Colin C. Haley

Looking for an edge over upstart telecoms and ISPs, New York-based Verizon Thursday launched a new portal for its small and medium business (SMB) customers. Besides tools to manage accounts, Verizon Business Center includes: news reports; stock prices; industry papers; and online classes. Catherine Hogan Lewis, a Verizon spokesperson, said the SMB portal was the […]

In a conference call with reporters last week, SBC CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr., said expanding the footprint of Cingular, the wireless carrier the company co-owns with BellSouth , is among his 2004 goals. Whitacre said there is still a gap between what Cingular is willing to pay and the price demanded by potential takeover targets, […]

Wholesale communications provider Level 3 launched a new service Tuesday that lets businesses use Voice-over-IP technology to handle calls to their toll-free numbers. The new service, dubbed “VoIP Toll Free” promises to cut costs for companies and is being marketed to conferencing service providers, call center operators and voice portals. Raindance Communications , which offers […]

Cisco announced Tuesday a new line of products to help cable operators deliver new video-on-demand services. The UMG9820 and UMG9850 gateways sit between the cable companies’ Internet protocol networks and coax systems, converting content sent from video servers into a format that can be understood by set-top boxes. The 9820 and 9850 can handle 240 […]

Network and IT equipment vendors, who have been talking up the China market for years, are about to be rewarded for their bullishness. On Tuesday, Chinese carriers and PC makers doled out contracts totaling $2 billion. The announcement came at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., attended by U.S. and Chinese government and business leaders. The […]

BayPackets said Global Crossing will use its network services platform as the carrier upgrades from circuit switched to Voice over Internet protocol network. Financial terms for the deal announced Monday were not disclosed. The Fremont, Calif., company’s Agility product will enable Global Crossing’s enterprise customers to control service access and third-party billing. “The platform not […]

Broadview Networks survived the telecom shakeout of 2002. It fought to profitability in 2003. And in 2004, it’s looking to accelerate growth by offering Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service for small and medium businesses (SMBs). The New York competitive local exchange carrier on Monday announced its entry into the second stage of VoIP trials […]

A new pact between voice over IP upstart Vonage and chip and software giant Texas Instruments is expected to make it easier for manufacturers to build devices for Vonage’s service. The companies said they would share code and design information with each other, and ultimately with manufacturers, simplifying the design and production of laptops, phones […]

Internet services giant AOL has ended its joint venture with Chinese PC maker Legend Holdings, saying the deal was not structured well in order to take advantage of market opportunities. Legend bought AOL’s 49 percent share in the partnership, which was established in mid-2001 to sell Internet services on mainland China. Legend’s ownership stake was […]

Verizon placed a big bet at a Las Vegas trade show — $3 billion. That’s how much the New York company and its wireless affiliate will spend to bring broadband to the masses over the next two years. Verizon Wireless officials said the compny will expand its third-generation mobile broadband network, which delivers high-speed multi-media […]

Verizon is close to finalizing a five-year deal with Nortel for Voice over IP equipment, a move that signals the Baby Bell is modernizing its network and preparing for its first major VoIP rollout. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Verizon spokesman Mark Marchand told internetnews.com the contract was “significant given the size and scope of […]

Voice and data carrier SBC bought network consulting specialist Callisma Tuesday to market additional services to enterprise customers. The deal enhances SBC’s ability to design large networks that support a number of key corporate services such as Voice over Internet protocol , storage and security. Financial terms of the deal between the San Antonio, Tex.-based […]