Maven Raises $12 Million for Broadband TV Platform

Maven Networks, a start-up based in Cambridge, Mass., raised $12 million in Series C funding for its platform for creating, managing and delivering broadband video channels.



Maven Network's Maven Media System (MMS) enables media companies to design and launch professional broadband video channels, and generate new revenue streams. The Maven Media System has been used by customers such as 20th Century Fox, A&E Television Networks International, Disney Buena Vista Pictures, Hallmark Channel, National Geographic Channel, Pepsi, Nike, and Sony Pictures.



The funding was led by Prism Venture Partners of Westwood, MA. The funding round includes participation from existing investors Palo Alto-based Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners of Cambridge, MA, and brings the total amount of financing to $30 million.
http://www.maven.net/

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TANDBERG Acquires Zetools for Internet TV Tools

TANDBERG Television agreed to acquire Zetools, a Los Angeles-based developer of software that enables the delivery of digital video services over the Internet. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Zetools automates the formatting, management, programming and publishing of interactive and on-demand Internet video with a focus on ease-of-use. Its publishing and management applications help to monetizing and syndicating video over the Internet and simplify the process of creating multi-platform portals, so content providers can reach the maximum number of viewers. Zetools has built a customer base of leading media companies, including AOL, NBC Universal, MTV Networks and Viacom.



TANDBERG said the acquisition enhances its ability to support content owners and operators as they look to build Internet TV and broadband businesses.



"The combination of Zetools software and TANDBERG Television's on-demand, interactive systems and asset management solutions enables us to continue to create rich media ecosystems, and further generate profitable revenue growth for our customers," said Richard Cardran, co-founder and vice president of product developmenthttp://www.tandbergtv.comhttp://www.zetools.com/

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TANDBERG Acquires Zetools for Internet TV Tools

TANDBERG Television agreed to acquire Zetools, a Los Angeles-based developer of software that enables the delivery of digital video services over the Internet. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Zetools automates the formatting, management, programming and publishing of interactive and on-demand Internet video with a focus on ease-of-use. Its publishing and management applications help to monetizing and syndicating video over the Internet and simplify the process of creating multi-platform portals, so content providers can reach the maximum number of viewers. Zetools has built a customer base of leading media companies, including AOL, NBC Universal, MTV Networks and Viacom.



TANDBERG said the acquisition enhances its ability to support content owners and operators as they look to build Internet TV and broadband businesses.



"The combination of Zetools software and TANDBERG Television's on-demand, interactive systems and asset management solutions enables us to continue to create rich media ecosystems, and further generate profitable revenue growth for our customers," said Richard Cardran, co-founder and vice president of product developmenthttp://www.tandbergtv.comhttp://www.zetools.com/

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CableLabs Issues DOCSIS 3.0, Enabling 160 Mbps Downstream and 120 Mbps Upstream

CableLabs officially issued Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) 3.0 -- a new set of specifications enabling downstream data rates of 160 Mbps or higher and upstream data rates of 120 Mbps or higher over cable networks.



To achieve these higher data rates DOCSIS 3.0 describes a methodology for channel bonding in both the upstream and downstream directions.
DOCSIS 3.0 also incorporates support for IPv6.



The specifications were made available for review and comment early this year to supplier companies that have signed non-disclosure agreements with CableLabs. The week of July 17th, 2006 CableLabs hosted a week long interoperability event to bring together suppliers that have been utilizing the specifications to develop DOCSIS 3.0 products.



The interoperability event involved the following companies representing cable modem termination system (CMTS) headend equipment, consumer premise cable modems and test equipment: ARRIS, BigBand Networks, Broadcom Corp., Casa Systems, Conexant Systems, Filtronic Signal Solutions, NETGEAR, Scientific Atlanta a Cisco company, Cisco Linksys, and Cisco Systems.

CableLabs described the first DOCSIS 3.0 interoperability event as a success. All companies' downstream channel bonding products were able to interoperate with each other with data successfully being transferred over the bonded channels. In addition, limited IPv6 testing was successfully performed.



CableLabs will conduct a DOCSIS 3.0 certification/qualification program.



"This set of specifications will lead to cable modem products that greatly strengthen cable's package of offerings to consumers, enabling delivery of services that may not even be imagined today," said Tony Werner, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Liberty Global, Inc. "Needless to say, these specifications advance our competitive position in the IP space," added Werner, who is chairman of the DOCSIS Business Team at CableLabs.

