Variety: Apple plants seeds for pic downloads

Variety magazine reported that Apple is in active discussions with most major Hollywood studios to offer movie downloads via its iTunes store. Steve Jobs reportedly proposed a flat rate of $9.99 per film, but the studios balked at the flat rate for all films, preferring instead a range of prices to differentiate new release from older titles. http://www.variety....

Read More

Centillium Launches Long-Reach VDSL2 Chips for CO and CPE

Centillium Communications introduced new VDSL2 silicon for central office (CO) and customer premises equipment (CPE). Centillium claims its "ARION" end-to-end VDSL2 solution delivers 100 Mbps symmetric data rates and boasts a reach that is over 60% longer than the industry standard.The ARION chips are designed for multi-channel video, HDTV, video-on-demand, high-speed Internet and interactive gaming applications. Centillium said its ARION family...

Read More

Galaxy 16 Satellite Successfully Launched

Galaxy 16, a high- power fixed satellite service (FSS) spacecraft built for PanAmSat Corporation (NYSE:PA) by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), was successfully launched today at 12:50 am PDT. The satellite was delivered into a geosynchronous transfer orbit aboard a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned on the equator in the Pacific Ocean. Space Systems/Loral is a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications.Galaxy 16 carries 24 high-power Ku-band and 24 C-band transponders. From its orbital location at 99 degrees...

Read More

Verizon Labs Files Patent Suit Against Vonage

Verizon Laboratories filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Vonage relating to VoIP technologies.In a statement, Vonage said it believes that its services have been developed with its own proprietary technology and technology licensed from third parties and intends to vigorously defend the lawsuit.http://www.verizon.comhttp://www.vonage....

Read More

SONY BMG Chooses Brightcove for Internet Video

SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT will use Brightcove to deliver broadband video in new video players deployed across its network of artist and label websites, offering consumers on-demand access to music videos, interviews, live performances, and behind the scenes footage from its extensive catalog of videos.The broadband video initiative, currently named "Musicbox Video," will show content from across the entire SONY BMG library. The "Musicbox Video" players have been customized with specialized video content for individual label and artist sites....

Read More

Aruba Scales its WLAN System

Aruba Networks released major enhancements to its enterprise WLAN system, enabling a single Aruba WLAN system to support up to 1000 simultaneous 802.1X authentication transactions per second. Major enhancements include:AAA FastConnect, a new capability supported on all mobilitycontrollers delivers user connection rates ten times faster thancompetitive alternatives. This enables consistently fast connect timesand ensures integration with existing back-end AAA services with increased resilience of WLAN connections.VLAN Pooling for flexible, non-disruptive...

Read More

Time Warner Cable Selects Alcatel Microwave in Texas

Time Warner Cable's Southwest Division is using Alcatel's microwave radios to extend their service by providing an alternate transport route to complement existing fiber deployments in southwest Texas. Alcatel's microwave platform and turnkey deployment will enable the cable operator to turn up enhanced voice and data services, in addition to video, in markets that are currently underserved.http://www.alcatel....

Read More

Microsoft Releases Windows Live Messenger

Microsoft officially released Windows Live Messenger, its latest instant messaging client offering free PC-to-PC calls, inexpensive calls from a PC to phones around the world, video calling, and Sharing Folders.Microsoft currently claims 240 million users of its instant messaging service."Windows Live is all about giving consumers the tools and services they need to be in control as they stay connected to the people they care about, on top of the information that is important to them, and better protected across all their online activities," said...

Read More

Axerra Appoint Shlomo Dovrat as Chairman

Axerra Networks appointed Shlomo Dovrat as Chairman of its Board of Directors.Dovrat is General Partner and Founder of Carmel Ventures. He is also currently the Chairman of ECI Telecom Ltd. http://www.axerra....

Read More

Motorola Introduces MeshPlanner Software

Motorola introduced "MeshPlanner" software for designing outdoor wireless mesh networks. The software, a component of Motorola's MOTOwi4 portfolio of wireless broadband solutions and services, helps to reduce labor and planning costs and enables quicker implementation of a high performance mesh network.A key factor in mesh network design is the impact the environment has on network performance. MeshPlanner addresses this issue by creating and utilizing an RF-intelligent map, which combines a basic map of the area, a list of possible mounting points...

