Zhone Offers Line-powered DSLAMs

Zhone Technologies introduced two new line-powered additions to its family of Raptor DSLAMs. The two compact DSLAMs allow service delivery as far as 38,000 feet from a central office with power supplied over the uplink's twisted pair. The new Raptor 50 offers eight ADSL ports and is hardened for a full range of deployment options. The Raptor 100 OSP provides up to 16 ADSL ports and is enclosed in a weather-proof enclosure that can be externally mounted on cabinets, poles or buildings. http://www.zhone.com

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India's Bharti Infotel Deploys Cisco MPLS Backbone

Bharti Infotel, a leading service provider in India, has deployed an MPLS backbone based on the Cisco 12000, 10000, 7300 and 7200 Series Routers and Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switches. The carrier already operates is own DWDM-enable fiber backbone and cable landing facilities for international bandwidth. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.cisco.com

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Broadwing Launches Media Services Network

Broadwing Communications launched a Media Services Network for the broadcast television and media markets. The service provides a highly resilient, real-time video transport capability that enables "contribution-quality" video over Broadwing's nationwide all-optical network. Service is now offered in five major media and video production centers, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Washington, D.C. Broadwing intends to open a new Television Operations Center to support this initiative in Columbia, Maryland. http://www.broadwing.com

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NASA Deploys Force10's 10GigE

The National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) has deployed the Force10 Networks' E300 switching platform at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch/routers are being used by a set of high performance computing clusters for pilot testing programs. http://www.force10networks.com

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Peer 1 Network Enters Whole VoIP Business

Peer 1 Network Enterprises, which operates colocation facilities across Canada and the U.S., has formed a new subsidiary to provide both wholesale and enterprise VoIP termination and origination services for domestic and international carriers as well as other VoIP providers. The new company, Symmetric Broadband, will set up VoIP gateways in all of Peer 1's locations: Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, as well as New York, Seattle and San Jose. The company said Symmetric's business plan "will be based on high quality routing and exceptional customer service."http://www.peer1.net

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RADCOM Offers ASIC-based Analyzer for LAN/WAN/ATM/PoS/Metro

RADCOM introduced a new test solution for monitoring and troubleshooting LAN, WAN, ATM, Packet over Sonet and Metro technologies at up to 2.48 Gbps OC-48 rates. The unit leverages a custom ASIC to provide its full line rate processing and filtering capabilities. RADCOM will offer both portable and scalable rack- mount configurations. http://www.radcom.com/

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Kagoor Partners with Fujitsu for Session Controllers in AsiaPac

Fujitsu Asia Pte Ltd has agreed to resell Kagoor Networks' VoiceFlow session border controllers throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The joint partners are targeting Asian carriers, service providers and enterprise customers deploying VoIP infrastructure and/or applications. The two companies are already working together on several carrier and ISP deployments in multiple Pan Asian countries. http://www.kagoor.com

• Last month, NEC Corporation signed a global Value Added Reseller (VAR) agreement covering Kagoor Networks' Session Border Control solutions. Kagoor offers a scalable family of Session Border Controllers, including a high capacity, fault tolerant carrier grade model (VF-3000), a VoIP service provider or carrier edge model (VF-1000) and a CPE solution (VF-200). The VoiceFlow platforms deliver 5 essential VoIP applications: Network-hosted NAT traversal and VPN aggregation, network protection, carrier peering and enterprise border control.

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Boingo and Linksys Team on Small Business Hotspots

Boingo Wireless and Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, announced a joint "Hot Spot in a Box" program that makes it easier for small businesses to offer public Wi-Fi access coffee shops, restaurants, doctor's offices, gas stations, independent hotels, retail outlets, and office lobbies. By connecting the router to an existing DSL, cable or other broadband connection and activating the Hot Spot in a Box feature, a business owner can add their location to the Boingo Roaming System, a network of nearly 7,000 hot spots worldwide. The companies estimate that operating a Boingo hot spot can generate profits of between $300 and $400 per month based on an average of only two user connections per day and 10 sign-ups per month. All related marketing, billing, 1-800 technical support and other back-office services are handled by Boingo and its Platform Services partners. http://www.boingo.comhttp://www.linksys.com/

