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 market, targeting carriers, ISPs, application service providers, enterprises and government bodies. http://www.nec.comhttp://www.borland.com

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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.com

• In June 2004, Flextronics agreed to acquire Hughes Network Systems' entire ownership stake of fifty-five percent (55%) in Hughes Software Systems (HSS), a leading provider of software products and services to telecom infrastructure companies, for a total cash consideration of approximately US$226 million (Rs547 per share). HSS, which is based in India, provides convergent software solutions for fixed and mobile networks for both voice and data. Its products and services span a variety of domains, such as optical networks, wireless networks, satellite networks, switching systems, convergent networks and broadband networks. HSS' product portfolio includes protocol stacks and value-added frameworks and are comprised of licensable technologies focused on Voice over Packet (VoP), SS7, broadband and wireless (GPRS/UMTS) products that provide customers with open architecture solutions.

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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 in-line amplifiers, dispersion compensation or optical MUX/DMUX infrastructure. Mintera said a 40 Gbps wavelength was up and running in less than an hour, and error-free performance with 9 dB of margin was measured over the one-week trial period. http://www.mintera.com

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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 and systems integrator relationships. Further, Veraz is one of the few NGN vendors with a carrier-class packet telephony solution awarded certification from the Indian government's Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC). http://www.veraznetworks.com

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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.com/)

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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.com/

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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.org

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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 the business case for Telco TV. PCCW's a la carte business model, which empowers consumers to select and pay for only the channels they want, is seen as a major factor in the high penetration rate for the service. PCCW is currently offering more than 50 channels of digital entertainment, including premium sports, news and entertainment channels. http://www.tutsystems.com/

• Last week, PCCW announced that its 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. This makes PCCW one of the world's largest and most successful digital TV deployments over fiber and DSL. PCCW has signed up approximately 30,000 subscribers per month since launching its digital TV service in September of 2003 and anticipates maintaining that pace through the end of 2004.



• Overall, PCCW reported a total of 753,000 broadband subscribers in Hong Kong as of the end of Q2, up by 20% over last year.

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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.Level3.comhttp://www.lightyear.net

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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 services for each user and site themselves, including call forward, international access, access codes and directories.



Integration services have been carried out by Satec, NetCentrex' partner in Spain, who also provides support for the solution. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.netcentrex.net

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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 sectors.

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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 the option of some professional installation services for an additional fee.



Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. http://www.callvantage.com/

• Last month, AT&T entered into a VoIP marketing agreement with Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs) under which households interested in signing up for AT&T CallVantage Service who do not already have broadband access will be referred to CableLabs' cable system operator members.

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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 border crossing coverage with an incremental node in Tijuana. http://www.att.com/

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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 quality. The platform eliminates the Multi-point Control Unit (MCU), which the company said is a critical factor in video delay. http://www.marconi.com

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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 defined in MSF Implementation Agreements (IAs).



The new IPv6 test scenario in the GMI 2004 interoperability event will leverage technology from the North American IPv6 Task Force (NAv6TF) Moonv6 Project. The IPv6 test scenario will include VoIP, video phone, SIP security and QoS over a pure IP network.



Participants in GMI 2004 include Alcatel, BT, Cisco Systems, Convedia, Empirix, Ericsson, ETRI,
FeelingK, Fujitsu, Hitachi, KT, Leapstone, LG Electronics, Marconi, MetaSwitch, Navtel, NCS, Nortel Networks, NTT, Operax, Qwest, Samsung, Siemens, Softfront, Sonus Networks, Spirent Communications, Teledata Networks and Vocal Data. http://www.msforum.org/

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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://www.lucent.com

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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.com

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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/icss

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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 of SIP business telephones; and created and maintained a PC SIP user agent for use in interoperability testing and SIP/RTP protocol research.



Xten is a developer of carrier-grade SIP-based Voice and Video over IP software and softphones for service providers, cable operators, internet telephony service providers and OEMs. The company said it has more than 400,000 IP endpoints deployed worldwide. http://www.xten.com

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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 delivery to DSLAMs and PON OLT (Passive Optical Network Optical Line Termination) devices. http://www.coppermountain.com

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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.marconi.com

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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 of Gigabit Ethernet uplinks. The company said that new algorithms and optimized software for the platforms effectively double the systems' load-balancing performance.



