Broadband briefs for 5/05/06

CED staff

* Alvarez means business at RCN
Felipe Alvarez has been appointed president of RCN Business Solutions [1], the commercial services division of RCN Corp. [2]

The appointment follows RCN's acquisition of Consolidated Edison Communications, where Alvarez served as CEO.

* PMC-Sierra closes on FTTH chipmaker
PMC-Sierra [3] has sealed a deal to buy Passave Inc. [4], a silicon maker for the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) access sector.

Under the deal, PMC-Sierra has picked up all outstanding shares of Passave in a stock-for-stock deal valued at $300 million.

Passave makes PON (passive optical networking) chips for optical line terminals and central office equipment.

* More Euro-DOCSIS gear makes the grade
A batch of gateways, modems and multimedia terminal adapters won Euro-DOCSIS certification following wave 22.

Based on tests conducted by tComLabs, the ECL Certification board awarded Euro-DOCSIS 2.0 certs to Thomson (CableHome Gateway TCW710), Scientific Atlanta (WebStar Euro-DOCSIS Gateway EPR2325r3, the WebSTAR Euro-DOCSIS VoIP Gateway EPC2434, WebSTAR Euro-DOCSIS EMTA EPC2203, and the WebSTAR Euro-DOCSIS Gateway EPR2320r2), Electroline (DHT-PS-NA-006 modem), Ambit (E08C009 e-MTA), and Sagem (ICDD80 set-top/cable modem).

The board also awarded Euro-PacketCable 1.0 certification to the SA WebSTAR EPC2203 eMTA, and the Ambit E08C009 e-MTA.

* Cox commits $250K in cash and services to Boys and Girls Clubs
Cox Communications [5] of Fredericksburg, Va., has committed $250,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to the area's Boys and Girls Clubs branch.

The MSO will donate $100,000 in operating support and $150,000 in programming support over a five-year span. Cox will also provide free high-speed Internet access to the Club.

* Kasenna beefs up board
Kasenna Inc. [6] announced the appointment of new members to its board of directors. Dr. Satish Menon, co-founder and former chief technology officer of Kasenna, has been appointed to the board, and Howard Bubb, chairman and chief executive officer of Ambric, an early stage fabless semiconductor start-up, also joins as a new board member.