Monday, July 31, 2006

Equinix Opens Fourth Data Center in the Silicon Valley

Equinix opened its fourth Internet Business Exchange (IBX) center in the Silicon Valley. The new 120,000 square foot center is located in Sunnyvale and will add approximately 1,800 cabinets and increase Equinix's Silicon Valley footprint to more than 500,000 square feet. The center was originally built-out in 2001 at an estimated cost of $80 million and was acquired by Equinix through a long-term lease announced 14 months ago. Equinix is investing $15.0 million in upgrades to the facility.

http://www.equinix.com

UNH-IOL Advances IPv6 Application Testing with Moonv6

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) has completed a weeklong round of testing on the "Moonv6" network, the world's largest multi-vendor IPv6 network. The event included a public demonstration of the Network Time Protocol (NTP) running on a native IPv6-only connection.



The UNH-IOL test ran mixed applications traffic (voice, video and data) between its network testing lab in Durham, New Hampshire and the U.S. Army's data-communications interlope testing facility, the Joint Interoperability Test Command, in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Engineers at both locations passed data back and forth across firewalls systems via native IPv6 links as well as mixed v4 and v6 links using transition mechanisms such as domain name systems (DNS) mapping. DNS is key in dual-stack migration for knitting IPv4 and v6 networks together during the transition.



Participating vendors included: Agilent, Check Point Software Technologies, Extreme Networks, Fortinet Inc., IBM, Lucent, Nominum, QLogic and Spectracom Corp.

http://www.iol.unh.eduhttp://www.moonv6.org
  • The Moonv6 project is a global effort led by the North American IPv6 Task Force (NAv6TF) involving the University of New Hampshire - InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), Internet2, vendors, service providers and regional IPv6 Forum Task Force network pilots worldwide. Taking place across the U.S. at multiple locations, the Moonv6 project is the largest permanently deployed multi-vendor IPv6 network in the world. The U.S. Government's Department of Defense Joint Interoperability Testing Command (JITC) and other government agencies, the Defense Research & Engineering Network (DREN) and the High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) also play significant roles in the Moonv6 demonstrations ensuring DoD interoperability and migration objectives are identified and demonstrated.

Extreme Leverages MAC-in-MAC to Scale Ethernet to 16 Million Users

Extreme Networks introduced new capabilities based on emerging Ethernet standards that enable its BlackDiamond 12K platform to address the scalability of service provider aggregation networks for business and residential subscribers.



Extreme Networks' "Multidimensional Ethernet" capabilities are comprised of three key dimensions:



  • MAC-in-MAC scalability,


  • Ethernet Cross Connect technology,


  • and Hierarchical Quality of Service (QoS).


Iometrix, the lab used to certify Carrier Ethernet products and services for the Metro Ethernet Forum, was commissioned to perform a battery of tests that covered scalability using MAC-in-MAC, the proposed IEEE 802.1ah standard, for provider backbone deployments; Ethernet Cross-Connect technology for directing subscribers to a variety of content networks; and hierarchical per- subscriber, per-application quality of service -- the key components to delivering cost effective and scaleable Carrier Ethernet networks.



"The last hurdle for Ethernet to effectively meet the demands of service provider networks is scalability," said Bob Mandeville, founder and president of Iometrix. "Until Ethernet can effectively scale to support hundreds of thousands of users, it will not be a legitimate solution at the core. This test, the first of its kind, has shown that MAC-in-MAC, and Extreme Networks implementation of Multidimensional Ethernet delivered that scalability."



Extreme Networks said the Iometrix test results demonstrated :

  • Extended scalability to millions of distinct service instances with MAC-in-MAC while successfully encapsulating duplicate S-Tags.


  • Delivered point-to-point and point-to-multipoint services at wire rate using MAC-in-MAC while guaranteeing subscriber traffic integrity.


  • Successfully switched traffic from any selected individual subscriber to specific service instances by mapping C-Tag IDs to S-Tags IDs bi-directionally and at wire rate enabling simple layer 2 connections to content networks.


  • Applied bandwidth profiles at both ingress and egress ports and accurately triggered on multiple criteria and at wire rate to prioritize subscriber traffic.


  • Dynamically allocated bandwidth among different traffic classes at wire rate.
http://www.extremenetworks.com


Nortel Appoints Darryl Edwards as EMEA President

Nortel has appointed Darryl Edwards as president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, replacing Steve Pusey who is leaving the company to join Vodafone Group Plc as its Chief Technology Officer. Edwards has been with Nortel for 14 years. Most recently, Edwards was Nortel president of Northern Europe, Middle East and NETAS, Nortel's joint venture in Turkey. In the past, he has been CEO of Nortel Israel and of Nortel Networks Germany. Prior to joining Nortel, Edwards spent 13 years at GPT. He will continue to be based in Maidenhead, England.

http://www.nortel.com

Bell Canada Announces Executive Appointments

Bell Canada announced the following changes to its leadership team.



Wade Oosterman is appointed President of Bell Mobility and Bell Distribution Inc. (BDI), as well as Chief Brand Officer of Bell Canada, effective immediately.



Stephane Boisvert, former Senior Vice-President, Global Client Solutions Sales of Sun Microsystems Inc., is appointed President of Bell Canada's Enterprise business, replacing Isabelle Courville, which has decided to step down.
http://www.bell.ca

Vonage Adds 256,000 VoIP Lines in Q2

Vonage reported Q2 revenue of $143 million, up 141% from $59 million in the year-ago quarter. Net loss for the quarter was $74 million, down 14% from $85 million in the prior quarter.



Vonage added 1,005,000 net subscriber lines during the twelve months ended June 30, 2006, including approximately 256,000 during the second quarter, the second highest level of net additions in the Company's history. Vonage ended the second quarter with over 1,853,000 total subscriber lines, an increase of 16% from the prior quarter and 119% above the year-ago level.



Total marketing costs were $90 million in the second quarter 2006, 46% above the year-ago quarter amount of $62 million, and 2% above the prior quarter 2006 amount of $88 million. Marketing costs per gross subscriber line addition were $239 for the second quarter 2006. The comparable amount for the year-ago quarter was $236. Customer premise equipment ("CPE") subsidy, a measure representing the net cost of a Vonage-enabled device per gross subscriber line addition, was down $3.32 to $24.68 for the second quarter 2006 from $28.00 in the year-ago quarter.



The company hopes to end 2006 with 2.3 to 2.45 million subscriber lines.

http://www.vonage.com

Verizon Reaches 6.1 million Broadband Customers, including 375,000 for FiOS Internet

Verizon reported Q2 revenue of $22.7 billion, up 25.6 percent from second quarter 2005. Reported quarterly earnings were $1.6 billion, or 55 cents per diluted share, compared with $2.1 billion, or 75 cents per share, in the second quarter 2005 -- including 9 cents per share in special items for severance and related pension and benefits charges, and for employee relocations and merger integration costs.



Some highlights for the quarter:


Verizon Wireless

  • Added 1.8 million net customers in the second quarter 2006, for a total of 54.8 million customers nationwide, representing a 15.8 percent increase in total customers from the end of the second quarter last year. During the past 12 months, the company added nearly 7.5 million net customers.


  • All of the net additions in the quarter and almost all of those in the past 12 months were retail customers -- that is, businesses and consumers directly served and managed by Verizon Wireless and who buy Verizon Wireless- branded service, rather than customers of the company's resellers.


  • Total churn was a record-low 1.13 percent, and churn among the company's retail postpaid customers was 0.87 percent, another record.


  • Verizon Wireless revenues grew 18.0 percent year-over-year to $9.3 billion in the second quarter 2006, driven by continued strong customer growth and demand for data services.


  • Wireless data revenues topped $1.0 billion for the first time in a quarter. Wireless data revenues accounted for nearly 12.9 percent of total wireless service revenues.


Wireline

  • There were 440,000 net new broadband connections, which include both DSL and the FiOS fiber-based access service.


  • FiOS Internet customers accounted for 111,000 of the new broadband additions and now make up 375,000 of the company's 6.1 million total wireline broadband connections, which have increased 47.9 percent compared with the second quarter 2005. FiOS data services are becoming increasingly available for sale in 16 states, as Verizon's FTTP network passed a total of 4.5 million premises by mid-July 2006 and is on target to pass 6 million premises by year- end.


  • Penetration of FiOS Internet service now stands at 12 percent across all markets. In markets where Verizon has been selling FiOS data services for at least a year, the average penetration rate was 15 percent at the one-year mark, well on the way toward achieving the company's goal of 30 percent penetration in five years.


  • Earnings dilution from FiOS data and video deployment was 7 cents per share in the second quarter 2006 and is expected in the range of 28 cents per share to 30 cents per share for the full year.


  • Verizon now has 485,000 customers who receive a Verizon DIRECTV bundle, adding a company-record 70,000 net new customers in the quarter.


  • Total switched access lines in service -- not including wireline broadband connections -- were 47.0 million at the end of the second quarter 2006, a 7.4 percent decline compared with the second quarter
    2005.


