NTT DoCoMo's i-mode Subscribers Surpass 40 million

NTT DoCoMo reported that total subscribers to its 2G and 3G i-mode mobile-internet service in Japan surpassed 40 million. The i-mode was first launched in February 1999.
http://www.nttdocomo.com

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MCI Poised to Emerge from Chapter 11

A U.S. bankruptcy court approved MCI's plan of reorganization, setting the stage for the company's emergence from Chapter 11. Michael D. Capellas, MCI chairman and CEO, said "as we see the industry fundamentals continue to shift, the future will be about the convergence of computing and telecommunications. And where these two worlds meet is where MCI will be."http://www.mci.com

• WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 21-July-2002.

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Bell Labs Builds Novel Semiconductor Laser Using Photonic Crystal

Researchers at Bell Labs have developed a novel semiconductor laser based on a photonic crystal that was made in collaboration with scientists from the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium, California Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Potential applications for the small, surface-emitting laser include advanced optical communications to sensitive chemical detectors. In particular, large arrays of devices might be produced on a single chip, each with its own designed emission properties.


Bell Labs said the development leverages its work in quantum cascade (QC) lasers, which are made by stacking many ultra thin atomic layers of standard semiconductor materials on top of each other. By varying the thickness of the layers, it is possible to select the particular wavelength at which a QC laser will emit light, allowing scientists to custom design a laser.


Unlike a QC laser, the new device uses a photonic crystal that enables it to emit photons perpendicular to the semiconductor layers, resulting in a laser that emits light through its surface. Photonic crystals are materials with repeating patterns spaced very close to one another, with separations between the patterns comparable to the wavelengths of light. When light falls on such a patterned material, the photons of light interact with it, and with proper design of the patterns, it is possible to control and manipulate the propagation of light within the material. Using an electron beam lithography facility at the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium, the researchers were able to superimpose a hexagonal photonic crystal pattern on the semiconductor layers that made the QC laser.


The research has been published on the Web by the journal Science.
http://www.lucent.com/press/1003/031031.nsa.htmlhttp://www.njnano.org

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Edgewater Expands its VoIP Customer Premise Portfolio

Edgewater Networks introduced a VoIP customer premise device that combines T1 CSU/DSU or E1 and an 8-port 10/100 Ethernet switch. The company said its new EdgeMarc 38T resolves NAT/Firewall traversal problems by providing a "voice-aware" firewall that supports SIP, MGCP, H.323 or SCCP to protect the enterprise LAN. It also combines sophisticated traffic management mechanisms including classification, prioritization, queuing, rate limiting and call admission control to ensure toll quality voice when using the same WAN link for both voice and data traffic. It includes the same Dynamic Access Control List functionality of the company's existing EdgeMarc Series appliances which automates the provisioning, configuration and management of VoIP endpoints at the CPE. Finally, the EdgeMarc 38T includes bi-directional passive voice call monitoring (MOS scoring) to produce speech quality assessment statistics that help enforce service level agreements and facilitate problem resolution of network induced voice quality problems. Edgewater Networks is based in Santa Clara, California.

Edgewater is using Psytechnics' non-intrusive voice quality measurement solution in its EdgeMarc Series product family.
http://www.edgewaternetworks.com

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Arianespace Transfers DIRECTV 7S Satellite to Sea Launch

Arianespace secured a Q1 2004 launch slot with Sea Launch for the DIRECTV 7S satellite. Arianespace said it negotiated a seamless transfer of the satellite to Sea Launch because delays in the DIRECTV 7S satellite manufacturing process created a scheduling conflict with a dedicated scientific mission on the Arianespace launch manifest. The DIRECTV 7S satellite is a high priority launch for DIRECTV as the spot-beam spacecraft is slated to serve 60 local television markets across the U.S.
http://www.arianespace.com

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Level 3 Expands Customer Agreement With United Online

