ZigBee Wireless Specification Finalized

The ZigBee Alliance ratified the first ZigBee specification for low-cost, low-power wireless networks. Expected applications for ZigBee include wireless sensor networks for remote monitoring, home control, as well as industrial automation. The ZigBee Alliance, which includes more than 100 member companies, plans to validate the specification through expanded interoperability and scalability tests. http://www.zigbee....

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NTT DoCoMo Tests 1 Gbps VSF-Spread OFDM

NTT DoCoMo has successfully tested a broadband wireless access system with 1 Gbps downlink capability. The 4G radio access equipment employed variable-spreading-factor spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (VSF-Spread OFDM) radio access technology along with multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) multiplexing techniques and a new signal detection algorithm in order to achieve the 1Gbps data transmission within 100 MHz of spectrum. NTT DoCoMo said it is currently conducting indoor tests with various radio conditions as preparation for...

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PacketFront Supplies In-Building Broadband for Tokyo's Four Seasons Hotel

PacketFront, together with NEO Index Corporation and Soliton Systems KK, are suppliying a new broadband network for the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so. The fully automated network will be based on PacketFront's Intelligent Broadband Solution and will offer 300 hotel rooms and conference facilities a selection of Triple Play services. Soliton Systems has built and is operating the network, while NEO Index Corporation offers Triple Play services to the hotel. The hotel is now providing access to a content library with over 5,000 video titles...

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KPN Selects Siemens Surpass for Network Upgrade

KPN selected Siemens as the strategic IP partner for its fixed network and mobile activities in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Under the five year agreement, Siemens Communications will set up a completely new IP environment for the whole of KPN, laying the foundation for a new generation of communication services. Siemens will supply network elements and application platforms (IMS, IP Multimedia Subsystem) mostly based on its IP convergence architecture Surpass. Financial terms were not disclosed. KPN is already a major supplier of IP-based...

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Thomson Completes TR-069 Testing with SupportSoft

Thomson and SupportSoft successfully conducted interoperability testing of the DSL Forum CPE WAN Management protocol. Known as TR-069, this specification ensures that DSL modems can be easily configured, activated and managed from a console in the network, helping service providers to effectively address the costs of deployment and support of their CPE as well as tightly manage broadband service delivery. TR-069 provides the necessary framework for efficient and scalable deployment of new services on top of the DSL broadband infrastructure. Thomson...

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AMC-16 Satellite Launched from Atlas V

The AMC-16 telecommunications satellite, which was designed and built by Lockheed Martin for SES AMERICOM, was successfully launched aboard a Lockheed Martin-built Atlas V rocket provided by International Launch Services (ILS). AMC-16, a hybrid satellite featuring the second operating Ka-band payload in the SES AMERICOM fleet, with 12 spot-beams and 24-36Mhz transponders of Ku-band capacity for both fixed satellite service or direct broadcast service. The Ka-band beams will be deployed in a pattern to take advantage of frequency re-use while eliminating...

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MaxStream Adopts Freescale ZigBee Wireless

MaxStream, a supplier of embedded RF modules, has adopted Freescale Semiconductor's ZigBee wireless silicon. In Q1 2005, MaxStream will introduce the FCC and CE-type approved XBee family, which incorporates Freescale's ZigBee-ready and 802.15.4 chipsets onto MaxStream's RF modules. The XBee line of RF modules and stand-alone connectivity solutions will allow OEMs to add ZigBee wireless capabilities to their products. The ZigBee wireless standard enables the connection of electronic devices in a short-range wireless mesh network. http://www.fre...

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Sumitomo Electric Ships IP Set-top to NTT Communications

Sumitomo Electric Networks announced commercial shipment of its "StreamCruiser" IP set-top boxes to NTT Communications for its "OCN Theater" video distribution service. OCN Theater is a VOD service for NTT Comm's OCN optical fiber "B FLET'S" service. It features Hollywood movie productions, Japanese movies and the currently popular Korean dramas. In addition to VOD, the service provides video kara-oke, games, news news, weather reports, maps and other content. Sumitomo Electric's StreamCruiser IP-STB connects to the TV set in the home as a...

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Nortel Softswitch Achieves Euro-PacketCable Qualification

Nortel's Communication Server (CS) 2000 has been awarded EUR-PacketCable Call Management Server (CMS) qualification status by the EUR-Cable Certification Board (ECB), a consortium consisting of 12 major European cable. EUR-PacketCable is the set of procedures for IP-based telephony over cable and builds on the North American PacketCable standard developed by CableLabs. The standard enables a range of multimedia services, including IP telephony, multimedia conferencing, interactive gaming, and general multimedia applications. Nortel said it is...

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TANDBERG TV to Acquire N2 Broadband

TANDBERG Television agreed to acquire N2 Broadband, Inc., a provider of scalable, open-platform solutions for on-demand entertainment, in a cash and stock transaction valued at $110 million to $130 million. The companies said their merger would create a global force in the provision of enabling technologies for the delivery of digital multimedia content. TANDBERG Television is a market leader in digital video compression, offering a portfolio of standard definition and high definition compression solutions for MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and SMPTE VC-1....

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Verizon Wireless Extends EVDO in California

Verizon Wireless announced the extension of its BroadbandAccess EVDO wireless service to nearly all of Los Angeles County and, for the first time, portions of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. California. Verizon Wireless said its BroadbandAccess wireless service is now providing typical download speeds of 300 - 500 kbps throughout nearly 4,400 square miles of Southern California. In addition to its ongoing annual capital investment program to build network capacity and coverage, Verizon Wireless expects to invest $1 billion through 2005 to...

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