Mobile TV pilot begins in Finland

Digita, Elisa, MTV, Nelonen, Nokia, Sonera and YLE (The Finnish Broadcasting Company) launched a mobile TV pilot in Finland. The project tests mobile TV services and consumer experiences, as well as the underlying technology, with 500 users in the Helsinki capital region. The mobile TV test uses IP Datacasting (IPDC), which conforms with the DVB-H standard. At the end of 2004, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) adopted DVB-H as the standard for European mobile television services, enabling the simultaneous transmission of...

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America Online Partners with Sonus Networks and Level3

America Online named Sonus Networks and Level 3 Communications as key technology partners for its forthcoming VoIP service.America Online will deploy Sonus' GSX9000 Open Services Switch, the Insignus Softswitch and the Sonus Insight Management System in its consumer VoIP offering. The AOL service will also use a customized version of Level 3's consumer-oriented VoIP service. The service will be fully compliant with E911. http://www.sonusnet.com http://www.level3....

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VON Keynote: AOL Enters Residential VoIP

America Online is set to launch a consumer VoIP service, announced Jonathan Miller, Chairman and CEO of AOL, in a keynote address at VON Spring. Noting that the residential telephony market in the U.S. is valued at over $100 billion, Miller said the time is now ripe to go after the mass market. America Online, which pioneered the mass marketing of dial-up online services a decade ago, is betting that it has a better understanding of what the average consumer wants in an online service. Whereas early adopters are tech-savvy and willing to change...

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VON Keynote: Beyond the Tipping Point

"After 10 years, the VoIP Wolf has finally arrived at the door" said Jeff Pulver in a keynote address at the Spring VON in San Jose, California. This week's VON is the largest yet, with some 6,000 attendees expected. The VoIP industry, as Pulver sees it, is now it its adolescent phase. Tens of millions of people now use services like Skype regularly, and hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on marketing/advertising to attract a mass market for commercial VoIP services. And yet, the rules of engagement for the new network have yet to...

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Swisscom Deploys SIP-based Consumer Triple-Play

Swisscom's new Bluewin Phone consumer VoIP and video broadband offering is using platforms from Sylantro Systems Corporation and Siemens Switzerland. The visual user interface for the Bluewin Phone service uses Sylantro's Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) interfaces to control the VoIP, video and other SIP-based advanced consumer services over broadband connections. The new service will be available nationwide to all Bluewin ADSL customers. Swisscom has also deployed the Siemens SURPASS hiE 9200 softswitch and the SURPASS hiG 1200 VoIP media gateway...

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LongBoard Targets IP Fixed Mobile Convergence

LongBoard announced the availability of its Open Mobile Enterprise (OME) software for managed carrier mobility services. OME is a SIP-based server-to-handset solution that uses off-the-shelf hardware and phones, targeting fixed mobile convergence (FMC). This would give wireline carriers the ability to offer managed mobility applications to the enterprise, and extend business-class voice services and call features seamlessly across wireline (WiFi/802.11) and wireless (cellular) networks. Wireline carriers could use FMC technologies to stem the...

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Leonard Ray Named President of FTTH Council

The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council elected a new board of directors:Leonard Ray, Atlantic Engineering Group - President Diane Kruse, Zoomy Communications - Vice President / President Elect John Griffin, Optical Solutions - Secretary Michael DiMauro, Omega Communications Services - Treasurer Douglas Dowling, Tyco Electronics Wes Rosenbalm, Bristol Virginia Utilities Robert Whitman, Corning Incorporated "It is a very exciting time to be associated with the FTTH Council," commented Leonard Ray, President of the Fiber-to-the-Home Council, "as we...

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Level 3 Acquires 360networks' Long-Haul Transport

Level 3 Communications has acquired substantially all of 360networks' nationwide long-haul transport business and as a result 360networks will cease making monthly payments to Level 3 for operations and maintenance services for its dark fiber.The deal makes Level 3 the primary provider of North American optical wavelength services to T-Systems North America. 360networks previously served as T-Systems' broadband transport vendor in the U.S., using lit fiber that it had acquired from Dynegy Inc. in 2002. Dynegy had initially purchased that fiber...

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Agere Acquires Modem-Art for 3G/UMTS Processors

Agere Systems has acquired Modem-Art, a privately held developer of advanced processor technology for 3G/UMTS mobile devices, for $145.1 million, consisting of cash and stock. Modem-Art, which is based in Israel, specializes in developing technology for wideband and broadband communications systems. Its programmable modem engines that are fully software upgradeable, bringing significant time-to-market benefits for mobile handset vendors. Modem-Art currently markets its MA1050 processor as a fully 3GPP Release 99 and Release 4 standards-compliant...

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Comcast Awards $1 Billion Set-top Deal to Motorola

Comcast and Motorola announced a multi-year set-top commitment valued at more than US$1 billion, the largest set-top purchase agreement in the operator's history. The deal extends a multi-year agreement for Comcast to purchase set-tops and network equipment. In addition, Motorola will provide high-definition digital video recorders and standard-definition entry-level models, among others.Comcast and Motorola also announced an agreement to form two joint ventures focused on next-generation conditional access technologies.The first joint venture...