Level 3 Communications was awarded a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract that extends and expands its relationship with United Online, a leading provider of value-priced Internet access services with 5.2 million active users, including 2.7 million paying subscribers. United Online operates the NetZero, Juno and BlueLight Internet consumer services . Under the deal, United Online will use Level 3's dial-up services in hundreds of U.S. cities. Financial terms were not disclosed. Level 3's (3)Connect Modem service is available on a per-port basis for a flat monthly fee or on a metered basis based on the total number of hours used. The monthly charge includes local dial-in numbers, complete network coverage for a specific region, modems to collect the incoming traffic, and managed routers. It also supports V.92.
http://www.level3.com

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Motorola Supplies 3G CDMA 2000 1X to Brazil's VIVO

Motorola's Global Telecom Solutions Sector (GTSS) has been chosen by VIVO, the largest cellular telephone carrier in South America, as its supplier of base stations and transmission equipment for its 3G CDMA 2000 1X network serving the north and center west regions of Brazil. The Motorola mobile infrastructure will service those regions in the VIVO coverage area, including the metropolitan regions of Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil; and Goiania, the cities of Anapolis and Caldas Novas, and the BR-060 highway that runs from Brasilia to Goiania. The system in Brasilia and Goiania has recently gone commercial, with the other regions following in the near future. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.motorola.com

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Airspan Introduces New 802.16 OFDM Platforms

Airspan Networks introduced two new broadband wireless products that operate at 3.5GHz and 5.8GHz.


The new AS4030 is Airspan's high-end point to multipoint (P-MP) platform designed for operators wishing to offer service bundles to medium and large businesses, and to multi-tenant dwellings that require considerable bandwidth for their end users. It can also be configured for a wide range of backhaul applications, including the ability to backhaul traffic from the ever-increasing number of public Wi-Fi Hot Spots being deployed in markets globally. The AS4030 can deliver dedicated IP connections to end customers at speeds of up to 45 Mbps, or 1-4 E1/T1s or combinations of IP and E1/T1 services. The AS4030 is based on 802.16 OFDM technology and can therefore allow operators to provide service in both line-of-sight (LOS) and full non line-of-sight (NLOS) deployments, covering distances of up to 50 kilometers. The product is also a full implementation of the new WiMAX 802.16 standard and delivers 5 bits/Hz over-the-air, setting new standards of spectral efficiency.


The new AS3030 is the point-to-point (P-P) version of AS4030 and delivers IP bit rates of up to 45 Mbps, or 1-4 E1/T1s or a combination of IP and E1/T1 spans. It also uses OFDM technology, which enables NLOS P-P links of up to 10km as well as LOS links of up to 80km. In a P-P configuration, AS3030 will be able to backhaul traffic from a network that uses AS4020 or WipLL products, or from networks using 802.11 Wi-Fi technologies.


Airspan is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida with its main operations center in Uxbridge, United Kingdom.
http://www.airspan.com

• In October 2002, Airspan Networks acquired the Marconi Communications (Israel) Limited, which operated the broadband wireless access business of Marconi known in the market as Wireless Internet Protocol Local Loop ("WipLL"). The purchase price of approximately $3 million in cash.

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Siemens Invests in Singapore's PurpleACE for Mobile Storage

Siemens Mobile Acceleration has made an equity investment in Singapore-based PurpleACE, a start-up developing a platform that enables mobile subscribers to deal with content in an entirely new way by extending the limited storage capacity of the devices. Subscribers can backup data from their mobile phones onto a network-based repository and also share their content with other users. Furthermore, MobileBAG enables "super-distribution" of content in a copyright protected environment. Subscribers could choose a piece of content, for example a game, add a personal message, and send it to friends and family. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.siemens.com
http://www.purpleace.com/

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NTT DoCoMo Develops FOMA Compact Flash Card

NTT DoCoMo has developed its first "FOMA" compact flash card, which will enable 3G videophone and other wireless data communication via PCs and PDAs. The card supports packet transmissions of up to 384 kbps for downlinks and 64 kbps for uplinks, as well as 64 kbps for circuit-switched data transmissions.

