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American Mobile
Satellite now Motient Corp. American Mobile Satellite now Motient Corp. Motient reported a first quarter 2000 net loss of $35.6 million or 73 cents per share, versus a loss of $39.6 million or $1.23 per share for the same quarter in 1999. The company said analysts' estimates pegged the loss at 87 cents a share, while a half-dozen company watchers for Zacks.com listed an average of 84 cents. Net revenues climbed 6 percent to $17.2 million from a year ago, Motient said, with data business accounting for $13.4 million and voice revenues bringing in $3.8 million. Further, the company stated operating expenses of $29.8 million, which was "slightly down" from the same quarter a year ago.
Motorola turns to Certicom for wireless security Motorola spokeswoman Kathy Van Buskirk told Newsbytes the company isn't revealing the details of the financial arrangement behind the agreement, but confirmed that the Certicom technology is likely to be widely used among Motorola's wireless offerings. However, Van Buskirk pointed out that, due to the fast pace of change in wireless communication technology, Certicom's ECC won't be the only security solution with which Motorola engineers will be working.
Confidentiality rules set for cable broadband CRTC Order 2000-317 requires all cable companies that offer broadband Internet services to enter into standard non-disclosure agreements with competitors who use them. The four largest cablecos (Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, and Videotron) must also create separate Customer Service Groups to work with competitors. The cablecos have until May 29 to negotiate and file the agreements.
The Competition Bureau has won its case against Universal Payphone Systems and its President, George Katsoulakis. Both have been barred from marketing their payphone business in Canada for 10 years for deceptive marketing. (See Telecom Update #202. #213, #214, and Telemanagement #172, February 2000). Universal Payphone also faces various lawsuits by investors and a trademark infringement suit filed by Bell Canada.
The company also signed a resale agreement with communications equipment giant Nortel, an AirFiber investor, to market and distribute AirFiber's laser gear under a cobranded name. The move sets up a potential battle for customers between Nortel and Lucent Technologies, which recently signed a similar alliance with AirFiber competitor TeraBeam Networks. The endorsement of Nortel and Lucent, two telecommunications powerhouses, lends significant credibility to a nascent market, which has faced some criticism for the technology's reliability. So-called free space lasers carry communications and Internet traffic at high speeds using invisible, harmless beams of light. Because lasers don't require digging trenches or spectrum licenses, the technology is touted as faster and cheaper to install than fiber optics or fixed wireless systems. Although the optical laser technology is not new, its potential use in communications networks is being driven in part by lower-cost components in recent years. For example, AirFiber uses plastic lenses produced by Polaroid's instant camera unit and low-cost lasers, executives said. But some industry experts have concerns about laser networking technology because of its potential for disruptions amid harsh weather conditions and in thick fog. AirFiber believes it will solve any problems by installing the rooftop gear closer together and creating a redundant mesh of networks. The company is conducting trials in Tokyo, Madrid and Dallas and has plans to test its gear in Brussels, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Denver and Portland later this year, executives said. The OptiMesh equipment is capable of carrying Internet and communications traffic at speeds up to 622 mbps (megabits per second). Investors in the San Diego-based AirFiber, founded in 1998, include Nortel, Foundation Capital and Enterprise Partners. The company's management team includes several former 3Com executives.
OneBox in first wireless carrier deal The unified messaging landscape has sprouted into a thick field of competitors in recent months, with new companies offering variations on Web voice mail, fax, email or voice chat capabilities every week. The moves have attracted interest from the giant phone companies and the likes of America Online, but the market is still young enough that business models are in flux. Phone.com's purchase of OneBox has given that company a leg up on many of its competitors, however. Its new parent already has software infrastructure relationships with many of the biggest wireless phone carriers worldwide, and is hoping to sell the giants on new application services such as Web-accessible voice mail, email and faxes. Telus is the second-largest communications company in Canada, with a wireless as well as a long-distance and local phone division.
