Intelsat Previews "Super Head-end" for MPEG-4

Intelsat introduced its "Ampiage" -- a new satellite-based, open-architecture, super head-end for North American multiple system operators (MSOs) seeking to upgrade to MPEG-4 and telcos looking to enter the IPTV market.Intelsat's Ampiage service will handle the acquisition, aggregation, encoding, encapsulation and encryption of licensed TV programming from content providers and has the ability to redistribute it in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 format to cable and telecom service providers. Intelsat plans to offer hundreds of video and audio channels in full...

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Centillium Expands FTTP and Optical Transport Chipset Lines

Centillium Communications has expanded its fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) semiconductor product portfolio with the introduction of its newest optical transceiver chipset families, Zeus 2 and Apollo 2. The Zeus 2 optical transceiver chipsets mark Centillium's entry into the GPON and EPON markets, while the Apollo 2 optical transceiver chipsets are targeted at the SONET transport and enterprise applications.Both chipsets are manufactured in CMOS technology, and integrate a laser driver, limiting amplifier, automatic laser power control, DDM and an...

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Olympus and Movaz Establish Joint Venture for MEMS

Olympus Corporation and Movaz Networks have established a joint venture company to provide Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) based technologies and products for optical equipment suppliers worldwide.Olympus Microsystems America, which will be based in San Jose, California, combines Movaz IP and engineering resources with Olympus' established MEMS foundry services and optical technology. The joint venture aims to manufacture and market new products with anticipated gross sales of 6 billion Japanese yen (approximately US$60 million) within...

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Force10 Appoints Former Nortel CEO to Board

Force10 Networks has appointed former Nortel CEO Bill Owens to its board of directors. Mr. Owens brings an extensive record of accomplishment to Force10, including several executive leadership positions in the technology industry as well as the U.S. Department of Defense, where he served as vice chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, the second highest ranking military officer in the country.Owens joined Nortel's board of directors in 2002 and was named CEO in 2004. Prior to Nortel, Mr. Owens was chairman and CEO of Teledesic LLC....

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Sycamore to Acquire Eastern Research for Crossconnect and Access Platforms

Sycamore Networks agreed to acquire Eastern Research Inc., a global provider of multiservice cross-connect and access gateway solutions, for approximately $92.5 million, consisting of $8 million in cash and approximately 17.8 million shares, subject to certain closing adjustments and collar provisions.Eastern Research' product portfolio spans multiservice cross-connects and access gateways that aggregate, groom, and manage bandwidth in access portions of wireline and wireless infrastructure networks. Its customer base include Tier 1 fixed line...

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Foundry and WANDL Offer IP/MPLS Design Tools

Foundry Networks and WANDL, a supplier of high-end network design, planning, traffic engineering, and management tools, announced a partnership to simplify network planning, and deployment of traffic engineered IP/MPLS networks.The companies have cooperated to integrate support for Foundry's flagship IP/MPLS routers, the NetIron XMR Series and NetIron MLX Series in WANDL's IP/MPLSView. IP/MPLSView is WANDL's solution for multi-vendor IP/MPLS networks that allows network administrators and performance management teams to optimize network bandwidth,...

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Portland Selects MetroFi for Free Muni Wi-Fi

The City of Portland, Oregon selected MetroFi to deliver and operate a citywide Wi-Fi network that will provide free wireless Internet access and substantially improved public services to Portland residents. Portland is the 28th largest city in the United States and has a population of approximately 540,000. Residents and visitors of Portland will have wireless access to 1 Mbps Wireless Internet at no cost. Portland's public works field personnel and first responders will have greatly expanded access to wireless network services to facilitate...

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Verizon Expands FiOS TV in Massachusetts

Verizon launched its FiOS TV service in Lynnfield, a community of 11,500 north of Boston. Lynnfield joins Woburn and Reading as the first markets in Massachusetts for the company's new fiber-optic television service. The company also has begun offering the service elsewhere in Texas, as well as in parts of New York, California, Florida, Maryland and Virginia.http://www.verizon.net/fio...

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Land Rover Launches 24/7 Broadband TV Channel

Land Rover launched a 24/7 broadband TV channel in partnership with Narrowstep. The "Land Rover Go Beyond" channel launches online offering a variety of original material from the Discovery Channel and sponsored partners including Born Free, Biosphere Expeditions and the Royal Geographical Society. Go Beyond TV reflects a distinctive, premium, glossy, 'magazine style' form of programming which "reflects the community of people who live the Land Rover brand." New content will be added every month, and in addition there will be live broadcasts (from,...

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Oracle Acquires Portal Software for Telecom Billing Solution

Oracle agreed to acquire Portal Software, a global provider of billing and revenue management solutions for the communications and media industry, for approximately $220 million in cash.Portal offers a billing and revenue management solution based on an object-oriented architecture built on Oracle that can bill and manage all communications services including wireline, wireless, broadband, cable, voice over IP, IPTV, music, and video. Its customer list includes AOL Time Warner, China Mobile, China Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom/Orange,...

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TiVo Signs 3 Year Extension with DirecTV

TiVo and DIRECTV announced a three-year extension to their commercial agreement. Existing DIRECTV TiVo subscribers will be able to continue to receive TiVo service, with TiVo providing ongoing maintenance and support. In addition, TiVo and DIRECTV agree not to assert patent rights against the other. The agreement also extends the advertising relationship between the two companies. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the recurring monthly economics of the agreement are similar to the economics for DIRECTV receivers with TiVo service activated...

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