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Date: Friday, October 06, 2000, 3:57 PM -0400
From: Faulkner Information Services <mailserver@faulknerinfo.com>
To: ???
Subject: Faulkner Com Flash 10/06/00 - (Part 2 of 2)


Carriers and Carrier Services
After Ameritech hired 88 more employees to repair and install phone lines
in Ohio, the Public Utilities Commission ordered the company to reimburse
consumers $5.1 million for missed or late phone repair service. Phone
repair service in Ameritech's region slipped from an average 29 hours in
1999 to an average 160 hours in August 2000. Ameritech, whose reputation
took a beating after being acquired by SBC Communications in October 1999,
added 615 technicians to the workforce in its five-state region this year,
with another 3300 planned for next year. In addition, other SBC companies
are sending 343 network technicians to the Ameritech region and about 615
workers are being shifted from construction to installation and repair work
tasks. Due to the recent poor quality of service, Ameritech is at risk of
being slapped with a $34-million fine by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
The PUC threatened to hit the company with a hefty $122-million fine if
service does not improve by 2002. 

BellSouth is breaking into the Web hosting market. The RBOC opened
"e-Business Centers" in Atlanta and Miami, and plans to open four more
centers within the next two years. Through the data centers, BellSouth will
offer Web hosting and other electronic business services. The e-Platform
initiative will provide dedicated and custom hosting solutions, managed
storage, managed security, content distribution, caching services, disaster
recovery, and ASP services. 

Also, BellSouth contracted Sun Microsystems to provide hardware, software,
and professional services under a multi-year deal valued at about $450
million. Qwest Communications, in which BellSouth has a significant
ownership, will provide out-of-region data center space and will gain
access to the RBOC's data centers. 

Cable &Wireless selected Customer Cast as its Internet-based customer
feedback solution in the US. CustomerCast SatCast allows managers to view
real-time feedback from customers about their satisfaction with the
company's image, products, sales, marketing, or service organization and to
identify other users who may be having a similar experience. 

Covad Communications announced the availability of its high-speed DSL-based
broadband services in Oklahoma City. The coverage expansion will reach more
than 34,000 businesses and 289,000 household users upon completion of the
network build-out. 

According to Eesti Telekom, Estonia's largest mobile phone provider, the
country spent 5.4 percent of its annual GDP on telecommunications in 1999,
a large portion of which was wireless. Most European countries spent
between two and four percent. Although Estonia is liberalizing its telecom
market in 2001, it is unlikely to have a big effect on mobile phone prices
because intense competition already exists. Estonia has three separate
mobile-phone operators serving a population of 1.4 million, while the UK
has four operators for 60 million people. 

France Telecom announced plans to build a 15,000-mile transmission backbone
network to connect 28 major cities in North America. FT selected Alcatel to
design, build, install, and maintain the network and Nortel to provide the
equipment. Level 3 Communications will provide the dark fiber for the
project. FT plans to invest about $200 million to build the 28-city
network, which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2001. 

Intermedia Communications announced the arrival of IntermediaOne, a fully
integrated voice, Internet access, and data communications platform for
businesses. IntermediaOne offers services from unified messaging to
high-speed Internet, local to long distance, and broadband data to Web
hosting. 

Japan Telecom said it would cut its domestic call rates on October 1 to
match those charged by rivals NTT and KDDI. KDDI said last week it would
match local call rates charged by NTT, the former state-owned monopoly,
which still dominates the domestic phone market. On August 31, NTT regional
units said they would cut local call rates by an average 40 percent from
November. 

Level 3 Communications announced it completed its first advanced data
center facility in Asia a full quarter ahead of schedule. Due to the early
completion of the facility, the company also introduced its low cost
bandwidth services to Internet and Web-based companies in Hong Kong. 

In other news, Level 3 Communications will be offering low-cost bandwidth
in approximately 10 COLO.COM co-location facilities. This enables Level 3
to offer its services beyond the data centers that the company currently
operates. Level 3 will offer high-speed Internet access and network
services. 

