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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (4232)	11/5/2001 4:20:47 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 46821

Frank, Thank you for that explanation of the difference between QWest's implementation and that of Sprint.

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (4232)	11/6/2001 12:50:04 PM
From: russet	Respond to of 46821

A wee bit more info about the Sprint upgrade here,...part of an eight year upgrade so don't hold your breath (ggggggggggggggggg). http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/common/FullStory.html&cf=tgam/common/FullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&vg=BigAdVariableGenerator&date=20011106&dateOffset=&hub=business&title=Business&cache_key=business&current_row=3&start_row=3&num_rows=1 Nortel lands $1.1-billion network upgrade deal By SIMON TUCK TECHNOLOGY REPORTER Tuesday, November 6, 2001 – Page B1 OTTAWA -- Nortel Networks Corp. has landed a $1.1-billion (U.S.) contract to upgrade U.S. giant Sprint Corp.'s entire telephone network, the Canadian company's largest hardware sale so far in an increasingly critical area of the telecommunications gear market. The four-year deal, the first leg of an eight-year upgrade, calls for Nortel to provide switches and other voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP) technology. The upgrade will allow Sprint to replace circuit-based networks, provide high-speed Internet services and move voice, data and video traffic in digital "packets," the way information travels over the Internet. Sue Spradley, president of Nortel's VOIP business, said the Sprint deal is the latest and strongest piece of evidence that Nortel is now the world's No. 1 provider of VOIP equipment. "It's a tremendous area of growth for us." Nortel shares gained 65 cents (Canadian) or 7 per cent yesterday to $10 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on the news. Ms. Spradley also said that sales figures will back up her claim of corporate supremacy soon, if they don't already. "If we haven't demonstrated it completely today, by golly watch out, because here we come." Nortel's VOIP products are "in the major labs of the major players," she added, and that more contracts are on the way. One analyst said recently that Nortel is ranked third in the VOIP market behind U.S. rivals Cisco Systems Inc. and Sonus Networks Inc. But the Sprint deal is Nortel's second key VOIP win in less than a month; it landed a contract with Qwest Communications International Inc., three weeks ago. Sprint said it intends to become the first of the former monopoly U.S. carriers to transform its entire telephone network to a packet-based voice network. The nascent VOIP market is widely viewed as one of the telecommunications equipment industry's few areas of growth over the next couple of years, as service providers replace circuit-based technology with upgrades that mean lower costs and the possibility of new services, such as video conferencing. Nortel, which has been suffering this year from a dramatic sales tumble and a series of cost cuts, has identified VOIP as one of its key areas of growth along with wireless and optical equipment. Nortel signed a $1.4-billion (U.S.) VOIP deal last year with Britain's Cable and Wireless Communications PLC, but that 10-year contract is significantly less lucrative than the Sprint contract on an average per-year value. The Cable and Wireless contract also included the provision of services. Richard Woo, a technology analyst at Thomson Kernaghan & Co. Ltd. in Montreal, said VOIP sales are a small portion of Nortel's sales, but that the market is expected to grow. "It's emerging very rapidly." But Mr. Woo said the Sprint win has a more important value for Nortel. "It signals that Nortel, despite the difficult situation, has not lost its technological leadership." Although Nortel's contract is for only the first half of the eight-year project, Mr. Woo added, the company stands a good chance of landing the second half of the deal. Sprint has been a key customer for Nortel in recent years. Sales from the Sprint contract will start trickling in during Nortel's fourth quarter of this year, which will end Dec. 31., while the bulk of the revenue will fall in 2003. The deal is much-needed good news for Nortel, which has endured a disastrous 2001. So far this year, Nortel has announced the elimination of 49,500 jobs, vacated more than 200 buildings, reduced its product line, chopped research and development and sold less-promising parts of its business

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (4232)	11/6/2001 12:55:18 PM
From: russet	Respond to of 46821

