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Huawei-3Com Established Over 100 Network Education Colleges
Huawei-3Com has established more than 100 Network Education Colleges within these 2 years since the company founded. Huawei-3Com is now one of the most influential brands for network technology certified training in China.
As an end-to-end IP network solutions provider with self developed patents, Huawei-3Com is one of the very few vendors worldwide with the capability to provide total certified training. Since 2003, Huawei-3Com has massively forged partnership with major colleges in China to implement the plan for Network Education Colleges. “Huawei-3Com Certified Training” of international standard is established to meet the particular situation of the informationization in China and the needs of the colleges.
Up to date, over 100 Network Education College in 27 provinces are already jointly established by Huawei-3Com and other tertiary education partners, with over 360 teachers certified by Huawei-3Com. Looking forward to 2006, Huawei-3Com will introduce new courses development, teachers training plan and establishing regional support centers. With rapid expansion to overseas market, Huawei-3Com is also targeting to be a major contributor to the global IT certification and training market.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, China

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Healthcare Enterprises Nationwide Safeguard Life-Critical Networks Using Secure Converged Solutions from 3Com
From New Jersey to California, U.S. healthcare providers are safeguarding their confidential information using converged network solutions from 3Com Corporation. The 3Com® secure, converged solutions deliver the latest medical applications while enabling healthcare enterprises to comply with security regulations mandated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
"Our 3Com converged network provides the enterprise-class performance and safeguards we need to satisfy our security strategy," said Michael Dunken, network administrator at Shasta Community Health Center in Redding, Calif. "Thanks to 3Com, we have the network availability to provide 21st-century care and the advanced features to protect ourselves from liability by staying in compliance with HIPPA and Sarbanes-Oxley regulations."
Shasta Community Health Center (SCHC), a 65-room primary care provider with three remote sites, is another of the many healthcare facilities across the country protected by secure 3Com solutions. At its new headquarters, SCHC deployed a converged data/telephony network powered by 3Com NBX® V5000 Internet Protocol (IP) telephony solution and 3Com SuperStack® 3 Switch 4900 switches. Using the same wiring infrastructure to support data and telephony saved SCHC $25,000 in implementation costs.
For increased security on the converged network, SCHC uses the 3Com Switch 4900's VLAN capabilities to segment data and telephony traffic and then deploys the 3Com Switch 4900's built-in encryption features to further protect data on the LAN.
Using the award-winning TippingPoint™ Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) from 3Com, IUMG is safeguarding all of its data entering and exiting the network at its Indianapolis teaching hospital and clinics across central Indiana. Ensuring that IUMG complies with HIPAA's risk management and security provisions, the TippingPoint IPS protects the network against Denial of Service (DOS) floods, worms, viruses, infrastructure and Web server attacks. In its first two weeks of operation alone, the TippingPoint solution prevented over 100 malicious attacks to IUMG's networked equipment and medical systems.
Related Channels: Security, Switching & Routing

Telstra picks Cisco's CRS-1 router
Cisco Systems announced that it has been selected as the preferred vendor to upgrade Telstra’s Internet Protocol (IP) core router network to provide an increased range of IP services and underpin Australia’s place as a leader in global productivity.
Telstra will deploy the Cisco® carrier routing system (CRS-1) at the core of its next generation network, to support a full range of services to all sectors of the Australian market place, including supporting IP Core transit for Ethernet services for business customers and next-generation "Triple Play" (data, video, voice) over broadband services. The CRS-1 platform, including carrier-class Cisco IOS® XR software, will be deployed by Telstra at all core points of presence across Australia, interconnected by wide-area network links.
The announcement is a major element of the strategic review announced this week by Telstra chief executive officer, Mr Sol Trujillo. Telstra and Cisco have worked closely for many years to help Australians take advantage of the potential productivity and lifestyle benefits of IP networking.
Telstra’s engineering team designed the implementation of the network transformation project with Cisco to meet Telstra’s stringent technical and business requirements, focusing on customer satisfaction and the launch of triple-play services in 2006.
The new core network is designed to deliver increased capacity, performance, predictability and continuous operation to allow Telstra to rapidly bring to market a range of IP-based multimedia services for residential and business customers, such as advanced audio and video telephony services, home entertainment services and high-priority data services.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP, Video, Ethernet

ZTE wins $66M Vietnam Railway communications contract
ZTE Corporation (Shenzhen: 000063, Hong Kong: 0763), the fastest growing global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has been selected to modernise Vietnam's northern railway transceiver systems. This is one of the largest overseas transportation communications projects ever undertaken by a Chinese telecoms vendor.
Under the engineering, procurement and construction contract signed with Vietnam Railways Corporation in Hanoi, ZTE will modernise signalling and telecommunications systems for three railway routes in Vietnam including the Hanoi-Lao Cai, Hanoi-Dong Dang, and Hanoi-Thai Nguyen lines, and for Hanoi rail junctions.
"This project has been in the pipeline since 2001 when the Ministry of Transportation authorised a feasibility study, " said Mr Tran Van Luc, director of Railway Projects Management Unit, Vietnam. "We were impressed with ZTE's professional and customised solutions and services, so finally chose it as our partner."
ZTE will provide switching system, transmission products, access networks, monitoring products, videoconferencing system, digital dispatching system, interlock/block system and train operation monitoring/supervision system, for the VND1 trillion (US$66 million) project.
"The railway transceiver systems are due for operation in four years. Once operational, the systems will help enhance the modernisation and security of Vietnam's northern railways, and promote the economy and tourism development of surrounding areas," said Mr. Mao Chengyu, chief representative of ZTE Vietnam. "We are proud to be the first Chinese telecoms vendor to contribute to the development of Vietnam's railway network."
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Video, China

AMCC unveils multi-service software for Mission chipset
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC) announced the availability of its multi-service application software suite for the MISSION™ chipset. Designed for multi-service switches and routers, Wireline Access (DSL, CMTS, PON, Media Gateways), Mobile Infrastructure, and Metro Aggregation equipment, the software implements support for ATM Layer 2 switching, Multi-Link PPP, IMA, Multi-Link Frame Relay, and ATM SAR. This robust, production-quality applications suite allows AMCC to help customers develop high-performance, feature-rich products and minimize time-to-market.
AMCC’s multi-service software suite delivers a proven set of solutions that can be directly deployed and utilized in customers’ systems. Significantly reducing the amount of code that customers are required to write by providing the core product functionality, AMCC’s software suite affords OEMS the ability to focus development resources on implementing truly differentiating processing capabilities for their products.
Related Channels: Chipsets, Switching & Routing

Fulcrum intros 10-Gbit/s Ethernet switch chip
Fulcrum Microsystems announced FocalPoint, a breakthrough 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch chip family with 200 nanoseconds (ns) of total latency – a ten-times improvement over existing solutions, making Ethernet the new cost-effective and high-performance choice for storage, computing and networking backplane and interconnect applications.
FocalPoint switches are fully-integrated, single-chip solutions that contain as many as 24 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports and cost less than $20 per port.
The low latency of FocalPoint switches means Ethernet is comparable to specialty data center interconnects such as Fibre Channel, InfiniBand, and Myrinet and can be used as an interconnect for high-performance computing and storage systems. 10-Gigabit Ethernet can also now be used as a cost-effective backplane fabric for blade computing systems or AdvancedTCA and other networking systems.
“History has shown that once Ethernet becomes good enough for an application, it dominates that application. FocalPoint’s rich feature set and low latency means Ethernet is now better than the high-speed interconnect alternatives and ready for these applications,” said Bob Nunn, president and CEO of Fulcrum Microsystems. “This is an important step for the industry; FocalPoint directly enables the next-generation build-out that has been needed in the data center.”
Related Channels: Chipsets, Ethernet, Switching & Routing

Belgacom to launch Ethernet services using Alcatel's Router
Alcatel announced that its IP solution has been selected by Belgacom, the Belgian incumbent operator, as the foundation for its new Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS). The new Ethernet service will extend across the country, complementing and enhancing Belgacom's existing BiLAN© portfolio of Virtual Private Network services for business customers. They will now have access to higher-speed, cost-effective and reliable managed Ethernet services across the wide area network.
The new service, based on Alcatel's 7750 Service Router, will deliver Ethernet connectivity smoothly and securely between organizations with multiple LAN sites. The simplicity and ubiquity of Ethernet make it an easy service to roll out, immediately enabling enterprises a fully connected, anywhere-to-anywhere network. By leveraging the Service Router's MPLS features, Belgacom has a national VPLS service that is highly available and responds to the bandwidth needs required by the customer.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Ethernet, VPN

