Notel Acquires Tasman Networks for Enterprise Routers

Nortel Networks agreed to acquire Tasman Networks, a supplier of high-performance enterprise routers, for US$99.5 million in cash.Tasman's IP WAN routers are aimed at small to medium-sized branch office deployments. The routers are capable of running numerous services such as voice, VPN, firewall, and quality of service simultaneously with wire-speed performance. Tasman's products scale from fractional T1 to multiple DS-3 bandwidths. Its Virtual Ethernet technology allows customers to deploy the routers transparently into existing infrastructure....

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Alcatel Extends OEM Deal on Tekelec 8000 Media Gateway

Alcatel agreed to a three-year extension of a preferred OEM agreement under which it supplies the Tekelec 8000 Media Gateway as a part of the Alcatel Mobile Next Generation Network (NGN) solution. As part of this agreement, Alcatel will continue to integrate Tekelec's media gateway in a significant portion of its Mobile NGN solution shipments and may now use Tekelec's media gateway in fixed and mobile environments. In parallel, the two companies will also continue to actively cooperate on the implementation of the open Mc interface between the...

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Marconi Shareholders Approve Ericsson Deal

Shareholders in Marconi Corporation plc approved the sale to Ericsson of key assets of Marconi's telecommunications business, clearing the way for the merger to be completed in early January.The deal was first announced on October25, 2005. http://www.ericsson....

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KT Deploys Ericsson's Softswitch

KT deployed Ericsson's Telephony Softswitch solution into its commercialnetwork. The solution supports KT's traditional, TDM, and IP technologies on a single platform and allows the exchange of international voice and data traffic with other IP-based operators.Ericsson said it now has more than 55 softswitch solutionsin commercial use in both fixed and mobile networks.http://www.ericsson....

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BT Signs Contracts with 21CN Suppliers

BT concluded negotiations and signed contracts with four of the preferred suppliers for its 21st Century Network (21CN) initiative. Contracts were signed with Ciena, Huawei, Lucent and Siemens. BT expects to conclude negotiations with the remaining four preferred suppliers early in 2006.Paul Reynolds, BT Wholesale chief executive, said: "21CN represents one of the biggest ever investments in the economic infrastructure of the UK by a private company. It will provide the basis of the most powerful competitive and productive communications environment...

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U.S. Senate Approves FCC Nominees

The U.S. Senate officially confirmed the nominations of Deborah Taylor Tate and Michael Copps to be Commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission. On December 13, 2005, by unanimous consent, the Senate discharged the Senate Commerce Committee from further consideration of the Tate and Copps nominations. A hearing had been held on the nominees earlier that day. http://www.senate....

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TI to Acquire Chipcon for Low-power RF Devices

Texas Instruments (TI) agreed to acquire Chipcon, a leading company in the design of short-range, low-power wireless RF (radio frequency) transceiver devices, for $200 million. Chipcon's CC2430 is the world's first true System-on-Chip ZigBee solution. The company also provides a ZigBee-compliant protocol stack, the Z-Stack, which was acquired when Chipcon purchased Figure 8 Wireless in January 2005. Chipcon also offers a proprietary RadioDesk technology platform to wireless input device manufacturers.TI said combining Chipcon's design experience...

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Videotron Selects Nuera Media Gateways for Cable Telephone Expansion

Videotron, which serves some 1.4 million cable television customers and 96,000 residential phone customers in Quebec, is deploying Nuera ORCA media gateways to provide telephone service to their cable television customers. Videotron is using the Nuera media gateways to initially interoperate with traditional switching systems. The network is designed to deliver the service, security features and 911 capabilities that allow Videotron to meet consumer and regulatory requirements, while positioning Videotron to take advantage of softswitch technologies....

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Nearly 40 Million DSL Adds and 1.5 Million IPTV Adds in 2005

Nealy 40 million new DSL lines were activated in 2005 - over 100,000 every day - bringing the global installed base close to 140 million, according to the latest data produced for the DSL Forum by industry analyst Point Topic. Some highlights:European Union countries accounted for close to 40% of the total growth in new broadband DSL subscribers in the period, confirming the EU's position as the number one most active DSL region worldwide. The UK and France led the way, each adding more than three million subscribers.The Middle East and Africa...

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Vonage Raises $250 Million

Vonage raised $250 million in convertible debt funding with a group of investors led by affiliates of Bain Capital, with participation from leading financial institutions and existing investors including New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Meritech Capital Partners. The latest round of financing brings total investment in the company to $658 million.Vonage said it plans to use the money for general working capital to build-out its network across the United States, including deployment of Enhanced 911. Vonage senior management also participated...

