FCC to Consider VoIP 911, Universal Service Fund Next Week

During its Open Meeting on May 19th, the FCC will consider two critical issues:

• Proposed rules and E911 requirements for IP-enabled service providers



• a comprehensive review and proposed rules on the Universal Service Fund (USF).

http://www.fcc.gov

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Deutsche Telekom Reaches 6.7 Million DSL Users

Deutsche Telekom added 600,000 DSL lines in Q1 2005, bringing its total number of DSL subscribers to 6.7 million. In Germany, the company now has 6.4 million DSL lines, of which 500,000 are resold by competitors. T-Online has also positioned itself as a full-package DSL provider in Germany since February 1, 2005 by marketing the DSL line together with an Internet access and hardware components.


Some additional highlights from Q1:

• Deutsche Telekom's net revenue increased by 3.5% year-on-year, from EUR 13.9 billion to EUR 14.4 billion. Group EBITDA was up 6.3%, from EUR 4.6 billion to EUR 4.9 billion compared with prior-year quarter.



• Revenue in the Broadband/Fixed Network segment decreased; however, the decline in the loss of market share in the local and national long-distance markets slowed down.



• The total number of telephone lines (including ISDN channels) is now 56.6 million, down from 57.9 million a year earlier.



• The number of mobile subscribers rose by a further 1.5 million during Q1, around 1.0 million of which were recorded at T-Mobile USA, giving the company a total of 78.9 million mobile customers across its various groups.

http://www.telekom.de

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Packet8 Extends its E911 Availability

Packet8 announced that the Enhanced 911 (E911) service it offers its VoIP and videophone subscribers is now available in 2,024 rate centers covering 43 U.S. states. Launched nearly one year ago with support from NENA, the National Emergency Number Association, 8x8's E911 service automatically routes calls and computer-based "screen pops" of caller information to emergency personnel at local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs).


The company said that unlike "911" services marketed by some other VoIP providers, whereby a call to 911 is intercepted by the VoIP provider and forwarded to a regular, non-emergency telephone number, Packet8's E911 call is routed as 911 emergency traffic and is accompanied by caller information.
http://www.8x8.com
http://www.nena.org

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Cegetel and neuf to Merge

Citing the need for critical mass in the highly competitive French market, neuf Telecom (formerly LDCOM) announced plans to merge with Cegetel's fixed line division. The combination would create France's second-largest fixed-line telecommunications operator with annual turnover of EUR 2.8 billion ($3.6 billion) this year.


As of the end of March, neuf telecom had 540,000 ADSL customers.
Cegetel currently has about 338,000 ADSL customers. The other major players in the competitive French broadband market include Iliad's Free with 1.21 million ADLS customers, incumbent France Telecom with 3.43 million customers, Tiscali, Club Internet, AOL and Tele2. In the competitive market, 8 Mbps services are currently offered for EUR 15 per month.


The new Neuf Cegetel aims to have more than 4 million residential customers, including 2 million ADSL lines, by 2007. The combined company will offer "quadruple" play services, including Internet access, VoIP, TV-over-DSL and Wi-Fi access, over an ADSL2+ network. The company also aims to capture 20% of the enterprise market by 2007 and to become the leading provider of wholesale services.


Both Cegetel and neuf operate their own national fiber networks, each exceeding 22,000 km.
http://www.cegetel.frhttp://wwww.neuf.com

• In January 2005, neuf telecom passed a major milestone in delivering broadband services throughout France with the deployment of a network connecting 3,000 cities in 18 months.



• In November 2004, neuf launched neuf TV, a digital-quality TV over DSL service offering over 70 channels. The company will shortly be launching ADSL2+ services.



• Alcatel is a supplier of DSL equipment to neuf and Cegetel.



• neuf telecom is using Cisco equipment for the extension and expansion of its network to support local loop unbundling and to facilitate triple-play over ADSL to residential customers. Cisco's 7600 Series routers, Catalyst 3000 Series switches and Cisco IOS network infrastructure software are used to provide the QoS-enabled multi-service network, supporting intelligent video distribution using dynamic multicast.



