MICROSOFT SEEKS SHARED DEVELOPMENT PROCESS FOR “HAILSTORM” WEB SERVICES
Microsoft issued a call for industry participation for defining and developing its vision of “HailStorm” Web services that will be central to its Microsoft.Net initiative.  Examples of open collaboration could include the development of XML schemas built on top of the "HailStorm" platform for the consistent sharing of information across multiple applications and devices within a particular industry.  The common XML schemas might be used to provide “HailStorm” Web services for travel, music, video, etc.  http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2001/Jun01/06-19sdpPR.asp
Microsoft, June 19, 2001

• HailStorm is Microsoft’s architecture and set of XML Web services that would use the company’s Passport authentication service to permit applications to cooperate. 

QWEST CONTINUES TO SEE STRONG DEMAND FOR SERVICES
Qwest said it remains comfortable with its previous financial guidance.  Its Q2 revenue is expected to increase approximately 12-13% over the same period last year.  http://www.qwest.com/about/media/pressroom/1,1720,681_archive,00.html 
Qwest, June 19, 2001

• In a conference call, Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio said his company’s Internet traffic is growing at 46% quarter over quarter.  The company continues to see overall Internet growth from its peering partners as well.  In reference to recent press reports, Nacchio said that it is a myth that US carriers are operating at only 3 to 5% of network capacity.  Qwest is currently operating at 85% to 88% of its SONET capacity.  The company continues to light capacity as demand is apparent.  In Q2, Qwest lit more optical capacity than in all of 1998.  Despite the economic slowdown, Qwest continues to see growth across all its services, some of which are expanding at triple digit rates.

INTERSIL ANNOUNCES 5 GHZ WIRELESS LAN CHIPSET
Intersil announced a LAN chipset that employs Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) technology and conforms to the IEEE 802.11a 5 GHz standard for supporting 54 Mbps data rates. Intersil’s PRISM Indigo chipset includes all of the ICs required to implement a 5 GHz WLAN design: power amplifier & detector, radio frequency to intermediate frequency (RF/IF) converter, IF to Baseband Converter & VCO (IF/BB) and baseband processor/ medium access controller (BBP/MAC).  Intersil said 5 GHz, 54 Mbps wireless LANs could be installed in parallel with existing WiFi/IEEE 802.11b-based 2.4 GHz systems with no interference, or in mixed deployments where the faster 5 GHz equipment is used for backplanes, bridging or sub-networks.  The company estimates 5 GHz WLAN adaptor card bill-of-material (BOM) costs of about $60.00, based on a chipset price of $35.  Sampling is expected to begin in Q4.  http://www.intersil.com/pressroom/20010619_PRISM_Indigo_English.asp
Intersil, June 19, 2001

• Intersil is also working on a plan within the IEEE 802.11 Task Group G to bring OFDM technology to the 2.4 GHz band while preserving backward compatibility with existing IEEE 802.11b Complementary Code Keying (CCK) systems.

EXCITE@HOME RENEGOTIATES OPTICAL FIBER CAPACITY LEASE WITH AT&T
Excite@Home renegotiated its optical-fiber backbone capacity contract with AT&T.  Under the renegotiated agreement, AT&T will refund $85 million to Excite@Home for the cancellation of the companies' original agreement.  Excite@Home will enter into a new agreement under which it will pay $8.8 million per year to AT&T for the next 18 1/2-years.  Separately, Excite@Home will pay AT&T $7 million in normal upgrade fees under the existing contract.  The original agreement, which was signed in December 1998, covered two OC-48 channels across a substantial portion of the AT&T Network.  Excite@Home intends to upgrade sections of the network to OC-192 capacity in the near future.  http://www.home.net/news/
Excite@Home, June 19, 2001

• Last week, Excite@Home completed the private sale of $100 million of zero-percent five-year convertible secured notes.

