A fibreless optical network system backed by Lucent Technologies Inc. is designed to eliminate the last-mile bandwidth bottleneck between the enterprise and high-speed access points. Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. has entered into a joint venture with TeraBeam Networks Inc. in Seattle to develop and deploy TeraBeam’s through-the-air multipoint optical networking system.
The TeraBeam technology is optic, but it doesn’t use fibre-optic cable. The TeraBeam system uses lasers to carry network traffic to office buildings through the air.
Cisco turns out router for service providers
To ramp up the deployment of advanced IP services, Cisco Systems Inc. has rolled out a new router targeting the edge of Tier 1 Internet service provider networks. The Cisco 10000 Edge Services Router is built around Cisco’s Parallel Express Forwarding technology, which uses a parallel network processor design to speed IP services.
The design lets many processors share the packet load simultaneously, providing a consistent way to move packets so performance remains constant, Cisco said. Now in early field trials, Cisco’s 10000 Edge Services Router will begin shipping in May, priced at approximately US$550 per T1 port.
The Open Group will boost wireless standards
A plan announced last month by Ericsson Inc., Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. to jointly develop an open framework for secure mobile electronic transactions may boost the wireless e-commerce market.
The three vendors have been developing their own proprietary wireless payment-security platforms with banks and credit card companies. Using emerging and existing standards, including wireless application protocol, security functions such as wireless transport layer security, wireless identification module, and wireless PKI (public key infrastructure) technologies, the vendors said they will work with the telecommunications, financial, and IT industries to build a common framework that integrates security and payment services into mobile devices, such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants.