Movaz Raises $20 Million for its Optical Networking

Movaz Networks closed $20 million in equity financing and secured an additional line of credit for $12 million, supporing its optical networking solutions.



Movaz recently announced the in-service deployment of its multi-degree ROADM, providing dynamic reconfigurability across rings, at hub locations, and through spur junctions.



The company claims 90 customers around the world and over 4,000 nodes currently in service.



Movaz said the combined $32 million financing enables it to support its expanding operations and also provides a solid foundation for continued revenue and customer growth. The company said it saw its revenue increase by a record 66% in 2005 over the previous year. The top-tier investor syndicate that led this financing included Anschutz Investment, Comcast Interactive Capital, Menlo Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, Meritech Capital Partners, and Worldview Technology Partners.

http://www.movaz.com

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Redback Reaches Revenue of $48.0 million, up 32% Sequentially

Redback Networks reported net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2005 of $48.0 million, an increase of 32 percent from the third quarter of 2005. Net revenue was up $15.9 million, or 50 percent, over the fourth quarter of 2004. Net revenue for the fiscal year 2005 jumped to $153.3 million, compared with $115.6 million in fiscal year 2004. GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2005 was $0.3 million or $0.01 per share attributable to common stockholders compared to a GAAP net loss of $12.0 million or $(0.23) per share in the fourth quarter of 2004.

http://www.redback.com/investors

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Microsoft Launches "Live Labs" Research Initiative

Microsoft announced the formation of "Live Labs," a new initiative between MSN and Microsoft Research aimed at providing "consistency in vision, leadership and infrastructure as well as a nimble applied research environment that fosters rapid innovations."



Microsoft Live Labs, which will be headed by Dr. Gary William Flake, noted industry technologist and Microsoft technical fellow, will focus on Internet-centric applied research programs including rapidly prototyping and launching of emerging technologies, incubating entirely new inventions, and improving and accelerating Windows Live offerings. Ray Ozzie, Craig Mundie and David Vaskevitch, Microsoft's chief technical officers, will serve as the Live Labs Advisory Board.



Live Labs will investigate a broad and comprehensive set of research topics such as multimedia search, machine learning, distributed computing and data mining, and will engage in rapid prototyping and the incubation of disruptive technologies. Unlike basic research, which is geared toward visionary discoveries that may or may not end up in actual products, and product development, which is feature-focused and geared toward solving tactical engineering problems, Live Labs' applied research will study the relationship and applicability of theories or principles to the solution of a problem or an actual product or service.

Microsoft also announced the hiring of Dr. Ashok Chandra, a notable industry and academic researcher, as general manager of Search Labs, a new organization devoted to innovation and incubation that will be closely aligned with Live Labs. Search Labs will be stationed in Redmond and at the Microsoft Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View, Calif. Search Labs will focus on areas such as personalization, socialization and improved user experiences while maintaining strict regard for user privacy. In addition, Chandra's teams will build technologies for data mining, vertical industries and parametric capabilities to go beyond the search bar experience.http://labs.live.com

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Nokia Estimates 2 Billion Mobile Subscribers Globally, 795 Million Mobile Phones Shipped in 2005

Nokia shipped 84 million mobile devices in Q4 2005, up 26% sequentially and 27% year on year. The company calculates it held 34% of the global market, which is it estimates at 244 million units, up 23% sequentially and 25% year on year .



Jorma Ollila, Nokia's Chairman and CEO, said "Our quarterly sales reached more than EUR 10 billion for the first time ever this quarter, and we achieved record breaking device volumes and healthy device market share gains during the full year. Nokia's sales grew 16% in 2005, the highest sales growth we have seen since 2000, while our EPS grew 20%.



For our industry, it was another year of strong growth in mobile device volumes. Nokia estimates that the global device market grew 24% in 2005, to 795 million units for the full year, with an estimated 2.2 billion mobile subscribers worldwide by year end.



Nokia's own mobile device volumes in 2005 increased 28%, reaching a record 265 million units. We also increased our full year global market share to an estimated 33%, driven by gains in China, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. At the same time we more than tripled our market share in WCDMA."



Outlook for 2006



Nokia expects the mobile device market volume to grow more than 10% in 2006, from its preliminary estimate of approximately 795 million units in 2005. Nokia also expect the device industry to experience value growth in 2006, but also expect some decline in industry average sales prices (ASPs), primarily reflecting the increasing impact of the emerging markets.



