Motorola Outlines Home Digital Media Strategy

At the Cable-Tec Expo, Motorola outlined a unified hardware and software strategy that will enable digital cable customers to move and share digital media throughout their homes.


Motorola's software strategy for whole-home media takes advantage of the Ucentric Digital Home Platform, a software suite that enables digital media to be shared by any connected device in the home. Because of the growing momentum for the open cable applications platform (OCAP), Motorola plans to offer extensions for OCAP that will enable operators to tap into the robust networking capabilities of the Motorola Ucentric platform by Summer 2006. This will enable cable operators to take advantage of features such as the sharing of tuners and storage across the network from within their own custom OCAP applications.





Motorola's hardware strategy begins with the introduction of the DCT3412, an all-digital, dual-tuner, high-definition digital video recorder. This model, along with its sister set-top (the widely deployed Motorola DCT6412, which also includes analog recording), would serve as the centerpiece of a whole-home media network. The set-top will be offered with various hard drive sizes (120GB, 160GB, 320GB), enabling to serve hours of digital recordings, along with music, pictures, etc. to any room in the home.


Motorola also plans to offer other all-digital set-tops designed for secondary rooms in the home. These products will support OCAP and the Ucentric Digital software, and include built-in adapters that will enable the creation of a whole-home network. The goal is to make it as easy as connecting a coaxial cable to the set-top.


The products will include a "proxied" DOCSIS set-top gateway (DSG) feature that can simplify the operator's ability to administer multiple set-tops in the home. With this functionality, operators can independently access each set-top attached to the home media network through a single cable modem.
http://www.motorola.com

• In January 2005, Motorola acquired privately-held Ucentric Systems, a provider of media networking software for the connected home. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Ucentric software solution provides access to stored digital entertainment -- such as high-definition video on a DVR, music on a computer hard drive, or pictures on a laptop -- from any connected device in the home. The software is designed to operate with electronic program guides from multiple vendors, and service providers can customize the interface with applications that personalize the subscriber experience. Ucentric had recently announced a licensing agreement with DIRECTV to deploy its Home Media Center software platform.



• The OCAP specification, which was developed under the OpenCable project led by CableLabs, allows retail consumer electronics devices to run any compliant application or service. With OCAP middleware, consumer electronics manufacturers can build digital cable products capable of running interactive program guides and premium services including on-demand television. CableLabs provides certification testing of OpenCable host devices, including host devices implementing the OCAP specification, for delivery and use in the North American cable market.

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Alcatel Lands ADSL2+ Contract from Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom

Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's incumbent carrier, has named Alcatel as sole supplier for 870,000 ADSL2plus lines. The deal is one of the world's largest single ADSL2plus orders to date. Financial terms were not disclosed.


The deployment will include the Alcatel 7302 Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) and the Alcatel 7324 Remote Unit, as well as ADSL2plus modems. The equipment delivery will begin in September 2005.

http://www.alcatel.com

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Telewest Upgrades Head-Ends with Cisco's GigE

Telewest, the UK cable broadband communications and media group, is upgrading 14 regional head-ends and 64 hub sites to Gigabit Ethernet, using Cisco 7609 Series routers at its regional head-ends and hub sites, with integrated DWDM pluggable optics. The upgrade provides a highly-resilient dual 10Gbps capacity network to support its distributed TVOD service deployment. The Cisco 7609 Series routers with Supervisor Engine 720 comprises the multiservice edge platform for TVOD services, Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPNs and Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTS) aggregation, together with Cisco Catalyst 6748 and 6704 Ethernet line cards with Distributed Forwarding Cards to create a high performance and scalable Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure.
http://www.cisco.com

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Vodafone D2 and The Cloud Form WLAN Partnership

Vodafone Germany and The Cloud formed a strategic WLAN partnership that enables Vodafone customers will be able to use around 1,000 WLAN hotspots in Germany, in addition to the Vodafone 3G network. The Cloud plans to establish a nationwide network of 10,000 hotspots over the next four years, which will provide wireless Internet at key public access points.
http://www.vodafone.com
http://www.thecloud.net/

• The Cloud currently has almost 6,000 hotspots in the UK, Germany and the Nordic countries. In the UK, The Cloud is market leader with over 5,400 hotspots, adding an average of over 100 new hotspots per week.