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Linksys Ships Over One Million Consumer VoIP Ports in Under 6 Months

Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, Inc., reported that it has shipped over one million VoIP ports in the six months since it entered this product category. Linksys products for VoIP include a phone adapter and wired and wireless routers with phone ports. These products, bundled with a VoIP service, enable customers to make phone calls using their broadband connection.Since August, Linksys has announced relationships with leading broadband VoIP service providers including AT&T CallVantage, PeopleCall in Spain, PhoneSystems.net in France,...

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Aastra Selects Octasic for Conference Bridge

Aastra Telecom, has selected Octasic's OCT6100 devices for new CNX Conference Bridge Appliance designed for small and medium sized enterprise conferencing requirements. The appliance allows participants to access a conference via the PSTN, legacy PBXs or VoIP networks. Octasic's single device OCT6100 allows Aastra to offer customers high voice quality in a scalable package that provides conference mixing, acoustic and electrical echo cancellation, automatic gain and level control, dominant speaker selection and adaptive noise reduction.http:/...

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Broadcom Offers Wi-Fi Phone Reference Design

Broadcom has enhanced its Wi-Fi phone reference platform with new SecureEasySetup software for helping consumers install their wireless IP phones "at the touch of a button." The phone automatically connects to the wireless network and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security activates. Linksys and HP have announced support for SecureEasySetup software, which will soon be featured in Linksys wireless LAN equipment, select HP notebooks and future HP-networked printers. Broadcom said additional equipment vendors plan to integrate SecureEasySetup software...

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Texas Instruments Enhances its VoIP Gateway

Texas Instruments introduced a flexible conferencing solution that can be used in a variety of product architectures, including dedicated conferencing bridges or media servers, or it can be used as a component of a standalone VoIP gateway. TI has developed an Enhanced SMV (selectable mode vocoder), which increases channel densities in carrier-class VoIP systems by approximately 20%, thereby reducing system costs for equipment manufacturers. Enhanced SMV offers the same subjective voice quality as the SMV bit exact implementation, but uses far fewer...

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NexTone and AudioCodes Partner for Transcoding Media Firewall Solution

NexTone has selected AudioCodes to enable a media transcoding solution for scalable and secure VoIP network interconnects. The NexTone TMF option enables NexTone's Session Controller to dynamically utilize AudioCodes' media server blades and platforms with the Multimedia Services Control Protocol (MSCP) to achieve seamless transcoding of voice and fax streams. NexTone said the solution gives carriers more control of their real-time traffic.http://www.audiocodes.com/http://www.nextone....

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BroadSoft Powers Primus "Lingo"

Primus Telecommunications is using BroadSoft's BroadWorks VoIP applications platform to support its Lingo Internet telephone service for homes and offices across the U.S. Financial terms were not disclosed.Lingo offers consumers unlimited calling in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe for only $19.95 per month with the first month free. Lingo also offers local phone numbers from 14 different countries. http://www.broadsoft.c...

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VeriSign Provides Law Enforcement Capabilities for Vonage

Vonage has selected VeriSign NetDiscovery Services to help develop the capability for law enforcement to legally intercept calls on its VoIP service. Vonage is not presently subject to the requirements of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), but is voluntarily complying with its provisions through this relationship.VeriSign provides carriers with an outsourced NetDiscovery Service for complying with legal, regulatory, technical,...

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Microsoft Advances its Integrated Communications Vision

In a global conference call event, Bill Gates outlined Microsoft's vision for integrated communications, saying Microsoft is committed to building presence awareness into all its software applications, integrating various modes of communication (e-mail, phone, instant messaging (IM), short message service (SMS), videoconferencing and Web conferencing) to allow seamless transition from one mode to another, and delivering intelligent software that can manage communications with the context of a person's availability and preferences. The webcast...

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Webex to Support Microsoft Office Communicator 2005

WebEx users will be able to access its applications from the new Microsoft Office Communicator 2005, the instant messenger client previously known by the codename, Istanbul. WebEx currently enables integrated access to WebEx meetings from a variety of applications and instant messaging clients including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Windows Messenger and the popular AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). The standards-based APIs of the WebEx MediaTone platform also enable integration of the WebEx suite of customer interaction applications...

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QUALCOMM Names Dr. Paul Jacobs as CEO, Succeeding his Father

Dr. Paul E. Jacobs (42) will succeed his father, Dr. Irwin Jacobs (71), as CEO of QUALCOMM effective July 1st. Dr. Irwin Jacobs will continue to serve as Chairman of the company.QUALCOMM also announced that Steven R. Altman will be promoted to president of the Company, replacing Tony Thornley, the current president of the Company, who will retire.Dr. Paul Jacobs has been the primary driver of QUALCOMM's focus on enabling wireless data. He has held numerous engineering and management positions since joining the Company fulltime in 1990. Dr. Jacobs'...

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VON Keynote: Powell Delivers His Swan Song

FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell chose the VON Spring conference in San Jose to deliver his swan song to the networking industry. For all the regulatory issues that crossed his desk in the eight years he served at the FCC, Powell said "VOIP most clearly stands for what I have long sought to achieve... with VoIP we've given the world something to talk about." VoIP is no longer something whispered about in technology conferences but has entered the mainstream of consumer electronics. Powell argued that it might not have been so if entrenched monopolies...

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