SupportSoft's HomeAssist Software Automates Home Network Setup

SupportSoft introduced a new software solution for service providers that helps simplify the set-up and maintenance of a home network while providing a platform for the delivery of value-added services such as enhanced security, file and print sharing and remote access via the Internet.



Key functionality of SupportSoft's HomeAssist software includes:

• Self-healing proactively detects and automatically repairs issues associated with the set-up and ongoing use of a home network before the customer knows they exist. As a result, costly service calls can be avoided and subscribers are apt to be more satisfied with the use of their network.



• Assisted service capabilities enable customer service representatives (CSRs) to answer questions and resolve issues specific to the customer's computing environment, helping to eliminate guess-work or time-consuming qualifying questions.



• Value-added services platform to manage and support a subscriber's home network. SupportSoft is collaborating with Network Magic to enable service providers to deliver innovative home networking services such as printer sharing, remote access and network security functionality.

In conjunction with today's HomeAssist introduction, SupportSoft also announced its collaboration with Network Magic, a provider of home networking software, to enable delivery of value-added home networking products and services.

http://www.supportsoft.com

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Siemens and Time Warner Cable Demonstrate IMS

Time Warner Cable has demonstrated the use of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology at its Herndon, Virginia, as a means of delivering integrated fixed line, mobile and Wi-Fi services. Time Warner Cable is using Siemens technology.



One demonstration used several online gaming scenarios to test the
integration of both packet- and circuit-switched telephony networks as well as a range of different wireless and fixed technologies. The technology supported gaming between a user with a wireless device who was playing against an opponent on a fixed-line network device.



The two companies have also demonstrated dual-mode handset usage, including seamless handoffs as users roamed from WiFi coverage -- either at work and at home -- to cellular coverage areas.



"IMS technology is an exciting new technology for consumers who want their devices to work seamlessly together -- including presence-aware features that can direct calls, video and messages to devices that are currently in use and in ways that are most convenient for the end user at any given moment," said Mike LaJoie, Chief Technology Officer at Time Warner Cable. "Rather than being limited in capabilities due to silos of network architectures, IMS promises a new world of seamless provisioning opportunities for broadband operators. This will include the ability of operators to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy highly personalized entertainment services."http://www.usa.siemens.com/communications

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Occam Adds Ten Customers in Q1

Occam Networks reported Q1 revenue of $14.2 million -- its second
consecutive quarter with operating profit -- and representing an increase of 10 percent over the fourth quarter of 2005, and a 105 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago. During the quarter Occam added more than 10 new customers.
http://www.occamnetworks.com

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Widevine Moves to Integrate its Digital Forensics into PCs, Set-tops, Consumer Devices

Widevine Technologies has integrated its digital forensics solution into a range of new and legacy consumer-electronics devices, enabling studios, broadcasters and video operators to trace the spread of premium content and thereby deter theft. This device-level capability incorporates Cinea's "Running Marks" watermarking technology.



The first devices embedded with Widevine Mensor include Scientific-Atlanta's IPN430MC, which is part of Scientific-Atlanta's family of IP set tops supporting advanced codecs, HDTV and DVR, Microsoft Windows personal computers, Motorola's Kreatel 1710, and the AmiNet 110 and AmiNet 124 set top boxes from Amino Communications.



Widevine Mensor uses multiple watermarking technologies to ensure robust digital forensics that enable studios, broadcasters and operators to track where, when and to what device content is delivered--regardless of network, device or video format. The system watermarks and fingerprints content at each stage of a multi-node content delivery network. Studios, broadcasters and operators can track where, when and to what device content is delivered--regardless of network, device or video format. In the event of a theft, this approach helps pinpoint the breach in security to a location in the network.

http://www.widevine.comhttp://www.cinea.com

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ABC.com Offers Full Episode Streaming with Ads

ABC began streaming full episodes of select TV shows for free from its website. The video is delivered in Macromedia Flash and includes advertising that cannot be skipped. The shows are being made available the same day that they appear in the iTunes store, where they are priced at $1.99 and are commercial-free. http://www.abc.com

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NET Launches VX Series Universal Voice Exchange

Network Equipment Technologies introduced its VX Series Universal Voice Exchange for delivering integrated, secure lower cost VoIP and mobility to the enterprise. Based on NET's SHOUT voice technology, the VX Series provides "any-to-any" gateway functionality and interoperability with existing telecommunications and data network infrastructure. The VX Series also enables VoIP and enterprise mobility applications with session border control and call system integration that extends enterprise PBX functionality to mobile handsets.



