OEN Signs Starz for its IPTV Launch in Houston

Optical Entertainment Network (OEN) has signed a number of IPTV carriage agreements with Starz Entertainment Group, enabling it to carry all 13 Starz and Encore channels, along with Starz HDTV and Starz On Demand, over its FTTH network in Houston. STARZ is the latest addition to OEN's line-up of IPTV channels, which also includes the largest number of SD and HD TV channels in a system that is made fully available for license in other metropolitan areas.OEN's FISION service will pass 1.6 million households in Houston, the 10th largest television...

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Entone Supplies Hydra IP Video Gateway to Consolidated Comm.

Consolidated Communications, which serves approximately 245,000 local access lines in Illinois and Texas, is deploying Entone's Hydra IP video gateway to support its IPTV launch. The Hydra IP video gateway can deliver up to three independent television channels to any combination of up to six television sets. In-home video distribution is performed using a home's existing coaxial cabling and no additional set-top boxes are required at the various...

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Concurrent Unveils RAM-based, High-Density VOD Server

Concurrent unveiled plans for a high-density, RAM-based video-on-demand (VOD) server that will be capable of storing in excess of 20,000 hours of on-demand content . The Concurrent MediaHawk 4500, which is targeted for launch in Q3, will also enable VOD ingest rates exceeding 2,500 hours per day. Stream density has been dramatically improved to 2,400 streams per 2RU enclosure, enabling both small and large scale deployments with minimized footprint and power consumption. The platform will use a real-time Linux operating system and commercial...

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PMC-Sierra Opens Tech Center in India

PMC-Sierra has established a new technology center in Bangalore, India. Arun Bellary has been appointed as its Managing Director. The company plans to hire 40 to 50 people in 2006.http://www.pmc-sierra....

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BT Global Services Restructures, Targets Customer Network Operations

BT Global Services announced a major transformation of its customer facing capabilities by creating a new global organisation in charge of customer service and network operation (CS&NO). The new structure will bring together over 14,000 customer service and technical professionals operating in more than 140 countries. It will focus on the increasingly complex needs of multi-site organisations around the world for managed and outsourced networked IT services.The new organization will also deliver the geographic expansion and upgrade of BT's...

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BT Reports Consumer Demand for Mobile TV

BT reported "clear consumer demand" for its trial mobile service that delivers broadcast digital TV and radio to mobile phones. The pilot BT Movio -- formerly known as BT Livetime - revealed that two thirds of customers would be prepared to pay up to £8/month for the service on their current mobile network, creating new revenue streams for mobile operators. Set for commercial launch later this year, BT Movio intends to be the first wholesale mobile broadcast entertainment service to launch in the UK . The service is broadcast using the Digital...

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FLO Forum Submits Air Interface for Standardization

The FLO Forum has officially submitted the FLO (Forward Link-Only) Air Interface Specification (AIS) to the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)'s Subcommittee TR-47.1. Engineering Committee TR-47 is responsible for the development and maintenance of Terrestrial Mobile Multimedia Multicast (TM3) standards, and TR-47.1 is the subcommittee focused on FLO technology standardization.The Air Interface Specification defines the radio protocols used over the air between the FLO network and a FLO device for the delivery of multicast services....

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Ixia Expands its IxANVL Conformance Testing Solution

Ixia announced a number of enhancements to its IxANVL conformance and interoperability test solution. IxANVL now supports test execution and automation from Microsoft Windows platforms, and additional protocols have been added to the portfolio, including the Metro Ethernet MEF9 test plan, MPLS VPN protocols, and SIP.IxANVL's enhanced support for VoIP includes a new SIP conformance test suite for verifying interoperability and standards compliance of voice signalling protocols. IxANVL has significantly expanded its support for MPLS VPN and Triple...

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Juniper Completes PacketCable Multimedia Qualification

Juniper Networks' SDX-300 Service Deployment System has been awarded qualification status for the PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM) specification from CableLabs. PCMM is a CableLabs specification that provides QoS, accounting and security functionality for multimedia applications. http://www.juniper....

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Foundry Introduces New 10 Gigabit Switches

Foundry Networks introduced two new high-performance ServerIron Layer 4-7 switches with 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) to enable scalable acceleration and delivery of emerging Web and VoIP applications.Foundry said the migration of traditional applications to the Web and the growing deployment of triple-play services, such as voice, video and data over a converged Ethernet/IP network, are causing an explosion of traffic volume in data centers. The new switches help scale server farms and application infrastructure to deliver these services at up to...

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Aptela Raises $5 Million for Hosted VoIP Service

Aptela, a start-up based in McLean, Virginia, raised $5 million in venture funding for its hosted business communications service. Aptela sells its own branded Aptela service, provides white label solutions for partners and works closely with a select group of telecom- and IT-focused resellers.JMI Equity, a private equity firm exclusively focused on investments in the software and business services industries, led the investment. JMI and the other Series A investors have an option to invest up to an additional $3 million in Aptela.http://www....

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ColorChip Raises $9.5 Million for Planar Lightwave Circuits

ColorChip, a start-up based in Caesarea, Israel, raised $9.5 million in venture financing for its glass-based Planer Lightwave Circuit (PLC) chips and modules for FTTH networks. The company is currently shipping first samples of its Meteor II FTTx SOG Transceivers for optical network terminals (ONT/ONU) for GPON and EPON. ColorChip is also distributing PLC splitters - based on the company's Ion-Exchange process - mainly to the FTTx, CATV, analog and digital PONs markets. The funding was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and joined by Motorola Ventures....

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UTStarcom Rebrands IPTV Solution as "RollingStream"

UTStarcom introduced the "RollingStream" brand name for its end-to-end IPTV solution. Formerly know as mVision, RollingStream is a distributed end-to-end solution that is designed to enable telecommunications operators and broadband service providers to deliver broadcast-quality television and on-demand entertainment programming over IP networks. The solution's scalability, reliability, and bandwidth efficiency allow it to support new services, including broadcast TV, Network Personal Video Recorder (n-PVR), Video on Demand (VoD), and Near Video...

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Vonage Expands E911 to 1,900 Calling Centers Nationwide

Vonage has turned up emergency 911 service in over 1,900 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) across the U.S. In just one week, Vonage equipped an additional 41 calling centers, in over 25 new counties, with 911 calling capabilities.http://www.vonage....

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Ikanos Acquires Analog Device's ADSL ASIC Product Line

Ikanos Communications agreed to acquire the network processor product line of Analog Devices, including ADSL ASICs, for approximately $30 million in cash. The acquisition includes these broadband gateway products, and the related technology, intellectual property, and development and support teams. Analog Devices' "Blackfin Fusiv Platform" integrates media processing, network processing and voice processing in a single system. The Fusiv-Vx 200 processor delivers wire-speed fast Ethernet routing, firewall and VPN throughput. Ikanos said the acquisition...

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Hungary Gets EUR 190 Million Loan for Telecom Modernization

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will loan EUR 190 million to Hungary for upgrading its broadband infrastructure. The loan will finance the extension of the geographical coverage of the existing Hungarian broadband services and the increase in the number of broadband connections, and their capacity and performance. Magyar Telekom, the major fixed-line and mobile phone Company in Hungary, is the project promoter.http://www.eib....

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