NewSouth and NuVox to Merge -- the Combined Carrier Serves 500,000 Lines

NewSouth Communications and NuVox Communications, both privately-held Integrated Communications Providers (ICPs), agreed to merge into a single company. The combined enterprise would initially have approximately 36,000 business customers, 500,000 access lines in service, and annualized revenues exceeding $300 million.


NewSouth Communications serves business customers in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Its network consists of Cisco packet-based switches, Lucent AnyMedia 5ESS-2000 switches, and Siemens Information and Communications Networks EWSD digital switches.


NuVox Communications, which is based in St. Louis, provides integrated voice and data services using Nortel switches. It operates an LD network based on the Sonus Insignus platform. http://www.newsouth.comhttp://www.nuvox.com

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Synopsys to Acquire Accelerant Networks for High-speed Serial

Synopsys agreed to acquire Accelerant Networks, a privately held company providing a highly efficient technology for high-speed serial interfaces, for an undisclosed sum. Accelerant has developed 6.25 Gbps CMOS transceivers that enable up to a ten-fold increase in data rates on the installed copper backplanes and cable systems used in existing server, storage, enterprise and network transport applications. Synopsys said it intends to apply Accelerant's SERDES technology to offer multiple standards-based PHY cores such as PCI Express, Serial ATA (SATA), and emerging 6.25 to 10 Gbps backplane applications. http://www.synopsys.com/http://www.Accelerant.net

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Lucent and Cisco Partner on VoIP for Mobile Operators

Lucent Technologies and Cisco Systems announced a joint VoIP solution targeted at mobile service providers. The solution, which combines the Lucent Softswitch (LSS) and Cisco MGX 8000 Series Media Gateways, is part of Lucent's recently announced Accelerate VoIP portfolio.


The company have demonstrated VoIP and VoATM calling using the joint solution. The calls -- completed in Lucent's Lisle, Illinois lab and in Cisco's San Jose lab -- were made using the H.248 Media Gateway Control Protocol, which allows a Softswitch, serving as the media gateway controller, to communicate with media gateways that are used to convert data from the format required for a circuit- switched network to that required for a packet-switched network. Calls between mobile phones, and from a mobile phone to the PSTN were successfully completed. http://www.lucent.comhttp://www.cisco.com

• In January 2003, Lucent and Cisco Systems announced a partnership under which Lucent is integrating and reselling select Cisco packet data and media gateway products as part of Lucent's mobile networking product offering for the mobile service provider market. Later in 2003 the two companies expanded on their initial, global supply contract and signed a development to collaborate on accelerating the mobile operator market for VoIP.

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Bell Canada Selects Cisco 12000 Routers for IP/MPLS Backbone

Bell Canada has selected the Cisco 12000 Series routers to serve as the foundation platform for its single, converged IP/MPLS service delivery network. Bell Canada will converge Internet, ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet and VPN services onto a common IP/MPLS core and edge network infrastructure. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.cisco.com

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Voice Print Unveils Solution for Recording VoIP Interactions

Voice Print International introduced a VoIP recording system designed to capture data regardless of an agent's physical location or mode of connection. The company said existing IP recording systems claim to be able to capture, store, and replay 100% of an organization's IP telephony interactions. However, these systems employ packet sniffing and/or trunk-tapping, and although both methods are effective to a certain extent, neither can actually achieve full-time VoIP recording once an IP SoftPhone is utilized. Voice Print's 'Follow Me!' solution overcomes the softphone limitation because regardless of an agent's location when connecting to their extension, the recording channel assigned to that particular agent will follow them -- logging and recording all telephone conversations both to and from that agent in a unified manner.


The Follow Me! solution is currently available and factory certified with Avaya Definity and S8700 platforms. http://www.VoicePrintOnline.com

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Firetide Names New CEO

Firetide, a start-up developing mesh technology for wireless instant networks, named Bo Larsson as CEO. Larsson most recently served as CEO of Emuzed, a developer of multimedia products and technologies. Previously, he was CEO and co-founder of Touchwave, a startup delivering distributed voice and data services and solutions using VoIP.