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Vestel Integrates OpenTV in Set-Top Boxes

Vestel Group, Turkey's largest consumer electronics and white goods manufacturers, will integrate OpenTV Core Middleware 1.1 into its next generation set-top boxes.Separate from this deal, DigiTurk, the first and only digital direct-to-home satellite network operator in Turkey, recently announced that it selected Vestel's OpenTV middleware enabled set-top boxes for deployment to its ever-growing pay-television subscriber base. http://www.opentv.com http://www.vestel.com...

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Sumitomo Selects Ikanos' 100 Mbps Symmetrical VDSL

Sumitomo Electric Networks (SEN), one of Japan's leading communications equipment manufacturers, has selected Ikanos Communications' Fx100100-4 and Fx 100100S-4 chipsets. Previously, SEN has used Ikanos' chipsets for products supporting speeds up to 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream. http://www.ikanos....

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First Modernized GPS Satellite Is Operational

A joint U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team announced that the first modernized Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite has been declared fully operational for GPS users around the globe following extensive on-orbit testing of the spacecraft's new military and civilian signals.The GPS IIR-14 (M) satellite, which is the most technologically advanced GPS satellite ever developed, was built by Lockheed Martin and launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on September 25. http://www.lockheedmartin....

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Motorola Names Mader to Head Networks Wireline Business

Motorola named Tom Mader to be corporate vice president and general manager of Wireline Networks. Mader will be responsible for further establishing Motorola's global leadership in Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) and Fiber-to-the-Node (FTTN) solutions, including the deployment of next-generation entertainment services such as IPTV, video on demand (VOD) and digital recording.Prior to joining Motorola, Mader was founder of Mader & Associates, a VoIP) equipment company that offers outsourced marketing, distribution, order fulfillment and accounts...

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Foundry Adds 48-port GigE Module

Foundry Networks announced a wire-speed 48-port 10/100/1000 Mbps module for its BigIron RX-Series family of high-performance Layer 2/3 Ethernet switches. The new module increases the non-blocking Gigabit Ethernet capacity to 768 ports for a single switch and 2,304 ports in a standard 7 foot equipment rack. All ports are non-blocking to ensure wire-speed performance. The new module utilizes compact mini RJ-21 connectors and cables to streamline cable management.The RX-BI48T 48-port 10/100/1000 I/O module with mini RJ-21 connectors is available...

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Foundry Adds 48-port GigE Module

Foundry Networks announced a wire-speed 48-port 10/100/1000 Mbps module for its BigIron RX-Series family of high-performance Layer 2/3 Ethernet switches. The new module increases the non-blocking Gigabit Ethernet capacity to 768 ports for a single switch and 2,304 ports in a standard 7 foot equipment rack. All ports are non-blocking to ensure wire-speed performance. The new module utilizes compact mini RJ-21 connectors and cables to streamline cable management.The RX-BI48T 48-port 10/100/1000 I/O module with mini RJ-21 connectors is available...

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Coaxsys to Unveil 200Mbps Ethernet-over-Coax with ST

Coaxsys is planning to introduce a 200Mbps Ethernet-over-Coax networking solution in January at the International CES show in Las Vegas. The solution will be demonstrated in conjunction with STMicroelectronics, a leading developer of IPTV set-top box silicon.Gary Hoffman, Coaxsys VP of Business Development, stated, "TVnet 2X provides a major leap over the speeds specified by current networking solutions, such as 10/100 Ethernet, HomePlug-AV, and IEEE 802.11n. Like existing 100Mbps TVnet products, it works over existing TV coaxial wiring--but...

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Deutsche Telekom moves into Telekom Center München

Deutsche Telekom AG relocated into its Telekom Center München -- a new state-of-the-art facility near the Munich city center. A total of around 2,800 employees of the Group's divisions T-Com, T-Systems and T-Mobile as well as the central units, who had previously been spread over various locations around the city, will now work in the Telekom Center München. http://www.telekom...

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Alcatel Deploys 40 Gbps Links in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, Germany

Alcatel deployed its 40 Gbps optical transmission link connecting the data centers of the University of Stuttgart and the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. The 105 km link connects two supercomputers, which deliver a computing power of over twenty TeraFlops. The deployment is part of the "Baden-Württemberg Extended LAN" scientific network (BelWü), which is funded by the Baden-Württemberg state and is integrated in the European research association GÉANT.The Alcatel 40 Gbps WDM solution, which includes the Alcatel 1626 Light Manager (LM), interconnects...

