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Tuesday, July 23, 2002 |
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• RealNetworks takes an open-source approach • IP Unity boosts telephony plans with EmpowerTel merger • AT&T, Lucent post quarterly loss • Phonex serves up plug-and-play home networking • Comcast plan to feature high-speed downloading RealNetworks takes an open-source approach RealNetworks has attempted to take another jab at its biggest competitor, software giant Microsoft Corp., with the introduction on a digital media software that supports various file formats for audio and video, including Microsoft's Windows Media technology and Apple's QuickTime. The open-source software, dubbed Helix, is designed to enable a company to use a single server to stream content no matter the format, rather than having to use multiple programs. RealNetworks has established the Helix Community, which consists of 29 companies, including CollabNet, Cisco Systems, Hitachi, HP, Intel, Nokia, Oracle, PalmSource, Sony Corp. and Sun Microsystems. The Helix Community will offer two license structures: the RealNetworks Community Source License and the RealNetworks Public Source License. RealNetworks expects to make the initial client source code available within 90 days. "When you have all these different platforms, and all these different protocols, it gets unmanageable," said Rob Glaser, RealNetworks' founder and CEO. "A lot of what (this technology) is about is breaking those bottlenecks and making convergence really converge." Related stories:
Retailer Best Buy is turning to Nortel Networks to establish a voice-over-IP network at its Richfield, Minn.-based corporate headquarters, while Boeing has turned to Nortel to build a nationwide optical network. Best Buy's VoIP network will be based on Nortel's Succession Enterprise solution and will feature a Meridian IP-enabled PBX. The network will support the 7,500 employees working out of the 1.5 million square-foot office. Nortel's CallPilot Unified Messaging will be used to integrate desktop applications. Nortel's Symposium Call Center Service will deliver reporting and call center functionality to the building's 750 call center agents. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Nortel distribution partner HickoryTech Enterprise will deploy the network and provide on-site upgrades and support. Separately, Nortel announced it has landed a $20 million contract to build The Boeing Company a private optical network based on dense wavelength division multiplexing and next-generation SONET technology. The deal calls for Nortel to deliver its OPTera Long Haul 1600 Optical Line Systems and OPTera Metro 3500 Multiservice platform in various cities. The network extends for 9,100 miles. Related stories:
IP Unity boosts telephony plans IP Unity said it will acquire silicon vendor EmpowerTel Networks as part of a plan to serve operators that offer voice over traditional TDM (Time Division Multiplex) networks but also have plans to offer next-generation Internet protocol-based telephony services. Financial terms were not disclosed. Though IP Unity's plan of attack involved the VoIP market, the addition of EmpowerTel's technology will allow the company to tackle a "blended" market that consists of carriers of both circuit- and packet-switched voice services. "The key to that [blended market] is to be cost-effective in both," said IP Unity CEO Arun Sobti. IP Unity hopes to achieve that by integrating EmpowerTel's MediaXpress system-on-a-chip silicon with IP Unity's Harmony6000 Platform, which includes a media server designed to handle multiple services, including interactive voice response and automated speech recognition, on one platform. The integration will reduce the cost-per-port for TDM deployments dramatically, Sobti said. Rather than purchasing a media gateway from a partner, the integration of EmpowerTel's chipset will save IP Unity on the order of 80 percent for the TDM extensions, Sobti said. In addition to selling its own gear, the Milpitas, Calif.-based company plans to leverage EmpowerTel's technology in the OEM sector as well. Although packetized voice services are expected to become the calling card of telephony's future, TDM- and IP-based services "will co-exist for the next decade," Sobti predicted. In the meantime, IP Unity is starting to pick up some business in the VoIP sphere. Most recently, Comcast said it will leverage IP Unity's Harmony 6000 for its planned VoIP deployment in Philadelphia by the second quarter of 2003. - Jeff Baumgartner
AT&T, Lucent post quarterly loss AT&T Corp. posted its biggest quarterly loss in 22 years, while Lucent Technologies Inc. reported its ninth straight quarterly loss. For second quarter ended June 30, AT&T reported a loss of $12.7 billion, or $3.49 per diluted share. The loss excludes charges related to the write down of some assets. Revenue dipped to $12.1 billion, down from $13.3 billion in the same quarter a year ago. During the quarter, AT&T Broadband added 137,000 high-speed data and 105,000 cable telephony customers. The broadband unit's merger with Comcast is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Telecom equipment giant Lucent posted a third-quarter loss of $7.86 billion, or $2.31 per diluted share. The loss widened from the $3.24 billion posted in the year-ago quarter. The ongoing spending slump in the telecom industry is forcing Lucent to shed another 7,000 jobs. The company will eliminate the positions by the end of the year. At the end of June, Lucent employed 53,000. Although Lucent did not provide fourth quarter guidance, the company says it is on target to return to profitability in late fiscal 2003.
