IBM Outlines IMS Strategy

IBM outlined its IMS (Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems) architecture to help telcos transition to Next Generation Networks. The strategy uses various industry components and leverages the IBM Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE) framework. Legacy and evolving components are integrated by using open computing standards.


IBM will provide its telecommunications industry clients pre-integrated business solutions that are fully tested and designed to meet carrier grade quality standards. The integrated hardware and software components will form a high-performance service delivery platform based on Rational, Tivoli and WebSphere software.


IBM plans to leverage its eServer BladeCenter T and CarrierGrade Linux computing platform. The company said it will soon announce related software offerings for creating, integrating, executing current and next generation services in a flexible, cost-effective manner.


IBM is also unveiling six new Telecommunications Solutions Labs worldwide, including facilities in Austin, Beaverton, La Gaude, Hursley, Montpellier and Beijing. The IBM Telecommunications Solutions Labs offer technical skills across a range of telecom solutions to include Network Transformation, Service Delivery Platforms and BSS/OSS Transformation. Several IMS proof of concept projects, among others, are currently underway at the labs.


IBM is currently working with more than 800 business partners on telecommunications solutions.


"IMS is only relevant if it is directly contributing towards corporate fiscal and strategic objectives," said Joseph Ziskin, Vice President of strategy and growth initiatives, IBM Telecommunications Industry.
http://www.ibm.com

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The New AT&T Sets Course

SBC Communications completed its historic acquisition of AT&T, making it the largest telecommunications company in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The new AT&T vowed to lead to lead the industry "in one of the most significant shifts in communications technology since the invention of the telephone more than 120 years earlier -- the deployment of integrated services based on Internet Protocol, giving customers access to virtually any services, anytime, anywhere."


""The combination of SBC and AT&T companies gives us the local, global, and wireless network resources and the expertise to set the standard for delivering meaningful innovations and making the promise of integrated communications and entertainment a reality for consumers and businesses," said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., chairman and CEO of AT&T.

Fact Sheet on the New AT&T

Network and Customers

Largest U.S. provider of DSL with 6.5 million lines

Largest local service operator with 50.2 million access lines (SBC-only access lines)

No. 1 provider of data services to the Fortune 1000.

IP backbone is currently carrying 4.6 petabytes (4.9 billion megabytes) of traffic on an average business day

The new AT&T global backbone includes 1,500 managed MPLS nodes in 80 countries and 75,000 MPLS customer ports

Currently operating 28 data centers

The combined network has 410,000 fiber route miles

Wi-Fi currently offered at more than 18,000 hot spots in the United States and the world

Owns 60% of Cingular Wireless, which is the No. 1 U.S. wireless services provider with over 52 million wireless customers.. Services will be offered under the AT&T brand.

The new AT&T is preparing to launch cost-competitive, communications service bundles to residential customers in the coming weeks.

Project Lightspeed will deploy nearly 40,000 miles of fiber, initially reaching18 million homes and delivering 20 - 25 Mbps of bandwidth. Project Lightspeed will deliver numerous IP-based services, including IPTV

Financial

Stockholders of the former AT&T received 0.77942 shares of SBC common stock for each common share of AT&T.

A new ticker symbol will be announced on November 21

The combined company has 197,100 employees (SBC: 157,600; AT&T: 39,500 -- as of 9/30/05)

The combined 2004 revenues of the company were $71.2 billion (SBC $40.7 billion, AT&T $30.5 billion)

The combined company controls more than 6,000 patents

A new logo will also be unveiled this week

The new brand will be heavily promoted with the largest multimedia advertising and marketing campaign in either company's history, as well as through other promotional initiatives

"We are ready to meet the needs of a new generation of customers in a new era of communications and entertainment," said Whitacre.
http://www.att.com

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Intrado Completes VoIP Interconnection Deals with Major LECs

Intrado has secured agreements with the major local exchange carriers (LECs) to interconnect with their 9-1-1 selective routers and to steer dynamic location information into their regional E9-1-1 automatic location information (ALI) databases in the event of a VoIP 9-1-1 call.