Covad picks Redback
Redback Networks Inc. announced that Covad Communications Group, Inc. has selected Redback’s SmartEdge® Service Gateway platform to increase its existing network capacity and resiliency to support next-generation services, such as residential high-speed internet access and business-class VoIP across the country.
With plans to aggressively expand DSL and VoIP services, Covad wanted to evolve its existing network infrastructure to more effectively offer voice and data services over a single, converged network infrastructure. In addition, Covad selected Redback’s SmartEdge platform for its scalability, high availability, and quality of service (QoS) capabilities. As Covad, with a network that reaches more than 50 percent of homes and businesses across the country, grows its broadband subscriber base, the ability to better manage customers over its converged network has become extremely important. The SmartEdge Service Gateway platform allows Covad to improve operational efficiencies by integrating the functions of Ethernet aggregation, edge routing and subscriber management.
“Redback Networks’ reliable and scalable SmartEdge platform helps grow our network into the next-generation of business and residential VoIP services,” said Steve DeRodeff, vice president, broadband technologies at Covad. “The SmartEdge also provides us with the flexibility to investigate future network expansions such as WiMAX subscriber aggregation and MPLS VPNs session control.”
Related Channels: VoIP, xDSL, Ethernet, Switching & Routing, VPN, Wireless

Ciena announces organizational changes
Ciena Corporation, the network specialist, announced organizational changes highlighting the Company's commitment to executing on operational imperatives implemented to restore profitability, drive future earnings growth and improve shareholder value.
The Company announced that it has appointed Arthur Smith, Ph.D., formerly Ciena's Senior Vice President of Global Operations, to the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In addition, the Company also announced that it has consolidated its research and development efforts under the leadership of its Chief Technology Officer, Steve Alexander as Senior Vice President, Products and Technology. Both positions report to Ciena's President and CEO, Gary Smith.
As Chief Operating Officer, Arthur Smith takes responsibility for Ciena's Marketing, Human Resources, and Information Technology efforts in addition to his existing responsibilities for Global Operations, which include worldwide customer service and support through Ciena's Global Networking Services, as well as responsibility for Ciena's supply chain relationships.
Ciena also announced that it has united its research and development efforts under the leadership of Steve Alexander, adding responsibility for the Company's Broadband Access Group to his existing responsibilities for both Ciena's Transport and Switching Group and its Data Networking Group in addition to his ongoing role as Chief Technology Officer.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, WDM, Ethernet, Cable MSO, xDSL, Storage

Michael Skarzynski joins Performance Technologies as CEO
Performance Technologies, Incorporated announced that Michael P. Skarzynski has been unanimously selected by its Board of Directors to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as a Director. In this role, Mr. Skarzynski replaces Donald L. Turrell who earlier this year announced his interest in a leadership transition in order to pursue his personal interests.
Michael Skarzynski, 49, brings over 27 years of executive experience to this new role. During 2005, he served as a senior advisor to Hudson Abel Partners, LLP, an investment bank in New York. For the previous six years, Mr. Skarzynski has led as CEO, two ventures – Xebeo, an IP broadband switch acquired by UTStarcom, Inc., and Predictive Networks, an application service provider offering a business intelligence and analytics overlay network. From 1992 to 1999, he held various executive roles at AT&T, Bell Labs and Lucent Technologies. Mr. Skarzynski served as U.S. Assistant Secretary for Trade Development in the Department of Commerce from 1989-1991, and held business development and international sales and marketing roles at Motorola, Inc. from 1985 to 1989. He holds a Masters in Business Administration degree from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgetown University.
Related Channels: VoIP, Switching & Routing

Tasman intros converged services router
Tasman Networks introduced the industry's most efficient and economical router. The Tasman 3120's simple and scalable architecture beats competing products on both price and performance, offering two to four times the throughput (at wire speed), of competitors' products at the lowest price per port.
In a separate announcement issued today, Tasman released the results of third-party tests by The Tolly Group. The results indicate that the Tasman 3120 far surpassed routers from Cisco, providing maximum throughput and performance, particularly when transmitting high volumes of small packets, even with security and Quality of Service (QoS) features enabled. The Tasman 3120 performed as much as four times better for the more difficult small packet sizes -- significant because high-demand applications such as VoIP depend on rapid transmission of large volumes of small packets.
As with all the company's products, the Tasman 3120 was built to converge a variety of network services while simplifying the user experience and eliminating unnecessary complexity that impedes the performance of many competitive products.
"With the introduction of the 3120 router, Tasman is once again setting a new industry performance standard and demonstrating that innovative companies and best-of-breed technology can successfully compete with, and even outdo, industry leaders," said Paul Smith, president and CEO of Tasman. "Our record results and a 68 percent increase in customer sales last year are concrete evidence that Tasman routers are capturing the attention of a significant portion of the market and are favored by a growing list of carriers, OEMs and enterprises."
Related Channels: Switching & Routing

Tasman's converged services router beats Cisco in Tolly Group performance tests
Tasman Networks announced publication of a new series of performance tests by independent testing service The Tolly Group that concludes that the wire-speed throughput of the new Tasman 3120 converged services router (CSR) is two to four times that of comparable products by industry rival Cisco Systems.
The Tolly Group tests compared wire-speed performance of the Tasman 3120 CSR and the Cisco 2821 and 3825 while the routers simultaneously supported active Quality of Service (QoS), Access Control List (ACL) filters, and Network Address Translation (NAT) services. Throughput was analyzed for packet sizes ranging from 64 to 1400 bytes. While wire-speed performance for large packet sizes was similar, the Tasman 3120 CSR performed as much as four times better for the more challenging small packet sizes. This is noteworthy because high-demand applications such as VoIP depend on rapid, error-free transmission of large volumes of small packets. The Tolly Group report documents Tasman's overwhelming performance win in this category.
For tests over a point-to-point DS3 connection, the Tasman 3120 CSR delivered more than double the throughput of the Cisco 3825 and as much as four times the throughput of the Cisco 2821. The Tasman 3120 CSR delivered more than four times the throughput of Cisco 2821 when tested across a group of eight point-to-point T1 connections.
"Too often customers have to choose between performance and price, and as a result they are unable to run the network services they need in today's enterprise. We believe legacy operating systems are burdened with unnecessary complexity and are not solely focused on the needs of branch and access users," said Paul Smith, Tasman president and CEO.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Test

Riverstone appoints Roger Barnes as Chief Strategy Officer
Riverstone Networks announced that Roger A. Barnes, its Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed its Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, effective immediately. Michael Overby, who has been the company's Vice President of Finance, has been appointed interim Chief Financial Officer.
"At this time, Riverstone needs to focus on critical strategic decisions," said President and Chief Executive Officer Oscar Rodriguez. "We believe this change allows us to best utilize Roger's extensive knowledge of the business and our industry as we make critical decisions about the future of our business."
Related Channels: Ethernet, Switching & Routing

Telecom Egypt picks Ericsson and Cisco
Telecom Egypt (TE) has chosen Ericsson in cooperation with Cisco Systems, as one of the suppliers to upgrade its fixed network to a carrier-class, Internet Protocol (IP) Next Generation Network. The deal, which will address both classic telephony and new multimedia services, is an essential element in TE's mission to become Egypt's 'best total solution communication provider.'
According to the contract, Ericsson will upgrade parts of Telecom Egypt's core network of circuit-switched technology, based on AXE-10 exchanges, with a future-proof, IP Telephony Softswitch solution. The solution, based on the combination of Ericsson's Telephony Softswitch solution and Cisco's 12000 Series routers, allows Telecom Egypt to migrate its Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) to a Voice over IP network with minimal risk while building a platform for new IP-based services. Ericsson will provide end-to-end integration of the Ericsson-Cisco solution and related support services.
Dawlat El Badawi, Deputy Chairman for Planning at Telecom Egypt, says: "Upgrading our network to IP will give us the ability to deliver new and innovative services to our customers and to increase our competitiveness in the market while re-using our existing infrastructure."
Related Channels: VoIP, Switching & Routing

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Huawei to expand its Bangalore center with US$100M investment
Huawei Technologies will spend US$100 million over the next three years expanding its Bangalore center with a new R&D campus.
The construction work will start early next year and the campus should be ready by 2008.
The new center will focus on application software, intelligent network products, some part of next generation networks & 3G, and ring back tones.
Related Channels: OSS/BSS, VoIP, Video, Wireless,  Switching & Routing, China

