Optovia's SpanExpress Optical Amplifier Extends SANs to 200km

Optovia, a start-up based in Acton, Massachusetts, introduced its "SpanExpress" optical amplifier designed to storage area networks (SANs) up to 200km without the cost, complexity and risks associated with mid-span amplification.



SpanExpress is a rack-mountable, optical line system that is utilized between the storage devices at the local and remote data centers.



Currently, optical transport solutions rely on the optical signal being boosted periodically along the transmission line and use optical amplifiers to restore signals to their original characteristics when replicating storage traffic over extended distances. The optical signal typically needs to be amplified somewhere in the middle of the span at distances in excess of 80 to 100km, leading to additional capital and operational expenditures, and a less secure and reliable network.



Optovia's SpanExpress eliminates the mid-span optical amplifiers.



http://www.optovia.com

• Optovia was founded in 2002. The company has a resale agreement through ADVA.

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Cisco to Resell TAZZ IP Policy Control Platform

Cisco Systems will resell TAZZ Networks' IP network policy control platform as the Cisco Broadband Policy Manager under a global distribution agreement. The initial market focus will be on triple play deployments of major service providers. The long-term focus is to help transition legacy networks to next generation architectures -- 3GPP IMS and ETSI TISPAN.



TAZZ likens its IP policy control platform to an air traffic control system for next generation network applications. As such, it coordinates the admission of applications and subscribers to the network, monitors network conditions, and manages resource conflicts.



The TAZZ Policy Control System (PCS) software unites disparate components in a service provider's network to create a policy-based, carrier-grade, service-delivery platform. TAZZ supplies open, standardized interfaces to external systems with pre-defined policy actions, and well defined APIs that support a high degree of customization based on the equipment vendor or service provider's individual needs.

http://www.TAZZNetworks.com

• TAZZ Networks was founded in 2001 and has raised $25.7 million in three funding rounds. The company has about 60 employees.



• In January 2006, TAZZ Networks announced a collaborative effort with BT on the design and delivery of a lab demonstration platform intended to illustrate the power of network-centric ICT (Information and Communication Technology) solutions for enterprise customers. This proof of concept platform delivers an on-demand IP-VPN based on a robust and dynamically controlled CoS (Class of Service) enabled MPLS network - ICT-ADQ (Application Driven Quality of Service).

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Vyatta Develops Open Source Routing

Vyatta, a start-up based in San Mateo, California, launched an online community aimed at developing an open source routing alternative to Cisco and Juniper.



A beta version of the Vyatta Open Flexible Router (OFR) is currently available for download.



Vyatta said its community will bring together users and developers "to advance the cause of open source networking as a flexible, cost-effective, and secure alternative to the incumbent, closed source solutions."



"Vyatta" is a Sanskrit word meaning "open."http://www.vyatta.com

• Vyatta is headed by Allan Leinwand, a venture partner at Panorama Capital (previously JPMorgan Partners). Its technical team is headed by Robert Bays, who previously was the CTO at Infiniroute Networks.

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NTT DoCoMo Experiment Achieves 2.5 Gbps Wireless Downlink Speed

NTT DoCoMo reported achieving an astonishing 2.5 Gbps wireless packet transmission in the downlink while moving at 20 km/h by using MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) techniques. The fourth-generation (4G) radio access field experiment took place in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture on December 14, 2005.



DoCoMo achieved a maximum 1 Gbps speed in a similar field experiment on May 9, 2005. This time, by increasing the number of MIMO transmission antennas from four to six and by using 64-QAM, data volume per transmission was increased from four bits to six bits. As a result, DoCoMo achieved a maximum speed of 2.5Gbps, which is faster than the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R)'s proposed standard.



Frequency spectrum efficiency, which is expressed as information bits per second per Hertz, was also increased from 10 bits per second per Hertz during the last experiment to 25 bits.
http://www.convergedigest.com

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Intrado Signs Partners for Mobile VoIP E9-1-1 Delivery

Intrado announced agreements with three leading location determination technology vendors, Rosum Corporation, S5 Wireless, Inc. and Skyhook Wireless Inc. aimed at providing a more mobile-oriented VoIP E9-1-1 solution.



Intrado said the partnerships reflect the growing importance of location determination in VoIP E9-1-1 service delivery. Intrado will work with these companies to demonstrate a range of location determination solutions and their ability to integrate into Intrado V9-1-1 Services.



