FT Acquires 80% of Spain's Amena for EUR 6.4 Billion

France Telecom's Orange subsidiary agreed to acquire an 80% equity stake in Auna Operadora de Telecommunicaciones S.A., the third largest mobile operator in Spain (trade name Amena), for EUR 6.4 billion. France Telecom, which currently ranks as the second largest DSL operator in Spain (the Wanadoo brand), said the acquisition would position it as a first tier competitor in Spain. Amena currently has 9.7 million mobile customers, representing a 24% market share. France Telecom serves 526,000 ADSL lines in Spain, representing 16% market share. The balance (between 20%-25%) of the shares will be held by Santander, Union Fenosa and Endesa as well as by the minority shareholders wishing to keep their participation among which certain Spanish savings banks. The deal would close after the separation of Auna's cable and mobile assets.


France Telecom sees the acquisition as a major step in the roll-out of its NExT strategy: the ability to offer convergent broadband and mobile services in another key European market with close to 10 million additional customers.
http://www.francetelecom.com

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Cisco to Acquire Sheer for Network Virtualization Tools

Cisco Systems agreed to acquire privately held Sheer Networks, a developer of intelligent network and service management products for service providers and large enterprises, approximately $97 million in cash and assumed options for Sheer Networks. In addition, the acquisition price may be increased by as much as $25 million depending on the degree to which certain development and product milestones are met after close.


Sheer's network virtualization technology can adapt to network changes easily, scale to large networks, and help extend new technologies and services to simplify the difficult task of monitoring and maintaining complex networks. The virtual network model hides the complexity of physical networks in a way that makes them accessible to a variety of management applications. This Dynamic Network Abstraction layer makes them transparent and accessible to a broad range of management applications.


Sheer's flagship product is its "Sheer BOS", which provides continuous auto-discovery across multi-layer, multi-domain, multi-vendor networks and services. This enables capabilities in the areas of inventory reconciliation, service assurance and service configuration for next generation networks.


Cisco said the acquisition would strengthen its ability to provide innovative and effective network management solutions. Cisco's blueprint for network management includes a common services platform on which applications are delivered and the ability to support management applications from Cisco and other vendors.
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.sheernetworks.com

• Sheer Networks was founded in 1999 and has 100 employees in San Jose, Calif. and Petach Tikva, Israel.



• In May 2004, Sheer closed its fourth round of financing led by Star Ventures. Participants in this round included JVP, JK&B, Rein Capital, Morton L. Topfer, Ray Lane, Nokia and 3Com.

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Meru Offers WLAN VoIP Call Balancing and Admission Control

Meru Networks introduced a new plug-in software module for its Wireless LAN System that enables the deployment of large, pervasive wireless VoIP networks. The Meru WLAN System can now protect existing calls on the network and guarantee optimal service quality without any dependence on proprietary extensions to the client or proprietary signaling from the IP-PBX. It also can provide dynamic error correction for voice calls.


The new Voice Service Module delivers three key features, that when used with the Meru WLAN System's Virtual Cell capability, make the deployment and operation of voice over WLAN networks increase call capacity and improve the call quality. VSM transparently balances clients and calls across access points and optimizes call quality by denying overflow calls from any 802.11 VoIP device without depending upon the IP-PBX used. The key features are as follows:

• Call Admission Control: Allows the Meru WLAN System to actively limit the calls that can be made on an area of the network at any one time, preventing additional calls from damaging the service quality of the network. Admits and presents "network busy" tones based on available resources to provide a carrier grade handling of network overload similar to the Public Switched Telephone Network. Works independently of the IP-PBX so that enterprises can select handsets and IP-PBXs without any regard to the WLAN infrastructure.



• Call Balancing: Eliminates the contention, collisions, and generally unpredictable service quality that occur with traditional WLAN systems. Enables the Meru WLAN System to actively manage a global map of VoIP call loads and balance the active voice clients across the network. VoIP client thresholds can be set on a per access point and per Virtual Cell basis so the system can optimally balance calls throughout the network. This allows the network operator to overlay channels in an area, thus allowing 3-4 times the call density in a single area as multiple Virtual Cells can be overlayed and calls balanced between them.



