Tacit Networks Secures $16.9 Million for Storage Caching

Tacit Networks, a start-up based in South Plainfield, New Jersey, secured $16.9 million in its second round of financing for its enterprise remote office IT solutions.



Tacit has developed an enterprise storage caching appliance designed to enable low-latency file sharing among geographically dispersed locations. The platform leverages a unique Storage Caching/ Internet Protocol (SC/IP) developed by Tacit Networks that is interoperable with existing storage, network and hardware infrastructure. The Tacit Storage Cache attaches directly to the LAN at a remote site and connects back to a Tacit Cache Server in the data center through a gateway using a standard VPN. From the LAN user's perspective, the Storage Cache appears to be a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, providing access to shared files using standard file sharing protocols like CIFS (for Windows) and NFS (for Unix). The Tacit Cache Server is a thin appliance that sits in front of a network attached storage (NAS) system at the data center and coordinates access by multiple remote Storage Caches to the consolidated storage resources. Tacit's SC/IP protocol, which is run between the Tacit Storage Caches and the Tacit Cache Server, uses compression and file differencing to minimize the amount of data transferred over the network. The storage caching system is aimed at enterprises that need to share data in real time.



JPMorgan Partners, the private equity arm of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. led the oversubscribed round, with participation by new investor CTTV Investments LLC, the venture capital division of ChevronTexaco, and follow-on investments from all of the existing Series A backers Canaan Partners, RRE Ventures, and SAS Investors. Including the company's Series A financing in November 2002, the new round brings the total amount of financing raised to $24.2 million. http://www.tacitnetworks.com

• Tacit Networks is headed by Tim Williams, who previously co founded CrosStor Software, a leading supplier of network-attached storage-centric operating system technology that was acquired by EMC in 2000.

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Shaw Selects Telution's Order Management and Service Assurance Software

Shaw Communications will deploy Telution's COMX order management and service assurance software to improve its ability to flexibly deliver "triple play" service bundles, including voice services, to its Western Canadian customer base.



Telution's COMX is an application set that helps client companies improve operations, service delivery, and customer support. Telution said its software enhances an operator's ability to flexibly add VoIP to its product mix, while managing complex workflow situations related to voice ordering and complex service bundling. http://www.telution.com/

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Agere's Mini 801.11g Module Delivers 6 Mbps at 100m

Agere Systems announced a small-form-factor 802.11g mobile Wi-Fi module specifically designed for handheld consumer devices such as PDAs, media players, Smartphones, handheld video game devices, and digital cameras and camcorders. Measuring only 20x29 millimeters, the mini-module delivers an extended range of up to 100 meters at 6 Mbps. Using Agere's WaveLAN chip set -- which includes an RF transceiver, media access controller, baseband processor and power amplifier -- the module delivers output power of 14 dBm at 54 Mbps operation and 16 dBm at 12 Mbps. http://www.agere.com/

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Wayport Adopts New Wi-Fi Business Model, Team with McDonald's

Wayport announced a new business model aimed at driving more mobile broadband customers to its Wi-Fi hotspots. Wayport's "Wi-Fi World" strategy seeks strategic partners for offering ubiquity, accessibility, quality, uniformity, value and simplicity of mobile broadband connections. The strategy offers network broadband providers an additional type of venue for providing DSL access along with in-store branding opportunities. The company is also seeking roaming partners at $32/month per Wi-Fi World site.



Wayport has been selected to Wi-Fi enabled McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. The company said it would announce other strategic partners soon. McDonald's franchisee and company owned stores pay Wayport a negotiated up-front and a per month/store fee. Walk-up access fees are shared between McDonald's franchisee and Wayport. http://www.wayport.com

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Motorola Extends Push-To-Talk Across GPRS, CDMA2000 and Wi-Fi

Motorola introduced an IMS-based solution that extends Push-To-Talk connectivity across and between GPRS, CDMA2000 1X, and WiFi networks. This is a network-based solution, aligned with Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) standards, that does not require modification to standards-based Push-To-Talk over Cellular (PoC) clients.



