Lucent Reaches Agreement with Unions

Lucent Technologies reached national and local agreements with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) on 20-month contracts. Under the separate agreements, there will be a general wage increase of 2% on June 1 and an additional increase of 2% on May 30, 2004. Changes in healthcare benefits include increases in co-payments, deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, and modest improvements in certain dental benefits.
http://www.lucent.com

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AT&T Canada to Relaunch Under New Name, Notes Progress in Capital Restructuring

AT&T Canada announced new commercial agreements with AT&T Corp. defining how the companies will serve customers as AT&T Canada transitions to a fully independent and re-branded company. AT&T Canada will launch a new brand name by September 9, 2003. The deal also enables AT&T Canada and AT&T Corp. to continue working together on a non-exclusive basis, maintains network ties between the two companies, recognizes AT&T Corp.'s ability to serve Canadian customers directly (including by competing with AT&T Canada), and provides AT&T Canada the ability to forge additional supplier relationships. AT&T Canada also noted progress in its ongoing bankruptcy case. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an order to disseminate to shareholders the details of a capital restructuring plan under which the company's outstanding public debt would be exchanged for 100% of the new equity of AT&T Canada and a minimum of $200 million in cash. The company hopes to complete the capital restructuring at the end of the first quarter of 2003.
http://www.attcanada.com

• AT&T Canada provides a full range of integrated services over its 18,700 route kilometers of local and long haul fiber.



• As of 15-Ocober-2002, AT&T Canada reported $4.5 billion of outstanding public debt.

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Alcatel Tests New Optical Micro Cabling Technology

Alcatel tested a newly developed optical micro cabling technology that proved capable of installing a fiber optic cable route of approximately 20,000 ft (6.1 km) in slightly under an hour and a half. The technique involves blowing specially designed fiber optic cables into small microducts placed inside empty or partially filled ducts. The cable was installed in multiple sections, with the longest achieved blowing distance of 6400 ft (1.950 km) within 28 minutes. The Alcatel microduct cable used in the trial was 7.2mm in diameter and contained 72 fibers. The DuraLine Silicore microduct into which this cable was blown measured 10mm in inner diameter and 12mm in outer diameter. Both the microducts and the microduct cable were blown using jetting equipment provided by Sherman & Reilly, with installation and consulting services provided by Oasis Micro Networks.
http://www.oasiscompanies.com
http://www.alcatel.com

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BT Awarded Broadband Contract with National Health Service (NHS)

BT was awarded a £168M agreement with the National Health Service (NHS) Information Authority to provide upgraded broadband connections to more than 7,000 NHS sites throughout England, including hospitals, general practitioners and NHS Trusts. The broadband upgrade supports the new NHS National Strategic Plan for IT and it underpins three major projects: electronic booking systems (online appointment bookings), integrated patient care records, and electronic transfer of prescriptions. The upgrades will be provided using secure IP-VPNs. Broadband is defined as 256 kbps connections to general practitioners' offices and 2 Mbps services to hospitals and other NHS facilities.
http://www.btplc.com

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JDS Uniphase Launches 2.5 Gbps Transceiver

JDS Uniphase introduced a new 2.5 Gbps, small form factor pluggable (SFP) MSA transceiver designed for 1310 and 1550 nm wavelengths and for short, intermediate, and long reach applications. JDS Uniphase said its new CT2 device meets all SONET specifications, including receiver reflectance, and provides automatic extinction ratio control for the entire life of the product. The device has a microprocessor-based design that allows the implementation of all the Digital Diagnostic Monitoring (DDM) functions in the MSA. It is "hot-pluggable" both optically and electrically. http://www.jdsu.com

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Infineon Ships 40 Gbps (OC-768) Chip