Alcatel 3Q profit jumps 36%
Alcatel's third-quarter profit jumped 36% from a year ago as sales of telecom equipment to big phone companies started to rebound.
Alcatel said third-quarter net profit rose to 266 million euros ($321 million) from 195 million euros a year earlier, boosted by a return to revenue growth in fixed-line operations.
Serge Tchuruk, Chairman and CEO, summarized the Board's observations:
"Our growth strategy has paid off with strong advances in the third quarter in our carrier business which was up 13% year over year and 9% sequentially. We were particularly pleased to see our fixed communication revenues start increasing again, as anticipated, reversing a four year decline. Also satisfactory was the continuation of our strong performance in mobile communications where revenues grew by 22%, way above the market for the fifth consecutive quarter. At the same time, the revenues of the private communications business were down by 3% year over year as a weak satellite market offset gains in enterprise and transport.
In a very competitive market, our business strategy has been to continue gaining market positions in the mobile field, even if entry costs in new markets or new accounts are high, and also to continue expanding our portfolio into differentiating products and services, accepting front end development costs where leadership positions can be achieved. Consequently, and as anticipated, third quarter comparable fixed costs did not decrease year over year. Overall, operating margins averaged 10% in the carrier space and stayed at around 7% in private communications.
Our outlook remains favorable as our on-going strategy is increasingly proving to be in line with emerging trends in the market. Triple play services are now universally seen to be the key to carriers' long term success: beyond the availability of our extensive portfolio of IP and optics based equipment, carriers throughout the world are showing a growing interest for our unique capability to integrate end to end solutions and guarantee the needed quality of service. Similarly, operating cost considerations are becoming the primary driver in wireless network architectures because of the fast growing competition in mature carrier markets and lower ARPU's in the emerging world: our mobile NGN solution, which is ideally suited to cut network costs, supports further inroads of Alcatel into cellular markets worldwide."
Related Channels: xDSL, Wireless, VoIP, Video, FTTP, Ethernet, Switching & Routing

Enterasys posts solid Q3
Enterasys Networks Inc. (ETS) announced financial results for its fiscal third quarter ended October 1, 2005. The company reports 5 percent third-quarter revenue growth and net income of $72.9 Million
"This was a quarter of very solid progress for Enterasys," said Mark Aslett, chief executive officer. "We achieved what we set out to accomplish on three fronts critical to our financial turnaround. First, we were cash-flow positive, excluding trailing restructuring payments. Second, we improved the underlying financial performance of the business, moving significantly closer to operating profitability. And third, we grew the top line in all four regions--in what, for us, has been a down quarter in recent years.
"We've significantly strengthened virtually every aspect of our business this quarter, and we look forward to achieving further progress in Q4 as we continue bringing the unique benefits of Secure Networks to enterprises around the world," Aslett said.
Related Channels: Security, Switching & Routing, Wireless

Cisco intros new Carrier Ethernet solution
Cisco Systems solidified its global leadership in the Carrier Ethernet market by introducing new platforms and service-enabling features that will help service providers reach new markets, offer differentiated new services, and help them increase their business through additional revenue streams, while improving their efficiency of existing operations.
The new Carrier Ethernet offerings add to the industry's already broadest portfolio of differentiated services that utilize a wide range of service architectures including Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS)-based architectures. These flexible deployment options enable service providers to offer best-in-class Layer 2 and Layer 3 virtual private networks (VPNs) along with voice, video, and data (or "Triple Play") services over converged Carrier Ethernet infrastructures for residential and business customers.
The Cisco Carrier Ethernet portfolio also offers service providers flexible deployment options through the combined benefits of optical, routing, and switching products and technologies.
Related Channels: Ethernet, Switching & Routing, Video, VPN

Ericsson to acquire key assets of Marconi's telecom biz
Ericsson has reached an agreement with Marconi Corporation plc to acquire the parts of Marconi's telecommunications business that are strategically important to Ericsson.
The agreement strengthens Ericsson's position in the accelerating transmission segment
- Expands Ericsson's platform for leadership in next generation converging networks
- Adds sales of approximately SEK 14.0 b. (GBP 1.0 b.), acquisition price SEK 16.8 b. (GBP 1.2 b.)
- Will contribute positively to EPS from 2007, neutral effect in 2006
- Headquarters and certain businesses in UK and Germany are not part of the acquisition
- Marconi's UK pension plan is not part of the acquisition
Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson, said: "The acquisition of the Marconi businesses has a compelling strategic logic and is a robust financial case. As fixed and mobile services converge, our customers will substantially benefit from this powerful combination."
Mobile and fixed broadband access is quickly growing throughout the world. Ericsson is leading the build out of mobile broadband and has a strong position also in the new wireline technology. The upgrade to broadband will lead to a massive increase in data traffic. As a consequence, transmission capacity in telecom networks will have to be dramatically increased.
Marconi's competitive transmission offerings, especially in optical systems, will combine with Ericsson's strong microwave radio position and worldwide sales organization to create a solid foundation for growth.
Related Channels: VoIP, Ethernet, WDM, Switching & Routing, Wireless

TexLink picks Tekelec
Tekelec announced TexLink Communications has selected the Tekelec 9000 Distributed Switching Solution (DSS) to provide next-generation voice and data services.
Tekelec 9000 DSS enables the Texas-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) to provide customized voice and data services to small- and medium-sized businesses in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The platform also allows TexLink to provide next-generation switching features and functionality at reduced operational and capital costs to larger unbundled network element-platform (UNE-P) operators in the state.
"We chose Tekelec based on its successes and expertise providing switching solutions to other large Texas-based CLECs," said Mark Griffin, president, TexLink. "VoIP is important to our evolution, and the VoIP capabilities of the T9000 allow us to grow our IP services with better features and higher reliability--at a reduced cost.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP

Marconi to launch AXR Access Radio for North America
Marconi Corporation plc will launch the AXR Access Radio for North America, a multiservice point-to-point, and point-to- multipoint fixed wireless radio solution for Ethernet, cellular and broadband backhaul, at this year's TELECOM '05. The company will also announce a new partnership with Allot Communications, a leading provider of high-performance traffic management solutions. These announcements reinforce Marconi's commitment to providing carrier-class telecommunications solutions designed to meet the stringent requirements of service provider networks.
At the Marconi exhibit, the company will showcase the Marconi Service Router, an edge router designed to help carriers "virtualize" their networks, delivering premium IP services with fewer devices, managed more effectively. Marconi will have technical experts available to discuss its fixed wireless access solutions, IP edge, core and access routers, and Ethernet switches and switch routers. Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corporation, a leading U.S. telecoms consultancy, will host a series of free presentations on service-oriented architectures, next-generation IP services, IPTV trends and virtual private application networks.
Allot Communications will also present at the Marconi booth and discuss its NetEnforcer family of traffic management and monitoring applications. Allot will review the importance of an open delivery platform, as in the Marconi Service Router's Dynamic Services Blade, and its suitability for empowering service providers with the NetEnforcer application by utilizing a completely open standard Linux environment.
Related Channels: Wireless, Switching & Routing, Ethernet, OSS/BSS, VoIP, Video, VPN

3Com Named a Top Technology Innovator by VARBusiness Magazine
3Com Corporation, a leader in secure converged networks, today was recognized by VARBusiness magazine for outstanding achievement in technology innovation. The 3Com® Switch 8800, which is the most powerful enterprise network core switch offered by 3Com, was named a winner in the Voice & Data Networking category of the VARBusiness Tech Innovator awards competition.
VARBusiness magazine, which covers the business of technology integration, honored 3Com at an awards event held on Oct. 20, 2005, in San Francisco. The Switch 8800, a Terabit-speed LAN switch that supports IP telephony convergence and advanced security functionality, was among more than 500 entries submitted in 11 technology categories.
"Innovations like what we've seen from 3Com demonstrate the vibrancy and vitality of the industry," said VARBusiness Editor Lawrence M. Walsh. "They represent breakthroughs that will benefit our solution-provider readers and, in turn, the users of technology."
"3Com has a long heritage of innovation and we continue the legacy by developing and bringing to market a broad portfolio of high-performance, scalable enterprise solutions for secure voice and data convergence, such as the 3Com Switch 8800," said Jim Freeze, 3Com's senior vice president of global marketing. "To be chosen by VARs and integrators for the innovation of the Switch 8800 as a leading convergence infrastructure platform with a host of advanced features sends a clear message that 3Com's secure converged network solutions offer best-in-class enterprise products. Enterprise customers are seeking a superior alternative and, increasingly, 3Com is standing out from the crowd, earning high marks with customers and channel partners."
In addition, the company will be recognized in the VARBusiness Dec. 19 "State of Technology" issue, which will include profiles, features and in-depth explanations of the technologies and products.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP

Turk Telekom picks Avici routers
Avici Systems announced that, Turk Telekom, the thirteenth largest operator in the world, has chosen Avici Systems' TSR® core routers for deployment in its IP/MPLS-based data backbone network, enabling the operator to provide new high-quality services to business and residential customers throughout Turkey. This network upgrade will enable the delivery of network services across a single, cost-effective backbone. Deployment of new services will begin as early as 2006, with completion of the multi-phased contract by 2007.
The prime contract was awarded to Alcatel in response to a request to provide an end-to-end solution to Turk Telekom. Alcatel will have turnkey responsibility for network design and planning, integration, deployment, training, service rollout and on-going maintenance. This network upgrade and expansion will enable Turk Telekom to extend its service coverage throughout the country and further strengthen the operator's position in the marketplace by providing increased network capacity and reliability to meet customer demand for such services as high-speed Internet access, Voice over IP (VoIP), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), and video.
"We are looking forward to working with Turk Telekom as they expand and provide new service offerings to their customers by upgrading their existing infrastructure to a highly scalable, reliable, and cost-effective core to meet their business objectives," said William Leighton, president and CEO of Avici Systems. "This latest win marks the continued expansion of Avici routing platforms to leading carriers around the globe."
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP, VPN, Video

