TELENOR TESTS SWITCHLESS DWDM MESH NETWORK BASED ON TUNABLE LASERS
The Norwegian carrier Telenor AS is testing a 100-channel, mesh DWDM network that is driven by tunable laser technology instead of conventional electrical or electro-optical switches.  The technology was supplied by Altitun, Marconi and NTT.  Telenor deployed a five-node, 100-channel demonstrator network with 50-60 km fiber spans between the nodes. The channel spacing was 50 GHz.  Switching was accomplished by varying the frequencies of the transmitter lasers.  The companies said widely tunable semiconductor lasers could provide the means to both manage the existing backup and inventory-control problem associated with large DWDM networks.  Tunable laser technology could also be used to enable flexible, future networks where individual optical channels can be routed through the network.  http://www.altitun.com/
Altitun, January 24, 2000

Altitun, a start-up based in Stockholm, Sweden, is developing single chip lasers capable of operating across the entire EDFA (erbium doped fiber amplifier) window.  The company plans to open a new manufacturing facility in April in Stockholm with class 100 and class 10 clean rooms.  The first of batch of tunable lasers produced in volume is anticipated by year-end. 

KESTREL RAISES $100 MILLION FOR ITS OPTICAL FDM
Kestrel Solutions, a Silicon Valley start-up pursing the metropolitan optical market, secured a record $100+ million raised in its fourth round of financing.  The company is developing a unique platform that uses frequency division multiplexing (FDM), digital signal processors (DSPs) and optical modulation as a bandwidth enhancer for metropolitan networks. Kestrel expects optical modulation to be less expensive than using multiple wavelengths and multiple lasers (DWDM) for expanding fiber capacity.  The Kestrel platform uses DSPs to perform modulation, equalization and error correction per channel on multiple incoming optical signals.  The channels are then stacked in frequencies using off the shelf components.  Product plans include a protocol transparent FDM Optical Add/Drop multiplexer that delivers up to 10 Gbps in less than 20 GHz bandwidth space. It could scale beyond 10 Gbps either through further Optical Modulation or in combination with DWDM.  Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) led the financing for this round.  The company previously received $55 million in its third round of venture funding last summer.  http://www.kestrelsolutions.com/
Kestrel Solutions, January 24, 2000  

SIBERCORE DEBUTS PACKET FORWARDING ENGINE BASED ON CONTENT ADDRESSABLE MEMORY (CAM)
SiberCore Technologies, a start-up based in Kanata, Ontario unveiled "packet forwarding engines" that leverage content addressable memory (CAM) architecture to deliver up to 100 million packets per second performance for multi-protocol look-ups through Layer 7.  SiberCore said its ternary CAM packet-forwarding engine increases packet throughput by a factor of 5 to 10 over conventional algorithmic look-up technologies.  SiberCore's engine also contains logic to prioritize packets.  Applications include multi-gigabit and terabit routers and high-performance, multi-layer Ethernet switches.  http://www.sibercore.com/
SiberCore Technologies, January 24, 2000

SiberCore was founded in 1998 by Dr. Ken Schultz, who pioneered CAM technology at Nortel Semiconductor. The company's Chief Architect (Randall Gibson) and the head of its ASIC design team (Farhad Shafai) also came from Nortel. 

FRANCE TELECOM EMPLOYS CISCO'S GSRS + MPLS FOR VALUE-ADDED SERVICES
France Telecom will launch value-added corporate voice and data VPN services based on an MPLS network powered by Cisco Systems' gigabit switch routers.  The virtual private network services will be based on MPLS (RFC2547).  France Telecom's Terabit IP network uses 35 Cisco 12000 GSR and 200 Cisco 7500 high-end routers with MPLS at the core.  Corporate access is provided via ADSL, PSTN/ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM and Leased Line.  France Telecom will offer differentiated classes of services and service level agreements according to traffic profiles (Internet, web, mission critical applications, voice over IP, multimedia).   
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/pressroom/2000/jan00/intl_012400.htm
Cisco Systems, January 24, 2000

WORLDWIDE FIBER AND TELIA SWAP FIBER ASSETS IN N. AMERICA, EUROPE
Worldwide Fiber will provide Telia AB with a fiber network spanning 14,000 km (8,700 miles) throughout North America, and with equipment space in all of its major hubs, including New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston.  In exchange, Telia will provide Worldwide Fiber with fiber facilities spanning 6,400 km across the UK, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.  Worldwide Fiber also gains equipment facilities in 11 major European cities on the Telia network, including London, Paris and Frankfurt.  http://www.wwfiber.com/
Worldwide Fiber Inc., January 24, 2000

In December, WFI activated the first phase of its North American network on a segment extending from Vancouver to Calgary.  The company also completed agreements with Qwest for a dark fiber and conduit network in excess of 3,400 miles through the northeast, southeast and southwest regions of the United States.  WFI also acquired fiber capacity in the Northeastern United States on Williams’ fiber-optic network and announced a joint build agreement with CapRock Communications covering 1,300-miles of multi-conduit facilities in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

WFI is also building the terabit capacity "Hibernia" trans-Atlantic cable linking Boston, Halifax, Dublin and Liverpool.  In the UK, WFI has a partnership with Telewest to build a 1,150 km network connecting Worldwide Fiber’s trans-Atlantic cable station in Southport (near Liverpool) with Worldwide Fiber’s point of presence in the Docklands (London) via Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham and Cambridge.

