Verizon Endorses Principles of Open Internet, No New Regulations

Verizon Communications endorsed the principle of the Open Internet. The company is encouraging the FCC to adopt national broadband policies that ensure consumers will continue to have unlimited or "boundless" access to the Internet, no matter what underlying wireline technology they are using, said Tom Tauke, senior vice president for Public Policy & External Affairs at Verizon. Speaking at the Net Neutrality Conference sponsored by the Progress and Freedom Foundation, Tauke warned against turning such principles into new regulations. Verizon believes the FCC should ensure that all new broadband services brought to the market are placed in a "regulatory-free zone." Tauke argued that a competitive market will ensure that all content providers will be able to reach any Internet-connected customer without interference from software, hardware or access providers, regardless of affiliation.
http://www.verizon.com/newshttp://www.pff.org

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Support Grows for Advanced Switching Specification

Twenty more companies have joined the Arapahoe Work Group, an industry consortium developing the Advanced Switching specification. Advanced Switching is a switched interconnect and data fabric technology based on the PCI Express architecture for joining components and system boards in low-to-midrange communications and embedded applications. The PCI Express architecture, builds on the highly successful PCI standard, is designed as a general-purpose chip-to-chip interconnect technology.
It uses the same physical and link layers as the PCI Express architecture. However, at the transaction layer, Advanced Switching is optimized to provide an array of specialized communications features, including high-availability functions, peer-to-peer and multicast networking, congestion and system management, scalability, and support for virtually any networking protocol.


Intel said it plans to adopt the proposed Advanced Switching specification into a wide array of its communication products, including network and storage processors, Ethernet controllers and chipsets that support embedded Intel architecture.


New companies joining the Arapahoe Work Group include Agere Systems, Alcatel, Altera Corp., EMC Corp., Fujitsu Limited, Hitachi Ltd., Huawei Technologies, National Semiconductor, Nokia, Petalynx, OSE Systems, PMC-Sierra, Siemens AG, Sun Microsystems Inc., Synopsys Inc., TeraChip Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., Xyratex and ZettaCom..
http://www.intel.com
http://www.express-lane.org.

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Dell Promotes T-Mobile HotSpots

Dell will offer 2,000 free minutes of the T-Mobile HotSpot service to customers purchasing its notebook computers. There are now 2,600 T-Mobile HotSpots across the US in Starbucks coffeehouses, numerous airports and airline clubs, Borders Books and Music stores, and other locations.
http://www.dell.com

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Cisco Opens New Campus in Boxboro, Massachusetts

Cisco Systems opened a new campus in Boxborough, Massachusetts that will be used to consolidate various of its operations in New England, including its Development Engineering, Customer Advocacy, and other groups. The new Cisco facility comprises 350 acres of land in the Boxborough vicinity. It encompasses 430,000 square feet of office space and can accommodate up to 1,500 employees. In addition to the new facility, Cisco owns another 138-acre facility in Boxborough.
http://www.cisco.com

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Alcatel Releases Enterprise VoIP Assessment Tool

Alcatel released a new tool to help enterprises assess, monitor, and troubleshoot VoIP in their networks. The Alcatel Assessment for VoIP Solution (AVISO) uses a PC-based server to generate "QoS tickets" at the end of each call to an IP phone. The tickets are logged in a detailed report. The AVISO tool is platform-agnostic and supports multi-vendor voice and data networks.http://eservice.ind.alcatel.com/profservhome/

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Marvell Closes Acquisition of Radlan

Marvell closed its acquisition of Radlan Computer Communications, a provider of embedded communications software based in Israel. Marvell said its portfolio of networking chipsets combined with RADLAN's networking software uniquely positions the company to fuel the next wave of growth for its communications systems customers.
http://www.marvell.com

• In February 2003, Marvell first announced plans to acquire Radlan. Marvell, which previously owned 9% of Radlan, offered a combination of cash and shares of Marvell common stock valued at $49.7 million based on the 05-Feb-03 closing price of Marvell in exchange for the remaining outstanding shares of Radlan capital stock and employee stock options.

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Sun to Acquire Pixo for Java Content Server

Sun Microsystems will acquire Pixo, a start-up offering Java -based server software to manage the secure distribution and monetization of digital content for end users' mobile devices. Pixo's server software enables network operators and enterprises to centrally manage content, customize multiple subscriber interfaces and allow rapid downloads of secure digital content, including Java applications. It will also provide a consolidated platform to add, manage, market, download and bill for all types of wireless content regardless of where that content is physically located. The Pixo software will be offered in conjunction with Sun's recently announced mobility programs, which includes the Sun Developer Network Mobility Program, Business Mobility Initiative and Unified Testing Initiative for Wireless Java Applications. Financial terms of the all cash transaction were not disclosed.
http://www.sun.com
http://www.pixo.com/

• Pixo was founded in 1996 and was funded by Altos Ventures, BayPartners, ComVentures, Conexant and Hikari Tsushin. The company is based in San Jose, California.



• Pixo is headed by Dave Rothschild, an early employee of Netscape who served as Vice President of Netscape/AOL's Client Products.

