Kentrox released enhancements for its Q-Series QoS Access Routers, which provide protect and prioritize applications from small and medium offices. The router combines QoS, VPN, firewall, WAN access, and a QoS appliance to protect and prioritize VoIP and other critical applications. New features include:
Load balancing -- enables load sharing over multiple WAN interfaces to efficiently utilize WAN bandwidth
VPN enhancements -- VPN client supports Microsoft Windows XP to eliminate the need for an additional Windows client
Nortel and QUALCOMM successfully achieved the industry's first 7.2 Mbps HSDPA mobile data calls. The initial series of pre-commercial category 8 HSDPA data calls used test terminals based on QUALCOMM's Mobile Station Modem MSM6280 solution and HSDPA network equipment from Nortel.
The calls covered frequencies in all commercially available UMTS spectrum currently used by mobile operators throughout the world. The 2100MHz spectrum is the basis for most European 3G networks and the 850MHz spectrum is now in use for new UMTS networks in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. As spectrum at 900MHz is expanded for UMTS services, Nortel believes this can also become an important part of European HSDPA roll out.
BigBand Networks announced the appointment of Doug Jones to chief architect cable. He most recently served as chief architect for YAS Broadband, a leading broadband consulting firm, and previously worked on advanced video and broadband initiatives of major telecom and cable operators. http://www.bigbandnet.com
Birch Telecom, which serves 130,000 customers in mid-sized markets in 12 states, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As part of the reorganization, Birch issued 100% of its post-emergence equity to its secured lenders. In addition, Birch's pre-petition secured debt of $108 million has been reduced to $35 million in reinstated debt held by the secured lenders. Other creditors will receive distributions as provided under the bankruptcy plan.
Inukshuk Wireless, an equally owned joint venture between Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, announced the completion of the initial phase of its new wireless broadband network, with service available in 20 metro regions across Canada.
Th IP wireless network is based on pre-WiMAX standards and leverages existing cellular towers of both Bell and Rogers.
The initial phase of the network covers over 5 million households and 40% of the population and is now available in 20 areas across Canada including Greater Vancouver Area, Victoria, Red Deer, Calgary, Edmonton, Whitehorse, Greater Toronto Area, Barrie, London, Windsor, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, Ottawa, Gatineau-Hull, Quebec City, Greater Montreal Area, Charlottetown, Halifax, Fredericton, and St. John's.
http://www.bell.cahttp://www.rogers.com
In September 2005, Rogers Communications and Bell Canada agreed to jointly build and manage a Canada-wide wireless broadband network expected to initially reach more than two-thirds of Canadians in less than three years. The companies will jointly and equally fund the initial network deployment costs estimated at $200 million over a three-year period, completing a network footprint that will cover over 40 cities and approximately 50 unserved rural and remote communities across Canada.
The companies are pooling their wireless broadband spectrum holdings into a joint venture, Inukshuk Internet Inc., which will build and operate the network. Specifically, Rogers currently controls and will contribute to the joint venture its entire broadband wireless spectrum in the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequency ranges. Bell controls and will contribute to the joint venture all of its broadband wireless spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequency ranges.
Inukshuk will be the network services provider to Rogers and Bell and their subsidiaries, and will operate on a cost recovery basis.
Inukshuk expects to negotiate a roaming agreement with Clearwire Corporation, a U.S.-based company building a similar wireless broadband network, allowing Rogers and Bell to offer customers access to an extensive Canada-U.S. wireless broadband footprint.
Inukshuk plans to continue to use network equipment manufactured by NextNet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clearwire Corporation.
Rogers Wireless is Canada's largest wireless voice and data communications services provider and the country's only carrier operating on GSM/GPRS. Rogers Cable is Canada's largest cable television provider offering cable television, Internet access, voice-over-cable telephony services, and video retailing. Rogers Media Inc. is a premier collection of Canadian media assets with businesses in radio and television broadcasting, televised shopping, publishing and sports entertainment.
The Lucent Retirees Organization, which represents the interests of 235,000 retirees and dependents from Lucent, Bell Labs, Western Electric and/or the old AT&T Network Systems and subsidiaries, expressed its concern on the potential merger of Alcatel and Lucent.
"No one should want a foreign company to own a $34 billion pension fund -- worth more than twice Lucent's market value--unless safeguards are in place to protect the pension and benefits of 235,000 retirees and their dependents," said Ken Raschke, LRO president.
The LRO believes that the U.S. Government should not approve the merger unless the pension plan has fiduciaries that are independent of both Lucent and Alcatel.
"We call upon Lucent and Alcatel to commit to publishing financial and actuarial data on the pension plan that shows the basis for current levels of funding. We also request their prompt action to bring the funding level to 100 percent on the management pension plan that is underfunded by more than $1 billion based on Financial Accounting Standards Board rules. This must be done prior to a merger closure date."http://www.lucentretirees.org
The number of U.S. households with broadband access has topped the 43 million mark, according to a new study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). This compares with just two million in 1999.
However, the U.S. now ranks 15th in the world in high-speed Internet penetration. Asian countries top the list, with South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan all having higher than 50 percent penetration, and Japan coming close to the half-way mark with 49 percent. Many Northern and Western European countries also outpace the U.S. in broadband adoption, including the Netherlands, France, Denmark and Sweden. In addition, Canada has broadband penetration that is higher the U.S.
The CEA study found that dial-up Internet access is on a notable decline in the U.S. In 2000, dial-up Internet connections accounted for 74 percent of all U.S. residential Internet connections. This figure dropped to 60 percent by 2003, and currently stands at 36 percent. Additionally, the new research shows that cable Internet access has lost ground when it comes to customer value and popularity. In October 2000, cable broadband accounted for 15 percent of all Internet connections, compared to four percent for DSL. By March 2006, cable and DSL were head to head, each with 29 percent of the residential Internet market.
In addition, 33% of non-owning high-definition television (HDTV) households are interested in having a professional install an HDTV in the next two years. This translates into 20.5 million households. Large numbers of households are also interested in having digital video recorders (DVR) and distributed audio systems installed.
BellSouth awarded a multiyear contract to Cramer for its operational support system (OSS) software. The first domain targeted for migration to Cramer is BellSouth's IP Domain, which today provides IP-VPN and direct Internet access services to enterprise customers. Cramer will replace a series of legacy systems and databases, maximizing data accuracy between the inventory and the network. When the Cramer solution becomes operational, BellSouth will have an automated solution to order, design and assign, and fulfill a range of IP services. http://www.cramer.com
Sprint outlined its plans for the expansion and evolution of its "Power Vision" network, which now covers over half of the U.S. population with mobile broadband data services. By year end 2006, the high-speed network is expected to reach an estimated 190 million people nationwide.
Sprint will concurrently implement EV-DO Revision A this year, with the goal of launching this enhanced service in Q1 2007. Sprint plans to reach about 220 million people in the U.S. with the advanced network by the end of Q3 2007.
Sprint's current EVDO service delivers average download speeds equivalent to DSL (400-700 kbps and peak speeds up to 2 Mbps). With Revision A, peak download data rates increase to 3.1 Mbps and peak upload data rates increase to 1.8 Mbps (from 144 kbps). Average download speeds improve to 450-800 kbps (from 400 -700) and average uplink speeds become 300 - 400 kpbs (versus 70 - 144 kpbs).
At next week's CTIA Wireless Show in Las Vegas, Sprint will demonstrate EV-DO Revision A connection card technology with Nortel, Novatel Wireless and Sierra Wireless.
Sprint will market EV-DO Revision A compatible connection cards in the third quarter of 2006, which work on the current Revision O network until next-generation service is broadly available in the first quarter 2007 to about 214 million people.
TANDBERG Television introduced a professional multiformat MPEG-2/MPEG-4 AVC SD/HD decoder that will enable network operators and broadcasters to deliver both SD and HD content from studio to studio and across networks to regional head-ends and affiliates.
The new RX1290 professional receiver is also suitable for use in digital satellite newsgathering and digital electronic newsgathering applications.
The receiver is capable of decoding both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC, HD or SD. It comes with a standard ASI interface and can in addition be fitted with an integrated high performance DVB-S2 demodulator giving an additional potential 30% bandwidth savings. Future interfaces will include IP and COFDM as well. http://www.tandbergtv.com
Amdocs and Cramer signed a letter of intent to deliver an operations support systems (OSS) solution to service providers that integrates the Cramer6 OSS Suite with the Amdocs ordering and service management solutions.
The combined offering will deliver the crucial automated link between front-office customer management and back-office network and service management, unifying service ordering, provisioning, activation and assurance across all products and lines of business.
By linking front- and back-office systems as well as service assurance and fulfillment processes, SPs are able to eliminate product and technology silos. The resulting single automated system fully manages the customer and product lifecycles and helps providers create a superior, intentional customer experience.