Nokia expects moderate growth in the mobile infrastructure market in EUR terms in 2006.

http://www.nokia.com

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Level 3 to Acquire Florida's Progress Telecom for $137 Million

Level 3 Communications agreed to acquire Progress Telecom, a regional wholesale network services company based in St. Petersburg, Florida, for $137 million, consisting of $68.5 million in unregistered shares of Level 3 Common Stock and $68.5 million in cash.



The Progress Telecom network features diversely routed fiber, DWDM and SONET connecting nearly 200 POPs across the south-eastern U.S. The infrastructure includes over 8,524 route-miles of fiber and 29 metro networks. Progress Telecom currently generates annualized revenue of approximately $70 million and approximately $7 million of annualized positive free cash flow.



Progress Telecom is jointly owned by Progress Energy and Odyssey Telecorp.



"This transaction represents a unique opportunity to expand Level 3's footprint in the southeastern region of the United States, where we have seen strong demand for our services," said Kevin O'Hara, president and chief operating officer of Level 3. "More importantly, we serve a number of the same large, key customers, particularly certain wireless and international customers. We believe that the completion of this transaction will enable us to expand our relationship with these customers and offer them a broader set of services in more markets outside the southeast. Progress Telecom is a very successful wholesale carrier in the southeastern United States and this acquisition will increase the extent of our network coverage in the region."http://www.level3.comhttp://www.progresstelecom.com

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Tellabs Reports Revenue of $521 million, up 16% YoY

Tellabs reported Q4 2005 revenue of $521 million, up 37% from $379 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. For the year 2005, Tellabs revenue totaled $1.9 billion, up 53% from $1.2 billion in 2004. Compared with the full revenues of Tellabs, AFC and Vinci Systems, revenue increased 16% for the fourth quarter of 2005 and 13% for the full year.



Tellabs earned $92 million or 20 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2005 on a GAAP basis, compared with a year-ago net loss of $139 million or 32 cents per share.

• Transport -- Revenue from transport systems totaled $170 million, up 8% from $157 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. For the full year, transport revenue was $638 million, up 7% from $598 million in 2004.



• Access -- Revenue from access solutions totaled $180 million, up from $53 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. Compared with the full fourth-quarter 2004 access revenues of Tellabs, AFC and Vinci Systems, access revenue increased 46%. Access revenue for 2005 was $617 million, up from $53 million in 2004. Full-year 2005 access revenue was 29% higher than the full 2004 access revenues of Tellabs, AFC and Vinci Systems.



• Managed Access -- Revenue from managed access systems was $91 million, down 19% from $112 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. Managed access revenue for 2005 was $365 million, up 10% from $331 million in 2004.



• Broadband Data -- Revenue of broadband data products was $31 million, compared with $3 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. Full-year 2005 revenue in broadband data was $60 million, more than triple the 2004 year-end revenue of $17 million.



• Voice-Quality Enhancement -- Revenue from voice-quality enhancement amounted to $6 million, versus $13 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. VQE revenue for the full year was $36 million, down from $75 million in 2004. Since Tellabs has incorporated voice-quality enhancement features into its transport products, in 2006 the company will include this revenue in the transport category.



• Services and Solutions-Services and solutions revenue was $44 million, up 8% from $40 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. Services revenue for 2005 totaled $167 million in 2005, up 6% over the 2004 total of $158 million.

"Customer demand for broadband wireless and fiber access continues to propel Tellabs' growth," said Krish A. Prabhu, Tellabs president and chief executive officer. "Tellabs is well-positioned to grow as our customers invest in upgrading their network infrastructure to handle the proliferation of broadband devices and multimedia Internet content."http://www.tellabs.com

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Avaya and SAP Team on CRM

Avaya and SAP America will jointly market mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) with Avaya Interaction Center software. Initially, both companies will be working with select customers to build awareness of the relationship and the intrinsic value of Intelligent Communications that will result from the joint solutions that are being developed.

The companies said this combination of Avaya intelligent routing within the context of information from mySAP CRM will get the right customer to the right business associate more efficiently, reducing holding times, delays and call backs for customers while optimizing company resources.



Customer service agents using SAP's market leading CRM solution will have the capability to interact with customers through voice, email, and Web communication through their mySAP CRM console, enabled by Avaya contact center software.

http://www.avaya.com

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Casio Licenses QUALCOMM's 3G CDMA

QUALCOMM has granted Casio a worldwide license to develop, manufacture and sell subscriber units implementing any 3G CDMA standard. The royalties payable by Casio are at QUALCOMM's standard rates and are the same irrespective of the CDMA standard implemented by the subscriber unit.



