SCOPE Alliance Aims for Open Specifications on Carrier Platforms

A new industry alliance has been formed by Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, NEC, Nokia and Siemens to accelerate the deployment of carrier grade base platforms for service provider applications. The mission of the new alliance, called SCOPE, is to help, enable and promote the availability of open carrier grade base platforms based on Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware / software and free open source software building blocks, and to promote interoperability to better serve Service Providers and consumers.SCOPE will not create its own specification,...

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Eutelsat's Hot Bird 7ATM Readies for Launch

Eutelsat's HOT BIRD 7A broadcasting satellite has been schedules for launch from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana on 21-February-2006.HOT BIRD 7A will be positioned at 13 degrees East, Eutelsat's primeneighborhood for television and radio broadcasting to satellite and cable homes. Equipped with 38 Ku-band transponders, its dual mission is to replace existing capacity at 13 degrees East and, in conjunction with HOT BIRD 8 which is due for launch in second quarter, to provide complete in-orbit redundancy at the HOT BIRD location....

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SwissCom Appoints New CEO

SwissCom's Board of Directors appointed Carsten Schloter as its new CEO, following the resignation of Jens Alder. At his own request, Jens Alder is standing down as Swisscom CEO. In so doing, he is drawing personal conclusions from the change in international expansion plans prompted by Switzerland's Federal Council. Switzerland's Federal Council has instructed its representative on the Board of Directors of SwissCom to vote against the company's proposed acquisition of Eircom, the incumbent telco in Ireland, and other possible acquisitions that...

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Fluke Closes Acquisition of Visual Networks

Danaher Corporation's Fluke Electronics subsidiary completed its previously announced acquisition of Visual Networks.Visual Networks, which is based in Rockville, Maryland, supplies a range of enterprise network and application performance management solutions. Its flagship product, Visual UpTime Select, provides in-depth, real-time and historical information that enables organizations to intelligently manage application and network performance and availability across the entire enterprise. Over the past year, the product has evolved from a WAN-based...

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Covad Offers VoIP PBXi over T1s

Covad Communications introduced a VoIP PBXi Plus service aimed at small businesses and distributed enterprises with existing on-premise phone equipment. The service runs over Covad's Voice-Optimized Access (VOA) T1 lines. It is based on the Covad hosted platform and supports both the features of the PBX system and some of its own, including new online management and configuration capabilities. Covad also offers a hosted business-class VoIP product, Covad vPBX, for customers who want the convenience and reliability of a fully-managed VoIP solution.Covad...

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Ciena Lands Key Win at Progress Telecom

Progress Telecom, a leading broadband and wireless services provider, selected Ciena as a key supplier in the evolution and expansion of its existing network for next-generation services. Progress Telecom selected Ciena's CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform for 10G DWDM metro and regional transport and CN 3600 Intelligent Optical Multiservice Switch for international gateway and SONET/SDH applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.Progress Telecom operates one of the largest regional networks in the United States spanning 8,254...

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QUALCOMM Completes Acquisition of Flarion Technologies

QUALCOMM closed its acquisition of Flarion Technologies, a pioneer and leading developer of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex Access (OFDMA) technology. QUALCOMM paid approximately $600 million in QUALCOMM stock and cash. Upon the satisfaction of certain milestones, QUALCOMM may also pay an additional $205 million in the form of cash and QUALCOMM stock.The deal was first announced in August 2005.http://www.qualcomm.com/Flarion, a start-up based in Bedminster, New Jersey, developed a fast, low latency air interface technology that combines...

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AOL to Invest in Local Loop Unbundling in the UK

AOL will invest in Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) in the UK. The initial phase of the program, costing around GBP 50 million, will take place in the first half of 2006 and reach up to 300 exchanges, equivalent to 20% of UK households. If successful, AOL may extend this rollout to up to 1,000 exchanges in the UK, based on an estimated additional investment of GBP 70 million, in order to be able to offer the possibility of 'unbundling' the telephone line for more than 50% of UK households. AOL's investment in the local telephone network in the UK is...

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The America Channel Secures Carriage in Telco TV Market

The America Channel, a new, independently-owned cable programming network set to launch in 2006, announced its fifth telco deal -- a digital IP carriage agreement with Optical Entertainment Network (OEN). The America Channel previously reported deals with Verizon FiOS and other telcos, for nationwide deployment in 2006. The America Channel has now secured carriage with companies representing approximately 80% of the projected telco video market.http://www.americachannel...

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Time Warner Telecom Extends Atlanta Fiber Network

Time Warner Telecom announced a 130-mile extension of its fiber network in the greater Atlanta region. Time Warner Telecom operates and maintains a fiber infrastructure and a 10 Gbps IP backbone delivering metro Ethernet, next generation services and integrated voice and data solutions to medium and large Atlanta-area businesses. As of September 30, 2005, Time Warner Telecom had more than 20,000 route miles of fiber in its network. http://www.twtelecom....

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