• Enhanced Call Flow Detection: The Meru VSM, using application flow detection capabilities, automatically detects call setup resources as required for the compression/decompression (CODEC) algorithm and protocol being used, provisions over-the-air QoS for that call and admits the call as per the call admission policies. This capability is available for a broad range of client handset protocols, including SIP, H.323, Cisco Skinny Call Control Protocol (SCCP), Spectralink SVP and Vocera.



• Dynamic Error Correction: Works with the Meru WLAN System's patented Air Traffic Control technology to deliver enhanced over-the-air QoS, preventing voice calls from being lost and voice quality from being degraded. As an optional on/off feature, VSM Dynamic Error Correction allows the system to recognize when voice packets have been lost, inserting a predictive sample into the voice flow, keeping the signal continuous and preventing the receiving client from hearing gaps in the voice calls.

http://www.merunetworks.com

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Tellabs Grows Revenues to $463 million

Tellabs reported quarterly revenue of $463 million and earnings of $41 million or 9 cents per share on a GAAP basis.


"Strong customer demand across multiple product lines fueled Tellabs' best revenue quarter since 2001," said Krish A. Prabhu, Tellabs president and chief executive officer. "Our solid progress with the AFC and Vinci integrations is reflected in our improved margins and lower operating expenses."


Some highlights:

• Transport -- Revenue from transport systems totaled $159 million, down 4% from $165 million in the second quarter of 2004 and in line with $158 million in the first quarter of 2005.



• Access -- Revenue from access products totaled $144 million, up 23% from AFC's $117 million in the second quarter of 2004. [Note: The access revenue category includes all products acquired through the acquisition of AFC, which closed on Nov. 30, 2004.]



• Managed Access -- Revenue from managed access systems was $96 million, up 26% from $76 million in the second quarter of 2004.



• Broadband Data -- Revenue from broadband data products was $9 million, up fourfold from $2 million in the second quarter of 2004.



• Voice Quality Enhancement -- Revenue from voice-quality enhancement and other systems totaled $11 million, down 48% from $21 million in the second quarter of 2004.



• Services -- Services revenue was $44 million, up 9% from $41 million in the second quarter of 2004.

http://www.tellabs.com

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Agere Reports Revenues of $433 million

Agere Systems reported quarterly revenue of $433 million, at the high end of the guidance range provided by the company in April, up from $417 million in the preceding quarter. The company reported GAAP gross profit of $185 million or 43% of revenue, GAAP operating income of $3 million or 1% of revenue and GAAP net income of $120 million or $0.66 per share.


Agere also announced plans to complete the closure of its Orlando wafer fabrication facility by Sept. 30, 2005. At present, 545 employees work in the facility.


"Our results this quarter are a significant step toward achieving our operating model goals as we achieved a quarterly pro forma gross margin of 52% and operating income margin of 11%," said John Dickson, president and CEO, Agere Systems. "The closure of our facility in Orlando represents the last major step in the restructuring efforts we have undertaken."http://www.agere.com

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FLO Forum Established to Promote Forward Link Only Technology

The FLO Forum, a new non-profit industry association, has been established by key players in the wireless industry in order to promote the development of products and services related to the delivery of advanced multimedia services to wireless devices around the world using "FLO" (Forward Link Only) technology.


The FLO technology was designed specifically for a terrestrial mobile multimedia environment, making its performance characteristics ideally suited for use in cellular handset operation.


Founding members include Amoi, BBEF, Harris, Huawei, Korea Telecom, KYOCERA, LG Electronics, LG Telecom, MediaFLO USA, Pantech & Curitel, QUALCOMM, Roundbox, SANYO, Sharp and ZTE.