  • Total wireline operating revenues were $12.8 billion in the second quarter 2006, an increase of 35.3 percent compared with the second quarter 2005 on an adjusted basis (non-GAAP) excluding revenues from operations sold in 2005. On the same adjusted basis, total wireline operating expenses were $11.6 billion in the second quarter 2006, a 40.1 percent increase compared with the second quarter 2005.


Verizon Business

  • The company is ahead of plan to achieve its 2006 target of $550 million in synergies from the MCI merger. By the end of the second quarter, approximately $200 million in synergies were realized, at a rate that will continue to ramp up through the remainder of the year.


  • Verizon Business operating revenues increased 1.6 percent over Q1, on a pro-forma basis, to $5.1 billion in the second quarter 2006.


  • Verizon's total debt at the end of the second quarter 2006 was $42.4 billion, compared with $38.3 billion at the end of 2005. The increase was primarily due to the addition of MCI's debt as a result of the merger.

http://www.verizon.com

AT&T Expands its Metro Switched Ethernet Service Coverage

AT&T is expanding the reach of its "OPT-E-MAN" managed metropolitan optical transport service to cover 22 additional U.S. cities. This expansion brings the number of metropolitan areas where OPT-E-MAN is available to 41.



AT&T OPT-E-MAN is a fully managed, switched Ethernet network service that provides customers with a highly efficient solution for communicating across multiple locations within a metropolitan area. The service can be configured in a variety of ways, including point to point, point to multipoint and multipoint to multipoint. The service also is scalable from 5 Mbps to 1 Gbps.



The added metropolitan areas are in Ohio -- Columbus, Dayton, Akron/Cuyahoga Falls/Canton, Toledo, Youngstown; Indiana -- South Bend; Illinois -- Springfield, Rockford, Campaign/Urbana; Michigan -- Grand Rapids; Oklahoma -- Oklahoma City, Tulsa; Texas -- El Paso, Corpus Christi, Amarillo, Laredo; Kansas -- Topeka; and California -- Modesto/Stockton/Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo and Redding.



OPT-E-MAN's original service areas include San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Green Bay, Appleton, Madison, Eau Claire and all major metropolitan areas in Connecticut.

http://www.att.com

NETGEAR Introduces ADSL2+-VoIP-Wireless Gateway

NETGEAR announced worldwide availability of its Integrated ADSL2+ Modem and Wireless Router with Voice. The new DG834GV combines an ADSL2+ Modem, Router, 10/100 Wired LAN Switch, 802.11g Wireless Access Point, VoIP, and SPI Double Firewall. In addition, VPN pass-through enables safe connections to a user's business network from their home and office, while Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) and Denial of Service (DoS) attack prevention avert possible threats by scanning all incoming traffic.
http://www.netgear.com

EarthLink Selected to Build out Pasadena Network

The City of Pasadena, California selected EarthLink to build, own and operate a 23 square mile citywide municipal wireless network.



EarthLink will offer a symmetrical, 1 Mbps solution for customers and will work with the City to develop a digital inclusion program to offer certain qualifying residents discounted Internet access.



The City of Pasadena will be an anchor tenant on the network.



As part of its commitment to open access, EarthLink will enable multiple, competing providers to offer their services to consumers and businesses over its network.



EarthLink will deploy Tropos Networks' MetroMesh Wi-Fi routers on light poles. In addition, EarthLink will deploy Motorola's MOTOwi4 portfolio of products, including its Canopy high-speed backhaul and Wi-Fi mesh network equipment.

http://www.earthlink.net

Centillium Reports Q2 Revenue of $18.3 Million

Centillium Communications, a supplier of DSL silicon, reported Q2 revenue of $18.3 million, compared with $20.3 million during the first quarter of 2006 and $18.6 million for the second quarter of 2005. GAAP results were a net loss of $1.6 million, or ($0.04) per share, for the second quarter of 2006, compared with a net loss of $313,000, or ($0.01) per share, for the first quarter of 2006 and a net loss of $3.7 million, or ($0.10) per share, for the second quarter of 2005.



"Although during the second quarter our net revenues were as expected, our ADSL revenues from Japan declined by 30% to $8.4 million, compared with $12.0 million in the previous quarter. We expect a continued decline in our Japan ADSL revenues in the coming quarters," said Faraj Aalaei, co-founder and CEO of Centillium. "Our second quarter 2006 revenues, as a percentage of net revenues by region, were approximately 51 percent from Japan, 23 percent from Asia, excluding Japan, 14 percent from the U.S. and 12 percent from Europe. Also, our second quarter 2006 revenues, as a percentage of net revenues by market, were 73 percent from DSL, 22 percent from VoIP and 5 percent from Optical."



During Q2, Centillium announced a VDSL2 system-on-a-chip product family.

http://www.centillium.com

Sunday, July 30, 2006

KT Selects ECI Telecom for Metro Ethernet Edge Routers

KT is deploying ECI Telecom's service edge routers on its metro Ethernet network. The routers are provided by ECI's Data Networking Division, formerly Laurel Networks. ECI plans to install additional ST200 routers in Q3 2006.



For the metro Ethernet network (KORNET) bid process, KT developed a competitive benchmark test that included thorough testing of IP routing, forwarding performance, quality of service, security and denial of service prevention. KT chose ECI after the ST200 Service Edge Router won its extensive benchmark test.

http://www.ecitele.com


MetaSwitch Unveils IMS-Solution for Cable Operators

MetaSwitch introduced an IMS-based telephony solution aimed at the cable market called COMPETE! or Cable Operator Multiservice Platform for Enhanced Telephony Evolution. This new platform, which is based on MetaSwitch's existing softswitch platform, enables cable operators to offer voice services to both business and residential customers, including services such as hosted private branch exchange (PBX), unified communications and converged T1 services over IP.



The MetaSwitch COMPETE! solution is compatible with IMS and PacketCable Release 2 specifications. It features Cisco IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) infrastructure components, including the Cisco uBR7246VXR and uBR10012 Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTS), Linksys multimedia telephony adapters and Scientific Atlanta set-top boxes. The COMPETE! solution is enabled by Cisco's Service Exchange Framework (SEF) component of IP NGN, which enables cable operators with seamless support for IMS as well as non-IMS applications - including Web 2.0 applications, .NET applications and others.



Other components of the COMPETE! solution include MetaSwitch's multimedia session control and application server and equipment from other companies including middleware for television-based services such as on-screen caller identification (CID), missed call list, and voicemail. In addition, as part of the COMPETE! solution, MetaSwitch announced support for dynamic quality of service (DQOS) within its Call Management Server component.



MetaSwitch said a key advantage of the COMPETE! solution is that it can be deployed as multiple distributed network elements, for scalability to hundreds of thousands of end users, or in a "drop-in" solution that integrates all the key telephony functions in a single chassis.



The MetaSwitch IMS-based softswitch solution is already being deployed by more than 10 cable operators, including Clear Creek Telephone & TeleVision, Cunningham Communications, Penasco Valley Telecommunications and Vidia Communications.

http://www.metaswitch.com

SanDisk Introduces 2-Gigabyte microSD Mobile Phone Card

SanDisk introduced a 2 GB microSD removable flash memory card aimed at mobile devices. This would allow storage of up to 1,000 mp3 file (assuming average 4 minute songs at 64 kbps). SanDisk's previous highest capacity was 1GB.



http://www.sandisk.com

Convergin Adds SCIM Capabilities for Wireline Carriers

Convergin has enhanced its Accolade convergence SCIM (Service Capabilities Interaction Management) platform with new capabilities that allow connectivity of softswitches and IMS Call Session Control Functions (CSCF), with existing legacy services.



Convergin's Accolade platform allows SIP and IMS platforms to issue SIP queries towards legacy wireline AIN/INAP services, enabling operators' SS7 services to be delivered not only to the SS7/TDM switches, but also to next generation softswitches and IMS/SIP CSCFs.

Convergin said its SCIM platform not only enable SIP access to existing legacy SCP-based services, but can also control the access to those services from various switching platforms and service providers. Service providers that deploy Convergin's Accolade platform for legacy services can later use the platform to enhance their service offerings to permit SIP-based services and SIP/IMS Application Servers for legacy and next generation networks.



"We see a strong demand to provide core network solutions for service providers that are running mostly legacy services and also want to seamlessly deliver the same services to the recently-deployed next generation networks," said Dr. Ayal Itzkovitz, CEO of Convergin. "Our SCIM offering answers this need by unifying service delivery across fixed, mobile and IMS domains, while supporting and accelerating the migration to IMS."http://www.convergin.com


Cable & Wireless Jamaica Selects Veraz and Verso for NGN Switching

Cable & Wireless Jamaica has selected Veraz Networks and Verso Technologies to provide an advanced NGN switching infrastructure and prepaid wireline solution. The deployment includes Veraz's ControlSwitch Softswitch and service delivery platform along with its I-Gate 4000 PRO media gateway and incorporates Verso's IP-based I-Master Application Server and Revenue Assurance Platform designed to deliver innovative prepaid features and services to subscribers. The turnkey solution was deployed and implemented within four weeks from the date of order. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.veraznetworks.comhttp://www.verso.com


Big Pipe Selects Broadwing for 10 Gbps Upgrade

Big Pipe, a division of Shaw Communications in Canada, has purchased an OC-192-based U.S. network backbone service from Broadwing Communications. The 10 Gbps of dedicated bandwidth provided by the upgrade will increase Big Pipe's capacity on three key routes: Seattle to San Jose, California; San Jose to Chicago; and Ashburn, Virginia, to New York.