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TotallyFreeConferenceCalls Selects Vapps SIP-Based Platform / Metaswitch

TotallyFreeConferenceCalls, a large conference call service provider, has chosen the Vapps Conference Bridge 1000 (CB1000) platform as the foundation for delivering next-generation conferencing services. Together with MetaSwitch's fault-tolerant Class 4/5 softswitch architecture for bridging legacy circuit switched and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks, TotallyFreeConferenceCalls can now integrate service across multiple network types to reach new markets and expand its customer base.A VoIP-native IMS application server (AS) network element,...

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Sprint Nextel to Acquire Velocita Wireless for 900 MHz Spectrum

Sprint Nextel agreed to acquire Velocita Wireless through a stock purchase agreement for an undisclosed sum. Velocita Wireless, headquartered in Woodbridge, N.J., serves about 400,000 business and governmental customers, with products that include wireless email, messaging, machine-to-machine, automated vehicle location, point-of-sale and field force automation applications.Sprint Nextel plans to use a portion of Velocita's spectrum assets to supplement its coverage for customers on its iDEN national network. That spectrum use is not expected...

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Nokia to Build Global Networks Solutions Center in Chennai, India

Nokia will locate its new Global Networks Solutions Center in Chennai, India. The Solutions Center will perform network operation tasks for selected operator customers in the Asia Pacific region as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and play a key role as part of Nokia's expanding and innovative managed services offering. It will start operations in the first half of 2006 and initially employ around 100 people, with this figure expected to rise in the next few years. http://www.nokia....

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SureWest Names Oldham as CEO

SureWest Communications, which serves the Sacramento, California region, named Steve C. Oldham to serve as the company's president and chief executive officer effective January 1, 2006. Oldham, 55, has served as a member of SureWest's Board of Directors since January 2004, and has been chair of the Board's Audit Committee since June 2004. He retired from Sierra Pacific Resources in 2002 as senior vice president, energy supply after a 26-year career during which he held various positions in its accounting, finance and regulatory departments, including...

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Senator DeMint Proposes Market-based Communications Reform Bill

Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, introduced the Digital Age Communications Act (DACA). The bill aims to create a communications regulation system that is market-oriented and competition-based. According to the Senator, under DACA:The communications industry would be regulated like other businesses, by protecting consumers and ensuring businesses do not engage in unfair competition.Services that are alike from a consumer's perspective would be treated alike. For example, phone service, whether offered by a...

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Sigma Designs to Acquire UWB Chipset Start-Up Blue7

Sigma Designs, which specializes in silicon-based media processors for IPTV set-top boxes, digital media receivers, high definition DVD players and other consumer media devices, agreed to acquire Blue7 Communications, a start-up focused on the development of advanced wireless technologies, and Ultra-Wideband (UWB) semiconductor products.Blue7 is currently developing its "Windeo" chipset, encompassing an all-CMOS solution with the Baseband and MAC integrated chip along with an RF front-end chip, both of which are expected to move into production...

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RADVISION Releases Click to Meet for Microsoft LCS

RADVISION announced that its video conferencing over IP software, Click to Meet, now supports Live Communications Server, Communicator, and Live Meeting from a single platform.Click to Meet for Microsoft Office expands the functionality and reach of Live Communications Server and Live Meeting by providing multi-party voice and video capabilities and by enabling connectivity with any standards-based communications device, making it easy to deploy and integrate into the Microsoft workflow environment.Some key features of Click to Meet for Microsoft...

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Ellacoya Supplies Broadband Service Control for WISP

Ellacoya Networks has supplied its IP Service Control System to Chaska.net, a wireless Internet service provider (WISP) in Minnesota. Chaska.net is using the Ellacoya platform to identify and manage application traffic on its broadband network. Chaska.net gains granular visibility into application and subscriber usage, enabling it to manage traffic based on that data and to ensure fair usage. Chaska.net operates a broadband wireless mesh network powered by the Tropos Networks MetroMesh Architecture. The Ellacoya system, consisting of Ellacoya's...

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KPN Moves its Employee Communications to Nortel VoIP

KPN has announced it is moving its employee communications to an all IP-based platform based on Nortel's Communications Server 1000. Roll-out of the new voice and multimedia capability across KPN will occur in phases beginning in February 2006. Specifically, KPN is using Nortel's Communications Server 1000 to provide 20,000 voice over IP users. Among these 20,000 employees an initial 12,000 employees will also be using Nortel's Multimedia Communications Server 5100 for voice, data, messaging, video and presence awareness. Using Nortel's multimedia...

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Google, Microsoft and Sun Fund Internet Lab at Berkley

Google, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems will provide $7.5 million over five years to fund research at the Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed systems laboratory, or the RAD Lab, at the University of California, Berkeley. The National Science Foundation, the UC Discovery and the Microelectronics Innovation and the Computer Research Opportunities (MICRO) programs are also providing funding.RAD Lab researchers will focus on developing alternatives to traditional software engineering, which follows a "waterfall" model of development. Instead of infrequent,...

