Australian Govt spells out datacast controls 
Researchers: Limit kids' cellphone use 
Pagenet launches two-way messaging 
Toronto considers municipal fiber net 
Laser maker boosts fiber-optics lineup 
Blaze announces a passive optical network system 
MTS introduces management solution 
Love Bug: a case of whodunnit? 
Tivoli ventures into cable modem management 
Gigabit ethernet over copper: A network natural 
Telesat Canada heads for high speed 
InnoMedia and Sega to revolutionize gaming and Internet Telephony 
Microsoft readies first windows 2000 update

 

The Australian Government has spelt out just what it considers datacasting and what is broadcasting in its digital television legislation, introduced to the Federal Parliament late last week. The previously-signalled legislation seeks to preserve current free-to-air broadcasters' grip on the airwaves, free of any new competition.

A statement from Information Technology and Communications Minister Richard Alston claimed the new arrangements would help provide "certainty to the industry and ensure that datacasting services are different from television broadcasting."

Other points include:

- Datacasters will not be allowed to provide content in genres regarded as free-to-air TV, such as drama or lifestyle programs, but will be able to provide 10-minute extracts of such programs;

- News, sport financial, market and weather information can be provided in 10-minute headline bulletins or as individual stories of any length - provided the viewer can only access them via a menu; and

- Outside these genres, datacasters will be able to provide educational programs and Internet access without restriction.

Alston said datacasters would have to be licensed under a regime administered by the Australian Broadcasting Authority.

Researchers: Limit kids' cellphone use
Source: Newsbytes

Kids should limit their use of wireless phones because their developing brains could be vulnerable to the effects of the microwave radiation, says a study released Thursday.

The report, commissioned by the British government, says while there's no evidence that wireless phones harm children or adults, it is too early to say decisively that there are no potential risks. Preliminary evidence indicates that mobile phone radiation could have subtle physical effects, the report says. The report urges caution and further study. 

To date, the World Health Organization says there have been more than 200 studies on health effects of wireless phone use. The vast majority found no evidence of any danger. A handful of studies, however, have fueled speculation about possible links between mobile phone use and brain cancer, Alzheimer's disease and memory problems.

Just to be on the safe side, many consumers are snatching up headsets and so-called "earbuds" that let them keep the phone away from their heads while they talk, although it isn't clear such gadgets always reduce radiation.

Pagenet launches two-way messaging 
Source: Angustel

PageNet Canada now offers two-way messaging and e-mail in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, using a Motorola device with an alphabetic keyboard.

Toronto considers municipal fiber net
Source: Angustel

Toronto city council's telecommunications committee wants the city to consider becoming a broadband Internet provider. The panel wants a detailed study of the costs and benefits of installing fiber optic cable to all parts of the city and leasing it on a cost-recovery basis.

Laser maker boosts fiber-optics lineup
Source:  CNet

SDL, a maker of lasers used in fiber-optic networks, agreed to buy Photonic Integration Research for about $1.64 billion in cash and stock to gain products that increase fiber capacity.

SDL will pay $31.25 million in cash and issue 10.2 million shares for the closely held company. PIRI, as Photonic Integration is known, is based in Columbus, Ohio. It had sales of $20 million in the first quarter, SDL said. PIRI's shareholders, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, Mitsubishi and Battelle Memorial Institute, hired Wit SoundView last year to sell the company.

The three companies will receive $1.4 billion in SDL shares, NTT and Mitsubishi said in a joint statement. PIRI is owned 49 percent by NTT, 41 percent by Mitsubishi, and the rest by Battelle. NTT will receive an additional $310 million in SDL shares as licensing fees.

Mitsubishi said it will post a 64 billion-yen ($587 million) capital gain from the sale.

The purchase gives SDL arrayed wave guides--chip-sized devices made of glass that combine the streams of different lasers. It puts the company into direct competition with the biggest maker of products to boost capacity, JDS Uniphase, whose devices are based on tiny filters.

Companies such as Alcatel use components from JDS Uniphase to add beams from different lasers to fiber-optic networks in a process known as wave-division multiplexing, or WDM. Each laser represents a channel in the network.

Scifres said WDM products based on filters sell for about $1,000 a channel, while arrayed wave guides sell for half as much. Phone-equipment makers are moving to systems with 160 channels this year from mostly 40 today.

Blaze announces a passive optical network system
Source: Convergedigest

Blaze Network Products, a start-up based in Dublin, California, announced an eight-channel passive optical network (PON) system designed for last mile access.  Blaze's "Spitfire" PON transmits eight optical signals at speeds up to 155 Mbps to a centralized distribution point using a single multimode fiber from the service provider's central office, headend, or POP. From the distribution point, each of the eight signals is optically split and directed, alone or in combination, to a customer's premises. The system is comprised of an eight-channel transceiver, a passive splitter and eight one-channel transceivers.   

Blaze is also developing a Gigabit class transceiver and 10 Gbps Ethernet products based on wide-wave division multiplexing (WWDM) technology.  The company received $10 million in venture capital funding last fall from Wasserstein Adelson Ventures, Dynafund, Intel and Vanguard Venture Partners.

MTS introduces management solution
Source: iLocus

IP TRAK is a centralized web-based accounting, billing and tracking management solution for legacy voice circuit calls as well as VoIP and data. This solution is based on obtaining the raw data from different network devices including PBXs, routers, firewalls and other network elements. Data from multiple sites is combined into one unified management solution enabling multiple users to view and customize information interactively.