Intrado said the interconnection agreements allow it to deliver a VoIP 9-1-1 call directly into the LEC's 9-1-1 selective router and gain access to the dedicated 9-1-1 network. The ALI steering agreements allow the 9-1-1 call takers to receive the caller's location information at the time of a 9-1-1 call. Most importantly, these named agreements allow Intrado's VSP customers and their subscribers to gain full benefit from the V9-1-1 Mobility Service's ability to provide caller location information to the call taker in the Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) valid format required for effective emergency dispatch. The delivery of location information to the PSAP in an MSAG valid format ensures integration and accurate emergency response. Intrado is currently the only third party provider to offer this critical component, which is required for an effective VoIP E9-1-1 solution.
http://www.intrado.com

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Data Connection Builds its Networking Protocols Group

Data Connection Limited (DCL) announced that networking industry veteran, Matt Currier has joined its executive staff. Previously, Currier was Director of Worldwide Sales for networking software solutions at NextHop Technologies. His previous sales and sales management experience has been with Wind River Systems, Mentor Graphics and Tektronix.
http://www.dataconnection.com

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Lawsuit Launched Against BCE and Teleglobe Directors

The Plan Administrator of Teleglobe filed a lawsuit against BCE and seven former directors of Teleglobe. The plaintiff is seeking a declaration that the former directors breached their fiduciary duty to Teleglobe Inc. and failed to act in accordance with the standard of care prescribed under the Canada Business Corporations Act. The plaintiff is seeking compensation for oppression in the amount of $3 billion and damages for breach of fiduciary duty in the amount of $3 billion, in each case plus interest and costs.


Teleglobe at a subsidiary of BCE at the time of the alleged breach.
http://www.bell.ca

• In July 2005, India's Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) agreed to acquire Teleglobe International in a deal valued at $239 million. VSNL, which is part of India's $17 billion Tata Group, has a strong pan-India domestic Long Distance network. It is also a leading player in the Corporate Data Market in India, offering Frame relay, ATM and MPLS based IP-VPN services. VSNL also acquired the Tyco Global Network (TGN).



• In August 2004, Teleglobe acquired ITXC, the largest provider of international VoIP wholesale services with direct relationships with carriers in more than 175 countries.



• In June 2003, Teleglobe was relaunched as a provider of international voice, wireless roaming, data and Internet services following a corporate restructuring under which TLGB Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management and TenX Capital Partners, gained control of the company. Since its emergence from bankruptcy, Teleglobe has had positive net cash flows.



• In May 2002, Teleglobe filed bankruptcy papers with the Ontario Superior Court.



• On April 24, BCE (Bell Canada Enterprises), Canada's largest communications company, announced that it would cease long-term funding of Teleglobe.

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Cisco's Acquisition of Scientific Atlanta

Cisco Systems agreed to acquire Scientific Atlanta for $43 per share in cash -- a deal valued at approximately $6.9 billion -- providing it with a large installed base of set-top boxes and video transmission systems among cable operators as well as a triple play solution for carrier networks and the digital home.


"Video is emerging as the key strategic application in the service provider triple play bundle of consumer entertainment, communication and online services," said John Chambers, president and chief executive officer of Cisco Systems. "As consumers demand more sophisticated information and entertainment services in their home, tightly coupled applications, devices and networks will be essential. The collective strength of Linksys and Scientific-Atlanta will extend Cisco's leadership position across the entire networked digital home."


Earlier this year, SBC awarded a $195 million, multi-year contract to Scientific-Atlanta to provide IP-based video equipment for Project Lightspeed in its 13-state service area. Scientific-Atlanta will supply IP video equipment for an IP video operations center (VOC), two national IP video super hub offices (SHO) and 41 IP video hub offices (VHO). Scientific-Atlanta will provide encoders, satellite dishes, video routers, and professional services as part of the contract. Scientific-Atlanta will also provide professional services related to the initial design and builds of the VOC, SHOs and VHOs.