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IPeria Secures $5 Million for SIP and VoiceXML

IPeria, a start-up based in Burlington, Massachusetts, secured $5 million in a new round of funding for its messaging and communications software for VoIP.IPeria's flagship product, ActivEdge software, is a highly scalable suite of architecturally open, standards-based messaging applications that enable carriers to deliver new services. IPeria's ActivEdge software is based on open industry standards, such as SIP and VoiceXML, and leverages off the shelf hardware components.Friedli Corporate Finance, a venture capital firm based in Zurich, Switzerland,...

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NTT DoCoMo and KT Freetel Enter Partnership

NTT DoCoMo announced a strategic partnership with KT Freetel, the second largest mobile operator in Korea with 12 million subscribers. DoCoMo will invest approximately KRW 564.9 billion (approximately JPY 65.5 billion) to acquire a 10% stake in KTF.NTT DoCoMo said the alliance enables both companies to provide better services to customers in their respective markets through the development and promotion of mobile technologies and applications. The nationwide deployment and early stabilization of KTF's W-CDMA network, with DoCoMo's technical support,...

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Reuters Extends Global Security Agreement With MCI

Reuters has extended its contract with MCI to monitor Reuters' global enterprise network providing early warning threat identification and detection capabilities. Under the three-year deal, MCI will continue to monitor Reuters' managed firewall and network-based intrusion detection devices located at sites in the United States, Europe and Asia. Reuters plans to deploy additional intrusion detection and intrusion prevention devices to meet its stringent security objectives. http://www.mci....

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Brightcove to Offer On2's Flash 8 Video Encoding

Brightcove, a start-up building an open Internet TV service that would help video producers to monetize their content, will offer On2 Technologies' Flash 8 video encoding technology to video publishers participating in the Brightcove commercial preview. Under the arrangement, hundreds of Brightcove commercial preview customers will receive a free license of On2 Flix Pro for Flash 8 to encode their content in Flash 8 video for distribution through Brightcove.Brightcove is currently available in an invitation-only commercial preview, which is being...

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LG Ranked #2 in U.S. Market for Handsets

LG Electronics MobileComm has captured the number two spot across all mobile phone manufacturers in terms of shipment volumes in the U.S. for Q3 2005, according to figures from IDC reported by the company.LG sold 7.8 million handsets in the U.S. in Q3, giving it an overall market share of 19.6%.In addition to rising to the number two position in mobile phone shipments in the U.S., LG gained the number one ranking in terms of sales of CDMA phones globally for the third quarter of 2005. LG's overall global market share for CDMA phones jumped 5.1%...

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STMicroelectronics Debuts "Spidergon" Network-on-Chip

STMicroelectronics unveiled an innovative on-chip interconnect technology aimed at future system-on-chip (SoC) designs. The new technology, called STNoC (ST Network on Chip), builds on ST's existing on-chip communications expertise while adding radical innovation derived from its research in Network-on-Chip (NoC) technologies. ST expects NoC architecture will play a major role in improving design productivity. The innovative interconnection topology,...

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Sunrise Telecom Withdrawn from NASDAQ

Sunrise Telecom, which supplies communications test and measurement solutions, received a notice from The Nasdaq Stock Market that shares of its common stock will no longer be eligible for quotation on The Nasdaq Stock Market effective at the start of business on Friday, December 16, 2005 for failure to comply with market regulations. Sunrise Telecom said the delisting does not impact its daily operations, our strategic plans, or our customer relationships. http://www.sunrisetelecom....

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Level 3 to Provide VoIP for United Online

Level 3 will provide underlying telecommunications services for a new consumer VoIP service from, United Online, a provider of consumer Internet subscription services. NetZero Voice, which was launched in November 2005, provides:Free unlimited PC-to-PC callingFree voicemail with online message centerFree NetZero e-mail accountInstant messagingCaller IDCall waitingCall blockingA personal telephone number with choice of area codeUp to two GB of e-mail and voicemail storage3-way calling"Find Me Follow Me" call forwarding, which allows incoming calls...

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Redline and Intel Deliver Live WiMAX Demo

Redline Communication and Intel delivered a WiMAX demonstration at the 3rd Middle East Mobility and Wireless Summit in Dubai this week. The demonstration featured Redline's high-bandwidth WiMAX base station and customer premise equipment (CPE), which incorporates the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 WiMAX modem silicon, and is expected to be WiMAX Forum Certified this year. Applications shown included video gaming and VoIP.http://redlinecommunications....

