Microsoft TV Hires Juniper Exec to Head its Marketing

The Microsoft TV Division named Christine Heckart as its new general manager of marketing. Heckart most recently served as the vice president of marketing at Juniper Networks. Prior to Juniper, she served as president of the strategic consulting firm, TeleChoice. http://www.microsoft....

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Essent Kabelcom Selects Siemens for Cable IP

Essent Kabelcom, the second largest cable company in the Netherlands with 470,000 subscribers, has commissioned Siemens to deliver, install and maintain a new IP platform based on its Surpass solution. The network will enable a range of integrated services, including digital television, voice and video. The platform will be installed in the cities Groningen and Tilburg, which will add redundancy to the network. The management system for the new platform will be set up in Zwolle. http://www.siemens....

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Siemens Delivers WiMAX-based Telemetering in Belarus

The government-owned telecommunications operator in Belarus (BEST) selected Siemens for the delivery of a WiMAX network is designed to provide large parts of the population with internet access. In addition, the Belarussian government wants to use the WiMAX network for a telemetering application in which all household consumption data for electricity, gas and water will be transmitted over the air to a central billing system. The network and the remote wireless meter reading system are scheduled to go live at the end of 2005.The network will use...

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China Mobile Selects Nortel to Upgrade Zhejiang Optical Backbone

China Mobile, the world's largest GSM carrier in terms of subscriber numbers with 210.62 million subscribers, selected Nortel to upgrade its optical backbone network in Zhejiang province to address accelerating subscriber growth and prepare for migration to 3G. Zhejiang Mobile, a provincial affiliate of China Mobile, operates the province-wide network. Two Nortel optical platforms - Optical Cross Connect HDX Multiservice Switch and Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500 - are being deployed in Zhejiang Mobile's provincial backbone network to optimize...

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IEEE Develops Standard for Broadband-over-Powerline Systems

The IEEE has begun work on a standard to define the nature of the communication channel to be used to adapt the installed base of electrical power lines for Internet and other broadband communications. The standard, IEEE P1901, "Standard for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control and Physical Layer Specifications", will make it easier for high-speed communication equipment to be used with AC power lines. It is targeted for completion in early 2007.IEEE P1901 will apply to broadband-over-power-line (BPL) devices for first-mile/last-mile...

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SaskTel Mobility Selects Nortel for Wireless Upgrade

SaskTel Mobility selected Nortel to expand its 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO network in the province of Saskatchewan. Nortel will provide CDMA2000 1X radio base stations, base station controllers, switching platforms and other related equipment. Nortel will also supply SaskTel Mobility with CDMA2000 1xEV-DO equipment for initial deployment in Regina and Saskatoon. http://www.nortel....

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Ericsson to OEM Airspan's WiMax Products

Airspan Networks has signed a General OEM agreement under which Ericsson will resell Airspan's AS.MAX family of WiMAX broadband wireless access products. The deal gives Ericsson worldwide rights to resell Airspan's HiperMAX, MacroMAX and MicroMAX base-station products, as well as EasyST and ProST customer premise equipment. Airspan's AS.MAX product family has been designed for indoor, self-installable deployment of customer premises equipment. The product family will be commercially available in the third quarter 2005. http://www.airspan.comulIn...

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Broadcom Surpasses 50 Millionth Wi-Fi Chipset

Broadcom has surpassed the milestone of over 50 million Wi-Fi chipsets shipped. The majority of Broadcom's Wi-Fi shipments have consisted of its 54g wireless LAN chipsets. The company said that in 2004 it sold more Wi-Fi chipsets than any other semiconductor vendor and that to date, more than 200 million Wi-Fi products have been sold worldwide.http://www.broadcom....

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Sprint and Motorola in WiMax Development Pact

Sprint and Motorola agreed to conduct joint wireless broadband technology testing and equipment trials in 2005 and 2006. The collaboration is expected to spur IEEE 802.16e (2.5GHz) technology development, validate vendor solutions and help formulate network architecture strategies. The technical assessment involves lab testing of base station equipment, smart antenna technology and multimedia handsets and field trials in certain locations beginning in 2005 through 2006 as a basis for additional business-case evaluation."WiMAX is one of the technologies...

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Adelphia Boosts Cable Modem Rate to 16 Mbps Downstream

Adelphia Communications will begin offering a premium cable modem Internet service with speeds up to 16Mbps downstream and up to 2Mbps upstream. The service initially will be available to Adelphia subscribers living within serviceable areas of Leesburg, Virginia. http://www.adelphia....

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TANDBERG TV Offers 24x7 Support for VOD and Compression Equipment

TANDBERG Television began offering 24x7 technical support for both VOD and compression systems through its Network Operation Center (NOC) in Atlanta. The NOC currently supports more than 1,500 VOD systems. http://www.tandbergtv.c...

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AT&T Shareholders Approve SBC Merger

AT&T shareholders voted to approve a proposed merger agreement with SBC Communications. The company said approximately 97.9% of the shares that were voted approved the merger. This represents more than 70.7% of the outstanding shares."The positive vote is an important step forward on the road to creating a leading U.S.-based global communications company for the 21st Century," said AT&T Chairman and CEO David W. Dorman. "Together, SBC and AT&T will create one of the world's premier communications companies in terms of global reach,...

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Apple Signs Up One Million Podcast Subscribers

Apple's iTunes customers have subscribed to more than one million Podcasts from the new iTunes Podcast Directory in its first two days of availability. http://www.itunes....

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France Telecom Outlines NExT -- New Experience in Telecom services

France Telecom outlined its vision for transforming itself into a full-service, integrated wireline/wireless broadband operator with a new business model. France Telecom's NExT (New Experience in Telecom services -- Nouvelle Expérience des Télécommunications) is a three-year initiative that will leverage both its legacy brands (France Telecom, TP, etc.) and Orange, provide customers with a personalized portal for all their communications, introduce...

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