Firetide recently began shipping its HotPoint Wireless Mesh Router for enterprise applications. The products use advanced routing technologies and IEEE 802.11-compliant radios to "unwire" the Ethernet backhaul and provide portable Ethernet ports. Firetide is based in Los Gatos, California and Honolulu, Hawaii. http://www.firetide.com

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Conexant and GlobespanVirata Shareowners Approve Merger

Shareholders of both Conexant Systems and GlobespanVirata approved the merger between the firms. The deal is expected to close at the end of this month. http://www.conexant.com

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ZTE Selects Infineon for RPR Silicon

ZTE Corporation, the second largest supplier of data- and telecommunications systems in China, selected Infineon Technologies' Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) silicon solution. ZTE will use Infineon's Frea PoS Framer/RPR MAC integrated circuit for metro and wide-area networking equipment. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.infineon.com/news

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Tekelec to Acquire Taqua for its Small Class 5 Switching Solution

Tekelec agreed to acquire Taqua, a provider of next-generation Class 5 packet switching systems, for approximately $85 million cash, plus the assumption of Taqua's outstanding options. Taqua's Class 5 switching solution is optimized for the small switch service provider market. A small switch is defined as serving under 5,000 lines.


Founded in 1998, Taqua began shipments of the iX7000 (formerly branded the OCX next-generation Class 5 packet switch in 2000. The platform incorporates softswitch, signaling and media gateway functionality on a single-card design. Taqua has shipped over 140 switches shipped to more than 85 customers, a variety of incumbent (ILEC) and competitive (CLEC) carriers across North America . The company added 40 customers in 2003.


Tekelec described the acquisition as complementary to its existing product line, with little overlap of existing softswitch solutions. While Taqua has focused on small Class 5 switch migrations, Tekelec's Santera division has focused on Class 4, larger Class 5 and wireless softswitch solutions.


Following the acquisition, Tekelec will maintain the Taqua facilities in Richardson, Texas. Together with its existing base, Tekelec will have more than 110 next-generation voice switching customers. http://www.tekelec.comhttp://www.taqua.com

• In October 2003, Taqua introduced a new series of Class 5 switching system products designed for putting switching intelligence at the edge of the network while enabling an open architecture that can selectively deliver advanced applications to subscribers across any access medium. Taqua's design is to put softswitching functionality at central offices serving up to 80,000 subscribers as well as in remote-office locations serving 600 subscribers or less. This would provide flexibility in delivering advanced services when and where such capability is needed in the network. For remote office locations, Taqua's introduced the iX700, an intelligent line access gateway, based on its switch-on-a-card architecture. The iX700 can terminate 624 POTS or xDSL lines. It could be deployed in a remote-office or controlled environmental enclosure. It provides TDM or IP based trunking and can be configured with POTS, xDSL, DS1/E1 or IP interface cards. Signaling types supported include loop start, ground start, DTMF, MF, DP, GR-303, SFI, as well as SIP, SIP-T, NCS+DQoS, MGCP, and H.248. For central offices, Taqua's Open Compact Exchange has been renamed the iX7000 and enhanced with the addition of an IP card for delivering packet voice in addition to TDM. The iX7000 can be configured with POTS, DS1/E1, DS3/E3, OC-3/STM-1o, OC-12/STM-4o and IP interface cards. It also supports the same range of signaling types.



• In January 2003, Taqua secured over $20 million in new funding to support its next generation Class 5 switching system. The new funding brought total financing to over $140 million. The latest round was led by RRE Ventures, and also includes investments by Investcorp and Point Judith Capital Partners, as well as all of Taqua's existing investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital and Court Square Ventures. In addition, Taqua also announced that Rich McGinn, a general partner at RRE Ventures, and former chairman and CEO, Lucent Technologies, and Alex Guira, partner, Investcorp, had joined its Board of Directors.



