Orca Interactive Wins Contract for IPTV Services in India

Atlas Interactive India selected Orca Interactive for suite of middleware applications (RiGHTv) for a TV over IP service being developed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's largest telecom company. The Atlas netTV project is scheduled to launch services under BSNL's brand name of DATAONE with an initial 50,000 subscribers in the National Capital Region of Delhi by the end of 2004. Thereafter Atlas plans to rollout these services across 38 major cities in India, reaching BSNL's millions of phone subscribers.



Atlas has set a target to sign more than one million subscribers within 24 months. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Orca's RiGHTv suite of middleware applications support Live TV, Near Video On Demand and Video On Demand service to its customers. The company's RiGHTv XVOD allows operators to supply subscribers with video content on demand and to incorporate advertisements and t-commerce features in an interactive TV service. Its RiGHTv XBIP allows operators to create and manage live TV and NVOD channels over broadband networks. http://www.oneworldinteractive.comhttp://www.atlastelecom.com

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Amino to Provision Widevine Virtual Smart Cards in Set-Top Boxes

Amino Communications, a UK-based supplier small, low cost set-top boxes, will begin provisioning its boxes with the Cypher Virtual SmartCard from Widevine Technologies. The companies said their solution significantly lowers the costs of securing content over video networks. http://www.widevine.comhttp://www.aminocom.com

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Atos Origin Deploys CIRPACK to Support Outsourced IVR for Tier1 GSM Operators

Atos Origin, a leading international information technology (IT) services company, has deployed CIRPACK's carrier-class telephony switches to connect interactive service platforms to the PSTN. This allows Atos Worldline to handle Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services on a very large scale for its European customers (Tier1 GSM operators and large accounts) and prepare for next generation value added voice services. Atos Worldline is also replacing its legacy switches with Cirpack equipment in a move to migrate to next generation network (NGN). Financial terms were not disclosed.



The installation includes the Cirpack Transit Node (TN) softswitch and gateway products. It is connected to various operators and carriers, including incumbent operators, and also to Atos Worldline service platforms in charge of interactive voice response (IVR). The Cirpack TN handles advanced routing of calls to service platforms and to the PTSN, ensuring "always-on" hosted services. Voice traffic can be sent to the switch using TDM, IP or ATM protocols, including all variants of SS7 and ISDN. Atos Worldline service platforms can be connected using INAP, ISDN or VoIP. http://www.cirpack.com

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ITU Report Foresees Wire-free Future

In October 2003, the Asia-Pacific region passed the symbolic mark of one billion telecommunication users, mobile phones and fixed lines combined. The ITU is forecasting that before the end of this decade, another billion users of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are likely to be added to the region's networks, but the majority of them will be connected using various wireless technologies.



In the developed world, at least in urbanized areas, the ITU believes portable Internet technologies are likely to be complementary, rather than substitutive, for existing networks. The market is being driven by handset manufacturers keen to add ever more value to portable devices.



This week's ITU TELECOM ASIA 2004 in Busan, Korea is showcasing Portable Internet technologies for short, medium and long range distances. Short-range technologies, such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and RFID allow low-power connectivity within a range of 30 metres. Medium-range technologies can communicate at least 150 metres from a hotspot (e.g. Wi-Fi, or IEEE 802.11b) and up to several kilometers, depending on environmental and regulatory factors. Finally, long-range technologies such as WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) and IMT-2000 (3G) have ranges that extend up to 50 kilometers from a base station, and provide near-nationwide coverage when offered as a networked service.



The ITU has just published a 140-page report on "The Portable Internet", containing around 60 pages of statistical tables and charts with the latest available data for more than 200 economies worldwide. http://www.itu.int

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Cisco Boosts EMEA Channel Program

Cisco Systems has launched a new "Opportunity Incentive Program" (OIP) in its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sector seeking to provide financial incentives to reward channel partners for the pre-sales investment associated with securing sales opportunities in targeted market segments. The current focus of OIP in EMEA is the commercial market, which encompasses medium enterprise, mid-market and small & medium businesses.



