ClearPath Delivers Enterprise VPN Appliance / Service

ClearPath Networks introduced the first in a line of enterprise-class network security appliances for the small and medium business (SMB) market. ClearPath, which operates a nationwide MPLS/ATM backbone, offers managed network services that can integrate access links from various third-party carriers and provide an end-to-end QoS environment. The company's new Secure Network Access Platform "SNAP" provides a range of capabilities, including: Secure Site-to-Site VPN connectivity, remote access VPN, firewall protection, Intrusion Detection &...

Read More

France Telecom Adds 770,000 DSL Lines in Q1

As of 31-March-2004, France Telecom was serving over 4.1 million ADSL lines, up from 3.3 million at 31-Dec-2003 and up from 1.8 million at the same time in 2003. This represents nearly 770,000 additional ADSL lines activated during Q1 2004. Of the 4.1 million total ADSL lines, Wanadoo was serving 2.042 million lines; third party ISPs were serving 1.618 million lines, and 456,000 were being delivered over unbundled local loops. France Telecom's consolidated Q1 2004 revenues were EUR 11.45 billion, compared to EUR 11.4 billion for Q1 2003 on a...

Read More

Siemens SURPASS Softswitch Gains PacketCable Status

Siemens' Surpass hiQ 8000 softswitch was awarded the PacketCable 1.0 qualification by CableLabs. The Siemens Surpass hiQ 8000 softswitch successfully completed an extensive series of interoperability tests as a Call Management Server (CMS). The CMS functions as a softswitch in the PacketCable architecture and performs many critical functions necessary for voice communications, including connection management, implementation of subscriber features, and call accounting. http://www.siemens....

Read More

Scientific-Atlanta Adds Viewership Measurement to Set-tops

Scientific-Atlanta introduced new Operations Support System (OSS) featuring tools to help cable operators insight into consumers' viewership habits and for proactive monitoring of set-top and network performance at the subscriber's TV set. The new "Retriever" application also includes automated backup, disaster recovery, revenue assurance and VoIP launch applications. The viewership measurement tool collects data based on the consumer's "clicks" of the set-top remote - every time a new channel is selected, the activity is logged at the set-top...

Read More

New Specifications Support ATM at Edge of MPLS Cores

The ATM Forum has released two new specifications to help service providers leverage the benefits of ATM at the edge of their networks while deploying MPLS as part of their core network consolidation. The new specifications enable ATM routing and signaling (PNNI and AINI) to be extended among ATM networks attached to an MPLS core, thus maintaining the availability and resource efficiency of ATM services. MPLS can thereby be used as a transport for the existing ATM traffic without potentially costly changes being made to the network edge. The new...

Read More

Extreme and Avaya Meet DoD Interoperability Requirements

Extreme Networks and Avaya demonstrated an IP telephony solution that was rigorously tested by the DoD's Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC). Testing by the U.S. Department of Defenses' Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) have determined that Extreme Networks' switching solutions, when combined with Avaya's media servers, gateways and the Avaya Communication Manager, met the critical interoperability requirements for certification and use by national defense agencies. JITC certification is required for all products that support...

Read More

CWA Union Members Vote SBC Strike Authorization

Members of the Communications Workers of America working at SBC Communications voted overwhelmingly to give CWA leaders authorization to call a strike if they deem it necessary. The union reported that 90% of the 100,000 CWA-represented workers at SBC voted in favor of the strike authorization. Contract negotiations currently are underway covering SBC operations in 13 states: Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, California and Nevada. For a strike to take place, the next step would...

Read More

BellSouth Rejects AT&T Proposal

BellSouth quickly rejected AT&T's UNE-p proposal, describing it as "a desperate attempt to perpetuate the regulatory scheme that was vacated by the D.C. Circuit Court on March 2, 2004." BellSouth also announced the signing of long-term commercial agreements with three carriers including Dialogica Communications Inc., International Telnet and CI2 for the provisioning of wholesale local phone services throughout the nine-state BellSouth region. BellSouth further noted that since the FCC's call for the negotiation of commercial agreements, it...

Read More

Foundry Networks Reports Revenue of $104 Million

Foundry Networks reported Q1 revenue of $104.0 million, compared to $91.1 million in the first quarter of 2003. Foundry earned net income of $19.9 million, or $0.14 per diluted share in the first quarter, compared to net income of $13.4 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2003. "We saw several positive signs during the quarter. Our domestic business improved, sales to the Federal Government remained strong and continued to represent more than 30% of our revenues, and most regions performed to our expectations. However,...

Read More

MCI Trims 2004 Earnings Guidance

MCI issued new financial guidance for 2004, saying it now expects to generate revenue at the lower end of previous guidance of $21 billion to $22 billion. In 2003, the company reported revenue of $27.3 billion, which included $3.0 billion from Embratel. MCI announced in March 2004 its plans to sell its Embratel interest and, accordingly, will classify Embratel as a discontinued operation in the second quarter of 2004. The projections for 2004 exclude the operations of Embratel. Some main points:revenue from the company's global, high-end enterprise...

Read More

Level 3 Reaffirms 2004 Business Outlook

Level 3 reported Q1 revenue of $899 million, compared to $988 million for Q4 2003. Communications revenue was $389 million versus $399 million for the previous quarter, and information services revenue was $494 million compared to the seasonally strong fourth quarter revenue of $565 million. The net loss for Q1 2004 increased to $147 million or $0.22 per share compared to a net loss for the previous quarter of $121 million or $0.18 per share. Included in the net loss for Q1 2004 was a $23 million gain on the sale of the company's remaining investment...

Read More

AT&T Proposes Roadmap to Facilities-based Competition

AT&T issued a public proposal to the each of the four Bell companies offering a new roadmap to facilities-based local competition. AT&T is proposing increases in the price of UNE-P by at least $3 in phases over the next 2 1/2 years so as to impose a financial penalty on competitors that continue to rely on UNE-P. In exchange, however, competitors would be able to obtain operational and economic access to "last-mile" loop facilities on terms that are reasonable and fair. AT&T said it would support UNE-P price increases in exchange...

Read More

Spirit Telecom Selects Alcatel IP Service Router

South Carolina-based Spirit Telecom will migrate its data network to an IP/MPLS backbone using Alcatel's IP service router. Specifically, Spirit will use the Alcatel 7750 Service Router (SR) and the Alcatel 5620 network management portfolio to converge the carrier's national network onto a single network. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.alcatel.comhttp://www.spirittelecom.comEarlier this month, Alcatel unveiled a number of hardware and software enhancements for its Alcatel 7750 IP/MPLS edge routing platform, including a new hierarchical...

Read More

Verilink to Acquire Larscom

Verilink Corporation agreed to acquire Larscom for approximately 6 million shares of Verilink common stock, with each Larscom share being converted into 1.166 Verilink shares, subject to certain adjustments. The deal is valued at about $26.5 million. Larscom offers a range of metro access products, including optical edge access multiplexers for both TDM and Ethernet over SONET, integrated access devices (IADs), inverse multiplexers and CSU/DSUs. Larscom is based in Newark, California. Verilink provides customer premises voice and data access...

Read More