v7n034, 17-Feb-00

METROMEDIA PLANS $1.4 BILLION EXPANSION, PUSHING ABOVENET TO TERABIT TIER
Metromedia Fiber Network said it will light over 29,000 miles of new fiber as part of a $1.4 billion expansion plan to interconnect its metropolitan fiber networks and AboveNet Internet Exchange facilities in North America and Europe. More than 67 cities and 14 new AboveNet Internet Service Exchange (ISX) facilities will be reached by the expansion. AboveNet currently has hubs in Vienna, Virginia and San Jose, California, as well as joint ventures in Austria, Germany and the UK. Nine AboveNet facilities are scheduled to open this year. Metromedia will pursue an all-optical, terabit IP architecture for the expansion. http://www.mmfn.com/index_new.html
http://www.above.net
Metromedia Fiber Network, February 16, 2000

Earlier this month, Metromedia announced a major fiber swap with Viatel under which it acquired a transborder, European fiber backbone. AboveNet's network model enables it to offer one-hop connectivity to its clients. At each of AboveNet's ISX facilities, content and service providers connect to each other in a LAN environment and then directly connect to the rest of the Internet through an extensive network of more than 300 private and public peering agreements. In addition to its own facilities, AboveNet also operates the PAIX Internet exchange, which now has own 100 peering ISPs.

METROMEDIA FIBER AWARDS US$250 MILLION OPTICAL CONTRACT TO NORTEL
Metromedia Fiber Network awarded a three-year contract valued at up to US$250 million to Nortel Networks covering its OPTera Metro and Long-Haul optical transmission platform. Metromedia Fiber Network's new national fiber backbone will be scalable to more than one terabit per second capacity. Nortel will also provide Metromedia Fiber with network optimization services, including network surveillance, spares management, emergency response and program management. http://www.nortelnetworks.com
Nortel Networks, February 16, 2000

CISCO TO ACQUIRE GROWTH NETWORKS FOR TERABIT SWITCH FABRICS
Cisco Systems will acquire Growth Networks, a start-up developing terabit scale switching fabrics, for approximately $355 million in stock. Growth Networks' Internet Switching Fabric interconnects the input and output ports within high-end switches and routers. Cisco said the deal complements its earlier acquisition of StratumOne Communications. Separately, Cisco completed its $2.15 billion acquisition of Pirelli Optical Systems. http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/pressroom/2000/feb00/corp_021600.htm
Cisco Systems, February 16, 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. . In November, the company announced plans for Initial silicon sampling during the first half of 2000. Growth Networks secured its initial funding from Institutional Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates. The company is based in Mountain View, California.

INTEL INTRODUCES NETSTRUCTURE COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTS
Intel introduced the "NetStructure" brand name under which it will sell infrastructure appliances and networking communication products. The seven products introduced under the NetStructure label include a new Internet caching appliance, e-Commerce load balancing equipment, security authentication "accelerators" that quicken online user identification checks, and Gigabit Ethernet switches. http://www.intel.com/network/
Intel, February 16, 2000

INTEL BUILDS SUPPORT FOR ITS INTERNET EXCHANGE ARCHITECTURE
Six months after announcing its Internet Exchange (IX) architecture, Intel claims more than two dozen design wins for its processors in networking and communications equipment. The Intel's Internet Exchange (IX) Architecture aims to use reprogrammable silicon, namely the Intel IXP1200 network processor and embedded versions of the Pentium II, III and Celeron processors, to add network functionality. Intel plans to fund university research and curriculum development programming supporting its architecture, including programs at MIT, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, University of Texas at Austin, Columbia University, the Oregon Graduate Institute and the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) in Berkeley, CA. http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/in021600.htm
Intel, February 16, 2000

EZCHIP PLANS 10 GBPS PACKET PROCESSING SILICON
EZchip Technologies, a start-up based in Israel, announced plans for 10-Gigabit, 7-layer, wire speed packet processing silicon. EZchip's network processor design will use an array of many small, fast processors; each tailored to perform a specific packet-processing task. The processor array is controlled by a set of software commands, downloaded from the switch host processor. The company recently raised $5.3 million in first round financing includes investment from Star Ventures, Apax Partners & Co. and Tamar Investments. http://www.ezchip.com/
Ezchip, February 16, 2000

U S WEST AND ENRON ENTER BROADBAND CONTENT AGREEMENT
U S WEST has contracted Enron Broadband Services to deliver media-rich content to U S WEST's ADSL subscribers. The content will be delivered directly from Enron's IP backbone and using its Broadband Operating System (BOS) at speeds up to 1 Mbps. http://www.uswest.com/
US WEST, February 16, 2000

BELL ATLANTIC MOVES USENET TRAFFIC TO CIDERA'S SATELLITE DELIVERY
Bell Atlantic's Data Solutions Group has signed on as the largest customer for Cidera's new Usenet News satellite delivery service. Cidera's Usenet News service -- containing more than 50,000 newsgroups -- is delivering up to 80 GB (gigabytes) of traffic each day to Bell Atlantic's network. http://www.cidera.com/news/2000/2_16.shtml
Cidera, February 16, 2000

SUREBRIDGE SECURES FUNDING FOR ASP EXPANSION
Surebridge, an application service provider (ASP), based in Cambridge, Mass., received $36 million from Spectrum Equity Investors, Providence Growth Investors, The Goldman Sachs Group and others. Surebridge is currently partnered with seven business software application providers of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), E-commerce and supply chain management. The company expects the ASP market to reach $11.3 billion and will represent more than 25% of all applications purchased by 2003. http://www.surebridge.com/news_10_funding.html
Surebridge, February 16, 2000

GILAT TO OFFER TWO-WAY SATELLITE INTERNET SERVICE IN US MARKET WITH MSN
Gilat Satellite Networks will introduce a two-way satellite Internet access service in the US market in partnership with Microsoft MSN. Microsoft expects to invest $50 million and hold a 26% stake in the venture. Gilat-To-Home two-way satellite service will use of very small aperture terminal (VSAT) with a .75-meter elliptical dish and Gilat proprietary electronics and software. Gilat said its platform could deliver 40 Mbps downstream and 153 kbps upstream, on a shared basis. At the initial market entry price, the service will likely provide a maximum 400 kbps down/56 kbps return, with an always-on connection. Gilat initially will use Ku-band satellites for delivery but may enhance the service with Ka-band technology when available. Gilat-To-Home is now rolling out the first phases of a large-scale, 20,000-site test operation. Full commercial service is planned to late 2000. http://www.gilat.com/gilat/
Gilat, February 16, 2000

MCI WORLCOM CERTIFIES HYNEX DESKLINK REMOTE ATM ACCESS BRIDGE
MCI WorldCom certified an ATM access bridge from HyNEX for deployment on its public ATM network. The DeskLINK uses ATM's LAN emulation capacity to connect Ethernet networks over an ATM backbone. http://www.hynex.com/
Hynex, February 16, 2000