The IP video operations center will serve as a command center, monitoring the availability and quality of all of the content traveling through SBC's network using Scientific-Atlanta's ROSA Element Manager system. The super hub offices (SHOs) receive, process, and encode video and TV programming from satellite feeds into IP packets. This content is then sent to the video hub offices (VHOs), typically one per major metropolitan area, via SBC's national IP-based network. In the VHOs are servers that have the electronic intelligence necessary to deliver IP video-on-demand, over-the-air TV programming, interactive applications, etc. The VHOs will also acquire and encode local video content.


Following the close of the transaction, Scientific-Atlanta will become a division of the Routing and Service Provider Technology Group under the leadership of Cisco Senior Vice President Mike Volpi.


Scientific-Atlanta was founded in 1951 and currently has more than 7500 employees. For FY2005, which ended July 1, 2005, Scientific-Atlanta reported revenues of $1.91 billion.
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.scientificatlanta.com/

• Scientific-Atlanta and Microsoft announced that they are working together on IPTV set-tops for supporting initiatives such as SBC's Project Lightspeed. The new line of Scientific-Atlanta IP set-tops, which will be integrated with the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform, will support advanced codecs such as MPEG-4 Part 10/H.264 and VC-1 and will include standard- definition (SD), high-definition (HD), and whole home SD/HD digital video recorder (DVR) devices, as well as innovative gateway products that can serve an entire home with a single device. Additionally, Scientific Atlanta said these new set-tops will support a "no new wires" strategy for operators, which will enable IP video to be delivered over existing coax cable already installed in millions of homes.



• SBC Communications has awarded IPTV set-top box contracts to both Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola. The contracts, awarded by SBC Services Inc., give equal market opportunity to both vendors and continue through the end of 2008. SBC provided a common set of specifications to both vendors to build the set-top boxes. At this time, SBC said it expects to use Motorola set-top boxes initially when it scales the service, with Scientific-Atlanta set-top boxes soon thereafter.



• In September 2005, Scientific- Atlanta completed the acquisition of all outstanding interests in the Scientific- Atlanta Shanghai Limited joint venture from the other shareholders. Going forward, Scientific-Atlanta (Shanghai) Company Ltd. will function as a wholly owned subsidiary of Scientific-Atlanta China, Inc. The company will continue to use the extensive marketplace knowledge acquired during the 12 years of the joint venture's operation as it focuses on research and development of digital technology for the burgeoning China market and extending that technology for applications all across Asia.



• Also of note, Scientific-Atlanta resells Tropic Networks' intelligent wavelength transport platform to cable operators under an OEM deal. Tropic Networks, which is based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, developed a Reconfigurable OADM (ROADM) that enables service providers to remotely reconfigure add and drop capacity at each node. Tropic's system features an advanced optical layer management technology called "Wavelength Tracker".

 

Cisco Systems 2005 Acquisitions

Price reflects valuation at the time the
deal was announced.

Scientific Atlanta	set-top boxes and video transmission systems for cable operators and IPTV	$6.9 billion	Nov 05
Nemo Systems	network memory technology to enhance performance of core switching platforms	$12.5 million	Sep 05
Sheer Networks	network virtualization technology	$97 million	July 05
KiSS Technology A/S	networked entertainment devices	$61 million	July 05
NetSift	deep packet processing	$30 million	June 05
M. I. Secure Corporation	security and VPN solutions	$13 million	June 05
FineGround Networks	Bandwidth optimization appliances	$70 million	May 05
Sipura	VoIP customer premise equipment	$68 million	Apr 05
Topspin Communications	server networking equipment designed for grid and utility computing	$250 million	Apr 05
Airespace	WLAN controllers, Access Points, WLAN Management and Location Software, and Security capabilities	$450 million	Jan 05

 

 

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Macedonia Deploys Country-Wide Wireless Mesh with Strix

The Republic of Macedonia will deploy a country-wide wireless mesh network using Strix Systems' Access/One Outdoor Wireless System (OWS). The 1,000+ square-mile deployment is funded and deployed by Macedonian service provider On.Net and will be used to provide high speed data, voice, and video capabilities to the entire population of over two million people.


