PMC-Sierra Cuts Q3 Business Outlook

PMC-Sierra announced new financial guidance, saying it now expects Q3 revenue to be $71 million to $73 million compared with reported second quarter revenues of $85.7 million. The company's previous outlook was for Q3 revenues to be in the range of $86 million to $92 million, or flat to up 7%.



PMC-Sierra said the cut in Q3 revenue outlook was "primarily attributable to changes in customer demand and inventory levels associated with recent reductions in the planned deployment rates of DSL equipment by Asian service providers for the second half of 2004. Also, generally improved availability of semiconductor components is causing a reduction in semiconductor orders below the consumption rates available in end markets served. "http://investor.pmc-sierra.com

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NetCologne Upgrades SDH to GigE with ADVA

NetCologne, a regional German carrier, has deployed ADVA's Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 1500 system to upgrade its connection to DE-CIX, the central German Internet node in Frankfurt and the third-largest Internet node in Europe. The carrier's previous SDH link was unable to scale for delivery of Gigabit Ethernet speeds, necessitating a network upgrade. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.advaoptical.com

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Texas Instruments Offers Voice over Wireless LAN Platform

Texas Instruments introduced a new software + silicon solution for building wireless LAN IP phones. The solution incorporates TI's VoIP and WLAN software and silicon and is based on TI's power-efficient OMAP16xx architecture, which is widely used in cellular phones. TI said developers could create WLAN IP phones with talk and standby time comparable to cell phones. The WLAN phones would also enable users to receive emails and other data services.



The complete solution incorporates TI's TNETW1230 WLAN chipset with software support to meet existing and evolving standards, and TI's Telogy Software for VoIP, the industry's leading voice processing software supporting the transport of toll quality voice over WLAN networks. Additional TI technology used in the design includes the TLV320AIC22C dual channel codec, which integrates drivers for handset and headset on one chip and the TPS65010 power management product, a fully integrated battery management/power management IC. TI is further implementing standards-based and pre-standard security features in this platform to offer comprehensive and secure Voice over WLAN communications. http://www.ti.com/broadband

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Texas Instrument Unveils DSL Central Office Design for Telco Triple-Play

Texas Instruments unveiled an Integrated Voice and Data (IVD) reference design that enables triple-play delivery of voice, video and data over DSL. The design combines TI's central office chipset and narrowband POTS voice functionality with its Telogy software for Voice over Packet (VoP). TI said the new platform would allow service providers to quickly deploy IVD line cards in DSLAM, DLC and MDU applications to upgrade their large installed base of POTS subscribers for DSL service.



TI's AC7 IVD platform utilizes Wntegra's WinPath Access Packet Processor for VoP, DSL and IP multicast traffic aggregation and data management. Both VoP and packet aggregation capabilities can be provided as add-on modules. The line interface for POTS is managed by Legerity's subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC) and subscriber line audio-processing circuit (SLAC) technology, providing fully programmable transmission and loop supervision parameters.



The AC7 IVD solution's lead customer is Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe Limited where it is used in the company's Access Gateway platforms for residential and business service. Fujitsu's Integrated Voice Line Card Subsystem provides ADSL and voice from a single unit providing V5, ATM BLES or H.248 options for signaling. http://www.globalcrossing.com

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Nuvio Launches Nationwide IP Centrex Service

Nuvio, a carrier based in Kansas City, announced the general availability of NuvioCentrex, the company's full-featured Hosted IP PBX solution aimed at businesses with 2 to 15 employees. Nuvio said it has developed its own switching technology, feature sets, and web interface.



Separately, Nuvio announced that Jeff Stern, former co-founder of GoBeam, has joined its Board of Directors. GoBeam was acquired by Covad. http://www.nuvio.com

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Tut Debuts Service Controller for Triple-Play, Increases Guidance

Tut Systems introduced a new platform designed to provide IP service management for video, voice, and data services across broadband networks. The new Astria SC provides session-based traffic classification up to and including Layer 7 for up to 100,000 individual service flows. Each service flow is identified, classified, and managed according to both pre-set service parameters and real-time network conditions. This enables the carrier to manage QoS parameters for each end-user, CPE device, application type, and protocol type on a session-by-session basis. The platform also offer virtual firewall and NAT capabilities on a per-subscriber basis. Tut's Astria SC is offered as a 21-slot chassis platform with an 88 Gbps switching fabric. The platform offers Gigabit Ethernet and ATM interfaces, and value-added processor blades that provide independent scaling of I/O, IP processing, and redundancy.