• In September 2004, Redback Networks announced neuf's deployment of its next-generation SmartEdge platform. The shift to the SmartEdge platform represents an evolution from neuf's existing Redback SMS 10000SL broadband subscriber management systems.

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UTStarcom Unveils VoIP CPE

UTStarcom unveiled a family of customer premise equipment (CPE) for both the residential and enterprise markets, including VoIP analog telephony adapters (ATA), integrated access devices (IADs), ADSL gear, and multi-function gateways. The new lineup includes:

• VoIP Analog Terminal Adapters (ATAs) that offer two FXS voice ports, each supporting a separate, independent phone number; call control provided via Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) or Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP); and a PSTN Lifeline.




• A VoIP Gateway designed for the interconnection of legacy equipment at enterprises, regional offices, hotels, campuses, and apartment buildings. The call control is provided via SIP or MGCP. Three models are offered -- eight VoIP ports; 16 VoIP ports; and 32 VoIP ports. The VoIP ports can be FXO ports for connecting to an existing PBX or PSTN network.




• UTStarcom's ADSL CPE supports both full-rate ADSL (8 Mbps downstream / 1 Mbps upstream) and G.lite (1.5 Mbps downstream / 512 Kbps upstream). UTStarcom's CPEs; remote management and firewalls;



• new Multi-Function Bundled CPE designed for residential, small-sized LAN, and SOHO customers. These offer multi-mode ADSL2/2+ modems with four Ethernet LAN ports and integrated 802.11b/g Wireless LAN capability.

Primus Telecommunications has selected UTStarcom's iAN-02EX VoIP Analog Terminal Adapter (ATA) solution for use with its Lingo broadband phone service.
http://www.utstar.com

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Microsoft Offers Wi-Fi Protected Access 2

Microsoft added support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). WPA2 confirms that a PC's wireless software is compatible with the IEEE 802.11i security standard. Building on the protections of the earlier Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) specification, the new Wi-Fi Alliance standard offers the advanced data encryption mandated by the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 specification, by which many government agencies and enterprises must abide. WPA2 also helps healthcare organizations meet the privacy requirements for personal medical information required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).


In addition, the software update adds support for Wireless Provisioning Services Information Element (WPS IE). WPS IE allows wireless Internet service providers (ISPs) to migrate to secure Wi-Fi hot spots by enabling support for both unsecured and secured Wi-Fi networks on a single network infrastructure during the migration.
http://www.microsoft.com

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Bell Canada to appeal CRTC VoIP decision

Bell Canada will appeal the decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to regulate prices for VoIP services provided by Canada's established phone companies, including Bell.


Canada is the first major industrialized nation to regulate retail rates for Internet telephony.


Bell Canada said it was unfair that only VoIP services offered by incumbent local telephone companies such as Bell to be price regulated, while others, such as the large incumbent
cable companies, will be free to offer services and bundles unencumbered by price regulation.


"IP is a disruptive technology that is changing the telecom
industry and the way it enables the Canadian economy. The Commission has misunderstood this new competitive paradigm in what may turn out to be an historic mistake with significant consequences," said Lawson Hunter, Executive Vice-President and Chief Corporate Officer, BCE and
Bell Canada. "There is no incumbency in VoIP," concluded Mr. Hunter. "In a new market where barriers to entry are virtually non-existent, no one - including foreign companies - should have a regulatory advantage."http://www.bell.ca"IP is a disruptive technology that is changing the telecom
industry and the way it enables the Canadian economy. The Commission has misunderstood this new competitive paradigm in what may turn out to be an historic mistake with significant consequences," said Lawson Hunter, Executive Vice-President and Chief Corporate Officer, BCE and
Bell Canada. "There is no incumbency in VoIP," concluded Mr. Hunter. "In a new market where barriers to entry are virtually non-existent, no one - including foreign companies - should have a regulatory advantage."

