Lucent Expands R&D in Shanghai

Lucent Technologies is expanding R&D activities at its wholly owned subsidiary in Shanghai, Lucent Technologies Optical Networks (LTON). Lucent, which is recruiting researchers and developers nationwide in China, said the decision will increase its ability to deliver next-generation optical, data and access network and service solutions throughout China.


Established in April 2000 with an initial investment of $29 million, LTON focused on design and development of metro optical transport systems, which have been widely deployed in the metro access networks of major Chinese telecom operators, including China Telecom and China Unicom, as well as networks of international operators including Deutsche Telekom and Japan's NTT.
http://www.lucent.com

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Amdocs Acquires DST Innovis for Cable Broadband Billing

Amdocs has acquired DST Innovis, a leading provider of customer care and billing solutions to broadband media companies, for approximately $238 million from DST Systems. DST Innovis provides billing and customer care solutions to the largest cable broadband and satellite companies, including DIRECTV, Comcast and Cablevision, supporting about 37 million subscribers worldwide. The company has about 700 employees and generated revenues of approximately $233 million in fiscal 2004. Amdocs said the acquisition propels it into a leadership position in the broadband media marketplace, which includes cable and satellite companies.


DST Innovis will operate as the Broadband Cable and Satellite division within Amdocs and will have global responsibility for the broadband media market. The new division will continue to be led by Peter Nault, chief executive officer and president of DST Innovis, and the current management team, with some members from Amdocs joining the management team to facilitate a smooth transition.


"Today, cable broadband and satellite service providers are offering 'triple play' service bundles that include voice, data, and video, as well as bundles of personalized, high-value services to help grow stronger, more profitable customer relationships," said Mr. Nault of DST Innovis. "Many of those providers are seeking to deepen these customer relationships in different ways, including adding wireless or wireline services to their portfolio, which further contributes to increasing complexity in the business."


Amdocs has also signed a long-term agreement with DST Output, by which it will continue to support the printing and mailing of bills for the DST Innovis customer base. Under the terms of this agreement, DST Output will be a preferred vendor of billing print and mail for projects that combine those services with billing support, and is expected to be selected as the provider of these services for additional Amdocs North American customers.
http://www.amdocs.com/

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Spain's Auna Selects SupportSoft

Auna Telecomunicaciones, Spain's second largest broadband provider with more than 500,000 broadband subscribers, has selected SupportSoft SmartAccess and SupportSoft Service Automation Suite software to automate broadband installation and ongoing support for its subscribers. SupportSoft's SmartAccess can automatically determine if a subscriber's computing system qualifies for a high-speed connection and enable the customer to self-install the service. SupportSoft's Service Automation Suite can enable broadband subscribers to resolve technical issues, either online or offline, through knowledge-enabled self-service that can include automated resolutions to common problems.
http://www.supportsoft.com/

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Telecom Serbia Selects Riverstone for Metro Ethernet

Telecom Serbia, the country's incumbent service provider, has selected Riverstone to provide the Ethernet infrastructure for its new, multi-service MPLS metropolitan area network. The first phase of the new Ethernet network will utilize Riverstone's MPLS-based RS 8000 and RS 8600 Ethernet routers to provide DSL aggregation and Internet access to both business and residential users. Telecom Serbia will also be able to use Riverstone's Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) technology to deliver high-bandwidth Ethernet VPNs to its enterprise customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.riverstonenet.com/

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Comsat Laboratories to Design Inter-planetary Network for NASA

NASA has awarded a contract to Comsat Laboratories to design and deliver a Space Communications Testbed (SCT) that emulates the nodes and links comprising an end-to-end inter-planetary communication network. NASA expects to use the SCT to test, validate, and optimize communication links, protocol stacks, operational parameters, and mission applications using time varying emulated channel characteristics and mission traffic profiles. Later phases of the SCT program are planned to provide additional benefits by also serving as a vehicle for testing new and emerging communication technologies and as a platform for testing various mission operation scenarios.


The first phase of the project provides $2.3 million to Comsat and $1.4 million to be divided among NASA Glenn Research Center, Jet Propulsion Lab/California Institute of Technology, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and NASA Langley Research Center.


Comsat Laboratories is a division of ViaSat.
http://www.viasat.com

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AT&T Supplies Global IP VPN for Shiseido

AT&T is providing a global IP VPN to Shiseido, a leading global cosmetic company. The new network is already operating successfully, connecting Shiseido International Corp. in New Jersey with Shiseido Europe in Paris and Shiseido Japan. In addition to its new global network, Shiseido has been using a domestic IP VPN network and secure IP services from AT&T that enable employees to connect remotely to applications from outside the company's offices.
http://www.att.com/

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Broadcom Files Lawsuit Against Qualcomm

Broadcom has commenced litigation against Qualcomm alleging that the company's licensing and other practices related to cellular technology and products violate U.S. antitrust laws. Broadcom asserts that the violations relate to Qualcomm's abuse of the wireless technology standards-setting process, its failure to meet its commitments to license technology for cellular wireless standards on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, and various anticompetitive practices of Qualcomm in the markets for cell phone technology and chipsets.