On.Net has already deployed Strix's high-performance, multi-radio wireless mesh throughout Macedonia's capital city of Skopje, which provides wireless broadband capabilities to the nearly one million inhabitants.


Strix said its equipment was selected after a multi-month trial. Due to the mountainous terrain of Macedonia and the inherent throughput limitations of single- and dual-radio solutions, all other systems failed to provide acceptable levels of performance for even basic data services, not to mention real-time services like wireless VoIP (wVoIP).


Strix's multi-radio wireless mesh networking system dedicates radios for each separate function of the mesh (client access, backhaul ingress, and backhaul egress). Moving forward, On.Net will also be a standardizing on Strix's Access/One products and has created a model for deploying broadband wireless in other developing countries based on the capabilities of Strix's technology.

http://www.strixsystems.com

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Infineon Enhances IMS Client for Mobile Phones

Infineon Technologies' Comneon subsidiary began shipping the second release of its IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Client for mobile phones. The implementation supports the standardized Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) push-to-talk application (version 1.0) and other IMS services, such as presence and group management.


Infineon offers a fully portable IMS client embedded in mobile phones. It is also integrated in the APOXITM (Application Programming Object-Oriented Extendable Interface) framework and an option of Infineon's multimedia reference design platforms, such as the MP-EU. The client supports all SIP-based applications, including real-time video sharing, content sharing, instant messaging, interactive gaming and presence to allow handset manufacturers to seamlessly deploy such advanced services on any IMS-compliant handset or mobile terminal.


Infineon recently successfully completed interoperability tests of its IMS client with all major infrastructure vendors in order to verify the client functionality of major IMS features over an IP network, including establishing sessions for OMA Push-to-talk 1.0.


"Our first version of the IMS device framework has proven its reliability in several million mobile phones sold since spring 2005. The second release marks a significant milestone on our way to become the world's first to provide fully 3GPP Release 5 compliant IMS client frameworks in 2006," stated Dr. Christian Mucke, vice president of Infineon's Mobile Software business unit and managing director of Comneon GmbH & Co.
http://www.infineon.com
http://www.comneon.com/

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MetaSolv Lands Large Tier 1 Contract for Inventory and Order Management

MetaSolv was awarded a new multi-million dollar agreement with a major Tier 1, U.S.-based wireless and wireline service provider who has selected its M6 next-generation order and inventory management solution. The MetaSolv platform will be used to manage wholesale circuit and packet-based voice services. The unnamed carrier anticipates growth of its wholesale cable partner initiative. The operator will leverage MetaSolv's M6 to manage key inventory functions including telephone number management and provide comprehensive ordering capabilities to automate service orders, including regulated Local Service Requests (LSRs) with incumbent local exchange carriers.
http://www.metasolv.com/

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BT Cuts Local Loop Unbundling Prices 40% to Stimulate Competition

BT announced a 40% price cut in Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) tariffs aimed at further stimulating competition in the UK broadband market.
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The move follows BT's commitment to industry in June that it would bring the price of LLU New Provide charges in line with those for Wholesale Line Rental (WLR). BT said it is commited to making LLU a success.


From 15-Dec-2005, the price for new provides on the fully unbundled product will be reduced from £168.38 (ex. VAT) to £99.95 (ex. VAT).


BT will also be withdrawing the minimum term rental charges for both its shared and fully unbundled products giving LLU operators the opportunity to pass this benefit on to end-customers.


This reduction follows the 70% reduction in total charges for shared LLU introduced by BT Wholesale in September 2004. With the introduction of these price reductions, the UK is now ranked third in Europe on price comparison for LLU.
http://www.btplc.com

• In September 2005, BT unveiled openreach, a separate operating company, that will ensure that all service providers have transparent and equal access to the local BT network. openreach, which will be operational from January 2006, will be responsible for operating and maintaining the "first mile" infrastructure that connects homes and business to BT exchanges across the UK.



