MARCONI TO ACQUIRE NOKIA’S SDH/DWDM BUSINESS FOR $76 MILLION
Marconi Communications will acquire Nokia’s SDH/DWDM operations for US$76 million (Finnish Marks 430 million).  The deal covers Nokia's existing SDH and DWDM transport product range, the Synfonet brand name and approximately 120 Nokia personnel currently working at an R&D unit in Cambridge (UK).  Nokia will continue to supply the SDH/DWDM solutions under an OEM agreement with Marconi.  http://www.marconicomms.com
Marconi Communications, November 1, 1999

Marconi Communications is a subsidiary of The General Electric Company, p.l.c.  Earlier this year, GEC acquired FORE Systems.

CPIX EFFORT FOR NETWORK PROCESSOR STANDARDS GAINS MOMENTUM
The Common Programming Interface (CPIX) Forum, which is developing control plane software interface standards for network processors, more than doubled its membership with the addition of Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group as a charter member, and Agere, EZchip Technologies, MMC Networks, Motorola Semiconductor, Silicon Access, and Solidum Systems as founding members.  The new companies join previously announced charter members C-Port and IBM, and founding members Inverness Systems, Sitera and SwitchOn Networks.  The CPIX Forum is working in parallel to the CSIX Consortium, which is focusing on hardware specifications for communications and network processors. http://www.cpixforum.org
CPIX Forum, November 1, 1999

GROWTH NETWORKS ANNOUNCES SWITCHING FABRIC PLANS FOR OPTICAL CORE
Growth Networks, a start-up based in Mountain View, California announced plans for highly-scalable Internet Switching Fabric ICs to address bandwidth demands generated by DWDM and the optical Internet core.  Growth Networks is targeting switching ICs with capacity from tens of gigabits to tens of terabits, and supporting multi-service packet and circuit switching.  Initial silicon sampling is expected during the first half of 2000.  Growth Networks was founded in October 1998 by three professors from Washington University's Applied Research Laboratory (ARL): Dr. Jonathan Turner, Dr. Guru Parulkar and Dr. Jerome Cox.  The company has raised $6 million from Institutional Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates.

Separately, Growth Networks formed a partnership with MMC Networks focused on developing interoperable switching fabric, traffic management and software-programmable packet processor solutionshttp://www.growthnetworks.com.
Growth Networks, November 1, 1999

ENTRIDIA INTRODUCES MULTIGIGABIT ROUTER CHIP FOR THE INTERNET EDGE
Entridia, a start-up based in Irvine, California announced an IP edge router IC with prioritized forwarding and active bandwidth management features.  Entridia’s Wisper (Wire-Speed Edge Router) chip delivers 6.4 Gbps of aggregate bandwidth, offers integrated 10/100 Mbps Ethernet interfaces, and allows for connectivity to Gigabit Ethernet and OC-3, OC-12 and OC-48 Packet-over-SONET (PoS) links.  The company said its Convergence Oriented Routing Architecture combines aspects of time-division multiplexing with route and flow processing techniques to guarantee quality of service at wire-speed at 10 million packets-per-second and a deterministic ingress-to-egress forwarding latency of 8(mu)s.  Entridia recently raised $10 million in a second round of venture funding led by Conexant Systems.  http://www.entridia.com/
Entridia, November 1, 1999

MOTOROLA INTRODUCES SINGLE CHIP ATM SWITCHING FABRIC
Motorola introduced an ATM cell switching switch port component designed for ATM Access Switches, Wireless Base Station Controllers, xDSL Access Multiplexers, CompactPCI Platforms, IP Telephony Gateways, and Multiservice Platforms.  Each switch port supports up to 155 Mbps line rates and is interconnected by a shared bus capable of 2.4 Gbps of throughput.  Motorola already offers an ATM Cell Processor for routing and traffic management, an embedded PowerPCTM processor for Frame Relay to ATM conversion, a PowerPC processor for setup and control, and specialized memory solutions.  Motorola said its Motorola to new MC92400 ATM Cell-Switching Engine (ACE) unifies its portfolio, enabling it to provide a complete system solution for frame-based and cell-based communications equipment.  http://motorola.com/ACE
Motorola, November 1, 1999

MOTOROLA DEVELOPS BASEBAND PROCESSOR FOR WIRELESS
Motorola has developed a baseband processor that can execute all major existing wireless standards, including support for CDMA, GSM, iDEN, and TDMA wireless devices, as well as satellite based products.  The device is designed to take advantage of high data throughput applications like general packet radio service (GPRS) and WAP-enabled microbrowsers.
Volume production is slated for Q1 2000.  http://www.motorola.com/wireless-semi
Motorola, November 1, 1999

NEC ANNOUNCES ENTERPRISE ATM SWITCHES
NEC America introduced new 5 Gbps and 10 Gbps enterprise ATM switches featuring fully redundant non-blocking switch fabrics and support for 96 nodes in a three-level hierarchy PNNI topology.  The PNNI capability allows the switches to automatically recognize and discover the network topology.  Both switches can accommodate 52,000 simultaneous, bi-directional connections and support a broad range of interfaces with data rates up to 622 Mbps.  http://www.cng.nec.com/
NEC America, November 1, 1999

WOODWIND AND TOLLBRIDGE PARTNER FOR IP-BASED VOICE-OVER-DSL
Woodwind Communications Systems licensed TollBridge Technologies’ voice-over-broadband technology for use in its ClariNet line of integrated access devices.  Woodwind’s ClariNet Service Intelligent Integrated Network System is a customer-premise, network edge device supporting Internet access, public (PSTN) voice/facsimile services and LAN interconnect using ATM, Frame Relay over xDSL or T1.  The stackable product offers local voice service delivery of 4, 8 or 12 FXS lines or up to 24 PBX voice channels over a local T1 interface.  TollBridge's TollVoice technology enable IP-based voice over DSL.  http://www.wcsinc.com  http://www.tollbridgetech.com
TollBridge Technologies, November 1, 1999’

HIBERNIA TRANSATLANTIC CABLE TO CARRY 4X 48 WAVELENGTHS AT 10 GBPS
The Hibernia undersea cable system being built by Worldwide Telecom will be the first to trans-Atlantic ring network utilizing 48 wavelengths at 10Gbps line rate per fiber pair.  The network will have four fiber pairs, giving it an overall capacity of 1.92 Tbps.  Landing points include Halifax, Canada; Boston, USA; Dublin, Ireland; and Liverpool, England.  The system is expected to enter service in Q1 2001.  Tyco Submarine Systems is the lead contractor.  http://www.wwfiber.com
http://www.submarinesystems.com
Worldwide Fiber, November 1, 1999

GLOBAL CROSSING PUBLISHES INTERNET ACCESS SLAS
Global Crossing' announced the following dedicated Internet access service level agreement (SLA):

Availability - 100% for the Global Crossing access port and network

Latency - 70 millisecond average roundtrip latency between hubs on Global Crossing's IP backbone

Packet loss - 4% maximum packet loss within Global Crossing's network backbone

Outage notification - 15 minute proactive notification of network outages

Installation - 40 days or less installation for fractional and full T-1 circuits; 60 days or less installation for full DS-3 circuits  http://www.globalcrossing.com
Global Crossing, November 1, 1999

TELEDESIC RECEIVES $121 MILLION INVESTMENT FROM ABU DHABI
Teledesic LLC, the broadband satellite venture backed Bill Gates, Craig McCaw, Motorola, Boeing and Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, received an additional $121 million investment arranged by the Abu Dhabi Investment Company (ADIC).  http://www.teledesic.com
Teledesic, November 1, 1999