Singapore's StarHub is launching an upgrade of its broadband hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) cable network to a DOCSIS 3.0-compatible architecture. The upgrade will enable StarHub to offer cable modem downlink speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
StarHub is using Motorola's channel-bonding solutions for HFC networks.
Singapore will be the first country in Asia-Pacific to have a nation-wide DOCSIS 3.0-compatible broadband network commercially available.
Motorola has been a leader in contributing to the current channel-bonding specification, which is part of the proposed DOCSIS 3.0 standard currently in development by CableLabs.
In addition to the current upgrade, StarHub is already looking at future plans to continue to enhance the broadband cable network to 1 Gbps in two to three years' time, as the channel-bonding platform is able to scale even further. The enhancements are expected to be implemented gradually and cost-effectively over the next few years.
Currently, StarHub's MaxOnline service provides service tiers with download speeds of up to 2Mbps, 6.5 Mbps and 30 Mbps.
As at 31 December 2005, StarHub has 277,000 MaxOnline subscribers.
The Keep USF Fair Coalition released a study criticizing a plan by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin to reform the federal "Universal Service Fund" (USF) fee on long-distance phone bills. Under the plan, the USF fee would shift from a "pay as you go" charge on long-distance calls to a flat $1 fee per phone line.
The Keep USF Fair Coalition said consumers in California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia would be the biggest losers because more money would flow out of their states.
The Coalition also noted that $1 line charge would only cover about $6.5 billion of the $7.1 billion currently being spent out of the Universal Service Fund. At the more likely $1.50 per-line charge level, all 50 states would end up paying in more than they are getting back.
http://www.keepusffair.org
In February 2005, a group of consumer organizations called the "Keep USF Fair Coalition" filed a "Fair Share Plan" for Universal Service Fund (USF) collection with the FCC. The coalition argued that under the current revenue system, high volume long distance users pay the most, while those who use less pay less. It believes the new system under consideration would shift the burden of paying for Universal Service to those who use the system the least. The "Fair Share Plan" proposes to expand the USF contribution base to include all revenues derived from telecommunications, including services using VoIP. It proposes to establish a contribution factor cap to be applied to the revenue-based approach; carriers would still be assessed based on revenues up to that cap amount, and would still have the right to charge their end users a USF recovery charge not to exceed the percentage they are charged. The balance of the funds needed to support USF would come from a numbers-based charge.
Comcast announced agreements to begin adding more than a dozen of NBC Universal's most-watched broadcast and cable programs to its ON DEMAND video-on-demand (VOD) service beginning in May. NBC Network primetime programs will be available to Comcast Digital Cable customers as early as midnight following their broadcast for 99 cents each. Late-night and daytime shows will be available at no additional charge. Viewers can play, fast-forward, rewind, pause and restart the programs.
The new NBC Universal programs will join Comcast's growing library of more than 7,000 ON DEMAND programs per month, including more than 800 movies, music videos and specials, kids' shows, sports highlights, news and informational programs.
Nokia raised its estimate for mobile device market volume growth in 2006, saying it now predicts a 15% growth from its estimate of 795 million units in 2005. Previously, Nokia estimated that the global mobile device market volume would grow 10% or more this year from last year's estimate.
Nokia Chairman and CEO Jorma Ollila said "There is huge diversity between geographic areas and markets in terms of consumer preferences and behavior," he said. "In addition to continuous growth in voice communication, other industries like music and digital imaging are quickly becoming more integral to mobility."
Nokia expects approximately 80% of the next billion subscribers to come from the emerging markets, and Nokia expects the global mobile subscriber base to reach three billion during 2008.
Chile's Telefónica del Sur (Telsur) will deploy UTStarcom's IP-based PAS (iPAS) solution for fixed-wireless telephony services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"The launch of Telsur's iPAS network is a big step in the expansion strategy of our Latin-American network. Since the Chilean market has been deregulated, it has become one of the most sophisticated telecommunication markets in Latin-America," said Rene Mendez, vice president for Latin America and Caribbean for UTStarcom.
GSM grew by more than 400 million subscribers in 2005, reaching an estimated 1.8 billion customers in 213 countries using various evolutions of the GSM technology.
UMTS is commercially deployed by 103 operators in 47 countries with an additional 93 operators in 23 other countries that have made significant UMTS announcements (including 4 pre-commercial, 61 planned/in deployment, 8 licenses awarded and 20 in-trial).
There are more than 250 UMTS devices provided to the market to date, with an increasing number of devices earmarked for North American customers.
HSDPA has been deployed by ten operators in the past four months, since Cingular Wireless first deployed HSDPA in the United States in December 2005, and there are 71 additional operators publicly committed to deployment. HSDPA has gained considerable momentum and it is expected that all UMTS operators will deploy HSDPA.
"There is early evidence of our prediction that nearly all UMTS operators will evolve their networks to HSDPA. In the past 30 days, we have seen six HSDPA launches, and I expect this trend to continue in 2006 and 2007," Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas.
Te U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware confirmed Birch Telecom's Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. Birch will issue 100% of its post-emergence equity to its secured lenders. In addition, Birch's pre-petition secured debt of $108 million will be reduced to $35 million in reinstated debt held by the secured lenders. Birch's current equity will be canceled and equity holders will receive no distribution under the plan. Other creditors will receive distributions as provided under the plan.
Birch also announced today that upon the company's emergence from Chapter 11, Stephen Dube will take over as CEO and President, replacing Greg Lawhon who has decided to leave the Company to pursue another opportunity.
http://www.birch.com
Birch Telecom serves 130,000 customers in more than 50 metropolitan markets across 12 states.
VoiceLog, a provider of third party verification services, launched a new VirtualLogger division that will provide call recording and quality monitoring under a hosted/application services provider model. The service targets call centers, enabling them to eliminate the upfront capital costs of deploying their own call recording system. The company said that more than 70% of U.S. call centers are now using some form of call recording and quality monitoring.
In addition, VirtualLogger offers other agent optimization technologies, such as speech analytics and real-time dashboards on a similar "hosted" basis.
COMPTEL, an industry organization representing competitive carriers and their suppliers, filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging last week's FCC action that granted broadband regulatory relief to Verizon.
In a statement, Earl Comstock, COMPTEL's President and CEO, said:
"The FCC's default grant of forbearance makes Verizon the only telecommunications company in the entire country that is not subject to regulatory oversight. COMPTEL believes that the statutory provision that allowed this situation to occur is an unconstitutional delegation by the Congress to an unelected federal official."http://comptelascent.org/
Earlier this month, The FCC granted Verizon's petition for regulatory relief of its broadband infrastructure and fiber capabilities. In December 2004, Verizon requested that the FCC forbear from applying common carrier regulations and the Computer Inquiry requirements to its high capacity broadband services.
As a matter or proceeding, the FCC failed to deny the petition by the required deadline and thereby the petition was granted.
The decision exempts Verizon from having to provide competitors with access to certain broadband facilities and from having to file proposed price increases for certain broadband services with regulators. It does not apply to traditional special access services (DS1 and DS3 services) and excludes TDM-based optical networking.
BroadSoft, a supplier of VoIP application software, opened an operations center in Prague, Czech Republic, to support is more than 30 European carrier customers. The Prague centre joins BroadSoft's existing operations facilities in North America and Asia to deliver live 24 by 7 support capabilities worldwide.
Axerra Networks and Narad Networks have partnered on a T1 backhaul solution over HFC. The combined offering delivers an end-to-end latency of less than 8ms, enabling Multiple System Operators (MSOs) to satisfy the stringent differential delay requirements of mobile wireless backhaul.
The solution leverages Axerra's AXN Pseudo-Wire platforms and Narad's switched Ethernet over Coax solution, avoiding the need for fixed wireless solutions or costly new fiber construction.
Axerra Networks' family of AXN Pseudo-Wire Gateways and Access Devices furnish full-service capabilities over the HFC and fiber infrastructure of cable networks, including leased line T1 PCM Voice, T1 Private Line Data, Ethernet Private Line, native Frame Relay, ATM, HDLC, and IP services.
Axerra features low latency and high-precision clock recovery capabilities that support T1 Business Services and Mobile Wireless Backhaul applications.
Narad's Ethernet-over-Coax solution provides up to 100 Mbps x 100 Mbps of additional bandwidth over each coaxial cable span. In combination with Narad Ethernet switches, these 100 Mbps symmetrical links can be switched onto the coax plant at multiple points to provide Gigabits of symmetric bandwidth per node. Narad's switched Ethernet-over-Fiber solution provides Gigabit fiber capacity while making optimally efficient use of existing fiber plant. Narad's Ethernet-based outdoor switches support fiber, coax and wireless transmissions.
The continued evolution of mobile wireless services is toward technologies that are intrinsically packet-oriented, such as HSDPA and HSUPA, and indicative that packet access networks, rather than TDM-based T1s and E1s, are the logical transport for backhaul in the RAN.
