TenXc Wireless Raises $13.9 Million for Intelligent RF

TenXc Wireless, a start-up based in Ottawa, Canada, raised US$13.9 million in Series A funding for its development of intelligent radio frequency solutions. TenXc is working on solutions for improved spectral efficiency and signal quality that address capacity, quality, and coverage constraints for in wireless networks. The company said its technologies are based on research and application of radio propagation, digital beamforming, signal processing, and other radio frequency advancements for commercial satellite, mobile, and other wireless applications.



VenGrowth Capital Partners and U.S.-based JK&B Capital, co-led the financing round. Additional investors include Venture Coaches/Skypoint Capital, and BDC Venture Capital.



TenXc Wireless also named Graham Belcher as its Vice President of Engineering. Belcher previously served at Lucent Technologies as Director, WCDMA Base-station Hardware Design, and he previously had held senior management positions associated with GSM, GPRS and UMTS products. He played a leading role in the design and implementation of the first US Cellular System in Chicago in 1978 and has been working with evolving wireless technologies ever since. http://www.tenxc.com

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Cisco Invests $12 Million in Japanese R&D Center

Cisco Systems will open an R&D center in Tokyo, Japan, focused on advanced IPv6, multicast, and wireless, in addition to improving existing security and QoS technologies. The Tokyo R&D center will initially employ 10 engineers. http://www.cisco.com

• Earlier this month, Fujitsu Limited and Cisco Systems announced a strategic alliance focusing on routers and switches for the Japanese markets. Specifically, the companies agreed to jointly develop high-end routers and will collaborate on development of Cisco's IOS-XR operating system for multi-terabit routers. This is the first time Cisco has joined with another communications equipment manufacturer in router operating system development. Fujitsu will offer Fujitsu and Cisco co-branded routing products running IOS-XR to telecommunications service providers in Japan.

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Equant Introduces Global LAN Utility Service

Equant introduced a global LAN utility service that is seamlessly integrated with its Cisco-based IP VPN service. The new Equant LAN VPN service is a fully managed LAN service for a monthly fee per site or per port. Equant is offering wired and wireless LANs built with Cisco equipment. The service also provides Web-based views of the WAN and LAN performance. An Equant customer could, for instance, compare in real time the performance between a LAN in New York and a LAN in Amsterdam. http://www.equant.com

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Staccato Demos All-CMOS UWB Chip

Staccato Communications, a start-up based in San Diego, demonstrated the first version of its single-chip design for all major components of the RF and baseband specified by the newly completed MBOA PHY specification.



The company said its all-CMOS implementation clears the path for low-cost, highly integrated silicon solutions for wireless USB and other UWB applications by taking advantage of mainstream generic CMOS foundry processes.



Staccato Communications' single-chip PHY products are expected to sample in early 2005. Complete single-chip wireless USB silicon will sample in late 2005. http://www.staccatocommunications.com

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LG Electronics Selects Texas Instruments' VoIP

LG Electronics has chosen Texas Instruments' VoIP products for its access gateway platforms and next- generation trunking gateways. TI silicon and software currently power LGE's Compact Access Module (CAM), Total Access Module (TAM) and trunking gateways and are intended to replace existing toll telecom exchange systems. http://www.ti.com

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Riverstone Hires Nortel Exec for North American Sales

Riverstone Networks named Dan Middleton as its Vice President of Sales for North America. Middleton joins Riverstone after ten years with Nortel Networks where held a number of senior sales and marketing positions. Most recently, he served as a sales Vice President in Nortel's Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) region, where he was responsible for expanding Nortel's IP Convergence Business. http://www.riverstonenet.com/

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AT&T Enhances its CallVantage Consumer VoIP Service

AT&T has enhanced its CallVantage consumer VoIP service with a new sub-account capability that provides up to nine distinctive telephone numbers along with the ability to manage each as a separate calling experience while sharing the same line. Other new features include:

• Second lines to the same adapter



• Support of facsimile machines and some modems. It may also work with some Personal Video Recorders and satellite TV systems that use a dial-up modem for network support.



• Call filtering capabilities provide the ability to direct calls based on who is calling. For example, using 'Do Not Disturb' users might elect to send calls from friends directly to voicemail, while allowing calls from children always to ring through. The monthly charge for this feature is $1.99.



