CIENA INTRODUCES ITS LONG DISTANCE OPTICAL TRANSPORT PLATFORM
Ciena announced enhancements to its MultiWave CoreStream switch enabling the optical transport platform to support spans longer than 5,000 km without additional optical-to-electrical signal regeneration.  The enhancements would allow the CoreStream to support up to 160 channels of 10 Gbps traffic over a span of 2,000 km without regeneration, or scaling to transport more channels or span greater distances.  The greater distances will be achieved using forward error correction (FEC), nonlinearity management and dispersion mapping technologies.  Ciena estimates that regeneration may account for up to 50% of the cost of transport in some networks.  Beta trials are expected to begin in April 2000.  http://www.ciena.com/news/archive/1999/11/11.23.1999pr.html
Ciena, November 23, 1999

QTERA'S LONG-HAUL DWDM TESTED IN QWEST'S NETWORK
Qtera Corporation, a start-up based in Boca Raton, Florida, said its all-optical, long haul photonic transport platform has successfully completed a 30-day field trial in Qwest's network.  The Qtera platform carried 10 Gbps signals 2,400 km (or 1,440 miles) without any opto-electronic regeneration.  Qtera's long-haul platform also provides the ability to add/drop wavelengths at any node.  A protection switching design enables traffic signals to be restored within 10 milliseconds, faster than SONET's 50 millisecond standard across far shorter distances.  Qtera expects to begin beta tests soon using live commercial traffic.  Qtera is led by Fahri Diner, formerly with Siemens Information and Communications Networks.    The company received financing from Battery Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Oak Investment Partners, among others.   http://www.qtera.com
Qtera, November 23, 1999

CORVIS' ALL-OPTICAL TRANSPORT TESTED BY QWEST
Corvis Corporation's all-optical transmission platform completed its first phase of testing in Qwest's network.  The Corvis system allows the transmission of optical signals up to 3,200 km without electrical regeneration.  An upcoming field trial with Qwest is expected to demonstrate the ability to transmit both OC-48 and OC-192 signals over the long distance spans.  http://www.corvis.com/news/press/press_22.html
Corvis, November 23, 1999

Earlier this week, Corvis announced that Williams Communications had also agreed to test its platform.

SPRINT DROPS TELLABS' TDM-TO-ATM GATEWAY, TELLABS CONTINUES DEVELOPMENT WORK
Sprint has decided not to implement Tellabs' TDM-to-ATM gateway, which was being developed under the JCS 2000 program as a means of migrating Sprint's network to a voice over ATM architecture.  In a conference call, Tellabs officials said Sprint attributed the cancellation of the program to a continued need to deploy traditional voice switches in its network.  Tellabs plans to continue development of its AN2100 Gateway Exchange (GX) despite Sprint's decision.  A more fully featured version of the AN2100 product will be ready for field trials in mid 2000.
http://www.tellabs.com/news/99news/nr112399.shtml
Tellabs, November 23, 1999

COVAD AND ICG ANNOUNCE VODSL SERVICE PARTNERSHIP
Covad Communications and ICG Communications agreed to jointly develop Voice over DSL service offerings.  ICG Communications, which recently sold its Netcom dial-up ISP business to MindSpring, is now pursuing a Gateway Strategy to provide access, transport and other services, such as VoDSL, to the Internet service provider community.  Additionally, the agreement enables ICG to expand its national DSL footprint using Covad's network.  http://www.icgcom.com/investor/News/release.asp?date=1999-11-23
ICG, November 23, 1999

GTS ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR 6 MORE EUROPEAN CITY NETWORKS
Global TeleSystems Group  (GTS) will build high-density fiber networks in Frankfurt, London, Vienna, Amsterdam, Madrid and Stockholm.  The company currently operates city networks in Paris, Berlin, Prague and Budapest, and is preparing to launch metropolitan services in Geneva.   http://www.gtsgroup.com/news/news_archive/1999/cen6.htm
GTS, November 23, 1999

Earlier this week, GTS secured 500 million Euro (US$514 million) through high-yield bond offerings to fund expansion of its network.  GTS currently has 16,000 route kilometers of fiber in operation across Europe, representing 118,000 active "wavelength" kilometers based on its DWDM network.  GTS is a joint partner in FLAG Atlantic-1, a terabit capacity trans-Atlantic undersea dual-cable system now under development.

MOBILKOM TESTS GPRS FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
Mobilkom, Austria's main mobile communications network operator, successfully tested GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) in anticipation of commercial launch by summer 2000.  The test network uses Motorola's GPRS solution.  There are currently two million subscribers on Mobilkom Austria's GSM A1 network.  http://horizongprs.motorola.com
Motorola, November 23, 1999

GPRS supports packet access over GSM networks at speeds up to 115 Kbps.