Conexant expanded its broadband access portfolio with a new family of system-on-chip (SoC) controllers for passive optical networks (PON).
Conexant's "Xenon II" family of controllers is designed for optical network units (ONUs) on the client-side of FTTP, multi-dwelling-unit (MDU) and FTTN EPON/GE-PON applications. Support for VoIP, as well as IP multicasting is included to facilitate real-time IP voice and video applications.
In addition, Xenon II controllers can be used with the company's media processing, wireless LAN and home networking chipsets to deliver QoS on every link of the home network.
The Xenon II processor family is sampling now, with production quantities scheduled for May 2006. Prices begin at $26.50 for high-volume applications.
Netrake and Kineto Wireless completed interoperability testing to support currently installed UMA systems. Netrake's nCite Security Gateway and Kineto's IP-based UMA Network Controller (IP-UNC) are currently deployed in multiple commercial trials for UMA-based mobile/Wi-Fi convergence. This joint solution allows mobile operators to leverage their existing infrastructure and utilize UMA-based technology to cost effectively manage and accelerate fixed-to-mobile usage in home and enterprise environments.
Netrake's nCite Security Gateway encapsulates the voice and multimedia in secure, encrypted IP tunnels to ensure privacy for wireless usage over the public Internet. It does this utilizing IPSec encryption and provides the ability to establish hundreds of thousands of media and signaling security associations without adding network latency.
The core component of Kineto's mobile/Wi-Fi convergence solution is the Kineto IP-UNC, a carrier-class network element that integrates with a service provider's existing voice and packet switching systems, and uses standard interfaces to extend high-performance mobile services over IP access networks and WLANs. http://www.netrake.comhttp://www.kineto.com
Cablemas, Mexico's second-largest cable operator, has launched the first phase of an extensive network management initiative using Scientific Atlanta's ROSA technology.
The ROSA NMS is capable of monitoring and controlling nearly all aspects of service management, network management and element management of broadband networks. It translates legacy equipment's proprietary alarm and performance data into Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) for centralized monitoring and control in a NOC.
Cablemas has deployed the ROSA NMS at its network operations center (NOC) in Cuernavaca. Additionally, the ROSA Element Manager (EM) is in use at its Tijuana system to help enable operators there to manage their network through the EM's automated alarm notification and Web browser-based user interface. Simultaneously, all of the alarm information and desired performance data is transferred from the ROSA EM to the NOC where the ROSA NMS aggregates this data and presents an operational view of the network. Cablemas' plans call for the EM system to be expanded into 13 additional headends delivering video in other cities including Acapulco, Chihuahua, Coatzacoalcos, Cuernavaca, Juarez, Merida, Mexicali and Playa del Carmen.
AudioCodes and Kineto Wireless completed interoperability testing between AudioCodes' Mediant media gateways and Kineto Wireless' IP-based UMA Network Controller (IP-UNC). In addition, the companies announced their deployment of these products as part of ongoing fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) trials with several major European operators.
The core component of Kineto's mobile/Wi-Fi convergence solution is its IP-UNC, a carrier-class network element that integrates with a service provider's existing voice (MSC) and data (SGSN) switching systems and uses standard interfaces to extend high-performance mobile services over IP access networks and WLANs. The Kineto IP-UNC manages and secures all subscriber access to mobile, voice, data and IMS services from various WLAN locations, and facilitates automatic seamless roaming and handover between licensed radio access networks and WLANs.
AudioCodes' Mediant media gateways interconnect the VoIP traffic received over IP from the cellular/WiFi-enabled handsets to existing GSM MSCs using standards-based signaling and control. The AudioCodes gateway can also support GSM, UMTS and/or IMS networks, providing additional utility for operators as they evolve their networks over time.
Originally developed by 15 leading companies in the mobile industry, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) is now the 3GPP standard for enabling subscriber access to mobile services over Wi-Fi and broadband IP networks. The UMA standard effectively creates a parallel radio access network - the UMA Network (UMAN) that interfaces to the mobile core network using existing GSM-defined standard interfaces. This solution uses IP tunneling techniques to transparently extend mobile voice, data, and IMS services over IP access networks. Here is an overview of UMA.
India's state-owned major telecom, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL), will deploy Optibase's IPTV MGW 5100 platforms for its digital head-end for delivery of Triple Play services in the Delhi and Mumbai areas. MTNL is deploying these services targeted at their 3.9 million subscribers along with Time Broadband Services Limited as their video tier partner. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.optibase.com
QUALCOMM filed a new complaint against Broadcom charging misappropriation of trade secrets relating to QUALCOMM's development and marketing of WCDMA baseband integrated circuit products and the multimedia capabilities of such products. The suit alleges that Broadcom has used the misappropriated trade secrets to compete unfairly with QUALCOMM for the sale of WCDMA chipsets.
The new lawsuit is the third intellectual property infringement case brought by QUALCOMM against Broadcom. San Diego is the venue of the other two cases as well. To date, QUALCOMM has asserted infringement by Broadcom of ten QUALCOMM patents. The first trial is scheduled to occur in January 2007.
http://www.qualcomm.com
In November 2005, Broadcom, Ericsson, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Texas Instruments announced that have each filed complaints to the European Commission requesting that it investigate anti-competitive conduct by Qualcomm in the licensing of essential patents for 3G mobile technology.
In July 2005, Broadcom commenced litigation against Qualcomm alleging that the company's licensing and other practices related to cellular technology and products violate U.S. antitrust laws. 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.
Modulus Video introduced a small-form-factor (1RU) version of its MPEG-4 AVC video compression system. The new ME100 provides a complete implementation of the AVC toolkit and delivers sophisticated Constrained Fidelity Constant Bit Rate (CF CBR), which maximizes bandwidth efficiency. It also introduces new features to enhance IPTV services, including the first embedded low resolution proxy solution for enabling Picture-in-Picture (PIP) for Microsoft TV and Electronic Program Guide (EPG) applications.
The ME1001 standard definition encoder from Modulus Video is a full resolution MPEG-4 AVC video encoder with support for Main Profile video encoding at Level 3. It provides selectable support for advanced features such as CABAC entropy coding, macro block adaptive field frame coding, weighted prediction and de-blocking filter. Optional Motion Compensated Temporal Filtering (MCTF) significantly increases video quality by reducing random noise without incurring motion blur.
Alcatel's new Access Guardian feature set and the Alcatel OmniVista 2770 Quarantine Manager will support Microsoft's Network Access Protection, which is a policy enforcement technology built into Microsoft's operating systems Windows Vista and the future version of Windows Server. Microsoft's Network Access Protection aims to provide better protection of network assets from unhealthy computers by enforcing compliance with network health policies, such as antivirus (AV) signatures, patch levels, and firewall configurations.
Alcatel said its Access Guardian allows the different policies associated with the various devices to be combined onto a single port. It automatically detects and authenticates based on the user and device type. This provides users proactive security by preventing unauthorized network access, and reduces to zero the time a network administrator spends for adding or moving users. In addition to proactive security, the Alcatel OmniVista 2770 Quarantine Manager provides reactive security by handling malicious attacks through automatic containment and remediation. http://www.alcatel.com
ECI Telecom introduced its Hi-FOCuS MiniShelf, a solution for street (Outside Plant) installations that combines xDSL and Fiber to the Premises capabilities in one box. This enables service providers to deploy access technologies such as ADSL2+, VDSL2 and fiber optics last mile access (GPON).
The Hi-FOCuS MiniShelf accommodates all types of cards used in ECI's Hi-FOCuS Central Office solution. Using the same cards for both the Central Office as well as the Remote systems also provides operators with significant CAPEX and OPEX savings. The new solution can be integrated into an existing or new street cabinet.
ECI's portfolio of Outside Plant solutions also includes its Hi-FOCuS MiniRAM DSLAM and the Hi-FOCuS MiniCAB mini street cabinet. All Hi-FOCuS MiniShelf products use the same management systems and aggregation facilities as ECI's family of broadband access products for both Central Office and Outside Plant, providing superior ease of use and interoperability. http://www.ecitele.com
Cramer launched its Cramer6 OSS Suite, its next generation, end-to-end fulfillment suite "for any service on any network." The company has added seven new integrated products to its portfolio.
Cramer said that by encapsulating network complexity for presentation to the sales and marketing organization, it can allows product managers to accelerate the creation of new services.
Cramer6 OSS Suite provides a two-way interface between the Business Support Systems (BSS) and the OSS. It features a unique inventory-centric approach to service fulfillment and activation. Driven by the need for more sophisticated activation for NGN environments, particularly Triple Play, Cramer6 OSS Suite applies the functionality of Cramer inventory and process automation to the task of high-volume, flow-through activation. Inventory-centric activation enables complex service changes without service disruption, increases fulfillment accuracy and reduces the order-to-bill cycle.
