NGN2000 CONFERENCE:  BANDWIDTH TO BURN
Fiber will replace copper much faster than most people expect, said Dave Rusin, President and CEO of American Fiber Systems – a company that leases dark fiber metropolitan networks across the US.  Besides the immense bandwidth capacities of direct fiber connections, Rusin argues that it is the only access media not “dead on arrival.”  However, not all fiber is created equal -- much of the existing cable deployed before 1995 has been made obsolete by newer generations of fiber.  More than 70 million kilometers of new fiber were deployed worldwide in 1999.  High demand will continue for the next few years.   More predictions resulting from the fiber-everywhere phenomenon: Rusin expects Gigabit Ethernet to eclipse xDSL and cable modems as the preferred method within 3 years; a new generation of fiber for long haul networks will result in “Big Dig 2” network construction starting in 2004; and optical integrated circuits will cause disruption in 12-18 months as inexpensive, multichannel, tunable, bi-directional lasers enter the market.

To keep ahead of the bandwidth curve, Level 3 Communications is building a continuously upgradable network with 12 conduits. The network initially will have 96 fibers on intercity routes and an average 288-fiber count.   Jeff Tench, the company’s Director of Global Transport Services, said the fiber resource would yield 40 to 50% annual price cuts for optical services. 

The key to low cost bandwidth is mass production, according to Michael Kleeman, CTO of Aerie Networks.  Aerie will operate as a wholesale carrier offering dark and lit fiber services across the US.   To deliver the lowest cost bit, the company will deploy its long-haul cables with 432 fiber strands using pipelines and rights of way secured from energy companies.  But having lots of fiber in the ground will not be enough.  Aerie is planning a next generation OSS for efficiently interfacing with customers.  The result, Tench promises, will be rapidly configurable optical carrier circuits with a magnitude of order price drop.  Network construction will be completed in 2003.
November 2, 2000

NGN2000 CONFERENCE: GIGABIT ETHERNET IN PUBLIC NETWORKING
Fundamentals of the metropolitan area networking markets are shifting rapidly, said David Yates, VP of Marketing for Atrica, driven by the massive expansion of IP traffic and the widespread deployment of fiber now underway.  The demand will exist for a massive number of high-speed connections and Yates proposes that optical Ethernet will be a better alternative to SONET or pure DWDM.  Key advantages will be the technology’s extensive installed base in LANs, its low cost transmission and multiplexing capability, and its ability to work in multiple metro topologies (ring, star, mesh).

“Ethernet is the new king, ” agreed Nasser Hiekali, Founder, President and CEO of Lantern Communications.  While 10 Gbps traffic rates have become the unit of currency in haul networks, an efficient mechanism is still missing for distributing this capacity in metro rings.  Lantern’s solution will be based on 10 Gbps physical layer technology combined with Ethernet and arranged into Resilient Packet Ring architecture.  The metro RPR paradigm will use the equivalent of a packet add-drop mux featuring ring-awareness, congestion management, and support for deterministic qualities of service.  The design would scale with DWDM.   The Resilient Packet Ring architecture is being standardized by the IEEE.  http://www.ieee802.org/rpsg

The Internet and Ethernet will become synonymous, predicted Jonathan Thatcher, World Wide Packets and Chair of the IEEE 10 Gbps Ethernet standards committee, bringing truly disruptive economics to the networking industry.  The vision is for cheap Gigabit Ethernet Internet access over fiber available everywhere… offices, schools, hotels, hospitals, and homes.  Thatcher believes home networking will grow 600% annually and represent a $1.4 billion market by 2003.  Worldwide annual revenues from residential gateway shipments would reach $5 billion by 2005.  “Resistance is futile.”
November 2, 2000

NGN2000 KEYNOTE:  JUNIPER NETWORKS’ SCOTT KRIENS ON THE EMERGING IP INFRASTRUCTURE
The power of the Internet derives from the fact that “IP is the first and only language common to the entire planet,” said Scott Kriens, President and CEO of Juniper Networks.  All existing networks will become services on the Internet core.  Over the past five years, a huge number of equipment suppliers have come forward to offer their solution for building the Internet.  Many have met with great success. However, Kriens believes that a law of natural boundaries separates industries into areas of specialization.  The winning companies are those that discover and respect the boundaries without attempting to control the whole solution.  In his view, each segment is controlled by only two leading companies.  In the networking industry, Kriens suggests that these boundaries include transport, core processing, and network applications.  Juniper’s mission is to concentrate on the core IP infrastructure.  Looking ahead, Kriens predicts that among equipment suppliers there will be more losers than winners.
November 2, 2000

PSINET ISSUES EARNINGS WARNING, PRESIDENT RESIGNS
PSINet warned that its Q4 2000 results would be lower than expected.  The company said it has already taken action to reduce its spending, including reductions in planned capital expenditures of between $100 million and $200 million, primarily by delaying the construction of hosting centers scheduled to open after 2001.  It will also pursue the sale of some of its businesses.  PSINet also announced that Harold S. (Pete) Wills has resigned as President, COO, and member of the Board of Directors.  James F. Cragg has been named President for North American Operations, and Harry G. Hobbs has been named President for International Operations.  Both will report to William L. Schrader, Chairman and CEO.   Other results announced:

• Bad debt as a percentage of total revenue increased from 1.6% in the second quarter to 3.3% in the third quarter of 2000.  PSINet cited customers in the Internet industry negatively impacted by recent market conditions and systems integration issues in recent acquisitions as the cause.
• Hosting revenue grew 300% compared with third quarter 1999 and 24% sequentially
• PSINet now has over 97,000 corporate customer accounts
  http://www.psinet.com/news/pr/00/nov2.html
  PSINet, November 2, 2000
  
• In October 1999, PSINet outlined a strategy to become an "Internet Super Carrier" by opening 20+ Web hosting centers worldwide, acquiring significant dark fiber capacity in the US and internationally, installing Nortel Network's optical network platform and purchasing satellite capacity.  Plans called for 21+ global hosting centers worldwide by the end of 2000, plus more than 800 POPs worldwide.