"As VoIP moves towards fixed mobile convergence, location determination will become a fundamental component within the IP-enabled communications market," said Stephen Meer, Intrado chief technology officer and co-founder.



Intrado supplies an E9-1-1 solution that allows VoIP service providers to support their increasingly mobile subscribers.



Rosum is a start-up that is using unmodified broadcast TV signals for position location of mobile assets. The Rosum technology provides an ability to track mobile devices in urban areas and indoors, where GPS and assisted GPS solutions often fail. Rosum's founding team includes the original architects of the GPS constellation.



S5 Wireless has developed a new low-cost chip for locating and tracking important items indoors or outdoors with the accuracy of GPS, anywhere in the coverage area. Costing under a dollar, and with years of potential battery life, the S5 chip can be attached or embedded in consumer, industrial, military or communications devices and transmit critical location and telemetry information when it's needed. VoIP callers, for example, could use S5 technology to automatically route their 911 calls to the nearest emergency dispatcher and pinpoint their precise location for first-responders.



Skyhook Wireless is developing a metro-area positioning system that leverages Wi-Fi rather than satellites or cell towers to deliver precise location data.

http://www.intrado.comhttp://www.rosum.com

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Orange to Launch Fixed-Line Business Service in UK

Orange introduced a fixed line service for small and medium-sized enterprises, the first to be offered in the UK by a mobile operator. Orange is providing the service following Ofcom's Wholesale Line Rental programme, under which BT is obliged to allow operators to offer both line rental and calls to customers over its network. Orange said it will provide a single point of customer service and call charges up to 20% less than BT. http://www.orange.com

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Motorola Completes Kreatel Acquisitions, Linux-based STBs

Motorola completed its previously announced acquisition of Kreatel Communications, a supplier of Linux-based set-top boxes. Kreatel's management team and employees will remain based in Linkoping, Sweden, and be integrated into the Motorola Connected Home Solutions business.



Kreatel's Linux-based solution extends into the application and middleware layers, allowing it to be used with a broad set of middleware solutions. Kreatel's customer base includes such major service providers as Telefonica (Spain), TeliaSonera (Sweden), and KPN (The Netherlands). http://www.motorola.com

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TI Announces DaVinci Technology for Digital Cameras

Texas Instruments introduced its "DaVinci" technology optimized for the digital still camera market. The processor will support camera resolutions up to 16 megapixels (MP) and offer a high-definition video capture mode greater than 30 frames per second at 720P resolution. TI said camera manufacturers can use designs that capture images using a completely customized software image pipeline or a hard-wired image pipeline with image processing of up to 75 MP/second. HD video can also be captured with instant playback on the camera or on any computer monitor or HD television.

http://www.ti.com/dscinfo

• In September 2005, Texas Instruments unveiled its DSP-based DaVinci silicon technology aimed at next generations of digital video products.
  
  The DaVinci product portfolio, which will include processors, software, tools and partnership solutions, addresses digital video requirements across a range of applications, including video security, IP set-top boxes, video conferencing, automobile infotainment, portable media players and digital cameras.
  
  DaVinci processors, some of which are already on the market, consist of combinations of DSP and ARM cores, memory configurations, video accelerators, and peripheral interfaces for specific applications. DaVinci silicon is based on the new TMS320C64x+ core and it is code compatible with TI's TMS320C64x DSPs. TI will support a full range of audio, video and imaging codecs.
  
  A key feature of the DaVinci portfolio will be common Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to accelerate the development of new consumer products. APIs will make it easier for OEMs to develop interoperable code that will work with other DaVinci-based applications. TI is also developing an en-to-end video ecosystem through a range of partners. Over the coming year, TI and its third parties plan to introduce a large number of products, including multiple development platforms, reference designs, software and silicon based on DaVinci technology.

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Sony Promotes "Share Everywhere" Digital Photography

Sony is launching a "Share Everywhere" program that will give its ImageStation members photo sharing capabilities through web-enabled camera phones, televisions, computers, and portable entertainment systems.



One element of the program is Sony's new Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition 2.0 (J2ME) application developed for distribution through wireless carriers. With this application, ImageStation members can use their web-enabled camera phones to access, view, upload and share photos and video clips through an easy-to-use interface. The application will also be compatible with handsets that are not compatible with J2ME.



Another element of the "Share Everywhere" program is compatibility with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

http://www.imagestation.com/mediacenter

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