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US LEC Rolls Out VoIP with Cisco, Broadsoft

US LEC has deployed Internet gateways in Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida in the first stage of nationwide rollout of VoIP services. US LEC is utilizing its existing network infrastructure to support the VoIP service offering and has partnered with Cisco Systems in the deployment of its gateways and Internet Access Devices (IADs). US LEC is also teaming with BroadSoft in the deployment of the BroadWorks platform to provide a comprehensive range of applications. http://www.uslec.com/

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Northern Ireland Targets 100% DSL Availability in 2005

Northern Ireland aims to make DSL Internet access available to 100 percent of its population -- urban and rural -- by year-end 2005, announced Ian Pearson, Member of Parliament and Northern Ireland's Minister for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI). Pearson also announced that BT has been awarded the contract to implement the ambitious broadband undertaking, which will be financed by DETI. http://www.investni.com/

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Modulus Video Licenses H.264 from LSI Logic

Modulus Video, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, agreed to license FPGA-based H.264 video compression/decompression and analysis technology from LSI Logic. Current digital video distribution is based primarily on MPEG-2, a nearly ten year old standard that has reached its limit of video compression efficiency. H.264 / MPEG-4.10, a new and open video compression standard, was ratified in 2003 by the ITU and the MPEG. H.264 has been shown to outperform MPEG-2 by at least a factor of two, thus requiring 50% or less bandwidth or storage capacity for equivalent qualityhttp://www.lsilogic.com/http://www.ModulusVideo.com

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net.com Adds Cisco IOS to its SCREAM Aggregation Routers

net.com announced a major new release of its SCREAM broadband services platform -- a next generation broadband remote access server (B-RAS) that combines subscriber management, IP routing and ATM switching. net.com's SCREAM platform, which is designed for delivering enhanced services over DSL and other broadband networks, integrates a full ATM switch, providing it with the ability to tie hardware-based ATM QoS capabilities to specific network services.



Release 3.0 of the SCREAM broadband services platform adds a Cisco IOS routing engine to the platform, making it easier to deploy in networks with existing Cisco equipment. Because the IOS command line interface (CLI) is exposed, existing element or network management systems, as well as Cisco Certified Network Engineers (CCNEs), are able to readily configure the SCREAM platform.



By combining the ATM-based QoS, hierarchical traffic shaping and the new Cisco IOS routing, net.com said it is able to deliver "QoS-plus" capabilities that are "better than DiffServ" while complying with the DSL Forum's TR-59 service architecture.



BridgeCom International, a full service integrated communications provider in New York, is using the SCREAM release 3.0 service creation platform to offer business broadband services in the metropolitan New York City areahttp://www.net.com

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Extreme Posts Revenue of $88.9 million, up 7% Sequentially

Extreme Networks reported quarterly revenue of $88.9 million, up 7 percent sequentially. The company reported a net loss for the quarter of $1.1 million or $0.01 per share. This is improved from a net loss of $5.6 million or $0.05 per share in the prior quarter. Revenue in the U.S. was $38.8 million or 44% of total consolidated revenue, up $9.6 million from the previous quarter, representing a solid improvement from the previous quarter. International revenues were $50.1 million, down $4.1 million from prior quarter, due to weakness in the company's business in Asia. Gross margins were 51.2% of sales. http://www.extremenetworks.com

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Italy's FastWeb Selects Siemens and Juniper for Video/DSL

FastWeb, Italy's leading alternative broadband carrier, has awarded Siemens Information and Communication Networks (ICN) a contract covering deployment of the multi-service platform SURPASS hiX 5300 High Density DSLAMs and Juniper Networks' ERX-1440 edge routers.
To date FastWeb has deployed the Siemens solution and the Juniper Networks ERX-1440 platforms in the cities of Rome, Milan, Bologna, Modena, Venice, Bari, Naples, Genoa, Padua and Turin. FastWeb offers its residential subscribers a series of value added services, including television over its broadband network. The MPEG2 IPTV service runs over connections at up to 6 Mbps. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Siemens said it is the largest DSLAM supplier for FastWeb's DSL network with more than 50% of the installed base -- representing approximately 100,000 ADSL subscribers on the Siemens platform. http://www.siemens.com/networks/http://www.juniper.net