Motorola said its Cross-Technology PoC solution would also be compatible with future Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE), High Speed Packet Downlink Access (HSDPA), Wideband CDMA/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (W-CDMA/UMTS), and 802.16 "WiMAX" technologies. It is available for technical trials with select customers. http://www.motorola.com

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Data Connection Rounds Out its IP Routing Suite with RIP

Data Connection Limited (DCL) has added a Routing Information Protocol (RIP) product to its suite of IP Routing and MPLS software. DC-RIP is a fully portable, source code solution that implements full mandatory RIPv2 protocol support, as defined in RFC 2453, together with advanced features such as Split horizon with Poison Reverse, Triggered Updates and Authentication through plain text and MD5. The company said its DC-RIP has already been licensed by a number of equipment manufacturers. http://www.dataconnection.com

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Puerto Rico's Liberty Cablevision Offers VoIP System-wide

Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico has launched residential VoIP service to all of its 300,000 users using Net2Phone's fully managed end-to-end cable VoIP service. Under the terms of the original six-year agreement, Liberty Cablevision maintains ownership of the customer, service brand, and Tier I customer and technical support, while Net2Phone supports the back office platform, switching and transport, ongoing operations and Tier II+ technical support to deliver a fully managed QoS IP solution. Net2Phone tracks and monitors voice quality and network performance metrics from start to finish and provides the cable operator with a full view into telephone calls routed over its network. http://www.net2phone.com

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Analog Devices Launches Blackfin Fusiv Platform

Analog Devices (ADI) unveiled its "Blackfin Fusiv Platform" aimed at integrating media processing, network processing and voice processing in a single system. ADI's Fusiv-Vx 150 and the Fusiv-Vx 200 processors integrate fast, secure network and voice processing in a system-on-chip (SOC) product. ADI is also supplying an integrated and optimized software solution. The company said its Fusiv-Vx 200 processor can achieve 31 times the small-packet mixed-system VPN throughput of its nearest competitor, delivering wire-speed fast Ethernet routing, firewall and VPN throughput.
The Fusiv platform is based on ADI's ADSP-2100 core digital signal processing (DSP) technology and a distributed processing architecture.



ADI also announced an early customer win for its new Blackfin Fusiv Platform: Groupe SAGEM, an international high-technology group, which will use the Fusiv technology for its residential modems and gateways. http://www.analog.com/blackfin

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T-Mobile USA Acquires California/Nevada GSM Net from Cingular

T-Mobile USA will terminate its wireless network sharing joint venture with Cingular Wireless and instead acquire 100% ownership of the shared GSM networks in California and Nevada for $2.5 billion. The purchase price of $2.5 billion will be offset by $200 million related to the unwinding of the joint venture, resulting in a net cash payment of approximately $2.3 billion to Cingular. In addition, T-Mobile USA will:

• provide network services to Cingular under a wholesale arrangement until Cingular's customers in these markets transition to the networks it will acquire through its pending merger with AT&T Wireless;



• replace its existing roaming agreement with Cingular with a new nationwide agreement with improved terms;



• transfer 10 MHz of New York spectrum in exchange for certain California spectrum owned by Cingular as specified in the termination provisions of the joint venture agreement;



• acquire an additional 10 MHz of spectrum from Cingular in certain key California markets for $180 million; and



• receive an option to acquire an additional 10 MHz of spectrum in other key California markets from Cingular within two years.

http://www.t-mobile.net/

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Intersil Acquires BitBlitz for SerDes Devices

Intersil has acquired BitBlitz Communications, a start-up that supplies high-speed serializer-deserializers (SerDes), retimers and transponders, for $2.5 million in cash. In addition, Intersil has agreed to pay contingent consideration of up to $5 million if certain performance milestones are met in 2004 and 2005. BitBlitz is based in Milpitas, California. http://www.intersil.com

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BigBand Networks to Acquire ADC's CMTS

BigBand Networks will acquire the IP Cable Business Unit of ADC Telecommunications, including its Cuda and FastFlow product lines, for an undisclosed sum. ADC will become a minority interest holder in BigBand Networks as part of the agreement. The acquisition does not include the Homeworx cable telephony system that had also been a part of the business unit. BigBand Networks will continue sales and full service for Cuda and FastFlow customers, including operation of technology and business activities in Westborough, Massachusetts, as well as other associated U.S. and international facilities.