• In June 2002, Taqua named Charles Vogt as its new president and CEO. Vogt previously served as vice president of worldwide sales for Santera Systems. Prior to Santera, Vogt was vice president of worldwide sales and customer service at Accelerated Networks.



• In June 2003, Tekelec completed its merger with Santera Systems, which is based in Plano, Texas. Santera Systems offers an integrated voice and data switching platform for delivering Class 4/5 services, PRI offload, packet/cell switching and voice over broadband services. The SanterOne platform features both TDM and packet switching fabrics. Under the deal, Tekelec agreed to contribute $28 million in cash and its existing packet telephony business. Santera's current investors will contribute its assets and an additional $12 million in cash. Initially, the division will be 52% owned by Tekelec. Tekelec will also have the ability to increase its ownership percentage in the new subsidiary up to 62.5% and has the option to purchase the entire remaining interest from 01-July-2005 through 31-December-2007. The new business is called Santera, a Tekelec company.

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Qwest Launches Stand-Alone DSL Service

Qwest Communications will begin offering a standalone DSL service starting 28-Feb-2004 regardless of whether they have a voice phone line with Qwest or not. Qwest is the first major telecommunications company to make this service available to customers. Customers can purchase Qwest Choice DSL Deluxe with MSN Premium without Qwest phone service for $49.99 per month. Customers who want to select an Internet service provider (ISP) other than MSN can purchase Qwest Choice DSL Deluxe without phone service for $33 and then select their ISP of choice (Qwest has more than 450 participating ISPs region-wide).


Qwest believes the service will be attractive for customers who have decided only to rely on their mobile phone but still need broadband connectivity. Qwest also said the stand-alone DSL would complement is forthcoming consumer VoIP service, which it hopes to launch across its 14-state territory by the end of 2004.


"Customers are telling us that they want greater flexibility when it comes to selecting communications services, which is why we decided to offer DSL with no phone service," said Richard C. Notebaert, Qwest chairman and CEO. http://www.qwest.com

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Intel Predicts Coexistence of Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 3G

"The wireless industry is evolving from a web of independent networks into a single, integrated wireless network with multiple standards, and no single standard is sufficient anymore," said Intel President and COO Paul Otellini, in a keynote address at the 3GSM World Congress 2004 in Cannes, France. Otellini predicts that it will be a requirement for Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 3G to coexist in the future broadband wireless world.


Intel believes standards-based silicon would enable carriers and handset makers to lower costs and speed time-to-market in this new environment. Otellini sees the industry transitioning to modular communications infrastructure based on standards such as the Advanced Telecommunications and Computing Architecture (ATCA) specification and Intel processing technology.


Otellini used the occasion to unveil a new three-radio reference design for cell phones with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GSM/GPRS capability built-in, running Intel's latest applications processor and Intel StrataFlash memory. The phone supports multiple full-featured operating systems, plays MP3 music files with PC-quality sound, and includes a 1.3 mega pixel digital camera for pictures and video. Intel's reference design targets handset makers who want to provide cell phones capable of accessing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or 2.5G networks.


Regarding WiMAX, Otellini predicted "inflection point" in the 2006-2008 timeframe similar to what happened with Wi-Fi over the past few years, and said WiMAX capability would be available in notebook computers by 2006, followed by handsets in 2007. http://www.intel.com

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Intel Announces DSL Resale Agreement with SBC

Intel agreed to promote and sell SBC Yahoo! DSL Business Edition and SBC Digital Services (DS1) through the Intel Product Dealer Channel, one of the largest value-added reseller programs in the U.S.. Intel product dealers are now authorized to sell SBC Yahoo! DSL Business Edition and SBC DS1 digital, point-to-point dedicated services in the SBC 13-state region. http://www.intel.com

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AT&T Outlines Mission Plan, to Launch Consumer VoIP Next Month

AT&T will invest its cash flow in its global network to migrate customers toward expanded IP services faster than competitors, said company chairman and CEO David Dorman, speaking at an investor conference in New York. AT&T estimates it will generate more than $4.5 billion in cash flow, defined as EBITDA less capital expenditures, in 2004. This year, the company also intends to repurchase up to $3 billion in additional debt. Its net debt stood at about $9 billion at the end of 2003.