Tut Systems said the new Astria SC complements its existing AstriaContent Processor (CP) line of products. The Astria Content Processor, which serves as the core of the company's digital headend solution, provides real-time processing and conditioning of broadcast audio and video content for distribution over any ATM, IP, or RF broadband network. Astria CP functions include advanced video compression, video pre-processing, video transrating and de-jitter, digital program insertion, protocol conversion, and ConstantStream control for tight-tolerance, low-bit-rate video transmission.



Separately, announced that it is increasing its revenue guidance for the second half of 2004. The company currently expects revenue for the third quarter to be in the range of $6.2 - $6.5 million. The company also anticipates revenue for the fourth quarter to exceed its earlier guidance of $7.0 million.



"We believe that 2005 will be a significant year of growth for the switched digital video market. To date, Tut Systems has enabled over 90 service providers across the U.S. and internationally to deliver new revenue-generating video services across their DSL or fiber access networks," said Sal D'Auria, Tut Systems' CEO. http://www.tutsys.com

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Lingo VoIP Service Adds "Unlimited Asia" Calling Option from U.S.

Lingo, a broadband VoIP service, added a new "Unlimited Asia" calling plan offering unlimited calls to China, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. for $34.95 per month. Lingo provides a primary U.S. phone in 220 area codes. Lingo customers can also add an "International Universal Number" to their service, which is actually "local" to a specific international country, in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. http://www.lingo.com

• In June 2004, Primus Telecommunications unveiled its new "Lingo" VOIP service, offering U.S. customers unlimited calling to Western Europe over their broadband connection. The Lingo service is available free for a three-month period to consumers, and includes unlimited local and long-distance calling in the U.S., unlimited international calling to Canada and Western Europe, and over 25 calling features. The company is offering a free Analog Telephone Adapter. After the 3 month trial is over, the Lingo service will cost $19.95 per month.

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General Bandwidth Former Taqua Exec as New CEO

General Bandwidth, which supplies a VoIP Media Gateway, named Charlie Vogt as its new president and CEO. He replaces Brendon Mills, who is stepping down. Vogt previously served as President and CEO of Taqua, a supplier of a Class 5 softswitch. Charlie was part of the executive management team with Santera Systems, a Plano, Texas-based developer of a next-generation voice switching technology that was acquired by Tekelec. Prior to Taqua and Santera Systems, Vogt held senior management positions at Accelerated Networks, Ascend Communications, ADTRAN, Motorola and IBM. http://www.genband.com

• General Bandwidth has raised over $180 million in private capital to date.



• In April 2004, it was announced that Alcatel had invested US$15 million in General Bandwidth, a start-up based in Austin, Texas, for its VoIP Media Gateway. The investment further strengthened the three-year OEM relationship between the two companies and allowed for additional development enhancements to their joint FTTP and VoIP offerings.

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Interlink to Distribute Verilink's Optical Ethernet and Broadband Access Products

Under an expanded contract, Interlink Communication Systems (ICS) will market and distribute Verilink's complete product portfolio, which now includes products acquired from Larscom such as Optical Ethernet access products, access routers, TDM Integrated Access Device (IAD) products and a line of multiplexers. http://www.verilink.comhttp://www.interlinkweb.com.

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NexTone Supplies Session Border Controller to Iristel

Iriste, a wholesale provider for VoIP and TDM based networks based in Toronto, has deployed NexTone's Multiprotocol Session Controller (MSC) as part of its network for wholesale international VoIP services. Iristel partners with Tier 1 carriers in North America and Europe to complete international long-distance calls to the Mid-East, Africa and Eastern Europe via the Internet. Iristel is now handling about 20 million minutes per month through its POP in Toronto and three million of those minutes come from new carrier customers. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.nextone.comhttp://www.iristel.com

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UTStarcom Lands $290 Million Contract from Japan Telecom/Softbank

Japan Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of SOFTBANK, awarded a contract valued at approximately $290 million to UTStarcom to supply its new iAN-8000 Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN) equipment and to manage a sales promotion program. Japan Telecom will deploy the multi-function broadband access platform to support approximately ten million existing and new subscriber lines.



Japan Telecom is deploying UTStarcom's iAN-8000 as part of a next-generation network it is building that it believes will ultimately provide fixed-line service to all of Japan, from Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu in the south.