Big Pipe provides IP-based backbone services to Internet service providers, carriers and large enterprises. Services include Transparent Local Area Network (TLS), Internet, private line and video transport.



The multi-million dollar agreement builds on the reciprocal relationship established between the two companies in 2004. That agreement provided for Broadwing to supply network services to Big Pipe in the United States and for Big Pipe to supply Broadwing with network services throughout Canada.

http://www.broadwing.com

BSkyB to Supply NETGEAR Wireless Routers

Sky, which serves 8.1 million households in the UK and Ireland with satellite TV, will supply free NETGEAR wireless routers to all subscribers to its new broadband Internet access service.



Sky Broadband offers a 2 Mbps download speed with no monthly subscription (free for Sky TV customers). Sky Broadband also offers a choice of other service tiers with download speeds of up to 16 Mbps (GBP 16 per month for Sky TV customers). Monthly download usage ranges from 2GB to unlimited.

http://www.netgear.comhttp://www.sky.com
  • Sky launched its free Broadband service on 18-July-2006.


  • Sky Talk is offers unlimited calls to/from UK landlines GBP per month (plus line rental).

IPcelerate Offers IP Video Surveillance System

IPcelerate, a Dallas-based VoIP solutions provider, introduced an IP Video Surveillance solution for recording and monitoring video sessions. The system offers a web interface, providing multiple camera views, camera control interface and configurable floor plan maps. The server supports up to 32 cameras and can be configured to record all the time, when a camera detects motion, or when an alert is received.

http://www.ipcelerate.com

WiNetworks Raises $11 Million for 802.16 d/e and DVB

WiNetworks, a start-up based in Herzalia, Israel, raised $11 million in venture capital funding for its WiMAX (IEEE 802.16 d/e) and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) technologies.



WiNetworks specializes in Hybrid WiMAX DVB (HWDV) for delivering Triple Play services. The company is currently shipping its WiMAX platform, which is particularly aimed at Digital Broadcast Satellite (DBS) operators and Cable Operators that would like to expand their video content to mobile users.



In this round, most of the funding came from WiNetworks existing investors, Cedar Fund, Columbia Capital and Rho Capital, with Evergreen entering as a new investor. This is the second major financing round for WiNetworks, which was founded in 2003 with seed financing from Cedar Fund.

http://www.winetworks.com

Verizon Wireless Launches LG Chocolate Handset, Cut

Verizon Wireless launched commercial availability of LG Electronics' "Chocolate" mobile slider phone designed to work with its V CAST Music service.



Chocolate features a glowing red touch sensitive keypad the enables users to browse, preview, download and play high-quality digital music from their phones over Verizon Wireless' broadband network or in the Verizon Wireless V CAST Music online store. A 2GB microSD card stores up to 1,000 mp3 files.



V CAST provides access to 1.3 million songs.



Chocolate accessories include Bluetooth stereo headphones, portable speakers, microSD memory cards and a Music Essentials Kit. Bluetooth lanyard stereo ear bud headsets are also available for Chocolate and include an in-line music controller with play, rewind, fast-forward, pause and stop capabilities.



Verizon Wireless has eliminated the need for customers to subscribe to the V CAST VPak for $15 per month to use V CAST Music. Now, anyone with a V CAST Music-enabled phone can pay-as-they-go to download songs on their phone for $1.99 per song plus airtime, download songs to their Windows XP PC for $0.99 and transfer their existing compatible digital music collection to their V CAST Music-enabled phone or memory card for free from their PC. Purchases from the phone include two copies of every song -- one for the phone and one for the Windows XP PC.

http://www.verizonwireless.com

XO Surpasses 5,000 Business VoIP Customers

XO Communications has surpassed the 5,000 customer milestone for its business-class VoIP services bundle, XOptions Flex. Launched fifteen months ago, XOptions Flex is an integrated VoIP services solution that serves businesses with as many as 160 employees at each location. The service combines virtually unlimited local and long distance calling, Dedicated Internet Access and web hosting services for a flat monthly price. http://www.xo.com

Ikanos to Acquire Doradus Technologies for Signal Processing

Ikanos Communications agreed to acquire Doradus Technologies, a start-up developing advanced signal processing products for communications and consumer applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Ikanos said the Doradus team brings significant expertise in developing power- and spectrum-efficient signal processing products for high-performance wireline (DSL), wireless, and digital TV markets.



Doradus' "DoraVision" VSB/QAM demodulator, which is designed for digital TV applications, enables Ikanos to expand its offering of highly-integrated, multi-functional triple play products. The acquisition will add 7 employees to the Ikanos team.

http://www.ikanos.comhttp://www.doradus-tech.com
  • Doradus Technologies is headed by Dr. Sam Heidari (CEO), who previously was a Director of Engineering at Ikanos Communications, and part of the original start-up team.

Tellabs Announces New $300 Million Share Repurchase Program

The Tellabs Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $300 million of the company's outstanding common stock (about 7% of shares at Friday's closing price). The new authorization follows Tellabs' completion of a $300 million share buyback program announced on February 2, 2005. The new share repurchase program will involve the purchase of common shares from time to time at the prevailing market price.

http://www.tellabs.com

Lucent Joins Boeing-Led Team Competing for Secure Border Contract

Lucent Technologies was selected as a member of the Boeing team that is pursuing the SBInet contract. he Boeing-led team submitted its proposal to the U.S. government and is competing for an estimated $2 billion contract award.



The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Secure Border Initiative (SBI) aims to secure U.S. borders and reduce illegal immigration. The SBInet contract is expected to be awarded in September 2006.



In addition to Lucent, the Boeing-led SBInet team includes the following major contractors DRS Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group (Palm Bay, Fla.), Kollsman (Merrimack, N.H.), L-3 Communications (Washington, D.C.), Perot Systems (Plano, Texas)-- Unisys Global Public Sector (Reston, Va.) -- Unisys Global Public Sector has expertise in homeland security and law enforcement information systems and information technology infrastructure, engineering, operations and maintenance.

http://www.lucent.com
  • Ericsson is leading another consortium seeking to provide high-speed mobile broadband technology and IP applications to address the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Secure Border Initiative (SBInet). The ABSG team led by Ericsson includes Computer Sciences Corporation; Fluor Corporation; SYColeman Corporation, a division of L3 Communications; MTC Technologies; CAMBER Corporation; AEP Networks ; Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Austin.



    Ericsson's Border and Area Security (EBAS) system is already operational in the European Union (EU) as part of the EU's Schengen secure border surveillance project.

Ikanos Posts Q2 Revenue of $41.2 million, up 15% Sequentially

Ikanos Communications reported Q2 net revenues of $41.2 million, a sequential increase of 15% from the $35.8 million reported for the first quarter of 2006 and an increase of 115% from the $19.2 million reported for the second quarter of 2005. GAAP net loss for the second quarter of 2006 was $2.2 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, on 27.1 million weighted average shares. This compares with a net loss of $1.4 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, on 24.5 million weighted average shares in the first quarter of fiscal 2006 and with a net loss of $0.4 million, or a loss of $0.24 per diluted share, on 1.8 million weighted average shares in the second quarter of 2005.



"Ikanos' record second quarter revenue reflects our continuing leadership in delivering the technology that carriers need to offer IPTV and interactive broadband services," said Rajesh Vashist, chairman and CEO of Ikanos Communications.

http://www.ikanos.com

AudioCodes Reports Q2 Revenue of $33 Million, up 6% over Q1

AudioCodes reported Q2 revenue of $33.3 million compared to $31.3 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 and $28.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2005. Second quarter revenues grew 6.3% sequentially and increased 16.7% compared to the second quarter of 2005.



Net income was $3.3 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2006 compared to net income of $2.3 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2006 and net income of $3.1 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2005. http://www.audiocodes.com

Adelphia's Cable Assets Distributed to Time Warner, Comcast

Adelphia Communications Corporation completed the sale of substantially all of its assets to Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corporation for aggregate consideration of approximately $12.5 billion in cash and approximately 16 percent of the equity of Time Warner's cable subsidiary.

  • Adelphia's approximately 4.8 million customers will be distributed between Time Warner Cable and Comcast.


  • Adelphia's almost 13,000 employees will transfer to Time Warner Cable and Comcast.


  • Adelphia also consummated a plan of reorganization for the former joint ventures with Comcast (Century-TCI and Parnassos), resulting in the repayment in full of approximately $1.7 billion of indebtedness.