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Canada to Regulate VoIP as a Local Service

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled that VoIP should be regulated when used as a local telephone service. The CRTC said its overall aim is to create regulatory conditions that allow competition to grow. As each telecommunications market becomes sustainably competitive, CRTC would then refrain -- or forbear -- from regulating that market. Ultimately, the CRTC aims to eliminate price regulation in local telephone service, including VoIP, in Canada.


"We believe that VoIP represents a key moment in the evolution of local exchange telephone services," said Charles Dalfen, Chairman of the CRTC. "This is precisely the moment when Canada needs a regulatory framework that will provide the quickest road to competition."


The decision also means that the CRTC will not regulate computer-to-computer (peer-to-peer) VoIP services which reside solely on the Internet.


Some key parts of Canada's VoIP regulatory framework:

• VoIP Service Provider Registration: All local VoIP service providers that are not operating as Canadian carriers are to register with the Commission as resellers, as a condition of obtaining services from a Canadian carrier or other telecom service provider (TSP).




• Numbers and LNP: All LECs providing local VoIP services are required to implement and follow local number portability (LNP) requirements. Local VoIP resellers, like resellers of circuit-switched services, are able to obtain numbers and number portability from any number of LECs in the marketplace, and are not unduly constrained by the lack of direct access to either. VoIP service resellers would be permitted to obtain numbers directly from the Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA).




• Directory Listing: ILECs are required to provide complete directory listings to each subscriber. CLECs are required to provide the telephone numbers of their subscribers to the ILECs for that purpose. Given the Commission's determination that local VoIP services should be regulated as local exchange services, the Commission considers that the same reasons for requiring ILECs to provide a comprehensive directory of local telephone numbers in each local calling area, and for requiring CLECs to provide their local listings to ILECs for that purpose, apply in the case of local VoIP services. The Commission does not consider that there is anything specific to local VoIP services that would justify modifying the existing rules for ILECs and CLECs, nor does it consider that there is anything specific to local VoIP services to justify imposing new obligations, either on local VoIP resellers or on ILECs, with respect to local VoIP service providers' directory listings.




• Equal Access to Networks: An equal access obligation was originally applied to ILECs in order to ensure that competitive IXCs would be able to provide services to their customers on the same footing as the incumbent IXCs. The Commission later extended the equal access obligation to CLECs to prevent limiting competition through exclusive agreements between CLECs and IXCs. A number of parties to this proceeding submitted that equal access should not be required in a VoIP environment, arguing that a dissatisfied VoIP customer could choose from another VoIP provider, or could subscribe to a circuit-switched offering, in order to obtain more satisfactory service. The Commission considers that maintaining the equal access obligation on LECs providing VoIP service is consistent with the principle of technological neutrality. In the Commission's view, it would be inappropriate to relieve LECs offering local VoIP service from providing equal access when their circuit-switched competitors are subject to the obligation. Indeed, as ILECs are migrating their circuit-switched networks to IP, to relieve them of their equal access obligation with respect to local VoIP services, would allow them ultimately to abandon the obligation entirely. The Commission considers that the possibility of a LEC conferring undue or unreasonable preference with respect to access to its networks continues to be a valid concern and further considers that consumers should continue to have options by being able to select IXCs, when selecting VoIP service from a LEC. Accordingly, the Commission determines that the existing equal access obligation will apply to LECs providing VoIP services.




• Customer Winback Rules: The Commission has considered winback rules to be necessary and appropriate to prevent anti-competitive behaviour from ILECs. The Commission considers that, absent the winback rules, the ILECs could use their incumbency advantages to win back local VoIP customers as they could use to win back circuit-switched customers. However, the Commission ruled that it is not necessary to apply winback rules for VoIP services to cable incumbents.




• Access for the Disabled: The Commission ruled that VoIP service providers should address issues regarding accessibility for the disabled to IP services and ensure that applications and technologies are being developed. However, it views these as important issues which require further investigation and is seeking public input.




• Access for Hearing Impaired: The Commission concludes that local VoIP service offerings must function with the existing Message relay service (MRS) system and the related TTY equipment. MRS allows hearing-impaired subscribers to communicate with others connected to the PSTN by providing operator intermediation. A hearing person who wishes to communicate with a hearing-impaired person dials a toll-free number to be connected to an operator who contacts the hearing-impaired user and relays the communication using a teletypewriter (TTY). Conversely a hearing-impaired person, with a TTY, contacts a hearing person through the relay operator by dialing 711.