UTStarcom expects it will deliver the majority of the iAN-8000 equipment during the third and fourth quarters of 2004. Promotional services are expected to occur over the next nine to twelve month period. http://www.utstar.comhttp://www.japan-telecom.co.jp/english/

• UTStarcom introduced a high-density access platform that incorporates the functionality of its AN-2000 IP DSLAM and its iAN-2000 VoIP Media Gateway platform, as well as the functionality of a traditional Digital Loop Carrier (DLC). The new iAN-8000 Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN) can be configured to deliver a range of narrowband and broadband voice and data applications to subscribers over a wireline network infrastructure. When deployed in a central office (CO), the integrated platform delivers TDM voice, VoIP, and both Asymmetric DSL 2 (ADSL 2) and ADSL 2+. The IP network uplink uses either Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet. In emerging markets, the carrier could use Ethernet over E1 to support low-cost DSL services. As a media gateway, the platform initially offers MGCP / H.248 VoIP-based supplementary and Centrex services (V5.1/V5.2). Support for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is scheduled for the second half of 2005. Density is another key design attribute. The iAN-8000 supports up to 384 ports per chassis and up to 5 chassis can act as a single systems, giving a total density of 1,920 ports per system.

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Sylantro Selected for Lightyear's Nationwide VoIP Launch

Lightyear Network Solutions, a CLEC with over 200,000 customers and more than $120 million in annual revenues, selected Sylantro Systems' application server for a new nationwide, hosted IP telephony service. Residential users of the Lightyear XSTREAM service receive advanced features such as find me/follow me, call forwarding, conferencing, call transfer and repeat dialing, as well as a browser-based portal for access to and control of their services. Lightyear will also offer advanced PBX-replacement services for businesses of all sizes.



The Lightyear XSTREAM suite of services also includes last-mile DSL through MCI and Covad Communications and utilizes network services by Level 3 Communicationshttp://www.sylantro.comhttp://www.lightyear.net

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Tekelec Acquires VocalData for Hosted VoIP

Tekelec has acquired VocalData, a start-up offering a hosted IP telephony platform for business and residential customers, for approximately $27.5 million, consisting of $14.5 million of cash and approximately 780,000 shares of Tekelec common stock.



For fiscal year 2003, VocalData revenues were approximately $4.8 million, with gross margins of approximately 70%. Operating expenses were approximately $3.5 million per quarter.



Tekelec said it plans to leverage VocalData's hosted IP telephony application server to provide an immediate path to IP service delivery and profitability for wireless, wireline and cable operators and their subscribers. The VocalData products will complement Tekelec's next-generation switching product portfolio to enable advanced features such as integration with Outlook and Instant Messenger, IP Centrex with flexible call routing and treatment via customer web portals and find me/follow me capabilities. In addition, Tekelec will offer VocalData's products and solutions as stand-alone applications to deliver advanced VoIP service options like IP PBX for legacy PBX replacement and Internet-based voice services to enterprise WAN and private VPN services.



Finally, when integrated in Tekelec's EAGLE 5 Signaling Application System, VocalData's solutions will provide added capabilities to deliver enhanced business and consumer voice services across circuit and packet-based networks, such as customer Web portals for feature activation across traditional phone lines. http://www.tekelec.comhttp://www.vocaldata.com

• VocalData is based in Richardson, Texas.



• In June 2004, VocalData said its application server had been installed in over 50 live VoIP networks supporting a total of over 225,000 business and residential users.




• In August, Tekelec agreed to acquire privately held Steleus Group, a real-time performance management company whose core business is to supply network-related intelligence to telecom operators, for $56 million.



• Earlier this year, Tekelec acquired Taqua, a provider of next-generation Class 5 packet switching systems, for approximately $85 million cash, plus the assumption of Taqua's outstanding options. Taqua's Class 5 switching solution is optimized for the small switch service provider market. A small switch is defined as serving under 5,000 lines.



• In June 2003, Tekelec completed its merger with Santera Systems, which developed an integrated voice and data switching platform for delivering Class 4/5 services, PRI offload, packet/cell switching and voice over broadband services.

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Intel Invests in Start-ups for the Digital Home

Intel announced first-time investments in several start-ups and follow-up investments in two more targeting the Digital Home. Financial terms were not disclosed. The investments include:

• Cablematrix, a broadband network services software company. CableMatrix, which located in Atlanta, Georgia, provides a software platform based on the CableLabs PacketCable Multimedia standard. http://www.cablematrix.com.