Teligent launched lower cost, high bandwidth communications services for
business customers in Pittsburgh. With the addition of the Pittsburgh
market, Teligent currently serves business customers in 43 of the nation's
top metropolitan areas. 

Effective September 23, Verizon Communications will eliminate the monthly
$1.50 touch-tone calling charge that former GTE customers in Pennsylvania
now pay. The $2.50 per line fee will be eliminated for business customers
in the state. 


Wireless Communications
ADC released the Digivance Indoor Coverage Solution (ICS), an all-digital
distributed antenna system that transports RF signals digitally within or
between buildings. The ICS is the first product in ADC's Digivance family
of digital RF transport products for managing and increasing wireless
coverage and capacity. 

BellSouth Small Business Services division now offers Motorola's Talkabout
T900 Personal Interactive Communicator through its small business sales
centers. These devices can send and receive short messages from other
pagers, the Internet, and telephones for instant accessibility. The T900
also retrieves news, stock quotes, and other information without dialing or
logging in. The device fits in the user's hand and features a four-line
80-character lighted display. 

Tritel, a member of the AT&T Wireless Network, recently launched digital
wireless phone services in nine new markets. Using the SunCom brand name,
Tritel began offering service in Corbin and Owensboro, Kentucky; Florence,
Muscle Shoals and Gadsden, Alabama; Brookhaven, McComb, Greenville, and
Greenwood, Mississippi. 

Broadwing, Compaq, Lucent Technologies, and Microsoft launched a
high-bandwidth, wireless, wide area network community in Cincinnati's
"Digital Rhine" district. The project, which is intended to support a
growing dotcom population, enables users within the business community with
a portable computing device wireless access to the Internet. 

Beginning in November, Ericsson will be selling i-mode phones, which
include Internet access capabilities, in Japan. The company is developing
the phones and will launch them in cooperation with NTT DoCoMo, which
serves over 12 million customers. Ericsson is using the launch to enter
into the Japanese i-mode market, which is the equivalent of the European
WAP market. 

Juno Online Services, along with Metricom, expanded Juno's high-speed
wireless Internet service to cover seven new markets in Baltimore, Dallas,
Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Manhattan. Juno Express
had been launched in July in Atlanta and San Diego, and it provides
wireless access at 128K bps. 

The Bluetooth standards body granted Motorola full certification for two of
its PC products. The Motorola PCMCIA card and the USB accessory are two
Bluetooth-enabled DigitalDNA PC add-on solutions and are the first to
receive such certification and the first to be allowed to carry the
Bluetooth trademark. Both products provide wireless links carrying data and
voice between PCs and Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as handheld
computers. The company was granted certification by the Bluetooth standards
body after a qualification process found the products conform to Bluetooth
specifications. Motorola also introduced the Timeport 270, the first of its
phones with Bluetooth capabilities, and the Timeport P8767 wireless phone
which includes a digital multicolor display screen with green, blue, and
red that allows for easier navigation and Web surfing. 

In other news, Motorola and Palm are planning a new cellular phone that
includes handheld computer software developed by Palm. The two companies
will create a smart phone with PDA software, wireless Internet access, and
technology that will allow data to be synchronized with a PC. 

Motorola subsidiary Starfish Software successfully showcased a live
demonstration of SyncML-enabled wireless TrueSync synchronization solutions
with Excite@Home in Dublin, Ireland, which will be available to partners in
early 2001 

FunMail announced the completion of tests of a new, wireless Animated
Instant Message product for the NTT DoCoMo i-mode system in Tokyo, Japan.
When deployed, wireless FunMail will allow i-mode subscribers to send
animated IMs from one i-mode phone to another and also to other wireless
and desktop devices. Worldwide cellular and PCS operators with
multi-billion dollar investments in 2G digital systems are potential
customers for the new product.