• The Cloud was founded in spring 2003 and its partners include O2, BT, Ericsson and Intel.

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Ciena Supplies Optical Ethernet to Japan's Largest Cable Operator

Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM), the largest cable service operator in Japan based on the number of customers served, is adopting Ciena's optical Ethernet platforms for the transport of Video on Demand (VOD) services, specifically for its "J:COM On Demand" digital service offering. The deployment is a result of Ciena's relationship with its authorized business partner, NETMARKS, a Japanese network solution provider, and represents Ciena's first announced customer win with a major international cable operator for video applications. The Ciena equipment is enabling the cable operator's VOD roll-out in the Kansai region of Japan, one of the major regions in which J:COM provides its VOD services, including the metropolitan areas around Osaka, Kobe and Wakayama. Financial terms were not disclosed.


J:COM is rolling out VOD services using a variety of equipment from Ciena, including the CN 2200 Managed Optical Ethernet Multiplexer; CN 2100 Passive Optical Multiplexer; CN 2130 Managed Optical Amplifier; and CN 2110 Dispersion Compensation Module.
http://www.ciena.com

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Harmonic Offers Variable Bit-Rate Encoding Platform for MPEG-2

Harmonic introduced a new IP-based DiviCom Electra compression platform for standard definition (SD) MPEG-2. The scalable, one rack-unit (1-RU) system can be configured with up to four high-performance VBR encoders. When combined with Harmonic's versatile DiviTrackIP statistical multiplexing solution, Electra enables service providers to maximize the service carrying capacity of their video networks while dramatically reducing operational complexity.
http://www.harmonicinc.com

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Telstra Launches Asia Express In Collaboration with telx

Telstra announced an "Asia Express" offering that automates and simplifies the global bandwidth procurement process. Asia Express is Telstra's indirect channel solution for connectivity from the US to Hong Kong at aggressively-priced, monthly flat rates with no term commitment. Bandwidths from E1 to STM 4 international private lines are provided. Starting July 1, Clear channel E1 to DS3 activation will take less than a week to install.


tel(x), the leading interconnection provider at 60 Hudson Street, New York City, and Telstra have entered into an arrangement allowing tel(x) customers to obtain a direct connection to Asia by simply cross connecting to the tel(x) Brilliant Platform. This service enables SPs the flexibility to enter into new relationships and to offer the services that their customers require ranging from voice services to global virtual LANs.
http://www.telstra-usa.com
http://www.telx.com

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Farmers Telephone Chooses Occam to Deliver MPEG-4-based IPTV

Farmers Telephone Cooperative (FTC), the third-largest telephone cooperative in the U.S., has selected Occam Networks' BLC 6000 System to deliver Triple Play services to its 60,000 subscribers in eastern South Carolina. The video portion of the network will utilize MPEG-4 Encoding, making it one of the first commercial deployments of MPEG-4 in North America.


FTC is in the process of upgrading its existing access network to a complete Ethernet- and IP-based network that provides its subscribers with services equal to those available to subscribers in urban and suburban areas of the country. It will change from its current TDM switch to a softswitch in late summer of 2005. FTC has recently installed the nation's first all-MPEG-4 AVC digital headend using the Tut Systems Astria Digital TV platform and will use the Occam BLC 6000 System's Gigabit Ethernet transport to deliver a full range of Triple Play services including Digital TV.


FTC currently has approximately 450 AFC remote cabinets installed in its network.


The cooperative already has Occam equipment deployed and expects to install the Occam broadband loop carrier in more than 600 remote sites when the installation is completed, and plans to commercially launch its Digital TV service in the fourth quarter of 2005.
http://www.occamnetworks.com
http://www.ftc-i.net

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BroadWare Raises Funding for Video Surveillance

BroadWare Technologies, a start-up based in Cupertino, California, secured a new round of funding for its video surveillance. BroadWare's solutions are built on an open systems platform that facilitates the integration of multiple technologies from diverse vendors within a single system. A migration from analog to digital video surveillance solutions is enabling images to be managed, analyzed, and distributed over the IT infrastructure in important new ways. The BroadWare Media Platform is a suite of server-based technologies for management, distribution and storage of video surveillance data in a network environment. This combination of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components allows integrators to take a "building block" approach and rapidly deploy scalable, feature-rich network surveillance systems comprising up to thousands of cameras and viewers. BroadWare's open architecture platform allows its partners and customers to combine their choice of technologies such as cameras, encoders and video analytics.