ALCATEL DEBUTS ITS IP TELEPHONY PBX FOR THE US MARKET
Alcatel introduced an IP telephony private communication exchange based on a client/server UNIX architecture.  The Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 features scalability from 50 to 50,000 users, 99.999% reliability, one-number mobility, unified messaging, voice-over-IP networking with quality of service management, Web-based customer contact center, and integrated voice and data network management.  Alcatel said the product introduction marks a dramatic shift in the enterprise market, from traditional PBXs - the telephone systems that have been the basis for voice communication for the last 25 years - to the PCX - the IP telephony private communication exchange.  http://www.alcatel.com/press/current/2000/01_24b.htm
Alcatel, January 24, 2000

MARCONI AND CONVERGENT NETWORKS OFFER JOINT SOLUTION FOR CLASS 5 CONGESTION
Convergent Networks and Marconi announced a joint solution for offloading Internet traffic from Class 5 voice switches.  By combining Convergent Networks' Integrated Convergence Switch (ICS2000), Service Management Gateway (SMG) and Marconi's core ASX-4000 switch, traffic originating from dial-up circuits can be offloaded to a remote access server over an ATM backbone.  An Inter-Machine Trunk (IMT) is used to deliver low-cost PRIs for remote access servers that are either owned or wholesaled by the service provider. The companies said the solution is under evaluation by a number of national service providers, including one with a network that serves more than 700 cities and provides approximately 10% of the nation's dial-up Internet traffic.  http://www.convergentnet.com/rel012400.html
Convergent Networks, January 24, 2000

LEVEL 3 TO BUILD 320 GBPS CABLE LINKING HONG KONG AND TOKYO
Level 3 Communications announced plans to build an undersea network linking Hong Kong and Tokyo.  The cable initially would operate at 320 Gbps and be expandable to 2.56 Tbps.  Commissioning is planned for Q2 2001.

Separately, Level 3 said it remains on course to complete both its US and European intercity networks on or ahead of schedule.  The US network will be substantially complete in Q4 2000 – currently approximately 97% of the network construction is underway.  Construction is also underway on the first two of three rings in its 7,600 km European network.
Level 3, January 24, 2000

3COM AND LEVEL TEST VOIP BASED ON SESSION INITIATION PROTOCOL (SIP)
3Com and Level 3 Communications are launching telephony trials using session initiation protocol (SIP) technology.  SIP is a proposed IETF protocol that enables Custom Local Area Signaling Service (CLASS) features, such as call blocking, caller ID and call forwarding.  The trial will connect 3Com's SIP telephone and proxy server equipment to Level 3's IP access and transport network.  http://www.3com.com
3Com, January 24, 2000

EXTREME NETWORKS AND JUNIPER NETWORKS ENTER MARKETING ALLIANCE
Extreme Networks and Juniper Networks formed a marketing alliance to provide Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with interoperable products.  The companies have completed interoperability testing of their respective OSPF implementations using single-and-multiple area configurations, as well as link failure and recovery and 802.1Q VLAN tagging. http://www.extremenetworks.com/corporate/pressroom/news/pr01_24_00.asp
Extreme Networks, January 24, 2000

SPRING TIDE NETWORKS SECURES $39 MILLION FOR VPN
Spring Tide Networks, a start-up developing an IP Service Switch designed for virtual private networks (VPNs), secured $38.9 million in third-round funding from prominent investors, including Sumitomo, Lucent Technologies and Global Crossing.  Total funding to date now stands at $62 million.  Wholesale service providers could use the Spring Tide platform for tunnel termination and for the aggregation of DSL, cable modem and wireless traffic.  Lucent has an OEM agreement covering resale of Spring Tide Networks' IP Service Switch 5000.   http://www.springtidenet.com/
SpringTide Networks, January 24, 2000

The Spring Tide IP service switch creates a service layer behind the aggregation layer of the network but in front of the core switch/routers.  The platform provides bitstream processing functions for each flow (either packet or cell) at wire speed, including authentication, encryption, compression, filtering, classification, tagging, queuing, and address translation.  It uses MMC Networks' AnyFlow 5500 network processors, Hi/fn's 7711 encryption/compression processors, and IRE's SafeNet DSP cryptographic processors.

SpringTide offers an element management system based on lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) technology.  The directory-enabled, policy-based provisioning model shares on external LDAP servers, simplifying the proliferation of policy information, while significantly reducing local storage requirements.

SpringTide is based in Boxborough, Mass. and was founded by Stephen Collins, former vice president of marketing at StarBurst Communications, and Steve Akers, former CTO and vice president of advanced technology development at Shiva Corporation .

BELL ATLANTIC REPORTS 30,000 DSL SUBSCRIBERS
As of December 31, Bell Atlantic had 30,000 Infospeed DSL subscribers. 
http://www.ba.com/nr/2000/Jan/20000124001.html
Bell Atlantic, January 24, 2000

This is the first time that Bell Atlantic has disclosed its DSL deployment numbers in its quarterly financial report.