LSI Logic Corp. introduced a Fibre Channel storage array for workgroup and departmental networks last week. Dubbed the MetaStor E2400, the array has dual active controllers, redundant power supplies, cooling fans and redundant I/O paths for fault tolerance. All components are hot-swappable. The E2400 has a capacity ranging from 36G bytes to more than two terabytes. The MetaStor E2400 ranges from US$18,000 to $170,000.
SiteSmith Inc., a Santa Clara startup that provides Web site outsourcing services, has raised US$26.4 million in new venture funding. The company plans to use the funds to further expand its sales and marketing organizations, and build out the company's network infrastructure worldwide. Investors include Comdisco Ventures and Dell Ventures, among others. Former UUNET Technologies Inc. CEO Mark Spagnolo recently became SiteSmith's CEO.
FRAMINGHAM (08/07/2000) - Redback Networks Inc. this week announced it will
purchase the Vancouver firm Abatis Systems for US$636 million. With the deal,
Redback gets Abatis' Network Services Contractor software, which automates
configuration of network gear to support customer services. Abatis also
provides customer site equipment that blends voice and data traffic onto one
access line. Redback says the acquisition, combined with Redback's own Service
Management System - hardware and software that defines customer IP services -
will help IP carriers speed their service rollouts.
FRAMINGHAM (08/07/2000) - DSL equipment provider Copper Mountain Networks Inc.
announced a dedicated program to help emerging service providers sell DSL
services to the multitenant unit (MTU) market. Copper Mountain's MTU
FastStartDSL program includes materials to train carriers' DSL sales
representatives. Carriers can customize and distribute the literature to
potential users in multitenant commercial and residential buildings. Copper
Mountain cites projections by research firm Cahners In-Stat that revenue for
the MTU telecommunications market will grow from US$372 million this year to $2
billion in 2004.
FRAMINGHAM (08/07/2000) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reached a legal
settlement with seven online retailers that the FTC says violated federal mail
order rules (which also apply to online sales) by failing to ship items to
consumers by the promised date or within 30 days. The retailers - Macys.com
Inc., KBKids.com Ltd., Toysrus.com Inc., CDNow Inc., Patriot Computer Corp.,
Original Honey Baked Ham Company of Georgia and Minidiscnow.com - will together
pay US$1.5 million in civil penalties related to the retailers' failure to ship
promised items in time during the 1999 Christmas season.
Sybase Inc. this week said it will ship the new version of its application server, EAServer 3.6, by the end of this month. The upgraded software includes full support for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, which should benefit developers trying to build Web applications that run across all platforms. EAServer 3.6 will be available in Developer, Small Business, Advanced and Enterprise editions, with pricing starting at US$3,000.
FRAMINGHAM (08/07/2000) - Level 3 Communications Inc. has completed metro fiber
networks in Newark and Jersey City, N.J., to complement its existing network in
New York. The carrier says its initial New Jersey customers include Vital
Communications, an application service provider that furnishes applications and
network integration to more than 400 municipalities. Level 3 President Kevin
O'Hara boasts that completion of the networks will let Level 3 introduce
"aggressive and disruptive" pricing into the metro area.
Microsoft launched its new .Net division last
week with the designation of Bob Muglia as group vice president. Muglia will
focus on overseeing the development of software, subscription services and
interface design. Muglia was vice president of the division responsible for
development of Microsoft Office.
FRAMINGHAM (08/14/2000) - Verizon Corp., the merged Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE
Corp., is getting into the building local exchange carrier (BLEC) market by
buying OnePoint Communications, which specializes in selling packages of voice,
video and data services to specific commercial buildings. Key to the deal is
OnePoint's ties with real estate developers that own large office buildings and
apartments. Verizon plans to offer voice, Internet access and streaming
video-over-DSL connections within the buildings, according to Bruce Gordon,
president of Verizon Retail Markets. The purchase is for an unspecified amount
and should close by year-end, Verizon says.
FRAMINGHAM (08/14/2000) - E-mail outsourcing giant Critical Path Inc. continued
its acquisition streak with last week's purchase of PeerLogic Inc., a directory
services firm specializing in security services. The $400 million stock
transaction is scheduled to close in the third quarter. Critical Path offers a
range of outsourced messaging services, including hosted Microsoft Exchange,
Web mail, integrated fax and security services. PeerLogic is the ninth company
that Critical Path has acquired since June 1999 and its second acquisition in
the directory arena following the purchase of Isocor in January. Critical Path
plans to fully integrate PeerLogic's LiveContent Directory with its own InJoin
Directory Server and InJoin Meta-Directory engine to provide a full suite of
directory services to large corporations.
The worldwide application service provider (ASP) market will hit $25.3 billion by the end of 2004, but some early adopters and providers will be burned along the way, according to Gartner Group Inc., a research firm in Stamford, Conn. "We see the beginning of what Gartner calls the 'Trough of Disillusionment' stage of the market," says Audrey Apfel, Gartner research director. "What generally happens . . . is vendor consolidation, market restructuring, resegmentation and the renaming of the market."
FRAMINGHAM (08/14/2000) - Patrick Naughton, the 35-year-old former Internet
executive at Walt Disney Co. and a co-author of the Java programming language
at Sun Microsystems Inc., last week was convicted by a Los Angeles court for
the crime of crossing state lines with the intention of having sex with a
minor. The e-mail exchange that led to his conviction was actually sent by a
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agent pretending to be a 13-year-old girl.
The court sentenced Naughton to nine months in home detention with electronic
monitoring, a $20,000 fine and five years probation. Naughton, now living in
West Hollywood, had written software for Disney's GO Network to screen foul
language and pornography. He was fired after being charged last year.
FRAMINGHAM (08/14/2000) - Health insurance company Kaiser Permanente last week
accidentally sent its customers 858 e-mail messages, some of which contained
sensitive personal medical information. Kaiser ascribed the mistake to human
error and a technical glitch associated with work done on its Web site earlier
this month. In addition to reporting the problem to state insurance regulators,
Kaiser was phoning recipients of the e-mail to apologize.
3Com this week announced four stackable Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet switches for midsize businesses and enterprise network wiring closets. The four SuperStack II 3300s feature 24 ports of 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet and have a built-in stacking module that lets the switches share one backplane. Where the boxes differ is on the uplinks. The 3300TM has one 1000Base-T port for connecting the switch to a copper-based infrastructure and costs $US1,995; the 3300SM has a 1000Base-SX multimode fiber port and costs $US2,350. Two models don't support Gigabit uplinks: the 3300XM, which costs $US1,345, and the thin 3300MM, which costs $US2,350. All of the SuperStack II 3300s are available now.
Voice-over-DSL patent battle looming?