Redback CEO Kevin Denuccio keynotes at TELECOM '05 in Las Vegas
Redback Networks Inc. announced that Kevin DeNuccio, president and CEO, will keynote at the TELECOM '05 Annual Conference & Exhibition at the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 8:00 a.m. PST.
Mr. DeNuccio will participate in a keynote session, titled "Technology and Partnerships: What's NEXT?," along with executives from Microsoft, Alcatel, Telus, Juniper and Cisco. Mr. DeNuccio and session participants will address how suppliers and service providers are developing innovative solutions to help their partners deliver leading-edge services like IPTV over next-generation broadband networks.
During the same conference, Young-Sae Song, director of marketing, will present on a panel, titled "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet: New Tech Platforms in DSL and Cable," on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2:45 p.m. PST. The panel will address how new field trials of DSL Multi-Service Architecture, PacketCable Multimedia and other innovations are changing the dynamics of next-generation IP broadband services.
Related Channels: Video, Switching & Routing, xDSL

Sycamore demos IP/Optical control plane interoperability
Sycamore Networks, Inc. successfully demonstrated IP/Optical control plane interoperability at a multi-vendor industry event that featured IPTV and other advanced services running over an intelligent optical core.
At Isocore's 6th Public Interoperability Demonstration, held in conjunction with the MPLS 2005 International Conference, Sycamore SN 16000 intelligent optical switches formed the core of a multi-vendor IP/Optical network configuration interconnected via a Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) control plane. The IP/Optical interoperability demonstration also showcased advanced services and applications such as IPTV, Multicast Layer 3 VPNs, and Virtual Private LANs running over the GMPLS-enabled core. Standards-based GMPLS control plane protocols, developed in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), enhance coordination between the IP and optical layers of the network, and enable service providers to simplify service provisioning, improve operational efficiencies, and create new, more agile high-speed services.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Video, VPN

Amedia to offer VDSL2 Ethernet Home Gateway for triple play
Amedia Networks, Inc., a provider of switched Ethernet ultra-broadband solutions for the Triple Play Access Market, announced that it will begin offering the HG-V100, a standards-compliant VDSL2-based Ethernet Home Gateway for carriers using IP DSLAMs in their access networks. The HG-V100 features many of the same leading-edge attributes of the PG1000 that was unveiled earlier this year as part of the Amedia QoStream(TM) FTTN solution, and demonstrated at this year's SUPERCOMM.
With 69% of all US broadband households projected to have a Home Gateway by 2009, according to a recent Parks Associates forecast, the Home Gateway market is poised for significant growth. Another leading research firm, In-Stat/MDR, estimated that worldwide shipments of Home Gateways would grow at 30% per year, reaching 18 million units by 2008. These and other reports anticipate a general decline in traditional modem shipments commensurate with the growing shipments of Home Gateways.
Related Channels: Ethernet, Switching & Routing, xDSL, Video

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Huawei Opens its First inTouch Lab Experience Center
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (“Huawei”), one of the world’s leading telecommunications and networking equipment suppliers, today opened the company’s first inTouch Lab Experience Center dedicated to creating a dynamic marketplace of services and applications for telecom operators. Combining simulated environments with proof-of-concept testing, Huawei’s inTouch Lab is a center of innovation focused on connecting global carriers, content/service providers, application providers, terminal providers and other customers and partners in an open cooperation platform.
Based in Shenzhen, China, the Huawei inTouch Lab Experience Center will be more than just a new service experience center. It will deliver an environment that helps to boost the development of data and voice value-added services, including trial-run services for operators. This Experience Center is segmented according to end-user scenarios, including office set-ups, business center scenarios, home and recreation areas. Each area will feature and demonstrate a variety of services relevant to the consumers in that particular scenario.
The introduction of 3G and broadband services has created an “experience economy” as a result of the ever-changing mobile lifestyle that consumers are currently leading. Operators, equipment manufacturers, application developers, and content providers are beginning to work together to create value-added services that will meet these needs. To further the progress and development of this value chain and to create the necessary applications and services, Huawei has set up the inTouch Lab, based on a central concept of creating “Experience for a Better Life”.
In addition to the inTouch Lab, Huawei has also developed the Huawei inTouch Lab Partnership Plan, which provides a series of services for the partners, including open interface and platforms, development tools, technical support and a test environment. The plan also provides ideas to help partners prepare for the launch in terms of contents, applications, terminals and terminal software. Huawei will also work closely with partners on joint activities including marketing, R&D, service innovation and concepts.
“As we evolve from a pure equipment manufacturer to an end-to-end integrated solutions provider, we hope to become a strategic partner to telecom operators as they go through industry transformations and realignments,” said Dr. Haiping Che, President of the Application & Software Marketing Department, Huawei. “As telecom operators take on a central role of being a business integrator in the value chain, we will continue to provide value-added services and commercial opportunities to our customers and partners as we work together towards a win-win situation.”
The inTouch Lab was unofficially opened in December 2004 and went through a trial and testing phase. More than 20 operators have since set up and run tests on new services and applications in the Lab, while more than 10 partners have joined the inTouch Lab Partnership Plan to work with the operators to create these new services. Jamda, the biggest content provider in Europe, and 123MultiMedia, the biggest content provider in France as well as China’s Sina and Tom Online have also participated in the Huawei inTouch Experience Lab and Partnership Plan.
Dr. Che added: “Huawei continues to adhere to the company’s strategy of being orientated to the future, to better meet customer requirements, and to realize customers’ values, by delivering the most profitable solutions and comprehensive technical services. The launch of the inTouch Lab Experience Center and Partnership Plan is another initiative by Huawei to provide the best services to our customers. We believe that the foundation of generating growth for both Huawei and our customers and partners lie in delivering the best services and the highest quality, cost-effective and fast response to our customers’ needs.”
“Huawei has always made significant contributions towards the telecommunications and network industry through creating strong partnerships with industry players,” said Mr. Lin Ye, Ministry of Information Industry, China. “As the industry changes, carriers need to pay more attention to the service experience that consumers want. The further development and growth of the telecom value-added service industry calls for close cooperation and joint progress of all players in the value chain. We believe Huawei’s inTouch Lab Experience Center will no doubt create an important influence towards the further development of this value chain.”
“We are pleased to be a participant of Huawei’s inTouch Lab,” said Mr. Laurent Mayer, President of 123MultiMedia for International Service Development. “Huawei possesses leading and quick service supply capabilities in the development of telecom value-added services which delivers a good platform for service providers to implement and promote original applications globally.”
“As we move towards a new stage in the mobile industry, a service provider needs to fully understand consumers’ demands and be able to provide them with the means to lead the mobile lifestyle they want,” commented Mr. Yan Wang, CEO and President of SINA. “We look forward to working closely with Huawei and other players through this inTouch Lab to jointly develop services that consumers want.”
Related Channels: Wireless, Video, VoIP, Ethernet, Switching & Routing, xDSL, China

Comtech Group wins $10M contract with Huawei
Comtech Group, Inc. has further expanded its existing relationship with Huawei, where Comtech has received new orders to supply PSTN and Broadband solutions to Huawei. This contract provides Comtech with approximately USD$10 million in revenue which will represent only a portion of the business and service Comtech provides for Huawei. This new contract consists of 15 months worth of orders which will begin this month and continue until December 2006.
"We are pleased to expand upon our already long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with Huawei and this order will ensure our revenues in 2006 from this important customer shall increase significantly compared to 2005," commented Jeffrey Kang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comtech. "This $10 million order is only related to PSTN and Broadband products as we also have business and receive revenue from Huawei in several other areas such as datacom and wireless which are incremental to this order. In particular, datacom and wireless are targeted growth areas for Huawei and subsequently we expect our business in these areas will continue to grow as well. The structure of this contract provides management with enhanced visibility into 2006 and ensures Comtech will have access to the fastest growing telecommunications markets. We have become a trusted supplier to Huawei and we anticipate further growth in our business as we look to leverage the relationship."
Huawei is among more than 200 customers Comtech has served and has historically been a meaningful customer, utilizing the company's technology in a variety of applications including several of Huawei's 3G and next generation network initiatives. Huawei is one of the world's leading networking and telecommunications equipment suppliers, and is the largest telecom equipment vendor in China.
Related Channels: China, WDM, Switching & Routing, Wireless, xDSL, VoIP, Storage, Ethernet