GENUITY REPORTS ACCELERATING REVENUE GROWTH OF 70%
Genuity reported a growth rate of 70% over Q3 1999, reflecting strong performance in Web hosting, value-added services and network access.  The company said operating margins improved as expenses grew only 58% resulting in a net loss for the quarter of $229 million, or $0.24 per share.  Some highlights:

• Genuity's access revenues (excluding AOL) increased 167% or $68 million, in the quarter, reflecting a 155% increase in dial-up revenues, and a 104% increase in dedicated access. DSL revenues in the quarter were $17 million versus less than $1 million in the prior year quarter. The company has 138,500 DSL accounts, an 81% increase from Q2 2000.  The company also has 813,000 dial-up modems.  Revenues from the AOL long-term contract increased 21% and now represent 39% of total Genuity revenues, versus 55% in last year's third quarter.
• Web hosting revenue growth was 151% or $18 million over the same quarter last year.
• Value-added and other services, which include managed security VPNs, VoIP, and international revenues jumped 83% or $9 million.  Genuity’s VoIP traffic reached 341 million Minutes of Use (MOUs) during the quarter.  Cumulative traffic for the year to date now stands at approximately 1 billion MOUs.  Transport revenues also grew strongly and increased 57% or nearly $10 million, as compared with the same quarter last year.
• Capital expenditures for the quarter were $441 million, up 116% over last year.

http://www.genuity.com/announcements/news/press_release_20001102-01.xml
Genuity, November 2, 2000

DIALPAD SECURES $50 MILLION INVESTMENT, REPORTS 10 MILLION REGISTERED USERS
Dialpad secured $50 million in second round financing and announced that more than 10 million people have registered for its services.  The company has terminated over 1 billion VoIP minutes since its October 1999 launch.  Dialpad plans to use the funding to offer new fee based services, including international calling, voicemail, call waiting, conference calling and Internet access.  It also plans to deliver communications solutions to enterprise, small business and home office clients.  Investors include Serome Technology, Inc., CMGI @ Ventures, Mokwon Assets Management Co., LTD, Citizens Capital and Sterling Payot.  http://www.dialpad.com/
Dialpad, November 2, 2000

• Dialpad offers free PC to domestic U.S. Phone and PC-to-PC communication services using VoIP.  Dialpad's business model is supported by targeted online advertising.  Dialpad, which is a member of the Cisco Powered Network program, uses other Cisco Powered Network providers to transport and terminate the phone calls. 

ASTRAL POINT WINS CONTRACT FROM ADVANCED TELCOM GROUP
Advanced TelCom Group (ATG) awarded Astral Point Communications a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract for its ON 5000 Optical Services Node, subject to successful product testing. The ON 5000 nodes would be used in several new metropolitan optical networks that ATG is building in middle-sized markets to serve small businesses home based business, and telecommuters.  http://www.astralpoint.com/pr110200.html   http://www.callatg.com/ 
Astral Point, November 2, 2000

• The ON 5000 Optical Services Node features a switching fabric that supports SONET, ATM, DCS, IP, leased-line TDM and Gigabit Ethernet traffic.  The platform uses a patent-pending "Self-Healing Mesh" algorithm to enable SONET-quality protection in mesh networks.  It also features a fully distributed, mesh network topology discovery and bandwidth-management system, which the company says will reduce provisioning time to one tenth that of standard SONET provisioning. 

SONUS NETWORKS TO ACQUIRE TELECOM TECHNOLOGIES FOR ITS SOFTSWITCH
Sonus Networks agreed to acquire Telecom Technologies, a start-up developing softswitching technology, for 10.8 million shares of stock (worth $441 million), plus an additional 4.2 million shares ($171 million) based on reaching certain business objectives.  Telecom Technologies focuses on multivendor softswitch services and media gateway interoperability.  The company has approximately 200 employees, about two-thirds of whom are engineers, and is based in Richardson, Texas.  Sonus offers next-generation switching and softswitch platforms supporting a range of voice applications including trunking, access and Internet offload. http://www.sonusnet.com/  http://www.telecomtechnologies.com/
Sonus Networks, November 2, 2000

• Sonus has previously disclosed deployments or trials of its packet voice infrastructure products by Global Crossing, Williams, Intermedia, BroadBand Office, Cybertel, USA Datanet and Z-Tel Technologies. 

ADVA OFFERS SCSI OVER IP FOR SAN INTERCONNECT GATEWAYS
ADVA Optical Networking announced SCSI over IP capability in its DiskLink SAN interconnect gateway. The new Gigabit Ethernet interface is an alternative to existing ATM OC-3 and OC-12 wide area interfaces, allowing customers to build storage networks over existing IP backbone networks such as intranets and VPNs   DiskLink can combine storage traffic from local Fibre Channel SANs and SCSI-based storage devices for transmission to remote sites over ATM or broadband IP networks, allowing local SANs to be interconnected to create an enterprise-wide SAN.   http://www.advaoptical.com/ 
ADVA, November 2, 2000

• Earlier this year, ADVA Optical Networking acquired Storage Area Networks Ltd., a developer of a switching system combining Fibre Channel, SCSI, ATM and Gigabit Ethernet, and Cellware Broadband GmbH, a privately held developer of ATM-based integrated access devices.