BRIEF NEWS 11/6/02

Wholesale IP voice service provider iBasis Inc., has interconnected with T-Systems, a division of the Deutsche Telekom group. T-Systems' interconnection to iBasis will enable the German carrier to route international voice traffic over The iBasis Network, as well as to complete calls for iBasis in markets served by T-Systems, which reported revenues of 11.9 billion euros in 2001. T-Systems ICSS, launched as a separate entity in February 2001, operates the T-Systems Telekom Global Net with more than 1.5 million kilometers of optical fiber.

Wire One Technologies Inc., provider of a network optimized for IP videoconferencing, will use Telefonica Data USA's network to expand its Glowpoint Video Network into Puerto Rico and Brazil. Telefonica Data USA is a subsidiary of Telefonica S.A., a provider of corporate telecommunications services worldwide. The expansion will consist of opening Wire One points of presence (POPs) in Puerto Rico and Brazil, using Telefonica data centers in those markets.

Global Crossing reported that it carrier 2.3 billion minutes of traffic over its worldwide voice-over-IP (VoIP) network in the third quarter of 2002. The traffic figure represents both customer and internal Global Crossing traffic, and the company would not specify how much of each is contained in the figure. The company did say that there was growth in new and existing customers "across the Americas and in Europe," and that the 2.3 billion was a 255 percent increase over the first quarter of 2002.

Hutchison 3G UK Ltd., which will be among the first to offer third-generation (3G) mobile voice services, has deployed an IP PBX for its internal communications. Using the Nortel Networks Inc. Succession Communication Server for Enterprise (CSE) 1000 Rel. 2.0, implemented by BT Business Information Systems (BIS), the company will have IP voice services to Hutchison 3G office locations in the United Kingdom. Features of the new system include hot desking, which enables employees to log on to IP phones using a PIN number, as well as a unified messaging application that gives a single mailbox for mobile and fixed phones.

Convergence has struck the mobile applications industry, but it is convergence of industry organizations, not voice and data. Joining its colleagues' rapid move toward consolidation of standards bodies and technology development groups, the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF) is combining with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The OMA is a newly enlarged global organization that combines the WAP Forum and Open Mobile Architecture Initiative, as well as organizations, such as Location Interoperability Forum, Multimedia Messaging Interop Process, the Synch ML initiative and Wireless Village. The OMA will work to develop open standards and specifications for mobile applications and services. MWIF had been one of the primary proponents of IP networking for 3G mobile systems.

Digital Agent, a provider of IP Centrex services based in Atlanta, Ga., will deploy the Primal Solutions Inc. Connect IXC billing product for billing mediation and rating. Connect IXC collects all usage data from network elements, correlates and formats the data to call detail records and assigns a monetary value to each event. Digital Agent offers unified messaging, call center, follow-me services, MS Outlook integration and Web interfaces for administrators and end users. The service provider has deployed the Telica Plexus 9000 switching platform and Broadsoft Broadworks voice application server.

Proset Group Inc., a provider of calling card, prepaid, and postpaid services, has implemented Digiquant's Internet Management System (IMS) for voice over IP (VoIP). IMS is used for the creation, management and billing of IP services.