"With more than 90 percent of Cisco business going through our channel partners, it is imperative to our future growth that we create programs that improve partner profitability and drive mutual success," said Edzard Overbeek, vice president, Commercial, Channels and Distribution, EMEA, Cisco Systems Inc. http://www.cisco.com

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Opnext Demonstrates Interoperable Tunable Laser and DWDM XENPAK

At this week's ECOC 2004 conference in Stockholm, Opnext is demonstrating the interoperability of its tunable transponder and an advanced XENPAK module for Ethernet over DWDM. Both modules are integral to Opnext's 10G metro DWDM Ethernet portfolio of products. The tunable transponder is capable of tuning full C-band with wavelength spacing of 50GHz, and supports multiple rates from 9.95 Gbps to 11.1 Gbps. The XENPAK module can transmit data beyond 80km over the standard single- mode fiber, utilizing a cooled integrated laser modulator (ILM) transmitter and avalanche photodiode (APD) receiver. http://www.opnext.com

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CoreOptics and Marconi Launch 10 Gbps Distortion Tolerant Transponder

CoreOptics and Marconi announced the industry's first 10 Gbps adaptive distortion tolerant transponder platform. The key technology is enabled by CoreOptics' MLSE electronic equalization engine that acts adaptively as part of the receiver to compensate for both optical and electrical distortions accumulated along the transmission link. The distortion tolerant transponder could enable transmission of 10 Gbps services on the widely deployed 2.5 Gbps metro networks.



The companies said the key benefits of the new distortion tolerant transponder platform include a reduction in initial capital expenditure, by eliminating the need for the conventional Dispersion Compensation Modules (DCMs) and Dual-Stage amplifiers. Additional OPEX savings include simplification of network planning, installation and provisioning by enabling a complete set of plug-and-play features. http://www.coreoptics.comhttp://www.marconi.com

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UK Regulator Issues VoIP Numbering Plan

Ofcom, the official telecom regulator for the U.K., published its approach to new voice services, including Voice over Broadband (VoB) phone services.



Ofcom said its approach is intended to minimize the regulatory burden associated with the creation and delivery of new voice services while ensuring that providers benefit from fair and effective competition in the infrastructure markets upon which they will depend. Ofcom's actions include:

• Establishing a telephone numbering plan for new voice services, allowing providers to offer their customers geographic phone numbers (beginning with 01 or 02)



• Making it easier to switch from a traditional service to a VoB service, for example, without having to change telephone number.



• Enabling VoB providers to offer their customers a non-geographic phone number beginning with a new code, 056, which would not be linked to any location and could be used anywhere in the country.



• Initiating a public consultation on the appropriate level of consumer protection measures which should apply to new voice services. Traditional fixed-line telephony services comply with regulatory conditions stipulating near-guaranteed access to essential services such as 999. The consultation asks to what extent these requirements would be proportionate and appropriate in the case of internet-based voice services and how consumers should be informed of the new services' capabilities. The consultation will close on Monday 15 November 2004.



• The publication of a consumer guide to new voice services

Ofcom Chief Executive, Stephen Carter said: "Broadband voice services are a new and emerging market. Our first task as regulator is to keep out of the way."http://www.ofcom.org.uk

• Last month, Germany's official Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Post (RegTP) ruled that local network call numbers for Internet telephony services may only be allocated to customers within their relevant local networks. RegTP issued orders providing locality-based local network call numbers to two VoIP service providers, Sipgate and Nikotalk. RegTP noted that other Internet telephony providers have started offering their customers local network call numbers independently of their place of residence. However, RegTP said this procedure "distorts the geographic information of the local network call number. Furthermore, it depletes the scarce quotas of call numbers of the relevant local networks and as such endangers the overall national numbering plan. This would put those competitors at a disadvantage who adhere to legal stipulations." RegTP is providing (0)700 numbers for use as locality-independent personal call numbers. RegTP is also examining the provision of a separate subrange for national subscriber numbers for VoIP services.



• In May 2004, Ofcom announced a number of proposals intended to increase sustainable and effective competition in broadband data, content and voice services. The proposals focus on: (a) Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) to allow operators to target investment and to develop scale in the creation of new and competitive high-speed data services based in the UK's local broadband exchanges. Ofcom welcomes BT's commitment to that process and its announcement of a 70% reduction in its charges to operators leasing unbundled shared local loops. (LLU is a process by which the dominant provider's local loops are physically disconnected from its network and connected to another communications provider's network. This enables competing providers partly or wholly to lease a customer's access line and provide voice and/or data services directly to end users over that access line.) (b) the establishment of a Telecoms Adjudicator, independent of regulator and industry, intended to oversee the swift development of LLU processes, and © a framework, pricing approach and a technology, evolution path for Wholesale Broadband Access, enabling all operators to plan for long-term and large-scale investment.

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