AOL TRANSIT DATA NETWORK DEPLOYS CISCO 12000 GSRs
America Online is expanding its Transit Data Network using Cisco 12000 series Internet routers and has been designated a Cisco Powered Network provider.  The AOL Transit Data Network is currently moving to OC-48 transmission speeds and plans a migration to OC-192 next year.  The backbone has more than 50Gbps of ingress capacity from leading Internet traffic sources worldwide.  Financial terms were not disclosed.   http://ciscopr.combio.com/dlls/fspnisapi.dll?pagename=fulltxt&STORYID=264
Cisco Systems, December 6, 2000

• As of September 30, 2000, the AOL service had 24.6 million subscribers worldwide.  AOL’s CompuServe services had more than 2.8 million subscribers.
  
• During the Q3 2000 AOL members averaged 58 minutes of usage per day.
  
• AOL’s digital media assets include music player Winamp, which reported 42 million installations in Q3 2000, and Spinner.com, a broadcaster of streaming music that plays more than 23 million songs each week.

CASPIAN NETWORKS RAISES $85 MILLION FOR CORE INFRASTRUCTURE
Caspian Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, raised $85 million in third round funding, bringing total investment to date to over $140 million.  Caspian is developing "a new generation of equipment for the heart of the largest networks."  Product plans for the " killer packet switch technology" have not yet been disclosed.  Investors include Merrill Lynch, H&Q Asia Pacific, SSB Capital Partners, Salomon Smith Barney, ABN AMRO Private Equity, Global Technology Group Ventures, Acute Communications and i100 Optical Asia, U.S. Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Lucent Venture Partners, WorldCom Ventures, Vulcan Ventures, Alloy Ventures and Applied Technologies.  http://www.caspiannetworks.com/pressroom/press/12.06.00.shtml
Caspian Networks, December 6, 2000

• Caspian Networks was founded by Dr. Lawrence Roberts, who is credited with the design, initiation, planning and development of the ARPANET, the world's first major packet network.  The company is headed by Grahame Rance (CEO), formerly Vice President and General Manager of Nortel Networks. 

VIVACE NETWORKS DEVELOPS 12-MILLION-GATE ASIC CHIPSET FOR OPTICAL SERVICE CREATION
Vivace Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, has successfully modeled a 12-million-gate, multi-Gigabit ASIC chipset for its forthcoming Optical Service Creation platform.  The modeling was accomplished using the Proteus network prototyping system from AppNet Inc.  The Proteus system was used by Vivace to model its entire system, including DRAM, SRAM and CAM system memories, as well as hundreds of large internal ASIC memories.  The Vivace system was comprised of 6 multi-million-gate ASICs connected to a networking infrastructure.  http://www.appnetinc.com/
AppNet, December 6, 2000

• In October, Vivace closed $83 million in third round venture financing for its development of high-performance MPLS solutions.  Vivace is developing a family of MPLS-based switches for optical networks that scale from 10 Gbps up to 2.5 Tbps.  Specific product plans have not yet been disclosed. The company has raised $118 million to date.
  
• Vivace is led by Ken Koenig (CEO) and Mitri Halabi  (VP Engineering), both formerly of OnStream Networks, a developer of ATM WAN access products that was acquired by 3Com.
  
• In July, Vivace Networks named Andrew G. Malis as Chief Technologist.  Malis formerly served with Lucent Technologies / Ascend / Cascade, where he helped shape MPLS, IP, Frame Relay and ATM technology.  He is the founding Vice-Chairman of the Board and Chair of the Technical Committee of the MPLS Forum, and chairs the IETF's IP over Optical and Frame Relay Network Management working Groups.   http://www.vivacenetworks.com/

TELLABS AND CALIENT NETWORKS TEST OPTICAL INTEROPERABILITY
Calient Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, established interoperability between its all-optical switch and Tellabs' TITAN 6100 DWDM optical transport system.  The products worked together as a dynamic all-optical add/drop multiplexing node that remotely configured and provisioned wavelengths.  The equipment enabled both singular and banded lambdas to be switched transparently with dynamically adapted power levels.
http://www.calient.net/news/news_12_6_tellabs.html
Calient Networks, December 6, 2000

• Calient's photonic platform will be based on nanoscale SCREAM (Scalable Control of a Rearrangeable and Extensible Array of Mirrors) technology to support full lambda switching.  The company said its architecture will provide a seamless "opto-electronic to photonic" migration path that is non-disruptive to legacy operations. 
  