  • Adelphia will hold the remaining sale proceeds for distribution to its creditors through a Plan of Reorganization as it seeks to resolve its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
http://www.comcast.comhttp://www.adelphia.com
  • Adelphia grew into the fifth largest MSO in the U.S., reaching approximately 5.2 million basic subscribers in 31 states, including in the Los Angeles area, where it was the largest cable operator.


  • In June 2005, John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for fraud. Timothy Rigas, his son, who served as Adeplhia's CFO, was sentenced to 20 years. The father was 80, while the son was 49.


  • In May 2002, following allegations of financial wrong-doing, founder and CEO John Rigas and CFO Timothy Rigas resigned from the company and its Board of Directors. They were subsequently indicted. Adelphia filed for bankruptcy protection the following month.

Ruckus Wireless Targets In-Home Connectivity to Outdoor Metro Wi-Fi Services

Ruckus Wireless, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, announced the commercial availability of MetroFlex, a high-performance 802.11b/g wireless access gateway specifically designed to give consumers better in-home connectivity to outdoor metro-scale Wi-Fi networks.



Ruckus Wireless said its MetroFlex system is the most sensitive and reliable in-home Wi-Fi receiver on the market and has demonstrated the ability in rural environments to sustain above 5 Mbps at one kilometer away from the nearest Wi-Fi node. According to the company, the device is capable of receiving signals down to -100 dBm. It is equipped with a high power amplifier and dual (vertically and horizontally) polarized directional antennas that combine to deliver extended range and performance. The MetroFlex supports the latest data encryption (WPA PSK), 802.1x authentication and dynamic channel selection. Automatic firmware updates allow product upgrades without any user intervention.



Additionally, unique software developed by Ruckus Wireless specifically for its MetroFlex product determines the fastest Wi-Fi node with which to associate, based on the best data rates and strongest Wi-Fi signal.



The MetroFlex system is being deployed by several metro-scale Wi-Fi providers throughout the U.S., will be resold by Expressnets, a customer premise equipment (CPE) supplier and systems integrator, and is compliant with Tropos Networks' Metro Compatible Extensions Specification (TMCX) program.



"Subscriber connectivity at home is a potential Achilles heel for metro-scale Wi-Fi," said Leo Wandling, president of Expressnets. Expressnets was recently selected by the City of Mountain View (CA) as the official Metro Wi-Fi modem supplier and home subscriber integrator for its city-wide Wi-Fi network.

http://www.ruckuswireless.com
  • Ruckus' smart Wi-Fi technology uses automatically tunable high-gain antennas known as a smart antenna array. This smart antenna array sends and receives Wi-Fi signals over the best possible RF path at any given time. If the Wi-Fi environment changes, the Ruckus MetroFlex tunes itself by steering signals around problem areas or interference, thereby avoiding connection problems and poor performance.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

T-Com Launches VDSL2 Network in 10 German Cities

Beginning August 2, Deutsche Telekom's T-Com division will begin offering consumer broadband access at up to 50 Mbps over its new VDSL network in ten cities. The service delivers voice communication, Internet usage and IPTV via a single line.



In cooperation with TV provider Premiere, DT is featuring the German top league Bundesliga via VDSL for an additional EUR 9.95 a month. Fans signing up now get an additional bonus: The first half of the season is for free. Aficionados can watch individual games or a so-called conference switch, which juggles between all the matches being played. Additionally, the top match of the week will be broadcast in HD.

http://www.telekom.de
  • T-Online is using Microsoft's IPTV platform.

SingTel Offer "PingPower" Low-Latency Service for Local Gamers

SingTel introduced a "PingPower" broadband service specifically tailored for local gamers with low-latency access to servers. The service promises latency as low as 10 milliseconds (ms).



As a start, players of four popular online games - "Battle Field 2", "Counter Strike 1.6", "Counter Strike Source" and "Day of Defeat"- will experience significantly lower latency when they sign up for SingNet's PingPower.

http://www.singtel.com

FCC Qualifies 168 Bidders for AWS Spectrum Auction

A total of 168 applicants have been qualified to bid in the upcoming FCC auction for Advanced Wireless Services licenses in the 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz bands (AWS-1). The auction is slated to begin on Wednesday, August 9, 2006.



The list of qualified bidders is posted on the FCC website.

http://www.fcc.gov
  • In August 2005, the FCC modified the band plan, and licensing and service rules – originally adopted in October 2003 – for the 90 MHz of Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) spectrum at 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz.



    The original band plan for this spectrum adopted by the FCC in October 2003 included a mixture of license sizes and geographic areas in order to accommodate the needs of wireless providers of various sizes serving a range of different geographic areas. The new order maintains such a mixture but increases the amount of spectrum licensed on a small geographic area basis (Cellular Market Areas, or CMAs) from 10 MHz to 20 MHz in order to provide greater opportunities for smaller rural or regional providers to obtain access to this spectrum at auction. The Order also provides for an additional 10 MHz of spectrum licensed by Economic Areas (EAs).

SanDisk To Acquire Msystems for Handset Flash Memory

SanDisk agreed to acquire msystems Ltd. in a stock swap in which each msystems ordinary share will be converted into 0.76368 of a share of SanDisk common stock, representing a 26% premium over the average closing price of msystems' shares for the last thirty trading days. The deal is valued at about $1.3 billion.



This combination joins together two flash memory pioneers with complementary products, customers and channels.



Israel-based msystems is a leader in flash memory systems addressing mobile, portable and embedded markets.



SanDisk, which is based in Milpitas, California,
is the world's largest supplier of flash memory data storage card products.



"SanDisk and msystems, over the past 18 years, have been leading innovators in the flash storage market. This strategic acquisition will give us the critical mass and complementary products, customers, channels, technology and manufacturing base to take our shared vision to the next level. The NAND flash data storage business is in its early stages and we believe the market opportunity is largely untapped," said Eli Harari, Chairman and CEO of SanDisk.

http://www.sandisk.com

Internet2 Offers Members Dedicated Wavelengths

The Internet2 consortium began offering its members dedicated optical wavelengths in addition to dark fiber assets.



The new service, called WaveCo, will provide members with access to lightpaths beyond the Internet2 Network footprint using Level 3 Communications' network. Through Internet2's agreement with the carrier, the "off-net" service will have the advantage of aggregated rates which are especially beneficial for regional networks that wish to extend their reach to only a few sites with varying demands for circuit capacity or duration.



These services are being offered in advance of the completion of the recently announced new Internet2 Network infrastructure, which will be built on experience gained through Internet2's successful Hybrid Optical Packet Infrastructure (HOPI) testbed. The HOPI project examined hybrid packet and circuit switched optical infrastructures to understand next generation network architectures. When complete, the new Internet2 Network will provide advanced capabilities to support the work of computer scientists and researchers, including testing new network paradigms, protocols, and architectures that push the envelope of networking technology.

http://www.internet2.edu/waveco

QUALCOMM Signs Fabrication and Test Deal with SMIC

QUALCOMM announced a strategic agreement with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), one of the leading semiconductor foundries. SMIC will provide integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing services to QUALCOMM using a specialized BiCMOS process technology at its Tianjin, China facility. This agreement will combine SMIC's wafer fabrication capabilities and subcontractor infrastructure with QUALCOMM's 3G technology.

http://www.qualcomm.com
  • In June 2003, QUALCOMM announced plans to invest up to US$100 million in early- to mid-stage Chinese companies engaged in the development and commercialization of CDMA-based products, applications and services.


  • In March 2006, QUALCOMM announced the joint founding of TechFaith Software China Limited to focus on the development of application software for mobile devices.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

France Telecom Reaches 8.5 Million DSL Users, 306,000 IPTV Customers

Citing very rapid growth in consumer DSL services, France Telecom Group reported revenue of EUR 25.86 billion to 30-June-2006, representing a growth of 9.3% on an historical basis and 1.4% on a comparable basis. The gross operating margin was 9.47 billion EURs. Some highlights:

  • The total number of customers served by France Telecom companies reached 88.7 million, up by 32.8% year-over-year on a historical basis and 14.8% on a comparable basis.


  • Traditional fixed line services and narrowband services continue to decline. Total revenue from fixed line fell 16% on a comparable basis, reflecting cuts in the tariffs for fixed-to-mobile calls and a drop in the total volume of telephone traffic.


  • The number of consumer ADSL Broadband accesses totaled 8.5 million in Europe, up by 39% in a year. In the first half of 2006, 1.1 million new users were added. France Telecom's own Home service was serving 5.2 million retail ADSL customers at the end of the quarter.


  • The number of wholesale broadband Livebox gateways surged to 2.9 million, up from 716,000 a year earlier.


  • The number of VoIP customers grew by nearly 80% in six months to a total of 1.73 million as of 30-June-2006.


  • There were 306,000 subscribers to the ADSL digital television service in France


  • CAPEX to revenue ratio maintained at 11.8% (compared with 11.5% on an historical basis and 11.6% on a comparable basis) with CAPEX of EUR 3.06 billion.


  • Net financial debt amounted to EUR 47.234 billion, down from EUR 47.846 at 31-Dec-2005, a reduction of EUR 612 million.