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BellSouth Cuts 1,500 Manager Job Cuts

BellSouth announced a management reduction of approximately 1,500 employees. The reductions will take place in supervisory and non- supervisory management positions, including staff support functions. Most of the reductions are expected to occur through the acceptance of voluntary severance packages and are to be completed by 30-April-2006.BellSouth will record an after-tax charge of approximately $95 million, approximately $50 million of which will be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2005. http://www.bellsouth....

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Cingular Wireless Launches Video Services

Cingular Wireless is preparing to launch its on-demand streaming video service, featuring a content partnership with HBO. Cingular Video uses the company's new 3G network. HBO will produce exclusive mobile content for Cingular. HBO Mobile and HBO Family Mobile will offer select episodes, clips and bonus material from HBO shows, cartoons and never-before-seen comedy and sports. While the video content will be available early next year, the downloadable...

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NexTone University to Offer Certified IMS Training

NexTone Communications launched an initiative to produce certified technologists who are focused on VoIP and other digital media applications, including instant messaging, chat, and video across the IP network. Called "NexTone University," the educational program will be geared towards network engineers and architects. It will focus on real-time IP session management, which is critical for carriers and enterprises to interconnect VoIP, wireless, and IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) networks as the demand for new digital media services increases.Participants...

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AT&T Offers 24/7 Internet Security Webcasts

AT&T introduced its Internet Security News Network (AT&T ISNN), a first-of-its-kind 24/7 video Webcast that provides enterprises with critical security news and information. AT&T ISNN is exclusively available to subscribers of the company's flagship alerting and monitoring service, AT&T Internet Protect(SM). The news network delivers up-to-date information from security experts and forensic analysts directly to subscribers' desktops, around the clock. AT&T ISNN also provides live emergency broadcasts as security attacks occur,...

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Orange UK Combines WiFi, 3G & GPRS

Orange UK is launching a "Business Everywhere" service that uses a single software client to provide laptop access to 3G, GPRS and WiFi networks.Orange is also launching Orange Wifi Access on 19 December, offering business users access to an international network of 12,000 hotspots, through a partnership with Orange France, BT Openzone and WeRoam. The network will include around 1,700 WiFi hotspots across in the UK. Customers will benefit from a simple integrated 'e-voucher' payment structure that includes same price billing for UK and international...

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High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance Targets Home Networks

A new High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA) has been formed to speed the creation of new, higher quality, easier to use HD products. Specifically, HANA's mission is to create industry design guidelines, utilizing existing technology and specifications, that will help enable consumers to:View, pause and record 5+ HD channels simultaneously withoutcompromising quality of service;View, pause and record HD anywhere in the home with just one set top box;Share personal content from PCs to AV devices while keeping protected content secure;Control...

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Convergys Extends Billing Contract with Cingular Wireless

Convergys announced the extension of a major contract with Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider. Under the contract extension, Convergys will continue to manage and support billing for Cingular Wireless' customers on the Customer Assistance Resource Environment (CARE) billing system. The renewed contract calls for Convergys to continue operating the CARE billing system as well as providing technical support and system enhancements. Convergys will provide the services to Cingular at Cingular's Alpharetta, Georgia, data center....

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European Commission Initiates Proceedings Against Sweden and Poland on Telecom Rules

The European Commission has decided to take Sweden and Poland to the European Court of Justice for failing to implement EU rules on electronic communications. The case gainst Sweden involved its failure to maintain market safeguard regulations. The case against Poland concerns its failure to ensure effective availability of number portability. The EC is hoping both countries will take corrective actions before court proceedings get underway.In 12 cases from the previous infringement rounds, the Commission has sent reasoned opinions to the Czech...

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Verizon Tests Nortel IMS Solution

Verizon is testing an IMS solution from Nortel as part of its ongoing plans to evaluate IMS technologies. The lab evaluation is being conducted in Verizon's Laboratories in Waltham, Massachusetts.Nortel is Verizon's largest softswitch vendor, with multiple solutions deployed across the country. Nortel's Communication Server (CS) 2000 is part of the backbone of Verizon's nationwide packet network. These softswitches control more than 3.8 million...

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Cox Deploys Concurrent's MediaHawk for VOD

Cox Communications has chosen Concurrent's MediaHawk(R) 4000 platform for the launch of on-demand services in the cable operator's Northern Virginia division. Subscribers will have access to hundreds of hours of On Demand movies, subscription On Demand services, and free content. Financial terms were not disclosed.The Cox Northern Virginia division services Fairfax County and the Fredericksburg region. Concurrent also has deployments of the MediaHawk 4000 platform in other Cox markets including San Diego, Las Vegas and Oklahoma City, which were...

