NORTEL NETWORKS TO SHOW ALL-PHOTONIC SWITCHING, ASTN AND GMPLS
At this week’s SuperComm 2001 in Atlanta, Nortel Networks will be showcasing its OPTera Connect PX photonic switch and OPTera Smart software, based on the emerging ASTN (automatic switch transport network) standard and the GMPLS protocol.  The demo features an optical mesh in which Juniper Networks’ core router and EMC’s storage system automatically define and establish connections across the simulated WAN.  Nortel’s OPTera Connect PX photonic switch will support 1,008 duplex ports at any line rate without converting the traffic into the electronic domain.  http://www.nortelnetworks.com
Nortel Networks, June 4, 2001

LAUREL NETWORKS DEBUTS ITS IP/MPLS SERVICE EDGE ROUTER
Laurel Networks, a start-up based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, introduced its high capacity, high density IP/MPLS service edge router.  Laurel’s ST200 service edge router distributes all major routing and forwarding functions throughout the system.  It offers per-customer routing tables, traffic shaping, class-based queuing and differentiated services (IETF diffserv).  An extensive range of hardware-based counters collects the statistics needed by service providers to correlate service delivery with service billing.  A single ST200 line card can simultaneously support any combination of DS-3 through OC-48 running any type of service (Frame Relay, ATM, POS, PPP, or TDM).  The platform could be used at the edge of an IP/MPLS backbone to offer a range of services, including differentiated Internet access, destination-sensitive billing with flexible pricing based on traffic destination and driven by BGP-4 policy, differentiated on-net/off-net billing, bundled peering and transit, long-haul Ethernet over MPLS, ATM over MPLS, Frame Relay over MPLS and IP VPNs.  Lab trials are expected to begin this month.  Software trials of the ST200 Routing Control System have been ongoing over the last six months.  http://www.laurelnetworks.com
Laurel Networks, June 4, 2001

• Laurel Networks is headed by Atul Bansal, previously president of FORE Systems' Network Control Technology.  Its senior management staff also includes Stephen Vogelsang, previously senior director of strategic and technical marketing at FORE Systems; Robert Warden, who previously managed the hardware engineering teams at FORE Systems responsible for the design, implementation, and market introduction of new ATM and IP switching systems; Robert Rennison, previously a Principal Engineer at FORE Systems responsible for core Internet switching products; Dimitris Varotsis, a principal engineer at FORE Systems responsible for MPLS switching; and Jeffrey Prem, a software developer at FORE Systems.
• Since its founding in October 1999, Laurel Networks has raised $77 million in capital.  Investors include New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Trinity Ventures, Worldview Technology Partners, WorldCom Venture Fund, Rein Capital, and CommVest.

RIVERSTONE ANNOUNCES AGGREGATION ROUTER FOR 10 GIGABIT ETHERNET
Riverstone Networks announced a new chassis-based platform designed for aggregating Gigabit Ethernet ports onto 10 GigE and CWDM trunks.  The wire-speed RS 16000 supports 12 ports per rack unit, or 540 ports per 7-foot rack.  The modular design allows deployment with as few as four Gigabit Ethernet ports and can scale up to 60 wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet port capacity.  t will also support up to three 10 Gigabit uplinks.  Additional features include hardware-based, field-programmable MPLS; rate limiting for up to 2048 customers per line card; and tier-1 approved Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4), and Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) routing with established Cisco and Juniper interoperability.  http://www.riverstonenetworks.com
Riverstone, June 4, 2001

PLURIS DEMOS VIRTUAL OC-768 AND TRANSPARENT CONTROL CARD FAIL-OVER ON TERAPLEX ROUTERS
Pluris, a start-up based in Cupertino, California, is publicly demonstrating a 40 Gbps routed connection between its TeraPlex core IP routers this week at SuperComm.  The demo incorporates four TeraPlex chassis configured as two separate routers.  Pluris offers an “IP Bond” capability that groups multiple physical ports into a single logical fat pipe, bonding OC-3, OC-12, OC-48, and OC-192 ports or gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gbps Ethernet ports in the future.  The Pluris routers can support up to 1000 links per Bond and 1000 Bonds per multi-chassis TeraPlex system.  The demo also highlights the platform's fault-tolerant control modules and line-rate throughput while filtering on access control lists (ACLs). The router successfully filters out all appropriate traffic pertaining to 1200 ACLs while maintaining line-rate throughput.  http://www.pluris.com/
Pluris, June 4, 2001

