Alcatel to Resell Norwood's EnterpriseMobility PBX/GSM Platform

Alcatel agreed to resell Norwood System's EnterpriseMobility platform to telecom operators worldwide as part of Alcatel's fixed-mobile convergence solution. Norwood's platform enables a mobile phone to act as both a mobile and wireless office extension, switching between networks automatically depending on the location of the user. When end users are out of the office, their phone uses the GSM network and when they return, the handset becomes a seamless, wireless extension of the office phone network (PBX).



Alcatel and Norwood Systems are also collaborating on BT's Project Bluephone. http://www.alcatel.comhttp://www.norwoodsystems.com

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PacketLight Raises Funding for Optical Transport/Access

PacketLight Networks, a start-up based in Kfar-Saba, Israel, closed a new round of funding for its optical transport and access systems. Yehuda and Zohar Zisapel and RAD Ventures join current investors, Pitango Venture Capital. PacketLight will join the RAD-Bynet group. Following the investment Mr. Yehuda Zisapel, President of RAD-Bynet Group and Mr. Zohar Zisapel, Chairman of RAD Data Communications will join PacketLight's board of directors. Financial terms were not disclosed.



PacketLight offers a range of products for storage and data over SONET/SDH, using the latest GFP/VCAT and FC-BB standards and DWDM/CWDM. http://www.packetlight.com/

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FCC Expands Network Outage Reporting Requirements

Citing national security concerns, the FCC adopted new rules requiring wireless, wireline, cable, and satellite telecommunications providers to report information electronically to the Commission about significant disruptions or outages to their communications systems.



Under the new rules, both wireless and satellite providers will be subject, for the first time, to the Commission's reporting requirements. Currently, only wireline and cable telephony communications providers are required to report.



In addition, the Commission will require network outage reports whenever certain critical facilities are affected, including, for example, E911 facilities and the nation's larger airports. The Commission will also require network outage reports whenever especially critical transmission and network control technologies are disrupted, such as Signaling System 7 (SS7) and DS-3 transmission failures.



The FCC also ruled that all sensitive information collected as a result of these new rules will be protected from public disclosure. http://www.fcc.gov

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FCC Clarifies FTTH Rules for Apartment Buildings

The FCC issued an order clarifying fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) rules and relieving the incumbent LECs from certain unbundling obligations that apply to multiple dwelling units (MDUs), or apartment buildings. The FCC said its ruling increases the incentives for incumbent LECs to deploy next generation facilities.



In the Triennial Review Order released last year, the Commission concluded that the broadband capabilities of fiber loops that extend to a customer's premises, also known as FTTH loops, would not be subject to unbundling under section 251 of the Act. Today's action builds on the broadband principles of the Triennial Review Order by further extending the unbundling relief to fiber loops deployed to predominantly residential MDUs.



The Order concludes that determining what constitutes a predominantly residential MDU will be based on the dwelling's predominant use. For example, a multi-level apartment building that houses retail stores such as a drycleaner or a mini-mart would be predominantly residential, while an office building that contains a floor of residential suites would not. The Order further clarifies that a loop will be considered a FTTH loop if it is deployed to the minimum point of entry of a predominantly residential MDU, regardless of the ownership of the inside wiring. http://www.fcc.gov

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FCC Wireline Competition Bureau Chief to Step Down

William Maher, the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau Chief, will step down this fall. FCC Chairman Michael Powell intends to name Jeffrey Carlisle as his replacement. Carlisle has served as Senior Deputy Chief of the Bureau since June 2001, and was named Co-Director of the Commission's Internet Policy Working Group by Chairman Powell in November 2003. Before joining the Commission, he practiced law independently representing telecommunications providers and consumers. Prior to that, Carlisle was an associate at the Washington, DC, office of O'Melveny & Myershttp://www.fcc.gov

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FCC Rules that CALEA Covers all Voice Communications

The FCC issued a preliminary ruling that the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) applies to facilities-based providers of any type of broadband Internet access service -- including wireline, cable modem, satellite, wireless, and powerline -- and to managed or mediated VoIP services. The ruling finds these services fall under CALEA because they serve as "a replacement for a substantial portion of the local telephone exchange service."



