US INTERNET TRAFFIC GROWS
400% DURING LAST YEAR
According to a
study by Caspian Networks founder and CTO Dr. Lawrence
Roberts, US Internet traffic on core IP service providers’
networks increased four times between April 2000 and April
2001. Internet traffic is doubling every six months on
average. This compares to an average growth rate of 2.8
times per year since 1997. The study sampled network
traffic from the top 19 US data carriers in April 2000,
October 2000 and April 2001. Roberts believes that 80% of
US Internet traffic is generated by businesses, and says
that international traffic is still growing at the “pre-2000
growth rate of 2.8x per year.” The study also found that
50% of all Internet traffic is carried by the top four ISPs.
Roberts described his work as the first scientific study
quantifying Internet traffic across the leading carriers
since The National Science Foundation stopped tracking U.S.
Internet traffic in 1996.
http://www.caspiannetworks.com/pressroom/press/08.15.01.shtml
Caspian Networks, August 15th, 2001
- A PowerPoint presentation
of the results is available at
http://www.caspiannetworks.com/library/presentations/traffic/Internet_Traffic_081301.ppt
- Dr. Lawrence Roberts is
credited with the design, initiation, planning and
development of the ARPANET, the world's first major packet
network. He founded Caspian Networks in February 1999.
- In April, Caspian Networks
unveiled the first details of its forthcoming Apeiro IP
superswitch, a core platform for the heart of service
provider networks. Key features include a distributed
switch fabric that scales “infinitely” from 155 Tbps in
its initial 19" rack configuration. The product is being
designed to accommodate scaling of
dynamic routing protocols (MPLS, IS-IS and BGP) and will
use additional distributed application processors to
provide software processing power as switching
capabilities are increased. Apeiro will incorporate
dynamic routing redundancy and will have an Element
Management System (EMS) that is fully distributed and
integrated into the system itself.
- Caspian Networks has
raised over $140 million in funding. The company is based
in San Jose, California.
OPTICON 2001: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW CARRIERS
Speaking at Opticon 2001, Sigma Networks chairman
and former FCC chairman Reed Hundt said that demand for
Internet access and bandwidth will continue to grow,
creating opportunities for service providers, particularly
in metro and access networks. However, carriers must work
to meet customer needs. The increasing demand for bandwidth
is real, and not going away. “We are not in the Pet Rock
industry,” said Hundt. As a share of their total income,
consumers are spending more on telecom, increasing from 1.6%
in 1990 to 2.0% in 2000. Reed expects IP traffic to grow at
a compound annual rate of 86% through 2005. While there is
an overcapacity issue in long haul networks and Internet
backbone utilization may be just 10-15%, metro and access
networks are under built for current and future needs. By
2005, Reed predicts that 20-25% of IP traffic will stay in a
single metro network due to more traffic originating and
terminating in the same market, and caching. Reed advised
service providers to seize the compelling cost advantages of
new optical systems as they build their networks, and to
focus not just on their capital expenditures but their
ongoing operating expenses that are a result of their
network development choices. Reed also challenged the
industry to meet customer needs. He said that services
providers have not “gotten anywhere close to delivering the
kinds of services and products that the country demands.”
He believes that Internet access needs to be everywhere,
always on, reliable, flexible, reasonably priced, and easy
and cheap to install. On the residential side, compelling
applications, not just faster access, must be offered to
drive broadband adoption. Reed says that these issues can
be solved, and it is up to the service provider industry to
do so themselves.