"IPv6 implementation is a critical tool for our industry as we seek both to expand our triple play offerings and to extend into new areas. It also will allow cable operators to effectively manage the proliferation of devices that are capturing consumer interest, including portable media players, cellular phones, gaming consoles, PDAs and others," said David Fellows, Comcast Chief Technology Officer.

http://www.cablemodem.com/specificationshttp://www.cablelabs.com

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Fujitsu Debuts 20-Port, 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch IC

Fujitsu Microelectronics America introduced a 20-port, 10 Gbps Ethernet (10GbE) switch IC (the MB8AA3020) designed to meet the performance demands of high-density backplane switching for advanced TCA (ATCA) and micro TCA, blade server, and data center applications.



The new 20-port 10GbE switch chip delivers 400+Gbps, non-blocking, aggregate switching bandwidth through 3Mbytes of proprietary, multi-stream shared buffer memory, with on-chip 10Gbps serial SerDes.



Fujitsu said its chip provides high quality of service (QoS) for data center and carrier networks through state-of-art virtualization, backward congestion management notification (BCN) and priority PAUSE features. An on-chip micro-engine drives the management interface. The IC, which has the smallest footprint in its class, also supports the CX4 interface and adaptive equalization with on-chip SerDes. The new switch complements Fujitsu's family of 12-port, 10GbE devices, which have been widely deployed in high-performance servers worldwide.
http://www.fla.fujitsu.com

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Sonus Reports Record Revenue, Strong Growth in Q2

Sonus Networks reported Q2 revenues of $64.4 million compared with $60.0 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2006 and $58.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2005. Revenues for the first six months of fiscal 2006 were $124.4 million compared with $91.7 million in the same period last year, reflecting an increase of 36%.



The company is not providing detailed GAAP or non-GAAP financials for the quarter at this time because the Company has voluntarily initiated a review of the processes by which it has historically issued and accounted for employee stock options.



Some other notes from the quarterly report:

• Second quarter gross margins increased modestly from the first quarter of 2006;
  
  
• Second quarter operating expenses declined modestly as a percentage of revenue from the first quarter of 2006;
  
  
• Second quarter net income increased meaningfully from the first quarter of 2006;
  
  
• Deferred revenue increased $13.3 million to $115.5 million from the
  first quarter of 2006;

"Given the current focus on employee option grants by public companies, we have proactively initiated a review of our documentation and accounting for historical stock option grants. In the spirit of good corporate governance, we are voluntarily evaluating the processes we used to issue options to employees in the past to be sure they are treated properly for accounting purposes. We look forward to providing you with the full details of our financial results, which reflect Sonus' leadership position and growing profitability," stated Hassan Ahmed, chairman and CEO, Sonus Networks.

http://www.sonusnet.com

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AT&T Wins NYC Contract Potentially Valued at up to $100 Million

The City of New York has awarded AT&T a major contract for telecommunications (local, long distance and networking) services for both the city's routine and critical data applications. The multi-year agreement, initially valued at $25 million, will enable AT&T to secure up to $100 million in business from the city's various agencies.



AT&T is one of only two carriers with which the City has negotiated a "master services contract" for the provision of such services, as a result of a competitive procurement process.



AT&T described the deal as potentially one of the company's largest since the merger of SBC and AT&T.

http://www.att.com

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NETGEAR Selects Cavium Security Processor

NETGEAR has selected Cavium Networks' NITROX Soho CN22X MIPS32 processor and SSL application toolkit to power the new NETGEAR ProSafe SSL VPN Concentrator for small to medium enterprises. The NETGEAR ProSafe SSL VPN Concentrator provides secure multi-tunnel remote access connectivity without having to maintain IPsec VPNs or the accompanying client software.

http://www.cavium.com

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CacheLogic Announces P2P Accelerated Media Delivery Platform

CacheLogic introduced its new "VelociX" Accelerated Media Delivery Platform combining the benefits of scalable Peer-to-Peer technology with a distributed physical network of P2P caches.



CacheLogic said its system is able to provide the quality-of-service benefits offered by traditional content distribution networks (CDNs), enabling large media files such as television programs or movies to be downloaded in minutes rather than hours using broadband connections. The peer-assisted content delivery also promises significantly lower cost compared to traditional CDNs.



CacheLogic argues that for Internet Service Providers, the combination of a physically distributed P2P caching network with accelerated content delivery allows its VelociX platform to significantly reduce the upstream congestion that has been previously associated with P2P. Additionally, the content acceleration capabilities of the VelociX platform enables Service Providers to fully utilize their high-speed connections to provide truly compelling services for their subscribers.



The CacheLogic VelociX Accelerated Media Delivery Platform comprises a global distributed network with significant delivery capacity located at strategic points across the Internet. The platform, and its interaction with P2P clients operating on the network, is dynamically controlled using CacheLogic's Cache Discovery Protocol (CDP) that enables accelerated media delivery and optimizes distribution of legal content.