Foundry Networks noted that it has shipped more than 15,000 ServerIronXL switches to date. http://www.foundrynetworks.com/

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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, California, introduced a 10 Gbps Ethernet NIC priced at $1,995. The new half-size PCI-X card is a streamlined version of Chelsio's T110 host bus adapter, which achieves high-performance and low-latency by providing protocol off-load in silicon. Chelsio also leverages a VLIW (very long instruction word) "Terminator" ASIC that can handle more than one million concurrent sessions, enabling the T110 cards to support up to 64,000 simultaneous connections.

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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.com

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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.



TVN Entertainment currently distributes more than 1500 hours of VOD programming from over 70 content providers. http://www.widevine.comhttp://www.TVN.com

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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. http://www.juniper.net

• Deutsche Telekom now has almost 5 million DSL connections Group-wide: 4.7 million of those are in Germany, up 750,000 or 17 percent since the end of 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.com

• In 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 are offered -- Covad vPBX and Covad PBXi. Covad PBXi is designed to work seamlessly with existing PBX equipment. Covad vPBX is designed as a full PBX alternative. Covad and Covad's dealer network install the service, train users and provide complete customer support. Covad provides a "Dashboard" user interface for the local and long-distance service, visual fax and voice mail, Instant Messaging, audio and web conferencing, call logs, directory services, "Find me/Follow me" and other features.



• Earlier this year, Covad acquired GoBeam, a privately-owned provider of VoIP, for $48 million in stock. GoBeam, which was based is Pleasanton, California, had more than 13,000 VoIP stations (telephones) serving business customers throughout California and in the Chicago, Illinois area. The company offered a full-feature hosted PBX solution with online management tools.

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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 between a normal stream and a fast-forward or fast-reverse stream, and enables delivery of content from any selected time in the program material. This patent is used by all Kasenna customers and is at the core of any video server providing trick mode access to on-demand content.



The second patent, "Media server system and process having device independent near-online storage support," protects Kasenna's technique to connect and access large content libraries with a media server system that allows the content to move automatically and transparently among different storage hierarchies. This technique also provides a way for different storage systems to be added to a video network easily and transparently. This patent is the basis of technology that enables customers such as Japan's broadcaster NHK to create and manage large archives of content in various storage hierarchies.



The third patent, "Media server system and method having improved asset types for playback of digital media," protects Kasenna's header-injection technology, which is used for seamlessly playing back sequences of content such as MPEG-2 video. By extracting header information from the content, storing it as metadata, and making the metadata available to client decoders, this technique ensures that transitions between different clips are handled smoothly. This technology is useful in creating play lists, ad insertions, and other IP video features.



Kasenna holds 11 core patents with 6 additional patents pending, which are incorporated into its products, such as the MediaBase XMP Video Server, vFusion video network management system, and the LivingRoom application for IP television. http://www.kasenna.com

• In July, 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.



• Also in July 2004, Kasenna, a start-up based in Mountain View, California, completed a new $15 million round of private equity investment for its broadband IP video solutions. Kasenna recently announced two new major product line extensions -- vFusion and vForge -- along with the acquisition of ViewNow's content resources and studio relationships, new partnerships with SecureMedia, and customer wins that include Charter Cable, PrairieWave Communications, and Iowa Networks.

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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.com

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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 environment. http://www.cisco.com

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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 systems using a dedicated high-speed IP circuit that connects directly to the UVN ring. http://www.att.com

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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" channels for signaling and control purposes throughout the network.



Parama said its design supports simplified control plane implementations such as GMPLS for service provisioning and other tasks.



In addition, Parama has extended its ADM-on-a-Chip (AoC) family with a new device that incorporates eight programmable tributary interfaces to run at OC-3/12 or STM-1/4 rates, two OC-48/STM-16 line interfaces, and 10 Gbps of non-blocking cross-connect. http://www.paramanet.com

• In June 2004, Parama Networks announced that Movaz Networks is using its “ADM-on-a-Chip�? on a number of designs for its Movaz RAY family of wavelength services products, including its new reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer. The companies said the next-generation of transport equipment would drive the convergence of SONET/SDH and DWDM. This is expected to result in lower capital and operating costs, more flexible systems, simpler “per wavelength�? service reconfiguration, a unified control plane, more efficient use of wavelengths via grooming, and a unified network management system.

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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 failure. Traditional LNS solutions can fail-over L2TP tunnels in the event of a hardware failure, but all individual subscriber sessions are lost. The enhanced LNS for the SmartEdge platform now ensures that tunnels and individual PPP sessions remain intact and uninterrupted in the event of a line card fail-over.



• enhanced LTS for the SmartEdge platform with the same ability to fail-over individual sessions. As an LTS, wholesale connections from a provider can be load balanced between separate LNS units.



