03/06/06 ~ Converge! Network Digest

Monday, March 6, 2006

Verizon Business Adds VoIP to Contact Center Service

Monday, March 06, 2006 Service Providers

Verizon Business is launching "IP Web Center" -- a hosted contact center solution that will allow companies to quickly start up or expand their customer communications operations in response to rapidly changing business plans or business continuity requirements.
The service is aimed at mid-sized businesses that want to expand the functionality of their existing contact centers or for those that want to build new contact centers based on IP.

Pricing options let customers pay as they go for IP-enabled Web Center services; businesses only pay a monthly per agent price, plus call transport fees and associated IP phone equipment costs. This works well for companies that need to increase agent levels during busy holiday times and then reduce them when normal call levels resume. Businesses can also save on inbound toll-free costs, because their customers can make local calls that are directed to an IP Web Center agent over Verizon Business' IP network.

http://www.verizonbusiness.com

Verizon Wireless to Offer TiVo for Mobile Handsets

Monday, March 06, 2006 BroadbandWireless

Verizon Wireless will launch TiVo Mobile, a new downloadable application that lets TiVo service subscribers schedule recordings on their TiVo device directly from their Get It Now equipped Verizon Wireless handset. Starting in summer 2006, in an exclusive arrangement with Verizon Wireless, users will be able to download the application from the Verizon Wireless Get It Now suite of services onto applicable handsets. Verizon Wireless and TiVo will also collaborate on a joint marketing campaign to promote availability of the new TiVo Mobile feature. Specific terms were not disclosed.

http://www.tivo.com

Verizon Extends its Ultra Long Haul Network, Interconnects MCI Backbone

Monday, March 06, 2006 Optical

Verizon Business' Ultra Long Haul (ULH) optical network has surpassed 20,000 miles of actual deployment, making it the largest ULH network footprint for government and large business customers in the United States, according to the company. The most recent ULH network routes include Cleveland to Chicago, Los Angeles to Dallas, Dallas to Houston, Houston to Atlanta and Atlanta to Washington D.C. During 2006, Verizon Business will continue its UHL DWDM deployment with plans to add 2,600 more miles to the ULH network infrastructure.

Verizon said it is working aggressively to interconnect the legacy Verizon Global Network Services ULH network and the legacy MCI ULH network. This interconnection work, scheduled for completion by the third quarter of this year, will result in a dynamic ULH network with coast-to-coast coverage in the U.S. The UHL network will also have diversity in most areas, based on equipment, routes and sites.

As a high-capacity all-optical network infrastructure, ULH is capable of supporting OC-768 core capacity with transmission speeds up to 40 Gbps. Verizon's current ULH system supports 40 Gbps wavelengths which are capable of delivering both 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps signals and provide optimal support for IP, MPLS, SONET, and SDH services.

ULH technology also allows transmission systems to extend beyond 1,200 miles without expensive electronic regeneration equipment

http://www.verizonbusiness.com

Nintendo's Wi-Fi Service Logs Its 1 Millionth Player

Monday, March 06, 2006 Service Providers

Four months after its launch, Nintendo's Wi-Fi gaming service has signed its one millionth unique user. The 1 millionth user was a player in Japan, who logged on to play Animal Crossing: Wild World.
http://www.nintendo.com

Cisco to Acquire SyPixx Networks for IP Video Surveillance

Monday, March 06, 2006 Start-ups

Cisco Systems will acquire privately-held SyPixx Networks, a developer of network-centric video surveillance software and hardware, for approximately $51 million in cash and options. SyPixx enables existing analog video surveillance systems to operate as part of an open IP network. Its product portfolio includes analog to digital (IP) video camera encoders, digital (IP) to analog video monitor decoders, analog video transmission equipment, video recording and management software and servers.

The acquisition will enable Cisco to deliver video surveillance as part of an Intelligent Converged Environment.