The FCC said its primary policy goal was to ensure that law enforcement agencies ("LEAs") have all of the resources that CALEA authorizes to combat crime and support Homeland Security.



Additionally, the FCC tentatively concluded that non-managed, or disintermediated, VoIP and Instant Messaging are not subject to CALEA, and that it is unnecessary to identify future services and entities subject to CALEA.



With regard to compliance, the FCC is proposing a transition period (e.g., 90 days after it eventually adopts in this proceeding) for carriers to come into compliance with CALEA or seek relief from its requirements. The FCC has determined that it does has general authority to enforce CALEA rules against carriers and non-common carriers.



With regard to costs, the FCC tentatively concludes that carriers are responsible for CALEA development and implementation costs for post-January 1, 1995 equipment and facilities.



In a companion ruling, the FCC clarified that commercial wireless "push-to-talk" services are subject to CALEA, regardless of the technologies that Commercial Mobile Radio Service providers choose to apply in offering them. http://www.verizonwireless.com/

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Charter's CFO Joins Cablevision

Michael P. Huseby has resigned his position as Executive Vice President and CFO of Charter Communications in order to become Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cablevision Systems. http://www.charter.comhttp

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Occam Selected for Triple Play Network in Virginia

Scott County Telephone Cooperative (SCTC), a 6,200-line independent operating company (IOC) in Gate City, Virginia, has selected Occam Networks' BLC 6000 platform to deliver voice, video and high-speed data to its rural residential subscribers. The companies said Occam's IP/Ethernet platform was selected because the IOC is also considering a move to a softswitch architecture in the future. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.occamnetworks.com

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FCC Focuses on Homeland Security

The FCC's monthly open meeting highlighted homeland security as a major theme. Shortly after September 11, Chairman Powell made Homeland Security one of the six pillars of the Commission's Strategic Plan. Since that time, Homeland Security has been an area of significant focus for the Commission.



FCC actions over the past year promoting Homeland Security include:

• Rulemakings Promoting Homeland Security: The Commission has taken action in numerous rulemaking proceedings that promise significant benefits to first responders. These actions include the adoption of rules to: resolve interference in the 800 MHz band; enable new applications in the 4.9 GHz band; and promote Intelligent Transportation Systems. In addition, the Commission has enhanced Homeland Security in a number of other arenas, including, for example, rulemakings that promote new technologies that support Homeland Security such as RF ID tags, the Telecommunications Relay Service proceeding, where the FCC addressed national security and emergency preparedness priorities for individuals with hearing and speech disabilities, and actions involving CALEA and Outage Reporting that were adopted today.



• Federal Advisory Committees and Partnerships: the Commission's ongoing efforts with the industry include its Media Security and Reliability Council and its Network Reliability and Interoperability Council. The FCC has also partnered with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal, state, local, and tribal entities, and communities with special needs.

http://www.fcc.gov/homeland/

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Teleglobe Integrates ITXC

Teleglobe has integrated the ITXC network and is now offering a common suite of international voice transport services. The company said all of its customers now purchase any of three service offers, using either TDM or IP interfaces. The three standard service offers are:

• Teleglobe VTS: High quality international call completion for retail carriers



• Teleglobe VTS Economy: High value international call completion for wholesale carriers and sophisticated routers



• Teleglobe VTS Mobile Premium: Highest quality international call completion with assured Caller Line Identification (CLI) delivery, primarily for mobile carriers

Teleglobe completed its acquisition of ITXC Corp. on 31-May-2004. http://www.teleglobe.com

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Bell Canada Enterprises Reports Q2 Results

Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) reported Q2 revenue of $4.78 billion, up 2.3% and EBITDA of $1.95 billion, up 3.1% when compared to the same period last year. Operating income reached $1.11 billion and earnings per share were $0.60, an increase of $0.10 (increase of $0.05 or 10% not including one-time items).



Some highlights for the quarter:.