• integration between the L2TP tunneling functions and MPLS VPNs on the same platform. VPN tunnels can now connect seamlessly with L2TP tunnels.

Redback said that unlike other platforms, the LNS and LTS functionality is built directly into the SmartEdge software and does not require a separate line card or resource card. The function is performed entirely in software. The LNS functionality can be integrated with edge routing and broadband subscriber management on the same platform. Redback provides full support for sending or receiving subscriber traffic to or from MPLS VPNs for LNS terminated sessions.



Redback said these capabilities enable ISPs to consolidate elements of their networks that are currently separate and boost overall reliability, scalability and ease of operation. http://www.redback.com

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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), is slated for operation by January 2005. DWDM will be used to provide up to 200 wavelengths per fiber pair, with each wavelength capable of supporting data transmission at 10 Gbps. http://www.Level3.com

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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, IBM, Skyworks and VIA Telecom are also among publicly announced licensees of the ZSP processing solutions. http://www.zsp.com

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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 configuration or combined with its Covaro's CC-16000 aggregation platform. http://www.covaro.com

• In June 2004, Covaro Networks introduced two products to help carriers deliver Ethernet services over fiber, copper or leased DS1s/DS3s. These services include 10/100/1000BT Ethernet, GbE, 100FX, Ethernet Metallic eXtensions (EMX), DS1, DS3 and OC-3/12 (STM-1/4). Covaro's "Etherjack" technology allows carriers (or enterprises) to transport and manage Ethernet services using traditional management methods for T1/T3 services. The system provides an Ethernet demarcation point, which allows in-service performance monitoring, and out-of service fault isolation and diagnosis for Ethernet services.
  
  
• Covaro's new products include the CC-16000, which can reach customers from central office locations, co-located equipment spaces, outside cabinets and basement-located equipment in multi-tenant offices. For the customer premise, Covaro's CC-101 uses available copper facilities and bonding technology to deliver intelligent Ethernet services up to 18,000ft. - much farther than the 328ft. capabilities of 10/100BT interfaces. In addition to providing a solution for copper riser and outside plant applications, the CC-101 provides the demarcation point between a carrier and its customer.
  
  
• In February 2004, Covaro Networks raised $25.3 million in Series B funding for its Ethernet services management system. Covaro develops products that address hybrid networks containing both Ethernet and traditional T1/T3 based services. Covaro's unique Etherjack functionality allows carriers (or enterprises) to transport and manage Ethernet services using traditional management methods to reduce turn-up, test and maintenance costs.

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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.com

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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 by KT. The carrier hopes to attract a total of 100,000 customers by year-end.



LG Electronics will be delivering their first generation set-up box, the DOD2000, which is powered by Microsoft Windows CE.net. The IP set-top box delivers DVD quality broadband video, as well as providing home gateway and numerous home automation services. Supporting these features, the Sigma Designs media processor will provide video, audio and transport processing functions. Video functions will include NTSC TV resolution output (720x480) of MPEG-1/2, DVD-video or video CD playback, and features 8-bit alpha blending of on-screen display and graphics information. Audio decoding will include Dolby Digital, CD audio, MPEG-1 layers 2 and 3, and DTS. http://www.sigmadesigns.com/

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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 cable telephony. The PLEXiS array of products provides 1, 2.5 or 10 Gbps of unidirectional or bidirectional capacity per wavelength, allowing an optimized balance between high network capacity and granular scalability. http://www.c-cor.nethttp://www.optinel.com

• Optinel Systems is based in Elkridge, Maryland. In December 2002, Optinel raised $22.4 million in second round venture funding. Investors include Court Square Ventures, Teknoinvest, Birchmere Ventures, SilverHaze Partners, Four Seasons Ventures, the Dinner Club, Isis Capital, OCG Ventures and Novak Biddle Venture Partners.



• In June 2004, C-COR.net Corp. agreed to acquire Stargus, a privately-held develop of OSS solutions, for $17 million in cash. Stargus, which is based in Andover, Massachusetts, provides network and service management solutions, including network optimization, subscriber usage reporting, and capacity planning, specifically designed for cable broadband networks. Stargus systems currently are in use managing over 5 million DOCSIS devices worldwide.



• In April 2004, C-COR.net announced plans to acquire all of the assets of Lantern Communications, a start-up developing metro optical packet-based transport solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed. Lantern Communications, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, developed a Metro Packet Switch (MSP) system that incorporates advanced bandwidth management and QoS techniques to enable the delivery of deterministic services over an all packet edge infrastructure.