NET also provides its VX Security Accelerator Module (SAM), a wire-speed, full-capacity SRTP solution, available as an optional hardware accelerated-security module for the VX Series product line. Interoperability tests with the latest SRTP RFC 3711 standards have been successfully completed.

Specific features of the VX 900 & VX 2500 Universal Voice Exchange include:

• integrated, multi-function voice switch


• intelligent session border controller


• vendor-independent remote survivability


• extensive call system interoperability


• true telecom traffic management


• advanced call security

http://www.net.com

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Lenovo Selects Agere Systems' High-Performance Gigabit Ethernet Solution

Lenovo Networks has selected Agere Systems' Gigabit Ethernet solutions for use in Lenovo's networking product portfolio for medium- and large-sized businesses.



The solution adopted by Lenovo Networks consists of Agere's ET4148 and ET4128, as well as the Octal TruePHY 1081 device. The Octal TruePHY features low power and exceeds industry standard requirements for reach and error-free performance by approximately 40 percent. Also inherent in the TruePHY architecture is the industry's most advanced cable diagnostic capability, with the ability to pinpoint cable faults with precision of 100 meters in standard cabling.

http://www.agere.com

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SIRIUS Adds 761,187 Satellite Radio Subscribers in Q1

SIRIUS Satellite Radio ended the first quarter with 4,077,747 subscribers, reflecting net subscriber additions of 761,187, a 149% increase in net additions from the year-ago quarter.



First quarter 2006 revenue grew to $126.7 million, up 193% from $43.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Advertising revenue increased to a record $7.3 million, representing 53% of total satellite radio industry advertising revenue in the first quarter. Average monthly churn was 1.8%, in line with guidance. Subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) per gross addition were $113 for the first quarter, a 41% improvement over the year-ago quarter.

http://www.sirius.com

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Hughes Reaches One Million VSATs Shipped

Hughes Network Systems has reached the milestone of one million satellite terminal shipped -- marking a major achievement in the global very small aperture terminal (VSAT) industry, which Hughes started in the mid-1980s when it shipped the first VSATs to Wal-Mart.



"We are extremely proud of reaching this significant milestone," said Pradman Kaul, chairman and CEO of Hughes. "In addition to manufacturing products and providing networking solutions around the globe, we have also brought the capabilities of broadband satellite technology to the small business and consumer markets that are not served by terrestrial providers. We now have over 275,000 subscribers in the US enjoying the benefits of HughesNet high-speed satellite internet access, a major milestone in itself."http://www.hns.com

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Foundry Networks Introduces New Internet and Metro Core Routers

Foundry Networks unveiled its new NetIron XMR 32000 Internet and MPLS core router and NetIron MLX-32 MPLS-enabled metro routers, both of which are designed broadband service provider networks supporting Triple Play services, converged backbones, and corporate VPN services. The massive capacity of these routers will enable bandwidth intensive applications, such as video on-demand, broadcast television, and large scale VoIP.



Foundry said its two new platforms represent a major breakthrough in router performance and capacity by providing two billion packets per second (Bpps) of IP/MPLS routing, and up to 128 non-blocking 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) ports in single system. The new routers increase rack performance to 4 Bpps, and 256 non-blocking 10-GbE ports. The routers are powered by a fully redundant non-blocking 7.68 terabits per second (Tbps) switch fabric based on Foundry's Clos fabric architecture. The routers also feature carrier-class hardware and software resiliency, as well as highly scalable service delivery capabilities. They are also designed to be ready for emerging 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps Ethernet.



Both the NetIron XMR 32000 and NetIron MLX-32 feature 32 interface module slots to enable granular pay as you grow capacity scaling. Based on Foundry's fifth generation architecture, the routers offer full wire-speed non-blocking performance on all ports for all services including IPv4, IPv6, MPLS TE, and MPLS VPNs.



The NetIron XMR 32000 will be available in early July, 2006. Pricing starts at $90,000 for the base system, and it supports all standard NetIron XMR Series interface modules.