NTT is considering taking its wireless Internet joint venture with America
Online to Europe. With a view to conquering the French market, which the
company says is its last remaining European target for a 3G wireless
network, NTT will continue to work with Netherlands-based KPN. To further
strengthen its position in Europe, NTT said it would establish a UK
subsidiary and research lab in Germany. The company hopes to offer
I-mode-like services and 3G mobile services in Europe by 2001. 

Sprint PCS agreed with PacketVideo to bring wireless video applications to
Wireless Web consumers. As part of their agreement, the two companies are
bringing live streaming video to US customers based on wireless media
technology from Packet Video. The new applications will be available
through Internet-ready phones and PDAs. One of the services popular among
consumers during a one-month trial was "Eye-on-My," which allowed parents
to view children through live cameras. 

Verizon Wireless introduced a program to upgrade its customers' cellular
phone every two years for free to eliminate the concerns over phones
becoming obsolete. New Every Two allows customers purchasing a two-year
plan of $35 per month or more to receive a free phone upgrade when the
agreement is renewed. 


Broadband/Cable Networking
AT&T Broadband introduced cable phone service to more than 170,000
homeowners in the St. Paul area. This number represents almost one-third of
the 600,000 homes in the area that receive AT&T cable, all of which should
have access to phone via cable by 2001. The offer follows AT&T's
acquisition of the MediaOne cable system, and a $250 million investment to
upgrade the 7500-mile Twin Cities network. 

AT&T Broadband and DIVA will launch video-on-demand (VOD) services to
customers in Atlanta, where the service is currently being tested, as well
as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh. After successful testing in
Atlanta, AT&T intends to use DIVA's headend equipment, software, and
content in the new markets. The VOD service will allow cable customers to
order video titles through their set-top boxes and to pause, rewind, or
fast forward using a remote control. 

A dispute over the amount of space available for plans to wire up the UK
has cast doubt on whether high-speed Internet services will be widely and
cheaply available. Competitors argue that British Telecom is denying them
access to the most lucrative exchanges by claiming there is not enough
space for their equipment. BT is suspected of finding excuses to delay the
process of unbundling the local loop so it can hang on to its ISDN business
and establish a lead for its recently launched DSL services. 

Nearly 2 million cable modem units were shipped in the second quarter of
2000, reported Dataquest. The record shipment came despite component
constraints on the availability of radio frequency (RF) tuners and flash
memory. Motorola led the pack, shipping 650,000 units and holding 32.5% of
the market share. 

France Telecom inaugurated its America-II fiber-optic submarine cable. The
8300-kilometer network links Florida to Puerto Rico, Martinique, Curaco,
Venezuela, Trinidad, French Guyana, and Brazil. Total cost of the project
is approximately $350 million. 

net.com launched its SHOUTIP product family, an open programmable IP
telephony switching platform for next-generation service providers. SHOUTIP
offers faster call set-up time, network resilience, scalability, and
elimination of multiple operational support systems, including packet
aggregators. SHOUTIP is the result of the net.com's acquisition of
Convergence Equipment Company in the first quarter of 2000. 

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone disclosed plans for what it calls the
world's first widespread, high-speed Internet service delivered via
fiber-optic lines directly into people's homes. The service, scheduled to
debut in Tokyo and Osaka in December, marks a major push to bring Japanese
Internet use up to US levels. 

Riverstone Networks introduced a comprehensive, standards-based MPLS
implementation for MAN applications. By providing fine-grained grooming,
path optimization, and traffic segregation, MPLS makes it easier for
metropolitan service providers to create, manage, and control a wide range
of voice, data, and video services. MPLS is implemented in all Riverstone
RS series switch routers, which support optical Ethernet and legacy TDM
interfaces. 

Sprint launched its Broadband Direct service for consumers and small
businesses in Colorado Springs. The service provides two-way high-speed
access to the Internet via fixed-wireless technology. Residential service,
which costs $44.95 per month, offers upstream speed of up to 256K bps and
an average downstream speed of 1M bps. Sprint's fixed wireless technology
has a broader reach than current DSL service offerings, which are limited
to consumers close to the providers' central office. Also, there might be
degradation in speed as the consumers' distance from the central office
increases. Sprint Broadband Direct is available to consumers in the
Colorado Springs area with line of sight and within 35 miles of the Sprint
transmission tower. 

