New Ethernet Alliance to Promote IEEE 802 Ethernet

A new Ethernet Alliance has been formed by 3Com, ADC, Agere Systems, AMCC, Aquantia, Broadcom, Force10 Networks, Foundry Networks, Intel, Lawrence Berkeley Labs, Pioneer Corporation, Quake Technologies, Samsung, Sun Microsystems, Tehuti Networks, Tyco Electronics, The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), and Xilinx.



The mission of the group is to serve as an industry resource and to promote all existing and emerging IEEE 802 Ethernet standards.



"Although Ethernet has existed for more than 25 years, it does not have an industry voice that represents the spectrum of IEEE 802 Ethernet standards developments and serves the IEEE 802 Ethernet industry as a whole," said Brad Booth, president of the Ethernet Alliance. "With the strong support of our founding members, the Ethernet Alliance will be that voice, and we will move aggressively to accelerate the growth and expansion of IEEE 802 Ethernet technologies."



Activities for 2006 will focus on three key areas: Ethernet technology incubation, interoperability demonstrations and education. To promote these, the Ethernet Alliance has started the incubation process for 100 Gigabit Ethernet, has initiated efforts to demonstrate 10GBASE-T, 10GBASE-LRM and backplane Ethernet interoperability, and is planning to show Consumer Electronic applications. In addition, the Ethernet Alliance has lined up speakers on key industry panels to help communicate the vision and benefits of Ethernet technology. Some of these events include DesignCon, Interop and the Server Blade Summit.

http://www.ethernetalliance.org

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BroadLight Samples its GPON Chip

BroadLight has begun sampling its BL2000 GPON system-on-chip solution. The BL2000 system-on-chip completes BroadLight's End-to-End GPON product offering which also includes PONmaker software and the BL3000 OLT MAC.
http://www.broadlight.com

• In June 2005, BroadLight unveiled an E2E GPON solution that features the BL2000 GPON System-on-Chip (SoC) for cost focused ONT applications and includes PONmaker software and the BL3000 OLT MAC.



• In November 2005, BroadLight, a start-up offering components for FTTP solutions, closed $10 million in a series D financing round led by Motorola Ventures.
  
  
  
  Motorola Ventures was joined in the funding round by BroadLight's existing investors, including Azure Capital Partners, Broadcom, Delta Ventures, Israel Seed Partners, Siemens Venture Capital, Star Ventures and Tellabs.

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Convergys Lands Multi-year Contract Extension with DirecTV

Convergys, the major provider of customer care services to DIRECTV since it launched its digital television programming service 11 years ago, will continue to deliver and enhance its world-class customer service to DIRECTV's 15 million customers under a new, multiyear contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.convergys.com

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Juniper Networks Names New Executive Team

Juniper Networks announced a shake-up of its senior executive team.



Eddie Minshull, who has headed Juniper's EMEA sales operation for the last five years, will assume the position of executive vice president, Worldwide Field Operations, responsible for Juniper's global Sales and Service organization. Minshull joined Juniper from Alcatel where he held the position of president, Northern Europe and chief executive officer (CEO), UK & Ireland. Prior to Juniper, Lindholm held senior executive positions in both sales and marketing at Unisphere, Redstone Communications, Bay Networks, New Oak Communications, Motorola and Wellfleet Communications.



Jeff Lindholm, who has led Juniper's worldwide sales organization for the last three and a half years, becomes chief marketing officer (CMO).



Jim Dolce, who has served as executive vice president, Worldwide Field Operations, is leaving the company to pursue personal interests outside of Juniper. Dolce joined Juniper Networks in 2002 with the acquisition of Unisphere Networks and is succeeded by two of his key lieutenants, Minshull and Lindholm.



Carol Mills, executive vice president and general manager, Infrastructure Products Group (IPG), has decided to leave Juniper to increase her Board of Directors activity and pursue other outside interests.



Kim Perdikou, who most recently worked for Mills as the associate general manager, IPG, will assume an interim role as acting executive vice president and general manager of IPG while an expanded search is conducted. Perdikou joined Juniper Networks in 2000 as chief information officer (CIO) with responsibility for driving Juniper's global information systems strategy. Prior to this, she served as CIO at Women.com where she built the IT infrastructure and sales operations function for this online business.



Jef Graham, executive vice president, Application Products Group (APG), is leaving Juniper Networks to become CEO of a private company. He is being replaced by Paulette Altmaier, who joins Juniper from Cisco, where during her nine year tenure, she held the position of vice president and general manager, responsible for a $1 billion product line and led the creation of many key platforms, including the new integrated services access router portfolio.