QUALCOMM also signed a worldwide subscriber unit license agreement with Yulong Computer Technology Co., a subsidiary of China Wireless Technologies, to develop, manufacture and sell subscriber units implementing any 3G CDMA standard (i.e., CDMA2000(R) 1X/1xEV-DO, WCDMA/UMTS). The royalties payable by Yulong are at QUALCOMM's standard rates and are the same irrespective of the CDMA standard implemented by the subscriber unit.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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EMC Scales Storage Array to Over One Petabyte

EMC introduced the first storage array capable of scaling to more than one petabyte (1,024 terabytes) of capacity. The record capacity is made possible through the qualification of Symmetrix DMX-3 system configurations supporting up to 2,400 disk drives and the availability of new 500 gigabyte low-cost Fibre Channel (LC-FC) disk drives.



The new disk drive technology, which compatible with the company's Symmetrix DMX systems, enables the consolidation of more information, applications and storage tiers into fewer arrays and storage networks. EMC said it is the first to deliver this new disk drive technology in a high-end array.



EMC also introduced a new entry-level Symmetrix DMX-3 system that enables customers to incrementally scale the performance and capacity of a single array from 7 terabytes, using 96 disk drives, to more than a petabyte with 2,400 disk drives.

http://www.emc.com

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BT to Manage Microsoft's Global Call Center Routing

BT was awarded a 2-year contract to manage Microsoft's global OneCall call center routing. Under the agreement, BT will design, build, deploy and manage a solution to unify and manage Microsoft's contact centers throughout the world into a single network-based contact center environment. The contract calls for an 18-month deployment schedule across 77 Microsoft call centers around the world, with potential to expand to more than a hundred centers globally.



The OneCall solution will enable Microsoft's call centers world-wide to be centrally managed for call routing, resulting in improved customer service levels and better use of call center agents. The call centers support customer service and support, sales and marketing.

http://www.btplc.com

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Cypress Deploys Overtures Multiservice Access Devices

Cypress Communications has deployed Overture Networks' ISG 5000, ISG 2200, and ISG 45+ multiservice access devices within its fiber and copper infrastructure. Cypress provides managed communications in 29 major metropolitan U.S. markets. Overture's platform is designed to deliver any mix of Ethernet and TDM service combinations. The ISG converged packet access platform supports a variety of interfaces ranging from NxT1/E1 to Gigabit Ethernet.

http://www.overturenetworks.comhttp://www.cypresscom.net

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Terayon Restructures to Pure-Play Digital Video Company

Terayon Communication Systems is changing its corporate strategy to focus solely on its digital video applications and reduce its overall cost structure as a pure-play video business. The company is reviewing strategic alternatives for its Home Access Solutions product line, including the possibility of a sale.



"Our decision to concentrate solely on digital video applications enables us to laser-focus the company on a growing market for real-time network digital video processing and expand our applications and services," said Jerry Chase, Terayon, CEO.

http://www.terayon.com

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Broadcom Posts Revenue of $820 Million, up 18% Sequentially

Broadcom reported net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2005 of $820.6 million, an increase of 18.1% from the $695.0 million reported for the third quarter of 2005 and an increase of 52.1% from the $539.4 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2004. Net income (GAAP) was $194.8 million, or $.50 per share (diluted).

"Trends in communications and convergence provided a one-two punch that drove Broadcom to record levels of revenue, net income, and cash and marketable securities in 2005," said Scott McGregor, Broadcom's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The continued migration to Gigabit Ethernet in the enterprise, the convergence of voice and Wi-Fi into broadband modems, the adoption of personal video recording and high definition video in cable, satellite and Internet Protocol (IP) set-top boxes, the convergence of video and audio in portable devices, and the adoption of Bluetooth into cell phones, headsets and PCs are just some of the communications and convergence trends occurring in our end markets."http://www.broadcom.com

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Acme Packet Supplies Session Border Controllers to Korea's DACOM

Dacom, the second largest long-distance service provider in Korea, is deploying Acme Packet's Net-Net session border controllers in its national, VoIP network. The Net-Net products are being integrated with the Dacom's Next Generation IP Softswitch platform to offer more enhanced services. CommVerge Solutions Korea is the network integrator.

http://www.acmepacket.com

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Verizon Reports 613,000 Broadband Net Adds and Record Wireless Growth

Verizon Communications reported Q4 revenues of $19.3 billion and earnings of $1.7 billion, or 59 cents per diluted share, highlighted by an industry-record quarterly total for net new wireline broadband connections, as well as continued record growth and sustained margins at Verizon Wireless.



