Broad Daylight Leverages VoiceGenie's VoiceXML Gateway and Speech Recognition

Broad Daylight, a customer relationship management (CRM) software developer, announced a self-service application that uses speech recognition technology provided by VoiceGenie's VoiceXML Gateway. The application enables customer to use voice commands over the telephone for accessing information from a technical support database. New questions asked of the system that are not contained in the knowledge base are routed to a customer service representative and the answer is e-mailed or faxed to the original caller.
http://www.broaddaylight.com
http://www.voicegenie.com

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Ericsson Conducts IPv6 Over 3G UMTS/WCDMA Demo

Ericsson conducted a demonstration of seamless, emergency mobile communications that combined IPv6, 3G (UMTS/WCDMA) and WLANs. The emergency system, called Guardian Angel, provides seamlessly communications and data (heart rate and blood pressure) for medical staff as a patient travels by ambulance. The information is transmitted via GSM/GPRS or UMTS/WCDMA. Once the ambulance reaches the hospital, the system can automatically switch over to an indoor WLAN hot spot. Data flows can use separate network interfaces in parallel. The demonstration was a joint effort within the 6WINIT project consisting of University Hospital at Tubingen, University of Stuttgart Computing Center, University of Bremen, University College London and Ericsson. It took place at Ericsson's headquarters in Stockholm in the presence of invited EU-officials.
http://www.ericsson.com

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ITU Adopts Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (PON) Standards

The ITU reached agreement on two new standards for Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (G-PONs). Both standards cover symmetrical and asymmetrical (upstream/downstream) systems. The new standards are:

• ITU Recommendation G.984.1, which describes the general characteristics of a gigabit-capable PON system such as architecture, bit rates, reach, signal transfer delay, split ratio protection and security.
• 
  ITU Recommendation G.984.2, which describes a flexible optical fiber access network capable of supporting the bandwidth requirements of business and residential services. It covers systems with nominal line rates of 1.25 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps in the downstream (Central Office to customer) direction and 155 Mbps, 622 Mbps, 1.5 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps in the upstream (customer to Central Office) direction. This represents approximately twice the capability of the previous release of the standards (G.983.4 and G.983.5).

http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2003/04.html

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Alcatel Acquires VoIP Session Border Controller from Aravox

Alcatel has acquired a system from Aravox Technologies designed for carrier-to-carrier VoIP interconnect and for supporting IP PBXs. The Aravox session border controller, which is based on the IETF Midcom standard, makes real-time packet peering over IP secure. It also ensures QoS and high availability of network resources to the end-to-end communications it controls. Alcatel said it would offer the session border controller as part of its Alcatel 5020 Softswitch solutions. The acquisition was finalized in December 2002. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.alcatel.com

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Qwest Offers its own UNE-P Proposal

Qwest Communications is proposing a new regulatory scheme that it says would help the industry shift from the UNE-P resale paradigm to facilities-based competition. The Qwest proposal would eliminate the unbundled switching requirement in areas where multiple CLECs have deployed their own switches. Where there are three or more CLEC switches within a geographic area known as a LATA, the switching requirement would be removed promptly. The Qwest proposal also establishes a role for state regulatory commissions to determine the transition timetable for eliminating unbundled switching as a UNE in all other remaining areas. In LATAs where there are fewer than three such CLEC switches, the state commissions, interpreting the guidelines established by the FCC, would look at additional factors to determine reasonable timetables to remove switching. The proposal has been filed with the FCC.
http://www.qwest.com

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FCC Reallocates Spectrum for New Wireless Services

The FCC reallocated 30 megahertz of spectrum from the 2 GHz Mobile Satellite Service (2 GHz MSS) to fixed and mobile services. The Commission also announced that it is seeking comment on potential uses of an additional 15 megahertz of spectrum previously identified for new wireless services and on increased flexibility in the Unlicensed Personal Communications Service (UPCS) band.
http://www.fcc.gov

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FCC Grants Terrestrial Flexibility for Mobile Satellite Services