CDP has already been integrated into the newest clients of BitTorrent (San Francisco) and RawFlow (London) with other software vendors also utilizing CDP to fully integrate their products with the VelociX Accelerated Media Delivery Platform.

http://www.cachelogic.com

• In July 2006, CacheLogic, a start-up based in Cambridge, England, closed a $20 Million Series C funding round led by Amadeus Capital Partners. The company supplies P2P technologies for ISPs and cable network operators. The funding round also included existing investor 3i, along with syndicate members Pentech Ventures and The Cambridge Gateway Fund.

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Comcast Hires Cox Exec to Head its Business Services

Comcast appointed William Stemper as President of Comcast Business Services and Senior Vice President of Comcast Cable, a newly created position in which he will oversee Comcast's business services strategy to facilitate the deployment of new and existing communications products and services for business customers. He will report to Dave Watson, Executive Vice President of Operations for Comcast.



Stemper most recently served as Vice President of Cox Business Services for Cox Communications in Atlanta, GA. Prior to that, he held key executive positions for AT&T Corporation that focused on serving the needs of business customers in the United States and Europe.

http://www.comcast.com

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Cingular Expands Deployment of Sonus Gear

Cingular Wireless is expanding its Sonus-based, next generation voice network. The carrier has deployed a full suite of Sonus' SMARRT Wireless voice solutions, establishing a nation-wide long-distance IP-based voice network and has established gateway mobile switching centers (Gateway MSCs) across the United States. The Sonus-based network has been carrying live customer traffic since 2003.



In this next phase of the network deployment, Cingular is expanding its Sonus-based national service network to support increased traffic volumes. The expansion will also combine the existing Gateway MSC deployments, giving Cingular one of the largest carrier grade IP-based wireless voice networks in the world. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.sonusnet.com

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South Korea's CDNetworks Selects Force10's Switches/Routers

CDNetworks, South Korea's leading content delivery network provider, is deploying Force10 Networks' TeraScale E-Series family of switch/routers. The Force10 TeraScale E-Series platform is being used to interconnect localized content servers across South Korea. With the Force10 TeraScale E-Series anchoring its content delivery network, CDNetworks enables its customers to gain the economic efficiencies and provides faster access to high-bandwidth applications such as streaming audio and video files. http://www.force10networks.com

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Juniper Supplies Core Routing for China Telecom's CN2 Network

Juniper Networks announced that China Telecom has expanded the core capacity of its ChinaNet Next Carrying Network (CN2), enabling CN2's Juniper Networks M- and T-series routers to support an increasing number of network edge devices and applications.



Juniper said that since November 2004, China Telecom has deployed its routers as the only routing platforms in the national core of its CN2 project, continuing to build upon previous deployments as part of its CN2 expansion plan. Specifically, Juniper T640, T320 and M320 routers are underpinning both the national CN2 backbone and eight South China provincial backbone networks.



China Telecom created CN2 in 2004, utilizing MPLS to offer a variety of advanced IP services including VPNs, high-quality IP voice and video streaming. http://www.juniper.net

• In July 2006, Cisco Systems announced that China Telecom is expanding its CN2 business network with the deployment of hundreds of Cisco 12416 routers. Nearly 400 Cisco 12416 Routers, including some already deployed in certain key provinces, will be installed during the CN2 provider edge expansion, marking another significant breakthrough since the adoption of the Cisco IP NGN. The deployment includes products for CN2's backbone network in 2005 as well as CN2's international networking projects in Central America, Europe and Asia in March 2006. Financial terms were not disclosed.

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Veraz Offers Options for Local Number Portability

Veraz Networks announced flexible deployment options for using its "ControlSwitch" softswitch to provide nationwide Local Number Portability (LNP).



Service providers that have already deployed a service-control-point (SCP)-based LNP solution can use the ControlSwitch to provide the LNP query from the existing SCPs. Additionally, through cooperation with 3rd party partners, Veraz offers solutions that migrate number portability from legacy Intelligent Network (IN) systems to a more flexible SIP-based solution.



Deploying a pure SIP-based next generation network solution enables service providers to easily implement LNP as part of a service infrastructure upgrade. Alternatively, an operator with a ControlSwitch can implement their national LNP database as one of the modules of the ControlSwitch.



Veraz LNP solutions have already been deployed in North America as well as in Europe, and are ready for deployment in markets such as Taiwan, Israel and India, where LNP regulations have recently been introduced.



Veraz said one of the prevailing trends in the telecommunications industry is to migrate legacy IN SCPs to IP-based SCPs as service providers adopt a service-rich IMS architecture.

http://www.veraznetworks.com

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Nortel and Broadstream Partner on IPTV for Rural Providers

Nortel is collaborating with Broadstream Communications, a provider of IPTV content transport and management services, to deliver an end-to-end IPTV solution that now includes both video infrastructure and television programming.