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Telsima Raises $20 Million for WiMAX

Telsima, a start-up based in in Santa Clara, California with design centers in Bangalore, Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Boston, raised $20 million in Series C funding for its Boadband Wireless Access (BWA), Carrier Ethernet Transport and DCME voice compression solutions.Telsima's Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) products combine System-on-a-Chip (SoC) based design, coupled with smart antenna and RF systems. This enables operators to deploy non-line-of-sight broadband wireless services in dense urban, suburban and rural environments cost effectively....

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South Africa's Internet Solutions Selects Acme Packet

Dimension Data selected Acme Packet's Net-Net session border controllers to deploy at Internet Solutions (Pty) Ltd, a South African converged communications provider, to deliver VoIP business services. The new suite of services, called Voice over IS (VoIS), was launched earlier this year and has a number of live customers.Acme Packet's Net-Net session border controllers (SBC) have been installed since the summer and are deployed in 5 of Internet Solutions' PoPs in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, London and New York City. In this role, the SBCs'...

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New AT&T Offers Service Bundle Discounts

Following the recently completed merger, the new AT&T announced that residential customers with SBC local service, key call management features, and AT&T long distance service can add DSL, wireless and video services at rates that could save them as much as $180 annually compared with purchasing these services individually. The bundle discounts are available to qualified residential customers who have a local access line and qualifying calling options such as Caller ID from SBC companies, plus long distance service from the former AT&T....

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MCI Lands EUR 500 Million Contract with ABN AMRO

MCI was awarded a five-year global network integration agreement by ABN AMRO to manage their global data network and firewall platforms. The value of the contract is EUR 500 million (approximately $550 million) over five years. Theagreement includes WAN, LAN and security services connecting more than 6,000 ABN AMRO locations in 25 countries, and 200-plus regional network providers. MCI will assume overall management and delivery responsibility for ABN AMRO's global networking services. http://www.mci....

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3am Labs Secures $10 Million for SSL Remote Access Service

3am Labs, a start-up based in Woburn, Massachustts, raised $10 million in Series B funding for its remote access and administration services.3am Labs offers "LogMeIn," a free SSL remote access service that enables users to securely access a any web-enabled PC or Pocket PC via a Web browser. A premium version of the service adds file transfer, remote printing, large file sharing and guest invite features. LogMeIn employs 128-to-256 bit SSL encryption to prevent unauthorized access. The company also offers remote administration and rescue services.The...

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Vonage Now Supports 911 Across the U.S.

Vonage announced E911 capability throughout the U.S. E911 sends the emergency call, along with the customer's address and phone number, to the proper local emergency call center based on the caller's street address. The caller's information is then displayed on the dispatcher's screen whenever they dial the digits 9-1-1 from a Vonage phone. In the event local authorities cannot display the Vonage customer's phone number or address, Vonage offers basic 911. Basic 911 is a service in which the customer's emergency call is delivered through the...

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BT Awarded EUR450 Million Contract by Fiat

The Fiat Group awarded a global telecommunications service contract worth €450 million over five years to BT. The deal covers telecom services to Fiat divisions in over 40 countries.BT will also acquire Atlanet, a Fiat subsidiary providing domestic telecommunications services to Fiat and other non-Fiat business customers across Italy. The Turin-headquartered company controls a national network with 24 PoPs (Points of Presence) for voice services and 42 PoPs for data services, interconnected by a fibre optic backbone and equipped to offer 11,000...

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Belgacom Deploys Redback for IPTV

Belgacom will deploy Redback Networks' SmartEdge Service Gateway as the platform to enable roll-out of iDTV (interactive Digital Television) Video-on-Demand service over its DSL network. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.redback.comIn June 2005, Belgacom announced the commercial launch of digital TV services over its ADSL network. Belgacom's business model is to rent the set-top box and remote control for EUR 6 per month, provide free access to dozens of channels, and charge extra for VOD and sports programming. Siemens provided...

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SeaChange Powers VOD for Verizon's FiOS TV

SeaChange's IP Video System is being used to power the on-demand movies and interactive programming guide of Verizon's FiOS TV service. Verizon is using conventional RF broadcast technology to deliver scheduled programming for its fiber-optic FiOS TV service.SeaChange said its IP Video System automates the entire FiOS TV on-demand service from content intake right down to set-top applications. In Verizon deployments, the SeaChange system works in conjunction with advanced Motorola set-tops in the combined broadcast and IP system. http://www.s...

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Telekom Austria Selects Axiom for Triple Play Management

Telekom Austria has selected Axiom Systems' "AXIOSS" Suite of operational solutions for order management, service inventory and service activation, for the rollout of its next generation IPTV , data and voice services. The project will be deployed in conjunction with Alcatel. Financial terms were not disclosed.Axiom Systems has a long standing relationship with Telekom Austria who are standardizing the provisioning operations for all new broadband and IP Services on AXIOSS. The Suite is already in production at the customer site provisioning their...

