Microsoft buys games developer Bungie 
Softswitch setbacks portend larger challenges 
Appeals Court to consider Microsoft's request 
PON moves in 
High beams 
AOL plans interactive TV in some U.S. markets 
E-Governments on the rise 
Broadcom bites into wireless market based on Bluetooth 
WHEREVER.net launches another Super PoP 
ePHONE completes Private Placement 
Astral Point lands first sale of optical switches 
Proxim buys networking company for $14 million 
Orange deploys major mobile internet trial in U.K. 
Ontario proposes e-commerce law 
Royal Bank forming wireless venture 

Software giant Microsoft Corp. said on June 19th it bought Bungie Software Products Corp. for undisclosed terms in a move to add games for its personal computers and X-Box video game consoles.  Microsoft said it is gaining exclusive publishing and distribution rights to select titles of Bungie's computer and video games, including a sci-fi action epic dubbed "Halo."  Bungie's development staff will become an independent development studio within the Microsoft Game Division, where Microsoft said it will play a key role in developing content for the X-Box platform.

Microsoft did not disclose financial details of the deal but according to the Wall Street Journal on Monday, some analysts have estimated the company paid between $20 million and $40 million for the closely held Chicago company.  Microsoft said the deal includes buying a 19.9 percent Bungie stake from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., a current distributor of Bungie-developed titles. Take-Two will in turn acquire all rights, titles and interest to certain Bungie game properties, including the "Myth" game franchise and an upcoming action game called "Oni."  The acquisition of Bungie follows Microsoft's acquisitions of game makers FASA Interactive Technologies Inc. and Access Software Inc. last year.

Softswitch setbacks portend larger challenges
Source: ZDnet

Once on the leading edge of the next generation of telephone switching gear, Lucent Technologies is now rebuilding its softswitch strategy, following the departure of key personnel and the loss of a highly publicized contract with international carrier Global Crossing.  Lucent's primary softswitch architect, Murali Aravamudam, executive director of communication software, left the company two months ago for a start-up, and Global Crossing recently dropped its order of Lucent softswitches because they were too slow in routing calls.  Industry analysts said the setbacks could tarnish Lucent's reputation as the leading supplier of reliable, state-of-the-art telecommunications equipment.

Lucent's apparent hiccups in putting together a solid product based on the same type of technology that governs the flow of traffic over the Internet could be seen as emblematic of a larger struggle.  Similar to traditional telecommunications competitors Alcatel, Nortel Networks and Siemens, Lucent's long-term survival rides on the company's ability to make a smooth transition from being a supplier of traditional telephone gear to being a provider of equipment for next-generation networks.

The company is believed to derive billions of dollars from the sale of circuit-based telephone switches, which at present control the flow of local and long-distance voice calls and come with an initial price tag of several million dollars.  But circuit-based switches face possible extinction as the telecommunications industry, driven by the emergence of the Internet as the dominant communications medium, migrates to a packet-based model. This transition essentially involves chopping up voice signals into packets of data, which can then be shuttled across the public network much more efficiently than traditional voice traffic.  In the past few months, Lucent has strengthened its softswitch program by integrating it with segments of its traditional switching business and combining it with assets acquired with the purchase of programmable-switch maker Excel Switching. The new resources, which have been assembled into the Open Networks Solutions group, will enable Lucent to accelerate product development, according to Mike Decelle, vice president of marketing for the OpeNet group at Lucent.

Appeals Court to consider Microsoft's request
Source: ZDnet

Microsoft won a round in its battle against the Justice Department on Monday, when the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to consider freezing a lower court order that forces the software giant to change its business practices, but the victory may be temporary.  The ruling contained something for each side and both claimed victory in a narrow procedural action that stopped far short of dealing with the lower court's order to break up the company to stop it from abusing monopoly power.  ``This moves things along about a foot, with several miles to go,'' said Robert Litan, vice president and director of economic studies at The Brookings Institution. The appeals court's action is part of a complex interplay between the government, Microsoft, the trial court, the appeals court and the Supreme Court -- where the case is ultimately expected to be decided.

Among other things, the conduct remedies require Microsoft to treat major computer makers the same and to permit them to customize how Microsoft's Windows operating system appears on their screens. Microsoft also would have to permit other software applications writers the same access to the company's code that Microsoft's own software writers enjoy.

Microsoft asked the appeals court to freeze Jackson's conduct remedies from taking effect, denying all allegations and telling the appeals court it does not even hold a monopoly. The Justice Department told the appeals court that Jackson should have a chance to act first on whether to halt the remedies.  The appeals court sided with Microsoft and decided that it would decide the question without waiting for Jackson.