Separately pending between the parties are two patent lawsuits brought by Broadcom alleging that Qualcomm infringes 10 Broadcom patents related to wired and wireless communications and multimedia processing technologies. Additionally, the United States International Trade Commission has instituted an investigation into whether Qualcomm has engaged in unfair trade practices by importing integrated circuits and other products that infringe five Broadcom patents.
http://www.broadcom.com/

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AOL Extends Video Search with Content Partnerships

America Online launched a new Video Search service that aims to provide "the most comprehensive repository of high-quality video content online in key categories from entertainment to news." The service is available through its AOL, AOLSearch.com, and on AOL.com. Its database draws from the AOL Video on-demand archive of more than 15,000 licensed and originally produced video assets, including from broadcast television; more than 1.5 million video assets available on the Internet indexed through its Singingfish video and audio search engine; and RSS feeds from top video streaming sites.


AOL plans to feature optimized video content feeds from HBO, Warner Bros. Online, New York Times Digital and About.com, Movielink, Broadway.com, CollegeHumor.com and Jokaroo.com. In conjunction with approval from content partners, the AOL Video Search product also has the capability to ingest and present clips from TV broadcast content.


AOL is also previewing an enhanced version of its AOL Video Player that integrates search and programming and supports major file formats to deliver inline playback for most videos through a single, consistent experience.


"On-demand video is rapidly emerging as a mainstream behavior on the Web, and we want AOL to be the first place users go for online video," said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of AOL Media Networks.


AOL said its video on the Web strategy will enable marketers to reach their key audiences online using video advertising and through the new AOL Video Player. AOL provides in-stream video advertising with synchronized ad curtains. The company noted that it is already streaming millions of music videos every day and hundreds of millions of songs on radio and on-demand each week.
http://www.aol.com

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Moscow's Comstar Deploys Broadsoft for Hosted VoIP

Comstar United Telesystems, one of Russia's largest digital telecommunications operators and a subsidiary of Sistema, has deployed BroadSoft's hosted VoIP application software to support its suite of corporate voice network services.


Comstar United Telesystems was created in 2004 through the merger of three alternative telecom service providers to offer business customers a one-stop-shopping solution for all their information technology needs. By adding BroadSoft's hosted VoIP applications to its converged services package, Comstar is able to deliver to their more than 28,000 corporate customers a range of hosted PBX features including audio and video conferencing, universal voice mailbox, find-me-follow-me services, automatic secretary and user-friendly web-based portals for each user. BroadWorks also supports Comstar's Voice VPN service that interlinks a company's subsidiaries into a single manageable voice corporate network. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.broadsoft.com
http://www.comstar-uts.ru

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TANDBERG Acquires Ivigo, Targeting Video to 3G Phones

TANDBERG has acquired Ivigo, a leading provider of interactive multimedia video applications and a developer of video services for 3G mobile phones, for an undisclosed sum. TANDBERG said the acquisition is part of its strategy "to make visual communications accessible everywhere."

Ivigo, which is a division of TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, provides scalable solutions for 3G mobile operators, video service providers and enterprises for visual communication between 3G mobile users. The Ivigo team has also developed a video gateway that, combined with TANDBERG's Expressway technology for traversing network firewalls, allows 3G mobile phone users to reach any group or personal video system from anywhere. For example, a 3G mobile phone user can fully participate in a video meeting between a supplier and a coworker that are connected using the Internet. The 3G video gateway will be the first product resulting from the acquisition, and be sold to 3G mobile operators, video service providers and enterprises.
http://www.tandberg.com
http://www.tno.nl

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Lucent Upgrades Verizon Dominicana's 3G Net to Support One Million Subs

Lucent Technologies has upgraded the capacity of Verizon Dominicana's CDMA2000 network in the Dominican Republic to support one million subscribers within a single mobile switching center (MSC). This is the first Lucent MSC outside of the United States to support one million subscribers. The companies said the milestone is part of an ongoing network expansion project that began when Lucent first deployed the CDMA2000 network for Verizon Dominicana in 2003. Lucent continues to expand the capacity and coverage of the network with various upgrades and enhancements, while Lucent Worldwide Services is providing network installation and maintenance services.
http://www.lucent.com

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Paradyne Offer Extended Rate, Bonded G.shdsl

Paradyne introduced the ability to deliver Ethernet services of greater than 10 Mbps over two copper pairs using extended rate G.shdsl with its new 4279 IP DSLAM and 1750 series CPE. The 4279 IP DSLAM and the 1750 series CPE complement Paradyne's existing broadband triple play solutions portfolio and can be subtended by existing Paradyne 8000 series and 12000 series IP BLCs.


Paradyne said extended rate G.shdsl boosts SHDSL performance to approximately 5.7 Mbps per pair. Bonding multiple pairs of copper enables even higher bandwidth capabilities.
http://www.paradyne.com

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Micromuse and Agilent Settle Patent Lawsuits

Micromuse reached an agreement with Agilent Technologies to settle two patent infringement lawsuits, both of which are pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Micromuse agreed to pay a non-material sum of money to Agilent. This settlement has been reached with no admission of liability by any party.
http://www.micromuse.com
http://www.agilent.com

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CEO of Grande Communications Steps Down

Grande Communications, which is building deep fiber networks in Texas, announced the resignation of CEO Bill Morrow, who has stepped down after five years at the helm. Directors of the company are prepared to name Scott Ferguson as interim CEO. Ferguson previously served as Executive Vice President of Grande and was a member of the company's founding management team. Grande's bundled service area includes portions of Austin, Corpus Christi, suburban northwest Dallas, Midland, Odessa, San Antonio, San Marcos and Waco.
http://www.grandecom.com

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