Cavium Delivers Unmatched Integration and Functionality with New Inline Security Processor Family
Cavium Networks, a worldwide leader in security, network services, and embedded processor solutions, introduced the NITROX II CN2800 Security Processor Family, the world's fastest standalone security processors with the highest level of integration and functionality. The inline NITROX II CN2800 Family integrates a general purpose processor for security control plane processing, supports SHA-2 and AES-GCM (Galois Counter Mode) algorithms, and includes integrated Gigabit Ethernet interfaces at up to 10 Gbps. The NITROX II CN2800 family is software compatible with the existing NITROX II security processors. It extends Cavium Networks' market leadership in the performance, features and flexibility of security processor offerings with the newest algorithms and an even broader set of interfaces. The combination of high integration, new algorithms and performance is ideally suited for next generation multi-gigabit VPN/Firewall Equipment, L4+ Switches, Wireless LAN Switches and Storage Security Appliances. Cavium Networks will present the CN2800 security processor family this week at the Network Systems Design Conference, being held in San Jose, California.
Related Channels: Security, Chipsets, VPN, Switching & Routing, Wireless, Storage

AMCC intros 40 Gbps Switch
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC) announced the PRS40G-ATCA 40 Gbps Switch, the industry's first AdvancedTCA (ATCA) Cell Switch Blade providing both base switch and fabric switch in a single slot. The blade is based on the PICMG 3.0 ATCA standard and features the carrier class capabilities described in the PICMG 3.6 Cell Switching draft specification. AMCC's latest offering will provide customers with a standard, production-ready ATCA solution, enabling reduced time-to-market. The ATCA Cell Switch Blade, together with pre-validated ATCA I/O blades, such as the recently announced nP3710 ATCA blade based on AMCC's nP3710 network processor and MISSION(TM) chipset, extends the ATCA ecosystem with full standard cell switching solutions.
AMCC is a leading participant in the PICMG 3.6 Sub-Committee, which was created to standardize ATCA cell switching for carrier-grade applications. AMCC is offering its market leading PRS specification as the baseline for this new PICMG 3.6 standard.
Related Channels: Chipsets, Switching & Routing

SentitO appoints Paul Nikfarjam as VP of product management
SentitO Networks appointed Paul Nikfarjam as VP of product management. Nikfarjam will guide sentitO's product life cycle management including product direction and delivery as the company prepares to scale the delivery of its ONX System 3 switching and service delivery solution to the global telecom marketplace.
Paul Nikfarjam will oversee all aspects of sentitO's product management department as the company accelerates its go-to-market activities for sentitO's ONX System 3 switching and service delivery solution in new and emerging markets. Nikfarjam will hold overall responsibility for the product strategy within sentitO, serving as the focal point between the Sales and Marketing departments and the Development and Engineering organizations within the company.
Nikfarjam has over 25 years of marketing and product development experience for some of the leading network equipment vendors in the wireless and wireline carrier markets, During his career, Nikfarjam has held a wide variety of senior product management positions, defining strategies at each step of the product lifecycle and transforming emerging communications technologies into market adopted telecom products. Nikfarjam joins sentitO from Motorola where he oversaw all aspects of the company's product management for its AdvancedTCA and SAF wireless application platforms.
management of the wireless network.
Related Channels: VoIP, Switching & Routing

Supplier Diversity Summit Moves From SUPERCOMM to TelecomNEXT
The United States Telecom Association (USTelecom) announced that the Telecom Industry Group's 11th Annual Supplier Diversity Summit will move to TelecomNEXT in March 2006. Held for the last 10 years at the former SUPERCOMM(R) show, this important industry event will continue at the new premier telecommunications conference and exhibition: TelecomNEXT. SUPERCOMM(R), co-owned by USTelecom and the Telecommunications Industry Association, ended in 2005. TelecomNEXT is USTelecom's new show.
'For ten years, the annual TIG Supplier Diversity Summit has offered great insight into the leading trends in communications. This is a key event for the industry and we are honored that the organizers have chosen to move the Supplier Diversity Summit to TelecomNEXT," said Walter B. McCormick Jr. President and CEO of USTelecom.
TelecomNEXT will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, March 19-23, 2006.
Related Channels: Wireless, VoIP, Video, FTTP, Ethernet, Test, OSS/BSS, Security, VPN, Switching & Routing, WDM, xDSL, Cable MSO, SDH/SONET

Optical Entertainment Network picks PacketFront
Optical Entertainment Network (OEN) announced that PacketFront has been selected to provide Active Optical Network (AON) switched network technology designed to reliably deliver Video, Internet and Voice/Data services to FISION subscribers over a single optical fiber. PacketFront's industry-leading switched network services ensures that FISION's network delivers entertainment and data services at ultra high speeds to 1,600,000 potential FTTH customers in the Houston area.
"PacketFront has proven that their AON garners the most flexibility and scalability for our FTTH Video, Internet and Voice solution", said Allen Easty, Chief Technical Officer of Optical Entertainment Network, which provides the FISION service.
"PacketFront has a tremendous history of delivering the most advanced routers for the most demanding broadband networks in the world."
"We found an IPTV partner in OEN that could provide an innovative delivery of triple-play services over FTTH technology in an open access broadband environment," said Martin Thunman, CEO of PacketFront. "OEN has a solid team of engineering talent holding numerous patents in the broadband market, particularly in the development of IPTV-based solutions. We look forward to working with OEN further in the future to continue to deliver the ultimate in tripleplay solution to consumers using FTTH technology".
Related Channels: FTTP, Switching & Routing, Video

Oki Electric develops BB MediaRouter
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. announced the development of "BB MediaRouter (BBMR)," a gateway platform for home network solutions in the ubiquitous era. This router is a platform to organically connect various home network solutions by combining info-telecom technologies with home appliances. The company will develop products and deploy them to telecom carriers, ISPs and municipalities.
"The launch of BBMR is based on our belief that there is a strong need for a platform to organically connect various services with IP networks. With the BBMR, users can fully enjoy new services from networked home appliances, utilizing their existing infrastructure," said Keizo Ikeda, President of Media-network Appliance Company at Oki Electric.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing

EZchip and TeraChip intro new switching architecture
EZchip Technologies (a subsidiary of LanOptics Ltd.), a fabless semiconductor company providing high-speed network processors, and TeraChip, a fabless semiconductor company providing high-performance switch fabrics, announced a highly-integrated, interoperable switching architecture for network system vendors. The new solution, which integrates the TeraChip 160Gbps TCF16X10 switch fabric with EZchip’s new NP-2 10Gbps network processor (NPU) with integrated traffic manager, will enable efficient designs for carrier-class switches and routers. The solution will be demonstrated at the Network Systems Design Conference (NSDC) 2005, October 18-20, at Parkside Hall, booth 415, in San Jose, California.
Using TeraChip’s high-capacity shared-memory switch fabric and EZchip’s NP-2, which combines packet processing and traffic management, system designs require fewer devices on both switch fabric boards and line cards, resulting in lower power consumption and reduced form factor. This unique combination also provides advanced congestion management and quality-of-service (QoS) mechanisms across the switch fabric, allowing the solution to meet system requirements for triple-play voice, video, and data services. In addition, the combination of EZchip NP-2's advanced flow control with TeraChip’s highly scalable multicast capabilities enables solutions especially well-suited for the delivery of IP video services.
Related Channels: Chipsets, Switching & Routing, Video

QLogic Introduces "QLogic Global Services"
QLogic Corp., the leader in Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs), stackable switches and blade server switches, today announced QLogic Global Services. Enabled by a strategic relationship with Lucent Technologies , QLogic Global Services features a suite of in-region, local language telephone and e-mail support as well as on-site service programs. QLogic Global Services is available today to resellers and end users in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America, Japan, and North America regions.
"A large number of the service and support calls we receive are by telephone or e-mail in local non-English languages," said Jeff Nesler, director of QLogic Global Services. "The key new component of QLogic Global Services is in-region, local language support."
For customers with QLogic switches and HBAs under warranty, in-region, local language telephone and e-mail support are now available in every global theatre. For customers that want to expand their coverage, QLogic is offering the SAN Pro Prime, SAN Pro Select and SAN Pro Exchange service programs worldwide.
Related Channels: Storage, Switching & Routing

KPN Selects Alcatel's Solution to Upgrade Network for Triple Play
Alcatel announced that KPN, the incumbent operator in The Netherlands, has selected Alcatel to upgrade its broadband aggregation networking in order to deliver triple play services across the country. KPN will use a next generation Ethernet aggregation network from Alcatel to offer advanced services such as video on demand (VoD), IPTV to residential subscribers and layer two Ethernet services to its business customers.
After an intensive two-month test period, the Alcatel solution, which includes the Alcatel 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (ESS) and the Alcatel 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM), demonstrated industry leading scalability, manageability and high availability to deliver triple play services from 28 main Points of Presence (POP) located in 14 different regions. While traditional Ethernet switches provide best effort connectivity, the Alcatel solution was built with carrier class features allowing operators like KPN to improve their offerings and deliver more reliable, higher value services such as video and business VPNs.
"In keeping with KPN's reputation as an innovative service provider, the company is taking rapid measures to accommodate the wishes of its residential and business customers," said Basil Alwan, president of Alcatel's IP activities. "The selection process for this deal was extremely tough but the performance of our solution combined with extensive expertise in rolling out triple play services proved we are the right partner for this significant network upgrade."
Related Channels: Video, VoIP, Ethernet, Switching & Routing, Cable MSO, VPN