Mobile satellite services in three frequency bands will be granted FCC permits to operate ancillary terrestrial components in their networks. Specifically, the mobile satellite operators will be able to use their existing spectrum for both satellite-provided connectivity and terrestrial or tower-based repeaters. They will not be permitted to use their spectrum to offer terrestrial-only services. The terrestrial component would serve only to augment the satellite signals in areas where coverage would otherwise be difficult, such as urban areas or to solve indoor coverage problems. The decision covers three spectrum bands: 2GHz, Big LEO and L-band. The FCC concluded that technically it would be more efficient, feasible and practical to permit MSS licensees to include a terrestrial component in their satellite systems to serve consumers than to award terrestrial rights in the band to third parties.
http://www.fcc.gov

• Companies that have been granted authorizations to operate mobile satellite services in the 2 GHz band include Boeing, Celstat America, Constellation Communications Holdings, Globalstar, ICO Services, Iridium, Mobile Communications Holdings, and TMI Communications.
• 
  The ruling was opposed by wireless carriers, including AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless.

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WSJ: Sprint's Willam Esrey to Step Down

Sprint's Chairman and CEO William Esrey and Chief Operating Officer Ron LeMay plan to step down in a matter of days, according to The Wall Street Journal. Esrey is currently undergoing cancer treatment.
http://www.wsj.com

• Sprint declined to comment on media speculation regarding management succession. Its quarterly financial results are expected 05-February-2003.

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TNT Systems to Market dynamicsoft SIP Stack in North America

TNT Systems, a Petaluma, California-based developer of network protocol software, was selected as the exclusive North American reseller of the dynamicsoft SIP User Agent stack. TNT Systems will be distributing the SIP User Agent Version 6.0 software, one of the first stacks to be compliant with the recently ratified SIP RFC 3261.
http://www.dynamicsoft.com
http://www.tntss.com/

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TigerJet Implements 802.11b in Native / Host based Architecture

TigerJet announced an 802.11b solution that is implemented using the native / host based architecture for the MAC and base-band functions. The native / host based architecture leverages the host CPU and memory rather than requiring an embedded CPU like most that is dedicated to the 802.11b function. The company said its solution cuts the number of gates required by more than half and eliminates the CPU duplication. Both the 802.11b MAC and base-band have been implemented using less than 40K gates for each function. A CardBus form factor demonstration unit can be evaluated on a PC running Windows.
http://www.tjnet.com/

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GIGA STREAM Raises Euro 10 million for UMTS Broadband Switch

GIGA STREAM UMTS Technologies, a start-up based in Saarbruecken, Germany, raised € 10 million in second round funding for development of a broadband switch for 3G networks. The GIGA STREAM UMTS Navigation Switch is designed to enable seamless roaming between 2G (GPRS), 3G (UMTS) and WLAN networks. The platform combines core switching elements and multiple access technologies in a single cabinet. The new funding was led by PolyTechnos Venture Partners GmbH and included first round investors 3i and SWG.
http://www.giga-stream.de

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Acterna Adds Lawful Intercept and Intrusion Detection to Analyzer

Acterna has added lawful intercept and intrusion detection functionality to its DA-3600 Data Network Analyzer. The analyzer, which was designed for law enforcement, defense and security agencies, is capable of operating on Ethernet and Packet-over-SONET/SDH data networks and supports rates up to 2.5 Gbps. With the new capabilities, Acterna's DA-3600 is able to intercept and forward packet streams based on parameters defined by the user. It has the capacity to analyze up to 160K IP flows and delivers flexible filtering capabilities by IP addresses and keywords. These new capabilities allow the monitoring and interception of data traffic such as email, web and chat. More specifically, the analyzer can search and filter all traffic for keywords suspected to be associated with a threat to security. When a keyword is identified, the DA-3600 will automatically begin to monitor those users and forward their traffic to a collection device for forensic analysis.
http://www.acterna.com

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Marconi to Supply Broadband Payphones in Australia

Marconi announced a reseller agreement with WebPoint to distribute Web-enable payphones in Australia. The Marconi Neptune 800 is a fixed broadband gateway with touch screen technology. Potential installations will include hotels, train stations and sporting venues. The Australian reseller agreement follows BT's decision to rollout the world's largest network of interactive kiosks in the UK, where some 2,000 Web-enabled payphones will be installed by April.
http://www.marconi.com