The NetIron MLX-32 will be available in August, 2006. Pricing starts at $89,000 for the base system, and it supports all standard NetIron MLX Series interface modules.

http://www.foundrynet.com

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Broadcom Delivers Integrated 48-Port Fast Ethernet Switch

Broadcom began sampling a fully integrated 48-port Fast Ethernet (FE) single-chip switch. The device is the first in a new family of Broadcom switches that provides enterprise-level features and "WebSuperSmart" network management for managed and lightly managed small-to-medium business (SMB) networks. The 48-port FE switch offers double the port count of existing FE solutions, plus integrated 10/100 PHYs, to address the requirements of the cost-conscious SMB market.

Broadcom said fast Ethernet solutions in 24-port configurations have been very popular with customers worldwide. The new 48-port solutions offer even more robust "intelligent" switching capability at lower cost points.



The key features of the new ROBOSwitch family include:

• A built-in compact field processor that enables ACLs, a key security feature for FE switches



• 24 integrated 10/100 PHYs



• Support for Power over Ethernet (PoE), which enables the deployment of technologies such as VoIP and Wi-Fi networking



• Full-featured, integrated Level 2+ switch for managed and lightly managed applications



• Wire-speed (13 Million packets per second (Mpps)), non-blocking, full-duplex system-on-a-chip (SOC)



• Common hardware and software architecture for 24-port and 48-port Fast Ethernet designs with 4 Gigabit uplinks

http://www.broadcom.com

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Vonage Adds Unlimited Calling to France, Italy, Ireland, Spain and UK Landlines

Vonage has waived its international calling rates to land lines in France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom for subscribers signed up for the $24.99 per month Premium Unlimited Plan and the $49.99* per month Small Business Unlimited Plan. Current and future subscribers will no longer be charged the rates formerly billed per minute to locations within these countries.



Vonage unlimited calling pricing plans include:

• $24.99/month -- Residential Premium Unlimited Plan -- unlimited calling throughout the 50 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the U.K. anytime, anywhere.



• $49.99/month -- Small Business Unlimited Plan -- unlimited calling throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, France, Italy, Ireland, Spain and the U.K., including a dedicated fax line.

http://www.vonage.com

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Greenfield Offers 24-port Metro Ethernet Switch Design

Greenfield Networks, a start-up offering merchant silicon for Ethernet switches, introduced a reference design for a 1RU Metro Ethernet switch supporting 24GbE plus two 10GbE ports with wire-speed performance, per-subscriber quality-of-service (QoS) and Triple Play service capabilities. The design is powered by the company's Packetry II Ethernet switching silicon.



Greenfield said its design delivers wire-speed switching performance with a maximum forwarding rate of 72 Mpps. The platform features 24 copper Gigabit Ethernet and two 10GbE XFP ports in a compact 1RU form factor. It also include Layer 2/3/4 packet processing features and capabilities such as expandable tables and buffering, IPv4, IPv6, MPLS/VPLS/H-VPLS, QinQ, and VLAN translation. GH8000 supports scalable per-subscriber hierarchical QoS critical for enabling Triple Play services. Traffic management capabilities allow service providers to introduce new services such as high-definition IPTV, multi-megabit Internet access, and VoIP.

http://www.greenfieldnetworks.com

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Verizon Adds 1.7 Wireless, 541,000 Broadband Customers in Q1

Verizon Communications reported consolidated Q1 revenues of $22.7 billion, a 25.1 percent increase compared with the first quarter 2005; consolidated total operating expenses were $18.9 billion, a 27.6 percent increase compared with the first quarter 2005; and consolidated operating income was $3.9 billion, a 14.0 percent increase compared with the first quarter 2005. Reported results include MCI subsequent to the close of the merger. Reported earnings were $1.6 billion, or 56 cents per diluted share, compared with $1.8 billion, or 63 cents per share, after 4 cents per share in special items for employee relocations and merger integration costs. Some highlights for the quarter:



Wireless

• This was the 15th consecutive quarter of double-digit, year-over-year revenue growth for Verizon Wireless, and also the eighth consecutive quarter that the company added more than 1.5 million customers



• 1.7 million net customer additions, up 2.9 percent from first quarter 2005; 53.0 million total customers, up 16.7 percent from first quarter 2005. The company has added a net of 7.6 million new customers in the past 12 months.



