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BLOCKBUSTER
CANCELS ENRON ENTERTAINMENT ON-DEMAND PACT
Blockbuster terminated its exclusive services
agreement with Enron Broadband Services and said it will focus on
current growth channels in home entertainment.
Blockbuster said it had "learned a great deal"
from its current trials with Enron and although it believes
video-on demand (VOD) will eventually become a commercial reality,
the Blockbuster strategy will be to remain technology agnostic and
open to all alliances. In
particular, Blockbuster will focus on existing growth channels for
home entertainment, including satellite, pay-per-view and other
near video-on demand (NVOD) services, as well as DVD rental.
Blockbuster recently entered into a digital-streaming
agreement with Universal Pictures and has broadband-distribution
agreements with MGM, Artisan, Trimark, and Lion's Gate studios.
Blockbuster is one of the largest retailers
of DIRECTV satellite systems and plans to co-brand DIRECTV's
pay-per-view movie channels later this year.
http://www.blockbuster.com/
Blockbuster, March 9, 2001
- Last July, Blockbuster announced
a 20-year, exclusive agreement with Enron Broadband Services
to deliver a Blockbuster entertainment service, initially
featuring movies on-demand.
The on-demand service would deliver movies to
consumers' televisions through DSL networks.
SBC Communications, Verizon, Qwest, Covad
Communications, Telus and ReFlex signed on as local
distribution providers. Trials
are currently underway in
Portland, Seattle, New York City and American Fork, Utah.
Motorola's Streamaster 5000 set top box equipped
with ADSL interfaces was subsequently chosen for the service.
- Blockbuster
reported 32% growth in video rental business for Q4 and a 56%
growth in video rental revenues for the full year 2000.
The company plans to greatly increase its inventory in
DVD format for 2001. Blockbuster has approximately
7,700 video rental stores throughout the Americas, Europe,
Asia and Australia.
ASIA
PACIFIC CABLE EXPECTS TO ADD 2.56
TBPS CAPACITY BY SEPTEMBER
The Asia Pacific Cable
Network 2 (APCN 2), a 19,000 km-long network that will connect
China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,
and Taiwan, is on schedule to be fully operational by the end of
September. Segments
of the network are becoming operational as they are completed.
Last week, a segment linking Hong Kong and Malaysia was
landed on Hong Kong's Lantau Island.
On February 22, the network segment from Shanghai was
completed to Hong Kong. APCN
offer 2.56 Tbps bandwidth capacity.
APCN is owned by a consortium of the region's major telecom
carriers. The cost of
the project is approximately US$1 billion.
http://www.pccw.com/press_room/index.html
APCN, March 9, 2001
- NEC is the lead contractor for
APCN2.
NEC
NAMES PARTNERSHIP FOR UNDERSEA CABLE CONSTRUCTION
NEC, Global Marine Systems Ltd. and OCC Corporation
announced a strategic alliance to deliver integrated submarine
cable networks. Under
the alliance, NEC will exclusively use Global Marine's fleet of
cable ships and submarine vehicles for all of its projects.
OCC, a provider of submarine cable, will collaborate
closely on the construction projects.
http://www.nec.co.jp/english/today/newsrel/0103/0801.html
NEC, March 8, 2001
- NEC estimates the global market
for integrated submarine networking solutions at over US$10
billion and 200,000 km per annum for at least the next three
years.
BLUE
SKY INTRODUCES TUNABLE LASERS
Blue Sky Research, a start-up based in San Jose,
California, announced preliminary release of a programmable ITU
laser for DWDM applications.
Blue Sky’s tunable laser will use a high-power, compact,
external-cavity structure and an inherently temperature-stable
micro-etalon wavelength locker. The electrical tuning mechanism is
entirely non-mechanical to provide quicker switching speed and
greater temperature stability than other tunable lasers.
Switching speeds are in the microsecond to nanosecond
range, and the wavelength locker more than doubles temperature
stability. The
product will use low-cost Fabry Perot diodes and will initially
support 50GHz channel spacing.
A version with 25 GHz is under development.
http://www.blueskyresearch.com
Blue Sky Research, March 12, 2001
ITXC
TIES ITS INTERNET VOICE TRANSPORT WITH SATELLITE
ITXC is working with satellite bandwidth providers
SunGlobe Telecom and Amnet Telecom to bring Internet voice
services to Latin America. The
service will use Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) antennas to
connect carrier gateways to the ITXC network with better voice
quality than many traditional PSTN providers serving these areas.
