Multiservice Switching Forum Gains Members, Elects Officers

Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC), Cable & Wireless, Ericsson and Nortel Networks have joined the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF), a global association of service providers and system suppliers committed to developing and promoting open-architecture, multiservice switching systems. Applied Innovation, a network management solutions company and Holland's Teledata Networks, also joined the MSF this year. The MSF also announced its board of directors for 2004 -- 2005:Byung-Sun Lee, Core Technology Group director at ETRI James McEachern, Succession...

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Lessons from Telecom Act of '96 -- Part II

"If Rip Van Winkle fell asleep in 1994 and woke up in 2004, he wouldn't think he'd missed a beat if telecom regulation was any guide," wrote Adam Thierer, Director or Telecommunications Studies at The Cato Institute, in testimony presented at the second day of hearing by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The good news, according to Thierer, is that, over this same time period, we have witnessed amazing strides in terms of technological progress, benefiting consumers in countless ways. The three highest priorities...

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MCNC Researchers Develop Just-In-Time Optical Protocol

Researchers at MCNC and North Carolina State University have developed a Just-in-Time (JIT) optical networking protocol for ultra-fast provisioning and management of all-optical network connections. The JIT protocol provides out-of-band control signal processing to maximize set up time and optical switch bandwidth efficiency. Signal messages travel in advance of the data they are describing and undergo electro-optical conversion at each intermediate node. Switching elements inside the switches are configured for the incoming data (a tell-and-go...

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Cisco and Ericsson Sign Strategic Alliance

Cisco Systems and Ericsson announced a strategic alliance agreement to offer joint solutions for the wireline communications market. As a part of the multi-year agreement, the two companies will jointly define, integrate and offer multi-service network solutions. Core network solutions offered under the alliance will be built around Ericsson's ENGINE softswitch portfolio and Cisco's core routing products. A broadband access offering will be based around Public Ethernet over DSL, using Ericsson's IP-based DSLAM, Ericsson's IP Service Engine and...

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Russia Launched its Second Express AM11 Satellite

The Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) successfully launched its second "Express AM11" satellite this week on a Proton launch vehicle from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. The satellite is equipped with 32 C-band transponders (including 6 onboard spares) and 6 Ku-band transponders (2 spares), along with a fixed antenna and two mobile spotbeam antennas. It will be used for television, telephone and data transmission services over an area spanning Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Asia. Two additional Express AM satellites...

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Alcatel Launches VoIP-based Push To Talk Application

Alcatel introduced a Push To Talk (PTT) application as part of its IP multimedia communication portfolio. The Alcatel Push To Talk is a VoIP streaming service that turns a mobile phone into a Walkie-Talkie in GPRS and UMTS networks. Alcatel said its PTT solution can run on a wide variety of handsets already commercialized and equipped with this function. It is based on industry standards such as SIP for signaling and RTP for voice broadcasting. This follows the early specifications of the OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) and uses the capabilities of...

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France's Cegetal Tests Alcatel's 8 Mbps SHDSL

Cegetel, France's first alternative national fixed telecommunications operator, has activated an 8 Mbps DSL link between two pilot sites located in Paris and Lyon. The rate is four times the market standard DSL service. The deployment uses Alcatel's SHDSL technology, aggregating 4 copper pairs (2 Mbps each) into a single 8 Mbps link. The aggregation ability is made possible by the simultaneous use of SHDSL technology and inverse multiplexing ATM. The first 8 Mbps SHDSL link allows Cegetel and Alcatel to confirm high network performance, in particular...

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Foundry Hires Force10 Sales Exec

Foundry Networks appointed James F. Brear as vice president of U.S. sales, western area. Brear joins Foundry from Force10 Networks, where he served as vice president of worldwide sales. Prior to his tenure at Force10, Brear spent five years at Cisco Systems, including serving as operations director for Service Provider sales in the UK. http://www.foundrynetworks....

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AFC Reports Q1 Revenue of $92.8 Million

AFC reported quarterly revenue (GAAP) of $92.8 million. Revenues generated by North American Access (NAA), a business unit of Marconi Communications, were included in the results from the 20-Feb-2004 acquisition date through quarter end. Revenues in Q4 2003 were $84.8 million. Revenues for the first quarter of 2003 were $80.5 million. Net loss for Q1 2004 was $2.7 million, or $0.03 loss per share. The first quarter of 2004 included costs associated with the acquisition of NAA. Net income in the fourth quarter of 2003 was $5.7 million, or $0.06...

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Level 3 Provides MPLS Backbone for Teliris' Virtual Meetings

Level 3 Communications will provide MPLS-based data networking and other services to Teliris Ltd., a leading provider of virtual meeting solutions to corporate customers. Level 3 is supporting Teliris' "GlobalTable" service in both North America and Europe. GlobalTable is a multi-screen, multi-location conferencing solution that offers DVD-quality video and audio, signal delay below perceptible thresholds, and real-time collaboration tools. Specifically, Teliris is using (3)Flex, a high-performance data networking service from Level 3 that delivers...

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Time Warner Telecom Cites Challenging Environment

Time Warner Telecom reported $161.6 million in Q1 revenue and a net loss of $(38.8) million compared with revenue of $165.0 million and a net loss of $(33.3) million or $(.29) per share for the same period last year. During the quarter, the company grew its enterprise revenue by $12 million, which was offset by a reduction in carrier and related party revenue of $12 million and a reduction in intercarrier compensation of $3 million. There was a $9.9 million net decrease from carriers and ISPs. The company said it continues to experience a high...

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Comcast Reports Continued Growth

Comcast reported "robust demand" for its services in Q1, as evidenced by the addition of 35,000 basic cable subscribers in the quarter, continuing the trend of steady growth in its core business for the fifth quarter in a row, and growth of 192,000 in the number of digital cable subscribers. The company said its revenue growth is being driven by consumers' increasing demand for new digital features and services, including VOD, HDTV and digital video recorders (DVRs). Financially, Comcast Cable reported revenue of $4.647 billion for the quarter,...

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British Government Considers Future of Telecom Sector

Ofcom, the official telecom market regulator for the UK, is launching a wide ranging Strategic Review of the UK telecommunications sector. The Review will assess the options for enhancing value and choice in the sector and will have a particular focus on assessing the prospects for maintaining and developing effective competition in UK telecommunications markets, while having regard for investment and innovation. The Review is expected to consider whether and how BT might be required to open up its network, as well as rules for VoIP. The UK government...

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Nortel Networks Replaces Executive Team

Nortel Networks named William Owens as its new president and CEO, replacing Frank Dunn, who was dismissed "for cause." Nortel Networks also fired its former chief financial officer, Douglas Beatty, and former controller, Michael Gollogly, both of whom had been placed on paid leave of absence by Nortel Networks on 15-March-2004. Four other individuals who were senior line of business finance executives have also been placed on leave of absence. Nortel Networks Audit Committee has been undertaking an independent review of the circumstances leading...

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BT Reduces Wholesale Broadband Migration Costs

BT is reducing the prices it charges other service providers when they sign up broadband customers from other suppliers. BT is also making it cheaper for service providers to move their existing customer base from a BT IPStream based service to one based on BT DataStream. Migration prices will fall to £11 per end user from May 1. The cost of switching a customer from one BT IPStream based supplier to another has fallen from £35 per end user, whereas the cost of moving a customer from a BT IPStream based service to one based on BT DataStream has...

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