• Consumer Privacy: All the existing regulatory requirements designed to protect customer privacy apply to all local VoIP service providers, to the extent technically feasible. The Commission directs all LECs to comply with these requirements, to the extent feasible, and as a condition of providing telecommunications services to local VoIP service providers, to include in their contracts or other arrangements with the service provider, the requirement that the latter make the privacy safeguards in question available to consumers, to the extend technically feasible.




• ILEC VoIP Tariffs: When ILECs provide local VoIP services in their incumbent territories, they are required to adhere to their existing tariffs or to file proposed tariffs as appropriate, in conformity with applicable regulatory rules.




• Non-dominant Carriers: To provide local exchange services in Canada, non-dominant Canadian carriers must fulfill the requirements of a CLEC.




• Contribution to Subsidize Rural Phone Service: Revenues associated with VoIP services are contribution-eligible.




• VoIP over Unbundled Loops: DSL service providers that are not CLECs and that obtain unbundled loops, connecting links and co-location from the ILECs, are now permitted to provide VoIP services, in addition to retail Internet service.




• Equivalent quality of service: VoIP competitors petitioned the Commission asking that any quality of service enhancements introduced by the ILECs and cable carriers in their capacity as the underlying Internet access provider, such as packet prioritization, should be made equally available to all VoIP service providers, on an unbundled basis. The Commission considers that VoIP service providers should be encouraged to develop their own quality of service improvements and capabilities, which can best be provided through facilities-based competition or through a service provider subscribing to TPIA or an unbundled loop. The Commission considers that mandated unbundling of quality of service improvements available from broadband providers would result in competitors having less incentive to invest in order to provide their own managed VoIP service. The Commission further considers that ISPs, DSL service providers and CLECs have the ability to offer their own forms of managed VoIP service through TPIA, DSL over unbundled loops, wholesale high-speed IS or through facilities-based competition.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2005/r050512.htmhttp://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-28.htm

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Bay Microsystems Wins 40 Gbps Federal Contract

Bay Microsystems was awarded a follow-on contract with the U.S. federal government to provide 40 Gbps technology used in the government's global mission-critical secure broadband network. Bay has been delivering full-line rate 10 Gbps system solutions to the U.S. Government for more than two years and is continuing its Advanced Network Projects for device technology and network element development. This new business is expected to generate several times more revenue than the previous multi-million dollar contract announced last year.


Chuck Gershman, President and CEO of Bay Microsystems, stated, "Our silicon and associated collapsed edge gateway solutions are being vetted through the most demanding broadband network in the world."http://www.baymicrosystems.com

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Optical Internetworking Forum Conducts Global Interoperability Event

The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) confirmed the participation of 13 leading equipment vendors in its second OIF Worldwide Interoperability Demonstration. This year's optical interoperability event began last month at seven carrier host locations. Preliminary testing of a wide spectrum of devices includes routers, multi-service provisioning platforms, SONET/SDH cross-connects, optical switches, optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs) and reconfigurable OADMs (ROADMs).





The seven carrier members hosting the OIF Worldwide Interoperability Demonstration include AT&T, China Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, NTT Laboratories, Telecom Italia and Verizon. The carrier hosts are providing test facilities, engineering staff and real-world network connectivity continuously from mid-April through mid-June. The vendors are on-site at the carrier lab locations establishing connections and building regional networks. When regional connectivity is complete and evaluated the event will culminate in a live, global real-time network test.


The testing is focused on the integration of a distributed optical control plane with Ethernet over SONET/SDH adaptation using GFP-F, VCAT and LCAS. The test of a distributed control plane marks the first test of its kind that explores the technical issues of multi-layer signaling and routing in such a network.