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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.com

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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.



Tom Cullen, Charter Executive Vice President of Advanced Services and Business Development, said "We chose to align with more than one carrier to maximize the benefits of each agreement on a market-by-market basis and achieve the maximum cost savings and flexibility. We'll continue to look at other potential partners in order to further gain critical competitive advantage."http://www.charter.com

• Charter currently offers voice telephone service in three markets. Its telephony customers numbered 31,200 telephony customers as of June 30, 2004.



• Charter Communications ended Q2 with 1,711,400 cable modem customers. The company has migrated substantially all of its cable modem customers to a new pricing structure, resulting in average monthly revenue (ARPU) per customer of $35.87, a 4% increase over the first quarter of 2004.



• Charter ended Q2 2004 with 10,526,000 revenue generating units (RGUs), reflecting a net decrease of 2,700 RGUs from Q1 2004. The decrease in RGUs was driven by a net loss of 58,800 analog video customers and 7,200 digital video customers, partially offset by the gain of 58,400 residential HSD and growth in telephone customers during the quarter.

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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.com

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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.com

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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 and concepts from a century ago to today's cutting-edge services will only stifle innovation and competition."http://www.fcc.gov

• The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to review a lower court's ruling that had overturned the FCC's classification of cable modem service as an "information service." The case originally arose regarding whether local municipalities could require cable operators to open their networks to other ISPs.



• In October 2003, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court vacated the FCC declaratory ruling that had classified cable modem service as an "information service without a separate offering of a telecommunications service." The FCC promptly appealed the decision. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has now declined to review the lower court's ruling.



• The FCC's declaratory ruling, which was issued 15-March-2002, classified cable modem service as an “information service�? rather than a “cable service.�? As an interstate information service, cable modem service would therefore be subject to FCC jurisdiction rather than state or local rules.

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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.com

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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.com

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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.com

• Vodacom is a pan-African cellular carrier serving South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mozambique commenced operation in December 2003 and a 5-year Nigerian management contract has been awarded. Vodacom is the market leader in South Africa, with more than 95% of South Africans now within the coverage area of its more than 5,000 base station cellular network. Vodacom's shareholders include Telkom SA Ltd (50%), VenFin Ltd (15%) and Vodafone Group plc (35%).

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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 airport property Wi-Fi access. The company has over 2,600 Wi-Fi hot spots where Sprint PCS Wi-Fi Access service is currently available chiefly through roaming agreements in effect across the United States and Canada with a number of industry players, including AT&T Wireless, AirPath, WayPort, STSN and TruckStop.net. Sprint said it is also pursuing other Wi-Fi opportunities, and plans to make at least 10,000 hot spots available to its customers by yearend.



The SBC FreedomLink Wi-Fi network encompasses more than 2,300 hot spots nationwide including airports, hotels, coffee shops and The UPS Store and MailBoxes Etc. locations. SBC said it plans to make more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hot spots available to its FreedomLink customers by the end of 2006. It is also working with Cingular Wireless to use Wi-Fi and Cingular's wireless network to deliver enhanced coverage. http://www.sprint.comhttp://www.sbc.com

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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 the online streaming of the Olympic Games, content was directed to authorized subscribers in each country or region. Akamai's geo-location technologies, and integration with leading content security provider Entriq, help enable EBU broadcasters to avoid violation of these acquired rights.



European broadcasters using the streaming included ARD, ZDF in Germany, Canal+ in France, SVT in Sweden, DR Denmark, and SRG in Switzerland, to name a few. http://www.akamai.comhttp://www.entriq.com

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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 broadband services by 50%, at no extra cost and with no usage restrictions. http://mediacentre.telewest.co.uk

• Telewest added 72,000 broadband customers in Q2, giving it a total of 538,000 subscribers.

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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. The court also held that VeriSign has not alleged and cannot allege (based upon the ICANN Bylaws) that those Supporting Organizations within ICANN's structure that include VeriSign competitors dominate ICANN's board.



ICANN said the ruling provides "another important affirmation of ICANN's multi-stakeholder participatory model."http://www.icann.org/

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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 digital service providers.

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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 753,000 broadband subscribers in Hong Kong as of the end of Q2, up by 20% over last year.



At the same time, the introduction of New Generation Fixed Line (NGFL) service has significantly improved customer retention rates in PCCW's core telephony business. The NGFL service, launched in July 2003, now has 849,000 lines signed up as of June 30, 2004. This has slowed average net monthly line loss by more than 60% since first half 2003 and helped boost customer retention in a fiercely competitive market, that has been liberalized since 1995.