The FLO Forum, to be headquartered in Fremont, Calif., will work with regional and global industry consortia, regulatory bodies and designated standards organizations in support of the standardization of FLO technologies, and develop equipment compliance and certification processes for FLO products.
http://www.floforum.org

• In March 2005, QUALCOMM announced plans to make the air interface specification for its FLO (Forward Link Only) technology available to an industry-led group for the purpose of bringing a cooperative specification to standards bodies for ratification. The FLO technology was designed specifically for a mobile multimedia environment and exhibits performance characteristics suited ideally for use on cellular handsets.



• FLO uses advanced coding and interleaving to achieve high quality reception at all times, both for real-time content streaming and other data services.



• In November 2004, QUALCOMM announced plans to deploy and operate a nationwide “mediacast�? network, delivering many channels of high-quality video and audio programming to third-generation mobile phones at mass market prices. The nationwide mediacasting network will deliver multimedia content to wireless mobile devices in the 700 MHz spectrum for which QUALCOMM holds licenses across the U.S. It will be based on QUALCOMM's "FLO" (Forward Link Only) technology and use the MediaFLO media distribution system for content aggregation, delivery and viewing. The network could support 50-100 national and local content channels, including up to 15 live streaming channels and numerous clip-cast and audio channels using QVGA video at up to 30 frames per second.



• The mediacast network, which would be operated by QUALCOMM's new subsidiary called MediaFLO, would provide interactive multimedia services to consumers in cooperation with U.S. CDMA2000 and WCDMA (UMTS) operators. MediaFLO will aggregate and distribute the content that is available to all MediaFLO partners and will provide integration of this content with unique content that individual operators provide to maintain their competitive differentiation. MediaFLO would enable the carriers to deliver mobile interactive multimedia to their wireless subscribers without the cost of network deployment and operation.

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Caspian Hires UTStarcom Exec

Caspian named Dave Robison as senior vice president of worldwide sales and support. Prior to Caspian, Robison served as vice president of international sales and marketing for UTStarcomm, and before that, as vice president of sales for Zhone Technologies and Ascend Communications. http://www.caspian.com

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Meru Wins Landmark Enterprise Wireless VoIP Deal in Japan

Osaka Gas, one of Japan's largest national utilities, has selected Meru Networks' WLAN System for a pervasive wireless VoIP network that will serve the organization's 50 offices, including its headquarters.


Using Meru's WLAN System and NTT DoCoMo's dual-mode Cellular/Wi-Fi service and handsets, Osaka Gas will provide converged, wireless data and voice services to employees across the organization. With the combined Meru and NTT DoCoMo solution, Osaka Gas employees can have one-number access, with voice calls running over the corporate wireless LAN indoors, and handing off to NTT DoCoMo's cellular service when roaming outdoors.


Meru said its system was selected because of its patented, Air Traffic Control technology, which brings the benefits of the cellular world to the wireless LAN environment.
http://www.merunetworks.com

• In March of 2005, Meru announced partnerships with three of the four top VoIP systems manufacturers and solution providers in Japan: Oki Electric, Hitachi High-Technologies and Fujitsu I-Networks.

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Motorola and Cisco Partner on Wi-Fi / Cellular Integration

Motorola and Cisco Systems announced a partnership to deliver a seamless enterprise mobility solution that will include WLAN IP telephony and cellular phone technologies.


The companies said that by blending key features and benefits of mobile cellular, 802.11 wireless and enterprise fixed networks, the their solution will provide "a single mobile communications device that bridges the physical and virtual-office environments to enable anytime, anywhere communications for mobile business professionals."


Plans include dual-mode cellular and Wi-Fi phones designed for enterprise users. Seamless handoffs would occur between the enterprise WLAN and the cellular telephony service. The solution will be available as an extension to the Cisco CallManager IP-based communications system, utilizing a standards-based interface.


Motorola solution elements will include dual-mode devices and network mobility enabled by their Wireless Services Manager. Cisco will provide IP telephony and WLAN infrastructure. Motorola and Cisco plan to extend the initial solution offering to include additional Cisco CallManager features and deliver the Cisco IP Communications experience to enterprise workers whenever and wherever they are needed.


The initial dual mode solution is expected to be commercially available in early 2006.