ADC's Cuda CMTS (cable modem termination system) is a widely deployed and carrier-class platform for switching and routing of advanced IP services, and the FastFlow Broadband Provisioning Manager is a server suite that activates and configures such services.



BigBand Networks supplies a Broadband Multimedia-Service Router that digital broadcast grooming for control of SDTV and HDTV programming. The platform provides rate shaping to maintain video quality at maximum bandwidth efficiency; standards-based splicing of local advertising and programming with precise geographic targeting; Gigabit Ethernet transport of high quality video including enhanced service reliability from redundant facilities; dense edge modulation of VOD and broadcast programming; and switched broadcast to dynamically provision live programming in response to real-time subscriber demand,http://www.bigband.netIn April 2004, ADC began shipping a DOCSIS 2.0 CMTS module for its Cuda 12000 Next-Generation cable modem termination system (CMTS). ADC said there were more than 1,000 units of its Cuda CMTS platform deployed worldwide.

In June 2003, BigBand Networks, a start-up based in Redwood City, California raised $15 million in fourth round funding to support its broadband multimedia platform. BigBand's platform, which has been shipping for six quarters, is used for switching/routing video feeds for digital broadcast television, HDTV, transport of high quality video, ad insertion, VOD and iTV. The company claims 20 broadband network operators as customers, including seven of the top ten North American cable operators. The new funding was led by Meritech Capital Partners. Prior investors also participated in the round, including AOL Time Warner Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Evergreen Investments, Pilot House Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. BigBand Networks has raised $75 million to date.

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SMC's Wireless Cable Modem Router Among First to Receive CableHome 1.1 Certification

SMC Networks has received one of the first CableHome 1.1 certifications for its EZ Connect Wireless Cable Modem Router. CableHome 1.1, released last year, builds on the original CableHome 1.0 with improved residential gateway security features, introduces standardized prioritized Quality-of-Service for home LANs, and adds support for home servers, telecommuters and home offices. The SMC EZ Connect Wireless Cable Modem Router combines DOCSIS 1.1 cable connectivity, an integrated 4-port switch and an 802.11g access point in one device. http://www.smc.com

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StrataLight Provides 40 Gbps Transport for Cisco/MCI Demp

StrataLight Communications, a start-up based in Campbell, California, supplied the 40 Gbps optical transport equipment that interconnected two Cisco CRS-1 core routers over MCI's intercity fiber in the demonstration event for the new Cisco core router. Specifically, the routers, both equipped with short-reach 40-Gbps OC-768c optical client interfaces, were interconnected over MCI fiber facilities using StrataLight OTS-4000 Optical Terminal Subsystems in conjunction with Cisco ONS 15454 SONET MultiService Transport Platforms, which provided optical amplification. StrataLight's OTS-4000 provided the full-duplex 40-Gbps OC-768c optical connection, utilizing a single wavelength in each direction.



StrataLight's proprietary lightwave modulation technology narrows the spectral width of 40-Gbps signals so that they are interchangeable with 10-Gbps signals on existing fiber transport systems. http://www.stratalight.com

• In December 2003, StrataLight completed a $19.5 million second round of venture capital funding. The round was led by TL Ventures, and included previous investors USVP, ComVentures, The Photonics Fund, and several strategic partners.

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MCI Demonstrates 40-Gbps Across IP Backbone

MCI demonstrated the fastest IP intercity transmission ever across its IP backbone -- a single trunk filled with 40-Gbps of traffic at an event hosted at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California by Cisco Systems.



The technology trial took place over MCI's optical fiber network between PoPs located in San Francisco and San Jose, carrying 40 Gbps of traffic over a single full-duplex Optical Carrier (OC)-768c interface. Two IP routers were connected across the MCI network via a wavelength utilizing StrataLight's OTS-4000 Optical Terminal Subsystem.