Broadstream provides TV channels that are pre-packaged in an IPTV-ready format by pre-encoding them into high quality MPEG-4 and delivering them via a single satellite to the telco video head-end. This process eliminates the telco's need for costly encoders and expensive satellite receivers. Nortel then interconnects the content into their IPTV solution to create a complete, highly competitive IPTV service for the telco's regional market.



The addition of Broadstream to Nortel's IPTV ecosystem brings over 200 channels of IPTV-ready video content that can be transmitted directly to any service provider location in the United States.



"As rural telcos look to offer their customers new IPTV services, a significant hurdle they face is access to a complete media and entertainment content bundle that can effectively compete with today's existing cable and satellite services," said Walt Megura, general manager, Broadband Networks Solutions, Nortel. "By teaming up with Broadstream to leverage their expertise in managed content services, Nortel can offer rural telcos a turnkey IPTV solution that helps enable more rapid and cost-effective introduction of these new revenue-generating services."


.

http://www.nortel.comhttp://www.broadstream.com

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Alcatel and XTEND Deliver E911 for VoIP

Alcatel has added enhanced E911 capabilities to its OmniPCX Enterprise communications server with the help of XTEND Communications Corp.



The XTEND EADM Basic E911 server. EADM is a PC-based, integrated solution operating with Alcatel's OmniPCX Enterprise and the OmniVista 4760 Network Management for Enterprise IP Telephony systems. At its most basic level, EADM provides the conduit for sending the subscriber information (ELIN/ERL) to the 911-service provider's automatic location information (ALI) database. The solution also includes unique features and capabilities such as end-point location tracking and automatic location information database, multiple on-site event notification methods, real-time audio recording of 911 calls in progress, and Video monitoring through the Alcatel's phone XML-enabled display. In addition, the system can accommodate both single and multi-site PCX Enterprise configurations, which is ideal for school districts, healthcare provider networks, financial institutions and others.



The companies said their new solution will help businesses reach state and ultimately federal compliance of E911.



Alcatel and XTEND have previously worked together to deliver user centric IP applications for various vertical enterprises, including k-12 education and healthcare.

http://www.alcatel.comhttp://www.xtend.com

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Internet2 Introduces Middleware Toolkit

Internet2's Middleware Initiative introduced its Signet Privilege Management System and the Grouper Group Management Toolkit, making it easier for research and academic institutions to manage access to protected online resources.



The Signet Privilege Management System provides institutions an easy to use framework to manage user access privileges in terms familiar to business managers and provides a consolidated, shared authorization data repository that is independent of any specific institutional system.



The Grouper Group Management Toolkit enables both automated and manual mechanisms for assigning users to groups based on their individual campus affiliations, status, or other relevant roles.



Both Grouper and Signet can be used together or stand alone and enable a distributed model for control, so that those responsible for assigning or delegating user access privileges can directly manage them to meet their needs across all the necessary campus systems. For instance, a Biology professor can use Grouper to list the students working on a special project and then use Signet to designate that they should be allowed weekend access to his laboratory and to an associated research data set for specified length of time. Signet in turn interacts with the campus provisioning system to automatically adjust all the affected systems which secure the laboratory and research database. After the specified time, the system automatically removes the students' access to those resources.http://signet.internet2.edu/http://grouper.internet2.edu/

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NTT Com to Launch MPLS-based VPN Service to Vietnam

NTT Communications and Vietnam's largest international telecom carrier, Vietnam Datacommunication Company (VDC), have agreed to provide MPLS-based Global IP-VPN services in Vietnam under the name of VPN/VNN-Arcstar. The two companies will start services in September.

http://www.ntt.co.jp

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Google and MTV Networks Partner of Video Clip Distribution

Google plans to distribute four- or five-minute clips of popular TV shows from MTV Networks via its online advertising service. The deal potentially will put selected video clips in front of a massive audience.



Under the deal, Google will distribute ad-supported content from MTV Networks to targeted website publishers, allowing publishers to showcase clips from premium programming like Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants and MTV's Laguna Beach to enhance the content on their websites.

http://www.google.comhttp://www.viacom.com

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OEN Signs IPTV Carriage Agreement with NFL

Optical Entertainment Network (OEN), which is building an FTTH network in Houston, has signed an IPTV carriage agreement with the National Football League to carry NFL Network, the 24-hour, year-round football channel -- including its primetime regular season games this fall to FISION subscribers in Houston. NFL Network plans nearly 2,000 hours of original programming in the coming year. OEN will carry NFL Network within its 400 channel line-up.

http://www.getfision.com

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