Iowa IOC Replaces Nortel DMS-10 Switches with Metaswitch

Butler-Bremer Communications, an independent telecommunications services provider serving customers throughout northeast Iowa, is deploying four softswitches from MetaSwitch to replace its legacy Nortel DMS-10 TDM switches and migrate its network to a pure IP packet-switched environment.In operation for more than 100 years, Butler-Bremer Communications provides local telephone, cellular, voice mail, cable television, and Internet services to customers over 175 square miles of northeast Iowa. The company decided to migrate its network to packet-based...

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AT&T Introduces DWDM Service

AT&T announced a DWDM service aimed at small to midsize businesses seeking to interconnect sites in metropolitan and wide area networks.AT&T Ultravailable Service Option 2 is both protocol and bit-rate independent and, therefore, can transmit data in IP, ATM, and SONET and handle bit rates between 100 Mbps and 10 Gbps. AT&T said the service gives customers flexible bandwidth utilization possibilities at prices that meet the needs of the small to midsize enterprise marketplace. For existing AT&T ACCU-Ring Network Access Service customers...

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CeBIT: Deutsche Telekom Highlights New Services

At the opening of this year's CeBIT in Germany, Deutsche Telekom launched a nationwide contest intented to spur a new level of "networked thinking" across the country. The "T-City" initiative is meant to be a contest between German cities over the next few weeks to see which applications based on widespread fixed-line and mobile telecommunications can drive overall economic growth and improve quality of life. As part of the project, Deutsche Telekom's three strategic business areas - Mobile Communications, Broadband/Fixed-Network and Business...

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CeBIT: Siemens Partners with Yahoo!, Unveils Consumer Gear

At CeBIT, Siemens and Yahoo! announced a partnership to enable consumers to enjoy voice-enhanced services. The companies agreed to offer and promote the Siemens Gigaset M34 USB adapter, which IP-enables Gigaset telephones with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice's VoIP calling capabilities by the third quarter of 2006. The Gigaset adapter, which works together with Gigaset cordless phones (on devices introduced after the fall of 2004 and that belong to...

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Bell Canada and Aliant Combine Resources in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada

BCE, Canada's largest communications company, and Aliant agreed to combine Bell Canada's wireline operations in its regional territories in Ontario and Quebec with Aliant's wireline operations and Bell's 63.4% interest in the Bell Nordiq Income Fund. The new trust, which will have 3.4 million local access lines and over 400,000 high- speed Internet subscribers in six provinces, will be headquartered in Atlantic Canada and controlled by BCE.Bell will also acquire Aliant Mobility and Aliant's DownEast Communications retail outlets as part of the...

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Global Crossing IP VPN Traffic Grew by 300% in 2005

Global Crossing reported that the number of customers utilizing two or more converged IP services on its global fiber-optic network more than tripled in 2005. Meanwhile, IP VPN traffic carried by the company grew 300% in 2005.Global Crossing's VoIP traffic grew to more than 100 million IP interconnected minutes per month by year-end 2005, representing an increase of more than 350%. Global Crossing currently runs more than two billion minutes per month on its private VoIP global platform, which represents more than 70% of all its voice traffic...

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CeBIT: Lucent Announces $300 Million in Contracts

Lucent announced seven multi-year contracts at CeBIT with a combined value of $300 million. These include:an pgrade of T-Systems' global IP/MPLS network, featuring deployment and maintenance services from Lucent and routers from Juniper Networksdeployment for Kazakhstan Telecom of a new IP-based next-generation network in the capital city of Astana, to support advanced voice and data services for business and residential subscribers. The network will be managed from a Network Operations Center supplied by Lucent Worldwide Services.expansion of...

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Lucent Selected for DoD's European Optical Project

Lucent Technologies was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Army to implement its European Dense Wave Division Multiplex Optical Transport Network (DWDM-OTN) project. Under the firm fixed-price indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, valued at up to $94 million, the Lucent team will provide network integration services and optical equipment and software to create a multi-country U.S. Army high-speed optical transport network. The contract has a two-year base period with three additional one-year option periods.Lucent said the...

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T-Systems Upgrades Global IP Net with Juniper/Lucent

T-Systems has upgraded its global IP/MPLS network using Juniper routers supplied by Lucent Technologies. In the first phase of the project, recently completed, Lucent Worldwide Services deployed Juniper Networks M320 multiservice edge routing platforms in nine countries, and is providing ongoing maintenance services. http://www.lucent....

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Verizon to Bring FiOS Services to Apartments, Condos

Verizon outlined plans to bring its FiOS Internet and FiOS TV services to a larger number of apartments, condos and other multi-dwelling units. Specifically, Verizon Enhanced Communities is launching a major marketing campaign, sending business development executives and engineers to meet with multi- dwelling-unit (MDU) owners and condominium/co-op associations to negotiate marketing and access agreements and technology upgrades.The Enhanced Communities group also has worked with developers to connect new homes to Verizon's fiber network. The...

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Bell Labs Develops Multiplexed 107 Gbps Ethernet/Optical

Bell Labs reported optical transport of electronically multiplexed 107 Gbps data. The researchers said that until now there has been no reported case of a high-speed electronically multiplexed optical signal transmitted at speeds greater than 85.4 Gb/s. Furthermore, no fiber transmission of signals faster than 42.7 Gbps in a spectrally compact non-RZ format have ever been reported.Bell Labs researchers were able to transmit 10 channels of 107- Gbps traffic, optically modulated using electrical multiplexing, over a distance of 400 kilometers. Key...

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Vendors Seek Standard for Storage Controller Slots

An industry group, including LSI Logic, Dell, Intel and others, has formed to define a common standard for entry-level external data storage systems. The Storage Bridge Bay (SBB) working group will focus on developing and distributing specifications for standardizing external disk subsystem technologies. The specifications will define a mechanical/electrical interface between a passive backplane drive array and the electronics packages that give the array its personality. It is expected that the first release of the specification will be completed...

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NTT America Offers Scalable Ethernet Service in U.S. Markets

NTT America announced a direct point-to-point, virtual circuit Ethernet service available in nine U.S. domestic markets. The new "VLink" service, which is provided through the NTT Communications Global IP Network in the United States, is an Ethernet solution that directly addresses the needs of high bandwidth point-to-point data transfers. It provides the flexibility and scalability of Layer 3 (IP) technology while incorporating the dedicated traffic paths and management capabilities associated with Layer 2 technologies.VLink complements NTT...

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TiVo Reaches 4.4 million Users, Offers New Pricing

TiVo's total subscription base stands at approximately 4.4 million, which represents 45% growth over last year. TiVo-owned subscription gross additions were 221,000 for the quarter ended 31-January-2006 and net adds were 183,000. TiVo added 173,000 DIRECTV subscriptions in the quarter, compared to 379,000 in the third quarter of fiscal 2006.Service and technology revenues for the year increased 48% to $170.9 million, compared to $115.5 million last year. Service and technology revenues for the quarter increased 37% to $47.0 million, compared to...

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