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Australia's Optus Selects Lucent for Multiservice Switching and VoDSL

Optus, a national Australian service provider, has deployed Lucent's voice over DSL (VoDSL) technology, including its PacketStar 1250 Multiservice Media Gateway, Cellpipe integrated access devices, and Navis AQueView Element Management System. Financial terms were not disclosedhttp://www.lucent.com

• Lucent offers a range of PacketStar (PSAX) media gateways for deployments scaling from small hub locations to central offices. The Lucent PacketStar gateways enable any-service, any-channel flexibility for circuit emulation, Frame Relay and ATM in Nx64 blocks within the same T1/E1 line. The gateways also offer an Edge Router Module for multiservice interworking to IP and multiservice Layer 2 VPNs. The largest, 15-slot PSAX 4500 media gateway handles up to 120,000 DS0s in a seven foot rack. The PSAX 1250 media gateway is available in 10-slot or 14-slot models.

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BT Installs its First 80 Wi-Fi Hotspots

BT launched services from its first 80 Wi-Fi public hotspots across the UK. The hotspots are located in Hilton hotels, airports and motorway service stations. Agreements are in place for a further 40 locations. BT is also working on plans for Wi-Fi in railway stations and coffee shops. The company also has a roaming agreement with TeliaSonera for providing access to more than 500 HomeRun hotspots in Sweden, France, Italy, Denmark and the US.
http://www.bt.com

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8x8 Announces Unlimited Calling over SIP Phone Service

8x8 introduced an unlimited calling plan for its SIP-based broadband telephony service. Customers can choose a direct-dial phone number from any of the over 100 area codes offered by the service, and then use an 8x8-supplied telephony adapter to plug regular phones into a broadband connection (Ethernet). Unlimited calling is priced at $34.95/month (with a 12-month commitment) or $39.95/month (month-to-month). The new unlimited PSTN calling plan is in addition to two lower-priced service plans.
http://www.packet8.net

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Kansas City School District Moves to IP Convergence with Siemens

The Kansas City, Missouri School District has awarded a $15.8 million contract to the Enterprise Networks division of Siemens ICN to expand the existing communications infrastructure of 45 schools and add a telephone to every classroom. Siemens will install IP gateways, cabling and data infrastructure equipment based on its HiPath platform. The deployment includes 45 HiPath 3000 SMGs (survivable media gateways), which support conventional circuit-switched telephone services as a fall-back from their IP functionality.
http://www.siemensenterprise.com

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Canada Launches Agile Photonic Network Research Project

Researchers in Canada launched a five year project to develop an Agile All-Photonic Network (AAPN) based on an efficient, all-photonic switch. The project is funded by a $7 million grant from the government's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Partners in the project include five universities (McGill, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, Queen's and McMaster), three federal research labs and seven private companies (Innovance Networks, Tropic Networks, JDS Uniphase, Bragg Photonics, Institut National d'Optique, ITF Optical Technologies and Adtek Photomask).
http://www.nserc.ca

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Connex Deploys Nortel Networks' Passport 20000 Core Switch

Connex, a mobile operator in Romania, has deployed Nortel Networks' Passport 20000 Multiservice Switches to support 2G wireless traffic while enabling a smooth migration to a 3G packetized infrastructure. The installation, which currently includes 3 switches, marks the first live European deployment of Passport 20000, which has also been deployed in other service provider networks. Connex has previously deployed Nortel Networks Succession softswitches and gateways and Passport 15000 Multiservice Switches. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.connex.rohttp://www.nortelnetworks.com

• Nortel Networks' Passport 20000 is a multiservice core switch designed to scale to 160 Gbps in aggregate capacity. It is positioned to enable service providers to migrate their ATM networks toward IP/MPLS.



• Connex has 2.5 million GSM subscribers in Romania. Its principal shareholders are Telesystem International Wireless (TIW) and Vodafone.

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Broadband Sign-ups Reach 30,000 per Week in the UK

Take up of new broadband subscriptions has now risen to almost 30,000 per week in the UK, according to a new report from Oftel, the official telecom regulator in the UK. The nation currently has about 1.4 million broadband users.
http://www.oftel.gov.uk

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