Infineon Technologies shipped multifunctional single-chip solution for high-speed line cards that can perform both interface conversion and serializer/deserializer (SerDes) operations. Infineon's Titan 768MD could be used in 40 Gbps OC-768 line cards to perform SerDes Framer Interface Level 4 (SFI-4)-to-Level 5 (SFI-5) interface conversion. When performing narrowband SFI-5-to-SFI-4 conversion, 40 Gbps data throughput can be achieved in both directions across a network while leveraging investments in 10 Gbps framers. In addition, the Titan 768MD can perform inverse multiplexing of the OC-768c payload from a router. Infineon said the new device could also be used with a high-speed framer and pointer processor to provide a two-chip OC-768 solution for line cards operating at a 40 Gbps throughput.
http://www.infineon.com

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ITU Develops Modem over IP Standard (V.150.0 and V.151.1)

The ITU adopted a Modem over IP (MoIP) standard to ensure that as networks move to a ‘pure IP' infrastructure they will still be able to efficiently handle calls generated by dial-up modems. The new standards would also give end users the ability to carry on using their modems to the full extent of their capabilities on both circuit switched as well as packet networks. The two ITU-T Recommendations that deal with MoIP are V.150.0 and V.151.1. The technical group responsible for the specification was ITU-T Study Group 16.
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com16/index.asp

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Senators Propose Broadband Expensing Act of 2003

A new "Broadband Expensing Act of 2003" has been introduced in the U.S. Senate aimed at providing an economic incentive for the rollout of last mile networks. Initial backers of the bill include Senators Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Orin Hatch (R-Utah), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Jim Bunning (R-Kent.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.)

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Juniper Reports Quarterly Revenue of $155 Million, up 3%

Juniper Networks reported quarterly revenue of $155.3 million, compared with $151.0 million for the same period last year, an increase of 3%. Pro forma net income was $2.7 million or $0.01 per share. Actual net income for the quarter, including special charges, was $8.5 million or $0.02 per share. Juniper Networks said it is entering 2003 from "a position of improved confidence."http://www.juniper.net

• For Q3 2002, Juniper reported revenues of $152 million and an actual net loss of $88 million, which includes amortization, restructuring charges and losses on equity investment write-downs.

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Alcatel Integrates Cramer into OSS

Alcatel agreed to include Cramer's inventory software suite (Cramer4) as part of its Operation Support System (OSS). The integrated offering will provide wire-line and wireless carriers with a real-time record of available network resources at the physical, logical and service level.
http://www.alcatel.com
http://www.cramer.com

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BTI Photonics Raises $10.4 Million for its Optical Link System

BTI Photonics, a start-up based in Ottawa, Ontario, closed US$10.4 million in series B financing for its new optical transport link systems. BTI offers an Optical Link System that addresses the need for agile link capabilities in DWDM and CWDM networks. The company said its technology replaces older fixed link designs with a flexible, intelligent and fully integrated link system. The new funding was led by VenGrowth Capital Partners and included existing investors BCE Capital, Kodiak Venture Partners, Lucent Venture Partners, and Primaxis Technology Ventures. This brings BTI's total funds raised to-date to US$20.4 million.
http://www.btiphotonics.com

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Wi-Fi Alliance Certifies First 5 GHz IEEE 802.11a and Dual Band Products

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced the first certifications for 5 GHz 802.11a and dual band products. The certifications included a CardBus reference design board from Atheros Communications, a reference design access point from Atheros, the Cisco Aironet 1200 Series Access Point Model, the Cisco Aironet 5GHz WLAN Adapter Model, the Intel PRO/Wireless 5000 LAN CardBus Adapter, the Intermec MobileLAN Access Point Model, the Intersil Indigo Station Card, and the Proxim ORiNOCO 5GHz Kit.
http://www.wi-fi.org

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Connexion by Boeing Selects XACCT Software for InFlight Service

Connexion by Boeing has adopted the XACCT Network-to-Business (N2B) platform for its mobile information service. Using the XACCT technology, airlines will be able to implement multiple pricing and billing options for their services based on duration, events, volume and quality of service. The XACCT software will be installed with onboard equipment and will interface with the onboard application or portal server and capture relevant data, including service usage and content for billing purposes. In addition, the XACCT software will also monitor key service parameters such as latency, jitter and packet loss to help ensure and maintain the quality of service necessary for streaming media applications.
http://www.connexionbyboeing.com
http://www.xacct.com

