Sweden's KTH Selects Axerra's Multiservice over Packet

Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) is deploying Axerra Networks' multiservice over packet (MSoP) solution in a Radio Access Network. Voice and data traffic from base transceiver stations (BTS) will be integrated and aggregated by the Axerra platform for efficient transport to the base station controller (BSC) over the IP/Ethernet backbone of the Swedish University Network (SUNET).



The mobile/wireless network project at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology is part of a SIBED (Sweden-Israel Testbed Program for IT Applications) initiative that supports the development of primarily wireless applications in test bed environments. The GSM/GPRS components used as the core of the network were provided by Ericsson. http://www.axerranetworks.com/

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NTT Communications Deploys Turin's Transport Platform

NTT Communications has chosen Turin's Traverse Multiservice Transport Platform to support their Ethernet Leased Line Services in Japan. NTT Com is deploying Turin's Traverse 600 on the customer premises to support its Ether Arcstream service. The Traverse 600 is a compact, multiservice transport solution that combines next-generation SONET/SDH transport and Ethernet switching capabilities in a single platform optimized for metro access applications. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.turinnetworks.com

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



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

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Starhome Secures $20 Million for Mobile Roaming

Starhome, a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, secured $20 million in equity financing for its mobile roaming technology for wireless carriers. Starhome offers a portfolio of inbound and outbound roaming solutions including roaming infrastructure, optimization and information, as well as specialized value added services applications. Its customer list include 50 leading mobile operators representing 175 million subscribers worldwide. The new financing was led by Apax Partners Funds. Starhome is based in Zurich, Switzerland. http://www.starhome.com

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Pingtel Offers New Open Source Business Model for VoIP

Pingtel is moving its entire Enterprise communications suite, SIPxchange IP PBX platform, into open source. With this move, Pingtel has shifted its business model to become a subscription-based software and services company similar to leading Linux-based enterprise subscription models, focusing on producing business-grade distributions of open source code and offering the requisite customer support, documentation, professional services and training functions required to support mission critical enterprise communications applications. The company plans to release the code in March 2004 through its website.



"The combination of standards-based SIP and open source is a powerful union that will reshape the enterprise communications market at every level, providing the foundation on which a new market model will be based," said William J. Rich, Pingtel's CEO.



Pingtel's enterprise communications suite includes the SIPxchange Comm Server for IP PBX and call routing applications, SIPxchange Media Server with voice mail, auto-attendant and IVR, the Pingtel Configuration Server and the Instant xpressa) SIP soft phone and xpressa) desktop SIP phones. SIPxchange software runs on standard PC server hardware and using the Linux open source operating system. Pingtel will offer Enterprise Editions of the open source code base with full support and documentation on a subscription basis, based on the number of CPUs in the server host.



Pingtel also said that it is in the process of migrating its existing customer base to the new open-source model. http://www.pingtel.com

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ITXC Sees 31% Sequential Revenue Rise in Q4

ITXC reported revenues of $97.9 million for Q4 2003, an increase of 31% from the same quarter of 2002 and a sequential increase of 31% from Q3 2003. The company's net loss for the fourth quarter of 2003 was $11.1 million.



Minutes of traffic for 2003 were approximately 4.1 billion versus approximately 3.1 billion minutes for 2002.



The company's pending merger with Teleglobe recently received notice of early termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino review period. http://www.itxc.com

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Spain's Red Eléctrica Selects Ciena's Multiservice Switch

Red Eléctrica Telecomunicaciones, a wholesale carrier in Spain, , has selected CIENA's DN 7 series multiservice switching platform for deployment in the expansion of its national network and migration to an MPLS architecture. The carrier will use CIENA's DN 7 series platform to reduce its leased-line expenditures by consolidating its ATM network traffic in support of its high-growth ADSL services. Red Eléctrica operates its own 13,000 km fiber backbone.



