CITYNET RAISES $275 MILLION FOR LAST-MILE FIBER THROUGH SEWERS
CityNet Telecommunications closed a second round of equity worth $175 million, with an additional $100 million in debt financing, for its construction of last mile fiber networks through city sewer systems.  CityNet installs the fiber using a computer-controlled robot developed by Ka-Te Systems AG of Zurich, Switzerland.  It then leases the fiber to other companies.  CityNet’s partners also include Alcatel, which provides the fiber cables and special conduit, and Carter & Burgess, an engineering and construction management firm.  CityNet has signed license and access agreements with three US cities – Indianapolis, Albuquerque, and Omaha, -- and has just signed an agreement with its first European city, which will be announced shortly. The company is negotiating similar agreements with approximately 28 other US and European cities.  Investors include The Carlyle Group, Berkshire Partners, Trimaran Capital Partners, Great Hill Partners and Fay Richwhite. CityNet’s first round of investment was $100 million in April 2000, and included investments by Telecom Partners, Crescendo Ventures and CIBC Capital Partners.
http://www.citynettelecom.com/
CityNet, April 10, 2001

LEVEL 3 AND BELLSOUTH AGREE ON INTER-CARRIER IP COMPENSATION
Level 3 Communications reached an agreement with BellSouth establishing new rates for the exchange of local and Internet service provider (ISP)-bound traffic.  Level 3, which had previously announced similar agreements with Verizon and SBC, said the agreement creates a market-based rate structure for all inter-carrier compensation and moves those rates closer to cost. Under the deal with BellSouth, the per-minute rates are $.00175 for 2001, $.0015 for 2002, and $.001 for 2003 for both Local Traffic and ISP-bound traffic for all states in the BellSouth operating region.  http://www.level3.com/us/news/newsreleases/0,1345,2001Apr10-5387,00.html
Level 3, April 10, 2001

CISCO SYSTEMS RELEASES DIFFSERV AND MPLS TRAFFIC ENGINEERING TOOLS
Cisco Systems released new Differentiated Services (DiffServ) and MPLS software tools designed to increase the manageability and scalability of Quality of Service (QoS) provisioning across enterprise and service provider networks.  The new DiffServ tools, which include a QoS Device Manager, a QoS Policy Manager, an Internet Performance Monitor and a Service Management Solution, allow network traffic to be classified at the edge and divided into different classes such as premium, gold, silver or bronze based on QoS requirements for delay, jitter and bandwidth guarantees.  These DiffServ classifications then become an integral component of Cisco’s new MPLS-based DiffServ-Aware Traffic Engineering and Guaranteed Bandwidth Services capabilities, which would extend the QoS across connectionless networks.  The traffic engineering technology is also used for a new MPLS AutoBandwidth allocator feature, which automatically increases or decreases MPLS TE tunnel bandwidth based on measured traffic load.  It is also employed in a new Fast Reroute capability that enables quick recovery in case of link failures, which Cisco says will make fail-over times competitive with SONET for link restoration.  The new MPLS features are available now in Cisco IOS Software release 12.0.  The DiffServ solution is delivered in Cisco IOS Software Release 12.1.  http://www.cisco.com
Cisco Systems, April 10, 2001

NORTEL AND AGILENT TEAM ON OPTICAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
Nortel Networks and Agilent Technologies agreed to jointly develop and market a solution for optical network management.  The solution would combine Agilent’s accessFIBER physical network management system with Nortel’s Preside network management, which is designed for dynamic delivery of revenue-generating optical services.  A key application would be to enable carriers to determine quickly when logical alarms are the result of physical fiber problems, and where those problems are located.   http://www.nortelnetworks.com/corporate/news/newsreleases/2001b/04_10_0101232_agilent_alliance.html
Nortel Networks, April 10, 2001

DSL VENDORS SHOW OPENVOB INTEROPERABILITY
At this week’s DSLcon in Denver, Colorado, leading equipment vendors demonstrated standards-based voice over broadband interoperability based on the ATM Forum's AAL2 Loop Emulation Service (LES) and configured according to the recently released OpenVoB D1 Implementation Model.  The showcase demonstrates "any-to-any" interoperability between voice gateways and IADs from multiple vendors, including Accelerated Networks, Avail Networks, Broadband Gateways, Efficient Networks, General Bandwidth, ishoni Networks, MetaSwitch, Polycom and Texas Instruments.  http://www.openvob.org/
OpenVoB, April 10, 2001  

• The OpenVOB’s LES Implementation Guide can be accessed online at http://www.openvob.org/

LUCENT DOUBLES STINGER ADSL DENSITY, ADDS VODSL AND SHDSL SUPPORT
New ADSL hardware for Lucent Technologies’ Stinger DSL concentrator doubles density to 48 users per line card, enabling support for 672 subscribers in a single Stinger system.  Lucent also announced Stinger support for standards-conformant SHDSL, enabling delivery of symmetric bandwidth from 72 Kbps to 2.312 Mbps at distances up to 30,000 ft without repeaters. Separately, Lucent introduced a new voice media gateway solution for voice over digital subscriber line (VoDSL) networks.  New GR-303/LES gateway software for Lucent PacketStar PSAX Multiservice Media Gateways enables voice traffic from DSLAMs to be handed off to Lucent 5ESS switch or other Class 5 switches in the PSTN.  The PSAX GR-303/LES solution, which is based on ATM Forum standards, interoperates with Lucent's AnyMedia Access Systems, Stinger DSL Access Concentrators and CellPipe Integrated Access Devices.  ETSI V5.2 protocol support on the PSAX GR-303/LES will be available to international users later this year.  http://www.lucent.com/press/0401/010410.nsb.html
Lucent Technologies, April 10, 2001