INTEL TO BREAK $100 BARRIER WITH NEW GIGABIT ETHERNET ADAPTER
Intel began shipping samples of its third-generation Gigabit Ethernet adapters, including a desktop adapter that will have a list price of $99 and a server adapter (pricing not disclosed).  Both products are based on Intel's single-chip Gigabit Ethernet controller and feature auto-negotiation and auto-sensing technology.  http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20010619net.htm
Intel, June 19, 2001

RAD EXPANDS ITS ATM ACCESS BUSINESS AS OTHERS EXIT THE BUSINESS
RAD Data Communications announced plans to accelerate its development and marketing of ATM access products.  The company cited Cisco’s closure of its Israel-based ATM access division (established when it acquired Hynex), Lucent’s discontinuation of its PSAX 600 product line (based on the former Sahara product line) and Nortel’s discontinuation of its access solutions operations (based on the former Sonoma product line) as factors in its decision.  http://www.rad.com/whatsnew/headlin19.htm
RAD Data Communications, June 19, 2001

LUMINOUS NETWORKS SECURES $80 MILLION FOR ITS METRO OPTICAL ETHERNET
Luminous Networks, a start-up based in Cupertino, California, raised $80 million in equity financing for its carrier-class optical Ethernet platform, which provides toll-quality voice and circuit services, as well as packet-based voice, data and video services for metropolitan area networks.  Total equity investment in Luminous now exceeds $148 million.  Strategic investors include Scientific-Atlanta (an OEM partner) as well as Hakuto Co. and Samsung.  Other investors include Pyramid Technology Ventures, C.E. Unterberg Towbin Advisors, CIT Venture Capital, Crown Advisors, Easton Hunt Capital Partners, Firsthand Capital Management, Kingdon Capital Management, Pacific Venture Group, Sternhill Partners, Doll Capital Management (DCM), DynaFund Ventures, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and Vanguard Venture Partners.  http://www.luminous.com
Luminous Networks, June 19, 2001

• Last month, Luminous Networks introduced 2.5 Gbps capabilities for its ring-based Gigabit IP over Fiber optical access switches.  The Luminous M2500 PacketWave platform supports services such as 100 Mbps Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, broadcast and interactive video, T1/E1, virtual private networks, toll-quality telephony and Internet access over metro fiber rings.  Luminous Networks supports Resilient Packet Transport, which is a superset of the Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) standard under development by the IEEE 802.17 RPR standards body.  Luminous is also offering a 16-channel capable DWDM option that adds capacity in increments of two wavelengths.
• Luminous Networks was founded in June 1998.  The company is led by Alex Naqvi, formerly VP and General Manager at Chips and Technologies.

BRIGHTLINK NETWORKS RAISES $36 MILLION FOR ITS OPTICAL SWITCHING SYSTEMS
BrightLink Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, secured an additional $35.8 million in funding for its development of optical switching systems.  The company has raised more than $113 million to date.  http://www.brightlink.com/news/press_releases/6_19_01.html
BrightLink Networks, June 19, 2001

• The BrightLink Optical Network Switching System scales from 16 up to 1,024 OC-48 ports, or from four to 256 OC-192 ports.  The switching fabric uses a “hypertorus mesh design,” rather than a standard crossbar architecture.
• In April, BrightLink Networks said it was entering beta trials with two prominent interexchange carriers.

BANDSPEED RAISES $15 MILLION FOR BROADBAND SIGNAL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY
Bandspeed, a start-up with R&D in Melbourne, Australia, raised $15 million in venture capital funding for its development of signal processing technology for broadband equipment.  The company said its signal processing algorithms and new transceiver reference designs make possible higher performance solutions and standards-compliant receiver implementations.  The solution is targeted at DSL and wireless networks.  Investors include JatoTech Ventures, MSD Capital and Cisco Systems.  Bandspeed also has offices in Austin, Texas.  http://www.bandspeed.com/
Bandspeed, June 19, 2001

PETASWITCH RAISES SEED FUNDING FOR TERABIT SWITCH FABRICS
PetaSwitch Solutions, a start-up based in San Jose, California, raised $4 million series A venture capital for development of a multi-terabit switch fabric.  Investors include Wasserstein Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.  PetaSwitch’s chip set architecture is composed of a Virtual Queue Manager (VQM) and a Concurrent Switch (CSW) that can be replicated to obtain higher numbers of ports and/or higher bandwidth of the ports. Port speeds from OC-48 (2.5 Gbps) to OC-3072 (160 Gbps) can be accommodated to produce switches with over 5 Tbps bandwidth.  http://www.peta-switch.com/
PetaSwitch, June 19, 2001

TELLABS CUTS Q2 FINANCIAL GUIDANCE
Tellabs now expects Q2 sales of about $500 million, compared with prior guidance of $780 million to $820 million.  Earnings per share for the quarter are now expected to be break even before restructuring and other charges.  The company cited dramatic changes affecting the landscape of the telecommunications marketplace for the disappointing performance.  http://www.tellabs.com/news/01news/nr061901.shtml
Tellabs, June 19, 2001