ITXC seeks to expand the program to other regions including
Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe where fiber connectivity is
scarce, expensive or unavailable.
http://www.itxc.com
ITXC, March 9, 2001
AGILENT
EXPANDS ITS VOIP TEST SYSTEM
Agilent Technologies added a remote control capability for
its Voice Quality Tester (VQT) that enables troubleshooting of
distributed VoIP networks from a single location anywhere on the
network. The Agilent
VQT’s distributed test capabilities also enable the measurement
of one-way voice clarity between two distant sites using
Perceptual Speech Quality Measurement Plus (PSQM+) and the
Perceptual Analysis Measurement System (PAMS). Agilent also
released two new VoIP test applications.
The Agilent Advisor IP Telephony Analyzer offers an audio
“play out” capability to isolate the cause of poor voice
quality within a VoIP network, while providing the option of
hearing the audio with jitter or de-jittered.
Agilent's new IP Telephony Reporter summarizes delay,
objective voice quality and echo data gathered by Agilent’s
Voice Quality Tester (VQT), as well as data on problems inside the
packet network gathered from the IP Telephony Analyzer.
http://www.onenetworks.com/
Agilent Technologies, March 12, 2001
PROXIM
SUES SIX FIRMS OVER DIRECT
SEQUENCE 802.11B
WIRELESS PATENTS
Proxim
initiated legal actions in federal district courts against six
companies that sell direct sequence WLAN products and services
based upon the IEEE 802.11b standard.
The companies are 3Com, Cisco, Intersil, SMC, Symbol and
Wayport. Proxim
claims intellectual property rights for achieving optimum range,
data rate and bandwidth using direct sequence WLAN products and
services. http://www.proxim.com/inside/pressroom/2001pr/patent.shtml
Proxim,
March 9, 2001
CASPIAN
NETWORKS APPOINTS INTERIM CEO
Caspian Networks
named David E. Liddle as its interim CEO, following the
sudden and unexpected resignation of Grahame Rance, its previous
CEO and president. Rance
has taken a new position as CEO of SBS Technologies, a producer of
embedded computer components. Liddle is general partner of U.S.
Venture Partners, one of the leading institutional investors in
Caspian. http://www.caspiannetworks.com
Caspian Networks,
March 9, 2001
- 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.
- In December, Caspian Networks
raised $85 million in third round funding, bringing total
investment to date to over $140 million.
- 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.
- Prior
to Caspian, Grahame Rance was Vice President and General
Manager of Nortel Networks.
VIATEL
RETAINS FINANCIAL ADVISORS, EXPLORES STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES
Viatel, which operates pan-European,
trans-Atlantic and metropolitan fiber-optic networks, retained the
investment banking firms of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and
Credit Suisse First Boston as financial advisors to assist in
exploring strategic relationships and restructuring alternatives.
http://www.viatel.com/us/news/rel_005.html
Viatel, March 9, 2001
- In
January, Viatel announced plans to exit consumer voice
services and to focus on higher-margin corporate and
broadband business segments.
The restructuring included layoffs of 30% of its staff.
- Viatel's
Pan-European Network is a multi-duct, fiber-upgradeable
network in Western Europe. Over 4,700 route kilometers of the
announced 10,400 route kilometers are fully constructed and
carrying commercial traffic.
CISCO
ANNOUNCES COST CUTTING MEASURES
Citing the changing economic environment,
Cisco Systems announced plans to cut 2,500 to 3,000
temporary and contract workers, as well as 3,000
to 5,000 regular employees over the remainder of its fiscal
year. The company
currently has about 44,000 employees worldwide and approximately
4,000 temporary workers.
Cisco attributed the layoffs to the "continuing
slowdown in the US economy and initial signs of a slowdown
expanding to other parts of the world." http://www.cisco.com
Cisco
Systems, March 9, 2001
Conference Announcement;
A
delegation of 14 optical fiber communication
companies from Taiwan will host an open house
event on March 15 (Thursday) in Boston as well
as on March 20 (Tuesday) at the OFC conference
in Los Angeles.
The
event will provide an overview of Taiwan's
photonic industry and a chance to meet
one-on-one with each of the companies.
The
delegation includes eight suppliers of passive
optical components, six suppliers of active
optical components, one optical communications
systems company and one supplier of optical
fiber cable.
The
Boston event will be held on the morning of
March 15 at the Wyndham Westborough Hotel in
Westborough and includes a complimentary
breakfast. The Los Angeles event will
held at the Marriott Hotel (adjacent to the
Anaheim Convention Center) from 10:30am to
4:30pm. It will feature a keynote speech
on the Taiwan Photonics Industry as well as a
complimentary lunch.
The
event is organized by:
-
Commercial
Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural
Office in Boston
-
China
External Trade Development Council (CETRA)
-
Taiwan
Trade Center, San Francisco
- Photonics
Industry & Technology Development
Association, Taiwan (PIDA)
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