T-Systems Expands Reach Through Equinix

International Carrier Sales & Solutions (ICSS), the carriers' carrier division of T-Systems, has acquired a presence in four additional Equinix Internet Business Exchange centers in the United States. Through the Equinix centers throughout the U.S., T-Systems will be able to offer its Layer 2 transport solutions to additional carriers across the globe. European carriers will be able to connect via T-Systems new MPLS based Ethernet service at the IBX centers to set up their own peering connections with all of the major networks available at Equinix. Via the same connections, ISPs operating within Equinix's centers will be able to reach major European Internet Exchange points through T-Systems. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.equinix.comhttp://www.t-systems.com/icss

• In March 2004, T-Systems announced a strategic partnership with Level 3 Communications that enables it to provide its MPLS-based service portfolio to customers across the entire Level 3 fiber-optic network, which spans approximately 19,000 miles in North America and includes Points of Presence in 68 U.S. markets.

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DIRECTV Announces Plan for Next Gen HD Satellites

DIRECTV, which currently serves over 13 million video customers across the U.S., announced the planned launch of four new next-generation satellites aimed at significantly expanding its programming capacity in local and national high-definition (HD) channels, as well as capacity for new interactive and enhanced services and standard-definition programming.



The first two of these satellites, Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2, will launch in 2005 with programming being offered to consumers by the middle of the year. These satellites will have the capacity for more than 500 local HD channels. With these satellites, DIRECTV will have the ability to bring local HD programming to most of the U.S. population, as well as continuing to expand standard-definition local offerings and other enhancements.



The next two satellites, DIRECTV 10 and DIRECTV 11, will launch in early 2007. These satellites will have the capacity for more than 1,000 additional local HD channels, more than 150 national HD channels, and other new programming offerings. These satellites will provide DIRECTV the capability to bring local and national HD programming and other advanced services to every U.S. household. Consumers will be able to receive all of these services, as well as existing DIRECTV(R) programming, with a single small satellite dish.



DIRECTV 10 and DIRECTV 11, to be built by Boeing, will be among the largest and most powerful Ka-band satellites ever launched. The satellites, which will take advantage of DIRECTV's advanced transmission techniques and state-of-the-art video compression technology, will deliver national HD programming and will be capable of supporting spot beams carrying local HD broadcast channels in all 50 states. Boeing will also build a third satellite for DIRECTV that will serve as a ground spare.



The Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2 satellites, also being built by Boeing, are approaching completion and the satellites were recently converted to be capable of offering both video and a broadband Internet service. Boeing is also constructing a third Spaceway satellite.

"Today's announcement is one of the most significant in the history of DIRECTV. We are reinforcing our commitment to best serve our customers with the most attractive and compelling array of programming services available," said Mitch Stern, president and CEO, DIRECTV. http://www.directv.com

• DirecTV added 455,000 net subscribers in Q2, giving it a total of 13.04 million U.S. subscribers. ARPU was $65.00.

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Vendors Urges National Public Safety Spectrum at 700 MHz

In testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology, Bell Labs President Bill O'Shea recommended that the federal government set aside a specific spectrum - in the 700 MHz range - to be used as a dedicated, secure, interoperable nationwide broadband communications network exclusively for America's first responders and decision makers.



Currently first responders - firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel - depend on existing systems designed primarily for voice communications. These systems were not designed to be interoperable.



The 9/11 Commission calls for the establishment of a "trusted information network" for our national responders and the provision of "expedited and increased assignment of radio spectrum for public safety purposes." O'Shea said this network should serve 5 to 10 million people, including law enforcement officers, fire and public safety responders at all levels of government. It should support broadband rates. He noted that the upper 700 MHz band has significant operational advantages for public safety and offers significant cost advantages to the taxpayer because of the lower deployment costs. Fewer towers are needed because upper 700 MHz transmissions propagate more efficiently than transmissions in other bands. Transmissions in the upper 700 MHz band penetrate buildings more easily, a significant problem described at length in the 9/11 Commission's report.



Gary Grube, corporate vice president and chief technology officer for Motorola's Commercial Government and Industrial Solutions Sector, said "full public safety communications interoperability within the decade should be a national goal. Grube also said the public safety allocation in the 700 MHz band is one of the new resources that will help first responders carry out their mission critical responsibilities. He said this spectrum is the only dedicated spectrum allocation where public safety can implement advanced mobile wide area systems that bring high-speed access to databases, the intranet, imaging and video to first responders out in the field. http://www.lucent.com

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CoSine to Wind Down Operations

CoSine Communications has initiated actions to lay-off most of its employees this month. A limited team of employees will be retained to provide customer support. The company said the decision to wind down its operations follows an extensive evaluation of strategic alternatives. CoSine's management team and its Board of Directors concluded that "maintaining the company's existing employee headcount was not necessary for any of the strategic alternatives currently under consideration and the ongoing employee-related expenditures could potentially decrease total stockholder value."