"Motorola is strengthening and expanding its enterprise offerings by developing strategic business relationships with leading companies like Cisco to help create a complete solutions portfolio," said Greg Brown, President of Motorola's Government and Enterprise Mobility Solutions business.
http://www.motorola.com/http://www.cisco.com

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Motorola and Yahoo! to Offer Consumer Devices

Motorola and Yahoo! intend to collaborate to provide consumers with easy access to Yahoo!'s core products and services on millions of Motorola Linux-based mobile devices, broadband-enabled products for the connected home, and through Motorola's forthcoming iRadio solution, starting in 2006.


The companies said they would make these services available to key operators worldwide to increase consumer adoption of mobile data services. The products will also be offered directly to consumers. The first such devices are expected in 2006.


"Many of our operator customers have asked us for easier access to the types of Yahoo! services consumers know and love. By aligning with Yahoo! we're able to expand our offerings to customers, while providing a great Seamless Mobility experience for consumers around the globe," said Ron Garriques, president of Motorola's Mobile Device business.


"Yahoo! is focused on providing our millions of users with the opportunity to connect to their Yahoo! services on the devices they use. Our plans with Motorola are an important step toward making this vision a reality," said Marco Boerries, senior vice president of the Connected Life business unit, Yahoo!.
http://www.motorola.com
http://www.yahoo.com

• In February 2005, Motorola announced plans for its iRadio -- a consumer device and service that uses a high-speed Internet connection, Bluetooth technology, and a mobile phone to offer listeners a continuous entertainment experience using commercial-free Internet radio channels and/or a personal music collection. The Motorola iRadio solution aims to provide Internet broadcasters with "the ability to extend their services to the places where people listen to and enjoy music the most, such as in the car or while jogging."



• Motorola and Apple have previously disclosed plans to offer iTunes capability on Motorola's next-generation mobile phones.

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Sirenza Releases Power Amplifier for WiMAX

Sirenza Microdevices introduced a new family of high performance power amplifiers for WiMAX 802.16 applications. Sirenza's new SZA-3044 single chip amplifier is an InGaP HBT covering the 2.7 - 3.8 GHz frequency band. It is targeted at customer premises equipment (CPE), access point and base station applications.
http://www.sirenza.com

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Nominum Moves its DNS Servers onto IBM's BladeCenter

Nominum will begin offering its carrier grade DNS and DHCP servers on IBM's eServer BladeCenter systems. Nominum is offering three solutions for service providers on the IBM BladeCenter platform:

• Nominum Foundation Authoritative Name Server, for hosting organizations that require always-on DNS for high volume/low latency networks. This server provides performance for applications such as ENUM for VoIP or IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) networks.



• Nominum Foundation Caching Name Server, for broadband Internet providers. This solution also offers integrated load balancing and scalability benefits while additionally allowing for the integration of new solutions for serving and growing different subscriber bases.



• Nominum Foundation Caching Name Server and Nominum Foundation Dynamic Configuration Server, a modular approach for service providers to deploy the required DNS and DHCP functionality to new and existing Points of Presence (POP).

http://www.nominum.com/

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Cox Announces Management Changes

James O. Robbins, president and CEO of Cox Communications, will retire at the end of this year after leading the company for two decades. He will be succeeded by Patrick J. Esser, 48, who will become president of Cox Communications. Robbins, who will continue serving as a member of the Cox Communications board of directors, will become a member of the Cox Enterprises board of directors in early 2006. Esser joined Cox in 1979 as director of programming for the company's system in Hampton Roads, VA, and in 1981 was part of the original management team that pioneered Cox's local advertising sales division, CableRep Advertising. In 1991, he was promoted to vice president of advertising sales, later being named senior vice president of operations for the Western Division before serving most recently as executive vice president and chief operating officer.


Cox Communications is the third largest MSO in the U.S.


