Cisco to Acquire Arroyo for VOD Servers

Cisco Systems agreed to acquire privately-held Arroyo Video Solutions, Inc., a developer of on-demand video servers, for approximately $92 million in cash. Cisco said it plans to integrate the Arroyo platform into the Cisco IP-NGN (Next Generation Network) architectural framework "to help enable carriers to accelerate the creation and distribution of network delivered entertainment, interactive media and advertising services across the growing portfolio of televisions, personal computers, mobile handsets and emerging media capable devices in our...

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Micronas and Planetweb Partner on IPTV and Hybrid DVB Set-top Boxes

Micronas, which supplies application-specific IC system solutions for consumer electronics, announced an alliance with Planetweb, a leading provider of embedded software and developer tools for the consumer electronics industry. The companies are jointly working on fully-featured reference designs for IPTV and Hybrid IPTV/Digital Broadcast Television set-top boxes. The product designs incorporate both the Micronas DeCypher DHM 8100 High-Definition Multi-format Decoder and Planetweb's SpectraWorks user interface platform and applications. The Micronas...

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Infinera Hires VP of Systems Engineering

Infinera has appointed Rusty Cumpston as Vice President of Systems Engineering. Prior to joining Infinera, Cumpston served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at XenSource Inc. From 1998 to 2002, he served as VP of Engineering and then Chief Operating Officer at ONI Systems, a pioneer in metro DWDM optical systems. http://www.infinera....

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Harmonic to Acquire Entone's Video Networking Software Business

Harmonic agreed to acquire the video networking software business of Entone Technologies, a privately-held software developer specializing in IPTV VOD and other digital video solutions for commercial broadcasters. The agreed upon purchase price of $45 million is comprised of $26 million in cash and the value of approximately 3.54 million shares of Harmonic common stock. In addition, Harmonic will assume certain liabilities of $1.5 million and invest $2.5 million in the form of a convertible note in Entone's consumer premise equipment (CPE) business,...

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Thales and Alcatel Encrypt DWDM Wavelengths

Thales and Alcatel announced a breakthrough in securing DWDM wavelengths -- a capability especially suited for financial and government applications. While traditional DWDM-based encryption services have been limited to the entire fiber, Thales and Alcatel have demonstrated per-wavelength encryption.The Thales SONET "Datacryptor" has successfully demonstrated encryption of an aggregate SONET signal generated by an Alcatel 1677 SL provisioned with optional DWDM modules and Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA). In addition to providing DWDM-based...

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NTT DoCoMo to Implement New Congestion Control System for 3G FOMA Network

NTT DoCoMo announced plans to separately manage call and data packet transmission congestion over its 3G "FOMA" network to prevent voice traffic congestion control from affecting packet communication traffic and vice versa.Currently, excessive congestion in either voice or data transmissions can force DoCoMo to limit network usage for both voice and data in order to prevent network breakdown.NTT DoCoMo said one result of the move is the increased ability to successfully transmit text messages via i-mode mail, or to DoCoMo's "i-mode" Disaster Message...

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Hughes Validates SPACEWAY Broadband IP Capabilities

Hughes Network Systems completed a 30-day program of over-the-air (OTA) testing of the broadband IP capabilities of DIRECTV's SPACEWAY 2 satellite. Hughes was able to conduct performance tests in the areas of transmission, user traffic stability and reliability, air interface protocols, user network interfaces, and back-end systems for billing and customer service. The verification of hardware and software systems were in preparation for the launch of SPACEWAY 3, scheduled for early 2007, with commercial service planned later in the year. Hughes...

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Verizon Business Adds IP Tollfree Service and IP IVR

Verizon Business introduced three new IP-based capabilities for its Contact Center Services and VoIP portfolio: IP Tollfree Service; IP IVR, an interactive voice- response system for contact center services; and new IP Trunking options. IP Tollfree -- routes incoming toll-free calls over IP to enable greater efficiency and support multiple-contact media, such as phone calls, e-mail or instant messaging from around the globe. The service enables contact center agents to transfer calls using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Because IP Tollfree...

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Ball State University Deploys Firetide Wireless Mesh

Ball State University, named Intel's "Most Unwired Campus" in 2005, deployed Firetide's mesh solution to provide students with a variety of wireless services including live video and a mobile WiFi mesh network for the campus shuttle bus.Firetide nodes are self-forming and self-healing. Because Firetide's mesh is rooted in Ethernet technology, ports can be used for video surveillance cameras as well as other devices. Using redundant paths, the system allows for continuous connectivity if a node is disabled or a line-of-sight obstruction enters...

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Novera Optics Launches 16 DWDM Access Transport Platform

Novera Optics introduced a DWDM fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) optical access transport platform that utilizes identical colorless Gigabit Ethernet DWDM optical transceivers to deliver 20 Gbps of symmetrical bandwidth over a single feeder fiber. Based on Novera Optics' "Lambda-PON" automatic wavelength-locking technology, the new TurboLIGHT16 platform eliminates the need for expensive wavelength-specific optical network units (ONUs). It carries 16 1.25-Gbps bidirectional data streams using 32 independent wavelengths. In addition, the system provides the...

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Verizon Plans "Bandwidth-on-Demand" Optical Test in NYC

Verizon Partner Solutions, the company's wholesale services unit, will begin testing a new control plane capability aimed at reducing the time it takes to establish new high-capacity circuits (DS-3, SONET, or Ethernet) from months to, in many cases, minutes. The trial, which is expected to start next week in New York City, involves bandwidth on demand provisioning within the optical network.Verizon said its Bandwidth on Demand Just in Time Provisioning (JiT-P) trial will reduce the provisioning time of private line OC-n and Ethernet services. ...

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Embarq Migrates Millionth Customer to Packet

Embarq has migrated its one millionth customer from a circuit network to a packet network. The company began its packet conversion with Nortel in May of 2003 serving customers in Gardner, Kan. Since that time, Embarq has steadily progressed moving customers to the new network technology.To support Embarq's network migration, Nortel has deployed its Carrier VoIP and Metro Ethernet solutions, including the Communication Server (CS) 2000 and Metro...

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QUALCOMM Appoints Exec for Asia-Pac

QUALCOMM announced the appointment of Mr. Jing Wang to senior vice president and chairman of QUALCOMM Asia Pacific. Ted Matsumoto, who had served as senior vice president and chairman of QUALCOMM Japan/SEA-Pacific, has accepted a position as executive vice president and chief strategy officer of Softbank Mobile.Prior to joining QUALCOMM in 2001, Mr. Wang served as head of the Asia Practice Group for more than 12 years at Reed Smith, LLP, where he represented many prominent corporations, including QUALCOMM.http://www.qualcomm....

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