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FCC
CHAIRMAN EXTENDS DIALOGUE ON BROADBAND REGULATORY ISSUES
Speaking
at last week’s National Summit on Broadband Deployment in
Washington, D.C., FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell said we must
avoid heavy regulatory models if we are to expect the rapid forces
of technological development to stimulate market demand for
broadband services. According
to figures he cited from J.P. Morgan, 73% of US households have
cable modem service available, and 45% of households have access
to DSL. Combined,
broadband availability in the US is estimated to be this year
almost 85%. However,
only 12% of these households have chosen to subscribe.
While remaining generally skeptical of the need for the
government to develop a national industrial policy to
affirmatively drive broadband deployment, Powell said the
government has a handful of tools for shaping the dialogue.
Possible courses of government action include directly
paying for build-outs by subsidizing consumers or providers;
indirectly paying for build-outs by offering tax incentives to
either consumers or providers; using government purchases to
stimulate the networking business; and removing legal barriers.
Powell also outlined several areas of danger, such as the
“one-wire” problem (a single loop bringing service into the
home), achieving universal service in an economically sound
manner, being careful not to embed inferior technology, and
ensuring that public policy objectives are aligned with
proportionate service provider incentives (no unfunded mandates).
The full text of Powell’s speech is available online.
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Powell/2001/spmkp110.html
FCC, October 26, 2001
ERICSSON
ESTIMATES MOBILE MARKET NOW AT 920 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS
Ericsson estimates the mobile market will reach 920 –
950 million subscribers by the end of 2001 and about as many new
subscribers will be added in 2002 as this year.
Mobile phone shipments will reach around 400 million units
this year, which is the low end of the company’s previous
estimates. In 2002,
Ericsson expects some growth in unit volume, with a larger
proportion of replacement phones driven by new models with GPRS,
Bluetooth, color screens and multimedia messaging capabilities.
However, Ericsson expects the mobile systems market will be
flat to down to 10% in 2002 as operators prioritize profitability
and cash flow over subscriber growth by lowering mobile phone
subsidies and postponing network expansion.
Ericsson’s long-term forecast remains unchanged -- 1.6
billion mobile subscribers are anticipated by year-end 2005. http://www.ericsson.com/investors/9month01.shtml
Ericsson, October 26, 2001
CEYBA
TARGETS CORE OPTICAL NETWORKING EQUIPMENT
Ceyba
(formerly Solinet Systems), a start-up based in Ottawa, Canada,
announced the completion of its executive team and outlined plans
for core optical networking equipment designed for tier-one, fiber
network operators. The
all-optical Ceyba platform will offer both 10 and 40 Gbps
transport as well as the ability to optimally address a full range
of customer traffic for both long haul and ultra-long haul
applications. Key
ingredients of the Ceyba solution will include all-optical
switching and network intelligence, providing greater network
agility and service velocity.
Ceyba plans to unveil its platform and enter into carrier
trials by early next year. The
company currently employs 250 people.
http://www.ceyba.com
http://www.solinetsystems.com
Ceyba, October 29, 2001
-
The
name “Ceyba” refers to a tropical tree known for its rapid
growth, longevity and emergence above the rest of the forest.
The earlier name, Solinet Systems, did not refer to
optical solitons.
- In
May, Ceyba (Solinet Systems) raised $93 million (CDN$144M) in
second round venture financing – believed to be as Canada's
largest private equity infusion into a telecommunications
company. Investors
include Bessemer Venture Partners, Worldview Technology
Partners, Altamira, USVP, New Enterprise Associates (NEA),
Alta Partners and a number of strategic optical and
semiconductor component suppliers.
-
Ceyba
is headed by Scott Marshall, formerly Cisco Systems’
Vice-President of the Service Provider Access and New World
Carrier Services Groups.
Prior to Cisco, Mr. Marshall was Executive
Vice-President of Research & Development for Newbridge
Networks, a company he helped launch and grow.
Other members of the Ceyba executive team include John
Bournazos, Vice President of Sales and Field Operations;
Benoit Fleury, Vice President of Marketing; Jim Ghadbane, Vice
President of Research and Development; Richard Pepin, Vice
President of Manufacturing Operations, and Paulina Yee,
Director of Finance and Administration.
SPIRENT
UNVEILS NEW TEST SOLUTION FOR BGP/MPLS VPNS
Spirent Communications announced the availability of a
test solution that verifies and qualifies provider edge (PE)
routers being implemented for BGP/MPLS virtual private networks
(VPNs). The new test
solution for the Adtech AX/4000 supports RFC 2547bis VPNs, also
referred to as BGP/MPLS VPNs.
These Layer-3 VPNs use multiprotocol border gateway
protocol (MP-BGP) to distribute VPN routing information across
provider backbones, and MPLS to forward VPN traffic from one site
to another. The test
solution enables network equipment manufacturers and service
providers to test the ability of a RFC 2547bis-compliant PE router
to maintain thousands of unique virtual routing and forwarding
instances (VRFs), properly forward VPN-IPv4 routes to other PE
routers, properly assign and distribute labels for customer sites
and properly assign and distribute labels for backbone label
switched paths (LSPs). In
addition, the Spirent solution can validate the capacity of the
VRFs, the number of routes per VRF, forwarding performance verses
number of VRFs and routes per VRF, as well as the effect of
backbone MPLS protocol (LDP verses RSVP-TE) on performance.
http://adtech.spirentcom.com/
Spirent Communications, October 29, 2001
- Last
week, Spirent enhanced its Adtech AX/4000 Broadband Test
System with a new OC-48 Multi-Layer Generator/Analyzer
Interface Test Module for advanced testing of metropolitan
area networks. The
solution supports Layer 1 functionality for testing SONET/SDH,
bit error rate (BER) and will measure the amount of time a
device takes to perform Automatic Protection Switchover (APS).