Also, Cox Enterprises (the parent company announced that Jimmy W. Hayes, 52, has been named executive vice president and will assume the role of president and chief operating officer at the end of 2005. Hayes will succeed Dennis Berry, who at year end will become vice chair of Cox Enterprises succeeding David Easterly who will retire from that position while remaining a member of the board. Ihttp://www.cox.com

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Verizon to Increase CAPEX Based on Wireless and Fios Growth

Verizon reported quarterly earnings of $2.1 billion, or 75 cents per diluted share, highlighted by a record-breaking quarter at Verizon Wireless, which added a record 1.9 million net customers during Q2. Wireline data revenues were also up 10.9 percent, driven by a net addition of 278,000 wireline broadband connections. Verizon is increasing its CAPEX plans by 15% for 2005 due to the strong growth at Verizon Wireless and increased spending for the deployment of Fios video services.


Overall, Verizon's consolidated Q2 revenues were a record $18.6 billion, increasing 4.6% compared with the second quarter 2004.


Some highlights of the quarter:


Wireless

• Verizon Wireless added 1.9 million net new customers in Q2, the largest quarterly customer increase in the history of the wireless industry. Verizon Wireless has added 6.9 million net new customers over the past 12 months and now has a total of 47.4 million customers nationwide.



• There was record-low churn (customer turnover) of 1.2 percent. Churn in the retail post-paid segment -- a base of 44 million customers -- was 1.0 percent in the second quarter 2005.



• ARPU increased nearly 1 percent from the first quarter 2005 and decreased 2.7 percent from the second quarter 2004 to $49.42.



• Total quarterly revenues of $7.8 billion, up $1.0 billion, or 14.6 percent -- the 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year revenue growth increases



• Continued strong operating income margin of 22.7 percent



• Verizon said it is ahead of plan with the $1 billion national buildout by year-end of its 3G EV-DO network. During the second quarter, the company expanded broadband to now include more than 50 major metropolitan markets and surrounding areas, as well as 57 airports nationwide.

Wireline

• 4.1 million total broadband connections (DSL and Verizon Fios data lines), including 278,000 net new broadband connections



• Long-distance lines totaled 18.0 million at the end of the second quarter 2005, an 8.8 percent increase from a comparable total of 16.5 million lines at the end of the second quarter 2004.



• Improving revenue trends: Total quarterly revenues of $9.4 billion include a year-over-year gain in the consumer business, and gains from first quarter 2005 in all major lines of business.



• Data revenues up 10.9 percent; long-distance (LD) revenues up 6.7 percent



• Residential wireline customer ARPU rose to $50.92 in Q2, a 6.4 percent increase compared with the second quarter 2004.



• Approximately 60 percent of Verizon residential customers have purchased local services in combination with either Verizon long-distance or a Verizon broadband connection, or both. This compares with 49 percent in the second quarter 2004.



• Wholesale voice connections -- which includes resale, Unbundled Network Element-Platform (UNE-P) and end-to-end wholesale voice services provided under commercial agreements -- totaled 6.2 million at the end of Q2, down 6.4 percent from the end of Q2 2004. Verizon had 50.7 million switched wireline access lines in service as of the end of Q2 2005, down 5.5 percent on a comparable basis from last year.

CAPEX Increase Verizon anticipates that 2005 capital spending will increase approximately 15 percent over 2004 expenditures of $13.3 billion. This revises its previous guidance of an increase of approximately 10 percent. The increase is attributable to the strong growth at Verizon Wireless and increased spending for the deployment of Fios video services.


Debt Verizon's total debt at the end of the second quarter 2005 was $41.8 billion, compared with $41.9 billion at the end of the second quarter 2004.
http://www.verizon.com

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FCC Announces 30-day Extension on VoIP E911 Enforcement

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau announced a 30-day extension of its new rules governing enhanced 911 (E911) capability by VoIP providers. The Bureau has determined that it will not initiate enforcement action, until August 30, 2005, against any provider of interconnected VoIP service regarding the requirement that it obtain affirmative acknowledgement by every existing subscriber on the condition that the provider file a detailed report with the Commission by August 10, 2005.


