SPRINT AWARDS $1 BILLION CONTRACTS TO LUCENT, NORTEL FOR 3G BASE STATION UPGRADES
Sprint awarded a three-year deal worth up to $1 billion to Lucent for equipment and services for the next phase of Sprint's nationwide wireless network development and expansion.  The deal covers Lucent base stations, mobile switching centers, and wireless intelligent network software.  Lucent Worldwide Services will also provide equipment engineering, installation, cell site optimization and project management for the network deployment.  Later this year, Lucent will begin installing a 3G upgrade, centered on CDMA2000 technology, to base stations in Sprint's existing network.  http://www.lucent.com/press/0601/010627.nsb.html

Separately, Sprint and Nortel Networks announced agreements estimated to be worth up to approximately US$1 billion over three years for upgrades to the Nortel Networks portion of Sprint’s nationwide PCS wireless network.  Later this year, Nortel Networks is scheduled to begin 3G upgrades to its base stations in Sprint’s existing PCS network.  http://www.nortelnetworks.com/corporate/news/newsreleases/2001b/06_27_0101313
_sprint_3g.html
June 27, 2001

YAHOO! EXPANDS USE OF AKAMAI CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK
Yahoo! will use Akamai's IP characterization service to enhance its customized ad serving capabilities.  Akamai correlates geographic and network information to IP addresses.  Akamai also leverages relationships with more than 650 network partners to continually enhance the EdgeScape database.  Yahoo!'s ad servers will integrate the data into its ad serving applications to increase advertising relevance.  By providing more effective targeting, Yahoo! hopes to enhance its ability to deliver greater value to its clients.  Akamai said its IP characterization service does not compromise user privacy.  http://www.akamai.com/html/en/nr/press/press257.html
Akamai Technologies, June 27, 2001

VIASAT TO BUILD SATELLITE MODEM TERMINATION SYSTEMS
WildBlue Communications, a new venture building a Ka-band satellite system for delivering two-way Internet services, awarded a $17 million contract to ViaSat to build satellite modem termination systems (SMTS) to support its six gateway earth stations.  The SMTS systems will serve the same purpose as a cable modem termination system (CMTS) or DSLAM, providing the interface between the terrestrial Internet backbone and WildBlue subscribers.  ViaSat will leverage the significant capabilities of existing DOCSIS CMTS products for its design.  http://www.viasat.com/about/news_details.cfm?id=68
ViaSat, June 27, 2001

• WildBlue, which was originally known as iSKY, plans to offer download speeds of 3.0 Mbps and up to 400 Kbps upstream.  A first satellite (built by Space Systems/Loral) serving the US and Canada is expected to launch in early 2002.  A second satellite (TeleSat's ANIK F2 satellite, built by Hughes) serving both North America and Latin America will launch shortly thereafter.  IBM and TRW are jointly defining systems requirements for WildBlue’s network operations center (NOC).  Andrew Corporation is building six gateway earth stations, which will transmit and receive data to/from the satellites and convert them into IP data packets.  Users would require a satellite mini-dish and a satellite cable modem to access the service.
• The Ka-band is a frequency that operates at 20 to 30 GHz.  WildBlue's Ka band satellite spot beam design allows a large degree of frequency reuse (i.e. multiple spot beams can re-use the same frequency to transmit different data to the geographically separated gateway earth stations).
• The WildBlue service will be marketed in partnership with Echostar's satellite TV service.  Echostar holds a 12% equity stake in WildBlue.  Additional investors include Liberty Media Group, TV Guide, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TRW and TeleSat.

UNISPHERE NETWORKS AND BROADSOFT CANCEL PLANNED MERGER
Citing current market conditions, Unisphere Networks and BroadSoft agreed to cancel their planned merger.  The companies said they would continue to work together as strategic partners.  http://www.broadsoft.com  http://www.unispherenetworks.com
Unisphere Networks, June 27, 2001

• Plans for the Unisphere Networks + BroadSoft merger were first announced in October 2000.  Financial terms were not disclosed.  BroadSoft is a developer of packet telephony service creation technology. BroadSoft's platform allows a consumer to use a Web server to manage call waiting, voice mail, conferencing, auto-attendant and follow-me-anywhere features.  The system is transport independent and will interoperate with the circuit-switched PSTN, as well as IP and ATM networks.  The company is based in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

VERNIER NETWORKS RAISES $8.5 MILLION, NAMES CEO, TARGETS WIRELESS LANS
Vernier Networks, the first spin-off of PacketDesign, secured $8.5 million dollars in outside funding and named Doug Klein as its CEO.  Klein most recently was vice president operations at Packet Design.  He formerly served as president and chief operating officer for NuvoMedia, Inc., the developer of the Rocket eBook hand-held electronic reading device which was acquired by Gemstar-TV Guide International in January 2000.  http://www.verniernetworks.com/ 
Vernier Networks, June 27, 2001

• Packet Design is the networking startup formed last year by husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Judy Estrin and Bill Carrico. The pair founded Bridge Communications in 1981, Network Computing Devices in 1988 and Precept Software in 1995 (acquired by Cisco in 1998).
• Vernier Networks will market a new technology that makes wireless LANs based on standards such as IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth practical in large-scale enterprise environments.  The company said its charter is "to raise IEEE 802.11 from the wire-replacement level to a real working network at the IP layer (layer 3) and above."  Vernier will be network-based, with all configuration and authentication handled through a web interface at the network level.  Vernier's products will provide differentiated user authentication and fine-grained management of network resources without requiring additional client software.

BELL CANADA CHOOSES BROADJUMP'S VIRTUAL TRUCK TO SPEED DSL ACTIVATIONS
BroadJump will provide its Virtual Truck Qualifier and Virtual Truck Installer software to Bell Canada to speed up installations of its Sympatico DSL service.  http://www.broadjump.com 
BroadJump, June 27, 2001

LUCENT SELECTS MARVELL'S SWITCH CHIP FOR METRO ADM SYSTEM
Lucent Technologies selected Marvell's GalNet-3 converged voice/video/data switch processors for its ADM 16/1c WaveStar SDM Multiplexer and Transport System, a metro networking platform for multiplexing PDH and SDH bit rates to higher levels up to 2.5 Gbps and transporting ATM/IP traffic.  Marvell’s GalNet-3 processor provides eight ports of 10/100 Mbps Layer 3/4/5 switching.  http://www.marvell.com
Marvell, June 27, 2001

VENDORS TO HOST TERABIT NETWORKING FORUM ON AUGUST 21^ST
A group of networking silicon vendors will host an all-day Terabit Networking Forum on August 21^st to address industry challenges and opportunities associated with ever evolving interconnect technologies.  The event will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center and broadcast via satellite to multiple North American cities, including Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Raleigh, and the New Jersey area.  There is no charge for the event.  Organizers include Xilinx, Cahners Electronics Group, AMCC, Advanced Micro Devices, Compaq, Conexant/Mindspeed, Infineon, Intel, Motorola, Mentor Graphics, PMC-Sierra and Synopsys.  http://www.xilinx.com/terabit/
June 27, 2001