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City Düsseldorf Builds a Wi-Fi Net with a Municipal Model

The German city of Düsseldorf selected Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems division to build a municipal Wi-Fi network. T-Systems is assembling the network, and T-Com will be running the relay stations. Düsseldorf's citizens and visitors will be able to access the city's website for free. General web surfing and emailing will require an ISP account. The city is inviting multiple ISPs and mobile operators to participate in the network. T-Online customers use their accustomed log-in data to access the Düsseldorf net, and the bill for the service will then appear on their regular phone invoices. The first 50 public access points will be up this summer.
http://www.t-systems.de/

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NTT Deploys Nortel Networks' OPTera for Fibre Channel Leased Lines

NTT Communications is deploying Nortel Networks' OPTera Metro 5200 DWDM systems to provide Fibre Channel leased lines and other services in metropolitan Tokyo. The NTT Com Gigaway service provides high-availability connectivity across a range of interfaces up to 10 Gbps. The service is used by ISPs, service providers and enterprises for private networks, remote back-up, disaster recovery, and other applications. The OPTera Metro 5200 is a protocol and bit-rate independent DWDM multiservice platform that delivers 32 wavelengths. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www..nortelnetworks.com

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FCC Joins FTC on Do Not Call List

The FCC will coordinate with the Federal Trade Commission on the implementation of a national do-not-call registry for consumers who wish to avoid telemarketing calls. The registry is nationwide in scope, includes all telemarketers (with the exception of certain non-profit organizations), and covers both interstate and intrastate telemarketing calls. Calls regarding political and religious speech will not be subject to the do-not call requirements.


The national database will be administered by the FTC. The FCC will not require states to discontinue the use of their own do-not-call lists once the national do-not-call registry goes into effect. A state may choose to implement a more restrictive do-not-call list for in-state telemarketing, but any names on the national list must also be included on the state-level do-not-call-list.
http://www.fcc.gov

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Department of Defense (DoD) Sets Sights on IPv6

The Department of Defense is ready to begin trials of equipment and applications based on IPv6 protocol within 30 days, said John Osterholz, director of architecture and interoperability for the Department of Defense, in a keynote address at the IPv6 Summit in San Diego. The DoD, which has an annual IT budget exceeding $30 billion, will focus its information resources to create "predictive battlespace awareness" that combines intelligence and operations technologies in a connected, real-time environment.


In a memorandum issued earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Defense adopted a new policy for the enterprise-wide deployment of IPv6. John Stenbit, the DoD's Chief Information Officer, stated that the achievement of net-centric operations and warfare, envisioned as a Global Information Grid of interconnected sensors and systems, depends on the effective implementation of IPv6. The DoD is planning for a complete transition from IPv4 to IPv6 by FY 2008. The memorandum orders that as of 01-October-2003 all equipment developed, procured or acquired be IPv6 capable. The memo is online.
http://www.defenselink.mil/nii/org/cio/doc/IPV6.pdf

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XO Offers 'Insurance' Policy for Global Crossing Restructuring

XO Communications issued a revised proposal for a bankruptcy restructuring of Global Crossing that would run in parallel with the company's current efforts to emerge from bankruptcy under the terms of its current Purchase Agreement with Singapore Technologies Telemedia. XO said it is making the new offer because of Global Crossing's deteriorating financial condition coupled with its pending request to extend, until mid-October, STT's exclusive rights to close a deal with Global Crossing. If approved, Global Crossing's request would prevent the bankrupt company from soliciting other potential offers - a circumstance that would likely prevent an alternative plan from being presented, approved, and consummated until the first quarter of 2004, at the earliest. XO worries that Global Crossing might run out of cash by that point. XO's new offer would provide Global Crossing with an alternative plan should the STT acquisition fail. Financial details are posted online.
http://www.xo.com

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Secure Optical Ethernet Connections Multiply into NYSE, AMEX

The Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC), the technology subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), has signed over 100 enterprise customers to access its Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure (SFTI) network. The milestone was reached less than two years after the events of September 11, 2001. SFTI uses designated access centers and a highly redundant infrastructure to offer firms physically and geographically diverse routing, thus reducing the likelihood of service-impacting outages. There are multiple data centers and numerous access centers in the New York, Boston and Chicago areas, interconnected by a fiber optic backbone comprised of Nortel Networks OPTera Metro 3500 Multiservice Platform devices. SIAC uses Nortel Networks' Optical Ethernet solution for access and its Passport 8600 Routing Switch to provide Layer 3 switching capabilities to both NYSE and AMEX. Network planners envision having 1,000 customers transferred to the new network by 2004. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nortelnetworks.com

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Broadcom Expands Wi-Fi Chip Portfolio

Broadcom announced three additions to its wireless LAN product portfolio: 802.11g and 802.11a/g USB 2.0 adapters, and a new wireless networking processor for secure 802.11a/g enterprise access point and router applications. Broadcom said the USB interface gives users the ability to easily add standards-compliant 802.11g and 802.11a/g to desktop systems without removing the PC chassis cover. USB 2.0 technology delivers 480 Mbps of bandwidth, which is necessary to support 54 Mbps wireless connections, while legacy USB 1.1 systems are capable of only 12 Mbps.


