Jim Duffy

Nortel Networks Corp. has asked Avici Systems Inc. to be its dance partner again in the IP core router ball. These two broke off a courtship almost five years ago when Nortel married router and Ethernet switch siren Bay Networks.

Lucent Technologies Inc. this week bundled its voice-over-IP products and services under a common brand umbrella and said Qwest Communications International Inc. plans to deploy the technology as the foundation for its VoIP services.

Verizon Wireless Inc. this week unveiled a service designed to duplicate the performance of wireline broadband services.

Equipe Communications Corp. is the latest Layer 2 core multiservice switch maker to unveil software that enables its switch to function as a label switching router in a Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) backbone.

Demand for Ethernet equipment and services is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years because of the technology's familiarity, ease of use and technical advancements.

Lucent Technologies Inc. this week unveiled a compact Class 5 switch targeted at rural local exchange carriers, cable companies and other independent operating companies.

The promise of end-to-end quality of service from MPLS VPNs may be just a myth if your service traverses more than one network.

Alcatel SA this week unveiled a DSL aggregation multiplexer that quadruples the number of users supported by its previous equipment and has better multimedia service provisioning capabilities.