The earnings were down compared with $3.0 billion, or $1.08 per share, in the fourth quarter 2004.



Highlights for the quarter include:

• Verizon's wireline business segment added a net of 613,000 wireline broadband connections (DSL and FiOS), giving the company a total of 5.1 million wireline broadband connections at year's end.



• The FiOS FTTP rollout now passes a cumulative 3 million homes and businesses in 16 states. In markets where Verizon has been selling FiOS data services for at least nine months, the average penetration rate at the nine-month mark was 14 percent. Market penetration in Keller, Texas -- Verizon's first video market -- is 21 percent in four months.



• Operating revenues on a comparable basis at Domestic Telecom were $9.4 billion in the fourth quarter 2005, a 1.8 percent decrease compared with the fourth quarter 2004.



• Revenues from DSL and FiOS data contributed to total wireline data revenues of $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter 2005, a 9.0 percent increase compared with the fourth quarter 2004.



• Verizon's total customer connections (wireline switched access, wireless customers, and wireline and wireless customers using broadband connections (EV-DO, DSL or FiOS) -- increased to 105.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter 2005. This is an increase of 5.7 percent compared with the fourth quarter 2004, and an increase of 1.8 million customer connections compared with the end of the third quarter 2005.



• Switched access lines totaled 48.8 million at the end of the fourth quarter 2005, a decline of 6.7 percent compared with the end of the fourth quarter 2004. This has been more than offset by increases of 47.6 percent in wireline broadband connections and 17.2 percent in total wireless customers over the same period.



• Wholesale voice connections -- which includes resale, Unbundled Network Element-Platform (UNE-P) and end-to-end wholesale voice services provided under commercial agreements -- totaled 5.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter 2005, down 16.1 percent from the end of the fourth quarter 2004.



• Verizon Wireless added more than 1.5 million customers, giving it a total of 51.3 million customers.



• Verizon Wireless total churn was 1.2 percent for the fourth quarter 2005 (matching the company's previous quarterly record) and 1.3 percent for the year.



• Verizon Wireless revenues were $8.7 billion in the fourth quarter 2005, an 18.3 percent increase compared with $7.3 billion in the fourth quarter 2004



• In 2006, Verizon expects that net pension and OPEB costs will reduce earnings by 34 cents to 36 cents per share.



• 2006 CAPEX, including MCI, is expected to be from $17.0 billion to $17.4 billion.



• Network savings represent nearly half of the synergies, as bringing traffic onto Verizon's networks is expected to save more than $200 million in 2006. Workforce reductions and information technology savings each represent about 20 percent of the synergy totals.

http://www.verizon.com

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AT&T Posts Q4 Revenues of $12.97 Billion

In its first quarterly financial report since closing its mega-merger, the new AT&T reported consolidated fourth-quarter 2005 revenues of $12.97 billion and earnings of $1.66 billion, or $0.46 per diluted share, including special merger and hurricane recovery related items. The results were ahead of market forecasts driven by growth at Cingular Wireless, broadband and enterprise services.



Some highlights for Q4 2005:

• Wireline segment revenues, which are made up of former SBC wireline results, totaled $9.43 billion, up 1.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2004. Wireline consumer revenues grew 4.6 percent, and business revenues increased 1.9 percent.



• Business and consumer revenue growth was partially offset by expected declines in wholesale revenues, reflecting a reduction in UNE-P access lines.



• Added 425,000 net DSL customers, the same as in the year-earlier fourth quarter, and ended 2005 with 6.9 million DSL lines in service



• Data revenues increased 7.8 percent versus results in the year-earlier quarter to $3.10 billion, driven by DSL/Internet growth, along with solid results in transport services.



• Long distance revenues increased 13.4 percent to $984 million, with 177,000 long distance lines added during the fourth quarter to reach 23.5 million in service.



• Wireline retail business lines declined by 54,000 in the fourth quarter of 2005, compared with a decline of 74,000 in the year-earlier quarter.



• Consumer retail primary lines declined by 129,000 versus 73,000 in the fourth quarter of 2004. Additional lines declined by 99,000 versus a decline of 119,000 in the year-earlier quarter.



• Total switched wholesale lines declined by 490,000 versus a decline of 302,000 in the fourth quarter of 2004. Wireline operations ended the year with 49.4 million switched access lines in service.

http://www.att.com

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