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Marconi and Appium Partner on Intelligent Network Services

Marconi is to integrate Appium software into its intelligent network (IN) platform allowing service providers to use industry-standard web development tools to create and deploy new Parlay-based services supporting the needs of teleworkers, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. Appium's Parlay X Gateway (Appium-XWay) features industry-standard web development tools. Marconi's IN Service Control Point (SCP) is deployed on the narrowband switch or softswitch layer of some of the largest service provider networks worldwide.
http://www.marconi.com
http://www.appium.com/

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SingTel's ADSL Network Tops 200,000

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) announced that the total number of users on its ADSL network (including those serviced by its wholesale customers) was 219,000 as at 30 September 2003, a 109% increase compared to a year ago. The company claims a 60% share of all broadband users in Singapore.
http://www.singtel.com

• In September 2003, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) decided not to submit a tender for the second Subscription Television Service (Pay TV) license in Singapore. The company said that after careful evaluation of the framework of the license, it concluded that "there is no viable and sustainable business case for SingTel to make the significant investment required to enter the Pay TV market in the current environment.�? Among the factors cited for not pursuing the second Pay TV license from the government were the size of the Singapore market, the well-entrenched position of the dominant incumbent, the availability and access to media content and the infrastructure and equipment costs.



• Instead of becoming a licensed Pay TV operator, SingTel remains keen to work with content providers to offer their video on-demand (VOD) programming in Singapore over its ADSL network. In 2001-2002, SingTel conducted an eight-month Interactive TV trial that provided participants with high-speed digital video programming as well as broadband Internet access. The company said it does not need a Pay TV license to provide video-on-demand and Interactive TV services.

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OIF Begins Work on Management Plane Support of Ethernet/SAN over SONET/SDH

At its recent meeting in Berlin, the Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF's) Carrier Working Group (WG) unanimously voted to begin a new Carrier Requirements document related to Management Plane Support of Ethernet/SAN over SONET/SDH. This document will enable cost-effective integration of intelligent optical control plane-based networks into carriers' operations infrastructures. The requirements will employ NMS/EMS interfaces such as the Telemanagement Forum's TMF 814 specification.


Other major developments at the OIF meeting include:

• the OIF's Physical and Link Layer (PLL) WG began a new tunable laser project. This project will extend the pre-existing industry standard 300-pin MSA for 10 Gigabit Optical Transponders to support tunable lasers. The benefit of this MSA, and tunable lasers in general, to system companies, service providers and their customers, is to simplify inventory management, enable faster introduction of wavelength-based services and reduce operational costs.



• Joe Berthold, vice president of network architecture at CIENA Corp., was re-named president of the OIF



• directors elected to an additional term include Tom Afferton, division manager at AT&T Labs, who continues as OIF's treasurer and secretary; Marco Carugi, senior advisor, advanced technology, CTO office at Nortel Networks; and Doug Zuckerman, senior scientist at Telcordia Technologies.

http://www.oiforum.com

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Broadwing Extends All-optical Core from Atlanta to Miami

The "new" Broadwing Communications, a fully consolidated subsidiary of Corvis Corp., lit approximately 1,200 additional all-optical route miles along the eastern coast of Florida, extending its all-optical core from Atlanta to Miami. Mark F. Spagnolo, Broadwing's CEO, described the expansion in Florida as "an important first step in the larger network investment plan drawn up by Broadwing's new owners."http://www.broadwing.com

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Comcast Adds 472,000 Cable Modem Subscribers in Q3

Citing strong growth in digital cable service and cable modem connectivity, Comcast reported quarterly cable revenue of $4.374 billion, representing an 8.4% increase over the $4.035 billion for the same period last year. On the one year anniversary of its merger with AT&T Broadband, the company said it has reversed the loss of cable subscribers to DBS, even in the former AT&T systems, made significant progress in its rebuilding program, and raised company-wide margins to 37%. Some highlights of the quarter:

• Cable Modems: Comcast added more than 472,000 new cable modem customers, representing an over 39% increase from last year's Q3. The Q3 growth rate accelerated over Q2. The company now has 4.9 million cable modem customers and is increasing its guidance for new accounts in 2003 from 1.6 million to 1.7 million net additions and expects to end the year with approximately 5.3 million customers, representing a penetration rate of 14.5%. More than 84% of the homes in Comcast's footprint, or over 33 million homes, now have access to high-speed Internet service. This represents the addition of over 1.3 million homes to the service's footprint during Q3. Subscriber growth during Q4 is expected to be driven by continuing increases in penetration, expansion of the service's footprint to 34 million homes, and expanded retail distribution to more than 4,000 retail outlets. ARPU was $42 and in line with the company's expectation. Comcast expects ARPU will hold at current levels.