• In June 2005, BT reached an agreement with Ofcom, the telecom regulatory authority in the UK, to avoid the break-up of the company and provide a long-term framework for the UK's fixed line telecommunications market. Under the agreement, BT will set-up a new - and operationally separate – business unit with a distinct new brand and identity. The new business unit will be staffed by around 30,000 employees presently responsible for the operation and development of BT's local access networks. It will have separate physical locations for management teams and separate bonus schemes with long-term incentive plans that reflect the objectives of the new business unit, not those of the BT Group plc. The new business unit will be required, through a set of formal rules on governance and separation, to support all providers' retail activities (including those of BT Retail) on a precisely equivalent basis. The new business unit will offer a universally available product and service set, including Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), shared loops (where BT Retail continues to provide voice services and another provider is responsible for broadband), Wholesale Line Rental (WLR), and Backhaul service. Equivalence of Input will also apply to IPStream - BT's wholesale internet products used by many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide broadband connections for their customers.

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Taiwan's Chunghwa Mobile Selects Azaire for Fixed-Mobile Convergence

Taiwan's Chunghwa Mobile Business Group will deploy Azaire Networks' IP Converged Network Platform (IP-CNP) to provide its subscribers seamless services across 2.5G, 3G and WLAN networks. Chunghwa Mobile subscribers will be able to use a notebook PC with a 3G data card, a PDA or a dual-mode handset to access unified services across different wireless networks. Subscriber will be able to roam between macrocellular 3G networks and WLAN zones, always receiving the best connected service that has an identical look and feel.


Azaire Networks, a start-up based in Santa Clara, offers a 3GPP- and IETF-compliant platform that supports both legacy voice and data services, as well as future IMS services.


"Taiwan's Dual Network Initiative is a government-sponsored program to integrate 3G and WiFi networks throughout the island," said Bill Howe, Azaire's CEO.
http://www.azairenet.com

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China Mobile Selects ZTE for DWDM Network

China Mobile selected ZTE for a new optical backbone that will span 521 network nodes covering 18 provinces in Western and Southern China. The 25,000-km network is based on ZTE's ZXWM M900 DWDM platform, which incorporates ultra long-haul transmission technologies like ERZ (Enhanced Return to Zero code) modulation, AFEC (Advanced Forward Error Correction), HOBA (High-power Optical Booster Amplifier) and compensation technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.zte.com.cn

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FCC Commissioner Abernathy Steps Down

FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy, a Republican, submitted her resignation letter to President Bush. She has served four and a half years in the post.


Abernathy's resignation now leaves three of the five FCC Commissioner seats vacant. Earlier this month, President Bush nominated Michael J. Copps, of Virginia, for a new five year term as FCC Commissioner from July 1, 2005. It would be Copp's second term in the post. Copps is a Democrat. Bush nominated Deborah Taylor Tate, of Tennessee, to serve as FCC Commissioner for the remainder of the term held by former FCC Chair Michael Powell, who resigned earlier this year. This term expires June 30, 2007. Tate, who is a Republican, currently serves on the Tennessee Regulatory Authority and FCC's Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services.


Senate Commerce Chairman Stevens has indicated that confirmation hearings for the first two seats could be held in December.
http://www.fcc.gov

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BellSouth Test Markets Residential IT Services

BellSouth launched a "Managed Home Service" technical support service in metro Atlanta on a trial basis. BellSouth trained technicians will work with customers over the phone or at their homes to complete a range of PC services, including software installation, MP3 player and digital camera set-up, as well as system repair and virus removal. Charges will vary according to the services performed.
http://www.bellsouth.com

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Sunrise Telecom Adds VDSL Test Module

Sunrise Telecom introduced a Modular Test Toolkit (MTT) VDSL test module for its recently announced SunSet MTT ACM+ test chassis. The solution allows construction technicians to turn up and certify outside plant VDSL electronics and condition copper loops to support triple play FTTn deployments.


It can be used to verify service quality and successful provisioning at the customer's home. Technicians can also use the MTT-ACM+ to do all the copper qualification and troubleshooting tests they need to ensure that they are getting the maximum attainable performance out of the copper pair that serves the customer's house.