PON moves in
Source: Comsoc
 
Although fiber is available to many small and midsized businesses, smaller businesses usually opt to use the existing copper or ISDN because additional fiber deployments are not cost-effective for their level of bandwidth usage. However, optical-based services using passive optical networks have developed potential in the corporate market. A number of companies are working on PON offerings that will enable carriers to provide dynamic bandwidth to their small and midsized corporate customers. A carrier typically deploys fiber if a customer needs upwards of 10 DS-1s. However, when less than 10 DS-1s are necessary, copper t-1s are usually deployed because current Sonet technology is costly, according to Jim Holley, NEC Eluminant Technologies' senior vice president of marketing. PON technology uses cheap optical splitters to split a single access line between 32 customers. Because the technology is "passive" by nature, its signal can extend only 20 km. Signal loss is a problem for service providers, said Aberdeen Group senior analyst Andy McCormick. When the fiber is split, the signal diminishes, according to Jeff Gwynne, marketing vice president for Quantum Bridge. 

High beams
Source: Comsoc

Multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS) and local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) are emerging as viable options for high-speed network access. Both are wireless technologies that offer services traditionally available exclusively with the installation of fiber cables. Allied Business Intelligence predicts that by 2005, MMDS will provide services for 70 percent of the residential and small office market, while LMDS will become a major player for delivering broadband to businesses. Peter Rsyavy, who leads Rysavy research, says both systems can be profitable offering services to customers left out of the fixed-wireless market. MMDS transmissions can cover a 35 mile radius, possibly lowering the equipment costs of service providers offering the system. 

The industry is taking notice of the potential gains of MMDS. Last year, MCI Worldcom acquired four MMDS operators for $4 billion. Sprint purchased six broadband wireless firms and consolidated them into its Broadband Wireless Group. Both companies are testing MMDS in cities across the nation, with hopes of reaching a combined 60 million U.S. homes. Meanwhile, LMDS is catering to the corporate customer. LMDS appeals to businesses for with high-speed Internet access. The high cost and limited range of LMDS make the service more viable in well populated regions. 

AOL plans interactive TV in some U.S. markets
Source: Teledotcom

America Online Inc. plans to start an interactive television service in select cities that will allow TV viewers to chat online and send e-mail.  AOL is developing a way for the television industry to make interactive programming available through Liberate software, said the company, which is also expanding its brand outside the personal computer to wireless devices and Internet appliances. 

AOL is working to provide content for AOLTV, which is the name of the service, with E! Entertainment Television, Oxygen Media, Starz Encore Group, QVC, The Weather Channel, Sesame Workshop, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment's SoapCity, Court TV and Odyssey, A Henson & Hallmark Entertainment Network, among others.

The service will first be offered in selected markets including Phoenix, Sacramento, Calif., and Baltimore, and it will be available through a set-top box made by Philips Electronics N.V. (Eindhoven, the Netherlands). The set-top box and wireless keyboard will only be sold at Circuit City stores and online through AOL in mid-July.  The news comes as AOL faces mounting scrutiny over its practice of blocking instant messaging rivals from interoperating with its own instant messaging customers. Complaints on that practice have prompted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to look into rival claims that AOL is thwarting competition. AOL is seeking to finalize its merger with media giant Time Warner Inc. (New York).

E-Governments on the rise
Source: Teledotcom

Demand from citizens who have sampled the benefits of e-commerce is driving state and local governments to build new transaction capabilities for electronic government.  Addressing the fact that citizens interact more with the 87,000 state and local governments than they do with the federal government, non-federal governments have begun offering services over the Web. And a host of service providers are stepping up to help them.

In the past two weeks alone, several state and local governments have launched Web projects. Officials in North Carolina and Wyoming this month chose Andersen Consulting LLP (Chicago) to deploy state government portals for them. And New York City tapped govWorks Inc. (New York) and PayByCheck.com LLC (University Place, Wash.) to allow citizens to pay bills online using electronic checks.

In the meantime, Tidemark Solutions (Seattle, Wash.) this month is launching an application hosting service for state and local governments.  Experts said the services are designed to meet citizens' Internet-Age expectations for instant information and online self-service.

Broadcom bites into wireless market based on Bluetooth
Source: Spectrum

Broadcom Corp., Irvine, Calif., announced on 13 June it will acquire the 87 percent of Innovent Systems Inc. that it does not yet own for US$457 million. The deal will give Broadcom, which manufactures chips that manage high-speed broadband communications, a foothold in the wireless communications market. Innovent, in El Segundo, Calif., is a pioneer in the development and commercial integration of radio-frequency integrated circuits for short-range wireless data communications using a standard called Bluetooth.  Innovent’s planned Blutonium product line will enable devices utilizing Bluetooth applications in personal area networks and wireless local area networks. Analysts estimate that short-range wireless communications will be a multibillion dollar industry in the next few years.

