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PROJECT
PROMONTORY TESTS GIGABIT SPEED TRANSCONTINENTAL IP STORAGE NETWORK
The
"Promontory Project," a multivendor industry initiative
named after the location where America's first transcontinental
railroad was joined, demonstrated a coast-to-coast IP storage link
at speeds of 2.5 Gbps using a 10 Gbps packet over SONET
connection. The project was designed to show the feasibility
of long-distance backup, recovery, and mirroring at 1, 2.5, or 10
Gbps. The storage protocols used were iSCSI and iFCP.
Participants in the test included Adaptec (server adapters), Dell
(servers and storage devices), Hitachi Data Systems (Fibre Channel
storage devices), IBM (iSCSI storage devices), Intel (server
connectivity), Nishan Systems (IP storage switches), Qlogic
(server connectivity) and Qwest (transcontinental 10 Gbps link and
Web hosting facilities). http://www.nishansystems.com
Nishan Systems, September 22, 2001
- Nishan
Systems’ native IP storage switches are designed to combine
wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet performance and interoperability
with Fibre Channel and SCSI end systems. The switches
can be used for linking native IP SANs and Fibre Channel SANs
across IP networks. The company initially is offering
two switch models: the IPS 3000, featuring eight
MultiService Interfaces that can be user-configured to support
Fibre Channel or Gigabit Ethernet interfaces; and the IPS 2000
switch, which offers up to six ports and supports Wide Ultra2
SCSI (80MBps), Wide Ultra SCSI (40MBps), and redundant Gigabit
Ethernet links. Nishan Systems will also offer an IPS
1000 Series Storage Gateway, which has two Gigabit Ethernet
SAN ports and two ruggedized iSCSI/iFCP Gigabit Ethernet WAN
ports for providing highly robust WAN facilities and redundant
links for connecting IP and Fibre Channel SANs over lossy or
congested IP networks.
-
Nishan
Systems was founded in October 1998 and is led by Aamer Latif,
who previously was President and CEO of Amati Communications,
an early developer of ADSL. In October 2000, the company
announced the closing of $50 million in third round funding.
SBC
BIDS TO ACQUIRE REMAINING 58% SHARE IN PRODIGY
SBC Communications, which currently owns an effective 42% stake in
Prodigy, announced a tender offer for all of the outstanding
shares of the Internet service provider's common stock at a 54%
premium. http://www.sbc.com
SBC,
September 21, 2001
- In
November 1999, SBC Communications announced plans to acquire a
42% equity stake in Prodigy Communications and designate the
service its exclusive retail consumer and small business
Internet access service. Prodigy also agreed to use SBC as its
preferred provider of telecommunications and Internet
services. In June 2000, Prodigy assumed management of
SBC Internet Services' (SBCIS) consumer and small business
dial-up, ISDN and Basic DSL Internet Service customers.
It also announced plans to relocate its corporate headquarters
to Austin, Texas from White Plains, New York. Prodigy is
headed by Paul Roth, who previously was vice president for SBC
Telecom, a subsidiary of SBC Communications Inc.
- In January
2001, Prodigy and SBC renegotiated their strategic and
marketing agreement, extending their relationship through
2009. Under the contract, Prodigy provides Internet
content, news, e-mail and other services, and SBC manages
network access, customer care and distribution channels.
Prodigy receives $5 for each SBC DSL Internet customer.
(Customers pay SBC for DSL Internet and receive a Prodigy dial
account at no extra cost.)
IBM
UNVEILS STORAGE SOLUTIONS FOR DIGITAL MEDIA APPLICATIONS
IBM introduced
new storage hardware and software solutions aimed at migrating
commercial broadcasters from videotape production environments to
digital. The product set combines high-end disk hardware,
tape systems and supercomputing software. XM Satellite Radio
is building a 22-terabyte storage area network to uplink radio
programming through IBM servers to satellites. XM Satellite
Radio will beam the programming into cars with specially fitted
radios. http://www.ibm.com
IBM, September 21, 2001
NORTEL
ANNOUNCES NEW 10 GBPS OPTICAL BACKBONE CONTRACTS IN CHINA
China Unicom
selected Nortel Networks to supply metro optical equipment in
Beijing and nine provinces. The deployments are intended to
help China Unicom address growing demand for data, voice and IP
services as well as prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Nortel Networks will supply Optical Ethernet solution for Jiangsu
province, and multiservice ATM backbones for Beijing and for the
provinces of Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hebei, Anhui,
Shandong and Sichuan. The deals were valued at about US$18
million.
Separately,
Nortel Networks will supply two new optical transmission backbone
networks for Hubei Telecom, China Telecom's subsidiary in Hubei
province. The first network will serve the city of Wuhan and
the province's rural areas, beginning in November. The other
is expected to span the province to serve 13 cities and
countryside towns across 1,100 kilometers beginning in January
2002. Equipment deployment will include the 10 Gbps OPTera
Long Haul 1600 Optical Line System and DWDM platform.
Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.nortelnetworks.com
Nortel Networks, September 21, 2001
- To date,
Nortel Networks has won more than 30 10 Gbps optical contracts
in China.