"This test is significant because it validates the work taking place in the OIF," said Jonathan Sadler of Tellabs, and OIF Architecture and Signaling Working Group chair. "Ethernet is important, the service providers have the SONET/SDH core; they want to offer Ethernet using the fiber/network already in place. This capability will enable them to offer more services and keep costs down."


Participating companies include Alcatel, Avici Systems, Ciena, Cisco Systems, Fujitsu, Huawei, Lambda OpticalSystems, Lucent Technologies, Mahi Networks, Marconi, Nortel, Sycamore Networks and Tellabs.


Navtel Communications is supplying test equipment for the test.
http://www.oiforum.com

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Toshiba's Triple-layer HD DVD-ROM Offers 45 GB

Toshiba is developing a triple-layer HD DVD-ROM with a data capacity of 45 gigabytes, 50% more than the 30-gigabyte dual-layer HD DVD-ROM disc already announced. A single disc could record up to twelve hours of high-definition movies.


Toshiba also announced a double-sided, dual-layer hybrid ROM disc comprised of dual-layer HD DVD-ROM side and dual-layer DVD-ROM side. The hybrid disc can store 30GB of high-definition content on the HD DVD-ROM side and 8.5GB of standard-definition content on the DVD-ROM dual layer side.


Memory-Tech Corporation, Japan's largest independent disc replicator, has confirmed the new 45GB and hybrid discs can be produced on their existing manufacturing lines and equipment, which are tailored to produce HD DVD discs, with only minor additional investment and minimum additional production cost per disc.


Toshiba presented its innovations at this week's Media-Tech Expo 2005 in Las Vegas. http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2005_05/pr1002.htm

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Tiscali Italia Deploys Nortel's Metro Optical

Tiscali Italia has completed an extensive deployment of metro optical networking gear from Nortel across Italy. The first phase deployment, covering more than 300 Italian cities, began in October 2004 and is now complete. The second phase deployment is expected to be complete in 2006. The optical network aggregates the IP-DSLAMs that are being used over unbundled local loops to deliver ADSL2-based services to consumers and businesses. Key components of the new optical network deployed by Tiscali include Nortel's Optical Metro 5000 series and Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nortel.com
http://www.tiscali.com

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Yahoo! Launches its Music Subscription Service

Yahoo! announced the beta availability of its new music subscription service. The company will charge 4$.99 per month for an annual subscription, or $6.99 on a monthly basis, to allow consumers to play tunes from a catalog of more than one million songs, transfer tracks to portable devices, as well as share music with friends through Yahoo! Messenger. Users can also download, purchase and permanently own songs for $0.99 per track.


Yahoo! Music Unlimited uses the WMA format and Windows Media Digital Rights Management 10 (WM DRM 10).

http://music.yahoo.com

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CyOptics Raises $24 Million, Closes TriQuint Acquisition

CyOptics, a supplier of optical chips and components, raised an additional $24 million in equity and debt financing in its Series F funding round. Major equity participants in the latest round include JVP (Jerusalem Venture Partners), Sprout Group, TowerBrook Capital Partners (formerly Soros Private Equity Partners), and EURfund. This announcement comes just eight months after CyOptics closed its Series E round, which totaled $10.3 million.


CyOptics also announced the closure of its acquisition of TriQuint's optoelectronics operations in Pennsylvania and Matamaros, Mexico. The transaction was valued at approximately $23.5 million including a combination of cash, equity and seller financing.
http://www.cyoptics.com

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Swisscom Selects Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System

Swisscom will deploy Cisco Systems' CRS-1 carrier routing systems Cisco IOS(XR software at all core and aggregation PoPs throughout Switzerland interconnected by 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN links. The new core network will support Swisscom's launch of triple-play services in 2005. Swisscom aims to achieve an eight-times increase in traffic handling capacity to create a platform capable of handling both fixed and mobile services in the future, as well as scaling to meet the company's growth targets over the next five years.


