INTERTAINER LAUNCHES BROADBAND VIDEO-ON-DEMAND SERVICE
Intertainer launched a video-on-demand (VOD) subscription service available to broadband Internet users in 35 US markets.  The video content is encoded at 500 Kbps using Windows Media Video 8 and playback occurs via an embedded Windows Media Player that offers VCR-like pause, fast forward and rewind functionality.  Microsoft is promoting the service.  Intertainer offers a catalog of several thousand Hollywood films, TV shows, music videos and concerts from more than 70 content providers, including Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Dreamworks SKG, Artisan Entertainment, New Line Cinema, NBC, A&E Television Networks, Discovery Channel, EMI Music, ESPN, PBS, Warner Music Group and others.  A subscription costs $7.99 per month for unlimited access to a select library of premium television, lifestyle and children's programs.  Full-length feature films are charged on a pay-per-view basis.  New-release titles are $3.99, library titles are $2.99 and music videos are free.  http://www.intertainer.tv 
Intertainer, October 17, 2001

VERIZON LAUNCHES DSL PROMOTION, REACHES 1 MILLION MILESTONE
Verizon launched a DSL sales promotion offering a three-month introductory rate of $29.95 a month with no annual commitment required, no activation or service termination fees and a 30-day, money-back guarantee.  Verizon currently has one million DSL circuits in service and targets 1.2 to 1.3 million DSL accounts by year’s end.  Once customers order DSL service from Verizon Online, it now takes an average of 10 days until the service is up and running, which is down from 15 to 22 days at the start of 2001. Ninety-eight percent of all Verizon Online DSL customers now use do-it-yourself installation kits.  http://newscenter.verizon.com/kit/dsl/release.vtml 
Verizon, October 17, 2001

VERIZON WIRELESS TRIALS HIGH-SPEED CDMA DATA NETWORK
Verizon Wireless began a market trial in Philadelphia of its CDMA Express Network capable of consistently delivering 40 kbps to 60 kbps to mobile subscribers.  Verizon Wireless will roll out the Express Network to many areas of the nation during Q4 2001.  Lucent is a primary infrastructure provider for the Express Network preview, and Sierra Wireless is providing AirCard 555 modems for the participants.  http://www.verizonwireless.com/ 
Verizon Wireless, October 17, 2001

XO TO PROVIDE HOSTING FOR MICROSOFT’S BCENTRAL AND .NET SERVICES
XO Communications was selected as Microsoft's private label hosting provider for its bCentral Internet resources site, which has 1.6 million registered users.  bCentral provides web-based business tools, applications and services based on the .NET Platform.  The XO hosting platform will enable Microsoft bCentral to offer a number of service enhancements to its customers, including nearly a two-fold increase in available disk space and data transfer limits and an increased number of email boxes.  In addition, XO and Microsoft are developing further .NET services, including Passport for a common authentication scheme and Exchange to enable higher-end business messaging and collaboration services.  Financial terms were not disclosed.  http://www.bcentral.com/  http://www.xo.com/ 
XO Communications, October 17, 2001

WILLIAMS PROVIDES OC-192 WAVE TO PROGRESS TELECOM
Williams Communications is providing Progress Telecom with broadband transport services including OC-192 Optical Wave Service and local distribution to complete a fully diverse route from New York to Washington, D.C.  Williams turned up the end-to-end OC-192 optical wave in 27 days using its existing ONLINE9000 transport platform by ONI Systems for the metro portion of the circuit, and its Corvis CorWave equipment to enable the long haul transport.  Financial terms were not disclosed.  http://www.williamscommunications.com/newsroom/newsreleases/2001/101701.html 
Williams Communications, October 17, 2001

AGILENT ADDS IP AND MPLS VPN CAPABILITIES TO ITS ROUTERTEST PLATFORM
Agilent introduced IP and MPLS-based VPN test capabilities for its RouterTester platform.  The Agilent RouterTester now encompasses L2TP, IPSec and RFC-2547bis BGP/MPLS VPNs.  RouterTester users can validate all tunneling, signaling, routing and security actions needed to deliver VPN services at rates up to 10 Gbps. http://advanced.comms.agilent.com/RouterTester/
Agilent, October 17, 2001