• Wireless: Bell's Wireless subscriber base grew 12% compared to Q2 2003, driving a 15% increase in wireless revenues. Post-paid churn dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 1.1%. Wireless also recorded the best EBITDA margin ever. As part of a billing system modernization program, the company migrated customers to a new Wireless and IP/Broadband billing platform in the quarter. To ensure an orderly migration during the period of system conversion while minimizing the impact to customers, the company reduced emphasis during the quarter on aggressive subscriber growth. Wireless still achieved gains of 95,000 net new customers.



• DSL: Sympatico DSL High-Speed Internet subscribers grew by 30% compared to Q2 2003 to reach 1.7 million. For the quarter, Bell added 73,000 new DSL customers. Consumer additions represented 73% of the total net additions. Bell's DSL footprint in Ontario and Quebec reached 81% of home and business lines compared to 78% for the same period last year. Subscriptions to value-added services, such as Desktop Anti-Virus and Desktop Firewall, increased by 86,000 in the quarter to reach 433,000. The company built on its "Broadband Home" strategy and its leading Internet presence by launching the content and features rich Sympatico-MSN portal. Ten thousand customers per week are converting to the new platform.



• Video: revenues were up 11%. Bell added 24,000 subscribers, a 33% higher activation rate compared to the second quarter of 2003. The company also reported increased VDSL sales.
  To further augment bundling capabilities in broadband, and as part of its Video strategy, Bell applied for a license to broadcast video services over terrestrial connections to single family homes.



• Business: revenues experienced a marginal decline of 0.8% mainly due to an anticipated decrease in construction revenues from Bell West's Government of Alberta SuperNet contract, which is nearing completion. As well, revenues from low-margin cabling declined as Bell phased out of this product line in the fourth quarter of 2003 with the completion of The Greater Toronto Airport Authority contract. Bell's SMB group continued to grow in the quarter, through increased revenues from DSL (up 15%). This urn was at 1.3%, down from the 1.4% noted last year.



• Data: Data revenues decreased by 7.1%. Competitive pricing and volume pressures were partially offset by the increase in revenues from DSL.



• CAPEX: BCE's Q2 2004 capital expenditures as a percentage of revenues (CAPEX intensity) were at a planned level of 17.3%, compared to the 15.1% reported last year. The higher CAPEX spending related primarily to investment in strategic areas including the migration to an IP network, Bell's DSL footprint expansion, implementation of the VDSL strategy, and Telesat's satellite build program. There was reduced spending in legacy areas.

http://www.bce.ca

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RCN Launches Cable VoIP in Chicago

RCN launched a cable VoIP service in its Chicago market. the latest in a series of initiatives in Chicago. RCN said it will provide this service through its own telephony network, with lifeline E-911 certification, battery backup and 99.999% service reliability. This rollout, currently available where the upgrade has been completed, is expected to be available in RCN's entire Chicago footprint by the end of October 2004.



RCN's offerings in the Chicago market also include digital cable television, a unique "Starview" mosaic program guide, VOD, SVOD, and a 7 Mbps "MegaModem" service.



"This VoIP rollout accomplishes two very important things for RCN: we control the entire customer experience for our VoIP customers without relying on the local phone company, and we also significantly reduce our equipment costs with VoIP technology," said David C. McCourt, RCN's Chairman and CEO. "http://www.rcn.com/

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Quintum Adds Density to its Tenor AX VoIP Platform

Quintum Technologies, a start-up based in Eatontown, New Jersey, introduced a high-density VoIP switching solution for analog environments. The Tenor AX - which is available in 8-, 16- and 24-port models - adds greater scalability and ease-of-management to Quintum's Tenor VoIP switching platform.



Quintum's Tenor switches provide the ability to monitor calls for jitter, packet loss and latency - automatically and transparently changing network connections mid-call whenever conditions demand. Quintum also features a "PacketSaver" technology that can reduce bandwidth consumption up to 57% by combining voice packets from several calls into a single packet to minimize packet overhead.



The Tenor switches are designed to install seamlessly in existing PBX and IP network environments. A "NATAccess" technology enables installation behind firewalls using network address translation (NAT). Quintum is also adding remote configuration management tools for both enterprise customers supporting multiple remote locations and service providers seeking to minimize truck rolls to their customers' premises. http://www.quintum.com/

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