"Even if future services are not yet fully modeled, one thing is for sure. As a consequence of technological developments, reduction of production costs and the penetration of IP multimedia services, an explosion of bandwidth in the local loop will take place. Our basic network infrastructure will anticipate this demand in terms of capacity, quality of service and reliability. A reliable and high-bandwidth core will be critical for our success," stated Patrice Haldemann, Head of Network Development and Operations, Swisscom Fixnet.
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.swisscom-fixnet.ch

• Swisscom selected Alcatel's Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) product family to deliver enhanced Triple Play services to its customers in Switzerland. Swisscom plans to deliver IPTV services by the second half of 2005. With this contract, Alcatel remains the sole supplier of Swisscom's broadband access network.



• Microsoft has previously announced Swisscom/Bluewin as a customer of its IPTV platform.



• As of year-end 2004, Swisscom reported 802,000 DSL subscribers, of which 490,000 are Bluewin retail customers and 312,000 customers of other ISPs.

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Fiberlink to Integrate Skype into Enterprise Mobile Access Software

Fiberlink Communications plans to bundle Skype's telephony with its Extend360 mobile access software and offer it as a value-added service to its enterprise customers. In addition to this new service offering, Extend360 will ensure higher levels of security during Skype peer-to-peer transactions, protecting against security threats.


Fiberlink offers trusted and secure mobile solutions for enterprise users seeking access to network-based resources from anywhere in the world.

http://www.fiberlink.com
http://www.skype.com

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Zetera Outlines Vision for Personal Network Drives

Zetera, a start-up based in Irvine, California, outlined its vision for "Personal Network Drives" that will be needed in home multimedia networks to meet the storage needs of the digital lifestyle. As the digital revolution continues, Zetera believes storage will take center stage. With a single MP3-encoded song occupying about 4 Megabytes (MB) and a typical DVD-video occupying almost 5 Gigabytes (GB), consumers require more storage than ever. High definition (HD) video will stretch the envelope much further.


Zetera's vision of the Personal Network Drive includes the following:

• 1. Personal Network Drives must connect directly to the network router, switch, hub or wireless access point/router, making digital content available to any user regardless of the status or activities of other PCs on the network. Directly connecting Personal Network Drives to the network ensures there are no bottlenecks between the user and their digital content.



• 2. Personal Network Drives should appear to the user as additional local disk drives with drive letters. Consumers have been conditioned to access digital content stored on a drive letter ("C" drive) or a My Documents folder, and should be able to do the same with shared storage. To the user, Personal Network Drives appear, behave and are managed in the same fashion as a local disk drive with its own drive letter, simplifying access to data and management of software settings.



• 3. Personal Network Drives should provide enough performance to stream multiple DVD-quality movies simultaneously, and users should be able access digital content from multiple devices simultaneously. Personal Network Drives must be able to accommodate delivery of DVD-quality video, MP3 music and miscellaneous business applications simultaneously.



• 4. Personal Network Drives should enable capacity expansion by adding capacity to existing disk drives and without changing software settings. Users should be able to add storage capacity without changing software settings. Personal Network Drives enable users to add storage devices to any empty network port and allocate additional storage to existing volumes.



• 5. Personal Network Drives should provide access control to protect sensitive files. Users need to be able to share public content and keep privates files out of reach of other network users. Personal Network Drives enables users to allocate storage for public ("shared") or private use.



• 6. Personal Network Drives must protect digital content and critical files without additional software or user intervention. Digital content should be protected in the event of hard disk failure. Personal Network Drives provide users with the option of local or remote, continuous backup ("mirroring") to protect digital content and precious files.

http://www.zetera.com

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BroadLight Signs Asian Distributors for PON

BroadLight announced an extensive network of distributors in China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan for its PON solutions. The companies that have been selected include Cytech Technology Ltd. in China, Rikei in Japan, ILDO Technology in Korea, EDOM Technology Co., Ltd. in Taiwan and Maxmega Electronics Pte., Ltd in Singapore and India.

"The PON market in Asia is expected to grow dramatically over the next few years as fiber becomes the broadband technology of choice," said Andy Vought, CEO of BroadLight. "http://www.broadlight.com

• Huawei Technologies is using BroadLight's end-to-end PON chips for its optical access gear. The selection includes BroadLight's ITU-T PON controllers, transceivers and software for use in new Huawei PON products that are expected to ship in volume throughout the world.