During this brief extension, interconnected VoIP providers will have the ability to continue obtaining affirmative acknowledgements from the entirety of their customer base.


If an interconnected VoIP provider has not received subscriber acknowledgements from 100% of its existing subscribers by August 29, 2005, then the interconnected VoIP provider will disconnect, no later than August 30, 2005, all subscribers from whom it has not received such acknowledgements. As such, providers may wish to inform subscribers that their VoIP service will be disconnected if they do not provide their acknowledgements by August 29, 2005.
http://www.fcc.govOn May 19, 2005, the FCC voted 4-to-0 to adopt new rules that require all VoIP providers that permit their customers to receive and place calls over the public-switched telephone network to provide their customers with 911 access. Key provisions of the VoIP E911 order include:

• Interconnected VoIP providers must deliver all 911 calls to the customer's local emergency operator. This must be a standard, rather than optional, feature of the service.



• Interconnected VoIP providers must provide emergency operators with the call back number and location information of their customers (i.e., E911) where the emergency operator is capable of receiving it. Although the customer must provide the location information, the VoIP provider must provide the customer a means of updating this information, whether he or she is at home or away from home.



• By the effective date, interconnected VoIP providers must inform their customers, both new and existing, of the E911 capabilities and limitations of their service.



• The incumbent LECs are required to continue to provide access to their E911 networks to any requesting telecommunications carrier. They must continue to provide access to trunks, selective routers, and E911 databases to competing carriers. The Commission will closely monitor this obligation.

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Ericsson and BB Mobile Show IMS Handover between 3G and WLAN

Ericsson and BB Mobile, a division of Japan's Softbank Group, announced the first seamless handover of circuit-switched voice and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) based video services between 3G mobile and wireless local area networks (WLAN). The live demonstration was carried out over Softbank BB's commercial WLAN network and BB Mobile's WCDMA 3G mobile network operating on the 1.7GHz radio frequency band. BB Mobile/Softbank supplied WiFi expertise through its commercial WLAN network. Ericsson provided the 1.7GHz WCDMA radio network, circuit-switched and packet-switched core networks, and the IMS network. The demonstration was held on July 22, at BB Mobile's test site in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.


Ericsson noted that handover capabilities for combinational services between WCDMA and WLAN networks are being considered for inclusion in 3GPP Release 8.


"The success of this demonstration is an important step towards our target to create a society where mobile broadband is a part of ever day life. New mobile communication opportunities and the convergence between broadband services, including our wireless LAN, will provide the most advanced mobility for consumers," said Hiroshi Ishihara, General Manager, Regulatory and External Affairs Division, BB Mobile.
http://www.ericsson.com

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Motorola and Vonage Offer VoIP Gateway

Vonage introduced a new Motorola VoIP gateway (VT2442) with home networking features.

The device powers up to two lines of telephone service and supports features such as call waiting, call forwarding and caller ID. It also includes a fully-featured home network router, offering four Ethernet ports and a firewall. Commercial availability is slated for the Fall.


Motorola's VT2442 incorporates Texas Instruments' TNETV1060 VoIP gateway chipset.
http://www.vonage.com
http://www.motorola.com

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Conexant Debuts System-on-a-Chip for ONTs

Conexant Systems marked its entry into the fiber access market with its integrated Xenon system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution targeted at optical network terminals (ONTs) on the client-side of broadband passive optical networks (BPONs).


The Xenon processor integrates a standard-compliant ITU G.983 BPON MAC/framer and network processor into a single device for bridging and router applications. The single-chip solution is based on a high-performance dual-ARM9 core network processor. Xenon supports downstream data rates of 622 Mbps and upstream rates of 155 Mbps. An optimized version for multiple dwelling unit (MDU) applications provides 25% greater throughput, and seamlessly interfaces to Conexant's Accelity VDSL/VDSL2 chipset. The device includes support for Conexant's ISOS suite of communications software.


The Xenon processor is packaged in a 528-pin plastic ball grid array (PBGA) and priced at $29.90 each in quantities of 10,000.
http://www.conexant.com

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