• Mediabolic Inc., a developer of embedded software for consumer electronics devices. Mediabolic, which is based in San Francisco, provides a middleware solution that aggregates, organizes and distributes entertainment media within the home.



• Pure Networks, which is based in Seattle, provides consumer software and services for the digital home. Its Port Magic" software automatically configures most home networking routers to securely open and close ports as needed. http://www.purenetworks.com



• BridgeCo AG, a digital entertainment networking solutions provider. BridgeCo, which is based in Zurich, Switzerland, designs integrated chips and software that wirelessly link PCs to consumer electronics devices. The company's network adapters are used in a wide range of consumer products, such as wireless audio adapters, audio/video receivers, DVD/AVR players and music instruments. http://www.bridgeco.net



• Envivio Inc., a broadcast and streaming media tools and systems company. Envivio, which is based in San Francisco, develops MPEG-4 and Advanced Video Coding H.264 software compression solutions. http://www.envivio.com

Financial terms of the new investments were not disclosed.
. http://www.intel.com

• In April 2004, Intel announced strategic investments in four start-ups developing technologies for the digital home, including Digital 5 , Staccato Communications, Trymedia Systems, and Wisair .

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Broadcom Acquires Alphamosaic for Mobile Processors

Broadcom agreed to acquire Alphamosaic Limited, a start-up developing mobile multimedia processors for cellular phones, for approximately 4.17 million shares of its Class A common stock (with a value of approximately $120.3 million) and agreed to make cash payments aggregating approximately $2.7 million.



Alphamosaic's first-generation VC01 multimedia co-processor is currently being used by leading cellular handset makers such as Samsung. Commercially available Samsung phones now incorporate the VC01 for advanced multimedia functions including MP3 player, VOD, megapixel-class camera and digital camcorder. Alphamosaic is now sampling a second generation device that can display video on 3.5 inch color LCDs and capture 8 megapixel images, making it suitable for watching TV, making videos or taking studio-quality photos on a cellphone.



The company's core technology leverages a fully programmable, highly parallel architecture optimized for high performance applications while maintaining low power operation. The programmable nature enables the processors to handle H.264, aacPlus and other future standards. http://www.broadcom.comhttp://www.alphamosaic.com

• Alphamosaic is based in Cambridge, U.K. , and has 57 employees.

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NYT: MCI is Looking for Buyers

MCI has retained the services of three investment banks, Lazard, Greenhill & Company and J. P. Morgan Chase, as well as the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, to explore a possible sale of the company, according to The New York Times. MCI did not comment on the story. http://www.nytimes.com

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Greenfield Networks Secures $21 Million for Ethernet Silicon

Greenfield Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, raised $21.5 million in third round venture funding for its next gen Ethernet switching silicon. The company offers a merchant silicon solution that combines low-cost Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and features such as full IPv6 routing, MPLS switching, scalable packet buffering, and scalable MAC, route and classification tables. Greenfield's "Packetry" family, which is aimed at metro edge deployments, supports service provider features including MPLS switching, stacked VLANs, Layer 2 VPN (martini and VPLS), Layer 3 VPN (RFC 2547bis) and IP tunneling.



The latest funding round was led by new investor JPMorgan Partners and included existing venture partners Sequoia Capital, Global Catalyst Partners and Walden International. The $21.5 million investment brings total funding in Greenfield to $48 million. The company said it expects to reach profitability next year. Greenfield also intends to pursue additional market opportunities and accelerate expansion plans. http://www.greenfieldnetworks.com

• Greenfield Networks is headed by Gary Smerdon, who previously served as VP of Marketing at Marvell. He joined Marvell through its acquisition of Galileo Technology, another supplier of Ethernet silicon solutions.



• Greenfield's engineering team is headed by Kamran Torabi, who previously was the senior manager at Cisco Systems responsible for the design and development of the Cisco Catalyst 2900XL, 3500XL and 3550XL. He joined Cisco through its acquisition of Grand Junction in 1995.
  Greenfield's CTO is Harish Devanagondi, who is formerly from Cisco Systems, responsible for the forwarding ASICs used in the Catalyst 2900XL, 3500XL and 3550XL. He too was previously with Grand Junction.

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