SyPixx was founded in 2004 and has 27 employees in Waterbury, Connecticut; Carlsbad, California; and Scottsdale, Arizona.

http://www.cisco.com

OIF Launches External Network-Network-Interface (E-NNI) Routing Project

Monday, March 06, 2006 Optical

The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) has launched a new External Network-Network-Interface (E-NNI) Routing project to define information to be shared by ASON network elements and allow paths to be calculated for a connection through multiple network domains of optical switching equipment. The new specification, titled E-NNI 1.0 Routing Implementation Agreement (IA), will be based on the provisional routing protocol used by the OIF in interoperability tests performed in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

"By formalizing its routing inter-domain interface, this Implementation Agreement will fill a critical gap for carriers as they look to complete specifications of their next generation transport networks," said Hans-Martin Foisel, of Deutsche Telekom, OIF Forum Carrier Working Group chair and board member. "This is exactly the kind of work product that accelerates the global realization of interoperable optical networks."

The OIF plans to submit the completed E-NNI Routing IA to the IETF and other standards development organizations such as ITU-T after its ratification by the Forum's members anticipated for later this year.

The OIF also announced that it has established a liaison relationship with the IPv6 Forum and joined the Mountain View Alliance bringing the Forum's total number of such industry contacts to 15.

http://www.oiforum.com

Vendors Announce Highest Density Pluggable Optical Module MSA

Monday, March 06, 2006 StandardsWatch

Leading optical component vendors announced the release of a Quad (4-channel) Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) optical module specification for final review. The group has developed a common specification for multi-sourcing, application-agnostic, highest density, pluggable optical modules. These modules will optimize real-estate, power, and port density requirements in networking equipment while keeping synergy and compatibility to installed optical module interconnect infrastructure.

The QSFP MSA (Multi-Source Agreement) defines a highly integrated 4-channel optical transceiver which would replace four standard SFP transceiver modules providing increased port density and total system cost saving. The device will support Ethernet, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand and SONET/SDH standards with different data rate options.
http://www.qsfpmsa.org

Japan Telecom Tests Lucent's 40 Gbps Optical Transmission

Monday, March 06, 2006 Optical

Japan Telecom has completed a field trial of Lucent Technologies' 40 Gbps LambdaXtreme Transport optical networking system. The trial was conducted in the Tokyo area on commercially available equipment supporting live network traffic. As part of the trial, Lucent and Japan Telecom demonstrated interworking between the Lucent LambdaXtreme system and a very high capacity router carrying IP traffic over an OC-768 interface, a key technical milestone.

http://www.lucent.com

Intel Outlines Next-Gen Centrino, WiMAX Card to Ship this Year

Monday, March 06, 2006 Silicon

The next generation of Intel Centrino mobile technology will include a more powerful mobile microprocessor, an improved graphics chipset, an 802.11n Wi--Fi adapter, , as well as Intel--optimized advanced management and security solutions, said Intel Executive Vice President Sean Maloney, speaking at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
The platform will also include Intel's NAND flash--based platform accelerator, which enables much more rapid boot--up time and power savings. The next gen Intel Centrino will use Intel's dual--core mobile microprocessor based on Intel's new Core microarchitecture for delivering better energy--efficient performance.

Maloney also disclosed details of a single chip Wi--Fi/WiMAX radio and an Intel--branded mobile WiMAX PCMCIA card that is expected to ship in the second half of the year, enabling WiMAX in laptop PCs. The single--chip multi--band Wi--Fi/WiMAX radio, codenamed Ofer, will enable people using laptops to connect to Wi--Fi or WiMAX networks worldwide.

http://www.intel.com

AllPeers Raises Funding for Firefox P2P "Drag-and-Share" Functionality

Monday, March 06, 2006 Start-ups

AllPeers Ltd, a software start-up based in Oxford, England, raised series A funding for its peer-to-peer multimedia application for the Firefox browser. Serving as an extension to Firefox, AllPeers uses peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies to enable "Drag-and-Share" functionality, which makes sharing videos, photos, podcasts and web pages as easy as dragging and dropping files from one folder to another. The software is currently in beta testing.

The new funding came from Mangrove Capital Partners and Index Ventures.

http://www.allpeers.com

Novera Secures $7.4 Million for Optical Access

Monday, March 06, 2006 Start-ups

Novera Optics, a start-up based in Santa Clara and Daejeon, South Korea, raised $7.4 million in new funding for its fiber optic access solutions for global markets. Last year Novera Optics delivered more than 50,000 lines of its new wavelength division multiplexed (WMD) transport technologies to Korea Telecom. Novera Optics' devices will be used in high volume FTTH and fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) applications.