NETTEST
ADDS FRAME RELAY CAPABILITIES TO HANDHELD TESTERS
NetTest
added new Frame Relay capabilities to its LITE 3000E handheld
network testing instrument for fixed and mobile networks.
The unit, which is designed for E1 network operators and
switch manufacturers, now offers Frame Relay statistical details
for up to 50 DLCIs, allowing network operators to improve Frame
Relay services on 2 Mbps and data lines.
The device also features advanced A-bis, SS7 and ISDN
signal analysis capabilities.
http://www.nettest.com
NetTest, October 26, 2001
BROADWING
PROVIDES ALL-OPTICAL SWITCHED WAVELENGTHS TO ALLEGIANCE
Broadwing
Communications announced a multi-year agreement to provide 2.5
Gbps lightwave services to Allegiance Telecom.
Broadwing's all-optical switched network will connect eight
of Allegiance Telecom’s metro markets.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.broadwing.com/press/releases/2001q4/10_26_2001.asp
Broadwing, October 26, 2001
CONVERGENT
NETWORKS LAUNCHES COHESION ALLIANCE
Convergent
Networks launched its Cohesion Alliance Partner Program to
further the development and deployment of new public network
technologies. Initial
members include Advanced
Fibre Communications, Advanced Switching Communications,
Cognitronics, Data Connection Limited (DCL), dynamicsoft,
Efficient Networks (Siemens), Kenetec, Marconi, Polycom, Texas
Instruments, TimesTen Performance Software, Trillium Digital
Systems, Ulticom, VINA Technologies and Vpacket Communications.
Alliance members will conduct interoperability
testing with Convergent Networks' Cohesion broadband switching
product suite, which includes its ICS2000 broadband switch, ICSX
softswitch and service creation platform, ICSG signaling gateway,
carrier-ready applications and the ICView management system.
http://www.convergentnet.com/rel102401.html
Convergent
Networks, October 24, 2001
WAVESMITH
TAPS MARCONI EXEC TO LEAD OPERATIONS
Robert Doucette, former Executive Vice President of the
Global Supply Chain at Marconi Networks, has joined WaveSmith
Networks as Executive Vice President of Manufacturing.
Prior to Marconi, Doucette was Senior Vice President of
Operations at FORE Systems, where he was responsible for global
manufacturing, corporate information systems, corporate quality,
customer service, logistics, and facilities functions.
http://www.wavesmithnetworks.com/
WaveSmith Networks, October 29, 2001
Guest
Column
VoDSL Meets Local Exchange
Softswitch
On a Convergence Collision Course
 Stefan
Knight
Director
of Product Marketing
CopperCom
You
can’t sidestep the issue today--telecom has been leveled a
mighty blow. Just as many new technologies were hyped as holding
high promises during the market boom, industry watchers now
question whether or not these technologies ever had a leg to stand
on during this market bust. Carrier spending may have slowed, but
the fundamental basis for and viability of the technology has not
changed. Pontificating about next-generation technologies and how
they will revolutionize the network overnight is not only
unfashionable but also reckless. But it has always “really”
been this way -- hasn’t it? Hasn’t every new technology taken
longer to introduce into the public network than the attention
spans of the investment community and the media? It appears that
the telephone network doesn’t adhere to Moore’s Law, Internet
or data economics; the three fundamental tenants of the “new
economy”. It appears that the PSTN, in fact, adheres to
the fundamental laws of economics and good business planning. The
demise of our telecom stock portfolios is a prime example of this
point. So, is it time to reposition your telecommunications
products as defense weapons systems? The thought had crossed my
mind, but no. The question remains, what is going on and what do
we do now?
The focus of
this article is on two of the recent “darlings” of
telecommunications hyperbole that are falling from grace though
thriving, if modestly, in their formative stages of real-world
deployment. Voice-over-DSL (VoDSL) was born at a time when many
industry experts were declaring DSL technology a non-starter. The
hype of VoDSL started to take root in 1999 and by 2000 the
technology had been transformed into voice over broadband (VoB),
packet voice over any physical transport. In the heat of the
moment, VoDSL was declared the cure all for the ailing competitive
local exchange carrier (CLEC) industry.
Softswitching
was born out a simple translation of SS7 signaling to ISDN
signaling that allowed Internet service providers (ISPs) to become
CLECs overnight, reducing their facilities costs by up to 90
percent. Early pundits that scoffed at ISDN deployments surely
would be surprised to learn that there are more than 330,000 ISDN
PRI ports in the network today. A large number of these ports were
deployed between 1996 and 2000, long after it became fashionable
to declare ISDN dead. But just like early VoDSL, softswitching has
undergone a transformation into a product technology that not only
healed the ailing ISP industry, but that could eventually bring
about total network obsolescence and replacement of the legacy
PSTN with voice-over-IP (VoIP). Just like VoDSL, it is starting to
fall out of favor, the most recent in a string of indicators for
telecom vendors.
Read
the full article:
http://www.convergedigest.com/columns/0110coppercom/0110g-knight1.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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