Michael Collette joins Narad as CEO
Narad Networks, Inc., announced the appointment of veteran industry executive Michael Collette as chief executive officer. Narad Networks is a leading provider of high performance broadband access solutions for cable systems.
Narad also announced it has secured additional funding to support the company's ongoing operations as well as the roll out of its new switching platform-based product, the FTTxSWITCH(TM). The new product will enable operators to deploy switched broadband access in fiber to the node (FTTN), fiber to the curb (FTTC), and fiber to the premise (FTTP) topologies using fiber, coax or wireless links to the end user.
Prior to joining Narad, Collette was CEO of Ucentric Systems, a leading provider of home media networking software for the connected home. John C. Petrillo, former CEO of Narad, will remain Chairman of the company's board.
"The commercial services market is large, deep, wide and varied in terms of requirements, geographies and growth rates," said Collette. "Narad has a set of unique, mature, patented technologies that can be applied in a diversity of ways and with the cable industry's increasing focus on this very large market, I believe Narad is well-situated to help operators achieve strong revenue growth."
Related Channels: FTTP, Switching & Routing, Cable MSO, VoIP, Video, Ethernet

Narad intros FTTxSWITCH
Narad Networks, Inc., a provider of high performance switched broadband access solutions, announced its next generation switch, the FTTxSWITCH(TM). The new switch is smaller, lighter, less expensive and requires less power than Narad's current switch. Cable operators can flexibly provision up to 10 ports in the FTTxSWITCH for fiber transmission, RJ45 Ethernet for wired or wireless connections, and coaxial cable using Narad's patented Ethernet-over-Coax technology.
"With Narad's new switch, the cable industry can leverage its existing coax network and use fiber or wireless as makes sense for optimum competitive and economic effect," said Michael Collette, Narad Networks' newly appointed CEO. "As competition, VoIP, HDTV/VOD, IP media and heavy commercial users drive rapid growth in network requirements Narad's switching platform offers cable operators huge gains in spectral efficiency, flexibility in construction, scalability for giga-bandwith to the edge, time to market, and reach. And we do all of this at much lower price points than today's alternatives."
Narad's current product has been installed by 8 different cable operators. The FTTxSWITCH will be available for trial early next year.
Related Channels: FTTP, Switching & Routing, Cable MSO, VoIP, Video, Ethernet

Fortress and Foundry partner on security
Fortress Technologies and Foundry Networks announced a partnership that combines wireless security with high-performance wireless switching and networking to deliver an integrated network security solution for converged environments. The partnership combines Fortress' industry-leading network security system with Foundry's award-winning Ethernet switches and IronPoint wireless access points, delivering a comprehensive and enterprise-ready solution for secure networking.
Fortress and Foundry initiated this partnership in response to customer- driven demand for highly integrated and turn-key solutions comprised of best of breed products. The initiative includes an extensive array of system compatibility and interoperability testing, enabling customers to deploy a complete end-to-end solution from the edge to the core of their network. Their work has resulted in a comprehensive offering that has been tested, field proven, and deployed with some of the most demanding customers across the globe.
Related Channels: Security, Wireless, Switching & Routing, Ethernet

Sycamore Swings to Q4 Profit
Sycamore Networks Inc. said Tuesday it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, beating Wall Street's expectations for a quarterly loss.
Sycamore, a maker of optical switches for fiber-optic networks, posted a profit of $1.4 million, or 1 cent a share, for the quarter ended July 31, compared with a loss of $9.2 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier.
Non-GAAP income for the quarter, which excludes stock options and related expenses, came to $1.6 million, or 1 cent a cent share, versus a $8.1 million non-GAAP loss, or 3 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue jumped 27.3 percent to $18.5 million from $14.5 million last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, expected Sycamore to post a 2-cents-per-share loss for the quarter on revenue of $17 million.
"We were very pleased with our fourth quarter and fiscal year results, including revenue growth, improved gross margins and operating expense reductions," said Daniel E. Smith, president and chief executive officer. "These improvements were the direct result of disciplined focus and diligent execution in our optical switching business. In addition, the combination of improvements in our core operating results and our ongoing efforts to maintain balance sheet strength resulted in positive cash generation in the fourth quarter."
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Ethernet

River City Internet Group picks ECI
ECI Telecom announced that River City Internet Group has selected ECI's ST(TM)200 edge router platform to consolidate its switching, routing and subscriber management. ECI's solution will enable River City to cost-effectively evolve beyond basic Internet services to revenue boosting, added-value services such as voice over IP, video-on-demand and IP VPNs. This service edge router from ECI's Data Networking Division is the only edge router that supports all carrier packet services in a single platform.
River City selected ECI's broadband platform based on the ST200's high bandwidth-per-subscriber, advanced QoS, carrier-class availability; integrated routing and switching features that are crucial for complete and reliable broadband service delivery.
The ST200's platform scalability and flexibility will support River City Internet Group's current needs as well as future growth in capacity and services across multiple access technologies.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP, Video, VPN

Global Crossing deploys IPv6
Global Crossing has deployed IPv6 natively across it's global IP network, placing the company at the forefront of network services providers.
"IPv6 adds tremendous intelligence, flexibility and scalability to ubiquitous communications," said Anthony Christie, Global Crossing's chief marketing officer. "Governments, research and education networks, transportation companies and wireless carriers will benefit from its built-in security and self-authentication features, delivered over our global, MPLS- based backbone."
IPv6 simplifies mobile IP networking with improved routing and security capabilities. By enabling devices to automatically configure their Internet connectivity, IPv6 will support the expected explosion of dynamically connected network devices including PDAs, cell phones, Internet-connected televisions, home security and HVAC systems, and "smart" household appliances.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Security, VoIP, Wireless

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Huawei MSAN HONET UA5000 Captures InfoVision Award 2005
Huawei announced that Huawei MSAN HONET UA5000 has won the InfoVision Award 2005 in honor of its innovative contribution to progress in the information industry. The InfoVision Award was presented by International Engineering Consortium ("IEC"), a non-profit organization dedicated to catalyzing technology and business progress worldwide in a range of high technology industries and their university communities, at the InfoVision Awards Ceremony.
The InfoVision Awards Ceremony was held by IEC as part of the Broadband World Forum Europe ("BBWF"), which is taking place in Madrid, Spain, from October 3-6, 2005. BBWF is a four-day educational conference and technology exhibition where leading carriers and suppliers gather to focus on global broadband technologies and networks, business drivers, content issues, and markets for senior industry professionals throughout the world.
The InfoVision Award Program recognizes technologies, applications, products, advances, and services judged to be the most unique and beneficial to the telecommunications industry. A total of 8 categories were up for competition, and entries were judged based on the value of service or technology in solving recognized technology problems, meeting network requirements, optimizing service and performance, and/or enhancing customer service. Award winners were selected from hundreds of nominees based on the following criteria: innovation, uniqueness, market impact, customer benefits, and value to society.
Huawei's Multi-Service Access Network ("MSAN") product HONET UA5000 was judged to be leadingly and innovative in the field of Broadband Appliances, Devices, and Home Networking. It provides full-service access to NGN, IP, VPN, ATM and PSTN networks. HONET, Huawei's MSAN platform, integrates IP/ATM/TDM technologies and allows carriers to continue providing not only legacy services such as voice, leased line and more, but also advanced broadband services of xDSL and Ethernet. The HONET UA5000 Universal Access Unit is empowering the market with creative technical breakthroughs including those that help carriers to migrate to NGN-oriented access network seamlessly and provide full services including narrowband, broadband and IPTV. Currently, Huawei has deployed more than 55 million ports of HONET in more than 35 countries. In April 2005, British Telecom selected Huawei as a preferred supplier to manufacture, supply and install MSAN products for its 21CN network.
Related Channels: VoIP, Video, VPN, Ethernet, xDSL, Switching & Routing, China

Enhanced Telecom picks Lucent and Riverstone
Riverstone Networks and Lucent Technologies announced that Enhanced Telecommunications Corporation (ETC), an Indiana-based Independent Operating Company (IOC), has selected the two companies to enhance its network to enable new Ethernet and IP-based services, including IPTV and VoIP, to residential and business customers. The equipment, provided by Lucent as a Riverstone global reseller, will enable ETC to offer new services to subscribers in four Indiana counties, further enhancing ETC's portfolio.
ETC, which currently features both wireline and wireless voice services, DSL Internet access, security systems and web-based management systems, will deploy RS 8000 Ethernet aggregation routers from Riverstone to migrate its ATM infrastructure to Ethernet.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP, Video, Ethernet