• Last November, Pluris secured $100 million in a fourth round of funding for development of its IP core router.  Pluris' Teraplex 20 router will feature up to 150 Gbps of I/O and 1.44 Tbps of switching capacity linked via an optical backplane and interconnect.  The optical backplane design could be used to link up to 128 chassis, several hundreds of meters apart, yet maintain the system as a single router.  
• Pluris is led by Joseph Kennedy, who previously was founder, chairman and CEO of Rapid City Communications, an early vendor in the Gigabit Ethernet and routing switch market (acquired by Bay Networks).

DSL VENDORS PROMOTE STANDARDIZATION OF CHANNELIZED VOICE OVER DSL
A number of DSL vendors are cooperating to establish standards for Channelized Voice over DSL (CVoDSL), which transports derived voice traffic uniformly over the phone line in the same format as traditional telephony.  Instead of using ATM virtual circuits or IP prioritization, CVoDSL transports voice traffic over the copper loop within the DSL data stream by dedicating DSL bandwidth for each voice channel. It also delivers voice traffic to the access network as a DS0, just like a regular telephone call.  CVoDSL-equipped chipsets are able to reserve a dedicated channel of DSL bandwidth for up to eight simultaneous voice calls over a single phone line.  Supporters of CVoDSL include ADC, Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC), Analog Devices, Aware, Broadxent, Centillium, Infineon, Mindspeed, Occam Networks, Paradyne, Siemens Carrier Networks and Texas Instruments.  http://www.aware.com/company/press/2001/VoDSL.htm
Aware, June 4, 2001

• A white paper with more information about CVoDSL is available at Aware's website: http://www.aware.com/technology/telecom/cvodsl_download.html

SPIRENT UNVEILS “POCKET OSS” FOR WIRELESS REMOTE TESTING
Spirent Communications unveiled a conceptual model for wireless remote testing that extends network management and service assurance capabilities from the service provider's operations centers into almost any wireless-accessible point, for any security-enabled employee, customer, or partner.  The pocket OSS concept derives its core structure from the remote testing model, which relies on a combination of centrally located operations support systems (OSS) software and test probes widely distributed within the service provider's network.  The OSSs command the probes to collect information about network status, including communication with critical network elements such as switches, routers and multiplexers.  The OSSs then report on these findings to human operators or other machine systems for subsequent actions, such as the opening or closing of trouble tickets and order status reporting.   Spirent expects the availability of wireless remote capabilities will allow the provider to further accelerate service activation and verification, isolation and resolution of service outages or degradation, reduce time to revenue return, and improve customer responsiveness.  http://www.spirentcom.com
Spirent Communications, June 4, 2001

VELIO SAMPLES ITS MULTI-RATE 3.2 GBPS CROSSPOINT SWITCH CHIP
Velio Communications, a start-up based in Milpitas, California, began sampling its multi-rate crosspoint switch with on-board clock and data recovery (CDR), a single IC that supports 3.2 Gbps data rates over each of its 140 serial input and 140 output lanes for an aggregate bandwidth of nearly one terabit.  The device integrates the functionality of 140 SerDes (serializers/deserializers) and is intended for use in carrier-class systems designed to switch massive amounts of traffic over optical wavelengths.  Velio plans to announce it first customers later this year.   http://www.velio.com/corporate/corporate_pr_2001_4.html
Velio Communications, June 4, 2001

• Velio is led by Raju Chekuri, formerly a group director at Cadence.  Its technical team is headed by Dr. William Dally, currently a professor at Stanford University, where he leads projects on high-speed signaling, computer architecture and network architecture, and Dr. John Poulton of the University of North Carolina.  The company was previously known as Chip2Chip.  Velio has raised more than $50 million in venture funding from Sequoia Capital, IVP, Global Catalyst Partners, Capital Research Group and HarbourVest Partners.

