VeriSign Files Lawsuit Against ICANN

VeriSign has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in the Central District of California against the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) alleging that ICANN overstepped its contractual authority and improperly attempted to regulate VeriSign's business.



VeriSign asserts that ICANN has improperly attempted to become the de facto regulator of the domain name system and in doing so stifled the introduction of new services that benefit Internet users and promote the growth of the Internet. http://www.verisign.com

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European Commission Foresees 3% Growth ICT Sector for 2004

The European Commission expects the market for Information Technology and Telecommunications (ICT) in Western Europe to grow by more than 3% in 2004, far outstripping the level of 0.8% in 2003. The worldwide ICT market is expected to grow by well in excess of four percentage points. According to the latest report by the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO), markets in France and Germany are still performing below the ICT average, while Spain is predicted to enjoy the strongest growth.



However, the report also cautions that constraints -- among them a weak economic recovery, budget restrictions, and a lack of skills and technology culture -- will inhibit ICT investment.



Besides current market analysis, EITO 2004 contains studies with special focus on convergence and the digital world, the consumer electronics market in Western Europe and the impacts of ICT on economic growth. EITO 2004 contains 352 pages of statistics, trends and information. The three parts of the yearbook present about 142 tables and 81 figures (price EUR 80). http://www.eito.com/index-eito.html

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BT Names Head of Wireless Broadband

Chris Clark as chief executive officer, BT Wireless Broadband, replacing Dave Hughes who is becoming CTO of BT Retail. Clark joins BT Wireless Broadband from BT Global Services wholesale business, where for the past three years he has led the integration of the former European joint ventures' carrier businesses with the former Concert ICS. http://www.btplc.com

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8x8 Reduces International Calling Rates

8x8 reduced its international rates for outbound calls from the U.S. to locations such as London, Paris and many other European cities to $0.02 per minute. Calls to Hong Kong, Japan and many other Asian cities are $0.02 to $0.03 per minute. 8x8 delivers its VoIP services over broadband connectionshttp://www.packet8.net

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FTTH Council Voices Support for Municipal Fiber Deployments

The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council issued a call for Utah legislators to defeat Senate Bill 66, calling it "an impermeable barrier to true broadband deployment in Utah."



"This bill was clearly drafted to kill the Utopia and iProvo FTTH initiatives. The growing FTTH market in this country today has benefited greatly from the advances made, lessons learned, and price declines created by municipal FTTH deployments. Less than a year ago, Utah was considered a 'hot bed' for FTTH and one of the country's technology leaders. Should this bill pass, Utah will be relegated to the back of the communications pack, with the population likely destined to the limitations of legacy copper or other broadband-inadequate networks," said Leonard Ray, the FTTH Council's Vice President and Vice-Chairman of the Government Relations Committee.



The FTTH Council noted that municipalities accounted for 32% of all U.S. FTTH networks as of September. "I can say with high confidence that without municipal FTTH, this industry would not be as far along today as it is and it is absolutely critical that Utah does not enact legislation that effectively blocks municipal broadband networks," DeMauro continued. http://www.ftthcouncil.org

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Sprint Expands IP Network Presence to Korea

Sprint has expanded its international IP network to include Seoul, South Korea. Sprint has also acquired a Value-added Service Provider license for the provision of corporate IP and data services to the Korean market. The expansion follows the establishment of facilities in Taiwan and New Zealand last year.



Sprint's Asia-Pacific network reach includes Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Sprint currently has 1,100 points of presence in more than 100 countries around the world, with network expansion into India planned for 2004. http://www.sprintworldwide.com

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SBC Now Offering LD Services

The U.S. General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service (FTS) awarded a contract modification to SBC Global Services Inc., allowing it to compete for the first time for the long distance services of federal government agencies across the nation. Along with long distance voice and data services, SBC companies will now offer the federal government SBC PremierSERVsm Network Management Services. http://www.sbc.com

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Nortel Networks Passes U.S. DoD VoIP Interoperability Test

Nortel Networks announced that it was the first networking vendor to pass voice over IP (Internet Protocol) interoperability testing for the U.S. Defense Department's Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC). Certification is required for all products that support voice, data or video communications connecting to the Defense Switched Network. The JITC-tested voice over IP solution from Nortel Networks includes: the Succession 1000M platform, the BayStack 460-24T-PWR Power over Ethernet Switch, the Contivity Secure IP Services Gateway, the Passport 8600 Routing Switch. http://www.nortelnetworks.com

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