Alcatel Claims Leading Share of Global DSL market.

Alcatel's DSL market share for the second quarter of 2004 was 40.6% of the global amount of DSL lines shipped, close to three times that of the nearest competitor, according to figures from Dell'Oro Group cited by the company. Alcatel said DSL shipment growth in APAC, and to a lesser extent EMAI, experienced a dip during Q2, whereas the regions which have shown slower relative growth so far, such as North America and Latin America, saw a higher take-up. DSL shipments in North America by about 33% compared to the first quarter of 2004. In Latin America, there was a sharp increase of 83% compared to last quarter took place, led by Mexico and Brazil. http://www.alcatel.com

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Metaswitch Cites Accelerating Deployments of Class 5 Packet Voice Switching

Metaswitch reported accelerating adoption of its VP3500 Series Class 5 Softswitch among its target customer base of independent and competitive telephone companies. During Q2, sixteen units were shipped for $5.9 million in revenue, more than all its competitors combined, according to Infonetics Research. The next generation voice products market, including Class 5 packet switches, softswitches and media gateways, is forecast to grow from $1.3B in 2003 to $4.8B in 2007. Based on Infonetics Research's latest quarterly report, Metaswitch claims 58% of total revenue in the Class 5 Packet Switch category. http://www.metaswitch.com

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Sprint Certifies Apple for Mobile Video Services

Apple's Xserve G5 and QuickTime software have been certified as mobile multimedia delivery platforms for Sprint's new PCS Vision Multimedia Services. The technology enables professional content service providers to deliver streaming audio and video clips to Sprint customers. The streams are available to customers using recently announced Sprint Vision Multimedia Services. http://www.apple.com

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CenturyTel to Bundles EchoStar's TV Service

CenturyTel, the 8th largest local exchange telephone company in the U.S. based on number of access lines, will offer EchoStar's DISH Network satellite television service to its customers in 22 states. The relationship allows CenturyTel to offer customers multi-channel digital TV as part of its full suite of bundled product and service offerings. CenturyTel expects to begin offering its co-branded satellite TV services by the end of the year in a one-bill, one-point-of-contact service.



CenturyTel will be the primary point of contact for CenturyTel | DISH customers with responsibility for marketing, account management and billing-related inquiries. Programming, installation and technical support will be handled by a co-branded DISH Network team. http://www.centurytel.com

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Intel Adds Tri-mode (802.11a,b,g) Wireless Module

Intel announced a new tri-mode wireless module (supporting IEEE standards 802.11a, b and g) for notebooks based on Intel Centrino mobile technology. The module supports the new IEEE 802.11i security standard and existing Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WEP.



Intel also released wireless software to help make it faster and easier for end-users to set up a wireless connection with any Wi-Fi network, at the maximum available data rate. The Intel Smart Wireless Solution provides a configuration wizard, advanced troubleshooting and automated security set up. The technology detects and shows all available networks and offers advanced profile management.



Additionally, Intel has implemented the most current version of Cisco Compatible Extensions* in Intel PROSet/Wireless Software version 9.0, which delivers compatibility and interoperability with Cisco infrastructure. Additionally, as a result of an agreement announced last year between Intel and Linksys, the two companies have co-developed a solution that allows Intel Centrino mobile technology-based notebooks to locate an un-configured Linksys access point and automatically guide users through a short and simple set-up process.



Intel estimates there could be as many as 700 million Wi-Fi users by 2007. http://www.intel.com

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Alcatel and Pirelli Completed Undersea Networking Deal

Alcatel and Pirelli completed the transacticion involving their respective submarine networking operations. Under the deal, which was first announced in May, Alcatel has acquired certain Pirelli related assets and obtain intellectual property rights, while Pirelli has taken a 5% shareholding in Alcatel's submarine business, with associated mutual put and call options. http://www.alcatel.com

• Linksys is a division of Cisco Systems.
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Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Reaches 2.7 Million DSL Users

Chunghwa Telecom, the incumbent operator in Taiwan, reported 2.7 million ADSL subscribers as of 30-June-2004, up by 138,000 over the preceding quarter and up by 33.5% over a year earlier.



Chunghwa's total fixed line subscriber base stood at approximately 13.2 million as of 30-June-2004, an increase of 1.1% year over year. However, total fixed line revenues for the first half 2004 declined by 6.9% due mainly due to fixed line competition, mobile substitution and continuous migration of dial-up subscribers to ADSL.