PCCW also noted that over the past year it has been successful in litigating against Hong Kong regulators over what it considers to be unfair restrictions on the company's ability to compete in the fixed-line market.

As part of its quarterly financial report, PCCW said revenue for its Telecommunications Services division fell 11% in the first half to HK$7.496 billion (US$ 961 million) from HK$8.386 billion (US$1.075 billion) a year earlier, due to competition from other fixed-line operators and wireless telecommunications services. http://www.pccw.com

• PCCW's New Generation fixed-line services use "big-screen" phones to support information services such as SMS to other fixed-line phones and mobiles.

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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 America, there was a sharp increase of 83% compared to last quarter took place, led by Mexico and Brazil. http://www.alcatel.com

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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% of total revenue in the Class 5 Packet Switch category. http://www.metaswitch.com

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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.com

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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 | DISH customers with responsibility for marketing, account management and billing-related inquiries. Programming, installation and technical support will be handled by a co-branded DISH Network team. http://www.centurytel.com

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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 set up. The technology detects and shows all available networks and offers advanced profile management.



Additionally, Intel has implemented the most current version of Cisco Compatible Extensions* in Intel PROSet/Wireless Software version 9.0, which delivers compatibility and interoperability with Cisco infrastructure. Additionally, as a result of an agreement announced last year between Intel and Linksys, the two companies have co-developed a solution that allows Intel Centrino mobile technology-based notebooks to locate an un-configured Linksys access point and automatically guide users through a short and simple set-up process.



Intel estimates there could be as many as 700 million Wi-Fi users by 2007. http://www.intel.com

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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.com

• Linksys is a division of Cisco Systems.
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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 mobile operator in Taiwan in both revenue and subscriber market share with 35.4% and 35.1% respectively as of the end of June 2004. Mobile subscribers reached 8.1 million, a 4.1% year-over-year increase. As the company continued to cut inactive prepaid subscribers, the percentage of prepaid subscribers decreased contributing to the increase in ARPU. http://www.cht.com.tw

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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.com

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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. http://www.spectralicensing.comhttp://www.turbocodes.info/

• The Spectra Licensing Group is the worldwide licensing agent for France Telecom's Turbo Code Licensing Program.
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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.au

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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.



Occam said its ADSL2Plus blade can be deployed as part of a full BLC 6000 loop carrier network or as a standalone unit to create a data and video overlay to an existing voice network. It can also be deployed as a remote IP DSLAM in a multi-dwelling building.



The second blade, which offers Lifeline POTS from each port, includes an internal soft splitter that eliminates the need for additional external hardware. The POTS traffic from all ports is converted to VoIP. The voice, data and video traffic are differentiated and transported over the feeder network following the provisioned QoS parameters. Voice traffic can be handed directly to a Next Generation softswitch or to a BLC 6000 Central Office Terminal (COT) to provide standard TR-08/GR-303 connections to a traditional Class 5 switch.



The IP DSLAM capability of the blades provide a conversion between the ATM protocol on the standard ADSL lines and the BLC 6000 native IP over Ethernet network. The BLC 6000 system strips away the complexity of ATM at the DSLAM port thereby eliminating the need for an ATM switch or other ATM infrastructure.



Each BLC blade includes 10 integrated Gigabit Ethernet ports. Up to six of these can be Gigabit Ethernet optical fiber ports to provide the access network with enough bandwidth to support hundreds of broadcast channels and to sustain the expected growth of Video on Demand (VoD). A single port can be used to support initial requirements, and additional Gigabit Ethernet ports can be brought online as VoD service demands grow.



Occam noted that its IP-based architecture provides streamlined network operation with digital video headend products. The BLC 6000 System transmits video streams as MPEG encoded signals in IP packets. Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is included in the blade software to provide multicast capability at every node in the network. http://www.occamnetworks.com

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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 -- including ESPN and Star Sports, which were added last month. http://www.pccw.com

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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.jp

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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 Advantage offer provides a framework for reaching agreements on negotiated, commercially reasonable terms, and ensures the continued availability of wholesale services. http://www.verizon.com

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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.uk

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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.com

• In July, Vonage announced the activation of 200,000 total VoIP lines on its network, doubling its subscriber-base in less than six months since reaching the 100,000 line mark.



• In February 2004, Vonage closed a $40.0 million series C financing round led by 3i and co-led by Meritech Capital Partners.

