GLOBAL CROSSING, MICROSOFT, SOFTBANK PLAN ASIAN TERABIT CABLE
Global Crossing, Softbank and Microsoft formed a joint venture to build and operate a 17,000 km undersea network linking Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. Global Crossing will contribute its 57.75% share of the Pacific Crossing 1 cable to the venture; Softbank and Microsoft will each contribute $175 million in cash. Pacific Crossing 1, which is expected to begin initial service by the end of the year, will provide an initial 80 Gbps capacity between four landing points in Japan and the US. The newly announced East Asia Crossing cable will be built in two interconnected rings. Phase One, to be completed by year-end 2000, will link with Pacific Crossing 1 in Japan and connect with Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines. Phase Two, to be completed by June 2001, will link Japan to two stations in China, one in South Korea and one in Taiwan. Initial capacity of East Asia Crossing will be 80 Gbps, upgradeable to 1.2 Tbps. Microsoft and Softbank will purchase at least $200 million in Global Crossing Network capacity over a three-year period. http://www.globalcrossing.com/pressreleases/pr_090899.asp
Global Crossing, September 8, 1999

Global Crossing is also building a terrestrial fiber network in Japan in partnership with Marubeni. The Global Access Limited (GAL) network will provide backhaul to the PC-1 system and interconnection with the Global Crossing's  other undersea projects:

Mid-Atlantic Crossing -- linking the eastern US and the Caribbean (7,500 km). Activation is scheduled for December 1999.

Pan-European Crossing -- a terrestrial network connecting the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland and Italy. Activation is scheduled for Q4 1999 to Q1 2000.

South American Crossing -- linking US Virgin Islands, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Panama (18,000 km). Activation is anticipated in Q1 2001.

WORLD'S LARGEST WEB SITE GOES LIVE
The largest web site ever developed in terms of scale -- http://www.netaid.org -- went live on Tuesday. The NetAid initiative, created by Cisco Systems and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), aims to alleviate growing problems of extreme poverty around the world. Three overlapping concerts on October 9 from New York, London and Geneva will be broadcast around the world and webcast live. Web site content will be hosted on Akamai's distributed network of over 1,200 servers in more than 90 data centers worldwide. The NetAid site has the capacity to handle 60 million hits per hour - 10X the peak of the last Olympics and 1998 Men's World Cup. Streaming capability will be 10X greater than any prior webcast - 125,000 simultaneous live streams - accommodating a viewing capacity of more than 10 million people over the course of the concert (approx. 10 hours). Real Networks  will deploy 300 RealVideo G2 splitters to handle live streaming of the concerts on two channels - one carrying the concerts, the other providing a continuous backstage feed. The site will be able to handle 1,000 secure e-payment transactions per second. After the concerts, the site will continue its mission to build a community of conscience dedicated to providing basic needs: food, shelter, legal protection, human rights and health care. http://www.netaid.org 
NetAid, September 8, 1999

PSINET SIGNS DSL PARTNERS FOR NATIONWIDE COVERAGE
PSINet signed DSL resale agreements with Covad Communications, Rhythms and Network Access Solutions to provide further access options to its network from over 60 US cities. The PSINet DSL service is now available in 21 major metropolitan markets at corporate rates starting at $159 per month. http://www.psinet.com/news/pr/99/sep08.html
PSINet, September 8, 1999

OPTICAL NETWORKS RECEIVES $15M IN VENTURE FUNDING
Optical Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, received $15 million in its third major round of venture investment, bringing its total financing to $50 million. The company is developing a metropolitan area optical transport platform that combines data switching and routing equipment with the optical transport layer. Its Dynamic Transport System includes a DWDM transport system, an optical link management protocol suite for internetworking data and transport layers, and an integrated network operating system. The DWDM optical transport equipment provides optical layer switching, dynamic add-drop on all optical channels and flexible-rate client interfaces for ring, arbitrary ring-mesh and full-mesh topologies. The system is being designed to maintain interoperability with existing SONET systems while offering interfaces for OC-3, 12, 48, Gigabit Ethernet, POS and ATM services. Field trials are expected in Q4. Cisco Systems holds an equity share in Optical Networks. New funding came from Fidelity  Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mohr Davidow Ventures and others. http://www.opticalnetworks.com/ 
Optical Networks, September 8, 1999

LIGHTPATH GAINS US PATENT FOR FIBER OPTIC FUSION PROCESS
LightPath Technologies expects to gain a US patent for a laser fusion process used to build optical components for products such as isolators, mechanical switches, couplers, circulators, optical switches and wavelength division multiplexers. The company said its process for laser fusing of optical fibers directly to larger optical components, such as collimating lenses, solves one of the most difficult problems faced in component and device manufacturing, the fiber interface. LightPath manufactures GRADIUM glass products and a proprietary collimator assembly for optical equipment. The company is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. http://www.light.net/
LightPath, September 8, 1999

TELIA DEPLOYS NORTEL NETWORKS' PASSPORT 15000
Telia selected Nortel Networks as a supplier for national ATM and Frame Relay network. Telia, which already uses Nortel's equipment in its network, will deploy the new Passport 15000 switch, which supports native ATM, Frame Relay, IP and voice services on a range of high-density interfaces, from DS-3/E3 to OC-48c/STM-16c. The multislot platform can terminate up to 43,000 DS-0s in a single  NEBs-compliant footprint while scaling up to 40 Gbps. Nortel Networks announced commercial availability of the Passport 15000 in May. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.nortelnetworks.com/corporate/news/newsreleases/1999c/9_8_9999535_telia.html
Nortel Networks, September 8, 1999

PANAMA CANAL DEPLOYS FORE ATM NETWORK
The Panama Canal Commission has deployed a new ATM backbone to combine voice and data networks connecting nine administrative and navigational buildings along the path of the canal at OC-12 speeds. The network uses multiple TNX-1100 and TNX-210 ATM switches from FORE Systems for backbone connections. Specialized applications for the network include an advanced marine traffic control system that incorporates a global positioning system (GPS),  as well as point-to-point and point-to-multipoint MJPEG and MPEG-2 video conferencing. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.fore.com/press/current/PR909_08a.html
FORE Systems, September 8, 1999

IXC SELECTS VINA TECHNOLOGIES' INTEGRATED ACCESS DEVICE
IXC Communications selected VINA Technologies Multiservice T1 Integrator device to provide its customers with voice, Frame Relay, private line, and high-speed Internet services on a single, dedicated T1 line. VINA's IAD performs the functions of a channel bank, router, firewall and multiplexer in a single device. The product offers a T1/HDSL network interface, a channel bank with 24 ports, local call routing and fractionally multiplexed voice and data. VINA Technologies is a start-up based in Fremont, California. http://www.vina-tech.com/06news/06frame_ixc.htm
VINA Technologies, September 8, 1999

VIRGINIA TECH TESTS LMDS NETWORK USING TDD
Virginia Tech, the only university in the US to own LMDS spectrum licenses, is testing a broadband wireless network at its campus in Blacksburg, Virginia using equipment from Wavtrace -- a start-up based in Bellevue, Washington. The installation is one of the  first in the world based on time division duplexing (TDD) technology, an airlink protocol that allows transmit and receive functions to occur on one channel. The trial network currently has two sectors and three remotes operational -- the equipment initially is providing 7 DS1s per sector (about 11 Mbps). In the two-remote sector, three DS1s have been provisioned to each remote building site over a 10BaseT interface. An overview of the Va. Tech LMDS project is online. WavTrace has raised $46 million in three rounds of venture financing. http://www.lmds.vt.edu/
http://www.wavtrace.com/
WavTrace, September 8, 1999

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