The funding round was led by Kinetic Ventures and included new funding from corporate investor Cisco Systems, Inc., as well as follow-on investments from venture capital firms Dali Hook Partners, McKenna Ventures and Sigma Partners.
http://www.broadware.com

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Avaya and Research In Motion Extend SIP to BlackBerry on WLAN

Avaya and Research In Motion announced plans to extend Avaya secure enterprise communications applications to the BlackBerry platform over WLANs using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). This will enable broad compatibility between the BlackBerry 7270 and Avaya's family of IP-enabled communications solutions utilizing SIP-based IP telephony.


Future development will focus on integrating Avaya communications applications more tightly with the business process applications that are supported on BlackBerry, such as sales force automation tools, to further empower on-campus workers to make decisions quickly and serve customers effectively. This collaboration will allow workers to use familiar desktop telephony features such as call hold, forward and transfer, forward and transfer to consult with subject matter experts and look up information to serve customers on the spot, regardless of where they are working in the enterprise.
http://www.avaya.com
http://www.rim.com/

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Scientific-Atlanta Unveils Digital Content Manager

Scientific-Atlanta unveiled a new Digital Content Manager designed to help cable operators faced with a dramatic increase in both the number and complexity of MPEG video streams processed.


Scientific-Atlanta's Digital Content Manager (DCM) is a new high-density, networked MPEG processing platform with the processing power necessary to deliver digital simulcast, switched digital broadcast, more HD and on-demand digital channels, and expanded ad insertion opportunities.


The company said the platform offers approximately 20x the MPEG processing capability of traditional multiplexing equipment currently in use. The DCM will simultaneously process up to 2,000 standard definition (SD) or up to 500 high-definition (HD) MPEG video streams from a single platform.


The capacity to handle up to 2,000 SD or up to 500 HD video streams simultaneously will also require a new approach to the user interface; another strength of the DCM platform. Using embedded HTML and JavaScript, the graphical user interface (GUI) will provide extensive drag and drop operations.


"We are at an inflection point for digital networks that will require service providers to take their video processing capabilities to a new level supported by the Scientific-Atlanta DCM," said Dwight Duke, President, Transmission Network Systems at Scientific-Atlanta. "All this processing power is complemented by the DCM's next generation transrating algorithms, which enable the addition of an incremental digital program per QAM with no loss in digital video quality."http://www.scientificatlanta.com/

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Ericsson Teams with Napster for Mobile Music

Ericsson and Napster announced a global partnership to offer a fully integrated, digital music service available for mobile operators.


The service will carry the universally known Napster brand and combine elements of Napster's popular PC offering and Ericsson's personalized music service. The business model accommodates mobile operator participation in all revenue streams. The service is scheduled to go live in Europe during the next 12 months and will initially be offered to operators in selected markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America.


The new service will support coordinated wireless and PC downloading of digital music in both subscription and a la carte models, and phone-based initiation will ensure convenient and easy music library access for both mobile and PC usage.


The companies said the service scales to current handset models and networks but can also accommodate next-generation technology for newer handsets on higher-speed networks and is designed to work on mobile phones from all major manufacturers that support content protected by digital rights management.


"There is a new media channel emerging to millions of consumers. Both music and television are entering handsets as the technical capability for this is developing rapidly," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO of Ericssonhttp://www.ericsson.com

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Ericsson Expands WCDMA Portfolio

Ericsson is expanding its WCDMA portfolio into the frequency bands of 850MHz, 1800MHz (1700MHz for Japan) and 1.7/2.1GHz for the USA. 850MHz will be available this year, while the others will be ready by the middle of 2006. To enhance capacity and coverage potential in the future, Ericsson's WCDMA solutions will also support the 900MHz and 2.5GHz frequency bands.


