Texas Instruments Boosts Q1 Business Outlook

Citing continuing strong demand across a broad range of its semiconductors, Texas Instruments increased its expected revenue and earnings ranges for Q1 2004. The company now expects between $2.835 billion and $2.950 billion in quarterly revenue, compared with the prior range of $2.720 billion to $2.950 billion. http://www.ti.com

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Corvis to Acquire Focal Communications, a National CLEC

Corvis Corporation agreed to acquire Chicago-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) Focal Communications for $210 million. The deal is comprised of approximately $101 million in equity to be issued to Focal's existing equity holders and the assumption of about $109 million of Focal's existing debt and other obligations.



Focal Communications, which operates in 23 Tier 1 markets across the U.S., claims 4,000 enterprise and wholesale/carrier customers for its CLEC services. Focal also has its own metro fiber footprint in nine Tier 1 national markets. Focal expects to report annual revenues of approximately $320.0 million for fiscal 2003. As of December 31, 2003, Focal had cash and cash equivalents of $24.9 million.



Corvis owns Broadwing Communications, which operates an ultra-long haul, all-optical network and national IP backbone. The Focal acquisition is expected to expand the reach of Broadwing's 18,500-mile nationwide all-optical network into targeted local markets. http://www.corvis.com

• In March 2003, Focal Communications, a CLEC serving 23 top U.S. markets, filed an amended reorganization plan with the U.S. bankruptcy court. The company emerged from Chapter 11 in July, having eliminated approximately $375 million of debt.



• Focal Communications is headed by Kathleen A. Perone, who joined the company in June 2002. She previously served with Level 3 Communications, MFS Communications and LighTrade.

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Telefonica to Acquire BellSouth's Latin American Networks

Telefonica Moviles agreed to acquire BellSouth's interests in 10 Latin American networks for $5.85 billion. The deal includes wireless companies in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela serving a total of 10.5 million mobile customers. Telefonica already has operations in seven Latin American countries: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile, El Salvador and Guatemala.



BellSouth will receive after tax cash proceeds of approximately $4.2 billion and reduce consolidated debt by $1.5 billion. http://www.bellsouth.com

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Verizon Begins Offering DIRECTV, Increasing it Consumer Bundle

Verizon Communications began offering residential service bundles that include DIRECTV satellite service. Verizon estimates that its bundled price for unlimited calling, Internet access and entertainment with one TV set will beat by $5 to $20 the prices of the major cable companies that provide voice, Internet and video services. In addition, DIRECTV is offering a new promotional discount of an additional $10 off programming packages purchased with Verizon packages through July 17. New customers also receive a three-room installation by DIRECTV at no charge. http://www.verizon.com

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RADVISION Enhances ECS Gatekeeper

RADVISION announced significant new features for its Enhanced Communications Server (ECS), which enables both point-to-point and multipoint IP voice and video conferencing. The platform provides high-capacity call control supporting up to 500 concurrent calls and 3000 registrations. It also features a firewall proxy solution. Key enhancements and benefits of version 3.5 include:

• Enhanced multi zone bandwidth control and management



• Advanced call completion and bridging for IP and ISDN networks with flexible fallback policies



• Support for H.350 standard used in authentication and standardized directory services



• Open APIs for service creation, integration with existing databases, and features such as pre-paid billing, call control and management



• Secure IP address dialing control



• Group management for easy administration



• Radius (AAA support)



• Multi-level user login access and provisioning

http://www.radvision.com

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iBasis Establishes VoIP Interconnection in Cambodia

iBasis has established a direct VoIP interconnection with AZ Communications, an emerging IP-based communications service provider in Cambodia. iBasis noted significant market share in Asia voice traffic through its relationships with leading carriers and PTTs, including China Unicom, China Mobile, China Netcom, CAT Telecom (Thailand), Data Access (India), KDDI, Telstra, and others. http://www.ibasis.net

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Seattle-based WCI Deploys Telica's Softswitch

Seattle-based WCI has deployed Telica's Plexus 9000 softswitch platform to deliver Class 4 and Class 5 voice services to its growing customer base. The deployment marks a change for WCI to facilities-based competition. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.telica.com

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Ikanos Chipset Extends FTTx at 100 Mbps over Copper

Ikanos Communications introduced a programmable chipset aimed at extending FTTx deployments from a neighborhood site into homes over a final stretch of existing single copper pair. Carriers could deploy fiber to the neighborhood, curb, or building and take advantage of last-mile copper for 100 Mbps connections supporting voice, high-speed data and video, including High Definition Television (HDTV).



