finalized the transfer of ownership of network assets and customers from Adelphia Communications Corporation ("ACC") in ten markets in Virginia and New York. The deal covers network assets in Charlottesville, Richmond, Lynchburg, Danville, Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Winchester, and Staunton, Virginia, along with Albany and Buffalo, New York. TelCove now operates in 50 markets in the eastern half of the United States. http://www.telcove....

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Vonage and Linksys Collaborate on Consumer VoIP Devices

Vonage will begin offering two different VoIP devices Linksys (a division of Cisco Systems), under a new relationship announced by the firms. Vonage subscribers will be offered a choice of the Linksys (PAP2) Phone Adapter with 2 Phone Ports or the (RT31P2) Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports. In a few weeks, Linksys will also make available a Wireless-G Router with 2 phone ports. Both the Phone adapter and Voice Routers include the following features:Support for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)Web based configuration through a build-in web serverSupport...

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Vonage Teams with Netgear for Consumer VoIP/Wi-Fi Products

Vonage is teaming with NETGEAR to develop a line of broadband telephony devices that are expected to enter the retail channel in time for the Holiday season. The first device will be a voice-enabled 802.11g wireless router followed by a wired two-port telephone adapter/router. The products incorporate the latest version of Texas Instruments' VoIP and WLAN chipsets. Vonage said it is currently adding more than 25,000 lines per month. http://www.vonage.comhttp://www.netgear....

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Germany Sets Geographic Conditions for VoIP Local Call Numbers

Germany's official Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Post (RegTP) ruled that local network call numbers for Internet telephony services may only be allocated to customers within their relevant local networks. RegTP issued orders providing locality-based local network call numbers to two VoIP service providers, Sipgate and Nikotalk. RegTP noted that other Internet telephony providers have started offering their customers local network call numbers independently of their place of residence. However, RegTP said this procedure "distorts...

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AT&T, AT&T Wireless, and Cingular Resolve Branding Issue

AT&T, AT&T Wireless, and Cingular Wireless resolved issues relating to the use of the AT&T brand in connection with Cingular's acquisition of AT&T Wireless. During a six-month transition following the merger, Cingular will have certain licensee rights to the AT&T brand for wireless services. Cingular intends to use its own brand for the new combined company following its acquisition of AT&T Wireless, and it will cease using the AT&T brand at the end of the transition period. Also, AT&T will provide the combined Cingular/AT&T...

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AT&T Moves its Consumer VoIP into Retail Channels

AT&T will begin marketing its residential VoIP service through Best Buy's 628 retail stores across the U.S. The companies will promote AT&T CallVantage Service through in-store marketing as well as print, broadcast and online advertising. AT&T said it will announced additional retail agreements soon. http://www.att....

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Axiowave and Path 1 Team on Video over IP SLAs

Path 1 Network Technologies and Axiowave Networks have formed a strategic partnership to enable service providers to offer ATM-Grade, point-to-point and extremely low worst-case latency and jitter guarantees to their customers under all network traffic conditions. The companies will collaborate on marketing and sales activities. Path 1 offers a Video over IP gateways featuring the ability to seamlessly switch between transmission and reception of video using the same unit. This reduces the equipment needed to implement two-way compressed or uncompressed...

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Cisco Acquires P-Cube for IP Service Control Platform

Cisco Systems agreed to acquire P-Cube, a developer of IP service control platforms, for approximately $200 million in cash and options. P-Cube's Service Control Platform offers a stateful deep packet inspection capability that provides application-awareness while quality of service is maintained through real-time application control. The platform enables service providers to control and manage advanced IP services, such as interactive gaming, Video-on-Demand, and Peer-to-Peer. P-Cube's Service Control Platform is both application and subscriber-aware....

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Turk Telekom Selects Redback's SmartEdge Service Gateway

Turk Telekom, the incumbent PTT in Turkey, has selected Redback's SmartEdge Service Gateway systems to use throughout its infrastructure for the second phase of its nationwide broadband network. Turk Telekom selected the next-generation Redback platform for the first phase of the development last year. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Redback SmartEdge Service Gateway platform integrates the B-RAS functionality of its SMS family of subscriber management products with the SmartEdge platform's purpose-built hardware and software to provide...

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Comcast Launches Digital Video Recorder Service

Comcast Cable launched a new Digital Video Recorder (DVR) service in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and northern Delaware. The DVR service enables the company's Digital Cable customers to pause and rewind live standard or HDTV broadcasts, record favorite shows, and build a customized digital programming list. It can be combined with Comcast's existing ON DEMAND service. Pricing its $9.95 per month and there is no upfront equipment charge. The service uses a Digital Cable set-top box provided by Comcast. An interactive on-screen programming guide will...

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Telstar 18 Satellite Enters Commercial Service Over Asia

Telstar 18 has entered commercial service over Asia. The satellite carries a total of 54 active transponders, of which sixteen are high-power Ku-band transponders and thirty-eight are C-band transponders. The footprint stretches from Central Asia, through the Indian sub-continent, China, Korea, Japan, South East Asia, Australia and Hawaii. In addition to cable programming and direct-to-home broadcasting services, Telstar 18 is scheduled to begin hosting Skynet's SkyReach two-way IP-based networking solution in 2005. Telstar 18's users include...

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Avaya Supplies IP Telephony for NBC Olympics

Avaya has supplied an IP telephony solution for the NBC Olympics staff members covering the 2004 Athens Games. The private, wide area network that links the company's headquarters in Stamford, Conn., and the International Broadcast Center and field offices in Athens. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.avaya....

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