Ericsson said the availability of wider support for frequency bands will lead to a larger deployment of WCDMA, so operators will benefit from the large economies of scale of equipment deployments. http://www.ericsson.com

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Xten Softphone Used for PC-to-PC VoIP in Yahoo! Messenger

Yahoo! has licensed Xten's eyeBeam software development kit (SDK) to deliver SIP-based PC-to-PC VoIP in the new Yahoo! Messenger Beta. http://www.xten.com

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Meru Raises $12 Million for VoIP Mobility

Meru Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, secured $12 million in Series C funding for its VoIP mobility technology. With its unique Cellular WLAN architecture, Meru's system delivers the over-the-air QoS, scalability, predictable performance and ease of deployment required for large, enterprise-class WLANs.


The new funding round was led by BlueStream Ventures, Clearstone Venture Partners and NeoCarta Ventures. Meru Networks has now raised $42.7 million in total funding to date.


The company said it has achieved significant customer traction, with deployments by U.S. snack-maker McKee Foods, the University of Miami Medical Center in a 1,000+ access point deployment, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Pacific Sunwear and system integrator Azulstar Networks, a division of Ottawa Wireless, to deliver the nation's largest Metro voice and data Wi-Fi service to the city of Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
http://www.merunetworks.com

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NY Public Service Commission Rejects Cablevision's Verizon Petition

The New York Public Service Commission rejected a petition from Cablevision and the Cable Telecommunications Association of New York that sought to stop Verizon's FTTP rollout until it obtained local franchise agreements for offering cable-TV services.


Verizon described the decision as a victory for New York consumers. "The cable-TV industry, led by Cablevision, failed in this transparent attempt to deny New Yorkers faster, better broadband services and the promise of future choice for TV programming," said Paul A. Crotty, president of Verizon New York/Connecticut.


Verizon has indicated it will not offer cable service in a selected community until a franchise has been obtained. While Verizon seeks video franchises from localities where it is upgrading its network, consumers in those communities will have the benefit of enhanced voice and ultra-fast Internet services offered over the all-fiber network.
http://www.verizon.com

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India's BSNL Selects UTStarcom's NetRing

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), the incumbent and largest telecommunications services provider in India, selected UTStarcom's NetRing 2500 STM-16 optical transport solution. UTStarcom already supplies its AN-2000 IP DSLAM and Total Control 1000 Multiservice Access to BSNL. Financial terms were not disclosed.


UTStarcom's NetRing product line provides aggregation, grooming, cross-connect, and transport functionality to deliver high-density, highly efficient STM-1 to STM-64, PDH (E1/DS1, E3/DS3), Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and ATM services in SDH-based carrier networks. All systems support full redundancy, multiple protection options, and in-service upgrades. The NetRing product family combines Add-Drop Multiplexing (ADM), Digital Cross-Connect System (DCS), Ethernet switching, ATM multiplexing and RPR functionality into an integrated, "pay-as-you-grow" multi-service system.
http://www.utstarcom.com

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BT's Bluephone Converges Fixed Line and Mobile Service

BT launched its Project Bluephone -- an intelligent mobile service that automatically switches from the mobile network to a broadband-based VoIP connection when the BT Fusion handset is in Bluetooth range of its BT Home Hub. Handoffs from the mobile network to the broadband line would happen seamlessly -- even in mid-call. BT is using use Vodafone's mobile network. The service is currently in testing with some 400 users and a wider rollout is expected in September.


BT said the service would provide customers savings by allowing calls to UK landline numbers to be charged at BT landline rates of 5.5p for up to an hour for all off-peak calls and 3p a minute at peak times. BT estimates that a 10-minute off-peak rate mobile call using this service from home will cost up to 95% less than the same call using a typical mobile competitor.



Ian Livingston, CEO for BT Retail, said: "We promised to launch the world's first seamless combined fixed and mobile service and now we're doing it. The service will transform the communications landscape and bring excellent value to customers.


BT Fusion's handset is a new quad-band, Motorola V560 model featuring integrated VGA digital camera, speaker phone, MP3 ring tones and graphics and 5 megabytes of memory. Motorola also plans to supply its RAZOR handsets.