Cramer also said its new OSS Suite is intrinsically ready to support new media-based services and associated content. By providing an abstract view of services and resources at all levels, including network, IT and content components, and by providing a capacity view of these resources, Cramer6 OSS Suite enables automation of critical business processes across the converged network.
Separately, Alcatel and Cramer are teaming up to launch a joint Next Generation Network (NGN) solution center to develop an out-of-the box fulfillment solution. Cramer and Alcatel will jointly invest in the NGN Solution Center, which will be located at Alcatel's premises in Stuttgart, Germany.
The joint solution will leverage the Cramer6 OSS Suite and Alcatel's equipment and integration capabilities to automate the end-to-end fulfillment of triple play services for Tier 1 telecom operators.
Cramer also announced plans to offer solutions for telecommunications service providers pre-integrated with Oracle's Business Support System (BSS) capabilities. Specifically, Cramer will work with Oracle to deliver solutions to integrate BSS and OSS and automate key business processes to drive efficiency, scalability and flexibility.
Nortel agreed to distribute LGC Wireless' in-building wireless products as part of its CDMA portfolio of mobile wireless infrastructure solutions.
Under the agreement, Nortel will sell and distribute LGC's InterReach Unison systems around the world, giving LGC a strong global distribution partner that is a leader in carrier wireless infrastructure.
In the race to deploy 3G mobile data coverage, carriers are primarily concerned with upgrading their existing outdoor network. While this will support applications in transportation, utilities, and construction industries, such coverage won't easily support indoor mobile 3G wireless users. There are two basic challenges.
BroadSoft introduced a new Media Resource Function Server (MRF) for IMS environments. Based on the BroadWorks Media Server, the new MRF builds on core features by enhancing them with IMS capability, permitting interoperability with other application servers and allowing service providers to quickly deploy a range of audio and video services.
As a fully IMS-compliant media server, the MRF links the control and transport layers of the network, processing requests for media services from the application server.
The MRF could also be used in enterprise networks to enable multiple media capabilities, including audio and video IVR functions (i.e. record and playback), audio conferencing with ad-hoc and group calling, fax reception and forwarding and streaming (audio and video broadcast).
Broadsoft cited a number of network applications that can be built by using the MRF, including:
Video Mail and messaging
Auto Attendant
Video advertisement in call centre queues
Play tones
The MRF can also be managed remotely and monitored externally. http://www.broadsoft.com
BT is implementing MetaSolv's Provisioning 5 to enable IP Service delivery. Specifically, MetaSolv's Provisioning 5 will be used to facilitate the automated provisioning of BT's MPLS-based IP-VPN services and network elements as part of BT's Vserve initiative. The key objective of BT's Vserve program is to simplify and automate its entire VPN provisioning process, reducing time to revenue and lowering operational costs.
As a major part of this initiative, BT is replacing a legacy order management system with MetaSolv's Provisioning 5 to manage the entire provisioning process for provider edge (PE) and customer edge (CE) routers, MPLS IP-VPN services, and QoS. Provisioning 5 is already deployed at BT to manage a number of services and technologies.
Provisioning 5, formerly known as MetaSolv OMS, provides critical back-office provisioning management functions to orchestrate the essential tasks required to deliver a service to a customer. http://www.metasolv.com
Australia's ReelTime Media has deployed SkyStream's "zBand" content delivery platform to deliver the latest Hollywood and Australian movies, regional fare and specialized video content to service providers and customers in major metropolitan areas in Australia.
SkyStream's zBand is an end-to-end PUSH VOD system that ingests, packages, schedules and delivers movies and video content to ReelTime's IP-based television set-top box in customers' homes across the country.
ReelTime is the first VOD service to use version 6.0 of zBand, which enables reliable unicast or one-to-one delivery of rights-protected Hollywood content. ReelTime makes full use of new unicast security, quality-of-service (QoS) and authorization features. The viewer's experience is also enhanced by zBand's Forward Error Correction (FEC), which can repair damaged packets in the distribution, reducing the need to carousel content, making more network bandwidth available to deliver SD and HD movies and ensuring DVD-like picture quality.
ReelTime has licensed SecureMedia's Encryptonite System for digital rights management (DRM) in order to license the top VOD content from the leading Hollywood and Australian film studios.
http://www.skystream.comhttp://www.asx.com.au
Reeltime has secured access agreements with Telstra for its national network, including the consumer DSL network.
Cantata Technology has partnered with Stratus Technologies to make its SnowShore IP Media Server available with the Linux-based Stratus ftServer 30 CO system.
Cantata's SnowShore IP Media Server is a software-based, carrier-grade IP media server that leverages SIP, VoiceXML, and MSCML. The Stratus ftServer T30 is a mid-range server designed for computing environments built around the RedHat Enterprise Linux operating system.
The joint product is offered through Eastwind Communications, a value-added reseller of multi-service platforms for telecommunications developers marketing to VARs, ISVs and carriers worldwide. Eastwind is a Stratus and Cantata partner. http://www.cantata.comhttp://www.stratus.com
Cantata Technology was formed through the merger of Excel Switching Corporation and Brooktrout Technology.
Intel has created a US$50 million venture capital fund to promote technology growth in Brazil.
Since 1999, Intel Capital has already invested over US$35 million in 13 companies. In 2005, Intel Capital announced four local investments in Digitron, TelecomNet, Certsign and Neovia.
The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) completed its first certification wave.
Actiontec, Entropic, Linksys, Mototech, Motorola, Panasonic, 2Wire and Westell all successfully passed and were awarded MoCA certification. The same eight companies participated in MoCA's first plugfest last November.
In addition, MoCA recently ratified and released its "MoCA MAC/PHY v1.0 Specification," for which certification verifies compliance.
http://www.mocalliance.org
A MoCA network can transport video, voice and data to TVs, set-tops, DVRs, game boxes, WiFi repeaters and PCs at physical speeds of up to 270 Mbps homes and has been field tested across America in real world situations to deliver over a net usable 100 Mbps at greater than 97% of coax outlets.
The MoCA Board of Directors includes Comcast, Cox Communications, EchoStar Technologies, Entropic Communications, Linksys, Motorola, Panasonic, RadioShack, Toshiba and Verizon.
U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., introduced a bill aimed at making it easier for new entrants into pay-TV services.
Specifically, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 would:
Create a nationwide approval process for pay-TV services. By streamlining this system, these companies will be able to offer new TV services in many areas while protecting local interests. Cable providers will also be eligible to participate in this streamlined system once they face local competition.
Require Internet-based telephone services to offer 9-1-1 capabilities while ensuring Internet telephone providers have access to all necessary 9-1-1 infrastructure and technology.
Clarify the FCC authority to prevent Internet service providers from blocking or degrading any content or applications delivered over the public Internet.
Preserve municipalities' right to collect up to a five percent fee from pay-TV providers.
Allow cities and towns to develop their own broadband networks.
A hearing on the bill for Thursday, March 30, 2006.http://energycommerce.house.gov
Cox Communications ended 2005 with more than 13.8 million revenue generating units (RGUs), reflecting year-over-year growth of approximately 10%, including more than 3.1 million Cox High Speed Internet subscribers. Cox increased its company-wide penetration of broadband within serviceable homes to nearly 30%. Cox also ended 2005 with nearly 1.7 million Digital Telephone subscribers.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has selected the WiMedia Alliance multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) version of ultra-wideband (UWB) as its future radio platform.
The new version of Bluetooth is expected to meet the high-speed demands of synchronizing and transferring large amounts of data as well as enabling high quality video and audio applications for portable devices, multi-media projectors and television sets.
At the same time, Bluetooth technology will continue catering to the needs of very low power applications such as mice, keyboards and mono headsets, enabling devices to select the most appropriate physical radio for the application requirements.
One of the key components to the agreement between the Bluetooth SIG and the WiMedia Alliance will help UWB achieve global regulatory acceptance. Both parties have agreed to develop a high speed, high data rate Bluetooth solution that utilizes the unlicensed radio spectrum above 6 GHz. This move answers concerns voiced by regulatory bodies in both Europe and Asia.
The Bluetooth SIG Core Specification Working Group Charter and UWB Feature Requirements Document (FRD) have been approved by the Bluetooth SIG Board of Directors, signaling that work may commence. The requirements set by the UWB study group in the UWB FRD define what has to be done to create a solution appropriate for adoption by the Bluetooth SIG. Both groups will immediately begin work together on the specification draft within the Bluetooth SIG Core Specification Working Group. The Bluetooth SIG estimates this process to last approximately one year, with the first Bluetooth technology/UWB solution chip sets available for prototyping in Q2 2007.
In a statement, Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director, Bluetooth SIG said "As a member-driven organization, it is the Bluetooth SIG's responsibility to ensure it's attentive to its members' needs. Having considered the UWB technology options, the decision ultimately came down to what our members want, which is to leverage their current investments in both UWB and Bluetooth technologies and meet the high-speed demands of their customers. By working closely with the WiMedia Alliance to create the next version of Bluetooth technology, we will enable our members to do just that."