CoSine's IPSX Service Processing Switch with enhanced IPSG+ technology provide carriers with advanced managed IP VPN services (both IPSec and MPLS) and managed firewall services. In addition, the CoSine solution also provides B- RAS capabilities to deliver advanced broadband services and virtualized multicast services. http://www.cosinecom.com/

• CoSine Communications was founded in 1998 and is based in Redwood City, California. The company completed its IPO in September 2000, selling 10 million shares at $23 per share.



• For Q2 2004, CoSine reported revenue of $2.6 million and a net loss of $9.7 million, or $0.96 per share, as compared to revenue of $4.5 million and a net loss of $7.4 million or $0.74 per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2004 . At the end of the quarter, the company held about $44 million in cash and short term investments.



• In late 2002, Wyndcrest Holdings LLC made public a proposal to sell off CoSine's technology and shut down the company so as to preserve shareholder value.



• In June 2004, CoSine announced a strategic reseller agreement with Fujitsu Network Communications.

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UTStarcom Announces $41 Million in Handset Contracts With China Telecom

UTStarcom has signed contracts valued at approximately $41 million with China Telecom Corporation (CTC) for handsets for its IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) network.



Approximately 58 million people currently subscribe for PAS service in China and UTStarcom estimates that overall PAS subscribers in China will reach 65-70 million by the end of 2004 and believes that global PAS revenue will be approximately $1.8-2.0 billion for 2005. http://www.utstar.com

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Panasonic Adds Network Connectivity to DVD Recorders

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Panasonic) introduced five new DVD recorders with home and mobile networking capabilities, as well as large hard disk drives ranging from 160 to 400 GB.



The high-end model with the 400GB hard disk drive provides a recording capacity of 709 hours of video in EP mode. It offers high-speed dubbing from hard disk drive onto DVD-RAM at speeds of 40x and onto DVD-R disc up to 64x in EP mode, making it the fastest DVD recorder in the industry as it can record a one-hour program onto DVD-R disc in just 56 seconds. An Ethernet port enables MPEG4 video and JPEG photos to be viewed on PCs across a LAN. Two of the DVD recorders can be networked across the LAN to share content. The units can also be programmed remotely over the Internet or via mobile phone.



The products will be introduced in the Japanese market this month. http://www.panasonic.com

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FutureSoft Enhances its Intelligent Switching Solution for Ethernet-Based Access Equipment

FutureSoft announced significant enhancements to its flagship solution, Intelligent Switch Solution (ISS), which is aimed at network equipment OEMs and ODMs. Specifically, FutureSoft has made significant feature additions in the areas of multicasting and redundancy to satisfy the requirements in Ethernet-based access equipment. Multicasting through PIM and DVMRP protocols enable network managers to design networks that provide voice & video-based applications without performance constraints. Redundancy through VRRP ensures minimal network disruptions due to link failure. Additionally, FutureSoft has conducted advanced scalability testing on a Broadcom 5690 platform for static VLANs, VLANs with GVRP and Link Aggregation.



"Increasingly, Ethernet is going everywhere; from LAN to WAN and from wire-line to wireless. The market demands redundancy and multicasting features in the switching application, "said Deepak Satya, Vice-President, Business Development & Marketing, FutureSoft. http://www.futsoft.com

• Earlier this month, it was announced that Flextronics had agreed to acquire FutureSoft, a supplier of communication software for network equipment OEMs, for an undisclosed sum.

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Alcatel and Concurrent to Provide VOD over Broadband

Concurrent Computer Corporation announced a partnership with Alcatel to deliver video-on-demand (VOD) to broadband operators. Through this strategic alliance, the companies are now marketing an integrated solution for broadband telecommunications carriers to provide broadcast television and interactive VOD to the rapidly growing number of DSL video subscribers worldwide.



Concurrent's MediaHawk On-Demand solution has been widely deployed by major cable operators in Asia, Europe and North America with 87 commercial deployments and more than 100 committed sites. Alcatel's Open Media Suite has been widely deployed in Europe, Asia, and North America, primarily within broadband IP environments. Alcatel's DSL network equipment, the 7300/7301 ASAM, equips the networks of more than 120 telcos in 53 countries.