The BT Home Hub uses Bluetooth to link the handset with a BT broadband connection. Up to six BT Fusion handsets can be linked to a BT Home Hub, allowing up to three simultaneous calls. The hub also serves as a Wi-Fi router for creating a home network.


Customers signing up to BT Fusion will get one free handset -- available at launch is the BT branded Motorola v560; secondary handsets at launch will also be free of charge. Customers will be eligible for a free BT hub (wireless base station) Users will need to choose a mobile phone "package" (exactly the same as when choosing a standard contract mobile phone).


Full pricing details will be announced in September.
http://www.btfusion.bt.com

• In May 2004, BT announced plans for Project Bluephone, aiming "to eliminate the need to own more than one phone, as customers will be able to use a single device that can switch seamlessly between networks, giving more convenience, a better service with more guaranteed coverage and lower overall costs." Whenever customers are within reach of a BT wireless access point in their home or office, they will be able to connect at the best available speed and quality, through the BT network. If they move out of coverage range, they will seamlessly link to a partner's cellular GSM or 3G network for voice and data, giving them the best available connection wherever they are. Alcatel was named as prime contractor for Bluephone. BT also said it was working with Ericsson, Motorola, Norwood Systems, IVT, Inventel and MBT on the project.

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Cable Industry Affirms the Importance of Local Franchise Agreements

Local governments should maintain their control over how and where video services are provided, said Karen Alexander, President of the New Jersey Cable Telecommunications Association (NJCTA), speaking before the New Jersey League of Municipalities. Alexander warned that legislation being proposed by Verizon would deny local oversight and make it impossible for municipal officials to protect public safety and local aesthetics -- contrary to the important principle of home rule and need for local government to manage activities in neighborhood streets and rights of way. She also warned that Verizon might favor the wealthiest areas of the state for its cable television service instead of providing service to all areas without regard to income.


"Social and legal obligations to provide non-discriminatory access to all New Jersey consumers must be met by all cable television providers. Otherwise, new services will be available only to the few, most fortunate among us." She added, "Laws governing competition must be fair to all -- consumers and providers, said Alexander.


Responding to Verizon's claim that local franchising will delay competition, Alexander remarked: "Vibrant competition in the video services marketplace is already occurring in New Jersey as evidenced by the rapid growth of satellite providers, which in some cases are partnering with Verizon to deliver service."


NJCTA is a voluntary trade association of companies that provide cable television and advanced telecommunications service to nearly 2.5 million New Jersey customers. NJCTA members include: Comcast, Cablevision, Time Warner, Service Electric Cable TV of NJ and U.S. Cable of Paramus-Hillsdale.
http://www.cablenj.org/

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Equinix Expands in Silicon Valley, Raises 2005 Guidance

After opening its third Silicon Valley data center earlier this year, Equinix last week announced that it has acquired a fourth Silicon Valley center. The new 120,000 square foot Silicon Valley center was acquired through a long-term lease commencing in October 2005. It will add approximately 1,800 cabinets and increase Equinix's Silicon Valley footprint to more than 500,000 square feet. The center will be interconnected to Equinix's three other Silicon Valley centers through redundant dark fiber links managed by Equinix, enabling new customers in each center to have direct access to the more than 50 networks already operating in Equinix's Silicon Valley centers, as if they were in the same location.


The new center was originally built-out in 2001 at an estimated cost of $80 million for Exodus. Equinix intends to invest approximately $15.0 million of capital expenditures to upgrade the center to Equinix standards, of which $4.0 to $7.0 million is expected to be incurred in 2005. Equinix intends to open the new center for customers in mid-2006.


Equinix also raised its financial guidance for 2005. Total revenues for 2005 are expected to be in the range of $215.0 to $219.0 million, up from previous expectations of $209.0 to $215.0 million. EBITDA for the year is expected to be between $64.0 and $68.0 million, up from previous expectations of $61.0 to $65.0 million, including $1.0 million of operating costs associated with the Silicon Valley expansion.


Capital expenditures for 2005 are expected to be in a range of $33.0 to $37.0 million, comprised of approximately $17.0 to $18.0 million of ongoing capital expenditures and approximately $16.0 to $19.0 million of expansion capital expenditures. Free cash flow is expected to exceed $30.0 million.
http://www.equinix.com

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