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DSL Forum Issues Three New Technical Reports

Following its meeting in Munich earlier this month, the DSL Forum published three new Technical Reports:TR-102 Service Interface Protocol: Dynamic IP-centric Network Policy -- provides a standard set of system interfaces that allows service providers to define the flow of information for real time fulfillment of IP based services such as VoIP, video conferencing and additional bandwidth on demand. The DSL Forum said the adoption of this set of interfaces and information flows will enhance the ability of network architectures to deliver multiple,...

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Vonage Begins Selling UTStarcom's Wi-Fi Handset

Vonage began selling UTStarcom's F1000 portable Wi-Fi handset in conjunction with its VoIP service. This product, which will offer mobility across 802.11b networks, is now available at www.vonage.com for $129.99 with a $50 instant rebate for a total of $79.99.The F1000 Wi-Fi handset will be configured with Vonage's standard call features: three-way calling, call waiting, repeat dial on busy, call forwarding to user assigned number, call hold/resume,...

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BigBand Cuda Receives PacketCable Multimedia Certification

BigBand Networks' Cuda CMTS (cable modem termination system) achieved qualification status for the PacketCable Multimedia specification from CableLabs. PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM) provides enhanced control for QoS, enabling operators to better support existing and new revenue generating services. This includes services such as online gaming, streaming media, video conferencing and voice services based on SIP.PCMM is a CableLabs specification created to dynamically reserve the QoS required for delivery of multimedia IP content using DOCSIS 1.1...

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NexTone IP Multimedia Exchange Powers IMS Interconnects in GSMA Trials

Four of the seven GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) carriers are using NexTone Communications' IP Multimedia Exchange (IMX) platform to power their trials in the European and Asian interoperability tests, which were conducted by the GSM Association (GSMA).NexTone's IMX is designed to enable secure and seamlessinterconnectivity between 3G mobile networks, wireline networks, andnetworks based on the IMS service delivery framework. The NexTone IMXcan also interconnect multiple IMS networks and facilitate theexchange of multimedia traffic between service...

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FCC Nomination Hearings Go Smoothly for Copps and Tate

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held nomination hearings for Michael Copps and Deborah Tate to serve as FCC Commissioners. Both hearing went smoothly, and Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) now expects the full Senate to approve the nominations by the end of the year. Key issues raised by the Senators at the hearings included the Universal Service Fund (USF), the indecency issue, and rules governing media...

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Foundry Expands Enterprise Switching Line

Foundry Networks has expanded its FastIron enterprise switching line with a new model that combines twenty-four ports of 10/100/1000 Mbps with IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet, redundant modular power supplies and 10 Gigabit Ethernet in a compact form.The FastIron Edge X424-POE delivers 10/100/1000 Mbps copper connections to powered IP endpoints such as VoIP handsets, video over IP cameras and wireless access points. Customers may initially deploy the FES X424-POE using trunked Gigabit Ethernet fiber uplinks for connecting to the network backbone...

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Terabit Capacity SEA-ME-WE4 Undersea Cable Enters Service

The terabit-capable South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) was officially commissioned at a ceremony in Dubai. The initial capacity is 160 Gbps. Customer traffic is now being transmitted on the new cable, which was built by a consortium of 16 international telecommunications carriers at an estimated cost of US$500 million.The cable system spans some 20,000 km with landings in 14 countries -- Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia and UAE.Alcatel...

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Yahoo! Offers 1 Cent/Minute PC-to-PSTN Calling

Yahoo! launched the international public beta trial of its real-time communications suite, Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, a PC-based VoIP service that enables users to place calls to traditional or mobile phones in the U.S. for about one U.S. cent a minute, and make calls to more than 30 other countries for less than about two U.S. cents per minute.Local versions have been made available in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore and Spain. The U.S. version is expected to launch in early 2006.Key capabilities of Yahoo! Messenger with Voice...

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MSN/ MCI Offer 2 Cent/Minute PC-to-PSTN Calling

Microsoft and MCI announced a global, multiyear partnership for consumer PC-to-phone telephony. The solution, MCI Web Calling for Windows Live Call, will be available through Windows Live Messenger, the upcoming successor to MSN Messenger. A beta version of the service is available in the U.S. and the companies expect to jointly deliver the PC-to-phone calling capabilities to France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom in the coming weeks. Once subscribed to the service, customers can place calls to and from more than 220 countries with rates...