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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.com

• MeshNetworks leverages battlefield networking technology originally developed for the US military under DARPA directed programs. The systems provide a layer 2 routing engine, ultra-fast route acquisition, dynamic bandwidth allocation (fairness), real-time congestion management, QoS, assignable user priority, mobile handovers and proven scalability.



• Earlier this month, Motorola agreed to resell MeshNetworks mobile ad hoc networking solution through its sales force and re-seller network. Specifically, MeshNetworks' self-forming, self-healing mobile broadband networking and precision position-location solutions will be offered as part of Motorola's advanced wireless broadband data portfolio for enterprise, utility and public safety. The agreement also gives Motorola rights to integrate components of MeshNetworks technology, including the MeshNetworks Positioning System (MPS) and MeshConnex software suites into future data products, including those in the recently allocated 4.9GHz FCC licensed band for public safety users.

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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."http://www.wsj.com

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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 switched telephone network, delivery of enhanced 911 emergency service, local number portability, and operator and directory services. Among other features, Mediacom's VoIP telephone service will include caller ID with name, call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail. http://www.sprint.comhttp://www.mediacomcc.com

• Earlier this month, USA Companies, a cable and Internet service provider based in Nebraska, awarded a 5-year contract to Sprint to provide voice services to its subscribers in California, Montana and Nebraska. Using the Sprint services, USA Companies can now offer VoIP service to the 62,000 consumers in its territories.

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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.com

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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.com

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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 video phones. In addition, Alcatel will provide its carrier-grade, 7750 Service Router to build MPLS VPNs. The deployment is expected to be completed this month.



The new network will enable Jiangsu Netcom to deliver a full range of services, including local and long distance VoIP, traditional voice with value-added services, multi-media conferencing, voice VPNs, IP Centrex and Find Me/Follow Me. In particular, the Find Me/Follow Me service will enable end users to be contacted through different telecom devices such as fixed line telephones and mobile handsets. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.alcatel.com

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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 service. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.redback.com

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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.com

• FLAG Telecom is a member company of India's Reliance Group.

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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 administration of MPLS networks, allowing users to fully leverage the traffic engineering and VPN capabilities available on Juniper Networks M-series routers. http://www.juniper.net

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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.com

• Nortel Networks has supported GSM network planning and deployment for T-Mobile USA since the company's inception as VoiceStream Wireless in 1995.

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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.com

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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. Once fully operational, customers of each of the carriers who visit any of the HOTSPOT locations across the country will find an identical browser-based login area and will be able to access Wi-Fi services and have the charges applied directly to their existing wireless carrier's account.

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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 channels, video-on-demand and an integrated video recorder, which also features a live pause function for TV broadcasts. Bluewin plans to price a standard subscription at CHF 23.90 (21 channels from all categories plus 4 Swiss SRG channels) per month. The basic subscription tier can be supplemented with additional channels for CHF 1.00 each.



The trial will last for around four months, after which work will begin on the market launch of Bluewin TV in 2005. http://www.microsoft.com/tv/http://www.bluewin.ch

• In June 2004, Lucent Technologies and Microsoft announced a non-exclusive partnership to integrate the Microsoft IPTV software platform with Lucent's network access solutions. This integration enables the delivery of standard-definition, high-definition and on-demand programming to the Microsoft TV IPTV-based set-top box via the Lucent Stinger IP-Enabled DSLAM and Lucent ADSL2+ modem. At SuperComm, the companies demonstrated high-definition content delivered over a single ADSL2+ connection.

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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 obligations to new broadband networks. Unbundling and pricing policies applied in the past to stimulate competition in voice telephony are unnecessary in the highly
  competitive broadband data world."



• "Allow the market to work, free of extensive and unnecessary regulation that stifles innovation."



• "Eliminate economic regulation of high-speed services. Remove price regulation and tariffs, and otherwise treat broadband with the light regulatory touch accorded to information services (Title I). Wireline telephone companies that offer video as part of broadband services should not have to obtain cable franchises in every local jurisdiction, since they already have the right of way to deploy networks. Revenue needs of local governments can be met without the delay and red tape inherent in the franchising process."