• Telephony: quarterly telephony revenue declined by 11.5% to $189 million. There was a loss of 55,000 telephony subscribers in the quarter and as a result Comcast now expects to lose a total of 175,000 telephony customers for the full year 2003. Comcast said it continues to focus on the profitability of its telephony service. Margins are currently at 15% and the company is targeting 25% margins in 2004. Long term, the company is focusing on VoIP and is currently putting together a senior management team to lead a major push into this arena.



• Digital Cable: Comcast added over 318,000 Digital Cable subscribers to end the third quarter with 7.273 million Digital Cable subscribers, a pro forma increase of 16.6% over the same prior year period, representing a subscriber penetration rate of 34.0%.



• VOD: is now available to 31% of subscribers including in Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Los Angeles. VOD availability is expected to increase to over 50% of our subscribers by the end of this year. Comcast said it is very bullish on the future of VOD. Last week, the company received over one million VOD orders for pay-content and free-content in its Philadelphia market alone.



• HDTV: Comcast's deployment is ahead of schedule, having already reached the year-end goal to have HDTV available to 65% of our subscribers. Comcast now plans to have HDTV available to nearly 75% of subscribers by the end of this year. Over 24% of new HDTV customers are new to Comcast.



• DVRs: Comcast plans to roll out Digital Video Recorder (DVR) service beginning in the fourth quarter of 2003 and to have DVRs available to all of the Company's subscribers by the end of 2004. The DVR service will be priced at $9.95 per month.
  
  
• CAPEX: Spending totaled $1.045 billion as Comcast Cable completed the rebuild of over 14,800 miles of plant to end the quarter with nearly 92% of its footprint upgraded to provide two-way digital and high-speed Internet services. The systems acquired from AT&T Broadband are now 89% upgraded to deliver two-way digital cable and high-speed Internet service, up from 85% at June 30, 2003. By the end of the year, Comcast will have 95% of its network upgraded, 15% ahead of its original goal. This accelerated rebuild will be accomplished while maintaining the company's original capital expenditure guidance of $4 billion. Comcast expects to complete its network upgrade in 2004.



• Cash Flow and Net Debt: the company has paid down $5.3 billion in debt so far this year. Cash flow from the cable business exceeded $1.6 billion in Q3, a 35% increase over the prior year and operating cash flow margin continues to improve from 30% last year to 37% this quarter.

http://www.comcast.com

• In October 2003, Comcast, the largest MSO in the U.S., doubled the downstream speed of its residential cable modem service to 3 Mbps from 1.5 Mbps. The upgrade is provided at no additional cost to the end user. Upstream speeds will remain the same at 256 Kbps. The upgrade has occurred in 14 U.S. markets and will be expanded to all Comcast markets based on technical readiness.

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Conexant Report Revenue of $165 Million, up 9% Sequentially

Conexant Systems reported quarterly revenues of $164.7 million, up 9% over the prior quarter and up 24% over the same period last year. There was a pro forma operating profit of $6.7 million. Revenue from ADSL modem and satellite set-top box solutions, two key growth areas for the company, increased more than 30 percent sequentially.


Dwight W. Decker, Conexant chairman and CEO, said his company had "completed its strategic transformation from a broad-based communications semiconductor supplier into a family of focused companies serving distinct markets." During the quarter, Conexant shipped a record number of set-top box components and delivered record unit shipments of ADSL client-side modems. Combined, these two key product areas grew more than 30% sequentially and nearly 60% from the year-ago period.
http://www.conexant.com

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Global Knowledge Names New CEO