The DN 7 switch can deliver native Frame Relay, ATM, Ethernet, Circuit Emulation Services and MPLS functionality. http://www.ciena.comhttp://www.albura.com

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Cisco Integrates Video Telephony with IP Phones

Cisco Systems unveiled a new video telephony solution with significant conferencing, security and system migration enhancements. The new capabilities, which are based on the latest release of the Cisco IP PBX (CallManager 4.0), allows real-time, person-to-person video sessions to be added transparently to telephone calls. The solution integrates a Cisco IP Phone with an associated personal computer and web cam. It interoperates with multiple new and existing desktop and room-based videoconferencing systems. Cisco also introduced the new Cisco MeetingPlace 8106 Rich-Media Conferencing Server, which delivers converged IP voice, video and web conferencing using technology from Cisco's recent acquisition of Latitude Communications. http://www.cisco.com 18-Feb-04

http://www.cisco.com

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Telecom Italia Reports Fast Broadband Growth in Europe

Telecom Italia reported the fastest broadband growth for any operator in Europe: during Q4 2003, the company added 530,000 ADSL subscribers, giving it a total of 2,200,000 broadband customers at year's end. The rapid growth accelerated in January 2004 with the addition of 300,000 broadband customers during the month. As of 31-January-2004 , Telecom Italia Wireline had 2,500,000 broadband customers, of which 2,320,000 were in the company's domestic market and 180,000 were in France and Germany.



Overall, Telecom Italia Wireline's revenues for 2003 increased by 1.0% to EUR 17.216 billion, compared with 2002, building on the positive trend that prevailed throughout 2003 and reversing the negative trend of the previous 4 years. http://www.telecomitalia.it

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France Telecom Activates its 1,000th Wi-Fi Hotspot

France Telecom has activated its 1,000th hotspot at the Palais Brongniart (Paris Stock Exchange). By the end of 2004, Orange plans to deploy 4,500 hotspots under new agreements signed with Virgin, Club Med, Disney Resort and Total. Moreover, smaller establishments such as cafés, hotels and restaurants can easily activate an Orange hotspot by purchasing a Wanadoo Extense Pro WiFi pack. http://www.francetelecom.com

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Covad Reaches 517,000 DSL Lines

During Q4 2004, Covad Communications increased digital subscriber lines by 26,000 to 517,000, a
5% increase over lines in service at the end of Q3 2003 and a 36% increase from the beginning of the year. Q4 revenue increased 5% to $105.0 million from the Q3 2003 revenue of $100.5 million and 19% over Q2 2002 revenue of $87.9 million. Covad posted a net loss of $12.8 million, or $0.06 per share. http://www.covad.com

• Earlier this month, Covad Communications announced plans to offer VoIP to business customers and consumers in the majority of the country's top Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) by Q4 2004.



• In January 2004, Covad Communications announced plans to expand its nationwide coverage area and customer reach for DSL, Frame Relay access, and T1 broadband services by installing additional equipment in approximately 200 central offices across the nation around the middle of 2004. This will increase the company's nationwide broadband network to more than 2,000 central offices. Central office locations were selected by utilizing several key factors including market demographics, partner need, neighboring central office performance, and potential for growth. Covad also noted that by broadening its access network, it will be able to more efficiently utilize its core ATM network.

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Global Crossing Enhances IP Capabilities Throughout Asia

Global Crossing has added new facilities-based capabilities in key hubs throughout Asia. In addition to ATM and Frame Relay services, the owned- and operated-facilities will enable Global Crossing to offer a higher quality of its enhanced IP VPN service and advanced IP applications, including VoIP, IP Video, and other services to carriers and enterprises.



The new facilities include data communications equipment and co-location facilities in Tokyo and Hong Kong. Additional build-outs will follow in Sydney and Singapore. In parallel, Global Crossing has begun to deploy and activate an on-net IP-based data services capability to ensure the continuity of its global IP offering, complementing its seamless North American, Latin American and European facilities-based network. http://www.globalcrossing.com

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Intel Unveils Latest Designs for the Digital Home

Consumers want all their electronic devices to connect and communicate wirelessly, said Louis Burns, Intel vice president and general manager of the Desktop Platforms Group speaking at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Intel is working on unified platforms for the digital home. Key among Intel's digital home initiatives is the new Pentium 4 processor built on 90nm (formerly Prescott), which is available now, and an upcoming chipset code-named "Grantsdale," which will be available in Q2 of this year. Developed for the mainstream consumer market segment, Grantsdale will include next generation integrated graphics optimized for high-definition video and dual independent display technology that allows independent images to be delivered to two different displays.



