NL Update

TELUS named to prestigious Dow Jones index for fourth timeTELUS Corp. has been named to the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the fourth consecutive year. The western-based incumbent telephone company is again the only North American telecommunications company to be recognized and is one of 13 Canadian companies out of 318 global enterprises to make the list. Being recognized by Dow Jones is a significant achievement as the index influences the decisions of investment managers in 14 countries who use the DSJI to benchmark companies in corporate sustainability. “This achievement reaffirms TELUS’ sincere commitment to corporate social responsibility and implementing practices and values that support our efforts to achieve long-term, sustainable growth,” TELUS executive VP and CFO Robert McFarlane said in a news release. Protus IP ranks seventeen in Deloitte & Touche Fast 50Ottawa-based Protus IP Solutions has been ranked as the seventeenth-fastest growing Canadian technology company by Deloitte & Touche, staking its claim to the spot in the Canadian technology Fast 50 program. The company achieved growth of nearly 1,100% from 1999 to 2003. Protus IP CEO Joseph Nour credits the increasing demand for simple, reliable and powerful Internet-based messaging combined with an effective growth strategy for being able to achieve significant revenue growth over the past four years. “The Internet-based messaging market is also growing at a fast pace and we intend to maintain our leadership position by development communications solutions that make businesses more effective and productive,” he said in a news release. MTS TV subscriber growth exceeds forecastsManitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) has reached the 25,000 TV subscriber milestone in Winnipeg, surpassing previous expectations. “The strong customer demand we’ve experienced has gone above and beyond our initial targets, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results,” MTS president Cheryl Barker said in a news release. With 25,000 customers, MTS now serves 10% of the Winnipeg market. The company’s footprint covers 65% of Winnipeg homes and that level is expected to jump to 85% by the end of next year. “We are committed to continuing to enhance our TV service, and are moving towards offering Video on Demand as well as interactive games and other on-demand services that we know our customers will love,” Barker continued. NHC posts strong fourth quarter revenueNHC Communications Inc. has reported fourth quarter revenue of more than $3 million, up substantially from the $630,000 the company recorded in the fourth quarter of the previous year. The Montreal-based company’s year end is July 30. The significant jump in revenue is attributed to a customer contract that resulted in revenue being recorded on a deferred basis. Nearly $28 million in revenue couldn’t be recorded until a major customer completed testing on NHC’s new software. Testing is now complete and revenue can be added to the balance sheet. “This milestone and the associated revenue recognition are great news for NHC since it confirms that our new software is fully functional and meets the requirements of another major ILEC customer. As physical conversions in each central office of our customers are gradually done over the next few quarters, NHC will be able to recognize revenues of approximately $25 million, along with the related costs of revenues,” company president and CEO Sylvain Abitbol said in a news release. McAfee releases 2005 version of Personal FirewallOne of the world’s leading personal computer security software providers McAfee Inc. has introduced its Personal Firewall Plus 2005. The easy-to-use security software helps protect home users from unsolicited inbound and outbound communications and unauthorized attempts to obtain personal information.This latest version incorporates proven intrusion prevention technology, helping to proactively block or contain malicious threats from reaching the user. “Our goal with the latest release of McAfee Personal Firewall Plus was to make the product as simple to use as possible without compromising the full feature set McAfee customers expect,” McAfee Consumer’s senior director of product and partner management Brent Lymer said in a news release. FCC releases agenda for symposium on education and broadbandThe Federal Communications Commission has released the agenda for Unleashing the Educational Power of Broadband, a symposium being held on October 6. Key speakers will include FCC chair Michael Powell, and FCC commissioners Kathleen Abernathy, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. The event will explore ways to use broadband Internet access to facilitate learning in schools, libraries and the home. Also included in the conference will be presenters from the Schools and Libraries Universal Service program, an initiative established to provide affordable telecommunications services for all eligible schools and libraries, especially those in rural and economically disadvantaged areas. Current generation of broadband servers insufficient for triple-play bundlesNetwork planners interviewed by the Yankee Group say that the current generation of broadband remote access server (B-RAS) technology won’t meet their infrastructure needs to be able to offer triple-play service bundles. The high-tech research firm concludes that the need to offer triple-play services, and video in particular, will drive service providers to invest in next-generation B-RAS technology. “… service providers claimed that video over DSL service, which requires 15 to 20 Mbps per subscriber, will require new levels of scalability, quality of service (QoS), multicast routing performance, and Gigabit Ethernet port density,” reads a research advisory emailed to Network Letter from the Yankee Group discussing the market impact. Cisco introduces two products optimized for SAN marketCisco Systems Inc. has introduced two new products to its MDS 9000 family of multilayer intelligent directors and fabric switches. The two new products have been optimized for transporting storage area network (SAN) traffic outside of the data centre. This, says Cisco, makes them ideal for business continuance, disaster recovery and remote backup applications. “SAN extension, replication and remote backup are all critical components of an overall disaster recovery, business continuity solution. The Cisco MDS 9216i and the multiprotocol services module deliver these capabilities in a compact and tightly integrated form factor, which further enhances Cisco’s multiprotocol SAN switching portfolio,” Dianne McAdam, senior analyst at the Data Mobility Group said in a Cisco news release.

NL Update

News | October 4, 2004

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