LUCENT UNVEILS NEW VOIP AND REMOTE ACCESS GATEWAY
Lucent Technologies introduced a new universal gateway for converged voice and data services, including V.92 and V.44 remote access, Internet Call Diversion (ICD) and SS7 call control, VPNs and VoIP.  The APX 1000, which complements Lucent's APX 8000 Universal Gateway solution, offers as many as 672 T-1/720 E-1 ports for either voice, fax, data or VPN services per chassis or 10,080 T-1/10,800 universal ports per seven-foot rack.  Entry-level pricing starts at $26,000.  Early customers include RCN and Contact Communications.  http://www.lucent.com/press/1001/011017.nsa.html 
Lucent Technologies, October 17, 2001

TREBIA NETWORKS UNVEILS ITS STORAGE NETWORK PROCESSOR
Trebia Networks, a start-up based in Acton, Massachusetts, introduced its Storage Network Processor chip for next generation SAN switches, servers, and appliances that integrate Fibre Channel and IP capabilities.  Trebia’s SAN Protocol Processor is optimized for storage I/O flows, including 2-tiered classification, pipelined command processing and low latency flow termination and re-issue -- features needed to support storage networking applications such as iSCSI termination, FCP-to-iSCSI protocol mediation and virtualization.  The chip will also include embedded MAC interfaces for Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet, security processing, a TCP offload engine and a custom SAN protocol processor.  http://www.trebia.com 
Trebia Networks, October 17, 2001 

• In July, Trebia secured $30 million in second round funding for development of its storage network processor.  Investors include Atlas Venture, Kodiak Venture Partners, Raza Foundries, BancBoston Ventures, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Allianz of America Inc., Deutsche Banc Alex Brown and others.
• Trebia Networks is headed by Bob Conrad, previously VP and General Manager of the DSP business at Analog Devices Inc.  Trebia’s technical team is led by Jon Sreekanth, previously founder and President of ACI, a startup WAN telecom chip company which was acquired by VLSI Technology Inc. in 1998.

GIGABIT OPTICS SECURES $20 MILLION FOR ITS MICRO-OPTICAL SUBASSEMBLIES
Gigabit Optics, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, secured $20 million in second round funding for its work in integrated photonics.  The company is developing micro-optical subassemblies targeted at transceiver and optical networking system OEMs, as well as optical networking subsystems manufacturers.  Investors include Enterprise Partners, Ridgewood Capital and Walden International.  http://www.gigabitoptics.com/news/news_10_17_01.shtml 
Gigabit Optics, October 17, 2001

• Gigabit Optics’ first product is a Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC) with support for 32-channel WDM.  The product is designed for use in both Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel applications.

PROXIMION SECURES $10 MILLION FOR OPTICAL MONITORING
Proximion Fiber Optics, a start-up based in Kista, Sweden, secured US$10 million in second round funding for its development of integrated optical and channel monitoring technology.  Based on advanced Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) technology, Proximion's optically embedded system can be used for monitoring and analyzing the performance of individual wavelength channels.  Celtic House and Add Partners participated in the round, joining InnovationsKapital, the lead investor in Proximion's initial round of funding.  http://www.proximion.com
Proximion, October 17, 2001

• Proximion's WISTOM platform, which functions as an embedded spectrometer, combines the fast detection characteristics of a channel monitor (less than 10ms) with the ability to simultaneously diagnose the spectrum of the entire band in a DWDM network.  The platform monitors individual channels for deviations from the optical specification, such as degradation from lasers or gain amplifiers, enabling the network to reconfigure itself before dropping any traffic.  The core monitoring technology is based on Fiber Bragg Gratings.  Proximion’s platform is targeted at optical system vendors.  The company said the trend towards all-optical networks forces traditional protocol-based monitoring toward the edge of the network, effectively creating a blind spot within the all-optical domain.
• Proximion is a spin-off from Sweden’s ACREO, previously named the Institute of Optical Research.  The company was founded in 1998 by Dr. Raoul Stubbe, Dr. Adel Asseh and Bengt Sahlgren.

BELL LABS ADVANCES ITS RESEARCH IN ORGANIC TRANSISTORS
Researchers at Bell Labs have created organic transistors with a single-molecule channel length, setting the stage for a new class of high-speed, inexpensive carbon-based electronics.  Bell Labs said its molecular-scale transistors rival conventional silicon transistors in performance.  http://www.lucent.com/press/1001/011017.bla.html 
Lucent Technologies, October 17, 2001

Daily Journal For Broadband Networking
Copyright 2001 Converge! Media Ventures Inc.
All Rights Reserved. ISSN 1084-2438
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