AGERE SYSTEMS INTRODUCES ITS MULTI-TERABIT OC-768C-CAPABLE SWITCH FABRIC
Agere Systems introduced a multi-terabit OC-768c-capable switch fabric built upon its existing Atlanta chip architecture.  The solution consists of three chips: a device for aggregation/concentration, queuing and scheduling; a device for crossbar arbitration and switching; and a single-chip standalone 40 Gbps switch.  Target applications include multi-protocol core and edge switches and routers, multi-service optical core and edge devices, service-aware switches and provisioning platforms and broadband access equipment.  Agere said a key feature of its new PI-40 chipset is linear scalability in chip count from 40 Gbps to 2.5 Tbps of non-blocking, full-duplex throughput.  Prototypes are expected in Q4.  Separately, Agere introduced a 10 Gbps high-level programmable network processor with deep packet processing capability. The new PayloadPlus processor solution, comprised of a classification engine chip and the a traffic manager chip, provides full wire-speed packet processing functionality including classification, policing, statistics, queuing, scheduling, shaping, buffer management and packet/cell modification.  http://www.lucent.com/micro/
Agere Systems, June 4, 2001

INFINEON INTRODUCES OC-768 SILICON GERMANIUM-BASED MUX/DEMUX CHIPSET
Infineon Technologies introduced an OC-768 (40 Gbps) multiplexer/demultiplexer (MUX/DEMUX) chipset for next generation SONET/SDH systems.  The chipset is part of Infineon’s end-to-end line card solution for OC-768.  The device is fabricated in Silicon Germanium process technology, giving it lower power consumption and larger scale integration than existing Gallium Arsenide and Indium Phosphide technologies.  http://www.infineon.com/news  
Infineon Technologies, June 4, 2001

FUJITSU INTRODUCES ITS TUNABLE OC-192 OPTICS FOR SONET ADM, SELECTED FOR AUSTRALIA’S NAVA-1 NETWORK
Fujitsu Network Communications announced tunable OC-192 optics for its FLASH2400 ADX platform, a next generation SONET/SDH add/drop multiplexer.  The addition of OC-192 capabilities enables the FLASH2400 ADX to support DS3 tributary drops from an OC-192 signal. It supports an unrestricted mix of OC-3, OC-12, and OC-48 integrated / subtending rings, combined with broadband DCS functionality.  It also allows two complete OC-192 systems (or one 4-fiber BLSR system) in a single shelf.  The system currently includes a 4-channel tunable laser, with plans to move to a 22-channel tunable laser.

Separately, Fujitsu Network Communications was selected to provide the terrestrial WDM links for Nava Networks' $600 million international broadband cable network "Nava-1", which will interconnect South East Asia and Australia.  The deployment will include Fujitsu’s FLASHWAVE OADX terrestrial DWDM system, FLASH 10G SDH equipment, and NETSMART network management systems for the links between Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia.  http://www.fnc.fujitsu.com  
Fujitsu Network Communications, June 4, 2001

BELLSOUTH ADVANCES ITS ENTERPRISE VOICE OVER IP WITH CISCO, IBM
BellSouth restated its commitment to a build state-of-the-art e-Platform for its large enterprise customers and to deploy VoIP both within and outside its nine-state region.  BellSouth is partnering with Cisco Systems, which provides its Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID), and IBM for systems integration, training and support.  http://www.bellsouth.com
BellSouth, June 4, 2001

NORTEL NETWORKS REPRICES ITS EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS
Nortel Networks will offer a voluntary stock option exchange program for its employees.  Under the planned program, eligible employees will be able to tender for cancellation stock options that were granted on or after November 12, 1999 under the Nortel Networks Corporation 1986 and 2000 Stock Option Plans for new options expected to be issued on a date which is at least six months plus one day from the date of cancellation of the tendered options. Board appointed officers and members of the board of directors of Nortel Networks will not be eligible to participate in the program.  http://www.nortelnetworks.com/corporate/news/newsreleases/2001b/06_04_0101464_tracey.html
Nortel Networks, June 4, 2001