Read More

Chelsio Raises $12 Million for 10 GbE Adapters

Chelsio Communications, a start-up offering 10-Gigabit Ethernet server adapters and protocol acceleration technology, announced the first close of a private venture funding round, raising a total of $12 million and adding LSI Logic as a new investor.The company said the new funding provides sufficient capital to reach profitability and will be used to grow the business and ramp production of Chelsio's next generation product line that addresses the growing demand for 10GbE protocol offload.http://www.chelsio....

Read More

Nitronex Closes $21.8 Million for RF Power Transistors

Nitronex, a developer and manufacturer of high performance RF power transistors for broadband wireless equipment, announced the closing of $21.8 million in venture funding led by Silicon Valley-based Alloy Ventures. Other new investors in this round included Intersouth Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, and Diamondhead Ventures. Returning investors included VantagePoint Venture Partners and Contender Capital. The round is one of the largest raised in 2006 by a company in the Research Triangle region.Nitronex, founded in 1999 and based in RTP, North...

Read More

Sky Brazil Selects Philips, NextVision for Hybrid Satellite + IPTV

Sky Brazil selected Royal Philips Electronics' Nexperia STB810 set-top box (STB) semiconductor solution, in combination with software from NextVision, to power a dual digital broadcast/IPTV services. Sky Brazil is the number one provider of satellite television in Brazil with more than 970,000 subscribers.NextVision's Regina software platform is written in the .NET framework for greater flexibility and customization/branding by service providers. Other features of the NextVision Regina platform include: both a TV and a PC interface; a Web browser...

Read More

ARRIS Offers 8- and 12-Line Telephony Cable Modems

ARRIS made two new additions to its Touchstone family of CPE products: the 8 line Touchstone TM508A and the 12 line Touchstone TM512A. These two new Embedded Multimedia Terminal Adapter (E-MTA) products allow cable operators to address the small business and Multiple Dwelling Unit market segments with an integrated voice and high-speed data service offering.In addition to 8 or 12 primary-line, toll-quality voice lines, these Multiline E-MTAs include a 100BaseT Ethernet interface, all powered by a DOCSIS 2.0 modem and highly scalable DSP architecture....

Read More

Vongo Named Lead Content Provider for Toshiba Portable Media Devices

Vongo, the Internet-based VOD service backed by Starz Entertainment Group, will serve as a leading content provider for Toshiba's new line of gigabeat Portable Media Center (PMC) products, which will be available in capacities of 30GB* and 60GB. Based on the Microsoft Portable Media Center v2.0 software, the new line of gigabeat products are the first portable media devices certified for the Vongo service.Vongo subscribers have access to more than...

Read More

Nokia Siemens Networks Targets Fixed-Mobile Convergence

Nokia and Siemens confirmed plans to merge their communications service provider businesses into a 50-50 joint venture consisting of Nokia's Networks Business Group and Siemens' carrier-related operations for fixed and mobile networks. The combined company would offer broad scale advantages, a "quadruple play" product portfolio and worldwide presence. The new venture would be especially well positioned for new opportunities in the convergence of...

Read More

Reef Point Raises $21 Million for FMC, Names New CEO\

Reef Point Systems, a start-up based in Burlington, Mass., raised $21 million of new financing for its security solutions for fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) networks. Reef Point offers a massively-scaleable Multiservice Security Gateway for IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks extending across multiple next generation networking standards including 3GPP IMS, 3GPP2, ETSI TISPAN, and PacketCable. The design takes a multi-zoned, fully virtualized, defense-in-depth approach to security that includes individualized subscriber protection for up...

Read More

Nokia Signs Regional Content Aggregation Deals

Nokia announced a series of new agreements with leading regional mobile content aggregators for distribution of localized content and applications to mobile subscribers worldwide through its on-device Nokia Content Discoverer portal, embedded in millions of Nokia devices based on S60 and Series 40 currently available in markets around the globe.Nokia Content Discoverer for mobile operators facilitates access to downloadable content by mobile subscribers through a collection of shopping mall "stores" run by their mobile service provider, leading...

Read More

ViewNow Licenses Buena Vista TV Titles for VOD

ViewNow. a subsidiary of Kasenna, signed a deal with Buena Vista Television enabling it to distribute Disney movies for VOD services to both the telco and cable markets. The agreement provides for a 72-hour VOD rental period, compared to the standard 24-hour period of most VOD services. ViewNow said its deal represents the first time a major studio has allowed a 72-Hour VOD Rental. In addition, ViewNow has secured both the IP and HFC rights to Disney content including titles from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures,...

Read More