• Calient Networks is led by Charles Corbalis, who most recently served as the Vice President and General Manager of the Multiservice Switching/WAN Business Unit at Cisco Systems.  He previously was a co-founder and Vice President of Engineering for StrataCom.  Calient Networks was co-founded by Dr. Daniel Blumenthal and Dr. John Bowers, both professors at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  The company recently raised $50 million in second round of financing with the support Juniper Networks, Tellabs, Greylock, Enterprise Partners, Telesoft Partners and Storm Ventures.

FRANCE TELECOM R&D TESTS AVICI'S ROUTER
France Telecom R&D selected Avici Systems' scalable router for inclusion in its VTHD (Vraiment Tres Haut Debit or very high bandwidth) experimental network.  The deal represents Avici's first commercial contract in Europe.  Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.avici.com/pr120600.html
Avici Systems, December 6, 2000

EVEREST BROADBAND NETWORKS LEASES FIBER FROM METROMEDIA
Everest Broadband Networks, a venture-backed service provider targeting Multi-Tenant Unit (MTU)-based businesses, signed a 20-year fiber lease agreement for local-loop and in-building fiber-optic infrastructure from Metromedia Fiber Network.  Everest plans to offer Gigabit Ethernet connectivity to small- and medium-sized businesses in more than 50 cities in the US and internationally.  http://www.mmfn.com
MFN, December 6, 2000

ERICSSON LICENSES ITS BLUETOOTH TECHNOLOGY TO INTEL
Ericsson has licensed its Bluetooth technology, including baseband software and hardware intellectual property, to Intel.  The agreement allows Intel to market the Bluetooth HOST Stack and Bluetooth Core Product from Ericsson as part of its wireless communications and computing solutions.  http://www.ericsson.se/infocenter/news/intel.html
Ericsson, December 4, 2000

HARVARDNET EXITS DSL BUSINESS, FOCUSES ON WEB HOSTING
HarvardNet said it would no longer provide DSL connectivity services.  The company attributed its decision to exit the DSL market on the very capital intensive nature of the business and the recent dramatic downturn in the financial markets.  As part of its corporate restructuring, HarvardNet will reduce its workforce throughout New England by approximately 280 employees.  The company will focus on Web content hosting and managed services.  http://www.harvardnet.com/about/pressreleases/2000/release120600.phtml
HarvardNet, December 6, 2000  

• In June, HarvardNet announced that it had collocated DSL equipment in 200 Bell Atlantic central offices (COs), including 40 in the metro New York area.  The network was expanded in October to include 23 towns in New Jersey.  In addition to its local DSL networks, HarvardNet operates a Cisco-powered ATM/IP backbone spanning the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the US.  
  
• HarvardNet received $115 million in financing from M/C Venture Partners, Fidelity Ventures, The Sturm Group, and Vulcan Ventures Inc., as well as $120 million in debt financing from Cisco Systems Capital.

VENDORS PREDICT RAPID ADOPTION OF 1394 MULTIMEDIA STANDARD IN VEHICLES
The 1394 Trade Association and the IDB (Intelligent Data Bus) Forum expect rapid adoption of their new IDB-1394 specification as the media interface for cars, trucks, SUVs and other vehicles produced by the world's leading manufacturers.  The IEEE 1394 (FireWire or i.LINK) interface is expected to be integrated into a range of automobile components, including CDs, DVDs, video displays, navigation systems, radio head units (telematic devices), cellular telephony and other multimedia devices.  The IDB-1394 specification, which allows designers to use IP over 1394, defines the auto grade physical layers, including cables and connectors, power modes, and higher layer protocols required so all 1394 devices can interoperate with embedded automotive IEEE 1394 devices.  Ford Motor, Toyota, Renault, Fiat, Peugeot and General Motors were named as early adopters.  http://www.1394ta.org  http://www.idbforum.org.
The 1394 Trade Association, December 6, 2000