The WiMedia Alliance noted that its radio specifications can support a variety of applications using different wireless protocols, including Certified Wireless USB, Bluetooth technology, the 1394 Trade Group's "Wireless FireWire" Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL), and Wireless IP. Different wireless protocols can operate within the same wireless personal area network without interference.
WiMedia UWB also features the ability to control frequency band usage without requiring additional, costly software implementations.
The WiMedia UWB Common Radio Platform is moving toward International Organization for Standardization (ISO) acceptance through Ecma International's ECMA-368 and ECMA-369 standards.
http://www.wimedia.orghttp://www.bluetooth.com
WiMedia UWB is optimized for wireless personal-area networks delivering 480 Mbps and up.
Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited Free Legal movie download platform for all Hong Kong Internet users, irrespective of ISP. the only restriction is an 18 minute download time out. HKBN's Metro Ethernet bb100 (symmetric 100 Mbps) subscribers will be able to download an entire 4GB DVD format movie in less than 7 minutes. Unfortunately, other ISP subscribers on ADSL with 6 Mbps download bandwidth are likely to take more than 1 hour to retrieve the movies, thereby exceeding the time out limit.
The 5 movies, "Cocktail" staring Candy Lo and Race, "My Wife is 18" staring Ekin Cheng and Charlene Choi, "Heat Team" staring Eason Chan and Aaron Kwok, "Tiramisu" staring Karena Lam and Nicolas Tse and "Shiver" staring Athena Chu, are now available for downloading.http://freemovie.hkbn.net
In April 2005, Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) officially launched its 1 Gbps symmetric service for the residential market. The 1 Gbps symmetric service is priced at US$215 per month. HKBN noted that its 1 Gbps service is up to 166x faster downstream and 1,950x faster upstream than the advertised bandwidth of the incumbent's ADSL service. HKBN Premium bb1000 service is being offered on the same metro Ethernet infrastructure that delivers the company's Mass Market bb100 (symmetric 100 Mbps for US$34/month) and Entry Point bb10 (symmetric 10 Mbps for US$16/month) services.
HKBN has installed thousands of Cisco Catalyst LAN switches and more than 800 Cisco routers in buildings throughout Hong Kong. Category 5e copper cables are wired from the LAN switch cabinet to the apartments of each target customer. Fiber-to-the-building (FTTB) was deployed between the buildings using the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP) and Cisco Catalyst 4507R Switches. HKBN is also using a Cisco Optical Core network. The deployment includes the Cisco ONS 15454 SONET/SDH Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP); Cisco Catalyst 6500, Catalyst 4500, Catalyst 3350, and Catalyst 2950 series switches; and Cisco 2600XM Series routers.
Infinera successfully demonstrated a large-scale photonic integrated circuit (PIC) capable of carrying data at a rate of 1.6 Terabits per second (Tb/s). This is the highest data rate yet achieved for a single PIC. Last year, Infinera demonstrated a PIC carrying data at 400 Gbps.
Infinera's 1.6 Tbps PIC includes more than 240 optical devices on a chip. It transmits 40 channels of optical data, with each channel operating at 40 Gbps. The aggregate date rate of 1.6 Tbps is equivalent to 160 of the line cards typically deployed in long-haul telecom networks today. An optical system based on a 1.6 Tb/s PIC would deliver substantial benefits to service providers in terms of density, space, power consumption, and cost-effectiveness.
Infinera said that while this PIC is still a lab demonstration, it shows the enormous potential of photonic integration to put more and more devices, as well as more features and functionality, onto a single chip. http://www.infinera.com
Akimbo Systems will begin making select titles from HDNet's library of HD content available for download through the Akimbo Service for Windows XP Media Center Edition. Akimbo currently offers 8,000 on-demand programs through its Web-based subscription service.
Co-founded by Mark Cuban and General Manager Philip Garvin, HDNet features up to 20 hours of new original programming each week, all produced in the highest quality 1080i HDTV format. http://www.akimbo.comhttp://www.hd.net
Spirent Communications is teaming with Lumenare Networks to provide an integrated test automation solution addressing complex converged network technologies in the lab and during manufacturing.
The partnership brings together Spirent's suite of network test solutions and Lumenare's lab and test management and automation software.
The company said their joint solution can increase testing by five to eight times the manual rate by allowing complex tests to be performed repeatedly -- using fully automated hardware setup and software configuration -- getting consistent results, quickly isolating problems, and ensuring a successful product or service launch. http://www.lumenare.comhttp://www.spirentcom.com
BT has selected United Devices' (UD's) to power its virtual services platform, a new managed grid service offering. The virtual services platform goes beyond traditional utility computing approaches in that it leverages BT's internal assets and network connectivity capabilities to create a real-time provisioning service that is network-aware and SLA focused. With real-time access to network heuristics and the opportunity to manipulate network controls, BT's offering will dynamically bind applications to the most eligible infrastructure components via the UD grid platform.
The virtual services platform is built on a shared infrastructure that consists of internal BT resources and those contained in its customers' enterprises to assure availability for mission-critical functions like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) by adhering to policy-based SLAs.
BT will initially offer the virtual platform internally and develop managed grid services expertise. BT and UD's joint vision is then to rapidly make it available to customers who are seeking alternatives to their rigid and expensive application infrastructures.
Verimatrix and Heuris, a manufacturer of video compression, processing tools and applications, have developed a suite of secure screening tools for the Hollywood theatrical film and television industry.
The integrated Heuris and Verimatrix screening products ensure security from the time of the shoot and throughout the distribution chain. Using Verimatrix's digital watermarking and its complementary forensics, as well as encryption prior to release to production and post-production crews, results in better internal controls from the beginning of the value chain. The RushPlay onDemand platform includes the Video-on-Demand (VOD) server from Streaming 21 and Numa Technology's VD-200 IP set-top box.
"We are providing the most simple and secure method for producers to view dailies, rough cuts, VFX tests, casting sessions, or screeners instantly from their screening room, office or even living room," said Brian Quandt, president of Heuris. "Our intention is to simplify the complex processes of producing a show or movie by creating an 'on demand' private channel, which streamlines the workflow for producers."http://www.heuris.comhttp://www.verimatrix.com
Centillium Communications has integrated VoIP capabilities into its Optical Services Gateway platform, which is designed for service providers striving to deliver superior voice, video and data services capabilities over passive optical network (PON) access infrastructure to both residences and businesses.
The new Optical Services Gateway platform combines Centillium's "Mustang" EPON system chip with the VoIP, routing and advanced security capabilities of its "Atlanta" product family. The solution could be used for enhanced optical network units (ONUs). Additionally, a common management interface simplifies the provisioning and monitoring of the Optical Services Gateway.
Centillium's Optical Services Gateway platform is supported by a development and evaluation kit which includes a multi-functional customer evaluation board, reference designs and a turnkey software package.
FiberZone Networks, a start-up based in Bethesda, Maryland, raised $8 million in second round funding for its automated, physical fiber management tools. Beta trials of the system are planned for later this year. The deal was led by Novak Biddle Venture Partners, with existing investors Portview Communications Partners and Stage One Ventures participating.
ARM is building momentum for its ARM9 family of microprocessors amongst UWB chip developers, including Alereon, Focus Enhancements, Mindtree Consulting, Pulse~LINK and Staccato Communications.
UWB is positioned as a high-speed, short-range wireless technology for transferring digital content between devices in different entertainment and computing groups in the home, such as digital video recorders, set-top boxes, televisions and personal computing (PC) peripherals. http://www.arm.com
Lycos launched a VoIP softphone application that integrates entertainment features, powered by Globe7.
Lycos is offering a free downloadable white label VoIP platform, in partnership with Globe7. Lycos Phone provides free calls and free video calls from PC to PC. Users can also receive unlimited free incoming calls from any landline or mobile phone, from around the world. Users also receive 100 free minutes of PC to landline and PC to mobile phone calls, and can earn additional free minutes through various promotional offers with Lycos Phone.
In addition, the Lycos Phone platform provides free video on demand access to more than 300 movie trailers, business news, world sports and more, allowing users to search the web while chatting with buddies. Additionally, unlike Skype and Yahoo, Lycos Phone offers a free U.S. phone number, free fax and free voicemail to email.
Currently, Globe7 supports Windows 2000 and XP. Future enhancements will support Linux, Mac OS, Palm OS and Pocket PC.
Metalink has concluded a series of live demonstrations of its 802.11n-based WLANPlus chipset delivering multiple simultaneous high-definition television (HDTV) streams with QoS.
Metalink recently announced a partnership with Renesas Technology to jointly develop product designs that incorporate both companies' integrated circuits. Metalink has also announced its cooperation with Haier Corporation, the leading Chinese manufacturer of household electrical appliances, to develop advanced consumer electronics products enabling unmatched wireless multimedia networking throughout the home.