• "Adopt a national policy that pre-empts other levels of government. Local jurisdictional borders do not apply to the realm of the Internet. Current policy subjects investments to the conflicting agendas and interpretations of regulatory agencies at every level of government."

http://www.verizon.com

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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 attempts, missed deadlines, instability and delay, we are again forced to ask the court to intervene to bring certainty and clarity to the industry. The Commission must put lawful, permanent rules in place by the end of this year so that all providers can move forward on a competitive basis," said Walter B. McCormick, Jr., President and CEO of the United States Telecom Association. http://www.usta.org

• Late last week, the FCC issued a long awaited order freezing any changes in the current local access competition rules for six months. During this period, the Commission intends to develop and then vote on a new set of alternative unbundling rules, hopefully overcoming the legal pitfalls that led to the previous Triennial Review Order being vacated by the courts. Under the temporary rules, incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs) are required to continue providing unbundled access to switching, enterprise market loops, and dedicated transport under the same rates, terms and conditions that applied under their interconnection agreements as of June 15, 2004.

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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 Co., another supplier of broadband equipment based in South Korea, is also using Ikanos Communications' 100 Mbps programmable Fx and FxS chipsets in its latest high-speed product line. The companies said carriers purchasing the new Ikanos-based Millinet solutions can offer their subscribers up to 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream. http://www.ikanos.com

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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 differing connectivity requirements and QoS. With the focus on home networking and distribution of applications throughout the home, the DSL Forum is engaging with other associations such as the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) and Universal Plug'n'Play Forum (UPnP) to initiate collaborative efforts to deliver the infrastructure for emerging triple and quad play applications for consumers.



• TR-092 "Broadband Remote Access Server (B-RAS) Requirements" provides specific guidance on all the technical aspects of broadband remote access server equipment that is a key element of the globally accepted TR-059 architecture. Of the list of hundreds of requirements, the B-RAS associates specific QoS appropriate for a particular application, so video and voice services, in addition to data, can be delivered in a sharper and clearer manner. The document defines the platform for integration of various access technologies covering functionality, size and scaling for the number of customers and interfaces, features and services to support emerging mass-market and business applications. This new TR has been submitted to the ITU-T Next Generation Network (NGN) focus group as a basis for contribution to its forthcoming recommendations for next generation networks.

The DSL Forum said equipment interoperability would continue to be one of its focus areas. The Forum's current series of 'plugfests' at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) testing laboratories provides the opportunity to verify interoperability between multiple chipsets and systems supporting ADSL2 and ADSL2plus. Overall, 17 CPE and 14 DSLAM vendors have participated, with testing including diagnostics mode, online reconfiguration and power management mode. Three further plugfests will be held in 2004: one in conjunction with ETSI, and two for ADSL2 and ADSL2plus at UNH.

The DSL Forum's 10th anniversary meeting was held last week in Prague. The next quarterly meeting of the DSL Forum will be held in Orlando, Florida from December 6th-9th, 2004. http://www.dslforum.org/http://dslforum.org/aboutdsl/tr_table.html

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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 architecture

http://www.paradyne.com

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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 multimedia services for Paducah's FTTU network. http://www.alcatel.com

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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 expected to accelerate in the second half of 2005 and throughout 2006. FMA said early implementations will begin in base station configurations designed for single standalone units, as well as for much more complex rack-mounted systems and blade servers that work alongside wireline network systems. Device technology also will be deployed in WiMAX-certified subscriber stations that are anticipated to cost much less than the custom stations currently used in the relatively small number of broadband wireless deployments in the U.S. http://www.fma.fujitsu.com/ASIC

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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 its suite of Internet services to provide customers of all sizes with a secure solution that protects critical business traffic.
. http://www.wiltel.comhttp://www.verisign.com

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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 activities for AboveNet's IP backbone and private wavelength services.



AboveNet operates two data centers in Virginia, as well as others in New York and San Jose, maintains a high-capacity IP network throughout the U.S, undersea capacity to Europe and city networks in key metropolitan areas. http://www.above.net/

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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 Angeles.



Using (3)Link Private Line or (3)Link Wavelength services for backhaul, undersea cable system capacity owners can directly connect to major U.S. and European networks. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.level3.com

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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.com

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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 server


• Support for DTMF tone detection and generation


• Support for multiple voice compression methods G.711, G.726 G.729 and G.723.1


• Supports FSK Caller ID, DTMF Caller ID and FSK VMWI


• Support for echo cancellation and Voice Activity Detection (VAD)


• Password protected access and configuration


• Supports for auto-provisioning with remote firmware upgrade

Separately, Vonage announced that Staples will begin selling its broadband phone service in all of its approximately 1,200 office supply stores throughout the U.S. http://www.vonage.comhttp://www.linksys.com

• Separately, Vonage has also announced that it 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.