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Hotsip and i3 Collaborate on SIP and Presence-based Services

Hotsip AB, a developer of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and Presence based products for fixed and mobile networks, and i3 micro technology, a developer of IP-TV, video streaming and VoIP solutions, will co-package their products for resale to systems integrators and broadband service providers. The joint solution targets the convergence between telephony, media and Internet over broadband. Both companies are based in Sweden.
http://www.i3micro.com
http://www.hotsip.com

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Spain's Retecal Upgrades its IP/Optical Backbone with Nortel Networks

Nortel Networks announced the deployment of its Passport 8600 Routing Switches and OPTera Long Haul 1600 Optical Line System by Retecal, the cable telecom operator in Spain's Castilla-Leon region. Retecal is using the content intelligent capabilities of Nortel Networks Alteon Layer 4-7 Web Switching Module, integrated with Passport 8600, to accelerate Internet content access. Retecal is also using the Alteon Content Cache to improve content delivery on the information most frequently requested by end-users, which reduces traffic by off-loading repetitive tasks from servers. The OPTera DWDM platform expands the capacity of Retecal's optical backbone and enables it to implement virtual transport infrastructures for third-party carriers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com

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LDCOM Builds Momentum for DSL in France

One month after announcing DSL equipment contracts, LDCOM has activated its 5,000th line in France. Resellers include Clara.net, Nerim, Oreka, Maiaah!, ICT, 9 Online, 9 Telecom, Futur Telecom, Alphalink and Infonet. Services are currently available in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Bordeaux and Strasburg. Expansion to other cities in France is planned. LDCOM said it invested €50 million in its network in 2002 and plans a similar investment in 2003.
http://www.ldcom.fr

• LDCOM recently named Marconi as a key partner for its xDSL rollout in France. Marconi's Access Hub will be deployed throughout major cities. The company has already supplied 85 units and LDCOM is currently enhancing its capacity to respond to the expected growing customer demand.



• The Louis Dreyfus Communications Group (LDCOM) is a competitive carrier to France Telecom and operates an 11,000 km national fiber backbone.

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Level 3 Supplies Wholesale IP Transit to Claranet

Level 3 Communications was selected to provide Internet access service in London, Frankfurt and Paris to Claranet, one of the largest ISPs in Europe. Claranet serves more than one million residential and business customers throughout the UK, France, Germany and Spain. Level 3 will supply its wholesale IP transit service.
http://www.Level3.com

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Bell Canada Orders Lucent's AnyMedia Access for DSL Expansion

Lucent Technologies was awarded a multi-year contract to supply broadband access equipment in Bell Canada's networks. The deal includes the deployment of Lucent's AnyMedia Access System to enable Bell Canada to expand the availability of its DSL service and wireline voice networks throughout Ontario and Quebec. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.lucent.com

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telcoBlue Launches Dial Tone Via the Internet to Corporate Accounts

telcoBlue, a start-up VoIP carrier based in San Francisco, introduced a dial tone service for corporate accounts that promises significantly lower per minute charges than is possible over conventional long distance networks. telcoBlue supplies a multi-port Cisco ATA adapter that allows standard analog telephones and fax machines to connect to existing cable or DSL modems. Calls are then carried over telcoBlues's Internet Voice Network (IVN) without requiring any code entries, access numbers, or special instructions. Customers meeting certain volume minimums will receive the ATA 186 free of charge.
http://www.telcoblue.com

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Metromedia Fiber Network Launches GigE over Fiber Service

Metromedia Fiber Network announced a new Gigabit Ethernet service that runs over a private, direct fiber connection. MFN uses a pair of dedicated fiber strands to assure transport security. The company said its GigE service is designed to absorb usage bursts without latency to give customers the capability to meet high-bandwidth demands for mission critical, content-intensive and streaming media applications. Target customers include businesses currently using DS-3s or multiple T-1s.
http://www.mfn.com

• On May 20, 2002, Metromedia Fiber Network and most of its domestic subsidiaries entered voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

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