Phonex serves up plug-and-play home networking Phonex Broadband continues its surge into the powerline home networking marketplace with the introduction of its HomePlug 1.0-compliant device. The NeverWire 14 QX-201 device uses power carrier technology to make use of unused bandwidth in standard electrical wiring. The company is marketing the device to business and residential customers with multiple computers. The product, which consists of a modem-sized box with a power plug and a RJ-45 Ethernet jack, enables users to leverage existing power lines to create a 14 MB Ethernet network. No software drives are required for the NeverWire 14. The NeverWire 14 costs $129 per node. The device can be used to share high-speed Internet access, share peripheral devices and play interactive games. Up to 16 NeverWire units can be used per powerline network.
Comcast plan to feature high-speed downloading
Small businesses that need faster Internet speeds but can't afford some of the high-priced options such as T1 lines, which can cost upwards of $1,000 a month, have a new choice. Comcast Corp. this week is to unveil a new cable modem plan with faster download speeds designed for small businesses or people who work from home and send big electronic files -- groups that haven't had many affordable high-speed options. The download speed with the new Comcast High-Speed Internet Pro will be up to twice as fast as Comcast's residential cable modem service and cost about twice as much, the company said. The service will cost $95 a month, compared with $44.95 a month for Comcast's original residential high-speed service. The fee for the cable modem rental is included in the new plan and costs an additional $5 a month under the residential plan. The Internet Pro plan is designed for telecommuters who send and receive extensive electronic files or for small businesses that have up to five computers on the same network. It will be available anywhere Comcast offers high-speed Internet access to homes. Louis P. Kasman, a media consultant who works from his Ann Arbor home, said he might be interested in the new plan, but he doesn't want to pay Comcast more money until he's sure it's worth it. "They would have to live up to what they committed to regular service before I would entertain paying them more," Kasman said. He said he's never been able to get remote access to his e-mail, something the company said would be available. Comcast's new service has download speeds of up to 3.5 megabits per second, compared with the residential plan's 1.5 megabits per second. Speeds aren't guaranteed.
WASHINGTON --- The Federal Trade Commission has nixed a request by Liberty Media topper John Malone to up the company's stake in AOL Time Warner and lift restrictions on his shareholder voting rights. In an unanimous vote, the FTC said there was no reason to relax conditions imposed on the 1996 merger of Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting. Back then, Malone ran Liberty's then-parent Tele-Communications --- a large cable-systems operator that's since been folded into AT&T --- and TCI was an investor in Turner Broadcasting. Worried that TCI would become too closely allied with cable systems operated by Time Warner, the FTC demanded that Liberty enter into a consent decree limiting Malone's shareholder voting rights and capping his stake in TW at under 10 percent. In asking federal regulators to ease those limits, Liberty argued that, as it now owns no U.S. cable systems, there's no chance for a conflict of interest. Liberty was spun off from TCI last year. But the FTC didn't buy the argument, saying Liberty never mentioned whether it intended to stay out of the cable systems biz. "Your petition has provided no basis for concluding that similar ties between Liberty and other cable systems would not produce this same distortion of incentives --- with the same effects on competition in the cable programming market --- if Liberty were allowed to own more stock in Time Warner," the FTC said in its ruling, released late Friday. Liberty has a 4 percent stake in AOL Time Warner, and through Liberty, Malone is already one of the biggest individual shareholders in AOL TW. His request to regulators had prompted speculation he'd like to acquire even more stock in the media giant --- and maybe even a seat on the conglom's board. Malone has denied wanting a board seat.
• WorldCom gets approval in court • iPass and InfoExpress form alliance • BIFS to launch service in Miami-Dade
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