WHEREVER.net has announced the launch of its Hong Kong Super PoP. The company expects its traffic capacity in Hong Kong to increase fourfold.  The service provider has already multiple PoPs in Hong Kong located in Quarry Bay, Causeway Bay, and Kowloon Bay. The PoP in Quarry Bay has already been upgraded to a Super PoP which will form the backbone infrastructure for the other PoPs.

WHEREVER.net's Hong Kong Super PoP is the second one launched after first Super PoP in Los Angeles. Other Super PoPs in the pipeline are planned to be launched soon in other major cities around the world.

ePHONE Telecom, an internet telephony services carrier for businesses and individuals, has announced that GroomeCapital.com has completed a Private Placement of US$15,158,921.50 for the company to pursue the deployment of its VoIP network.

ePHONE enables long distance calling via access devices that connect to regionally placed ePHONE's IP telephony switches. Its customers use existing telephone equipment to make voice, fax and other communications calls.  GroomeCapital.com is an institutionally oriented Canadian brokerage firm with offices in Montreal and Toronto.

Astral Point lands first sale of optical switches
Source: Digitalmass

Astral Point Communications, one of the region's optical networking start-ups, announced on June 19, the first customer for its optical switches, which feature automated systems for connecting businesses to a metropolitan network.  Terms of the deal with Lighthouse Communications Inc. of Des Moines are not being disclosed. Like other optical start-ups along Interstate 495, however, Astral Point, founded in September 1998, is hungry to show credibility-boosting ''customer wins'' for its advanced optical technology as it moves for a share of the multibillion-dollar optical market.

Astral Point offers an unusual service in which the boxes it installs into a network automatically map out every incoming and outgoing connection and chart multiple routes to reach other switching stations.  When a company wants to install a service such as a digital subscriber line for Net access, a technician with a carrier using Astral gear can instantly sign the customer up on a computer screen, and the network automatically creates the best connection inside the switching office.  The Astral system can also, in as little as 1/20 of a second, shift a customer to a backup route if, for example, a construction crew takes out a fiber-optic line.

Astral Point's boxes also serve as ''multiplexers,'' increasing by a factor of up to 32 the capacity of an existing so-called SONET ring, the fiber links that snake through downtown Boston and Cambridge.

Two weeks ago, Astral announced it had received $40 million in venture capital from a group led by Bowman Capital, bringing its total funding to $73 million.

Proxim buys networking company for $14 million
Source: CNet

Wireless company Proxim Technologies spent $14 million June 19 to acquire Farallon Communications, maker of technology that allows Apple Macintoshes and PCs to network together.  Farallon, which spun off from Netopia in 1998, builds a variety of networking kits that allow consumers and small businesses to network their computers together and share a single Internet connection.

Farallon sells phone-line networking kits that let people connect their computers together simply by plugging them into already installed phone jacks. It also sells wireless networking kits and traditional Ethernet technology that allow people to network their computers by stringing cables between them. Farallon's products allow PCs to network with Macintoshes.

Proxim historically has sold only wireless networking products to consumers and businesses, allowing laptop owners to work untethered in the home or office, for example.  Proxim and Farallon, however, support different wireless standards in the home. Proxim, along with Intel and others, support a wireless standard called HomeRF that runs about five times slower than another wireless standard called 802.11B. Farallon, 3Com, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and others support 80.211B in the home.  "Both can coexist, we think," said Kurt Bauer, Proxim's vice president of marketing.

Orange deploys major mobile internet trial in U.K.
Source: Businesswire

Orange Personal Communication Services Ltd. announced on June 20 a major trial with AirFlash, Inc., the premier ASP of wireless location and m-Commerce infrastructure, to develop the first phase of Orange's location-based mobile portal for its end users.  The trial includes developing location-based business listings, ATM finder, driving directions and hotel information for the U.K. market, enabling users to search for information, such as restaurants and hotels, according to their current or future location.

Upon a successful completion of the trial, Orange will make the location-based element of its mobile portal, based on AirFlash's SmartZone(TM) technology, commercially available to customers. Orange will also work with AirFlash(TM) to develop the second phase of its location-based mobile portal offering, which will involve the integration of Orange's own content into AirFlash's Mobile Context and SmartZone environments.

    

Ontario proposes e-commerce law
Source: Angustel

The Government of Ontario has tabled the Electronic Commerce Act, to give legal force to electronic contracts and signatures, set up rules for automatic transactions, and adopt standards for e-commerce law.

Royal Bank forming wireless venture
Source:  Angustel

Royal Bank of Canada plans to form a joint venture with Toronto-based Baldhead Systems to provide secure wireless financial services. Royal Bank, which aims to offer these services later this year, will own 20% of the new company, which is called Sona Innovations.