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Europe's first
online prepaid debit card debuts Europe's first online prepaid debit card debuts Source: Newsbytes Global Internet Billing (GIB) has teamed with BritishInformation.com to launch a Web shopping portal with an allied prepaid debit card. Known as BritishInformation.com, the Web site, and its prepaid debit card - branded Interactivcash - are claimed to be the first of their type in Europe. The aim of the Interactivcash card, GIB says, is to allow e-tailers to reach into new markets and offer customers more used to cash a secure payment mechanism. While the majority of the adult population in Western Europe, and the UK especially, have a debit or credit card, many remain worried about the issue of using their plastic online. Coupled with the adults - and teenagers - without a plastic card, GIB says that Interactivcash will be able to build out its market presence quite quickly.
BCE and Thomson
create media giant BCE Inc, the Thomson Company, and the Woodbridge Company (the Thomson family's investment company) have agreed to combine resources in a $4.1-Billion media company. The new venture, owned 70.1% by BCE, will own the CTV television network and its associated specialty channels, the Globe and Mail, and the Sympatico-Lycos and Globe and Mail Web sites.
House
subcommittee votes to ban Internet fees The amendment could have ramifications beyond the Net, according to one subcommittee member. It "would deny the Federal Communications Commission the opportunity to impose fees on Internet telephony to support the Universal Service Fund," which ensures rural phone access, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., said in an interview. Boucher said the amendment is unnecessary. "There's no risk of a blanket transfer of legacy regulations" by the FCC to the Internet, he said. The move came in the form of an amendment to a bill eliminating the fees Bell companies pay to competitors when transporting calls to Internet service providers. Lobbyists for the competitive phone companies--and members of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee on both sides of the aisle--had raised fears that eliminating that fee would lead to Internet service providers raising their rates for consumers.
Juniper's
new products aim to tame business network traffic Juniper is shipping two new devices, called the M5 and M10, which Juniper executives say are smaller, have more technology density, and are faster than the competition. Among the customers planning to use the new routing technology are Broadband Office, Verio and UUNet, according to the company. Price tags for the new equipment start at $25,000. Juniper executives said their strategy is to extend the expertise they have in Net core routing to other markets where their ISP customers have needs. Mitchell said Juniper is moving "up and down the food chain of router size."
Sun serves up
Java on mobile phones The services will allow cell phones to tout new information feeds or services. Tracking down the nearest Burger King over the Internet, playing games online or creating charts of daily stock performance are some of the possible applications, said Eric Chu, director of product marketing for Sun's consumer and embedded Java products.
BT
reportedly to unveil partial float of wireless operations BT has already said that it will announce by the end of the year how it will cut its debt. The company is expected to do this through a combination of flotations and asset sales. A partial listing of the wireless business would go a long way to ease the company's debt burden. The total wireless assets have been valued at around 40 bln stg, which compares with the company's market capitalisation of 51.8 bln stg.
Hitachi
to set up U.S. optical parts unit along with Clarity's capital OpNext will start operations from Jan 1, it said. The Clarity group is an investment group formed by Clarity Partners and the Marubeni group with the objective of investing in OpNext, it said.
Qwest
lays off 13 000, moves into high-growth areas Qwest Communications International Inc., Denver, Colo., announced on 7 September that it plans to lay off some 13 000 workers as part of a move to focus the company. Qwest, which recently merged with the Baby Bell US West Communications Inc., wishes to concentrate on high-speed Internet and wireless services–areas that have experienced remarkable growth and generated huge profits. Qwest chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio referred to the layoffs as unfortunate, but said the company needed to be leaner and more entrepreneurial. Qwest says it expects its high-speed Internet, wireless telephone, and Web hosting customer base to double by the end of 2001. Its 500 000 digital subscriber line and 1.6 million wireless customers are expected to generate about $1 billion in revenue. The company is also seeking government approval to offer long distance service in US West’s territory and is setting up a digital media company that will store, manage, and distribute digital content. The company also plans to sell 570 000 of US West’s local telephone access lines over the next year, and is considering the sale of the Baby Bell’s "yellow" pages business.