  • Revenues from Orange France were EUR 4.823 billion, an increase of 2% on a comparable basis and 1.8% on a historical basis.
http://www.francetelecom.com

Alcatel Post Q2 Revenue of EUR 3.4 Billion, up 7.6%

Alcatel reported Q2 revenue of EUR 3,384 million, up 7.6% year-over-year. Operating profit was EUR 263 million, a 7.8% operating margin
and net income (group share) was EUR 180 million, representing earnings per share or EUR 0.13.



Some highlights:

  • During Q2, Alcatel shipped a record 6.7 million DSL lines


  • Q2 gross margin was 33.6%, down from 35.6% a year earlier.


  • The IP data business once again recorded significant growth, with new contract wins in the U.S., Denmark, Spain, Venezuela, Malaysia and Thailand. In addition to the strong momentum in IP service routing, the MSWAN activity continued to reflect sustained demand for ATM-based DSL aggregation and for 3G RAN (Radio Access Network) aggregation.


  • Revenues grew significantly in the NGN/IMS activity, more than doubling in the first half of the year compared to 2005, with good traction at incumbent operators in Europe and Asia. The business now has more than 90 customers.


  • A major win in the Enterprise fixed mobile convergence was awarded this quarter with a tier-1 operator in the UK.


  • The traditional TDM voice activity continued to decline as expected during the quarter, however, some of this decrease was offset by maintenance/services revenue, which now accounts for a significant portion of the business.



































































































Segment Breakdown

Second Qtr



Second Qtr



First Qtr

In EUR million

2006



2005



2006

Revenues
Fixed Communications

1,363



1,224



1,273

Mobile Communications

1,007



958



908

Private Communications

1,034



981



905

Other & Eliminations

(20)



(18)



(19)

Total

3,384



3,145



3,067

Income from Operations
Fixed Communications

133



120



110

Mobile Communications

80



115



57

Private Communications

51



59



48

Other & Eliminations

(1)



(31)



(17)

Total

263



263



198





"While preparing for the merger with Lucent Technologies and the Thales transaction, Alcatel achieved good revenue growth in the second quarter, above market rate. Our strong performance in the wireline segment confirmed Alcatel's leading position in the network transformation to an all-IP infrastructure to support triple play services. We are particularly pleased with the resulting 4-fold year over year revenue increase in IP routing and aggregation as well as our strong position in the DSL and fiber access markets."http://www.alcatel.com

RadiSys to Acquire Convedia

RadiSys agreed to acquire privately-held Convedia Corporation, a leader in IP media processing technologies and IP Media Server products, for $105 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments, plus an earnout of up to $10 million if Convedia achieves certain profitability goals over the next year.



Convedia claims over 200 customers worldwide, including 25 of the top 50 global telecommunication service providers, and many Fortune 500 and enterprise customers. Convedia's family of media servers enable fixed, mobile and cable service providers to deliver processed media streams for IMS and pre-IMS services. Convedia media servers also support media-rich applications and services on converged enterprise networks. In addition, Convedia's eXMP technology delivers a common set of IP media processing features, control and management interfaces, and can be deployed on third-party Linux-based servers, embedded in third-party proprietary platforms such as routers, switches, and gateways and deployed on purpose-built, highly-optimized IP Media Server platforms. Convedia is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.



RadiSys is a leading provider of advanced embedded solutions for the communications networking and commercial systems markets. The company helps OEMs bring better products to market faster and more economically. Its products include embedded boards, platforms and systems. RadiSys is headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon.



RadiSys said the acquisition would accelerate its penetration of the VoIP equipment and IMS infrastructure markets as well as accelerate its strategy to provide turnkey networking platforms. Convedia's full family of media servers will continue to be developed and enhanced under the RadiSys corporate brand. In addition, the two companies will leverage Convedia's eXMP (eXtended Media Processing), software technology to operate on RadiSys' ATCA platform.

http://www.radisys.comhttp://www.convedia.com
  • In April 2006, Convedia extended its line of media servers with two new products - the CMS-3000 and CMS-9000 Media Servers, both based on a new eXtended Media Processing (eXMP) technology, which is a modular, portable technology that represents the evolution of Convedia's carrier-class media processing expertise and is designed for a range of media processing needs.





Time Warner Telecom to Acquire Xspedius for Metro Fiber in 75 Markets

Time Warner Telecom agreed to acquire Xspedius Communications, a privately held company which provides telecommunications services to businesses across the U.S., $531.5 million, consisting of $212.5 million in cash and $319 million in shares of Time Warner Telecom's Class A Common Stock.



Xspedius is a metro fiber-based provider of integrated communications services primarily to enterprise businesses as well as carrier customers. Its services include metro Ethernet, local and long distance voice, data and dedicated Internet access services, in 43 markets across 18 states and the District of Columbia.

http://www.twtelecom.comhttp://www.xspedius.com
  • Xspedius was created through the consolidation of several telecommunications companies. The initial footprint consisted of 6 facility based cities - Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Memphis, Nashville and Greensboro/Winston Salem.


  • In August 2002, Xspedius purchased substantially all of the assets of Virginia-based e.spire Communications, adding 3,500 total route miles of fiber, over 600 On-Net buildings and over 150 collocated end offices.


  • In January 2003, Xspedius acquired Mpower Communications' Texas assets added more than 7,000 customers and more than 60 collocated end offices in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio markets.


  • In April, 2005, Xspedius purchased the business and assets of ICG Communications Inc. in five markets across the Southeast, adding another 194 buildings and 500 more fiber miles to its network.

InterCall to Deploy Convedia Media Servers

InterCall, a subsidiary of West Corporation and a leading provider of outsourced communication solutions, will deploy Convedia's CMS-6000 and CMS-1000 Media Servers. West Corporation is an established leader in customer contact services and offers a suite of integrated communication services to Fortune 1000 companies.



Advanced reservationless conferencing and collaboration services developed by West Corporation's application development teams will use Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Media Server Markup Language (MSML) protocols to integrate and control Convedia media servers, which will provide audio bridging, transcoding, and personalized multimedia mixing capabilities, with superior economics compared to existing TDM-based audio conferencing equipment.



The initial West/InterCall purchase will secure a supply of Convedia media servers for development labs and new business growth, while additional procurements are being planned to upgrade the existing conferencing bridge infrastructure with an IP-based infrastructure built around a network of Convedia media servers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.convedia.com

Conexant Posts Revenue of $251.6 million, up 27%

Conexant Systems reported revenues of $251.6 million for its third fiscal quarter of 2006, which ended 30-June-2006. up 3.7 percent from second quarter fiscal 2006 revenues of $242.6 million, in line with prior expectations of a 3 to 5 percent sequential increase and up 27.4 percent from $197.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2005. Core gross margins in the third quarter of fiscal 2006 increased to 45.2 percent of revenues, up 170 basis points from 43.5 percent in the immediate-prior quarter and above prior expectations of approximately 44 percent.



Core operating income in the third quarter of fiscal 2006 was $25.5 million, a sequential increase of 31.7 percent from second quarter fiscal 2006 core operating income of $19.3 million and above prior expectations for a sequential improvement of approximately 15 percent.



"In our third fiscal quarter, we once again exceeded our overall performance expectations," said Dwight W. Decker, Conexant chairman and chief executive officer. "Most importantly, we delivered on our highest-priority goal, established 18 months ago, which was to return to double-digit core operating margins before the end of calendar 2006.

http://www.conexant.com

Tellabs Reports Revenue of $549 million, up 19%

Tellabs reported Q2 revenue of $549 million, up 19% from $463 million in the second quarter of 2005. On a GAAP basis, Tellabs earned $54 million or 12 cents per share in the second quarter of 2006, up 30% from $41 million or 9 cents per share in the second quarter of 2005.



Broadband -- Revenue from the broadband segment totaled $298 million, up 20% from $248 million in the second quarter of 2005. Within the broadband segment, access revenue rose 32% to a record $190 million from $143 million in the second quarter of 2005. Managed access revenue fell 10% to $86 million from $96 million a year ago. Broadband data revenue more than doubled to $22 million from $9 million in the second quarter of 2005.



Transport -- Revenue from the transport segment totaled $202 million, up 19% from $170 million in the second quarter of 2005, driven by demand from wireless customers.



Services -- Services revenue was $49 million, up 8% from $45 million in the second quarter of 2005.

http://www.tellabs.com

Comcast Reports Surging Demand for Digital Services

Comcast reported record quarterly results, driven by surging consumer demand for new digital features including ON DEMAND, digital video recorders (DVR) and HDTV programming.



Some highlights:

  • Comcast added 305,000 high-speed Internet subscribers during the quarter. High-Speed Internet revenues increased 22% to $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2006, reflecting a 1.6 million or 20% increase in subscribers from the prior year and stable average monthly revenue per subscriber. Comcast ended the second quarter of 2006 with 9.3 million high-speed Internet subscribers or 22% penetration of available homes.