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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.com

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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 the geographic information of the local network call number. Furthermore, it depletes the scarce quotas of call numbers of the relevant local networks and as such endangers the overall national numbering plan. This would put those competitors at a disadvantage who adhere to legal stipulations."



RegTP is providing (0)700 numbers for use as locality-independent personal call numbers. RegTP is also examining the provision of a separate subrange for national subscriber numbers for VoIP services. http://www.regtp.de

• In April 2004, Germany's Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Post (RegTP) opened a public consultation on VoIP, seeking public input on a whole range of issues – business models, the classification of VoIP under regulatory aspects, numbering, access and interconnection, market definition and possible market entry barriers. The subjects of universal service, customer protection, telecommunications privacy, data protection, emergency services, technical safeguards, the implementation of intercepts and directory enquiry procedures, which may entail obligations for VoIP service providers, were also to be addressed on behalf of consumer protection and the public interest.

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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 Wireless with international long distance, private line services, and corporate telecommunications services for up to 17 months. This represents a commitment of $100 million to AT&T, the companies noted. http://www.att.com

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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.com

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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 video movement by a factor of two, while ensuring very low latency.



Axiowave Networks supplies core/metro network routers designed for services such as Toll-Quality VoIP, ATM-Grade IP-VPNs and ATM-Grade transit. http://www.axiowave.comhttp://www.path1.com

• Path 1's Cx1000 Video Gateway uses embedded processors and patent-pending algorithms to shield the video signals from severe network impairments and preserve the broadcast-quality video at standard definition, High Definition and uncompressed video at speeds up to 270 Mbps. The gateway handles issues like significant delay, jitter, packet loss, out-of-order packets and error recovery.



• Axiowave's core/metro routing platform leverages a unique switching and queuing architecture designed for carving out bandwidth among four classes of service (ATM-CBR, VBR-rt, VBR-nRT, and best effort). The platform uses ASICs and FPGAs. The company claims it can increase the utilization of IP egress trunks to 90%, including a high percentage (90+%) in the presence of oversubscribed best-effort traffic. As with ATM, unused bandwidth from any service running on the platform can be dynamically distributed to other services with burstable options. Examples of premium IP services could include, too-grade VoIP, ATM-grade IP VPNs, wireless voice, broadcast video, etc.

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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. The company said its that unlike other solutions, its platform fully reconstructs flows and the Layer 7 state of each individual application flow -- instead of processing packets as individual events. By maintaining state information, P-Cube identifies applications that employ dynamically assigned port numbers, tracks applications that involve multiple inter-related or spawned flows commonly found in VoIP and multimedia streaming protocols, and applies policy rules as part of controlling the admission policies or session characteristics of a data flow.



Upon close of the acquisition, the P-Cube team will report to Pankaj Patel, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Broadband Edge and Midrange Routing Business Unit. http://www.cisco.comhttp://www.p-cube.com

• P-Cube, a start-up based in Sunnyvale , California with R&D in Israel, was founded in 1999 and has 118 employees.

P-Cube is led by Yuval Shahar, who previously co-founded PentaCom (acquired by Cisco Systems) and developed one of the world's first web appliances, which led to the creation of Infogear Inc. (also acquired by Cisco Systems). Its technical team is headed by Michael Ben-nun, who previously served as General Manager and Director of the Network Access Division of Rockwell Semiconductor Systems Israel (Conexant).

In May 2004, P-Cube announced that Plala Networks, a subsidiary of NTT East, had deployed its Service Control Platform and Engage solution throughout its nationwide backbone network to reduce network congestion that is caused by Internet user-originated traffic, such as peer-to-peer (P2P). The contract has been delivered through Mitsubishi Corporation providing channel distribution, integration and support services in strategic partnership with P-Cube. P-Cube's Service Control Engine is deployed in strategic POPs in the Plala network. The company said its customer base also includes SingTel, Telenor, @NetHome, KT, 3 Italy (Hutchison), and Interoute, among others.

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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 subscriber management with dynamic policy enforcement. http://www.redback.com

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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 be rolled out on a system by system basis beginning in late-September. http://www.comccast.com

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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 regional video and data providers, such as Smart Digital Communications of Malaysia and PSVN, which is based at the Hawaii Pacific Teleport.



The satellite was built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and is operated by Loral Skynet. APT Satellite Company of Hong Kong, will initially use 68.5% of Telstar 18's transponder capacity for APSTAR-V services. The number of transponders used by APT will be reduced over time, ultimately to 54% of the satellite's capacity. http://www.loral.com

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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.com

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