"Many telcos today are making aggressive decisions to offer video services over DSL networks. Because of Concurrent's successful deployment history, we have chosen them as our preferred partner in this market," said Alan Mottram, president of Alcatel's fixed solutions activities. http://www.alcatel.comhttp://www.ccur.com

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T-Mobile (Holland) to Test Flarion's FLASH-OFDM

T-Mobile International has deployed a trial of Flarion's FLASH-OFDM system for mobile broadband services in The Hague, the Netherlands. A network of Flarion RadioRouters has been installed and the first group of friendly users is already using the network. T-Mobile has been testing FLASH-OFDM(R) as a mobile broadband data solution for Europe and the USA since 2003 and will now collect data on usage, and customer behavior. Flarion said users will experience a mobile data service of around 1Mbps capable of bursting to 3.2Mbps in the downlink and 300-500kbps in the uplink, bursting to 900kbps. Since FLASH-OFDM is an IP based radio technology with sub 50ms latency, existing enterprise applications will be fully transparent. http://www.flarion.com

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WSJ: China's Telecom Forays Squeeze Struggling Rivals

Chinese network equipment manufacturers are "snatching business away from the established vendors," according to a front page article in The Wall Street Journal. While the big, Western vendors retain sizable chunks of the global market, Chinese vendors such as Huawei, Zhongxing Telecom and others, have been gaining momentum, not only in emerging markets, but increasingly in Europe and North America as well. The article notes that these new competitors are finding success not just in hig-volume, low-end products, but in core optical and routing equipment too. http://www.wsj.com

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Tektronix Releases New Tools for Next Generation Video Compression Standards -

Tektronix introduced a new software product that offers a flexible, upgradeable test solution for next and current generation video compression technologies. The Tektronix Analyzer software provides elementary stream analysis support for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264/AVC, H.261, H.263, H.263+ and 3GPP standards.



Also , Tektronix has added H.264/AVC and Windows Media 9 support to its MTM400 MPEG Transport Stream Monitor.



The company said next generation video compression standards such as H.264/AVC are becoming critical for future high volume consumer products, such as: DVB-H mobile phones, broadband DSL set top boxes and high definition DVD. http://www.tektronix.com

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Global Crossing Selects Lucent's LambdaUnite Multi-Service Switch

Global Crossing awarded a three-year contract to Lucent Technologies to enhance optical transmission throughout its worldwide IP network. Lucent will supply the LambdaUnite Multi-Service Switch (MSS) and Navis Optical Management System, as well as technical support and network maintenance provided by Lucent Worldwide Services. The optical transmission platform will support converged voice, video and data traffic throughout Global Crossing's global MPLS-based IP network. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.lucent.com

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ENMR Plateau Deploys MetaSwitch for FTTH and Fixed Wireless Expansion

ENMR Plateau, the largest rural telephone cooperative in New Mexico, has deployed Metaswitch's VP3500 Series Class 5 Softswitch for new applications including Fiber to the Home (FTTH) and VoIP over a fixed wireless network. The company selected MetaSwitch for its ability to deliver traditional circuit-based service and VoIP out of the same system - at a significantly lower cost than upgrading its existing switch. Within the ENMR Plateau network, the MetaSwitch VP3500 Series Class 5 Softswitch provides more than 100 residential and small business services over FTTH and Fixed Wireless access networks. Support for traditional TDM protocols including GR-303 and SS7 enables a seamless integration with ENMR's existing switching and access equipment including Optical Solutions' FiberDrive Optical Line Terminal. With Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and softswitch intelligence on board, the same compact MetaSwitch chassis is also delivering native VoIP services over an IP access network.



A whitepaper on the ENMR Plateau's deployment is available online. http://www.metaswitch.com/casestudies/enmr.htm

• Founded in 1949, ENMR Plateau has over 11,000 Cooperative members serving 13,000 wireline accounts in New Mexico and western Texas.

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Asia Netcom Focuses CAPEX on Edge of its Network

In a keynote presentation at the ITU Telecom Asia 2004 Forum today, Asia Netcom's President and COO, Bill Barney said his focus is to realign the business to address the market segments that are seen as having the highest growth potential. Asia Netcom has introduced a regional IP VPN offering with 5 classes of service. Barney said 70% of Asia Netcom's CAPEX this year will be focused on the edge of its network in enhancing the scope of servicing customers, whereas, in the past, the company spent more than 90% of its money on building up the core network. On the business side, Asia Netcom is changing its sales organization to focus on the retail side, with revenue from enterprise sales now equaling more than half of its total sales, whereas more than 90% of the business came from carriers just a few years ago. Together with its ongoing efforts to increase operational efficiencies, the company has driven down its cash burn to close to 0, from US$60 million per month just two years ago. http://www.asianetcom.com

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• In February 2004, China Netcom acquired full control of Asia Netcom, a company founded in March 2003 by a consortium lead by CNC which included Newbridge Capital and Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund. The partners agreed to exit the consortium at this time to support CNC in facilitating its restructuring process. Since its launch last year, Asia Netcom's business has been managed as a stand-alone entity. China Netcom said it plans to continue operating Asia Netcom as a separate business and has no immediate plans to fully integrate Asia Netcom into its mainland operations.

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