Sprint also introduced it Managed network Service for Voice over Frame
Relay, which allows companies to outsource the design, implementation, and
management of a voice over frame relay solution. The service level
agreements include 100 percent frame relay service availability over
Sprint's SONET backbone, in addition to CPE configuration, installation,
initialization, and 24x7 support. 

Telmex inaugurated an undersea, fiber-optic cable connecting North, Central
and South America. The 2,805-mile Maya 1 Undersea Cable system, which
connects seven points around the Caribbean, is the only one that connects
all three parts of the Americas. Telmex said the Maya 1 system had an
initial capacity of 20Gbps and can be upgraded to a capacity of 60Gbps. 

Time Warner purchased one million licenses for BroadJump's "Virtual Truck"
software. "Virtual Truck" prevents the need for a technician to connect a
customer to high-speed cable Internet access and allows Time Warner to
market self-installation kits. The self-installation process will eliminate
the slow and costly process of installation involving a technician. 

Versatel is in talks to acquire fiber-optic networks in Germany. The
company has already acquired some existing networks, including an 80
percent stake in western German fiber-optic network company KomTel and aims
to expand throughout the country. Versatel also plans to expand its
wireless communication efforts. 

WorldCom abandoned its plans to bid for broadband Internet access in
Britain. The Financial Times reported that WorldCom decided not to pursue
permission to access Britain's local exchanges because of frustration with
Oftel, the UK's telecom watchdog. WorldCom denied the rumors, contending
that it pulled out for "commercial reasons." RSL Communications dropped out
earlier this week and accused Oftel of failing to ensure a fair market for
rivals of British Telecom, which now controls the last mile of copper wires
connecting homes to the network. Global Crossing is also suspected of
withdrawing because Oftel favors BT. 


CTI/Call Center News
Avaya, former Enterprise Networks Group of Lucent Technologies, introduced
six new products for IP solutions. The Avaya Enterprise Class IP Solutions
(ECLIPS) products include the IP600 Communications Server, the R300 Remote
Office Communicator, DEFINITY IP Solutions software, the advanced Directory
Gateway, new IP telephones, and second-generation IP Softphone. ECLIPS
products aim to combine voice, data, customer relationship management,
messaging, and multi-service networking in an IP environment over new or
existing PBX or LAN/WAN networks. 


Voice Processing News
Verizon Communications achieved Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony
Specialization from Cisco Systems. With this specialized training
consultants from Verizon's Enterprise Solutions division call help business
customers take full advantage of the emerging voice-over-internet
technology. 


Satellite Services
Globalstar Canada expanded roaming to cover customers in Australia and
South America and increased existing coverage in the Caribbean, Alaska, and
the North Atlantic. Canadian customers will be able to benefit from an
increased number of installed gateways in the company's coverage areas. 

PanAmSat made its NET-36 satellite-based Internet network available on a
commercial basis to content providers. NET-36 allows companies to provide
Internet entertainment services such as streaming audio, video, and data to
broadband audiences. Through partnerships with cable, ISP, DSL, and
wireless vendors, PanAmSat is able to bring and Internet broadcast network
to broadband customers. 


Internetworking
3M reported that the company is entering the routing switch market with the
introduction of a Gigabit Ethernet routing switch. The decision to enter
this market follows 3M's successful entry into the fiber NIC and workgroup
switch market over the last three years. 3M introduced its first fiber LAN
products three years ago. The company reported that with the addition of a
routing switch, it will focus on growing its fiber LAN business. 

Cisco Systems reported it will begin shipping software that produce
dramatic improvement in the quality of data and voice transmissions over
the Web, which has hindered the widespread adoption of VoIP Telephony. The
technology allows voice traffic to ride across a corporate network rather
than public telephone networks. It also allows computers and wireless
devices to communicate with phones seamlessly and promises to one day allow
each person to have one Internet address wherever he or she may go. 