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Occam Rolls Out ADSL2Plus Features, Bonding Supports 48 Mbps Downstream Rates

Occam Networks enhanced its BLC 6000 System with a software upgrade that adds support for several new ADSL2Plus features, including bonding, Annex M, Annex L and Seamless Rate Adaptation (SRA). The new ADSL2Plus software features are based on the Broadcom BladeRunner chipset and include the following:

• ADSL2Plus bonding: Bonding provides the ability to bond or combine two ADSL2Plus channels to deliver a single high-speed data stream over a DSL line. This data stream provides an aggregate data rate of more than 48 Mbps. Bonding increases the number of subscribers who can receive IP TV service in a Telco's customer service area (CSA) area by 50 to 100%. Occam ADSL2Plus bonding complies with the January 2005 ITU G.998.1 (G.bond-ATM) standard and is the first standards-based implementation available for commercial use. It is compatible with the Comtrend NexusLink Residential Gateway (model number CT-5622).



• ADSL2Plus Annex M: Annex M doubles upstream data rates. With this new feature, Telcos can create and offer business subscribers an approximately 2.5 Mbps symmetrical data service providing with businesses a low-cost alternative to T1 or G.SHSDL data services. This feature can be implemented from the BLC 6000 on a port-by port basis without any additional hardware for delivering symmetrical service. Annex M can be combined with the ADSL2Plus bonding feature to enable Telcos to offer standards-based Ethernet over Copper services in bandwidth increments of 2.5Mbps. ADSL2Plus Annex M is significantly more ADSL2Plus binder compatible than G.SHDSL, creating less cross talk and resulting in more stable connections. It is compatible with a variety of ADSL2- and ADSL2Plus-compliant modems, including Thomson SpeedTouch and Comtrend Corporation modems.



• ADSL2Plus Annex L: Annex L, also known as Reach Extended ADSL, extends DSL line reach, making it possible for Telcos to offer DSL service to subscribers who are more than 18,000 feet from the BLC 6000 System. Occam ADSL2Plus Annex L is a true standards-based implementation of the protocol, which eliminates binder incompatibilities found in proprietary solutions. It is compliant with a broad range of ADSL2- and ADSL2Plus-compliant modems.



• ADSL2Plus Seamless Rate Adaptation (SRA): SRA software allows modems to make seamless data transfer rate changes to avoid dropping a connection. Modems are affected by cross talk from adjacent lines, as well as by other interference such as temperature changes and radio signals. Any interference on the connection can cause a modem to retrain on another connection and drop the existing connection. SRA makes dynamic data transfer rate changes to accommodate temporary noise conditions on the line thus preventing dropped connections. Occam ADSL2Plus SRA is compatible with a wide range of ADSL2- and ADSL2Plus-compliant modems, including Thomson SpeedTouch and Comtrend Corporation modems.

These features are available on all Occam BLC 6000 ADSL2 / ADSL2Plus and combination POTS and ADSL2 / ADSL2Plus blades.


Other new features in Version 4.3 of the Occam BLC System Software include expanded support for the PPP Multilink Protocol (MLPPP) in copper-fed remote terminals and the recently announced Emergency Stand Alone (ESA) system. Expanded support for MLPPP enables Telcos to provide data and voice over IP (VoIP) service to subscribers who are served from copper-fed remote terminals in which fiber cannot be installed. With the ESA system the BLC 6000 is the first broadband loop carrier to provide E-911 and local station-to-station calling during network or equipment failures.


The new software is currently in field tests and is expected to be available in early July 2005. http://www.occamnetworks.com

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Boingo Signs Roaming Deal with Connexion by Boeing

Boingo has signed a Wi-Fi roaming agreement with Connexion by Boeing that provides access on all of the flights equipped with the company's high-speed Internet and data service. Boingo now provides roaming access more than 17,000 hot spots at restaurants, hotels and airports as well as an expanding number of international -- and soon U.S. domestic -- flights.




http://www.boingo.com/http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/

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