To fill up the OC-769c pipe and stress the network, the companies used Agilent's traffic generators to simulate:

• 4,000 simultaneous iPod music downloads



• 125,000 simultaneous Internet gaming sessions



• 2,500 simultaneous streams of 4-6 Mbps video streams delivered to TV set-top boxes



• the hot installation of an MPLS network and the simultaneous transmission of 1,000 enterprise VoIP and video sessions, and



• 1 million simultaneous premium Web browsing sessions

http://www.mci.comhttp://www.cisco.com

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SBC Reaches New Labor Contract with Union

SBC Communications and the Communications Workers of America tentatively agreed to a new five-year contract covering 100,000 SBC employees. Key terms of the deal include:

• Wages: The agreement will provide for average base wage increases of 2.3% per year for the life of the contract and lump sums averaging $300 per year.



• Health Care: The agreement helps the company rein in health care costs, which have been growing at double digit rates annually. No monthly contributions will be required, but co-payments for drugs, doctor visits, emergency room services and other charges will increase for most plan participants.



• Job Security: The company and the union agreed to provide current CWA-represented employees with a guaranteed job offer, should their existing job be eliminated. This guarantee will not be extended to new employees.

In addition, the agreement also allows CWA-represented employees to perform jobs of the future that are considered an extension of traditional telephone work, while other jobs in emerging technologies will be at competitive wage and benefit levels. http://www.sbc.com

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Cisco Unveils its Carrier Routing System

In
a public event marking the 20th anniversary of its founding, Cisco
Systems unveiled its next generation CRS-1 Carrier Routing System, a
carrier-class, terabit-scalable, core routing platform aimed at large
service providers and research organizations. The Cisco CRS-1, which was
developed in-house over a period of four years and at cost of $500
million, leverages a series of hardware and software advances. Key among
these are:

• a non-blocking, self-routed multi-shelf architecture that scales
  in capacity from 1.2 terabits per second (Tbps) up to 92 Tbps. A
  single-shelf design will also offered, featuring a 16-slot line-card
  shelf with total switching capacity of 1.2 Tbps.
  
   


• a 40-Gbps ASIC -- the Cisco Silicon Packet Processor (SPP) -- that
  was developed in collaboration with IBM. Unlike conventional,
  fixed-purpose ASICs, the Cisco Silicon Packet Processor provides
  application flexibility because of the 192 independent 32-bit RISC
  processors that are integrated into a single chip.
  
   


• the industry's first Optical Carrier (OC)-768c/STM-256c packet
  interface for building IP trunks at 40 Gbps. The multi-shelf design
  would support up to 1,152 of these 40-Gbps line cards.
  
   


• new Cisco IOS XR Software -- a memory-protected, microkernel-based
  operating system that supports process-level in-service upgrades, and
  enables fully distributed processing by separating of the control,
  data and management planes. The new OS modular design provides fault
  containment and automatic fault recovery so that processes can be
  started, stopped and upgraded. It also features self-defending network
  capabilities to automatically recognize disruptive activities, such as
  distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, with hardware- and
  software-based infrastructure.
  
   


• a service-separation architecture -- the Cisco Intelligent
  ServiceFlex design -- that separates traffic and network operations on
  a per-service or per-customer basis within the system. System
  processes such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and MPLS can also be
  fully distributed across the routing system
  
   


• Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based Cisco Craft Works Interface
  (CWI), a visual management tool that can manage single-shelf or
  multi-shelf systems.

John Chambers, Cisco's president and CEO, said the CRS-1
Carrier Routing System is not an evolution of the company's previous
platforms but a complete break from the past because it was designed
from scratch "to scale the Internet for the next 20 years." Chambers
stated that the new CRS-1 was built to bulk up in capacity during a long
lifetime deployment during which tremendous increases in traffic loads
would occur. Based on recent traffic trends in Japan, Chamber said he
expects Internet backbones to experience 400% to 500% growth over the
next few years as the number of broadband users growths and new
applications come online.



The Cisco CRS-1 is currently in field trials and is scheduled to be available in July
2004. The starting system list price is $450,000. Service providers
testing the CRS-1 include Sprint, MCI, NTT and Deutsche Telekom's T-Com. http://www.cisco.com

• Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 by Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, two scientists from Stanford University .

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