Ikanos estimates that its strategy could greatly accelerate mass provisioning of FTTx services, while cutting CapEx per subscriber to as low as $300

The Ikanos Fx family includes the four-port Fx 7030 and Fx 10050 chipsets, designed for systems to complement Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), Optical Network Units (ONUs), routers, switches, and fiber concentrators; and the single-port Fx 10050S, for Subscriber Located Equipment (SLE). All Fx chipsets are programmable to integrate into either ATM or Ethernet/IP infrastructures. The Ikanos chipsets provide on-chip QoS. The Fx chipset supports all the standard ATM QoS mechanisms, including CBR, VBR-rt, VBR-nrt, UBR, and ABR. At the physical layer, the chipset supports two distinct traffic paths that can be separately configured during provisioning and assigned different speeds and QoS levels, both to ATM and Ethernet/IP traffic.



Ikanos said its Fx family of chipsets supports asymmetric or symmetrical applications and is micro-programmable in flexible 64 kbps increments. The Fx 7030 delivers speeds up to 70 Mbps downstream and 30 Mbps upstream or symmetric speeds of 30 Mbps, while the Fx 10050 provides 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream or symmetric speeds of 50 Mbps.



Sampling is underway. Prices range from $26 to $30 per port depending on volume. http://ww.ikanos.com

• Separately, Ikanos Communications reported shipping over two million ports for its programmable chipsets over the past 18 months. The company said it doubled its port shipment from 1 to 2 million ports since late October 2003, when Ikanos first publicly announced shipment status. Ikanos said it has seen a tremendous uptake for its chipsets in Asia and Europe.

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Colubris Secures $13 Million for WLAN Access Equipment

Colubris Networks secured $13 million in series C funding for its WLAN access equipment and management systems. Colubris has been shipping products for nearly three years and claims more than 500 customers worldwide, including with Swisscom EURspot, the largest Wi-Fi hotspot provider in Europe, broadband Internet access provider STSN, and Connexion by Boeing. Colubris has strategic partnerships with Juniper Networks, Alcatel and ADC.



The oversubscribed round was led by GrandBanks Capital, with participation by new investor Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds. Existing investors, including Prism Venture Partners and the Development Bank of Canada, also participated in the round.



Colubris Networks has raised $21 million since its inception in 2000. http://www.colubris.com

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Pedestal Networks Appoints Dennis Young to BOD

Pedestal Networks, a start-up based in Fremont, California named Dennis Young to its Board of Directors. Young, who is currently vice president of operations at Entrisphere, previously served senior vice president and chief operating officer at Siemens ICN. Before that, Young served as executive vice president and general manager of ADC Telecommunication's Wireline Division and held management positions with PairGain.



Pedestal offers a Universal Broadband Server (UBS) to deliver standards-based ADSL services deeper through a network. http://www. pedestalnetworks.com

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Net2Phone Unveils SIP Solutions for Broadband Providers

Net2Phone introduced a set of SIP-based telephony solutions that enable broadband service providers to offer hosted telephony services to their residential and SOHO customers. Net2Phone's new "VoiceLine" architecture centralizes the call management, CLASS features, billing and provisioning platform and enhanced services and distributes the infrastructure required for interconnecting onto and off of the PSTN network. VoiceLine can also seamlessly integrate its front and back office systems, including its billing platform, into the operator's infrastructure, facilitating a unified bill for high-speed data, telecommunications and other services. Additional features include web-based tools allowing subscribers to manage their telephony features online as well as check their voice mail.



Net2Phone said the new "VoiceLine" offering complements its existing PacketCable-ready solution for cable operators. The company said some operators will opt for PacketCable solutions in some markets and SIP in othershttp://www.net2phone.com

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Covad Begins Selling Broadband through New Edge Networks

Under the terms of a previously announced reciprocal service agreement, Covad began selling broadband services in small and mid-sized cities reachable through New Edge Networks. The agreement expands Covad's footprint from 35 to 44 states, reaching an additional 5.5 million businesses. http://www.covad.com

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GRIC's Aggregated Net Reaches 10,000 Access Points

GRIC Communications announced that its aggregated network has access to more than 10,000 Wi-Fi and Ethernet locations worldwide. This includes 6,642 live Wi-Fi access points; 1,400 hotel Ethernet access points; and an additional 2,900 hot spots under contract and being placed in production. The company currently has 59 wireless service providers participating in the GRIC TierOne Network. http://www.gric.com

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Telco Systems Introduces VoIP Gateway

Telco Systems introduced a consumer VoIP gateway for broadband Internet telephony services.