Each of these appointments will report to chairman and CEO, Scott Kriens.

http://www.juniper.net

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AOL Acquires Truveo for "Visual Crawler" Technology

America Online (AOL) has acquired Truveo, a start-up specializing in Internet video search, for an undisclosed sum.



Truveo's approach to video search utilizes a proprietary web crawling technology it calls "Visual Crawling" that automatically discovers video files and related information on complex, dynamic web pages.



This unique technology has enabled Truveo to amass one of the most comprehensive indexes of high-quality, current video on the web. As a result of this unique approach, Truveo's video search engine includes a large selection of popular video.



AOL said that once Truveo is integrated within its existing search and video services, AOL.com will deliver a single, comprehensive and robust video 'one-stop-shop' search experience that provides consumers with the access, functionality, premium assets, original content, and advanced search tools for online video discovery.



The acquisition of Truveo by AOL complements the early leadership established by AOL in the video search engine arena, beginning with the purchase of Seattle-based Singingfish in November 2003, and continuing with the launch of AOL Video Search in June 2005.



Truveo is based in Burlingame, California and was founded in 2004 by CEO Dr. Tim Tuttle and CTO Dr. Adam Beguelin.

http://www.aol.comhttp://www.truveo.com

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Harmonic Unveils MPEG/IP-Based Video Mosaic Solution

Harmonic introduced a multi-channel digital mosaic system that tiles several channels within a single high-quality digital video stream. This provides the subscriber with a composite multi-program view. In addition, the ProStream 8000 makes it possible to increase revenue from subscription services, video-on-demand (VOD) and advertising by enabling promotions and previews, regional customizations, additional paid programming formats, as well as specialty program groupings including sports, news and children's channels.



Harmonic's new IP-based ProStream 8000 is an MPEG-in/MPEG-out software solution that integrates with video headend, transport and customer premises equipment currently deployed by cable, satellite, telco and other video service providers.



Each multi-channel mosaic is transmitted as yet another channel in the line-up -- a complete MPEG stream with all of the associated metadata -- to ensure compatibility with existing set-top boxes and televisions.



"Television is rapidly evolving toward a model where users can receive a unique 'just for me' experience," said Gil Katz, Director of Digital Video Solutions at Harmonic Inc.

http://www.harmonicinc.com

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SilverStorm Raises $13 Million for Clustered Computing Interconnects

SilverStorm Technologies, a start-up based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, closed $13 million in venture funding for its high performance interconnect solutions for clustered computing.



SilverStorm said its high-performance interconnects are being used in some of the world's largest computing clusters. Customers include Sandia National Laboratories, Riken Research Institute, Toyota, Lockheed Martin, Chevron, Sun Microsystems, Intel, AMD, Virginia Tech and Canon.



The round was led by new investor Core Capital Partners, which was joined by new investor Axiom Venture Partners and existing investors Bay Partners and Castile Ventures Partners.
http://www.silverstorm.com

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Oki Electric Develops Portable MPEG4 Encoder for Satellite Phones

Oki Electric successfully transmitted MPEG4 video through INMARSAT's satellite service using a portable video compression transmitter. The experiment proved that a compact, light weighted encoder can transmit Internet Protocol video via satellite link, enabling a portable live streaming system.



"We conducted the experiment based on locations such as marine vessels and mountain areas, where normal transmission routes including fixed LAN, wireless LAN, FOMA and PHS are unavailable or, at best, difficult to maintain," said Yasukazu Hontama, President of Broadband Media Company at Oki Electric.



Oki conducted the experiment as follows:

• 1. Encoded video taken by a small digital camcorder into MPEG-4 via its RS-M portable encoder



• 2. Transmitted compressed video via the INMARSAT M4 satellite



• 3. Received video at ground base station



• 4. Delivered to client PC via the Internet

The experiment transmitted 5 frame per second with QCIF(3) with a 32Kbps transmission speed, and 10 frames per second with QCIF with a 48Kbps transmission speed.

http://www.oki.com/

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Virtela Expands Managed DSL to 120 Countries

Virtela, a global network solutions provider, is now delivering managed global DSL connectivity to its private network via a footprint covering more than 120 countries. New locations covered include Azerbaijan, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Egypt, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Romania, Tajikistan and Vietnam.
Virtela has already provisioned and provides ongoing management of business-class DSL services for more than a thousands customer sites worldwide.