Broadcom's new network processor is the next-generation of its BCM4702 chip, which it describes as the most popular wireless network processor in the industry. The new model adds a network processing core that is capable of wire-speed Ethernet routing/bridging, as well as VPN termination on an integrated IPSec security acceleration engine.
http://www.broadcom.com

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Orative Receives $6 Million for Enterprise Mobile Telephony

Orative, a start-up based in Menlo Park, California, raised $6 million in its first round of venture capital financing to support its development of enterprise mobile telephony software. Product plans have not been disclosed. The investment came from Mayfield and Diamondhead Ventures.
http://www.orative.com

• Orative is headed by Paul Fulton, who previously was Executive in Residence at Mayfield. Prior to joining Mayfield, Fulton was Vice President and General Manager of 3Com's Wireless Division.

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Argonne National Lab Deploys CIENA's ONLINE Metro DWDM

Argonne National Laboratory, one of the U.S. Department of Energy's largest research centers, has deployed CIENA's ONLINE Metro DWDM platform in two separate networks. The first application is to provide OC-48 and OC-192 channels between the Laboratory located 25 miles southwest of Chicago, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in Champaign, Illinois and several other research and education institutions in the state. The second application is to provide OC-48/OC-192 links between locations in the TeraGrid and Illinois Wired/Wireless Infrastructure for Research and Education (I-WIRE) networks, including StarLight, a global experimental optical network exchange facility. Argonne is also using the ONLINE Metro platform to test Fibre Channel over SONET, as well as for experimenting with extended Ethernet transport solutions.
http://www.ciena.com

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Sorrento Networks to Acquire LuxN

Sorrento Networks agreed to acquire LuxN, a start-up provider of optical access solutions, for a combination of stock, warrants, and cash, including some of the cash currently held by LuxN. LuxN claims 25 customers, including Time Warner Telecom, Hawaii I-Net, Yipes Enterprise Services, and numerous universities for its optical access products, which combine CWDM and DWDM on the same platform. Warrants to purchase 400,000 shares of Sorrento will be issued to the Series A-1 Preferred stockholders of LuxN upon the completion of the transaction, which is expected to occur on or before 08-August-2003. Shares in Sorrento are currently trading at $2.62. Sorrento said its merger with LuxN is merely the first step in a growth strategy that includes expanding its product line breadth, adding new customers, and penetrating new markets.
http://www.sorrentonet.com
http://www.luxn.com

• LuxN was founded in 1999 and raised over $159 million in funding. Investors included Azure Capital Partners, Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity, E-TEK Dynamics, CommVest, Storm Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, U.S. Venture Partners, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Siemens. LuxN is based in Sunnyvale, California.

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Twentieth Century Fox and Shaw Enter Long-Term VOD Agreement

Twentieth Century Fox signed a long-term agreement to provide movies and other programming content for Shaw's Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Pay-Per-View (PPV) services. Shaw serves 2.9 million customers in Canada. Twentieth Century Fox is one of the first major Hollywood studios to partner with Shaw on these new services.
http://www.shaw.ca

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SMC Pushes Gigabit to the Desktop at $50 per Connection

SMC Networks announced two new 10/100/1000 Gigabit switches and a new 32-bit Gigabit Ethernet PCI network card at new price points for the industry. SMC's five and eight port EZ Switch 10/100/1000 will be available in July, and carry MSRPs of $134.99 and $194.99, respectively. The new EZ Card 1000 PCI network card has an MSRP of $29.99. The new products bring Gigabit Ethernet prices to just over $50 per connection MSRP.
http://www.smc.com

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FCC Sees Very Healthy Competition in Wireless

In its just released Eighth Annual Report on Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS), the FCC found the wireless industry is fundamentally competitive and delivering on the promise of greater service, more extensive coverage and lower prices. Highlights of the 2002 report include:

• the number mobile telephone subscribers in the U.S. rose from 128.5 million to 141.8 million, resulting in a nationwide penetration rate of roughly 49%
• 
  
  the mobile telephone sector generated more than $76 billion in revenue for 2002
• 
  
  more than 95% of the total U.S. population lives in counties with three or more different mobile telephone operators and 83% of the population has access to five or more mobile operators
• 
  
  digital mobile telephone services were used by approximately 88 percent of all mobile telephone subscribers at the end of 2002, up from 80 percent at the end of 2001
• 
  
  minutes-of-use per month averaged 427 between June and December 2002, an increase of 12 percent from 380 during the same period in 2001. Estimates for the decrease in the price of mobile telephone service during 2002 range from one to nine percent depending on the methodology employed.
• 
  
  while mobile data services generated only 1% percent of total industry revenue during 2002, an estimated 11.9 million, or 8%, of the 141.8 million mobile telephone subscribers at the end of 2002 subscribed to some type of mobile Internet service. An additional 2.3 million consumers subscribed to mobile Internet services on data-only mobile devices at the end of 2002. About 20% of all mobile telephone subscribers used text messaging services during Q4 2002.
• 
  
  As of March 2003, operators were offering services in at lease some parts of counties containing 265 million people, or 93% of the population

http://www.fcc.gov

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