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HomePlug Powerline Products Reach 3 Million Unit Milestone

There are more than 60 different products embedded with HomePlug 1.0 technology, including new offerings from Intellon, NComputing, NETGEAR, Sling Media and Telenet. Earlier this year, the HomePlug Alliance surpassed its three millionth HomePlug powerline communications product shipped.Additional milestones in 2005 from the HomePlug Alliance include:Approved the HomePlug AV specification - the fastest and most robust and secure industry standard for powerline communication targeting digital entertainment home networking;Commenced the next stage...

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EarthLink to Acquire New Edge Networks

EarthLink, a leading U.S. ISP with over five million subscribers,, agreed to acquire New Edge Networks, a privately-held single-source national provider of private Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and secure multi-site managed data networks and dedicated access for businesses and communications carriers.New Edge Networks integrates a wide variety of last-mile broadband access services available through multiple carriers, technologies, and geographic region. It owns a nationwide multi-services network with more than 850 carrier-class switches and...

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Octasic Expands its Voice Processing Product Line with New Devices

Octasic Semiconductor is enhancing its OCT6100 family with the introduction of lower power, and lower cost devices based on 130nm technology. The new OCT6100L, which enables voice quality enhancement for down to 4 channels, was developed in partnership with STMicroelectronics,Octasic said that as echo cancellation moves from a standalone box to an internal embedded feature of gateway and switching equipment, designers are faced with increasing demands...

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TI Unveils Blueprint for Next-Gen Residential Gateways

Texas Instruments unveiled its UR8 architecture -- its eighth generation of DSL silicon and the foundation for a full family of next residential gateway designed for Triple Play. Key features include an open platform, integrated voice capabilities and advanced multimedia processing over all DSL standards.The UR8 architecture comprises an advanced multimedia processor, a programmable DSL PHY, a high-performance DSP-based voice sub-system and a rich set of standard interfaces. Delivering on TI's Uni-DSL vision, the common platform could be used...

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Comcast Selects Cisco CRS-1 and Nortel DWDM

Comcast has selected the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System for the core of its nationwide backbone. The selection follows an intensive and successful trial of the platform's advanced features and functions, with a particular emphasis on continuous systems operation, IP service flexibility, overall scalability, multicast support for digital broadcast video and optical integration. The CRS-1 will serve in a backbone network where the highest levels of availability are required for advanced routing, multicast, IPv6, policy and quality of service...

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Thomson and Thales Partnership Targets Video Content Management

Thomson and Thales announced a strategic partnership as well as the potential acquisition by Thomson of Thales Broadcast & Multimedia (TBM), which provides platforms for IPTV services, video-on-demand, Mobile TV, and Digital TV and radio broadcasting systems and equipment. The companies said they will target high-value video content management and distribution solutions for in-flight entertainment, security, and defense applications, leveraging their respective skills and expertise in these domains. The financial terms of the acquisition are...

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Renesys Provides Real-time Monitoring/Analysis of Global Internet Traffic

Renesys Corporation introduced a Web-based service that gives service providers and government agencies a new level of operational and competitive intelligence as it relates to the Global Internet. The Renesys service enables customers to uniquely view Internet routes in real-time from multiple vantage points, including real time data on which Internet routes have been activated or deactivated by competitors. Renesys generates its data by monitoring routing tables across the Internet and tracking changes as they occur in real-time. The company...

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China Telecom Deploys Alcatel 7750 in Anhui Province

Anhui Telecom, a provincial subsidiary of China Telecom, will deploy the Alcatel 7750 Service Router to support Triple Play services in seven major cities of the province including Bengbu, Anqing, Suzhou, Fuyang, Huangshan, Huaibei and Tongling. The installation will be completed in early 2006. The contract, which marks the 23rd province in China to utilize the Alcatel IP solution, was won through Alcatel Shanghai Bell. http://www.alcatel....

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iPass to Acquire GoRemote for $76.5 Million

iPass agreed to acquire GoRemote in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $76.5 million.iPass primarily serves roaming business users by providing aggregated Wi-Fi access venues. GoRemote is a leader in the major market segments of remote workers that iPass does not already serve directly -- teleworkers and employees in home offices, branch offices and retail locations to which GoRemote primarily provides managed broadband services.The management teams are developing an integration plan that will be designed to take advantage of the companies'...

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AT&T Reaches New Labor Contracts with CWA, IBEW

AT&T reached new labor contracts with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) on a new three year, four month agreements covering 11,000 pre-merger AT&T employees. The contracts remain in effect through April 4, 2009.Following are highlights of the tentative agreements:Wages: The agreements provide for four annual base wage increases at 11.2 percent, compounded, over the life of the contracts.Pension: Pension benefits were increased by six percent in 2006 and by an additional...

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