  • Video revenue increased 8% to $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2006, reflecting growth in digital customers and increased demand for more digital and interactive features. Comcast ended the quarter with 10.5 million digital video subscribers, a 15% increase from one year ago. Basic video subscribers declined 0.1% or 66,000 subscribers during the second quarter of 2006 compared to a decline of 79,000 subscribers and 96,000 in the second quarters of 2005 and 2004, respectively. Comcast had 21.7 million basic cable subscribers as of June 30, 2006.


  • Driven by ON DEMAND movie and event purchases, pay-per-view revenues increased 30% in the second quarter of 2006 from the same time in 2005.


  • High-Speed Internet revenues increased 22% to $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2006, reflecting a 1.6 million or 20% increase in subscribers from the prior year and stable average monthly revenue per subscriber. Comcast ended the second quarter of 2006 with 9.3 million high-speed Internet subscribers or 22% penetration of available homes.


  • Comcast added 306,000 VoIP-based Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) customers during the quarter. Phone revenue increased 23% to $214 million reflecting a $67 million increase in CDV revenues as a result of the significant increase in CDV subscribers, offset by a $27 million decline in circuit-switched phone revenue. Comcast ended the second quarter of 2006 with a total of 1.7 million phone customers. Customer additions in the second quarter of 2006 include 306,000 new CDV customers offset by the loss of 79,000 circuit-switched customers.


  • Capital expenditures were $965 million in Q2 remained relatively unchanged when compared to one year ago.


  • Cable revenue increased 11% to $5.9 billion in the second quarter of 2006 reflecting strong growth in each of our services driven by record setting RGU additions. Revenue generating units (RGUs)(3) increased 816,000 in the second quarter of 2006, a 61% increase from the prior year. Comcast ended the second quarter of 2006 with 43.2 million RGUs, an increase of 3.3 million units from one year ago




http://www.comcast.com

Nokia Launches Public UMA Pilot in Finland

Nokia has launched a public Unlicensed Mobile Access pilot over Wireless LAN in the city of Oulu, Finland. The trial, which is slated to last at least two months, tracks 50 families that have been supplied with Nokia 6136 mobile devices with UMA capabilities.



UMA technology makes it possible for users to seamlessly roam and handover between local area networks and wide area networks using the same dual-mode device. Instead of constantly communicating with a base station, UMA allows the phone to also make calls through WLAN internet networks. In turn, this will also make it easier and cheaper for operators to expand their area coverage by implementing WLAN hotspots instead of base stations.



The pilot project is a joint cooperation between Nokia, the DNA/Finnet group and the City of Oulu. The City of Oulu announced the Pan Oulu project last year which enables its citizens to receive free WLAN internet via hotspots around the city. http://www.nokia.com


BellSouth to Market TiVo DVRs to DSL Customers

BellSouth will co-market the stand-alone TiVo Series2 box and service in conjunction with BellSouth FastAccess DSL.



Through the agreement with TiVo, select BellSouth FastAccess DSL subscribers will receive special pricing on the TiVo box and service. These customers can further enhance their already reliable, high-speed Internet service with TiVo's broadband applications, including online scheduling, TiVoToGo transfers, TiVo Guru Guide recommendations, streaming radio, movie browsing, and TiVo's easy-to-use Home Media features.

http://www.bellsouth.com

BT Reaches 8.7 Million Broadband Users

BT reported quarterly revenue of 4,864 million pounds Sterling, up 3 percent, a profit of 639 million pounds, up 24 percent, and earnings per share 5.8 pence, up 26 percent over last year, before special items. Revenue has now increased for ten consecutive quarters. Some highlights from the quarter:

  • BT had 8.7 million wholesale broadband connections at June 30, 2006, including 580,000 local loop unbundled lines, an increase of 2.9 million connections year on year and 535,000 connections in the quarter. The definition of broadband connections has been adjusted to include BT own use and test lines as sourced from equivalent BT Wholesale systems on which a data cleanse has also been performed and the statistics above are quoted on a consistent basis. Over 40 per cent of all UK homes now subscribe to broadband services.


  • Growth in new wave revenue continued and at 1,641 million pounds was 18 percent higher than last year. New wave revenue accounted for 34 per cent of the group's revenue compared to 29 percent in the first quarter of last year. New wave revenue is mainly generated from networked IT services, broadband and mobility.


  • Networked IT services revenue grew by 9 per cent to 981 million pounds, broadband revenue increased by 45 per cent to 454 million pounds and mobility revenue increased by 8 per cent to 71 million pounds.


  • The 12 month rolling average revenue per consumer household (net of mobile termination charges) of 253 pounds increased by 2 pounds compared to last quarter, the second successive quarter of growth.

http://www.btplc.com

NETGEAR to Acquire SkipJam for Home Entertainment and Control

NETGEAR agreed to acquire SkipJam Corp., a developer of software for home entertainment and control, for $9 million in cash.



SkipJam was founded in 2002 and is based in Port Chester, New York. Upon close of the acquisition, SkipJam's engineering team will be integrated into the NETGEAR engineering organization with Michael Spilo, CEO of SkipJam, becoming NETGEAR's VP of Engineering for Multimedia Products.



SkipJam's technology will form the basis of future NETGEAR multimedia products, including media centers, media players, and audio players, builds upon NETGEAR's first generation of digital home entertainment products, and complements NETGEAR's high-speed, extended range home network infrastructure solutions such as RangeMax Next draft 802.11n wireless and 200 Mbps HD Powerline that enable simultaneous streaming of multiple HD quality videos, and devices like NETGEAR's Storage Central that store digital entertainment files.



"As more and more entertainment content is digitally distributed over the Internet, the market for networked entertainment devices is growing," said Patrick Lo, Chairman and CEO of NETGEAR. "With the availability of high- speed, extended range home network infrastructure solutions such as NETGEAR's RangeMax Next draft 802.11n wireless and 200 Mbps HD Powerline, streaming multiple HD quality videos simultaneously across the network is now a reality. SkipJam has the unique software technology to become the platform for us to build out our multimedia product portfolio and continue expanding worldwide in the growing category of digital home entertainment and control."http://www.netgear.com

NEC, Matsushita and TI form Joint Venture for 3G/3.5G

NEC, NEC Electronics Corp., Matsushita, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Texas Instruments will establish a new joint venture company to conduct global development, design, and technology licensing for a hardware and software communications platform to manage the core communications functions for mobile handsets for 3G/3.5G and beyond.



The new company, Adcore-Tech, will be based in Yokosuka, Japan and have 180 employees initially. The five companies will jointly invest 12.0 billion yen in the new joint venture, with approximately 44 percent held jointly by NEC and NEC Electronics, approximately 44 percent held jointly by Matsushita and Panasonic Mobile, and approximately 12 percent held by Texas Instruments. http://www.necel.comhttp://panasonic.net

XM Satellite Radio Surpasses 7 Million Subscribers

XM Satellite Radio has passed the 7 million subscriber mark.

http://www.xmradio.com

Verizon Selects Alcatel, Motorola and Tellabs for GPON

Verizon has selected Alcatel, Motorola and Tellabs as GPON suppliers for its FTTP network. Later this year, Verizon will begin deploying the Alcatel equipment first, to be followed by Motorola and Tellabs. This is subject to finalizing definitive agreements.



Both Motorola and Tellabs are currently supplying BPON equipment for Verizon's rollout in 16 states.



"G-PON is the next step in the evolution of the all-fiber-access network," said Paul Lacouture, Verizon's executive vice president for network and technology. "When we first launched the nation's only large-scale FTTP program in 2004, we said that one of the most important competitive and cost-effective features is that we could increase speed and capabilities by evolving to more advanced electronics and without having to change the fiber we had already deployed or are deploying. Today's announcement begins to fulfill that promise."



Verizon also confirmed that its FTTP project is on track to pass a total of 6 million premises by the end of this year. Verizon expects to continue to add about 3 million premises passed each year for the next several years.

http://www.verizon.com

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Cingular Awards 3-Year RAN Equipment Contract to Carrier Access

Cingular Wireless awarded a three year supply agreement to Carrier Access Corporation to provide next generation equipment for their radio access network (RAN). Cingular selected the Carrier Access MASTERseries platform with "FLEXengine" technology, which incorporates IP management, voice and data prioritization, dynamic bandwidth re-use, and transport data convergence.



Cingular has over 47,000 cell sites, of which over 17,000 are already installed with Carrier Access MASTERseries nodes. This new contract not only gives Carrier Access the opportunity to place new nodes in the remaining 30,000 sites, but also the ability to upgrade the existing sites with incremental hardware and software capabilities.

http://www.carrieraccess.com

Avaya Signs GE to Broaden its North American Sales Channels

Avaya signed a distribution agreement with GE's Access Distribution division , a value-added distributor of IT solutions. Access Distribution will represent the entire Avaya product portfolio, as well as solutions from Avaya Global Services, including maintenance and installation work.