Z-Tel to deploy Sonus Networks solutions Source: iLocus Z-Tel Technologies, an enhanced service provider covering New York, Texas and Massachusetts, will install a next-generation network backbone that will include Sonus Networks' packet telephony suite. Z-Tel currently sells to consumers under the Z-Line Home Edition brand name and has more than 100,000 active subscribers. Through Sonus solutions the company is looking to reduce its network and transportation costs. The company expects the capital cost per subscriber to be
reduced to less than $25. Z-Tel will be deploying Sonus' GSX9000 Open Services Switch,
the PSX6000(TM) SoftSwitch and the SGX2000(TM) SS7 Signaling Gateway.
Inter-Tel introduces a Java-based PC to Phone solution Source: iLocus Inter-Tel is scheduled to demonstrate its Java-based telephone for PC-to-phone and PC-to-PC IP telephony, towards the end of this month. The new product, ClearConnect, is aimed at business travellers. By dialing into a local Internet Service Provider, traveling professionals will be connected through their laptops to their company's phone system via an Inter-Tel voice and data router. The dialer which has a cellphone look resides on PCs and comes
with a built-in phone book plus other features. ClearConnect requires a 14.4
Kbps connection. It can also be used over LANs ands WANs. Inter-Tel also operates its own IP telephony service through
Inter-Tel.net.
ComGates launches SoftSwitch ComGates has launched SoftSwitch product to provide on-the-fly multi-protocol capability by employing a proprietary process that can, in real time, automatically switch traffic between existing and emerging standards. ComGates' product adapts instantly - without presetting - to the protocol being used by the connecting gateway. The scalable Softswitch supports up to 10,000 ports, providing transparency between the PSTN, IP/Data networks and soon wireless networks with unique fetures. The open architecture design supports all open standard
signaling protocols including, CAS ISDN, SS7/C7, H.323, MGCP, SIP in any mix.
The Softswitch can also simultaneously run multiple
transmission protocols on the same operating platform, eliminating the need for
users to commit to one protocol over another and enabling the integration of new
technologies
Cisco launches IP DSL switch for multi-tenant units Source: iLocus Cisco has announced IP DSL switch which enables service providers to extend DSL reach beyond the central office to multi-tenant units (MTUs) and remote terminals to deliver managed IP+ATM data, voice and video services to commercial and residential customers. The Cisco 6015 IP DSL switch is equipped with the same portfolio of IP+ATM multi-service applications and multi-DSL technologies that are available on central-office based Cisco 6000 IP DSL Switches. It extends DSL reach beyond the central office to the MTU, multi-dwelling-unit (MDU) and outside-plant-remote-terminal markets. Powered by Cisco IOS, the Cisco 6015 product enables multi-services such as MPLS virtual private networks (VPNs), secure firewalls, multicast video, webcaching and voice services for managed business and consumer applications. The Cisco 6015 platform supports multi-DSL technologies including ADSL, SDSL, G.shdsl and IDSL. It is scalable to support from four to 48 subscribers in a single chassis.
Laser technology makes light of last mile bottleneck Source: Spectrum Lucent and TeraBeam Networks Corp., announced on 12 April that they have joined forces to develop high-speed wireless optical technology that will link local-area networks to the fiber-optic networks that carry Internet traffic. The links will rely on light projected from laser beams at gigabit-per-second speeds. Light signals traveling through the air bypass the bandwidth bottleneck encountered by communications networks relying on wire or radio-based last-mile connections. The link is achieved by mounting a unit the size of a small dish antenna in an office window where two-way transmission of data can occur between it and a local TeraBeam hub. TeraBeam reported that the technology works even in inclement weather, and that the light, which is invisible, is not hazardous to people who happen to step into its path. The company also noted that setting up its system will not require special permits or the purchase of radio frequency spectrum. Under the terms of the deal, Lucent will contribute $450 million in cash, engineering assistance, and R&D assets in exchange for a 30 percent stake in the new venture, to be called TeraBeam Internet Systems. TeraBeam, which will maintain 70 percent ownership, will contribute technology and products; all TeraBeam products will be marketed under the Lucent brand name. Lucent and TeraBeam hope to offer service by the end of the year.