Global Knowledge, a provider of IT and network training courses, appointed Joseph W. Cece as its new president and CEO. Before joining Global Knowledge, Cece served as the CEO of BTI Telecom Corp., a Raleigh, N.C.-based telecommunication provider that recently merged with West Point, Ga.-based ITC DeltaCom. Prior to his tenure at BTI, Cece held executive management positions at Digital Access, Suburban Cable, Cablevision Systems Corp. and TV Guide. Global Knowledge is owned by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a New York investment firm.
http://www.globalknowledge.com

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Alcatel Delivers 4.3 million DSL lines in Q3

Alcatel reported Q3 sales of EUR 3.039 billion, compared to EUR 3.149 billion in Q2 2003. Year over year, sales decreased by 13% (6% at constant exchange rate). Income from operations amounted to EUR 160 million, while net loss was registered at EUR 284 million or diluted EUR (0.23) per share (US$ (0.27) per ADS). Some highlights of the quarter:

• Fixed communications: Q3 revenue decreased sequentially by 4.6% to EUR 1.341 million. The company cited a strong demand for broadband access, particularly in the U.S. market, during the quarter. A total of 4.3 million DSL lines were delivered in the quarter (10 million shipped in the first nine months versus 5 million in the first nine months of 2002). Alcatel also said its IP services offering is gaining a foothold following the acquisition of TiMetra, while ATM sales were weak for the quarter. Voice networks were adversely affected by the usual seasonality and the activity in both terrestrial and submarine optical networks declined. This mitigated the good performance of broadband access. Significant restructuring continues in the optical network division.



• Mobile communications: Q3 revenue decreased sequentially by 2.3% to EUR 815 million. Mobile networks turned in a good performance in the quarter and continued to gain market share. In addition to ongoing 2G sales, a ramp-up in 3G sales was registered during the quarter. In mobile applications, commercial successes were recorded in convergent payment applications (voice/data and prepaid/postpaid) as well as next generation data messaging software (MMS, MMS premium and instant messaging). Mobile phones continued to be weak with 1.5 million phones delivered during the quarter.



• Private communications: Q3 revenue decreased sequentially by 3.7% to EUR 975 million compared with EUR 1.012 billion. The IP/PBX business enjoyed an increase in demand in Europe. Genesys' contact center software business also continued to turn in a good performance. The rail communication and control business also saw increasing demand in signaling networks for main line and urban rail systems and was a significant contributor to the quarter. The overall strategy to develop outsourcing services for carriers began to pay off during the quarter. The segment's gain was offset by a decline in space revenues, which is attributable to timing effects stemming from the lumpiness of that business. However, order intake for the space business continued to be satisfactory.



• Gross margins: improved to 35.6% , up 4% sequentially and up 8% compared to last year



• Headcount: ended Q3 with 69,000 employees worldwide, compared to 84,000 at the same time last year. Total headcount is expected to be about 60,000 at the end of the year.



• 2004 Outlook: Alcatel said it plans to focus on growth drivers in the carrier market; develop its enterprise business; and develop a complete "solutions approach" for systems integration.



• Serge Tchuruk, Chairman and CEO, said "We are pleased to see third quarter results confirm encouraging indications of our return to profitability. Continuing cost savings and gross margin improvements have translated into reaching our EUR 3 billion quarterly sales breakeven target ahead of schedule."

http://www.alcatel.com

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Avaya to Purchase One of its Largest Resellers

Avaya announced an agreement to acquire Expanets, one the nation's largest provider of converged communications for mid-sized businesses, for $152 million in cash, less certain working capital adjustments and liabilities. Expanets, which is a subsidiary of Northwestern Corporation, is one of the largest resellers of Avaya's products in the U.S. Expanets delivers local service and solutions through its team of more than 3,000 associates based in more than 100 offices throughout the country.
http://www.avaya.com
http://www.expanets.com

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CIENA's Metro Networking Granted RUS Acceptance by USDA

CIENA's metro networking solutions have been granted Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Acceptance status by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This enables independent telephone and utility companies to obtain low-interest financial assistance from the Rural Utilities Service for the purchase and deployment of CIENA's ONLINE Metro and MetroDirector K2 multiservice platforms in order to help bring broadband services and Internet access to rural areas of the United States.
http://www.ciena.com

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