Grantsdale and Alderwood (an enthusiast chipset) will be the first PC client chipsets to feature DDR2 memory. This technology will provide higher bandwidth and cooler temperatures for all types of PCs, including Entertainment PCs and notebooks. Grantsdale will also feature PCI Express, a new, higher bandwidth bus technology, and an integrated wireless access point, eliminating the need for consumers to set up and configure a separate wireless home network. Intel will also include a High Definition Audio capability the Pentium 4 Processor Grantsdale platform to provide full Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound for an outstanding home theater experience. At IDF, Intel and Dolby Laboratories announced they are working together to extend the CE sound and entertainment experience to the PC based on Intel High Definition Audio.



Other designs underway include "Kessler," a slim form factor, high-performance PC connected to a television screen, and "Sandow," a prototype reference design that features "instant on/visually off" capability and an HDTV PVR. http://www.intel.com

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Wireless USB to provide 480 Mbps Host-to-Device Connections

A group of leading technology vendors has formed a Wireless USB Promoter Group aimed at developing specification with a targeted bandwidth of 480 Mbps for short-reach, host-to-device connections. The Wireless USB specification, which would have the same usage and architecture as wired USB 2.0 connections, is based on Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio efforts by the MultiBand OFDM Alliance (MBOA) and WiMedia Alliance. The Wireless USB interface would supports connections of under 10 meters. A completed Wireless USB spec is expected by year's end.



The first Wireless USB implementations are expected to be in the form of discrete silicon that will be introduced in a number of form factors. These include add-in cards and dongles along with embedded solutions to support the technology's introduction and subsequent rapid ramp-up.



Companies forming the Wireless USB Promoter Group include Intel, Agere Systems, HP, Microsoft Corporation, NEC, Philips Semiconductors and Samsung Electronics. http://www.intel.com

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RealNetworks Builds Momentum with European Mobile Operators

RealNetworks has signed 26 European mobile operators, including O2, Telefónica Móviles España, Telecom Italia Mobile (for Mobile TV Services), TMN, Vodafone, WIND, TeliaSonera and others, have chosen its Helix mobile platform for delivering multimedia content.



RealNetworks' Helix mobile platform is an open, multi-format foundation that enables mobile operators to stream live and on-demand audio and video content to mobile devices enabled with the RealPlayer or other standards-compliant software for mobile devices. http://www.realnetworks.com

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GANNETT Awards Multiyear Contract to XO

GANNETT, the largest newspaper group in the U.S., awarded a multi-year network services agreement to XO Communications. Under the contract, XO will provide critical links on GANNETT's network backbone between its east and west coast data centers. XO will also provide GANNETT with Dedicated Internet Access/Gigabit Ethernet connections that will be the means over which GANNETT will receive and disseminate multimedia and other news information on a global basis. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.xo.com

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HP Teams with Ericsson on Unified Communications

HP announced a worldwide agreement with Ericsson to jointly deliver a unified communications solution for businesses. The solution converges both telephony and information technology infrastructures, as well as service provider and private enterprise networks. The companies said their converged solution would also integrate with mobile services that are provided through wireless operators. http://www.hp.comhttp://www.ericsson.com

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Force10 Networks Unveils Hitless Failover Technology

Force10 Networks announced a hitless failover technology for both Layer 2 switching and Layer 3 routing traffic carried over its 10 Gigabit networking equipment. The hitless failover technology leverages the built-in route processor redundancy of Force10's E-Series platforms to maximize network availability and guarantee automatic failover to secondary processor modules in the event of a failure. To further ensure network resiliency, the E-Series combines Force10's hitless failover technology with non-stop forwarding capabilities, which ensure that traffic is forwarded during a processor module failover. Force10 said its E-Series has demonstrated full failover of less than 10 microseconds between primary and secondary modules without dropping a single packet. http://www.force10networks.com

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