How's this kind of cooperation progressing with you southerners? Telus, rivals to offer intercarrier text messaging Tue 6 Nov 2001 News Release See Telus Corp (2) (T) News Release Mr. Mark Langton of Telus reports In a move that promises to unify and strengthen the text messaging market, Canada's four wireless communications providers have performed a North American first. Bell Mobility, Microcell Connexions, Rogers AT&T Wireless and Telus Mobility have joined forces to develop an initiative that will enable intercarrier, mobile text messaging for digital wireless customers across Canada. CMG Wireless Data Solutions has been selected to provide the technology for the service. SMS-based messaging allows mobile wireless customers to quickly send and receive short text messages to be viewed instantly on their wireless phones. Many wireless phones sold today in Canada have the feature, but the service is currently limited as customers can only communicate between customers on the same network. To overcome this limitation, the four major wireless operators will enable both origination and termination of short message service (SMS) between their respective wireless networks. This enhanced functionality will be available to all text messaging subscribers of these four carriers, coast- to-coast. With this initiative, Canadian wireless users will be able to easily send and receive text messages to and from users of different networks by simply addressing it to the recipient's phone number. Intercarrier SMS messaging has become a phenomenon in Europe and Asia and now Canadians will have this same functionality, regardless of which network they subscribe to. At 1 p.m. Nov. 6, 2001, at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto (south building, Room 707) the four wireless carriers, CWTA and CMG will discuss this news. In just two years, the number of SMS messages sent worldwide has grown from one billion messages per month to more than 16 billion messages per month, and this is envisioned that this number will continue to grow. The continuing growth of SMS demonstrates that text messaging is now achieving mass market status in many markets of the world where the visual message is becoming as popular as voice. "The explosive growth of SMS seen in Europe has been limited in North America largely due to technology barriers," said Mark Quigley, research director, Yankee Group Canada. "In the past, mobile-to-mobile SMS messages in North America were restricted by incompatible technologies in use by the independent cellular operators. This agreement removes those barriers by bridging the incompatible networks, representing North America's first intercarrier, multinetwork mobile text messaging initiative. The move will lead to an overall increase in Canadian SMS traffic and open the door to the development of new text-based mobile notification and communication services for the Canadian wireless market." The four Canadian carriers have signed an agreement with CMG, which will use its InterSMSC Router (ISR) service to manage the SMS crosscarrier traffic. The service will bridge all of the leading mobile network technologies, including CDMA, GSM, iDEN and TDMA. Designed to operate on an independently hosted open platform, the service will encourage easy interconnection of carriers and scalable worldwide connection in the future. The strategy is to create seamless mobile text messaging to follow successful European trends. Interoperability has not been a barrier for carriers in Europe since they share the same network technology. "Canada has always been a world leader in telecommunications, and this is yet another example of our leadership in the wireless world," said Peter Barnes, president and chief executive officer, Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. "This move continues the long tradition of Canadian operators being at the forefront of North American wireless technology and enables participating carriers to launch new mobile applications and services that will reach the entire Canadian market." CMG Wireless Data Solutions is the leading global supplier of messaging, mobile Internet, and customer care and billing solutions for the wireless industry. CMG develops high-end solutions in close co-operation with its partners. To date, more than 200 of these quality solutions have been delivered to over 100 operators worldwide. They are widely recognized to be the best available, combining minimum operator intervention with maximum performance and availability. The product portfolio includes solutions based on the Wireless Service Broker, unified messaging solution, multimedia message service centre, short message service centre, cell broadcast system and EPPIX (customer care and billing system). CMG Wireless Data Solutions is a division of CMG PLC (http://www.cmg.com/). CMG was established in 1964 and currently employs around 13,000 employees. The group is listed on the London and Amsterdam stock exchanges. Bell Mobility is a division of Bell Canada, which is owned by BCE Inc. of Montreal (80 per cent), and by SBC Communications Inc., of San Antonio, Tex. (20 per cent). Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association is the authority on wireless issues, developments and trends in Canada. It represents cellular, PCS, paging, mobile radio, fixed wireless and mobile satellite carriers as well as companies that develop and produce products and services for the industry. (c) Copyright 2001 Canjex Publishing Ltd. stockwatch.com