• Churn of 1.18 percent, retail postpaid churn of 0.92 percent



• Average monthly service revenue per customer (ARPU) was $48.67, down 0.7 percent from the similar period in 2005.



• At the end of the first quarter, 6.2 million customers had broadband-capable (EV-DO) devices.





• Total revenues up 18.8 percent from first quarter 2005; EBITDA margin (non-GAAP) of 44.5 percent; data ARPU up 79 percent from first quarter 2005

Wireline

• 541,000 net new broadband connections (DSL and FiOS data customers) in first quarter 2006; 5.7 million total broadband connections, up 47.1 percent from first quarter 2005



• In markets where Verizon has been selling FiOS data services for at least six months, the average penetration rate was 9 percent at the six-month mark in each market, well on the way toward achieving the company's goal of 30 percent penetration in five years. Earnings dilution from FiOS was 6 cents per share in the first quarter 2006.



• In Florida, Texas and Virginia markets where Verizon has been selling FiOS TV for at least four months, Verizon's penetration levels range from 9 percent to 12 percent, already halfway towards the company's goal of from 20 percent to 25 percent penetration in five years.



• Verizon now has 415,000 customers who receive a Verizon DirecTV bundle, up 66,000 from year-end 2005.



• 6.3 million consumer and small business accounts enrolled in Verizon Freedom service packages, up from 4.7 million in first quarter 2005



• Data revenues of $3.9 billion in the quarter, up 89.7 percent from first quarter 2005, including results from Verizon Business domestic and global operations. Data revenues now make up approximately 30 percent of Verizon's overall wireline revenues.



• Total switched access lines in service were 48.0 million at the end of the first quarter 2006, a 6.9 percent decline compared with the first quarter 2005. Among Verizon residential retail customers, gains in wireline broadband connections more than offset loss.

Verizon also noted that the integration of MCI is ahead of plan, resulting in first-quarter synergies exceeding expectations in network traffic migration, systems integration and workforce reductions.




So far, the company has migrated more than 80 percent of the voice traffic from the legacy Verizon Global Network Services network and 68 percent of all IP traffic onto the Verizon Business network. Systems integration includes consolidation of systems for the unit's sales force and product catalogs.

http://www.verizon.com

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Firetide Offers Access Solution for Wireless Mesh Networks

Firetide announced a new line of "HotPoint" access points to complement its "HotPort" high performance mesh networks. The new products include indoor and outdoor models and can be used either as stand alone access points or can be connected to a Firetide HotPort mesh network for full integration.

The indoor model features a compact plenum-rated enclosure with optional brackets for wall, ceiling and office cubicle mounting. The outdoor model features a rugged, weatherproof enclosure, high gain antennas, and can receive its power directly from a connected mesh node eliminating the need for an external power supply.

http://www.firetide.com

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Ixia Scales its Network Test Platform

Ixia has enhanced its "Optixia" test platform with an optimized hardware engine that can create and transmit any type of Layer 2-3 traffic patterns at up to line rate over a network, and correspondingly receive and analyze the traffic.



Ixia said one of the biggest challenges in creating network traffic to stress a system realistically is to produce custom flows (sometimes referred to as streams) that emulate specific but arbitrary traffic patterns that occur in real-world networks. Each flow may correspond to a different end user (e.g., IP address), tunnel (e.g., MPLS label), traffic type (e.g., QoS level), etc. These flows must be individually tracked for metrics such as throughput, packet loss, latency, jitter, sequencing, etc. to execute a test and determine device/system defects and limitations. To meet such requirements, testing systems must be able to create and analyze this unique traffic on-the-fly at up to the line rate of the network. Optixia test systems support such flexible traffic creation and analysis over networks up to 10 Gbps.



Optixia supports:

• Over 140,000 transmit flows per Gigabit Ethernet and OC-3/12 ATM port



• Over 2 million transmit flows per 10 Gigabit Ethernet and OC-48/192 POS port



• Over 131,000 receive flows per Gigabit Ethernet and OC-3/12 ATM/POS port



• Over 2 million receive flows per 10 Gigabit Ethernet and OC-48/192 POS port

The recent IxOS 4.10 release of Ixia's testing-optimized operating system introduces further flexibility to the ability of Optixia systems to create and analyze test traffic, including:

• Ability to chain different user-defined fields within packets, allowing greater amounts of data to be customized together



• Doubling the number of receive flows on ATM interfaces to 131,000

Ixia also noted that further interface density increases and ongoing functional depth enhancements will be rolled out on Optixia test systems in 2006.

http://www.ixiacom.com/products/optixia

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Spirent Enhances Switch and Router Testing

Spirent Communications released a new version of its TestCenter, offering significant improvements in switch and router testing technology.