ECI names Rafi Maor new CEO
ECI Telecom announced that Doron Inbar will step down as President and CEO of the company at the end of 2005. Rafi Maor, currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company, was nominated by the board of directors as the new President and CEO effective January 1 2006. Doron Inbar is expected to join the board of directors and will chair its strategy committee.
Commenting on the announcement, Shlomo Dovrat, chairman of the board said: "Doron Inbar has expressed his desire for some time now and after 22 years of excellent service to ECI to step down as President and CEO. Today we are announcing the last phase of an orderly and well executed succession process. Rafi Maor, an experienced and proven leader of global organizations joined ECI a year ago and served as its COO. During the year, with the able guidance of Doron, Rafi was able to get intimately familiar with the company, its customers and products and is now ready to take the helm and lead ECI forward as it continues its impressive growth. On behalf of the board of directors and personally on my behalf I want to thank Doron Inbar for his excellent performance at ECI. Doron led the company through a dramatic industry crisis and under his leadership the company achieved a remarkable turn around. The company focused on the right product lines and customers and emerged as one of the fastest growing and most successful telecom equipment companies in the world with a clear growth strategy going forward. The board of directors, the company's shareholders and its employees are all grateful for his immense contribution."
Related Channels: Video, VoIP, FTTP, Switching & Routing, Ethernet, WDM, SDH/SONET, xDSL, Wireless

3Com Outlines Path to Profitability
At its 2005 Financial Analyst Day in New York City, 3Com Corporation (COMS) outlined the company's path to profitability through a focused growth strategy with operating breakeven targeted for its fiscal quarter ending February 2007.
At the event, members of 3Com's senior management team, including President and CEO Bruce Claflin and Chief Financial Officer Don Halsted, highlighted the company's strategy to achieve this important milestone by growing top-line revenue, increasing gross margins and continued operating expense efficiencies. The profitability target is based on 3Com's continued growth in sales to large enterprises as well as through increased sales of voice over IP (VoIP) and security solutions to enterprises of all sizes.
"The past three quarters of sequential revenue growth and improved financial performance is continuing evidence that we are executing our strategy," said Claflin. "By building on this momentum, we believe that we can achieve profitability through sustained growth and ultimately increase shareholder value."
The company also provided long-term financial guidance for the Huawei-3Com joint venture. Huawei-3Com has delivered six successful quarters, led by strong revenue growth in China. 3Com expects the Joint Venture to maintain its strong growth path through its global sales channels, leading with its full line of core-to-edge products for the enterprise market.
In addition to comments by Claflin and Halsted, members of 3Com's senior management team presented the company's strategy to be the leading provider of secure, converged network solutions. Presentations included James Fieger, senior vice president of Worldwide Sales and Service, who articulated the company's sales strategy, which includes significant efforts to maintain leadership in the midmarket through its existing base of channel partners and an increased emphasis on penetrating the large enterprise market through new system integrator and service provider partners. To that end, Chris Meaney, vice president of Secure Networks, Enterprise Networks Division of Siemens Communications commented on the strategic alliance between 3Com and Siemens that the two companies jointly announced today, and its role in 3Com's strategy. (For more information see today's press release titled "Siemens and 3Com Form Strategic Alliance to Provide Enterprise Security and Data Networking Alternative.") Jim Freeze, global vice president of Marketing, discussed the company's marketing initiatives and brand advertising campaign, which launched this week, and 3Com's chief technology officer, Marc Willebeek-LeMair, and senior vice President of product Operations, Hilton Nicholson, presented components of 3Com's technology vision and product roadmap.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Security, VoIP, VPN, Ethernet, Video, Wireless

3Com Launches New, Aggressive Branding and Integrated Marketing Campaign
Continuing its aggressive push in the enterprise networking market, 3Com Corporation today announced a new, integrated branding and advertising campaign that boldly challenges the status quo and its competitors.
The campaign, which is the company's most significant branding initiative in five years, kicked off today with ads running in the most influential business, information technology trade, channel and online publications in North America. It continues throughout the fiscal year, appearing in more than 30 different publications. The initial advertising platform has four variations, each emphasizing 3Com's strengths in security, interoperability and reliability, yet acknowledging the realities of today's enterprise networking market.
"This campaign is a fresh new approach to branding, challenging conventional advertising strategies that often portray companies in an unrealistic manner," said Jim Freeze, 3Com's vice president of Global Marketing. "Through focus group work, brand awareness and preference studies, and campaign testing, we have fine-tuned our messaging to address the concerns that are top-of-mind with today's enterprises. Our brand advertising honestly, confidently and directly deals with issues such as: the need for an enterprise networking provider that offers a core-to-edge portfolio that is secure, reliable and fully interoperable; voice over IP and security leadership; and a lack of awareness of the breadth and depth of 3Com's secure, converged networking portfolio."
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Security, VoIP, Video, Ethernet, Wireless

3Com-Huawei Built Multi-services E-government Network for Beihai City
The citizen in Beihai city of Guangxi province in China will soon enjoy one-stop e-government services. 3Com-Huawei has recently started a key project for Beihai municipal government to construct a high speed broadband network to cover all its departments. The new platform will serve the functions of data exchange, certification, information storage and public sharing.
The new network will connect all the government administrative departments with higher reliability and Triple-play, enabling data, voice and video over IP, which requires higher demand for bandwidth and QoS. The centralized management system for the network facilitates flexible and convenient management, allowing seamless operation for various application systems.
Based on the actual needs, the network has core, convergence and access layers. At core layer that include the network branches for 3 major government departments, 3Com-Huawei’s 10GE multi-services routing switches S8512 are deployed and connect with IDS security measures to ensure core network safety. At convergence layer, S6506R, S3552F-HI intelligent multi-layers switches support 1G and interact with the IDS at core layer for security. At access layers level, SecPath 100F firewalls offer filters and protection. The whole network devices management is centralized under Quidview network management system for higher efficiency.
After the new network is ready, Beihai city will be equipped with a unified platform to cover all government departments in the whole city. Applications like video-conferencing and IP telephony will be possible. The government will enhance its administrative service quality to citizens with a platform capable for information sharing across the city and providing e-services to promote the government policies and public education.
3Com-Huawei has recently also accomplished some government Metro Ethernet projects for big cities such as Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xian and Wuhan. Being a major solution provider of E-government network, 3Com-Huawei also has helped many provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Heilongjiang to construct high speed, high reliability government network.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP, Video, Ethernet, China

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China's TP-LINK picks Vitesse Gigabit Ethernet switch ICs
Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. announced multiple design wins with TP-LINK, China's leading provider of SMB and Home Networking switches. Vitesse's world-leading SparX Gigabit Ethernet switch IC series has been adopted by TP-LINK as the premier silicon solution for its new 5- to 24-port 10/100/1000M Smart Ethernet and Unmanaged Ethernet switches. The TP-LINK TL-SG1005D/1008D/1008/1016/1024 switch products are now in volume shipment.
"Upon extensive evaluation, Vitesse was clearly the leader in both Gigabit Ethernet Smart and Unmanaged switch IC technology. They are the only company that offers a complete suite of Layer 2 Gigabit Ethernet Smart and Unmanaged switches that achieves the three selection criteria essential to our design specification: highly-integrated, low power consumption, and cost-effective," said Jianxun Su, vice president of TP-LINK. "Moreover, Vitesse and TP-LINK share the same goal of bringing the right Gigabit Ethernet switch solution into the market."
He continued, "Today, TP-LINK is the leader in the SMB and SOHO markets, and by working with a customer-centric vendor like Vitesse, it will further enhance our product offering, reduce product time-to-market, and achieve cost-effectiveness. This will, in-turn, further strengthen and expand our market-leading position."
Related Channels: Chipsets, Ethernet, Switching & Routing, China

Ciena Corp. sets up R&D centre in India
Ciena Corp. had set up a research and development (R&D) centre near New Delhi and expects to employ 300 engineers over the next three years.
The 95,000 sq. ft. facility in Gurgaon is Ciena's first core R&D centre outside North America.
The India centre will focus on technologies such as storage extension and optical transport, multiservice switching, broadband access and network management
Related Channels: Storage, WDM, Switching & Routing, Ethernet, OSS/BSS

MCIT picks Juniper
Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) has selected a comprehensive Juniper Networks routing and security solution to build a nationwide IPv6 network for the Egyptian Universities Network (EUN) and National Research Centers. Working with Juniper Networks' local partner, Salec, MCIT is deploying a range of Juniper Networks' routing, integrated firewall/VPN (virtual private network) and intrusion prevention platforms to create a secure and assured IPv6 network. The network will provide high-speed, secure Internet access and interconnectivity to 26 university and research centers throughout Egypt and will also connect users to the Internet2 community.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Security, VPN