William J. Hannigan, who recently joined the company as President of AT&T and head of AT&T Business, outlined the following strategic initiative for AT&T Business in 2004:

• continue to expand its hosting business to support storage, customer relationship management and messaging, as well as open four Internet Data Centers in Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo and London, bringing the total number of its IDCs to 25



• more than double its Wi-Fi footprint, which currently covers more than 2,900 hot spots in 22 countries



• build-out its business VoIP services



• extend its ability to integrate with other carriers' networks



• launch a new cybersecurity service to protect corporate networks



• introduce AT&T WebService Connect to enable businesses to share critical services and applications with partners and customers easily and securely



• introduce a network-based VPN service on its MPLS core IP network



• extend its global network management and monitoring capabilities to customers' infrastructure at their premise or their own data centers

John Polumbo, President of and CEO of AT&T Consumer, reiterated the company's focus on investing in a portfolio of emerging alternate access technologies and models aimed at "changing the game" so that AT&T can provide VoIP over its own platform. AT&T Consumer is testing or supporting a variety of alternatives to bypass the Bell access facilities. These options include broadband over electric power lines, municipal or regional network overbuilds, and renting alternative providers' copper lines.


The company also announced plans for rolling out an "AT&T CallVantage" VOIP service to the 100 largest U.S. markets during the course of 2004. AT&T's residential VoIP offering will start to become available to customers next month. The service will provide unlimited local and long distance calling, very competitive rates on international calling, and a number of unique features. Cathy Martine, the company's Senior Vice President spearheading the VoIP initiative, expects to have more than 1 million business and consumer users across its portfolio of VoIP services by the end of 2005. http://www.att.com

• In February 2004, AT&T launched a new $200 million-plus company wide brand and advertising program aimed at residential, business and government customers. The business advertising campaign profiles AT&T as "The World's Networking Company," asking its business and government customers: "Can Your Network Do This?" The business advertising campaign uses a "binary" theme to demonstrate how networking propels people, products and entire economies forward. The consumer advertising campaign positions AT&T as a major provider of bundled services, moving far beyond traditional voice long-distance service to include local, Internet, broadband, wireless and international calling.



• In January 2004, AT&T cited increasing pricing pressures and predicted declining overall revenues for 2004. The company reported Q4 2003 consolidated revenue of $8.1 billion, which included $5.9 billion from AT&T Business and $2.2 billion from AT&T Consumer. This represented a consolidated revenue decline of 12.8% versus Q4 2002, primarily due to continued declines in long distance (LD) voice revenue, partially offset by the continued success of AT&T Consumer's bundled local and LD offering, as well as growth in several key markets of AT&T Business. Net income from continuing operations was $340 million and earnings per diluted share were $0.43. Free cash flow was $0.7 billion for Q4. The company met its 2003 financial guidance.

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Calypso Wireless Granted Patent for Mobile-to-Wi-Fi Roaming

Calypso Wireless has been granted a U.S. patent ( # 6,680,923) covering the seamless roaming of voice, video and data between Wide Area Network access points, such as cellular towers (GSM/GPRS/EDGE, CDMA, WCMDA etc.) and short-range Internet access points (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.).


The technology enables mobile users to seamlessly switch back and forward between cellular and wireless IP networks, without losing connectivity via the WLAN. It could also provide significant savings to carriers in additional frequency spectrum and infrastructure equipment by offloading capacity to the WLAN and IP networks.


Calypso Wireless said it is already in negotiations with a leading OEM manufacturer to license its ASNAP (Automatic Switching of Network Access Points) technology. The company is based in Miami Lakes, Florida. http://www.calypsowireless.com/

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