The new Access211 device has two ports, which support two different phone numbers that can be used for standard telephones or fax machines, an Ethernet port for connectivity to a home PC, and an uplink port to connect either to a cable-modem or DSL modem for broadband Internet access. For Quality of Service, the unit implements TOS Marking. It features variable voice compression capabilities, enabling both the end-user and the VoIP service provider to control voice quality. It also supports the 802.1 q VLAN Tagging standard, which enhances security for VoIP phone calls.



The feature set includes T.38 fax over IP, NAT (Network Address Translation) which supports multiple IP addresses under one broadband connection, and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Server for establishing dynamic IP addresses. It supports SIP, MGCP and H.323 VoIP standards.


The Access211 also provides telephone lifeline support in which an end-user can still have phone service in the event of a power failure or VoIP network failure, and supports all major custom calling features such as 3-way calling, caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, call transfer and hold. http://www.telco.com

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ProQuent Raises $14M for Mobile Data Infrastructure

ProQuent Systems, a start-up based in Marlborough, Massachusetts secured $14 million in Series D funding for its mobile data infrastructure equipment. ProQuent offers a Mobile Services Switching Point platform for deploying and managing applications on mobile networks. Its porfolio also includes ProQuent ACCESS (Authorized Content Control & Electronic Subject Screening) Mobile, which helps network operators enforce mobile content and access control policies in real-time by filtering customer access to inappropriate, indecent and offensive content; ProQuent TollGate Mobile, which provides IP billing in wireless data networks, both for prepaid and postpaid applications; and ProQuent BitCapture Mobile; which collects highly granular and detailed user and usage information on subscribers, applications and services in a mobile data network.



Nokia Venture Partners and St. Paul Venture Capital led the funding round with a $12 million investment. An additional $2 million is being kept open for future strategic investments. http://www.proquent.com

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Voltaire Secures $15 Million for Infiniband

Voltaire, a start-up based in Bedford, Massachusetts $15 million in financing for its InfiniBand solutions. Voltaire provides intelligent InfiniBand hardware and software solutions that enable high performance applications to run on distributed server, storage and network resources. Its InfiniBand switching solution also provides connectivity to IP and Fibre Channel networks. Customers include Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratories, Mississippi State University and Ohio Supercomputer Center.



Baker Capital, Pitango Venture Capital and new investor Vertex Venture Capital led the oversubscribed round. Existing investors Platinum Venture Capital, Tamir Fishman Ventures, and The Challenge Fund also participated. Voltaire has raised $50 million to date. http://www.voltaire.com

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PRIMUS Selects Veraz Softswitch/Gateway

PRIMUS Telecommunications has selected Veraz's ControlSwitch softswitch and the I-Gate 4000 PRO media gateways as part of a strategic plan to migrate to a service-rich, next-generation network and replace traditional Class 4 toll tandem switch installations in the U.S. The full service, next-generation PRIMUS network will offer both traditional PSTN and VoIP services to consumer and business customers, as well as a global peering solution and wholesale services to other carriers.



Initially, the Veraz solution will start with a port deployment replacing an existing central office architecture. The Veraz solution incorporates its previously announced Global Peering Solution capabilities to also integrate the functionality of PRIMUS's existing VoIP Gateway infrastructure. PRIMUS's network migration plans call for subsequent legacy TDM switch replacements in a variety of its central office locations. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.veraznetworks.comhttp://www.primustel.com

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XO Predicts No Impact from Court Decision on UNE-P

XO Communications said it will not be affected by the recent court decision overturning the FCC Triennial Review Order pertaining to UNE-P service. XO plans to continue to use its nationwide facilities-based network to vigorously compete against the Regional Bell Operating Companies and does not rely on RBOC facilities to switch the majority of its customers' traffic.



XO also noted that with the pending acquisition of Allegiance and its hundreds of collocation sites, it will become the largest facilities-based competitive local exchange carrier in the country. http://www.xo.com

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Canoga Perkins Debuts Fiber Optic Ethernet Demarcation Device

Canoga Perkins introduced an Ethernet Termination Service Unit (ETSU) for the telco service provider and cable MSO markets. The device enables the hand-off of services and media conversation between a service provider's network using single-mode fiber optic cable and the customer's network using UTP copper cable and fiber interfaces. The unit, which is compliant with Ethernet IEEE 802.3, Fast Ethernet IEEE 802.3u and Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3z standards, is CWDM wavelength ready and offers a single fiber BIDI interface option. It could be deployed either as CPE or in the central office. http://www.canoga.com

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