Deutsche Telekom Adds IBM Exec to Board

Deutsche Telekom's Supervisory Board has appointed IBM Deutschland CEO Walter Raizner to the company's Board of Management in the newly created position of Board member responsible for Broadband and Fixed-line division. Raizner has also been named to succeed Kai-Uwe Ricke as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of T-Online; Thomas Holtrop will resign from DT's Board of Management and as CEO of T-Online.



Deutsche Telekom said the moves reflect a sharpened focus on its three strategic business areas. René Obermann will be responsible for Mobile Communications while Konrad F. Reiss will be responsible for Business Customers which bundles sales to the Group's large and mid-sized customers in T-Systems and "Area Sales Germany". The three central Board responsibilities will continue to be directed by Ricke as chairman, Karl-Gerhard Eick as deputy CEO and chief financial officer and Heinz Klinkhammer responsible for the Human Resources portfolio. http://www.telekom.de

Read More

SOFTBANK BB Chooses Motive to Enable Self-Managing Broadband Services

SOFTBANK BB has chosen to build Motive's broadband management products into Yahoo! BB broadband services. The carrier undertook an extensive trial of Motive's Broadband Manager (BBM) and Customer Service Manager (CSM) products to automate such management tasks as service activation and configuration, problem resolution and upgrades. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.motive.com

Read More

Covad Antitrust Suit against BellSouth to Go Forward

The United States Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit declined BellSouth's request to rehear an earlier ruling that allows Covad Communications to pursue certain antitrust and tort claims against BellSouth. Covad said it intends to pursue the case.



In 2000, Covad asserted a variety of antitrust claims against BellSouth alleging that BellSouth used its monopoly power to engage in a concerted effort to thwart competition in the Internet access market. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia dismissed Covad's claims, holding that Covad's claims were barred by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In August 2002, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court's ruling, reinstated Covad's antitrust claims, and remanded the case back to the district court for further proceedings.



Subsequently, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in the Trinko case, which upheld the dismissal of an antitrust case alleging a single breach of an incumbent phone company's duty under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to share its network with competitors. The Supreme Court subsequently remanded the 11th Circuit decision for further proceedings in light of the Trinko decision. In June of this year, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court ruled that the Trinko decision did not foreclose key Covad claims. http://www.covad.com

Read More

SupportSoft Completes Core Networks Acquisition

SupportSoft completed its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Core Networks, a start-up providing software products for network monitoring, management and activation of advanced digital services for DSL and cable. The deal, which was first announced in July, was valued at $17 million in cash.



Core Networks' software products are evolving into a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for network management and monitoring, usage policy management, firmware upgrade management and remote management of home network devices.
. http://www.supportsoft.com

Read More