Avaya currently has a network of more than 2,500 resellers in North America. Access Distribution has over 600 additional reseller customers experienced in complex IT products, solutions and services -- from network security and storage to enterprise applications software.

http://www.geaccess.comhttp://www.avaya.com

Pure Networks Launches European Home Networking Solution

Pure Networks has formed a partnership with IP Globalnet to offer hardware manufacturers and service providers across Europe local language versions of Pure Networks' home networking software, Network Magic, and router set up wizards. Already two companies, TopCom and Cable 1 have joined the program and are using Network Magic to help their consumers solve home networking challenges.

http://www.networkmagic.eu
  • In January 2006, Pure Networks, a start-up based in Seattle, secured $12.5 million in new funding for its Network Magic home networking software and services.



    Network Magic is software for consumers that resides on each computer within a home network, connecting and unifying the many different PCs, routers, gateways, and networked devices into a seamless home network. To manage and repair the home network, Network Magic shows a visual Network Map of all computers and devices on the home network, making it easy for the average PC user to understand and run his or her own home network. When installed, Network Magic automatically configures a Windows 98 and above PC to access and share with others. A “Repair�? button and the Network Map help to eliminate a common frustration of broken internet connections by allowing anyone to easily fix the Internet or their home network when trouble occurs. Network Magic's Network Map will also show when Intruders are on your home network and provide clear steps to help secure it.

Yipes Reportes 51% Revenue Jump in Ethernet Services

Yipes Enterprise Services, a privately-held company, announced sharply increased financial and operating results for the six-month period ended June 30, 2006. For the first half of 2006, Yipes said it grew overall revenues by more than 40 percent, with 51 percent growth in its core global Ethernet offerings compared to the same period in 2005. Yipes said it now has more than 760 customers. Approximately 98 percent of Yipes' revenue is under long-term agreements.



Yipes provides services in and between major metropolitan markets including: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, London, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tokyo and Washington DC. http://www.yipes.com

D-Link Wireless Home Routers Pass Intel "Viiv" Verification

D-Link's RangeBooster G, Xtreme G and AirPremier Wireless Routers are among the first to earn Intel "Viiv" technology verification. Intel Viiv technology verified routers ensure compatibility with Intel Viiv-based PCs and also enable consumers to use the latest Intel Viiv software update for simplified set-up of verified devices.



Intel Viiv technology is Intel's new brand for in-home entertainment PCs designed to transform how consumers manage, share, and enjoy a broad and growing assortment of movies, programs, music, games, and photos.

http://www.dlink.com

Verizon to Carry Hearst-Argyle's Local TV Stations

Hearst-Argyle Television announced a long-term agreement with Verizon providing retransmission consent for carriage over Verizon FiOS TV of four local television stations: WCVB-TV, Boston; WMUR-TV, Manchester, NH; WBAL-TV, Baltimore; and WMOR-TV, Tampa. The agreement includes video-on-demand (VoD) and high-definition digital (HDTV) rights to the stations' local programs and carriage of digital multicast programming.



The stations are available to all FiOS TV customers in their respective markets. http://www.hearstargyle.comhttp://www.verizon.net

Brazil's GlobalCall Deploys Quintum's Tenor VoIP Switches

GlobalCall, a nationwide telecom carrier in Brazil, has deployed a national VoIP network based on the Quintum Tenor VoIP Switches. Tenor VoIP MultiPath Switches are deployed in its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, as well as in several POPs throughout the country. In addition, Tenor DX, Tenor AX and other Tenor models are deployed on customers' premises.



PL Tecnologia was the systems integrator who designed and implemented the VoIP system at GlobeCall. http://www.quintum.com

ZTE Ships 3.6 Mbps HSDPA Data Card

ZTE has begun production of the first bulk consignment of its HSDPA data cards for use by major telecommunications companies in Europe. ZTE said its MF330 data card is capable of download speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps.



Following the successful commercial testing of the card in Europe, ZTE has now begun to receive bulk orders for its product from a number of European countries.

http://www.zte.com.cn

Alcatel and Lucent Name Additional Execs

Alcatel and Lucent Technologies named the following additional members to the senior leadership team for the combined company:

  • Olivier Baujard, will serve as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the combined company. He currently serves as CTO for Alcatel.


  • Jeong Kim will remain President of Bell Labs.


  • Helle Kristoffersen, currently vice-president of corporate strategy for Alcatel will become the vice president of corporate strategy for the combined company.


  • Baujard, Kim and Kristoffersen will report to Mike Quigley, who will serve as president, Science, Technology and Strategy, in the combined company. Quigley now is President and chief operating officer (COO) of Alcatel.


  • John Giere, currently Chief Marketing Officer for Lucent, will assume that post for the combined company.


  • Lucent Chief Information Officer Elizabeth Hackenson, has been named to lead the combined company's Information Systems/Information Technology organization.


  • Giere and Hackenson will report to Frank D'Amelio, who will oversee a number of key corporate and cross company functions for the combined company. D'Amelio currently serves as COO for Lucent.


http://www.alcatel.comhttp://www.lucent.com

Angola Telecom Modernizes Network with Siemens

Angola Telecom has commissioned Siemens Communications to expand and modernize the fixed network infrastructure in the capital Luanda. The EUR 60 Million contract covers several thousand telephone lines and ADSL connections. The two-year project will entail a turnkey metro network, multiservice IP-DSLAMs, carrier Ethernet components and optical transmission equipment.

http://www.siemens.com/communications


TiVo Launches Audience Research and Measurement (ARM) Division

TiVo will begin offering advertisers second-by-Second customized data and analysis of advertising content and viewer behavior. The new TiVo Audience Research and Measurement division aims to provide a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the types of advertisements that are most successful with consumers in TiVo households. The data will be presented in such a way that advertisers and advertising agencies can compare and contrast it with broader audience measurements from other sources. Advertisers will also know the viewership and effectiveness of their advertisements by network, genre, day-part, time slot, day of week and commercial pod position.



TiVo said research will include assessment and analysis of the impact of fast-forwarding, rewinding, replaying, pausing and other behaviors based on anonymous, aggregate data collected from all of TiVo's subscribers across the country, in near real-time, through random analysis of 20,000 of TiVo subscribers per given day.



TiVo is currently working with Nissan, as well as OMD NEXT, a consortium of 14 of Omnicom Media Group's clients who have dedicated resources this year to test and learn about the relative impact that new and emerging media platforms are having on traditional media/advertising models, and the relative brand value that each medium brings to the overall media mix. NEXT clients include Bank of America, GE, Visa, Discovery Channel, McDonalds, and Anheuser-Busch, among others.
http://www.tivo.com

GN Netcom to Supply Verizon-branded Broadband Headsets

GN Netcom, a leading supplier of hands-free audio gear, entered into a licensing agreement to introduce a series of Verizon-branded headsets for use with broadband services and applications, including online gaming and IP telephony.



GN Netcom will produce, ship, and provide technical and customer support for the broadband headsets. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

http://www.verizon.comhttp://www.gnnetcom.com

Pulse~LINK Validates UWB Chipset Performance for Whole-Home HD

Pulse~LINK released independent test results validating the performance of its CWave UWB Over Coax solution. The report generated by Quantum Parametrics, the leading provider of 1394 implementation test tools, confirms Pulse~LINK's performance over coax.



The Quantum Parametrics report verifies that at sustained 400Mbps application layer throughput, Pulse~LINK's CWave Over Coax performance spans hundreds of feet of in-home coaxial cable, including multiple consumer grade signal splitters. The test scenarios were designed to stress the transmission system in various ways. Tested configurations included several combinations comprising hundreds of feet of RG-59 consumer grade coaxial cable; multiple signal splitters; and various lengths of un-terminated coax cable stubs attached to unused splitter ports.

http://www.pulselink.nethttp://www.quantumparametrics.com
  • In May 2006, Pulse~LINK, a start-up based in Carlsbad, California, introduced its "CWave" UWB chipset designed for whole-home distribution of HDTV content, high quality multi-channel audio and high-speed data across in-home coax and wireless networks. By bridging its wireless and wired communications technologies, CWave enables high data rate



    transmissions to be distributed throughout the home via coax then wirelessly connects peripheral devices in each room.



    Pulse~LINK said its "CWave" chipset will deliver up to a Gigabit of throughput with guaranteed quality of service. Coax, wireless, and even power line communications are all supported simultaneously from the same chipset radio

    .

    The CWave signal traverses existing RF splitters, coexists with legacy CATV, satellite and other signals already carried on the coax, and requires no changes to existing in-home coax cable wiring.

BT Signs Download-to-Own VOD Deal with NBC Universal

BT announced digital distribution agreements with Universal Pictures UK and NBC Universal International Television Distribution covering content for purchase (via download-to-own) or rental (via video-on-demand) in the UK.



Content will be available for purchase and viewing on PC from the BT Vision store, a new film and television download service to be launched this month.



From 31-July-2006, BT will offer a PC-based film and television download service, building to offer 150 Universal titles available on the same date as the UK DVD release. Consumers can purchase content for permanent ownership and will download two digital files to PC/laptop and a portable device, in conjunction with a DVD mailed by post.

http://www.btplc.com

BT's 21CN Test Programme Enters Next Stage

BT's trial 21st Century Network (21CN) is currently handling more than 625,000 live customer calls per day and more than 23 million customer calls have been completed. The trial involves the use of an IP link to carry voice calls between two major network nodes at Cambridge and Woolwich.