Chunghwa continues to be the leading mobile operator in Taiwan in both revenue and subscriber market share with 35.4% and 35.1% respectively as of the end of June 2004. Mobile subscribers reached 8.1 million, a 4.1% year-over-year increase. As the company continued to cut inactive prepaid subscribers, the percentage of prepaid subscribers decreased contributing to the increase in ARPU. http://www.cht.com.tw

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Korea's Asiana Airlines Signs On for Connexion by Boeing

Korea-based Asiana Airlines will begin installing the Connexion by Boeing mobile connectivity service on new aircraft scheduled for delivery in July 2005.



Connexion by Boeing now has definitive agreements with Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines System, Japan Airlines, ANA and Kingdom Holding Co. to equip their long-haul aircraft with the service. In addition, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Korean Air have announced their intent to install the Connexion by Boeing system on their long-range aircraft. http://www.connexionbyboeing.com

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France Telecom Licenses Turbo Code Patents to Broadcom

France Telecom has granted Broadcom a worldwide license to its Turbo Code patents for use in Broadcom's satellite applications. Broadcom's advanced single-chip satellite receiver is the first commercial chip supporting (8PSK) modulation and turbo code forward error correction (FEC). It allows satellite service providers to increase the information throughput by 35% in a given bandwidth or radio frequency link with no additional power requirements.



France Telecom's Turbo Codes technology has been adopted into the W-CDMA, CDMA2000, and DVB-RCS standards. http://www.spectralicensing.comhttp://www.turbocodes.info/

• The Spectra Licensing Group is the worldwide licensing agent for France Telecom's Turbo Code Licensing Program.
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Unwired Australia Launches Wired Broadband in Sydney

Unwired Australia Pty Limited has launched a wireless broadband service in Sydney using non-line-of-sight equipment from Navini Networks. The deployment is described as the largest broadband wireless network in Australia, covering more than 1,200 square miles. In addition to the initial roll out in Sydney, Unwired has targeted Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and other key regions in Australia for service expansion. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.navini.comhttp://www.unwired.com.au

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Occam Adds ADSL2Plus to Broadband Loop Carrier

Occam Networks announced the availability of two new blades for its BLC 6000 Broadband Loop Carrier System. The first is a 48-port ADSL2Plus blade and the second is a 48-port ADSL2Plus and Lifeline POTS blade. Both blades are currently in customer trials and will begin shipping in September 2004.



The new blades use ADSL2Plus technology, which delivers significant performance and interoperability improvements such as higher data rates, greater reach, advanced management, expanded diagnostics, enhanced power management and real-time rate adaptation.



Occam said its ADSL2Plus blade can be deployed as part of a full BLC 6000 loop carrier network or as a standalone unit to create a data and video overlay to an existing voice network. It can also be deployed as a remote IP DSLAM in a multi-dwelling building.



The second blade, which offers Lifeline POTS from each port, includes an internal soft splitter that eliminates the need for additional external hardware. The POTS traffic from all ports is converted to VoIP. The voice, data and video traffic are differentiated and transported over the feeder network following the provisioned QoS parameters. Voice traffic can be handed directly to a Next Generation softswitch or to a BLC 6000 Central Office Terminal (COT) to provide standard TR-08/GR-303 connections to a traditional Class 5 switch.



The IP DSLAM capability of the blades provide a conversion between the ATM protocol on the standard ADSL lines and the BLC 6000 native IP over Ethernet network. The BLC 6000 system strips away the complexity of ATM at the DSLAM port thereby eliminating the need for an ATM switch or other ATM infrastructure.



Each BLC blade includes 10 integrated Gigabit Ethernet ports. Up to six of these can be Gigabit Ethernet optical fiber ports to provide the access network with enough bandwidth to support hundreds of broadcast channels and to sustain the expected growth of Video on Demand (VoD). A single port can be used to support initial requirements, and additional Gigabit Ethernet ports can be brought online as VoD service demands grow.



Occam noted that its IP-based architecture provides streamlined network operation with digital video headend products. The BLC 6000 System transmits video streams as MPEG encoded signals in IP packets. Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is included in the blade software to provide multicast capability at every node in the network. http://www.occamnetworks.com

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