Equant signed a five-year contract to provide global engineering group VA
TECH with networking services for its worldwide operations. Equant will
supply a variety of services VA TECH needs to communicate with its 200
companies, including iVAD over frame relay, IP-based offerings, X.28 and
PPP Dial. Twenty operational sites located in Asia, Europe, North and South
America will be linked under the agreement. 

Lotus unveiled Lotus K-station, its knowledge portal. K-Station combines
Lotus portal technologies, tools, and services with other Lotus tools like
Sametime and QuickPlace. Lotus K-station is designed to bring collaboration
and functionality to end users, giving them a single point of access to
critical information. 


LAN/Intranet
National Semiconductor and Proxim announced a joint effort to develop
wireless home networking products based on the HomeRF protocol for 2.4 GHz
RF technologies. The partnership follows the FCC's decision to increase the
bandwidth for frequency-hopping, spread-spectrum wireless technology.
Proxim and National will now be able to accelerate wireless home-networking
from current speeds of 1.6M bps to more than to 10M bps. The
National-Proxim wireless modem products will allow fast secure Internet
access, multimedia, gaming, and wireless telephony over distances of up to
150 feet. 


Network/Systems Management
BMC Software formed a distributed database management strategic business
unit, designed to provide customers with products, support, and services.
This new unit's products will include BMC's DataOne family, which covers
such database products as SQL Development Tools, Change Management,
Performance Monitoring, and Backup &

Recovery, all to be supported by Oracle, Microsoft, and Sybase platforms. 

BMC Software introduced the PATROL Storage Resource Manager, PATROL for
Network Appliance Filers, and LAN-free backup and recovery in PATROL
Recovery for Oracle. These offerings expand BMC's commitment to
Application-Centric Storage Management services; they combine with MAINVIEW
for PATROL, which enables customer data recovery. 

Compaq and Computer Associates combined to launch two IT management
packages that target medium-sized businesses across EMEA and make desktop
and server management services more affordable. The Desktop and Server
Management services include optional Asset Management or Remote Management
and provide IT Management at $45 per seat in a 500 seat environment. 

Computer Associates unveiled an updated version of the Unicenter TNG Lotus
Notes/Domino Option for collaborative work environments. Version 2.0 offers
features that simplify administration through centralized management of the
Lotus Notes environment. It also provides centralized performance reporting
and predictive analysis via CA Neugents technology. 

Computer Associates also launched its Certified Managed Services Provider
Program, which is designed to deliver strategic sales, marketing, and
technical tools to channel partners entering or expanding their presence in
the remote network and systems management market. 

In other news, Computer Associates unleashed a suite of e-business
management software for IBM's eServer zSeries 900 mainframes. By
implementing CA's Enterprise Management Suite, IBM's eServer mainframes
will enable clients to manage new workloads. 

IBM unveiled version 5.1 of its Integrated Customer Management System
(ICMS), a telecommunications industry customer care and billing service.
Version 5.1 provides new tools to enhance the existing ICMS product,
including features that handle the increase of data, voice and video
traffic. Version 5.1 also offers communications providers a single view
across wireline, wireless, cable, Internet, and data services. 

Micromuse launched the Netcool/Precision Version 2.0. This updated version
of Netcool/Precision is integrated with the Netcool ObjectServer, the core
component of the Netcool suite. Netcool/Precision 2.0 also includes
enhancements to Netcool/Precision's performance and graphical user
interface. 

Tivoli Systems launched the Tivoli Point-of-Sale Manager v2.0, thus
extending its management technology to IBM 4690 POS devices. Now POS
devices can be managed as part of an end-to-end strategy involving
multi-channel retailing, where services are provided via online channels
such as Web sites and kiosks, mail order, and various other channels. 
Should you have any questions, concerns or problems with your flash, please
contact us at: mailto:flash@faulkner.com 

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