SBC Acquires Callisma, a Network Consulting Company

SBC Communications has acquired Callisma, a Palo Alto, California-based network consulting company serving enterprise customers. Callisma, which has 125 employees, specializes in operations management, VoIP, internetworking, security, and storage solutions. Callisma consultants will augment the existing SBC consulting organization, and an SBC sales and service workforce that already has attained more than 4,300 advanced data services certifications. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.sbc....

Read More

KT Acquire Transpacific Capacity from Tyco

Tyco Telecommunications announced a multi-million dollar contract to supply diverse, 10 Gbps, transpacific wavelengths to KT, Korea's incumbent operator. Under the terms of the Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) contract, Tyco Telecommunications will provide full circuit, high quality connectivity to carry large volumes of voice, data and Internet traffic between Korea and the U.S. West Coast. http://www.tycotelecom....

Read More

XO Concludes $200 Million Rights Offering

XO Communications concluded its $200 million rights offering of 40 million shares of common stock at $5.00 per share. Preliminary figures show that approximately 39.7 million shares were purchased in the offering, yielding gross proceeds to XO of approximately $198.6 million. As stated in the offering materials, all of the proceeds will be used to reduce XO's outstanding debt.Carl Icahn, the company's chairman and its largest shareholder, purchased over 7 million shares for over $35 million. http://www.xo....

Read More

SBC Highlights 2004 Growth Opportunities

SBC Communications is looking for growth in long distance, DSL, wireless and the large-business market in 2004, said SBC Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr., speaking at Smith Barney Citigroup's Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix. He believes SBC is better positioned than it was a year ago and that the outlook for 2004 is positive. Whitacre expects to see tangible benefits at from the nation's overall economic growth. He also hailed a decision earlier this week by the state of Indiana to raise UNE-p rates by...

Read More

Level 3 Files VoIP Petition With FCC

Level 3 Communications filed a petition asking the FCC to reaffirm that legacy switched access charges do not apply to VoIP. Under current rules, VoIP is generally classified as an "information service." As such, it is exempted from the access charges imposed on traditional long distance telecommunications services. Some industry participants have argued that access charges should be imposed on VoIP traffic when traffic is exchanged between carriers. Level 3 maintains that such a move would be ill conceived and not in the public interest. However,...

Read More

SkyBitz Secures $16 for Satellite-based Global Locating System

SkyBitz, a start-up based in Dulles, Virginia, secured $16 million in a Series C round for its satellite-based asset tracking and information management service. SkyBitz's Global Locating System (GLS) gives customers the ability to track powered and un-powered assets by utilizing a unique wireless satellite technology and centralized position calculations. The platform is designed to provide asset visibility within a global supply chain. For each asset to be tracked, a compact "GLS mobile communicator" featuring a multiyear battery life is used....

Read More

Cogent Acquires LambdaNet Spain & LambdaNet France

Cogent Communications has acquired LambdaNet Communications France and LambdaNet España. Financial terms were not disclosed. LambdaNet is the current trade name for what was previously Firstmark Communications, a large pan-European carrier's carrier offering point-to-point and Internet connectivity solutions to businesses. Immediately preceding Cogent's acquisition, LambdaNet Spain and LambdaNet France both received new equity investments from a group of private equity investors based in Europe and the U.S.. These investors will become shareholders...

Read More

GlobespanVirata Unveils WLAN Chipset for 140 Mbps

GlobespanVirata unveiled a new "PRISM Nitro XM Xtreme Multimedia" solution that is claims will deliver WLAN throughput rates of up to 140 Mbps -- or 40 times faster than 802.11b -- while being compatible with all 802.11g and 802.11a/g products. The company described the technology as both standards-compliant and non-proprietary -- "a turbo solution that is not only fully compatible with existing systems and future standards, but also does not cause interference to other networks in the area." In a typical wireless network access point (AP) configuration,...

Read More

IP Infusion Adds Layer 2 Capabilities to Routing Suite

IP Infusion released an upgrade to its ZebOS Advanced Routing Suite (ARS) featuring enhancements to its Layer 2 protocol capabilities and management interface offerings. ZebOS ARS now includes support for Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (802.1s), Link Aggregation (802.3ad), GARP Multicast Registration Protocol (GMRP), and IGMP Snooping; enhancements to VLAN support with Port and Protocol VLAN classification (802.1v) and GARP VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP) as well as Independent VLAN Learning. Also available in ARS 6.1 are basic access and IPv6...

Read More

8x8 and Leadtek Unveil SIP Videophone

8x8 and Leadtek unveiled a desktop SIP videophone that includes an integrated camera and LCD display. The phone enables plug-and-play, instant-on video communications at up to 30 frames per second when used in conjunction with the Packet8 service. The device includes audio/video IN/OUT ports and an external microphone IN port for expanded video conferencing capabilities. Also included are 2 Ethernet pass-through ports to assist in boardroom, office and home LAN set- ups. With the Packet8 service, the device also provides voice mail, caller ID,...

Read More

America Online Adds Spyware Protection

America Online will would make spyware protection available as a standard feature to both narrowband and broadband members. The spyware software helps users identify and disable potential types of surveillance and advertising software (also known as spyware or adware). http://www.aol....

Read More

Cable & Wireless Selects Nortel for VoIP in the Caymans

Cable & Wireless Cayman Islands will deploy products from Nortel Networks' Succession VoIP and Multimedia Communications portfolios for its next generation network. The two year, US$17 million agreement includes Nortel Networks' Multimedia Communication Server 5200, which uses open standards-based software and commercially available hardware to deliver multimedia and collaboration services that can be integrated with existing telephone services. It will also include the latest IP enhancements to Nortel Networks Succession Media Gateway 9000,...

Read More

Sprint Expresses Optimism on 2004

Although challenges remain, the "perfect storm" affecting the telecom industry is giving way to new growth opportunities, said Gary Forsee, Sprint's chairman and CEO, speaking at Smith Barney Citigroup's Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix. From Sprint's perspective, 2003 was characterized by big strides in financial restructuring and debt reduction, new product growth, operational improvements, leadership changes and product rationalization (write off of MMDS spectrum, exiting from the hosting business, exiting from...

Read More