SINGAPORE TELECOM BIDS TO ACQUIRE AUSTRALIA’S OPTUS
Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) reached agreement with Cable & Wireless Optus Limited (Optus) and Cable and Wireless plc (C&W) on the terms of an offer to acquire Optus, Australia’s No. 2 fully integrated telecommunications company.  The A$17 billion deal consists of a combination of cash, SingTel shares and SingTel bonds, and represents a 17% premium to Optus’ 30 trading days average share price of A$3.90.  The combined entity would create a major Asia-Pacific telecommunications company, with proforma revenues of almost A$10 billion for the year to 31 March 2000.  http://home.singtel.com/news/
SingTel, March 26, 2001

• SingTel, Singapore’s largest publicly traded company, operates in 22 cities in 14 countries, including Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. 

WAVESMITH INTRODUCES NON-STOP OS FOR ITS MULTISERVICE SWITCH
WaveSmith Networks, a start-up based in Acton, MA, introduced the core operating system (OS) for its forthcoming multiservice switch.  The “telephony grade” WaveCore Operating System runs all software processes in separate protected memory regions. It is a microkernel architecture in which any process can be upgraded or repaired independently of the others while the system continues running.  WaveSmith said other key reliability features of its OS will include a fault tolerant file systems with error correction, a highly reliable database synchronization protocol with the OSS, a system to detect impending failures (buffer overflows, file system errors), fast recovery from fault conditions with fully mirrored, lock-step state tables, and circuit protection for SVCs, PVCs and IP flows.  http://www.wavesmithnetworks.com
WaveSmith Networks, March 26, 2001

• WaveSmith Networks is building a next generation multiservice switch supporting ATM, Frame Relay, TDM/CES and IP services. The switch scales to 320 Gbps and hundreds of ports in a single node.  By using integrated components and miniaturized connector technology, WaveSmith plans to deliver a 600% capacity-to-footprint improvement over incumbent products.  Its solution will use a high-speed serial core fabric that is agnostic to services and protocols, including ATM, Frame Relay, TDM, IP and optical lambda.  The architecture will also feature an Open Call Model that collapses the control plane so that any service connection can be controlled natively through the transport fabric, effectively enabling flow-through provisioning that ties in directly with a carrier’s existing network management system. 

• WaveSmith Networks was founded in March 2000 by Robert Dalias (formerly with Castle Networks, acquired by Unisphere Solutions), John O'Hara (a member of the start-up team at New Oak Communications, acquired by Bay Networks), Chad Dunn (a member of the start-up team at Omnia, acquired by Ciena), Jim Philippou (a founder at New Oak), Gary Styskal (formerly with Cabletron/Enterasys), Abe Schryer (Ennovate Networks) and Andrea Carr-Evans (Unisphere Solutions).

• WaveSmith has raised $23.5 million in equity and debt financing to date.  Key investors and lenders include Atlas Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Commonwealth Capital, Comdisco Ventures, GATX Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.

ALCATEL INTRODUCES SOFTSWITCH FOR CLASS 4 APPLICATIONS
Alcatel introduced its softswitch solution for providing voice toll or transit services on a packet-based network.  The Alcatel 1000 Softswitch, which serves as the control element in a converged network, offers standard-based open interfaces with media gateways, classical exchanges, service platforms and network management applications.  The platform handles analog subscribers lines, ISDN and fax, and features a capacity of up to 5 million BHCA and 300,000 trunks ports. Future applications will also allow the control of 1 million subscribers on a single machine. The Alcatel 1000 Softswitch is currently undergoing field trials in Chile and Norway.  Alcatel also offers a softswitch for offloading data from the voice network.  http://www.alcatel.com/vpr/?body=/latestnews/23032001_3uk
Alcatel, March 23, 2001

ALCATEL ADDS VOIP CAPABILITIES TO LITESPAN DLC
Alcatel announced new IP capabilities for its Litespan-1540 digital loop carrier platform that are implemented in a new server card that can be plugged in alongside the unit’s transport and controller cards.  The VoIP server card could be used to transform an operational Litespan DLC into an Access Gateway, allowing voice services to be conveyed and groomed to either the PSTN (with V5.2) or to the IP network (with H248).  Alcatel said it plans to introduce a fully end-to-end integrated class 5 next generation network architecture for the Litespan 1540 Access Gateway and the Alcatel 1000 Softswitch using H.248 (MEGACO) as its signaling protocol.
http://www.alcatel.com/vpr/?body=/latestnews/23032001_1uk
Alcatel, March 23, 2001

PROXIM AND NETOPIA CANCEL MERGER
Proxim and Netopia mutually agreed to terminate their planned merger without payment of any termination fees.  The companies said they would continue to work closely together as strategic partners.  In particular, Netopia will integrate Proxim's HomeRF technology into its broadband routers and integrated access devices.   http://www.proxim.com  http://www.netopia.com
Proxim, March 23, 2001

• In January, Proxim agreed to acquire Netopia for approximately $223 million in stock (January 22^nd prices).  Since then, PROX shares have fallen from $34.81 to $10.50.
• Last week, various news sources reported that Intel plans to introduce home wireless networking products based on 802.11b technology, possibly superceding its wireless products based on HomeRF, which use components from Proxim. 
• Netopia’s product family includes customer premise routers for ADSL, IDSL, SDSL, Dual Analog, ISDN, 56 Kbps DDS, T-1 and Fractional T-1.  Proxim supplies wireless LAN solutions based on the IEEE 802.11b standard as well as the HomeRF standard. 

LOCKHEED MARTIN FORMS WIRELESS COMPONENTS SPINOFF
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control formed a spin-off company to produce "smart" transmitter, receiver and integrated transceiver products for terrestrial broadband wireless and two-way satellite communications markets.  Lockheed Martin said its proprietary technology reduces the cost and improves the performance of high frequency transceivers while being capable of rates reaching 1.2 Gbps.  The new company, Xytrans, will be headquartered in Orlando, Florida and has raised $4 million in funding from an investor group led by Alliance Technology Ventures.  http://www.cfic.org/  http://www.xytrans.com/
Lockheed Martin, March 23, 2001

KPNQWEST PURCHASES MULTIPLE WAVELENGTHS ON FLAG ATLANTIC-1
KPNQwest purchased multiple wavelengths on FLAG Atlantic-1 (FA-1), the new terabit class cable between London, Paris and New York City that is expected to enter service shortly.  Terms of the multimillion-dollar deal were not disclosed. http://www.flagtelecom.com
http://www.kpnqwest.com
KPNQwest, March 23, 2001

FRANCE TELECOM REPORTS 172,000 BROADBAND SUBSCRIBERS
As of February, France Telecom was serving 172,380 broadband subscribers (cable and ADSL), up from 143,001 at December 31, 2000 and 70,000 at the end of 1999.  Faster growth was attributed to a new ADSL modem pack introduced in January 2001 in France and a new ADSL Wanadoo offer in Belgium.  http://www.francetelecom.com/vanglais/whats_in_the_news/home_f.html
France Telecom, March 22, 2001

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