The SunSet MTT family includes a variety of chassis configurations. More than 35 test modules are now available.
http://www.sunrisetelecom.com

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Greenfield Names Cisco Exec as CEO

Greenfield Networks, a start-up offering merchant Ethernet switching silicon solutions, named Bill Rossi as its President and CEO. Rossi previously served as vice president and general manager of the Wireless Networking Business Unit at Cisco Systems. Rossi joined Cisco as part of the Grand Junction Networks acquisition in 1995. He also led marketing for Cisco's Desktop Switching Business Unit.
http://www.greenfieldnetworks.com

• In October 2005, Greenfield Networks announced its "Packetry" II Architectural Platform, targeting the rapidly growing Metro Ethernet market driven by Triple Play services and IP Convergence. The Packetry II architectural platform features a combination of cost-effective Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, integrated traffic management capabilities, and advanced metro capabilities, such as scalable tables and buffering, IPv4, IPv6, MPLS, VPLS, QinQ, MAC-in-MAC and hierarchical QoS, traffic policing and shaping.

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Skystream Supplies Media Routers for China Education TV

China Education Television (CETV) will use SkyStream's media delivery platforms to expand video content distribution, rural Internet service and distance-learning programs to remote areas.


CETV will extend broadband distance learning across the nation using the SkyStream Source Media Router (SMR-26) IP encapsulation solution for broadcasting the educational content at the uplink and Edge Media Receiver and Router (EMR) to receive and distribute the content to its end destination. CETV will also offer video-on-demand and other video services to 25 remote areas via satellite, where broadband services are not currently available.


CETV is extending its rural educational service starting in the Gobi Desert as part of its new "village-to-village" program. In the next few years, CETV plans to roll out Internet and video services to more than 5,000 rural villages.
http://www.skystream.com

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BroadLight Raises $10 Million for GPON Silicon

BroadLight, a start-up offering components for FTTP solutions, closed $10 million in a series D financing round led by Motorola Ventures.


Motorola Ventures was joined in the funding round by BroadLight's existing investors, including Azure Capital Partners, Broadcom, Delta Ventures, Israel Seed Partners, Siemens Venture Capital, Star Ventures and Tellabs.

http://www.broadlight.com

• In May 2005, BroadLight unveiled its end-to-end solution for gigabit-capacity, passive optical networks (GPONs). The end-to-end GPON (E2E GPON) features Broadlight's BL2000 GPON System-on-Chip (SoC) for cost-focused ONT applications and also includes PONmaker software, OLT MAC, OLT and ONT transceivers. Key features will include 2.5 Gbps PON performance, 1:64 split ratio, and native transport of both Ethernet and TDM, which is delivered at up to 155 Mbps using GPON Encapsulated Mode (GEM).

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Thomson Supplies Digital Cable Set-Top Box to Kabel Deutschland

Kabel Deutschland, Germany's leading cable operator, has certified Thomson's DCI1500G cable set-top box for deployment in its network.


The DCI1500 features Nagravision's CAK6.0G digital security platform and conditional access to protect against hacking and piracy. The STB provides a multitude of features for digital TV subscribers, including access to free and Pay-TV programmes, home cinema-quality audio and a seven day electronic program guide. It comes with three language options - German, English and Turkish - and offers family-oriented functions such as parental control channel blocking with a pin-code system.

http://www.thomson.net

• With over 19 million homes connected to cable TV services, Germany has Europe's largest cable subscriber base. The German government has mandated a migration to digital cable by 2010.

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Indonesia's Biznet Deploys Nortel's Metro Ethernet

Biznet, an Indonesian ISP and data center provider, has deployed optical Ethernet technology in Jakarta. The new Biznet services include MetroNET, a bundled local loop and Internet access service at speeds up to 2 Mbps, and MetroWAN, a local loop service for interconnecting multiple locations across Jakarta's main business district. The services use Nortel's Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 to provide guaranteed bandwidth service levels, secure services with customer demarcation on a shared uplink, and QoS for triple-play applications.


Nortel's Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 delivers high-density, high-performance Layer 2-7 switching, routing and traffic classification.


Nortel said more than 35,000 units and 187,000 service cards have been shipped to service provider and enterprise customers around the world.
http://www.nortel.com

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