COPPER MOUNTAIN AND INFOVALUE TEAM ON IN-BUILDING VOD
Copper Mountain Networks and InfoValue Computing announced a partnership for delivering on-demand movies and other streaming-video content to customers in multi-tenant unit (MTU) buildings over existing copper phone wires.  The solution combines Copper Mountain’s CopperEdge 200 and CopperEdge 150 DSL concentrators with InfoValue's QuickVideo streaming software and third-party ADSL modems and set-top boxes.  The joint solution uses MPEG-2 streaming to deliver pay-per-view VHS or DVD-quality video.  Copper Mountain’s concentrators distinguish between real-time video traffic and best-effort Internet traffic, forwarding traffic to and from the video server or the Internet as appropriate, and eliminating the need for providers to deploy a separate router or switch to handle video streams.  http://www.coppermountain.com/news/04102001pr.html
http://www.infovalue.com
Copper Mountain Networks, April 10, 2001

SPRINT/LUCENT COMPLETE 3G CALL AT 2.4 MBPS
Sprint and Lucent Technologies completed a 3G over-the-air data call at 2.4 Mbps, believed to be the fastest tested for a US mobile wireless carrier.  The test used CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (1x Evolution-Data Only) technology and was conducted at Sprint’s facilities in Lenexa, Kansas.   Commercial availability of Lucent's CDMA2000 1xEV-DO base stations is expected in 2002. The technology is expected to be deployed into the Sprint PCS wireless network by 2003.
http://www.lucent.com/press/0401/010410.nsc.html
Lucent, April 10, 2001

QUARRY COMPLETES $38 MILLION FINANCING FOR EDGE SERVICE SWITCH
Quarry Technologies, a start-up based in Burlington, Massachusetts, raised $38 million in third round funding, bringing total venture financing raised to $66.5 million over the past two years.  Proceeds will be used to advance product development, marketing and sales, and to subsidize additional staff.  New investors include 3i Group, Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and Corvis. 
http://www.quarrytech.com/
Quarry Technologies, April 10, 2001

• Quarry’s Application Service Edge switch combines high-performance ASICs, network processors and proprietary algorithms for priority queuing, virtual routing and real-time statistics at speeds up to OC-48.  Quarry's packet processing system provides wire speed traffic classification, policing, fine-grained queuing, dynamic firewall filtering, address translation and priority-sensitive traffic aggregation, thereby enabling the enforcement of application-specific Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to each business customer. 

CLEAR SECURES $20 MILLION FOR OPTICAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Clear, a start-up based in Lincolnshire, Illinois, secured $20 in equity financing to further its portfolio of network management software for core optical, broadband and digital transport networks.  Clear’s software allows service providers to visualize customer circuit configuration and section-by-section status across SONET/SDH rings.  The company has OEM agreements with Ciena and Digital Lightwave.  Major customers include Cingular Wireless and AT&T, as well as systems integrators such as Fujitsu Network Services, EngineX, Steria, Eastecnica, NETvisor, and Cell Telecom.  Investors include William Blair Capital Partners VII of Chicago, Lovett Miller & Co., Alpha Capital Partners, BT Investment Partners, Inc., Landmark Partners, St. Paul Venture Capital and Willowridge, Inc.  http://www.clear.com
Clear, April 10, 2001

LAYERONE NAMES FORMER MFS EXEC AS CHAIRMAN
LayerOne, a provider of layer one optical transport exchanges and connectivity, named Mark Gershien as Chairman of its board of directors.  Gershien most recently served as Senior VP of Level 3 Communications, and previously was president and CEO of MFS Telecom, an operating unit of MFS Communications.  http://www.layerone.com/home.php3
LayerOne, April 10, 2001

• LayerOne’s NEXUS Optical Distribution Exchanges are being developed to provide optical connectivity between thousands of strands of fiber in top telecom markets throughout North America.

SONUS NETWORKS REPORTS Q1 REVENUE OF $41.5 MILLION, UP 45% OVER Q4
Sonus Networks reported Q1 revenue of $41.5 million, up 45% over the $28.6 million reported for Q4.  Net income, prior to charges, was $0.2 million or $0.00 per share. The company noted progress across several fronts, including an expanded customer base, new product capabilities and features, and an expanded partner program. In March, Sonus announced that it signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar contract with Qwest Communications.   http://www.sonusnetworks.com/
Sonus Networks, April 10, 2001

MARCONI ANNOUNCES RESTRUCTURING, TRIMS STAFF
Marconi announced a corporate reorganization into three division (Networks, Wireless and Enterprise). The restructuring also includes:

• an expansion of R&D centers in the UK,
• an outsourcing of the majority of its manufacturing capacity and a transfer of up to 2,900 employees to Jabil Circuit,
• a reduction of around 3,000 positions over the next 12 months (half in the UK),
• and the implementation of a single company-wide systems platform.