Light touch

Plus: Cisco announces plans to acquire Dynamicsoft and scientists claim to build more stable laser for optical communications.

Members of three state public utilities promised a light regulatory touch on broadband over power line (BPL) service as electric companies begin to experiment with the alternative to traditional high-speed Internet service. Instead of heavy-handed regulation, state regulators want to encourage the rollout of BPL as an alternative to other broadband services. In June, President Bush pushed BPL as a way to help achieve his goal of universal broadband availability across the U.S. by 2007. (Read the story)

Cisco announced plans to acquire Dynamicsoft, a maker of carrier VoIP software based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Cisco will pay $55 million in cash for the Parsippany, N.J. company. The acquisition bolsters Cisco’s ability to provide carriers software to support applications such as presence management and unified messaging. Cisco says its carrier VoIP products, such as its SIP-based BTS 10200 Softswitch, will be integrated with the Dynamicsoft software. (Read the story)

Scientists from Fujitsu and The University of Tokyo claim to have developed a laser that is capable of maintaining a stable output over a wide temperature range at speeds and frequencies useful for optical communications. The device could enable the creation of optical networking equipment that is smaller, cheaper and consumes less power than current devices, the researchers said. (Read the story)