EU
trustbusters may give AOL-Time Warner bid the boot European regulators are reportedly leaning toward rejecting the merger between America Online and Time Warner, but the companies on Monday said the $123 billion merger is still on track to close in the fall. A preliminary draft circulating among the European Commission (EC), the administrative arm of the European Union (EU), shows commissioners will veto the merger, which is now worth $123 billion, The Wall Street Journal online edition said Monday. AOL and Time Warner announced the merger in January, then worth $183 billion. The companies said the draft is "a normal part of the process" and they are still on track "to close in the fall." European officials have also indicated they will veto Time Warner's $20 billion acquisition of EMI Group PLC (London) without more restrictions. In a separate but related application, the EU is considering Time Warner's purchase of EMI, a combination that will create one of the world's largest music publishing companies. EMI and Time Warner offered concessions Monday in their merger and have until Tuesday to come up with more remedies.
Certicom
readies wireless security product Certicom Corp. plans to start selling digital certificates for wireless devices Tuesday, continuing its push to deliver needed security in the emerging mobile commerce market. The Certicom MobileTrust Certificate Authority uses elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC) in providing digital certificates used to authenticate the user of the handheld device to send or receive information or conduct transactions. The product is the second wireless announcement from Certicom (stock: CERT) in three months. The Ontario company said in June that it would deliver in the fall a client for handhelds that enables secure, VPN connections. Certicom's upcoming and unnamed VPN client will initially run on version 3.5 of the Palm OS, with support added later for Windows CE from Microsoft Inc. (stock: MSFT), Redmond, Wash., and EPOC OS from Symbian Ltd., London. The company is working to ensure interoperability with VPN server software from Cisco Systems Inc. (stock: CSCO), San Jose, Calif., and Nortel Networks Corp. (stock: NT), Brampton, Ontario. Certicom MobileTrust Certificate Authority will cost $895 a year per server, plus between $5 and $20 per $895 a year per server, plus between $5 and $20 per client, depending on the level of security.
Pagoo enters
voice over broadband arena Pagoo hopes to stake its claim in what could become a booming voice over broadband (VoB) arena with trials slated for Europe and the U.S. late this year. The San Francisco-based company gave a sneak peak of its solution to attendees of the Fall VON 2000 show in Atlanta. For its demo, Pagoo.com Inc. used telephones plugged into a residential gateway to place and receive calls over IP, said spokeswoman Heidi Zuhl. Pagoo will partner with DSL providers, CLECs, cable operators, and broadband resellers to deploy a variety of private-labeled Internet phone services to consumers within weeks. Some said that by using broadband pipes, VoB might be able to offer better sound quality than existing voice over IP (VoIP) offerings in which people typically use a handset with their PC to place calls. Pagoo's VoB offers a new interface that will make it easy to connect to telephone service. However, VoB players must address the issue of voice quality, Winther said. Other big issues are distribution and customer support.
Yipes optical IP
VPN unveiled
IP
Telephony vs. Circuit-Switched: the great debate Cahners In-Stat analyst Mike Paxton believes North American operators are divided into those who believe circuit-switched technology must be deployed before IP telephony can be installed, and those who believe circuit-switched systems can be bypassed in favor of IP telephony exclusively. Paxton believes operators that use circuit-switched initially are gaining expertise in areas including billing, powering, and QoS. Some of the benefits of offering circuit-switched telephony include reliability, add-on features, and compatibility with domestic and international phone networks. Although IP telephony is largely untested, its promise has made it attractive to operators including Time Warner, which has begun testing IP in Portland, Maine. But the trial that is getting the most attention is Videotron's, in Quebec. The company is backing the first broad IP telephony trial in North America.
NetScout
releases E-Business performance-management applications Managing application operations is becoming critical as more businesses establish internal service-level agreements for acceptable performance. With nGenius Application Service Level Manager, network managers install agents on desktops that then emulate user actions and measure application-response times. This data is sent to the nGenius servers, allowing managers to construct real-time views and create reports for tracking application service levels. By gathering application traffic data, the nGenius Capacity Planner profiles, predicts, and reports on network- and application-usage trends to help manage bandwidth consumption by applications and users. Both the Application Service Level Manager and Capacity Planner came from technology the company gained through its $60 million acquisition of privately held NextPoint Networks Inc.
Storability launches
SAN service Data is growing so fast today and the technology to manage it is so complex that most companies have a difficult time maintaining, managing, and protecting it all. Startup Storability Inc. is unveiling services that could help solve that problem. Unlike storage service providers, which build storage infrastructures for customers remotely, Storability will go on-site to design and build storage area networks (SANs). Once the network is up and running, Storability will then manage the SAN remotely. Storability's AssuredStorage services are based on service-level agreements between vendor and customer. The vendor will recommend a system that fits a company's needs, oversee the installation, and then provide management and operations services around the clock. Pricing will be on a per-customer basis.
Net2Phone
and Cisco announces new company
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