This solution allows users employing a standard web browser to analyze data and perform comparative analysis using reports and graphs thus optimizing the usage and quality of service of any enterprise's communications resources.

MTS has sold over 55,000 of its flagship TABS solution (telephone accounting & billing system) in 22 languages in more than 60 countries. MTS has OEM contracts with Siemens, Ericsson, Philips, Lucent EMEA, Alcatel etc.

Love Bug: a case of whodunnit?
Source: Spectrum

Prosecutors in the Philippines on May 9th, citing insufficient evidence, freed one of the people suspected of creating the so-called Love Bug computer worm-virus and are still unsure who is actually responsible for damage estimated to be as great as $15 billion. Reonel Ramones, who was arrested by the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation after Internet service providers and foreign investigators indicated that the virus originated at his apartment, maintained that his arrest was a case of mistaken identity. Although the program was traced to his residence, several people were said to have had access to it.

The virus, which spread through Asia, on to Europe, and to the United States on May 4th, disrupted or disabled e-mail systems and destroyed data on as many as 45 million computers in 20 countries–including those used by the White House, the U.S. Congress, the Pentagon, and the British House of Commons.

Continuing its push into pervasive device management, IBM subsidiary Tivoli Systems Inc. (Austin, Texas) this week unveiled its first venture into the cable market. Tivoli unveiled the limited release of Cable Data Service Manager, a device aimed at automating cable deployment and managing services. The product will not be fully released until the third quarter, the company said, and pricing has yet to be announced.

The Cable Data Manager automates the configuration of cable modems and allows for remote system management and maintenance.

Gigabit ethernet over copper: A network natural
Source: Comsoc

Gigabit Ethernet over copper products are finally becoming available. Standards were finished almost a year ago but suppliers said silicon shortages and faulty chips for Gigabit Ethernet network interface cards hindered the technology's emergence. Alteon WebSystems, Extreme Networks, and Foundry Networks are among the gigabit networking suppliers that have started shipping gear. Network managers want to use such gear to retain their investments in copper cables and skirt the cost of deploying fiber and its related electronics. The Gigabit Ethernet market will reach 4.4 million ports this year, according to research firm Dell'Oro Group. Most users are deploying fiber on the backbone, seeking to ease network congestion at the backend. If prices fall rapidly, adoption of copper ports could grow faster than expected, according to Greg Collins, director at Dell'Oro Group. 

Telesat Canada heads for high speed
Source: Comsoc

The Canadian Space Agency will provide satellite maker Telesat Canada with $54 million to develop a satellite network able to transmit inexpensive multimedia services, like high-speed Internet. The system will be designed primarily for Canada, but if successful will operate outside Canada as well. Interested Canadian industries are also investing an additional $20 million. Telesat, in a compensatory measure, will supply the Canadian government with an equal value of its investment in supportive satellite services like telemedicine, telelearning, e-commerce, and teleworking. Telesat Canada, in partnership with COM DEV International and EMS Technologies, and with assistance from Hughes Space & Communications, will use the government funding to construct the Anik F2 satellite. Telesat intends to launch the satellite in 2002. The multimedia payload section of the satellite is being designed to operate in the Ka Band. This will give the satellite 3 frequencies from which to transmit video, voice, and Internet services. The platform will provide Internet access speeds as high as 40Mb/s downstream, according to Paul Bush, Telesat Canada's vice president of corporate development.

InnoMedia has announced a partnership with Sega Enterprises that will revolutionize the gaming experience for Sega gamers. Sega will incorporate InnoMedia's Internet telephony capabilities into the Dreamcast game console. Sega is the company to allow gamers to speak with one another live while playing games over the Internet.

Sega's new DreamCall product which is powered by InnoMedia's VoIP technology allows Sega gamers to use their Dreamcast device to place Internet telephone calls and speak with any other DreamCall Sega gamer in the world for free. In addition, they can use the VoIP-enabled Dreamcast device to place calls to any wireline or wireless telephone in more than 200 countries through InnoSphere, InnoMedia's Internet telephony service network.

Also Isao Okawa, chairman of Sega Enterprises, contributed to InnoMedia's recent round of financing to be used towards the expansion and upgrade of its VoIP service network. InnoMedia raised $115.5m from several investment firms in March. The money will be used to extend its position in the market by expanding engineering, ramping up marketing activities and bolstering its VoIP service network.

Microsoft readies first Windows 2000 update
Source: ZDnet

Will Windows 2000 win more converts once Microsoft Corp. issues the first service pack update to the product? A number of major corporations have held off from implementing Microsoft's latest business OS until the company made available its first collection of fixes and patches for it. Indeed, market-analyst firms such as Gartner Group and The Meta Group have advised their clients to wait for Service Pack 1 or 2 before moving to the product in order to minimize migration headaches.

Microsoft has started the formal beta-testing process for SP1 for Windows 2000, according to a report on the WinInfo Web site. The site reports that Microsoft has made the beta available to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers only. The SP1 beta weighs in at a "hefty" 190 MB, WinInfo said. 

According to a copy of the release notes examined by ZDNet News, the first service pack includes fixes in the areas of hardware compatibility, security and reliability -- the first since Microsoft released the gold code at the end of last year. The fixes apply to Windows 2000 Professional, Server and Advanced Server. The service pack also includes support for slipstreaming, a process by which users will be able to continue to integrate service packs as they appear, without having to reinstall the operating system.