Fujitsu announced partnerships with CoSine Communications and Atrica today, but the company stopped short of naming the third equipment vendor originally planned to be part of the announcement--Hammerhead Systems--because Fujitsu’s contract with the two-year-old edge router start-up has not yet been finalized.

Fujitsu’s so-called "FASST" product suite (an acronym for "flexible architecture for subscriber service termination"), created through its agreement to sell, install and support the next-generation products of the above-named vendors, is detailed in the current print issue of Telephony (also available on TelephonyOnline.com). The move continues the trend of established equipment vendors partnering with emerging startup players to address the next-generation equipment needs of its customers.

Hammerhead is the youngest and arguably the least accomplished member of the FASST partnership, still in trial stage with major carrier customers.

"We were working--literally--up to the wire to get this [Hammerhead contract] completed but ran out of time," a Fujitsu spokesman told Telephony in an e-mail today. "We are optimistic that we will be in a position to announce a confirmation shortly that Fujitsu and Hammerhead have completed contractual arrangements, and that Hammerhead has joined the FASST team."