• SightPath was formed in June of 1998 by Dave Gifford, a professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Frans Kaashoek, an associate professor at MIT; Jim Ricotta, formerly with Avid Technology, Sun Microsystems and IBM; and James O'Toole, previously with OpenMarket, an e-commerce software company.

ALTEON LEVERAGES VIRTUAL MATRIX ARCHITECTURE TO BOOST WEB SWITCHING
Alteon WebSystems introduced a switching Virtual Matrix Architecture that combines centralized memory for large numbers of concurrent user connections with the parallelism and speed of a distributed processing model.  The Virtual Matrix Architecture, which will be released in May as a free software upgrade, enables the Alteon Web switches to leverage all the processing power and memory available across every switch port, regardless of port connectivity.   Alteon said the new software design allows its switches to realize a four-fold increase in concurrent session capacity and session rate performance.  The VMA system is backward-compatible with its full line of stackable Web switches.  http://www.alteonwebsystems.com/press/032700.shtml
Alteon WebSystems, March 27, 2000

• Alteon's customers include Yahoo!, DLJdirect, WebTV, Frontier Global Center Exodus and TicketMaster Online/City Search and other big Internet sites.

FLAG TELECOM TO BUILD 5.12 TBPS PACIFIC CABLE
FLAG Telecom selected Alcatel to build a 5.12 Tbps dual cable system spanning the Pacific Ocean.  FLAG Pacific-1, which is expected to enter service in 2002, will be a 22,000 km resilient loop design with eight fiber pairs, 64 wavelengths per fiber pair and 10 Gbps per wavelength line rate.  Protected capacity will be 5.12 Tbps, or 10.24 Tbps unprotected.  FLAG Pacific-1 will connect Tokyo (two Japanese beach landings), Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  A northern cable will have a regeneration point on the Aleutian peninsula in Alaska and the southern cable will have a regeneration station with add/drop capacity in Hawaii. 
http://www.flagtelecom.com/index_e1.htm
Flag Telecom, March 29, 2000

• FLAG Atlantic-1, a joint venture of FLAG Telecom and Global TeleSystems Group, will enter service in 2001 offering 2.4 Tbps protected capacity between New York City, London and Paris.  Earlier this month, PSINet purchased a dedicated fiber pair with 800 Gbps capacity on FA-1.
  
• The first Fiberoptic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) cable entered service in 1997 with service to 13 countries between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.  
  
• Bell Atlantic is the largest shareholder in FLAG Telecom, holding approximately 38% share. Other main investors include Dallah Albaraka (Saudi Arabia), GE Capital Corporation (USA), Marubeni Corporation (Japan), AT&T Capital Corporation (USA), Telecom Holding Co. Ltd (Thailand) and The Asian Infrastructure Fund (Hong Kong).

TELECOM NZ SELECTS CISCO’S MPLS FOR IP VPNS
Telecom New Zealand will build IP VPNs using MPLS and Cisco Systems’ IP + ATM technology.  The new network will be based on the Cisco MGX 8850 and BPX 8600 series. Financial terms were not disclosed.   http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/pressroom/2000/mar00/sp_032900b.htm
Cisco Systems, March 29, 2000

BROADCOM AND NEXT LEVEL PLAN VDSL HOME GATEWAY
Broadcom and Next Level Communications will co-develop a residential broadband gateway platform using VDSL silicon from Broadcom.  This open platform will provide multi-line digital IP voice, video and data for phone, fax and Internet connections, HDTV/MPEG-2 video-graphics and 3D game-quality graphics over existing telephone lines.  Next Level said its interactive DSL broadband system incorporates over three million lines of carrier-class service creation code creating an end-to-end broadband service delivery platform.  Its N3 Residential Gateway uses a TDM/ATM/IP fabric for handling multiple services over the DSL connection.  Broadcom's VDSL silicon support peak rates of 52 Mbps.   http://www.broadcom.com
Broadcom, March 29, 2000

INTERNET2 LAND SPEED RECORD HITS 900 MBPS COAST TO COAST
The winners of an Internet2 competition to see how much could be consumed by single project managed to transfer 8.4 GB worth of data synchronously at a rate of 957 Mbps on two TCP/IP streams using Workstation class machines running Windows 2000 on both ends.  The data blast originated in Redmond, Washington and terminated in Arlington, Virginia (5,626 Km) and took 81 seconds. The path traversed ten router hops over OC-48 connections. The winning team included the University of Washington, Information Services Institute, Qwest and Microsoft.
http://www.internet2.edu/html/i2lsr.html
Internet2, March 29, 2000

BLUEPRINT VENTURES LAUNCHES $150 MILLION FUND
Blueprint Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, announced a $150 million fund for next-generation communications and Internet infrastructure companies. The fund's main institutional investors include BancBoston Ventures, C. E. Unterberg, Towbin, J.F. Shea & Co., Merrill Lynch, Moore Capital, SalomonSmithBarney, Tudor Investments and private investments from over 100 senior executives at leading networking companies.  Blueprint's initial investments include CopperCom (VoDSL), Flashcom (DSL services), Oresis Communications (universal carrier class edge switch), ShareGate (broadband residential gateways) and an unnamed broadband wireless company.  http://www.blueprintventures.com
Blueprint Ventures, March 29, 2000

INNOMEDIA SECURES $115 MILLION FOR VOIP APPLIANCES
InnoMedia, a start-up developing VoIP appliances, gateways and a global network, secured US$115 million in venture financing from Vertex Management, Goldman Sachs, Walden International Investment Group, EDB Investments Pte Ltd, and strategic investors Creative Technology, and Sega Enterprises/CSK Corporation.  InnoMedia is based in Singapore and has operations in the US, Taiwan and China.  http://www.innomedia.com
InnoMedia, March 29, 2000

ADVANCED RADIO TELECOM (ART) ACQUIRES EXTENSIVE NEW US SPECTRUM
Advanced Radio Telecom (ART) will acquire 366 39GHz licenses from BroadStream Communications for $365 million in stock.  The licenses include 37 of the top 50 markets in the US.  ART said its new spectrum depth will enable us to expand our services in our major markets to include OC-3 this year and Gigabit Ethernet and OC-12 in the future.  The company is currently deploying 100 Mbps wireless services in its first market.  http://www.ipsp.com/content/about/news/releases/2000/000329.html
Advanced Radio Telecom, March 29, 2000

@LINK SELECTS NORTEL’S PROMATORY DSL PLATFORM
@Link, an integrated telecom provider based in Colorado, plans to deploy up to $225 million worth of Nortel Networks broadband equipment, including its Promatory DSL platform, to provide value-added VPN services over DSL.   The company hopes to outfit 1,000 central office by year’s end, beginning with deployments in mid-Western states. http://www.nortelnetworks.com
Nortel Networks, March 29, 2000

• Nortel Networks acquired Promatory Communications, a start-up based in Fremont, California for $778 million in stock. Promatory’s Intelligent Multiservice Access System (IMAS) offers ATM-standard QoS levels traffic management and policing capabilities, which could be used for delivering voice and video over secure DSL connections.  It supports up to 128 individually QoS-definable virtual circuits per port.