Enterprise Partners led the funding round. Additional investors include Redpoint Ventures, Octane Capital Management, KTB Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, and Saints Ventures.

http://www.noveraoptics.com

Cingular Deploys Real's Helix OnlineTV Streaming Platform

Monday, March 06, 2006 BroadbandWireless

Cingular is the first wireless carrier to commercially deploy Real's Helix OnlineTV platform. Cingular launched its Cingular Video on-demand streaming video service in 16 cities across the country, delivering content from major providers, including exclusive video clips from HBO Mobile and HBO Family, including the Sopranos and Sex and the City. Real is hosting the mobile video service on behalf of Cingular, and delivering streaming content to a variety of new handsets for the carrier's 3G UMTS/HSDPA network.

Cingular's next-generation video service is hosted using Real's Helix Media Delivery System. Helix is Real's solution for both mobile and broadband service providers, enabling them to offer personal interactive TV to consumers' handsets or PCs. Components of the Helix Media Delivery System are currently deployed by more than 80 mobile carriers in over 40 countries around the globe and 60 million handsets.

http://www.realnetworks.com

QUALCOMM Raises its Financial Guidance

Monday, March 06, 2006 Financial

QUALCOMM raised its financial guidance for the second fiscal quarter ending March 26, 2006. Based on the current business outlook, the company now anticipates second fiscal quarter revenues pro forma to be approximately $1.75 to $1.82 billion. QUALCOMM now anticipates second fiscal quarter QUALCOMM pro forma diluted earnings per share to be approximately $0.40 to $0.41, compared to $0.29 in the year ago quarter.

http://www.qualcomm.com

Passave Delivers One-Millionth FTTH ONU Chip to Mitsubishi

Monday, March 06, 2006 Optical

Passave has delivered its one millionth FTTH ONU device to Mitsubishi Electric Corporation for use in Japan's gigabit/second FTTH broadband access network market. Mitsubishi has been supplying customer premise equipment (CPE) using Passave semiconductor devices to carriers in Japan since 2004. The FTTH broadband access network in Japan is the world's largest, with new FTTH subscribers exceeding new DSL subscribers since the first quarter of 2005.

http://www.passave.com

As of year-end 2005, the total number of Japanese broadband FTTH subscribers exceeded 4.6 million, with a 2.3 million annual increase in 2005, according to Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. New Japanese broadband FTTH subscribers have exceeded those for new DSL subscribers since the first quarter of 2005. New FTTH subscribers first exceeded those for cable subscribers in June 2005.

Cavalier Deploys Lucent Optical/Ethernet for IPTV Transport

Monday, March 06, 2006 TTP

Cavalier Telephone is deploying Lucent Technologies' (NYSE:LU) converged Ethernet solution to enable its new Cavalier Broadband TV, Internet Protocol (IP) TV service offering in Virginia. Lucent is upgrading Cavalier's Metropolis DMX platforms with Lucent's LNW70 Ethernet cards, which enable operators to offer 100 Mbps or Gigabit Ethernet services, delivered with QoS. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.lucent.com/dmx

Texas Instruments Unveils Latest VoIP System-on-Chip

Monday, March 06, 2006 Silicon

Texas Instruments (TI) announced its latest VoIP system on a chip, the TNETV1061, providing advanced VoIP and data routing features for residential applications where voice quality, scalability, low cost and reliability are essential for service provider deployments. Target applications include analog terminal adapters, VoIP gateway/routers, VoIP-enabled 802.11b/g access point/routers or broadband cordless phones.

TI's newest residential VoIP solution integrates the company's Telogy Software for high-quality VoIP with the strength of TI DSPs for real-time signal processing. The software and silicon solution is anchored by the TNETV1061's dual processor architecture for simultaneous real-time voice processing and data traffic under heavy load conditions. The software covers a range of voice vocoders: G.711 (PCM), G.723.1A, G.726(ADPCM), G.729AB, GSM-FR, GSM-AMR and supports up to 4 channels of voice . It also supports TI's recently announced PIQUA voice quality monitoring, serviceability, manageability and network management capabilities. Other advanced features include line echo cancellation, packet loss compensation/recovery, a SIP protocol stack and supplemental services, and secure RTP and SIP TLS.

The TNETV1061 solution also seamlessly interfaces to TI's TNETW1350A 802.11b/g chip and pre-integrates the access point software to support WLAN-enabled VoIP products.

http://www.ti.com/tnetv1061