JAJAH, a venture-backed VoIP start-up based in Menlo Park, California, launched its low-cost VoIP service that lets people use their landline or mobile phones to place long-distance or international calls.
JAJAH establishes phone-to-phone connections through the Internet for cheap calls. The process is simple: callers type in their own number (landline or mobile) at http://www.jajah.com/ , and insert their desired destination number. JAJAH then rings both parties on their actual phones.
JAJAH is backed by Sequoia Capital. http://www.jajah.comhttp://www.sequoiacap.com
Nortel announced a simplification of its integrated services and a series of new commercial services offerings. To better address this strategic area, Nortel is significantly simplifying its services business, focusing on multi-vendor integration, new technology migration, operating expense reduction and other specific business challenges where Nortel has unique strengths and expertise.
Nortel has organized its services business into five key areas - Integration Services, Security Services, Managed Services, Optimization Services and Maintenance Services. Customers will be able to order bundled services designed to help them develop and maintain secure network environments, transform and evolve their networks, focus on core business and improve network performance.
To drive new growth in services, Nortel has introduced several new commercial offerings, including:
IPTV Integration Services - a complete Integration Services offering that provides a single point-of-contact for multi-vendor network design, lab certification, engineering, configuration and acceptance testing of IPTV services. This will enable service providers to deploy and deliver new 'triple play' services more quickly and cost-effectively. Nortel has opened a new multi-vendor IPTV integration lab on its Ottawa campus.
VoIP Integration Services - another multi-vendor Integration Services offering, intended to speed carrier time-to-revenue by promoting smooth and reliable VoIP services deployment. One lead customer has already used Nortel VoIP Integration Services to launch residential VoIP in more than 60 rural markets.
Security Consulting Services - a Security Services offering that combines risk assessment, incident response, cyber forensics and policy development to help customers make informed security decisions and mitigate network security risks.
Hosted Services - a Managed Services offering that involves 'hosting' such network services as call centers, voice and multimedia on Nortel-owned equipment. Hosted Services allow customers to reduce or eliminate costs associated with operating, maintaining and evolving their own networks. Bharti Tele-Ventures in India has signed a five-year agreement with Nortel for hosted call center services.
Subscriber Quality of Experience Service - an Optimization Services offering that uses unique metrics from actual subscriber data to benchmark and provide recommendations for optimum end-to-end performance of wireless data networks. Lead customer Vodafone Italy used this patent-pending tool to help optimize end-to-end delivery of streaming video services from content source through the network to subscriber mobiles.
Multi-Vendor Repair and Managed Spares Services - Maintenance Services offerings that provide a single point-of-contact for repair services and spares management covering equipment from Nortel and most other major telecommunications equipment vendors. Two North American service providers recently became the first to take advantage of these services, consolidating hardware maintenance for more than 100,000 multi-vendor network elements for an anticipated 20 percent reduction in repair costs over the next year.
Nortel also announced today a new Advanced Mobility Services Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina that will offer wireless network planning, deployment, integration and optimization.http:/www.nortel.com
ARRIS will resell Telco Systems' Cable Services Aggregator (CSA) 9000, which acts as an aggregator when integrated with their metro Ethernet access platform offers an end-to-end circuit emulation services (CES) to cable providers.
The CSA 9000 will be marketed by ARRIS to key MSOs, allowing them to deliver T1 voice, frame relay, and leased line services in the US, and similar E1-based services worldwide, over standard DOCSIS infrastructure, without plant modifications. http://www.telco.comhttp://www.arrisi.com
Nextest Systems, a developer of ATE for Flash memory and System-On-Chip (SOC) semiconductors, announced the closing of its initial public offering of 6,210,000 shares of its common stock at an initial public offering price of $14 per share.
Ericsson introduced its integrated access and transport networking portfolio that includes platforms developed by Marconi. Ericsson's acquisition of Marconi closed in January 2006.
The new broadband network portfolio comprises broadband access solutions such as IP-DSLAMs; IP-Multi-Service Access Nodes (IP-MSANs); microwave and optical transport and Ericsson's IMS and softswitch solutions. The offering will be backed up by the company's design, integration and service capabilities.
Ericsson said its broadband network portfolio will also support many of the new access technologies and standards expected to be rolled out widely over the coming years, including VDSL2, Gigabit-Passive Optical Networks (GPON), Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) for Fiber access and radio standards such as WiMAX and HSDPA for Fixed Wireless and Mobile Broadband applications.
Force10 Networks introduced a low-latency, 24-port data center 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch with an Infiniband-like latency of 300 nanoseconds.
Force10 said that at 300 nanoseconds in latency, its 22410 switch delivers the industry's lowest Ethernet switching latency and places 10 Gigabit Ethernet on par with other cluster interconnect solutions, eliminating the need to integrate Infiniband and other proprietary solutions into the network. By bringing ultra low latency to Ethernet, the S2410 allows IT managers to capture the computing benefits of high performance cluster architectures using a familiar and easy to manage technology, simplifying management and reducing operational costs.
The S2410 switch, which is available in a one rack unit form factor, also aims to provide the industry's lowest 10 Gigabit Ethernet port pricing starting at $854 per port.
The Force10 S2410 is available with both CX4 and XFP ports and will begin shipping in April. List pricing for the XFP version of the S2410 is $22,000. The CX4 version is listed at $18,000.
Optical Entertainment Network (OEN), which is deploying a FTTH network in Houston, signed IPTV carriage agreements with GSN, the network for games, Lifetime, Oxygen, and Tennis Channel. As with all of OEN's IPTV carriage agreements, the license is negotiated directly with each channel without any intermediaries. OEN plans to deliver up to 400 channels of TV content, Internet access at 10 to 100 Mbps per subscriber, VoIP and other services.
In addition to serving its own FTTH subscribers in Houston, OEN plans to re-license its content line-up for distribution in other communities. http://www.4fiber.tv
InPhase Technologies demonstrated the highest data density of any commercial technology by recording 515 gigabits of data per square inch using holographic storage techniques. InPhase plans to deliver the industry's first holographic drive and media later this year. The first generation drive has a capacity of 300 gigabytes on a single disk with a 20 megabyte per second transfer rate. The first product will be followed by a family ranging from 800 GB to 1.6 terabyte (TB) capacity.
InPhase said densities in holography are achieved by different factors than magnetic storage. Density depends on the number of pixels/bits in a page of data; the number of pages that are stored in a particular volumetric location; the dynamic range of the recording material; the thickness of the material, and the wavelength of the recording laser.
In the InPhase demonstration there were over 1.3 million bits per data page, and 320 data pages spaced 0.067 degrees apart were stored in the same volume of material. A collection of data pages is referred to as a book, and InPhase's PolyTopic recording architecture enables more holograms to be stored in the same volume of material by overlapping not only pages, but also books. Three tracks of overlapping books were written with a track pitch of 700 microns. The InPhase "Tapestry" material was 1.5 millimeters thick, and the laser wavelength was 407 nanometers.
For the home video fan, one disk could hold the equivalent of 106 DVD movies.
China Netcom selected ZTE as an equipment supplier for an IPTV trial in Beijing. The new network will serve 50,000 IPTV subscribers by provisioning video services including video on demand (VoD), broadcasting, time-shifted television (TSTV), private video recorder (PVR ) and near video on demand (NVoD) as well as value-added services such as interactive games, information services, instant communications, online albums and e-learning. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The China Netcom IPTV project follows ZTE's three previous IPTV contract wins from China Telecom and confirms ZTE as China's largest IPTV systems provider.
ZTE said this contract will make one of the largest providers of IPTV infrastructure in the world.
China currently has over 30 million broadband subscribers, with more than 50% annual growth, making it potentially the world's largest IPTV market.
SkyStream was selected as video headend partner for NTELOS' new IPTV service over FTTP that will serve its Virginia ILEC footprint. NTELOS has built a "super video headend" center where it has deployed the SkyStream Mediaplex-20 video headend. From there, NTELOS is distributing the MPEG-2 feed over a 10-Gigabit Metro Ethernet ring to several regional offices and will deploy the SkyStream iPlex edge video headend system for additional video aggregation and distribution. NTELOS will be able to offer local channels, advertising and other programming from these regional centers.
The new TV service will feature national, regional and local video and music programming, including several that will be in HD. NTELOS will receive a video feed from the National Cable Telephone Cooperative (NCTC) for some of its channel lineup.
NTELOS has been an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) in western Virginia for 109 years and is offering the new IPTV service initially just in its ILEC territory. NTELOS also operates a competitive local exchange carrier network in Virginia, and is a leading wireless provider in the region.