BT said the success of its trial represents a significant step towards the creation of its next generation network. It builds on the previous trial which ran from October to December 2005 where fourteen million calls were successfully carried on the IP network and voice quality monitoring carried out.



Multi service access nodes or MSANs from Huawei and Fujitsu are already in use, carrying voice services onto the core network from trial customer lines. This equipment is being installed at 18 exchanges in South East London, Kent and East Anglia.



For this stage of the trial, BT has also newly introduced Cisco's media gateway; Ericsson's call server and a Cisco Catalyst Switch. Other key technology components are Alcatel's LAN switch and Siemens/Juniper routers used in a previous 21CN voice trial.



Deb Covey, managing director, BT Wholesale Networks said: "21CN is gathering momentum as we head towards the start of customer lines being switched to the new network in South Wales in November. We are working with the rest of the industry to finalise the UK rollout plan. It's full steam ahead as we prepare sites across the country for equipment to be installed this summer."http://www.btplc.com


Mobile 365 Powers SMS Service for Skype

Mobile 365 was selected to provide SMS services to Skype. With this new service, Skype users can send an SMS to a mobile phone directly from their keyboard. The service is quick and simple to use, and features a straightforward pricing plan; users pay using their existing Skype Credit. For example, a Skype user can now contact a friend who is offline, via a mobile message, and arrange a Skype call, thus extending Skype's reach beyond the PC.



When a Skype user sends a message, Skype distributes the message via Mobile 365's global inter-operator network to over 60 countries across the world. Mobile 365 accommodates high traffic volumes via its upgraded platform, which recently benefited from a $15 million investment, further enabling the network to reliably deliver messages into over 180 countries worldwide.

http://www.mobile365.com
  • Mobile 365 is currently delivering two billion messages per month through its global delivery and settlement service for SMS, MMS, and WAP. Major operator customers include Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile, Telcel, Telefonica, O2, China Mobile, China Unicom, Hutchison, and Airtel.

AT&T U-VERSE Adds Bloomberg TV

AT&T announced a content distribution deal to include BLOOMBERG TELEVISION programming as part of its U-verse TV service. Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

http://www.att.com

Lucent Cites Delayed Deployments by North American Mobile Operators

Lucent Technologies reported revenue of $2.05 billion for its third quarter of fiscal 2006, which ended June 30, 2006, a decrease of 4 percent sequentially and a decrease of 12 percent from the year-ago quarter. Net income (GAAP) was $79 million, or 2 cents per diluted share, which is consistent with the preliminary results announced on July 10, 2006. These results compare with net income of $181 million, or 4 cents per diluted share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2006, and net income of $372 million, or 7 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.



"Our results this quarter reflect an impending shift in spending as some of our North American customers begin to move from current-generation to next-generation mobile high-speed data solutions. While these results were clearly disappointing, we do not believe these results are indicative of the longer-term opportunities we see in the global mobility market. CDMA continues to represent a large, sustainable market, and we see significant growth in the UMTS market as our customers enable their networks to deliver the exciting new applications their customers are demanding," said Lucent Technologies Chairman and CEO Patricia Russo.

http://www.lucent.com

Atheros Chip Powers UTStarcom's Ultra-thin Handset

Atheros Communications' single-chip solution for the PAS (Personal Access System) cellular market in China, the AR1900, is featured in UTStarcom's ultra-thin X30 PAS handset. Since its launch in April 2006, the X30 has become a best-selling PAS handset model in China.



The handset is only 10 mm thick and weighs less than 60 grams. It features a 1.5-inch color LCD screen, MP3 ringtones, games, 300 hours of standby and seven hours of talk time. It offers reliable voice connectivity through seamless handover between PAS base stations that are now prevalent throughout Chinese metropolitan markets.

http://www.atheros.comhttp://www.utstarcom.com

Limelight Raises $130 Million for Content Delivery Services

Limelight Networks announced a $130 million equity financing round for its content delivery network for digital media.



"Consumer demand for rich media delivered over the Internet -- video, music, games, and social media content -- has exploded over the past few years. This financing round, our first significant external equity financing, sets the stage for Limelight to continue expanding its infrastructure and capabilities to meet mounting market demand," said Bill Rinehart, President and CEO of Limelight Networks.



Limelight claims more than 600 of the world's top media companies as customers, including Akimbo, ABC Radio Networks, Belo Interactive, Brightcove, "BuyMusic" @ Buy.com, DreamWorks, LLC, Facebook, FOXNews.com, IFILM, ITV Play, Marimba, MSNBC.com, MySpace, NC Interactive, Real Networks Rhapsody, Radio Free Virgin, Valve Software, and Xbox Live.



Earlier this month, Limelight Networks reported strong growth in the second quarter of 2006, as revenue rose to over $14 million, an increase of nearly 40% from the first quarter of 2006 and over 200% from the same quarter last year.



The funding was led by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. As part of the financing, representatives from Goldman Sachs will join the company's board of directors.

http://www.llnw.com

Monday, July 24, 2006

Warner Bros. Added to iTunes

Warner Bros.' vast television library is now available for purchase and download on the iTunes Music Store. The new content includes shows such as "Friends," sci-fi epic "Babylon 5" and "MADtv," as well as animated classics including "The Jetsons" and "The Flintstones."



Apple's iTunes store now offers over 150 TV shows for $1.99 per episode for viewing on a computer or iPod.

http://www.itunes.com

Redback Posts Q2 Revenue of $68.2 million, up 18% over Q1

Redback Networks reported Q2 net revenue of $68.2 million, an increase of 18 percent from the first quarter of 2006. Net revenue was up $33.7 million, or 97 percent, over the second quarter of 2005.



Redback Networks generated $112.8 million in cash in the second quarter of 2006, including $83.1 million from a secondary offering in May 2006.



Including stock-based compensation expenses, GAAP net loss for the second quarter of 2006 was $1.8 million or $0.03 per share attributable to common stockholders compared to a GAAP net loss of $7.2 million or $ 0.13 per share in the second quarter of 2005.



"As the evolution of broadband networks accelerates on a worldwide basis, Redback continues to make significant progress on its business strategy," said Kevin DeNuccio, president and chief executive officer, Redback Networks. "We believe Redback and SmartEdge technology are becoming synonymous with Triple Play and IPTV build outs around the globe. Our vision of a single converged broadband network for all communication and entertainment services continues to gain mass adoption with customers."http://www.redback.com

Motorola Intros HSDPA and EV-DO Handsets

Motorola introduced its MOTORAZR xx, MOTORAZR maxx, and MOTOSLVR L7c handsets for wireless broadband.





The MOTORAZR xx and MOTORAZR maxx - are High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) handsets that enable download speeds as fast as 3.6 Mbps. The MOTOSLVR L7c leverages EV-DO technology.



Adding premium metal finishes and colors, plus HSDPA and EDGE technology, users can watch live streaming video over broadband-like connections and conduct two-way video calls with 15 frames per second. A compact multimedia machine, the MOTORAZR xx includes an integrated music player and Bluetooth stereo music profiles for streaming music to compatible Bluetooth-enabled wireless stereo headphones. The devices are expected to be available in Q4 2006.

http://www.motorola.com

Agere Posts Revenue of $382 Million, Announces Share Buy-Back

Agere Systems reported GAAP net income of $47 million, or $0.27 per share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2006, above the company's April guidance. In the third quarter of fiscal 2005, Agere reported GAAP net income of $120 million, or $0.65 per share. The latest quarter included a $27 million tax benefit; the year-ago quarter had a tax benefit of $120 million. Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2006 totaled $382 million.



Richard Clemmer, President and CEO, said, "Agere Systems turned in a solid third quarter, demonstrating the leverage we have created in our business model and the clear progress we are making in our turnaround plan. Moreover, we expanded our customer base during the quarter, giving us a firm foundation for driving revenue growth.



Agere also announced a new $200 million share repurchase program.
http://www.agere.comhttp://www.agere.com

Hutchison 3G Austria Selects Siemens for HSDPA

The Austrian mobile carrier Hutchison 3G (3), which is headquartered in Vienna, selected Siemens to build out its existing W-CDMA network. The carrier currently provides coverage for around 98 percent of Austria's population and offers W-CDMA services to around 50% of the country. By the end of 2007, plans call for some 95 percent of the country to benefit from HSDPA. The multimillion dollar deal is based on a turnkey contract comprising supply of the W-CDMA technology and a Managed Services.
http://www.siemens.com/communications

PT and Interphase to Deliver AdvancedTCA and MicroTCAT Products

Performance Technologies will partner with Interphase for select AdvancedMCT I/O modules for PT's application-ready platform solutions.



The partnership aims to broaden Performance Technologies' Advanced Managed Platform by leveraging the company's Linux-based NexusWareT software suite for use with Interphase hardware elements. NexusWare will add additional value to these elements while offering a consistent software offering to that of other Performance Technologies products. Additionally, the partnership will allow Performance Technologies to bring new and enhanced platforms to market.

http://www.pt.comhttp://www.interphase.com