• Record and send, a feature that allows the user to record a message and quickly deliver it to as many as 20 separate phone numbers. After a free trial period, the feature will cost $0.49 per use beginning in February 2005.



• Locate Me VIP List, that provides the option of forwarding all calls, or only a select group of numbers.



• Phone Book Import/Export, which provides synchronization of up to 250 names to Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and Palm Powered handhelds.



• AT&T has now begun charging $0.35 per minute for the Conference Calling feature.

Introduced in March 2004, AT&T CallVantage Service is now serving consumers in more than 170 markets in 39 states and Washington, D.C.

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iTunes Music Store Downloads Top 200 Million Songs

Apple's iTunes Music Store passed the milestone of 200 million songs downloaded to date, making it the world's number one online music store by far. The iTunes Music Store currently features a catalog of more than one million songs and over 9,000 audiobooks. http://www.apple.com

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Motorola Debuts IP-based Push-To-Talk Engine for iDEN

Motorola announced an agreement with Nextel Communications to implement Next Generation Dispatch (NGD), a new IP-based Push-To-Talk (PTT) call processing engine. The NGD solution used with Motorola's iDEN technology is designed to replace the call processing system currently used in Nextel's nationwide network.



The NGD development contract includes development of the new IP-based PTT server solution, associated hardware needed to deploy the solution in Nextel's largest markets, plus the development of an All Frame Relay backhaul solution from cell sites to the switching core. NGD will replace legacy PTT call processors, voice duplication equipment and router equipment used in the current architectural design.



The NGD agreement includes the development of technology that will enable Nextel to convert its cell site transport facilities to an All Frame Relay IP based network, which is designed to increase the capacity of existing T1 span lines by reducing Nextel's operating expense. Commercialization is scheduled to commence in the first half of 2006.



Motorola said NGC significantly simplifies the iDEN PTT architecture and extends interoperability for IP-based PTT services on 3G broadband networks that utilize CDMA 1XRTT and EV-DO technology. http://www.motorola.com

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Siemens Sells Partial Equity Holdings of Juniper Networks

Siemens has sold approximately 13 million shares of its holdings in Juniper Networks' common stock. Siemens remaining ownership in Juniper Networks common stock is below 5% of the total outstanding shares. Siemens received these shares in connection with the acquisition by Juniper Networks of Unisphere Networks from Siemens in 2002.



Siemens said it will continue to develop its commercial and technology relationship with Juniper Networks. http://www.siemens.com

• In 2002, Juniper Networks acquired Unisphere Networks, a division of Siemens, for $375 million in cash and 36.5 million JNPR shares. At the time the deal closed, Siemens held slightly less than 10% of the outstanding shares in Juniper. Unisphere developed the ERX edge router.

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Allstream and AT&T Extend Agreement through 2011

Allstream (formerly AT&T Canada) has further extended its Master Services Agreement with AT&T Corp. until June 30, 2011. The deal provides continuity for certain Allstream voice services and features built on AT&T capabilities and technology. The deal also will enable the two companies to offer customers cross-border routing, a capability used by many Contact Centres with locations in Canada and the U.S. http://www.allstream.comhttp://www.att.com

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Motorola Announces Three-Year Extension of iDEN Contracts with Nextel

Motorola reached an agreement with Nextel Communications to extend its iDEN infrastructure and iDEN subscriber supply agreements for a period of three years from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2007. The contract covers base station equipment, core network equipment, plus software and hardware maintenance and support services necessary to expand, upgrade and support Nextel's nationwide iDEN based network. The extension of the iDEN subscriber supply agreement includes pricing and other terms relating to current and proposed new handset models for Nextel, including handset models to be marketed under Nextel's youth- lifestyle brand, Boost Mobile.



Motorola said it expects the value of its infrastructure and subscriber shipments to Nextel to be comparable to the average levels seen over the past two years.



Motorola noted that more new models of iDEN handsets are expected to be introduced in the next 12 months, including new models that incorporate the new WiDEN data functionality that increases data rates up to four times faster than customary iDEN data rates. http://www.motorola.com

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