ATEME introduced a single-chip MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Standard Definition Main Profile Encoder. The ATE4000 device uses state-of-the-art FPGA technology instead of the more traditional multi-processor approach. Target markets for the device include Broadcast Digital Television, IPTV, Satellite, Telco Head-Ends and professional encoders for distribution of video over wired or wireless IP networks where bandwidth and picture quality cannot be compromised.
Europe's broadcasting regulators from the 25 EU Member States and Croatia, Turkey, Norway and Liechtenstein met to discuss a "TV without Frontiers" directive. Top issues at the meeting in Brussels included measures that limit any programming that incites hatred while also respect media freedom and free speech. The regulators agreed to deepen the discussion with respect to the issues of mobile TV and digital TV. The Commissioner warned that divergences among national licensing systems for mobile broadcasting could throw up unintended obstacles to the deployment of pan-European services and infrastructure. The regulators underlined that licensing decisions remain a national prerogative, but indicated their readiness to discuss the mobile broadcasting license issue with the European Commission. Besides licensing procedures, the lack of a common spectrum allocation could become an obstacle to cross-border mobile services.http://europa.eu.int
Motorola inaugurated its 17th R&D facility in China, this time in Hangzhou. The new R&D center is designed to provide Chinese operators with local access to Motorola's network technologies as well as to develop local talent while driving network innovation and the growth of China's wireless communications industry.
Groove Mobile, a start-up based in Andover, Mass., raised $8.5 million for its mobile music e-commerce platform. Groove Mobile is powering the new Sprint Music Store as well as mobile music services for wireless carriers in Canada, the UK (Orange), the European Union, and Asia. The company said it will use the funding to accelerate the growth of its mobile music platform while it continues to expand in global markets.
Groove Mobile's Complete Music Gateway includes Full Track Mobile Downloads, Peer-to-Peer Sharing and Personalized Music Recommendations, in addition to providing Personalized and Programmed Streaming Radio, Music Subscriptions, etc. The service provides access to music from EMI, Warner Music International, V2, Beggars Group, Digital Rights Management and The Orchard libraries.
The new funding was led by Egan Capital and included continuing investors Charles River Ventures, Kodiak Venture Partners, and Star Ventures.
Napatech, a start-up based in Copenhagen, raised $5 million in new funding for its programmable network adapters. Napatech's product portfolio includes a 1 Gbps and a 10 Gbps platform that offer solutions for network management, traffic analysis and recording, security applications and a toolbox enabling OEM customers to implement their own proprietary intellectual property on the network adapter. The investment coincides with Napatech's acquisition of the network adapter business of Xyratex.
The round was led by Ferd Venture and included Northzone Ventures and DTU Innovation. http://www.napatech.com
Vyyo, a global supplier of broadband access equipment for cable and private wireless broadband network solutions, completed its previously announced $25million in financing from Goldman, Sachs & Co. The company said the new equity and long-term debt will provide it with increased resources and flexibility as it scales its business in the U.S. cable and utility businesses.
Nortel and Sierra Wireless achieved the industry's first over the air test calls using EV-DO Revision A wireless technology and pre-commercial wireless data devices. The companies said their milestone confirms the commercial viability of EV-DO Revision A wireless services.
The companies completed over the air tests using Sierra Wireless AirCard 595 wide area wireless network cards, Sierra Wireless MC5725 PCI Express Mini Card embedded modules, and EV-DO Revision A equipment from Nortel. EV-DO Revision A technology will offer significant performance improvements to both the uplink and the downlink speeds compared to current EV-DO (Release 0) networks. EV-DO Revision A enables peak data rates of up to 3.1 Mbps on the downlink and 1.8 Mbps on the uplink.
Nortel noted that it has provided EV-DO equipment to 18 operators worldwide, including Verizon Wireless and Sprint in the United States, VIVO in Brazil, Pelephone in Israel and EURtel in the Czech Republic.
Germany's Federal Network Agency has invited comments on its regulatory order for ATM bitstream access. The Agency is planning to commit Deutsche Telekom AG (DTAG) to offer a transparent, non-discriminatory wholesale product, the charges for which will be subject to ex post price controls.
"Now that we have established DTAG's dominance in this wholesale market, we want to oblige it to provide its competitors with a broadband access wholesale product whose service levels the competitors can decide for themselves. Differentiation will thus be possible for competing companies not just via price, but also via quality", Matthias Kurth, Agency President, declared.
Yahoo! is using Global IP Sound's (GIPS') VoiceEngine Multimedia in its Yahoo! Messenger with Voice IM client. The GIPS VoiceEngine Multimedia software handles voice quality issues such as jitter, delay, packet loss and acoustic echo.
http://www.globalipsound.com
The GIPS one-end and end-to-end voice quality enhancement software provides capabilities including adaptive jitter buffer and error concealment, high-quality wideband and narrow band codecs, echo cancellers and speech enhancers. The technology provides "better than PSTN voice quality and fidelity" in end-to-end IP communications even under adverse traffic conditions with packet loss.
In July 2005, Global IP Sound (GIPS) announced an OEM license agreement with Microsoft for its voice processing solutions. GIPS technology is expected to be used with MSN and Microsoft Office Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) solutions.
Global IP Sound, which is based in Stockholm, also supplies its voice quality software to Skype, Ericsson, Nortel, WebEx, Texas Instruments, LongBoard, Inter-tel, PMC-Sierra and others.
Orange France, the top wireless network operator in France, will launch the Orange World TV portal using Bluestreak's MachBlueT for Mobile platform. The new mobile TV portal delivers 52 channels across 3G and EDGE and allows end users to access daily program guides for broadcast and exclusive mobile TV channels via their mobile phones.
This is the second rich-media portal deployed by Orange that uses MachBlueT technology; the first service, the Orange League 1 soccer portal, was launched at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February.
The MachBlueT platform allows all program information to be loaded on the mobile phone screen while the customer watches television. http://www.bluestreaknetwork.com
Total U.S. telecommunications transport services revenue reached $310.8 billion in 2005 and is expected to reach $324.7 billion in 2006, according to the newly released TIA's 2006 Telecommunications Market Review and Forecast. Total spending on transport services is expected to grow at a 4.6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching $372.7 billion by 2009. The Market Review and Forecast is an annual study published by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).
Loss of landline subscribers has hurt the local exchange market, a trend that will continue, though at moderating rates in the coming years. In the transport services market, landline revenue continued to fall in 2005, totaling $192.3 billion, its fifth consecutive year of decline, and wireless continued to grow at double-digit rates, reaching $118.6 billion. Between 2000 and 2005, the landline subscriber base fell 20.4 million. Households have shifted to broadband, canceling second lines for Internet access and for their children, who now rely on wireless. Some households have cancelled their landline subscription altogether and now use wireless exclusively. The introduction of bundled services at flat-rate prices should neutralize one of the advantages of the wireless market. The addition of television distribution combined with broadband Internet access will give current subscribers incentives to retain their landlines.
The number of wireless subscriptions passed landline subscriptions in 2005, reaching 194.5 million and 172.1 million subscribers respectively, and with approximately two-thirds of the U.S. population subscribing to a wireless service, the market still has room for expansion. TIA expects wireless penetration to rise to 88.3 percent by 2009, which would translate into 270 million subscribers. Landline subscriptions will continue to fall, but the rate of decline will moderate as new services such as VoIP and broadband video help landline carriers retain subscribers. By 2009, TIA estimates there will be 111.0 million more wireless subscribers than landline subscribers in the United States. Total spending on wireless services is expected to reach $180.4 billion in 2009, growing at an 11.1 percent CAGR.
Despite the overall market decline, cable-operator telephone revenue will grow at double-digit rates. Non-cable CLECs will record the largest declines; incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) will see their local revenue decrease at slower rates through 2008 and edge up in 2009. For the forecast period as a whole, TIA projects local exchange services revenue to fall at a 0.6 percent CAGR to $115.8 billion in 2009 from $118.5 billion in 2005.
Long-distance or toll service revenue has been declining since 2000, falling from $109.6 billion in 2000 to $73.8 billion in 2005, a 33 percent drop. The market was hurt by weak economic conditions, by the reduction in landline subscribers and by the migration of traffic from landline to wireless. With landline carriers now bundling local and long-distance services at a single flat-rate price, the historical long- distance model of per-minute charges will fade. This will eliminate the cost incentive for landline subscribers to make long-distance calls on their wireless devices when a landline alternative is available. The domestic long-distance landline calling volume is expected to begin to expand in 2007. For the forecast period as a whole, long-distance revenue will rise at a 0.9 percent compound annual rate, reaching $76.5 billion in 2009.
The overall landline network services market in 2005 was 15.8 percent lower than in 2000. However, the 2005 decrease of 1.4 percent was the smallest in five years. Although landline services revenue is expected to continue to decline over the next two years, decreases will moderate further, and in 2008- 09 the market will expand. By 2009, revenue will total $192.3 billion, climbing back to the level of 2005.
