CISCO SYSTEMS ACQUIRES CERENT, MONTEREY NETWORKS
Cisco Systems will acquire Cerent Corp. and Monterey Networks for a combined $7.4 billion in stock to further its presence in optical transport networking. Cerent was valued at approximately $6.9 billion (100 million shares of CSCO) and Monterey at $500 million (7.3 million shares). Cisco previoulsy held minority stakes in both companies. The acquisitions will double the number of employees in Cisco's optical internetworking business unit to 900. Cerent, a start-up based in Petaluma, California, offers an access and transport platform for providing "any service in/any optical rate out" over a SONET/SDH infrastructure. The Cerent 454 platform combines IP over SONET/SDH with ATM, Frame Relay and TDM. The unit is a 240 Gbps shelf with multiple general-purpose card slots for interfaces from DS1 to OC192. It uses statistical multiplexing and packet and cell switching to aggregate bandwidth. A core cross- aggregation. A SONET plane gives each card slot full access to the core cross-connect matrix. In June, Cerent released a Gigabit Ethernet interface, enabling its carrier platform to deliver metropolitan Gigabit Ethernet services. The company announced its first commercial installation in March and now has 100 customers nationwide. In July, the company filed papers with SEC for a planned initial public offering (IPO). Cerent was founded in 1997 and has 287 employees. http://www.cerent.com

Monterey Networks, a start-up based in Richardson, Texas, is developing a wavelength router based on DWDM technology. The platform is being designed to scale from an initial capacity of 256x256 wavelength service ports to beyond 160 Tbps of non-blocking service-port capacity, providing optical transport at wavelength granularities of OC-48 and OC-192. It could be used to quickly provision high bandwidth services for connecting IP routers, ATM switches and SONET add-drop multiplexers and cross-connects. In the product's first release, Monterey's switching subsystem is expected to include two identical switching matrices, each of which supports non-blocking 256x256 OC-48 wavelength switching, 64x64 OC-192 wavelength switching, or a combination, in a single NEBS-compliant bay. The two identical switch matrices present fully diverse redundancy to the I/O subsystem. The architecture will also feature fully independent and physically separated switching and I/O, which permits the optimization of density for each. Thewavelength router will support both long-reach 15xx- nanometer (ITU grid-compliant) and short-reach 1310-nm optics. Monterey has been developing its own distributed mesh Wavelength Routing Protocol (WaRP) for provisioning of wavelengths end-to-end in seconds across many hops, and with restoration capacities within 50 milliseconds. The company has previously forecast commercial introduction of its wavelength router in Q4. http://www.montereynets.com
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/august99/28.html
Cisco Systems, August 26, 1999

Cisco Systems has also made equity minority equity investments in Tellium, Corvis Corp. and Optical Networks.

Optical Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, is developing a metropolitan area optical transport platform that combines data switching and routing equipment with the optical transport layer. The company has previously announced full interoperability with the Cisco 12000 series GSR and with the Cerent 454 platform. http://www.opticalnetworks.com/

BROADNET TO PROVIDE EXTENSIVE BROADBAND WIRELESS ACCESS IN GERMANY
BroadNet, a new venture backed by Comcast International Holdings, was awarded 42 city licenses for broadband wireless by Germany's regulator covering all the major financial centers, potentially making BroadNet a major player in Germany's local loop. The company plans to bid for broadband wireless licenses in up to 19 European markets. BroadNet has selected Lucent as its preferred technology partner in the rollout of its pan-European broadband wireless access network. Lucent will provide a turnkey installation based on its OnDemand wireless broadband access system. BroadNet plans to  rollout its network in Germany with Lucent's support by the middle of next year. BroadNet is 63% owned by Comcast and is based in Brussels. http://www.broadnet.net/
http://www.lucent.com
Lucent, August 26, 1999

Lucent supplies its OnDemand wireless broadband access system under an OEM agreement with Netro Corporation that was announced in April. Netro completed an IPO earlier this month.

INTERNET TRAFFIC NOW ACCOUNTS FOR 38% OF TELIA'S LOCAL TRAFFIC IN SWEDEN
Telia reported that Internet traffic now accounts for 38% of local traffic in its fixed network in Sweden, up from 22% of all traffic in the same time last year. In its six-month financial report, Telia said competition was intensifying in the Swedish market, with prices falling even for mobile telephony. Telia cut the price of domestic calls during the period by 24% for daytime weekdays. As of June 30, Telia's mobile networks served a total of 2,381,000 subscribers, as well as 147,000 subscribers in Finland and Denmark. Telia proposed merger with Telenor has been approved by both countries' parliaments and is now being reviewed by the EC. A decision is expected in October. http://www.telia.com
Telia, August 26, 1999

PRESTO TO BUILD $300 MILLION PACKET NETWORK IN MEXICO
Presto Telecomunicaciones signed a $300 million agreement with Lucent Technologies to build a packet-based network across Mexico.  The planned network will span 32 states within Mexico and be capable of covering as much as 85% of the population Presto Telecomunicaciones is headquartered in San Diego, California. http://www.lucent.com
Lucent Technologies, August 26, 1999

GST TELECOM ADDS ATM, CLEAR CHANNEL, AND ETHERNET ACCESS
GST Telecommunications introduced three new standardized Internet access services for its network in California and the western US: Clear Channel DS-1/DS-3, Ethernet/Fast Ethernet and ATM up to 45 Mbps. All services run over GST's ATM-based Virtual Integrated Transport and Access (VITA) network. http://www.gstcorp.com/investor/
GST Telecommunications, August 26, 1999

TERAGLOBAL SELECTS FORE SYSTEMS FOR INTEGRATED NETWORK SERVICE
FORE Systems announced a partnership with TeraGLOBAL Communications (TGCC), a provider of two-way, real-time communications services. TeraGlobal will install FORE's ATM solutions in the initial phase of its worldwide backbone network. TeraGlobal's TeraMedia service provides secure Voice, Video and Data (VVD) via a universal client communications workstation. The fully managed service includes applications for creating, distributing, managing, assessing and securing content over a scalable, secure network. http://www.fore.com/press/current/PR908_25.html
http://www.teraglobal.com
FORE Systems, August 25, 1999

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