BRITISH
GOVERNMENT EXPANDS IP-VPN CONTRACT WITH GLOBAL CROSSING
Global
Crossing was awarded a significant expansion of its existing
contract with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to
connect an additional 52 sites worldwide. Global Crossing
will provide a global IP-based VPN connecting British Embassies
and consulates around the world. A service trial for voice
delivery has just been completed to 17 sites in the US.
http://www.globalcrossing.com/pressreleases/pr_092101.htm
Global Crossing, September 21, 2001
- Global
Crossing also provides the Royal Air Force (RAF) with managed
messaging and directory services to some 55,000 users at 68
RAF sites, including overseas bases. Global Crossing was
also recently selected as a preferred communications services
provider for NATO and its affiliate countries.
- In August, the
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) notified Global Crossing that
a key contract it was awarded in July to provide advanced wide
area network services for the Defense Research and Engineering
Network (DREN) may have to be re-bid to address procedural
issues in the procurement process. The procedural issues
were discovered by the DoD after the contract was challenged
by unsuccessful bidders. As previously disclosed, the
DREN contract is valued at $137 million over three years.
TELEKOM
AUSTRIA SELECTS ALCATEL AND SIEMENS FOR ATM NETWORK EXPANSION
Telekom Austria
selected Alcatel and Siemens for expansion of its ATM network.
The carrier cited a demand for ADSL lines as well as a planned
migration to an IP/ATM/MPLS architecture as reasons for the
upgrade. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.telekom.at
Telekom
Austria, September 21, 2001
SPECTRASWITCH
RAISES $6 MILLION FOR ITS LIQUID CRYSTAL OPTICAL SWITCHES
SpectraSwitch, a
start-up based in Santa Rosa, California, raised $6 million of
venture funding in an extension to their B-round led by Advanced
Technology Ventures and NIF Ventures. SpectraSwitch is
developing optical switching and conditioning components based on
solid-state liquid crystal technology. To date,
SpectraSwitch has raised a total of $29 million in venture
financing. SpectraSwitch investors include Advanced
Technology Ventures, CDIB Venture Management, and NIF Ventures.
http://www.spectraswitch.com
SpectraSwitch, September 21, 2001
- In March,
SpectraSwitch introduced a 1x2 liquid crystal based optical
switch suitable for provisioning, protection, and monitoring
applications in fiber networks. The solid-state,
non-stick switch operates transparently to network protocols
and bit rates. The company said liquid-crystal
technology provides competitive advantages in terms of
reliability, low insertion loss, low polarization dependent
loss (PDL), low cross talk over temperature and wavelength,
and faster switching speeds than other technologies.
- In June,
SpectraSwitch introduced a 2x2 liquid crystal based optical
switch.
- In
December, SpectraSwitch named Lindsay Austin as its president
and CEO. Austin previously was vice-president and
general manager of JDS Uniphase's Commercial Lasers Division.
RCN
OFFERS TO BUYBACK UP TO $250 MILLION IN DEBT
RCN
commenced a "Modified Dutch Auction" to buy back up to
$250 million of its senior notes. http://www.rcn.com
RCN, September 21, 2001
- Earlier
this month, Level 3 Communications commenced its own
"Modified Dutch Auction" tender to purchase up to
$1.8 billion of its senior debt and convertible debt
securities using its available cash.
ONI
SYSTEMS CUTS ITS FINANCIAL OUTLOOK
Citing the
recent worldwide, deteriorating economic environment in the
telecommunications market, ONI Systems cut is financial outlook
for Q3 and Q4. ONI now expects Q3 revenues in the range of
$40 to $50 million, down from its previous revenue guidance of $75
to $80 million. For Q4, revenue is projected to be in the range of
$40 to $50 million, down from earlier estimates of $85 to $90
million. The company will take approximately $50 to $60
million in restructuring and non-recurring charges in Q3 and Q4 to
re-size its operations. Given the current economic
environment, ONI said carriers are only deploying networks when
they themselves acquire new customers for those builds. http://www.oni.com
ONI Systems, September 21, 2001
Guest
Column
Is
FTTH a Viable Transport Architecture Yet? 
George
Kubes
Manager,
Network Solution Planning,
Marconi
Is
Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) a viable transport architecture for today
and is it ready for deployment? To answer this question, one
must review what has taken place within the last decade.
There has been significant interest and numerous attempts to
extend the fiber access network to support fiber-to-the-home
applications and provide broadband services.
Past successes
have been limited to the technical portion of the trials. Early
designs were based on a point to point or one to one correlation
between the node equipment and the subscriber electronics located
at the premises. The introduction of passive optical network
(PON) configurations using passive splitter technology has
significantly impacted the cost of a system through sharing the
infrastructure costs for electronics and media among multiple
subscribers. Regardless of the type of FTTH architecture
selected, (a point to point or a PON), to be successful, it must
satisfy four major areas or factors.
Read the
full column
http://www.convergedigest.com/DWDM/archive/010917GUEST-gkubes1.htm
Daily Journal For Broadband Networking
Copyright 2001 Converge! Media Ventures Inc.
All Rights Reserved. ISSN 1084-2438
News sources are listed for your reference.
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