August 15th, 2001
- Sigma Networks is a
start-up service provider launched in February 2000 by
former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and Concentric Networks
co-founder John Peters. The company is backed by
Benchmark Capital, Marc Andreessen, Cisco Systems and
numerous other venture capital firms. The company is
building what it calls “a free trade zone between network
providers and bandwidth purchasers.” Sigma Networks plans
to offer wholesale optical links interconnecting Internet
backbones, data centers, traffic aggregation points, and
last mile broadband service providers within metropolitan
markets. The new company has raised $435 million in
equity and debt financing. Sigma Networks is based in San
Jose, California.
http://www.sigmanetworks.com/
Cogent ADVANCES ITS 80 Gbps National Backbone
Cogent
Communications has completed more than 75% of the planned 80
Gbps bandwidth expansion on its 12,400 mile long- haul
backbone. The remainder of the expansion will be completed
by the end of October.
http://www.cogentco.com
Cogent, August 15, 2001
- Last week, Cogent
announced deployment of 10 Gbps Very Short Reach Optics (VSR)
within its national IP backbone. Cogent is using Cisco's
12400 Internet Routers in its network.
Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom Selects Cisco GSRs for 10 Gbps IP
Backbone
HiNet, the data communications
business group of Chunghwa Telecom selected Cisco 12000
routers to upgrade its backbone from OC-48/STM-16 to a
10Gbps OC-192/STM-64 IP+Optical infrastructure. Financial
terms were not disclosed.
http://www.cisco.com
Cisco Systems, August 15, 2001
- Last month, Chunghwa
Telecom chose Nortel Networks for up to US$250 million in
wireless infrastructure equipment, including Nortel’s GSM
Gateway Mobile Switching Centers. Chunghwa Telecom, the
incumbent service provider in Taiwan, operates a
nationwide, dual mode GSM network, combining the coverage
of GSM 900 with the capacity of GSM 1800.
METROMEDIA FIBER NETWORK REPORTS Q2 REVENUE, KEY FINANCING
DEAL NOT YET COMPLETED
Metromedia Fiber
Network reported Q2 revenue of $91.7 million, slightly ahead
of the company’s earlier guidance of $89.0 million - $91.0
million. There was a net loss of $205.2 million, or $0.34
per share. MFN also said that it would not be consummating
any financing on or before the August 15, 2001 expiration of
the Citicorp commitment letter. The Company is still in
negotiations with Citicorp and other financing sources.
Capital expenditures for Q2 were $341 million, as the
company continued to build out its metro fiber networks. As
of June 30, 2001, MFN had 29 cities operational, 32 cities
currently under construction, and six in the engineering
phase. The company said that it cannot provide any
assurance that it will obtain the financing it seeks.
http://www.mmfn.com/
MFN, August 15, 2001
INFO DIRECTIONS AND NEC PARTNER TO PROVIDE CONTENT-DRIVEN
BILLING AND OSS
NEC
America agreed to co-market Info Directions’ rating, billing
and customer care software alongside its own IPHarvest data
mediation package. NEC America's IPHarvest data mediation
package collects IP event records, then standardizes and
aggregates the data before sending it on to the Info
Directions' CostGuard system where such events are rated and
billed for in real time. The joint solution is targeted at
integrated communications providers. The system would be
able to capture information regarding usage and content
associated with new service offerings such as Video on
Demand, Voice over IP, and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
http://www.infodirections.com
Info Directions, August 15, 2001
COLUBRIS ADDS IPSEC AND L2TP SECURITY TO WIRELESS LANS
Colubris Networks, a start-up based in Laval,
Quebec, will add IPSec and L2TP support to its CN1050 range
of secure wireless LAN
routers, extending the protection of VPN to
wireless traffic. All
wireless traffic is
blocked until an authenticated, encrypted VPN tunnel is
established with the wireless
LAN router. Colubris’ wireless LAN products are based on
the WiFi - 802.11b standard, which has a data transfer rate
of up to 11 Mbps.
http://www.colubris.com/
Colubris Networks, August 15, 2001
CORNING ELIMINATES 900 MORE POSITIONS, 6,800 YEAR TO DATE
Corning Cable
Systems, a leading manufacturer of fiber optic and copper
communications network infrastructure, announced lay-offs of
450 employees in North America. In addition, another 450
employees accepted voluntary separation offers earlier this
month. Corning said that “the decline in the telecom
business has been unrelenting, and unfortunately, we don't
see a near-term recovery.” Corning Incorporated and its
subsidiaries have eliminated approximately 6,800 positions
this year.
http://www.corning.com/inside_corning/news__media/
Corning, August 15, 2001 |