Siemens has supplied High Speed Data Packet Access (HSDPA) technology for Vodafone's German network using the W-CDMA standard. As Vodafone recently announced, the mobile broadband service is being launched under the name "UMTS Broadband," initially in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover and Munich, at speeds of up to 1.8 Mbps. There are also plans to roll out HSDPA technology quickly in all 1,800 German towns and cities supplied with W-CDMA.
MBO Video is deploying an IPTV service utilizing Tut Systems' Astria content processor (CP) and the Verimatrix Content Authority Systems (VCAS). Tut Systems' Astria Content Processor (CP) platform serves as the core video processing system for MBO Video's 192 channel MPEG-2 digital headend, currently serving 10 video service providers throughout the states of Oklahoma and Missouri. MBO Video's recent announcement to add MPEG-4 AVC video to their headend will yield better picture quality while significantly lowering the bandwidth required for MPEG-2 video. The addition of VCAS enables MBO Video to protect video content delivered to multiple downstream operators using one centralized server to both encrypt and watermark premium content.
The companies said the MBO Video win is the latest in a series of mutual customer wins, but the first in which Tut Systems acted as the prime vendor for the VCAS solution under a recently signed reseller agreement.
Asia Netcom completed a major network upgrade that will bring a 50% increase in lit capacity to its pan-Asia submarine cable systems, EAC.
As part of the upgrade, 10 Gbps was lit up on each of EAC's four fiber pairs, effectively adding 40 Gbps of new bandwidth to EAC's existing 80 Gbps. The EAC system spans 19,500 km within Asia connecting Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and soon, China.
The additional capacity will support Asia Netcom's extensive service and product portfolio, which includes MPLS-based transport and network solutions, a Tier 1 Internet backbone, as well as traditional connectivity solutions such as international private lines and ATM and Frame Relay.
The WiMAX Forum issued it latest set of product certifications based on the defined Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) system profile operating in the 3.5GHz frequency spectrum. The WiMAX Forum member companies and products to complete certification and interoperability testing include Airspan's MacroMAX base station and EasyST subscriber station solution, Axxcelera's ExcelMax base station, Sequans Communications' SQN1010-RD subscriber station solution, Siemens' WayMAX@vantage base station and subscriber station solutions, and Wavesat's miniMAX subscriber station solution.
WiMAX Forum's certification laboratory, CETECOM Spain, worked with each WiMAX equipment supplier to conduct an extensive series of stringent and extensive test procedures, consisting of protocol conformance, radio conformance and interoperability testing. To date, 14 fixed WiMAX products have received the WiMAX Forum Certified seal in the two months since the program first started certifying equipment. http://www.wimaxforum.org
Ofcom, the official telecom regulator in the UK, proposed that all phone companies, including BT Group plc, be free to set their own prices and compete for customers in future. The changes, which are subject to public consultation, would take effect from 1 August 2006.
Ofcom noted that the proposal comes 22 years after price controls were first imposed when the UK telecoms market was liberalized. Ofcom said new technology and the growth of competition have transformed the phone market; average call prices have fallen by more than 50% since 1996. Key developments in the market include:
Competing providers: more than 10 million households use providers other than BT for their phone calls, including more than 4 million households on cable networks [source: Ofcom Communications Market Report February 2006]
New technology: Industry estimates suggest that there are now more than 500,000 active VoIP users in the UK. VoIP services offer a significantly lower-cost alternative to traditional fixed-line calls. As more than 10 million households now benefit from broadband connections, VoIP services are likely to grow rapidly over time.
Competitive local access investment: Local Loop Unbundling enables a range of providers to offer customers voice, broadband and video services over existing phone lines. By February 2006 the number of lines unbundled exceeded 300,000.
Given this, Ofcom believes it is now appropriate to consider allowing existing retail price controls to lapse as increasingly effective competition between providers continues to drive down costs to consumers. These developments are also taking place against a background of continued growth in the market for mobile services. 31% of all UK voice call minutes originated from mobile phones rather than from fixed-lines, from July to September 2005. [source: Ofcom Communications Market Report February 2006.]http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/03/nr_20060321
Starting next month, France Telecom will begin providing a wholesale voice service.
France Telecom said it will provide third-party competitors with a complete telephone service, including the line subscription, most of the services related to the subscription and all calls, irrespective of the destination, including special services (audiotel, directory enquiries, etc.). The wholesale telephone line subscription offering will be available for analog access from 1st April 2006; it will be extended to individual and grouped ISDN access as well as grouped analog lines from 1st July 2006. http://www.francetelecom.com
Sydfyns Elforsyning (SEF), a major utility company based in Svendborg, Denmark, announced a major FTTP PON network that is currently the largest such system installed in northern Europe. Wave7 Optics and SEF announced further that 1,200 residential customers have been connected to the network and are receiving a suite of voice, RF video and data services. SEF expects to have more than 5,000 customers "on net" by the end of this year. Eltel Networks is managing the project as the equipment installer and integrator.
ECI Telecom introduced its BroadGate-20B, a miniature optical service access platform that functions as Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) for enterprises, utility companies and cellular operators. The BroadGate-20B is the entry-level unit featuring a scalable architecture with the ability to add more interfaces and new services as needed.
It can be used to deliver a mix of Ethernet, SDH/SONET, PDH and PCM services with QoS and Service Level Agreement (SLA) assurances. It uses ECI's LightSoft network management system to provide full remote management capabilities with support for multiple interfaces and traffic types. http://www.ecitele.com
Continuous Computing Corporation opened a newly relocated Research and Development facility in Bangalore, India. The company originally opened an India office in July 2004 with just ten employees and now currently employs over 80 software and hardware developers.
Continuous Computing provides "Network Service-Ready Platforms" that enable telecom equipment manufacturers to rapidly deploy converged communications.
AT&T was awarded a five-year optical and data-networking services contract with Advanced Healthcare, the largest physician-led, multispecialty clinic group in southeastern Wisconsin. AT&T will expand Advanced Healthcare's bandwidth through implementation of a fully redundant SONET ring to six locations throughout the state. With the additional bandwidth, Advanced Healthcare will be able to consolidate large amounts of voice, data and video traffic from its various locations to a single, fail-safe platform. The network will also support an X-ray Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), which can store, display and transmit all types of digital medical images.
The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council endorsed legislation in four states (Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, and New Jersey) aimed at streamlining local cable TV franchising rules. The proposed reform would make it easier for new entrants into video delivery services. Recent video franchise reform bill have passed in Texas, Indiana and Virginia.
US LEC Corp. announced the expansion of its MPLS VPN service to the cities and surrounding areas of Birmingham and Mobile, Ala., Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., and New Orleans, completing one of the final stages of the company's MPLS VPN roll-out.
The service can be scaled from fractional T1 speeds to DS3 (45 Mbs) to Ethernet Local Loop. US LEC offers both metro and wide-area networking options that allow customers to connect locally within a metro area or across large geographic distances.
In addition to Memphis and Nashville, the company now provides MPLS VPN to businesses in the East Tennessee cities of Bristol, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Johnson City, Kingsport and Knoxville, the Kentucky cities of Lexington, Louisville and Elizabethtown, and the Indiana cities of New Albany, Sellersburg and Clarksville. The addition of Birmingham, Mobile and New Orleans connects the Deep South section of US LEC's network and brings the total number of MPLS VPN-enabled switching centers to 25. http://www.uslec.com
UTStarcom announced the appointment of David King as its new senior vice president of sales and marketing, responsible for all aspects of the company's global sales and marketing efforts outside of Mainland China. King will report to Mike Sophie, chief operating officer (COO), and will lead the development, implementation and execution of sales and marketing strategies. Most recently, King was the CEO at Visual Wireless where he secured business with top-tier operators from around the world. Prior to that, as vice president and general manager of wireline systems at Ericsson, based in Stockholm, Sweden, he was responsible for the company's global wireline infrastructure business.
The appointment of David King follows the announcement of Ari Bose, former VP and CIO at 3Com, as UTStarcom's CIO. http://www.utstar.com
VideoEgg, a start-up based in San Francisco, released an integration kit that lets web publishers integrate a consumer-friendly video-upload service into their websites.
The VideoEgg Publisher is a small browser plug-in that makes it easy for users to capture, encode, upload, and share online video. Sometimes described as a browser-based "universal video adapter," the VideoEgg Publisher reads dozens of video file formats and captures video directly from camcorders, Web cams, and mobile phones.
Videos are uploaded to the VideoEgg Server Network, a geographically distributed network of 18,000 servers powered by Akamai Technologies. Uploaded videos are immediately available for viewing through the Flash-based VideoEgg Player, which does not require external player software like Windows Media or QuickTime.
Webmasters can download the Integration Kit for the VideoEgg Publisher, VideoEgg Server Network, and VideoEgg Player for free. VideoEgg will host the videos indefinitely. The service will be supported by ads.