Telefonica Moviles Mexico picks Nortel
Telefonica Moviles Mexico, S.A. de C.V, an affiliate of the Telefonica Moviles Group, has deployed a packet voice backbone network from Nortel designed to significantly increase internal network capacity and support future delivery of sophisticated mobile data services.
Telefonica Moviles Mexico has moved all of its national and international voice and data traffic onto a single multiservice platform that allows the operator to drive network efficiency and operational savings.
Nortel's Communication Server (CS) 2000, Multiservice Switch (MSS) 7400 series and Media Gateway (MG) 15000 are being used to converge network traffic and increase network capacity, positioning Telefonica Moviles Mexico to significantly reduce the cost of 'backhauling' voice and data traffic from base stations to switching centers.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP, Wireless

Alcatel appoints Alan Mottram as CMO
Alcatel announced Alan Mottram is appointed Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Alcatel replacing Ron Spithill.
The CMO function is responsible for Alcatel's global market positioning, marketing communications, industry analyst relations, channel marketing and partnership management.
Ron Spithill will retire in October 2005, having served Alcatel for 43 years. Previously, he was President of Alcatel Asia Pacific and Managing Director of Alcatel Australia.
Alan Mottram has been President of Alcatel's Fixed Solutions activities since the beginning of 2003, building the Alcatel position in IPTV and Next Generation Networks. Previously, he held senior positions within Alcatel's access, enterprise, software and services activities. He has been with the company since 1991, spending his early years in the Group growing Alcatel's service provider business in the UK market. Alan Mottram began his carrier with the UK's General Electric Company working in communications and defense businesses for ten years.
Related Channels: xDSL, VoIP, Video, FTTP, Switching & Routing, WDM, Ethernet, OSS/BSS, Security, VPN, Cable MSO, SDH/SONET, Wireless

HSE&DEM Picks Ciena's Metro Transport and Switching Solutions
Ciena Corporation, the network specialist, announced that HSE&DEM, the Republic of Slovenia's largest producer of electricity, has selected Ciena's next-generation optical multiservice switches, optical multiplexers, storage extension platforms and network management systems to interconnect its locations nationwide with a reliable, high-performance Adaptive WAN(TM) (wide area network) to deliver IT services used in the production and delivery of electrical energy to customers.
After a competitive review process, HSE&DEM chose Ciena's CN 3620(TM) Intelligent Optical Multiservice Switch, CN 2100(TM) Passive Optical Multiplexer, CN 2000(TM) Storage Extension Platform, ON-Center(TM) 3600 Management System and ON-Center CN 2000 Manager because of their superior reliability and support for next-generation SDH transport, DWDM optical transport and storage extension capabilities.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, Ethernet, Storage, WDM, SDH/SONET

PrairieWave picks Tekelec
Tekelec announced at the Fall 2005 VON Conference & Expo that South Dakota-based PrairieWave Communications has deployed Tekelec 7000 Class 5 Packet switches (T7000) and the Tekelec 6000 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Application Server (T6000). The Tekelec solutions enable PrairieWave to begin planning the delivery of enhanced VoIP services and applications over its advanced broadband network to more than 60,000 subscribers in 45 South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota communities.
The T7000 Class 5 packet switch provides several key features to support PrairieWave's cost-effective packet network migration. Features include line-side and trunk-side packet switching, and advanced signaling system 7 (SS7) A-link consolidation of seven existing legacy switches supported by Tekelec's point-code pass through/signal relay point emulation functionality.
The T6000 delivers enhanced VoIP services and applications for both residential and business customers, including existing analog TDM subscribers and new packet subscribers. It features automatic disaster recovery, which enables the re-routing of all IP phone calls to a wireline or mobile phone if a user's data network fails.
Related Channels: Switching & Routing, VoIP

Access One picks Lucent and Juniper
Lucent Technologies and Juniper Networks announced an agreement with Access One, Inc., a privately held integrated communications service provider, to provide a complete end-to-end TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solution, including technology from Lucent's Accelerate(TM) Next Generation Communications Solutions portfolio, that will enable the provider to deliver advanced integrated services to its small, medium, and large business customers.
Access One will deploy the Lucent Compact Switch and Juniper Networks M7i multiservice routers in its Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco service areas. Lucent Worldwide Services will provide engineering services, installation, integration and maintenance for Access One.
Related Channels: VoIP, Switching & Routing

3Com Wireless Solution Provides Secure Access to Patient Information Anytime, Anywhere
Underwood-Memorial Hospital of Woodbury, N.J, a 305-bed community non-profit medical facility, upgraded its patient care using a hospital-wide, secure high-speed wireless network from 3Com Corporation. The 3Com® Wireless LAN Mobility System extends high-speed network availability throughout the hospital, particularly to points of care, where doctors and nurses check and update patient records with maximum accuracy, efficiency, and security.
"In an acute care hospital, the ability to access clinical data promptly, reliably and securely is critical," said Mike Baker, director of information for Underwood-Memorial Hospital. "By using advanced 3Com technology, we can guarantee our clinicians have accurate, secure access to the information they need when they need it most: at the point of care."
The hospital's 3Com solution, which also includes a redundant 3Com-based Ethernet network, powers virtually every aspect of its day-to-day functioning, from scheduling to payroll, and supports applications directly affecting quality of care. Chief among these applications is the hospital's new Cerner Millennium clinical system, which hospital staff can now access via mobile computers at patients' bedsides. This sophisticated and bandwidth-intensive application connects laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and clinical records, allowing hospital staff to check and update medical information at bedsides for maximum accuracy and timeliness. The application's wireless-enabled Mobile Millennium component also keeps doctors' PDAs updated with patient locations and treatment updates, helping them schedule their time more effectively and alerting them to situations needing immediate attention.
Another crucial wireless application the hospital uses is iBEX PulseCheck, a server-based application the ER will use to streamline emergency care through a series of multiple-choice menus leading to the most likely diagnosis and treatment. The 3Com Wireless LAN Mobility System enables doctors to roll PulseCheck swiftly to the patient's side, for faster healthcare decisions in situations where every second counts. It also supports McKesson Series' registration, billing, and scheduling system.
It uses 3Com's innovative Identity-Based Networking, which is based on user identity instead of ports or devices, to provide Underwood-Memorial's doctors and nurses with secure data access and entry. These point-of-care practitioners thus deploy a single Mobility Domain network; users are associated with user databases that can be authenticated. This optimizes user mobility throughout the network without dropping connections or compromising security, further ensuring compliance with government privacy regulations.
Related Channels: Wireless, Ethernet, Security, Switching & Routing

Riverstone intros Ethernet access routers
Riverstone Networks introduced the newest members of its Riverstone 15000 product line: the Riverstone 15100 and 15200 Carrier Ethernet Access Routers. The two new MPLS-based Ethernet routers tear down the barriers to mass carrier Ethernet deployments by giving Tier One carriers and competitive service providers the high reliability and scalability needed to successfully deliver next generation business and residential triple play services in a high quality, low-cost platform.
Priced significantly less than any comparable technology on the market today, the Riverstone 15100 and the 10 Gig-E Riverstone 15200 extend the industry-leading feature set of the 15008 Ethernet Edge Router into the access layer, providing MPLS from the core to the network edge. The end-to-end solution gives service providers the ability to maintain a single operational model as well as mix-and-match VLAN and MPLS access technologies, helping optimize functionality and cost in both large and small network deployments. The introduction of these routers fulfills the market’s previously unaddressed need for a compact, fully-featured platform that extends the benefits of VPLS as close to the service-users as possible.
Related Channels: Ethernet, Switching & Routing

Asia Netcom to Provide IPv6 Tokyo-Beijing Video Connection for Demo at 2005 World Expo
Asia Netcom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese incumbent telecommunications service provider, China Netcom, will play a vital part in an experiment to demonstrate the ability of the next-generation Internet to enable high-quality video communications worldwide.
The experiment, spearheaded by the WIDE (Widely Integrated Distributed Environment) Project - a consortium working on practical research and development of Internet-related technologies -- will set up high-quality video links between Amsterdam, Aichi and Beijing. The event is a part of the finale of the 2005 World Expo, Aichi, Japan (Aichi Expo), and will feature a live video panel discussion on ''Living on the Earth'' by students from each country.
Asia Netcom will provide an end-to-end IPv6 link between Tokyo and Beijing using capacity on its own subsea network and through a 155Mbps circuit between Hong Kong and Beijing from its parent, China Netcom. The link will be one of the first live trials of transporting broadcast-quality video over an IPv6 infrastructure between China and Japan.
''The Internet has changed the way we live, but the underlying technology that enables it is reaching its limitations,'' said Richard Carden, Chief Operating Officer, Asia Netcom Japan. ''There is no question that IPv6 is the next generation platform to take the Internet beyond its current limitations, both for its ability to support ubiquitous coverage of billions and billions of different devices, but also in driving up performance, efficiency and security of the Internet.''
Asia Netcom is one of the first operators in the region to launch commercial IPv6-based services and is offering an end-to-end IPv6 video streaming service with partner, NEC.
''This project also highlights our ability to deliver high speed, real-time video connections between Japan and China," Carden added. ''With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner, this solution now offers broadcasters an alternative to traditional leased line and satellite-based transport.''