Motorola's chips to turn everyday boxes into smart packages The BiStatix chip, which will store information that can be read and modified through a wireless interface, will be connected to lines drawn in carbon-based conductive ink around the box turning the entire box into an antenna. An electronic reader can boot up the chip, preparing it to transmit or receive information from a computer. The identifying tags on the smart packages easily outdo Motorola's earlier RFID systems. The BiStatix chips can be read from any angle (even if not in the reader's line of sight), and are hard to tamper with and duplicate. They also cost less to produce than earlier generations of RFID labels that required a metal coil and resonant capacitor. Although Motorola declined to say how much the devices cost, it noted that they are still too expensive to be placed on everyday items such as a box of breakfast cereal. The rollout of the first smart packages at the end of the year will be for high-end items such as home and portable electronics.
Samsung develops LCD panel for mobile phones Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on Monday April 24 it has developed a small thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel for use in next-generation mobile telephone handsets. Samsung said the two-inch screen is produced using the low-temperature, policy-silicon process to support high-resolution moving as well as still pictures. It provides a resolution four times higher than conventional displays, Samsung said. The reflective display, which uses external light instead of the backlighting used on the TFT-LCD screens of notebook computers, is operated by a built-in driver and peripheral circuits, a feature that enhances portability and reliability, the company said. Samsung Electronics, the world's leading supplier of TFT-LCD panels, telecommunications equipment and computer chips, said it plans to begin mass production of the device in the second half, both for domestic and world markets.
Motorola preps software-based DSL modem Source: Teledotcom Motorola is moving to implement a DSL modem primarily in software. Such a component could save PC original equipment manufacturers 30 to 40 percent over a hardware approach, the company said. Motorola will demonstrate the technology later this month at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in New Orleans. The soft DSL products will be available to sample in the third quarter, and the company is predicting that PCs featuring the technology will be available early next year. Though less costly than modems that rely on dedicated processors, soft modems have been faulted for slowing down a PC's main CPU. Tramontano said today's microprocessors offer power to burn, and the soft DSL product can be built into systems with processors running at 550 MHz or above. Motorola estimates that more than half the analog modems shipped this year within PCs will be software based, up from about one-third last year. Not only does eliminating some of the silicon required by a system reduce costs, it also frees up some PC motherboard real estate. According to Tramontano, Motorola's soft DSL modem will use the asymmetric DSL (ADSL) format, which is common in the consumer market. A later version may offer symmetric DSL (SDSL), which is seeing wider use in the business market, he said. While DSL deployment is still ramping up, some high-end machines already pack internal DSL components. These are usually incorporated into a modem that offers both 56-kbit/s analog functions and DSL broadband service. This lets users easily migrate from one format to the other.
Another war of wireless worlds?
Global fiber-optic coupler market to reach $1.75 B by 2008
Casting the net
Passive aggressive Passive optical networking typically is geared toward small and midsized businesses that need data transmission speeds of 10 Mbps to 30 Mbps. Because Quantum Bridge's products are inexpensive, carriers can afford to provide service in areas where it would have been cost-prohibitive to do so. LuxN offers dedicated, end-to-end links to large corporate customers that do not want shared technology. The company's all-optical system offers system management incorporated into the physical layer. As a result, expensive deframing equipment is unnecessary. LuxN intends to introduce its products commercially this quarter. Its technology is attracting dark fiber providers and storage area network operators, LuxN said.
DWDM not just for carriers anymore
Alcatel to unveil next-generation DSL Alcatel's new gear, which supports up to 2,592 lines on a single connection into a backbone network - a number achieved by packing almost four times more lines into individual seven-foot racked systems than its current DSLAM and by stringing six systems together onto a single connection. All of this has been done while reducing power consumption, and conforming to the tight space requirements of telephone company Central Offices, including a 12-inch depth limitation. |
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