The Spirent TestCenter 1.20 network performance analysis system offer three key testing elements: white-box testing for routers to quickly discover and diagnose faults; Integrated System Testing to uncover switch faults; and automation to give testers the ability to write scripts for repetitive test cases.



Spirent's white-box test approach for routers provides visibility into device under test (DUT) internals to isolate router faults and trouble shoot in real time. White-box testing allows organizations to extend their traditional testing to include proprietary diagnostics from their DUT and use this time-correlated information to isolate dynamic failure conditions.



Spirent's Integrated System Testing allows switch manufacturers to assess the performance of their equipment in an environment similar to a real network where QoS and security are enabled while operating at extreme scale. http://www.spirentcom.com

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Viseon Hires Paradyne's CEO

Viseon, which develops voice, video and interactive content IP phones, announced that Sean Belanger has joined as its new President and CEO. Prior to joining Viseon, Mr. Belanger was CEO of Paradyne Corporation from 2000 until its merger with Zhone Technologies in July, 2005. Before Paradyne, Belanger had served as Vice President and General Manager of 3Com Corporation's Network Service Provider Division. Earlier in his career, he held the positions of Vice President of Sales at Primary Access and Penril DataComm.



Viseon products have been sold under various brand names around the world including Philips, VTEL, and Gentner. http://www.viseon.com

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Motorola to Acquire BenQ's R&D in Denmark

Motorola will acquire BenQ's state-of-the-art research and development center in Aalborg, Denmark. The Aalborg facility and team will be integrated into Motorola's Mobile Devices business and become a product development center for Motorola. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.motorola.com

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Fujitsu Outlines FlexRay Networking for Automotive Applications

Fujitsu Microelectronics America (FMA issued a new technology backgrounder describing the "FlexRay" networking standard for motor vehicles and the benefits it will deliver to the automotive industry.



Entitled "Taking Full Advantage of the FlexRay Network for Motor Vehicles," the technology backgrounder includes an overview of the emerging FlexRay protocol, including performance comparisons with existing communications standards such as the Control Area Network (CAN). The paper describes the benefits of FlexRay's high bandwidth and data rates, redundancy, flexibility, and time-triggered methodology, along with the benefits these features provide for new engine control, passenger safety, comfort and other applications. The paper also describes the frame format, topology, bus signals, and node status transitions in the network protocol; identifies various operational states of a FlexRay node; and details the header, payload and trailer segments of a typical FlexRay frame.

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/edevices/microelectronics/flexraynet.htmlhttp://www.flexray.com

• The FlexRay Consortium was formed to drive the adoption of the FlexRay communication system, and is backed by BMW, Bosch, DaimlerChrysler, Freescale, GM, Philips and Volkswagen.



• FlexRay is being developed to enable advanced communication systems for future automotive applications. It is targeted to support data rates of up to 10 Mbps available on two channels, giving a gross data rate of up to 20 Mbps. Key capabilities will include synchronous and asynchronous data transmission; deterministic data transmission with guaranteed message latency and message jitter; and fault-tolerant synchronization with the global time base.

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EU and China Establish Research Network Link

The European Union (EU) and China will fund a high-capacity link between European National Research and Education Networks and their counterparts in China. The EUR 4.15 million ORIENT (Oriental Research Infrastructure to European NeTworks) project, which is supported by the EU's 6th Research Framework Programme, is expected to benefit academic pursuits, including radio astronomy, meteorology, and grid computing applications.



The project began on 1 March 2006 and will run for three years. Funding of the link will come from 3 sources: 50% of the project cost will be provided by CERNET (from the Chinese Ministries of Education, and Science and Technology respectively), 25% from the European Commission and the final 25% contributed by Europe's National Research and Education Networks (NRENs).



ORIENT will provide a complementary service to TEIN2, the Asia-Pacific research network which went live in December 2005. TEIN2 links ten countries, including China, at speeds of up to 622 Mbps, fostering regional collaboration.

http://www.dante.net/orient

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