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Verizon Completes "Enterprise Advance" National MPLS Network

Verizon has completed deployment of its national IP MPLS backbone, which provides the basis for its "Enterprise Advance" growth initiative. Since announcing the Enterprise Advance growth initiative in November 2002, Verizon has completed construction on nine regional rings connecting the company's local networks and launched national services. The MPLS network consists of some 200 routers deployed in 56 markets. The core network has routers in 13 cities across the country: Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Denver; Dallas-Fort Worth; Los Angeles; New York; Newark; Philadelphia; Reston.; Seattle; San Francisco; and Tampa, Fla. Verizon offers various means of access, including Frame Relay, ATM and transparent local area network service (TLS).



Over the next 30 days, Verizon plans to launch national services, such as IP-virtual private network (IP-VPN) and national TLS. The IP-VPN will provide the foundation for enterprise VoIP services, which Verizon expects to launch later this year. http://www.verizon.com

• Verizon is using Fujitsu's FLASHWAVE 7600 regional WDM system, FLASHWAVE 7200 transponders, and FLASHWAVE 4500 core transport MSPP system for the nine regional rings in the national network serving its Enterprise Advance initiative. Fujitsu's FLASHWAVE 4500 MSPP platform was also used extensively throughout the network as a Multi-Service Provisioning Platform (MSPP) to provide advanced services, like Ethernet over SONET, and aggregate traffic generated from Enterprise Advance business. Verizon is also using Fujitsu's FLASHWAVE 4500 core transport system, the FLASHWAVE 4300 aggregation system and the FLASHWAVE 4100 access system in their regulated network. The FLASHWAVE 4000 products feature advanced data functionality and traffic grooming to enable a wide range of multiservice solutions for metro interoffice and access applications.



• In March, Ciena announced that Verizon is deploying its DN 7100 and DN 7200 multiservice switches to support its Enterprise Advance network expansion initiative. Specifically, Verizon plans to deploy nationwide the DN 7 product family for Fast Packet services (including Frame Relay and ATM) and other multiservice applications.



• In November 2003 -- one year after unveiling an ambitious plan to expand its high-speed data network nationwide -- Verizon Communications announced that it had closed over 900 sales with more than 550 of its largest customers, including 65 Fortune 500 corporations as well as many educational institutions. Verizon's Enterprise Advance portfolio offers Frame Relay, ATM, SONET and Ethernet-over-SONET connectivity.



• In October 2003, Cisco Systems confirmed that Verizon Communications had selected the Cisco 12000 Series Router platform in its national IP VPN network. The platform, which will be used to deliver Layer 3 IP/MPLS VPN services, will be deployed as Verizon's Local Access Transport Area (LATA) core router as well as one of the service edge router platforms for Verizon's Enterprise Advance initiative.



• In June 2003, Verizon awarded a multi-year contract to Juniper Networks for its E-series edge routers. The equipment will be used to consolidate a wide range of IP-based services in a single platform over a variety of media including leased line, Frame Relay, ATM, DSL, Ethernet and wireless. The first phase of the new deployment will support Verizon's "Enterprise Advance" initiative.

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Salt Lake City Votes Against UTOPIA Funding

Salt Lake City will not provide financial backing to the UTOPIA fiber-to-the-home project. City council members voted 4-to-2 against the proposal, which would have required the city to commit $4.1 million per year for 17 years to fund the deployment of fiber connections to every home and business. Qwest Communications lobbied vigorously against the open-carrier, municipal fiber project on the grounds that UTOPIA would be a government-funded competitor. Qwest, which has been criticized for its slow rollout of broadband, has vowed to increase the availability of DSL to 90% of Salt Lake City households over time.



Supporters of UTOPIA said the project would go ahead to other communities in Utah even without the participation of Salt Lake City. Advocates had argued that the benefits of a pervasive broadband fiber infrastructure -- over which multiple carriers could offer a full range of services to all city residents -- far outweighed the relatively small financial risk for the city and the alternative of the incumbent carrier's copper network.

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