Virtela's global DSL services enable enterprises to replace low-speed Frame Relay and Private Lines or usage-based ISDN lines to their branch offices. The service can also provide a backup to primary MPLS or Frame networks. Virtela offers a single point of contact for global DSL ordering, provisioning, 24x7 Network Operations Center support, billing and customer care. Virtela selects the best provider on a price and performance basis per customer location, and can integrate with existing Internet access where desired.

http://www.virtela.net

• Virtela operates a global, multi-carrier MPLS network with dynamic best path routing and automatic failover capabilities. Network and Security Operations Centers in Denver and Mumbai, India monitor and manage outsourced customer networks. The new Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) suite lets customers maintain control of and visibility into their infrastructures via on-line ticketing, reporting, and administration using a Web portal. The services also provide certified, hands-on expertise for managing and troubleshooting platforms from major equipment vendors worldwide.

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Firetide Partners With EDX Wireless for Municipal Wireless Mesh

Firetide, a supplier of wireless mesh networking, announced a strategic partnership with EDX Wireless, to provide customers with full featured software tools for planning and deploying municipal wireless mesh networks.



EDX Wireless, a developer of software for planning commercial and municipal wireless networks, has taken the step to include Firetide HotPort mesh node specifications as part of its SignalMX software, allowing network planners to include the mesh nodes as part of their overall network plan. Firetide and EDX are exploring further integration with SignalMX, including integrated data transfer to and from Firetide's HotView Pro network management platform.

http://www.firetide.comhttp://www.edxwireless.com

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CMP Media Acquires Shorecliff. Producer of TelcoTV

CMP Media has acquired Shorecliff Communications, a conference organizer for the technology sector. Shorecliff's conferences include RFID World, Broadband Wireless World, Tower Summit & Trade Show and TelcoTV. Other events include Computer Security Institute, Black Hat, and the Embedded Systems, Software Development and Game Developer Conferences.

http://www.shorecliffcommunications.com

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Widevine Opens Offices in Cambridge and Lisbon

Widevine Technologies, a supplier of downloadable content protection and digital forensics solutions, has opened two European offices in Lisbon, Portugal, and Cambridge, England. The Lisbon office is headquarters for Widevine's European customer engineering teams responsible for implementation and technical support capacities. The Cambridge office will headquarter its European sales and marketing teams.

http://www.widevine.com

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FCC Appoints Inspector General

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin named Dr. Kent Nilsson as Acting Inspector General and Jon Stover as Acting Deputy Inspector General.



Dr. Kent Nilsson most recently served as Special Counsel and Deputy Chief of the FCC's Network Technology Division in the Office of Engineering and Technology. Before joining the Office of Engineering and Technology, Dr. Nilsson was Deputy Chief of the FCC's Network Services Division in the Common Carrier Bureau (subsequently renamed the Wireline Competition Bureau). While Deputy Chief, Dr. Nilsson also served as the Commission's Managing Counsel for the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and managed the Common Carrier Bureau's Y2K initiatives for telephone companies.

http://www.fcc.gov

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European Commission Clears O2 Acquisition by Telefónica

The European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of O2 by Telefónica. In order to relieve anti-competitive concerns, Telefónica has undertaken to leave the FreeMove alliance.



Telefónica is currently a member of the so-called FreeMove alliance, where it co-operates with the other three largest incumbent network operators in the EEA (France Télécom, Telecom Italia, and Deutsche Telekom). O2 participates in the Starmap alliance, where a range of smaller telecommunication companies co-operate under a similar but albeit more loosely structured framework.



The Commission found that the merger would therefore give rise to competition concerns on the market for international roaming services. At the wholesale level, telecommunication companies buy international roaming from each other in order to allow their mobile telephony subscribers to make and receive calls while traveling abroad. In particular, the FreeMove alliance was founded in order to concentrate the exchange of international roaming business among its members.



The Commission's market investigation showed that following the proposed transaction, O2 would in the normal course of events be expected to move from the Starmap alliance to the FreeMove alliance, or align its behaviour with that of the latter, as a consequence of its dependency on Telefónica. As a result, O2 would in all probability be less ready to exchange international roaming traffic with non-FreeMove members. This would imply significant cost increases for those companies, in particular in the UK where no international roaming provider independent of FreeMove would remain after the transaction (except for the fully integrated Vodafone group).http://europa.eu.int

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Apple's iTunes Reaches 8 Million Video Sales

Apple has sold 8 million video episodes since they became available on its iTunes store on 12-Oct-2005. Videos are priced at $1.99 per episode.



To date, more than 850 million songs have been purchased on iTunes.

http://www.apple.com

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