Psytechnics Raises $20 Million for its Quality of Experience (QoE) Assessment Tools

Psytechnics, a start-up headquartered in Ipswich, UK with US offices in Boston, closed a new round of funding bringing total capital raised to over $20 million. The company specializes in solutions for Quality of Experience (QoE) assessment for mobile, fixed and converged network service providers.



Psytechnics' products provid real-time, per-session measurement of end user experience for rapid detection and resolution of service affecting issues.



The company also announced the appointment of Benjamin Ellis as its Vice President of Global Marketing. Prior to joining Psytechnics, Ellis was at Juniper Networks, where he was Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications, and previously head of Product
and Solutions marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

http://www.psytechnics.com

IP Service Providers Ignore Customer Experience Metrics at Their Own Risk

Lagging end-user Quality of Experience (QoE) could be the downfall of IP service providers if they continue heightened attention on service price cuts and neglect advancements in test and measurement technology. To ensure end-user satisfaction, IP service providers will find that objective testing methods best suit their testing needs, since older methods, including subjective measurements, consume time and resources without producing the needed results.

Read More

PMC-Sierra's PALADIN 20 Targets Remote Radio Head Architecture

PMC-Sierra introduced its third generation Digital Predistortion (DPD) solution targeting next gen wireless equipment designed for Remote Radio Head (RRH) deployments. RRH promises to significantly lower the cost of 3G network rollouts by reducing power requirements for base stations and thereby eliminating the need for expensive air-conditioned housing.



PMC-Sierra's new PM7820 PALADIN 20 device, which offers full software compatibility with its existing PALADIN family, powers new Doherty power amplifier (PA) architectures to achieve power efficiencies in excess of 40 percent, more than doubling the efficiency of currently deployed Class A/B LDMOS PAs.



Together with PMC-Sierra's BRIC family of standard Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) baseband to RF interconnects, the PALADIN 20 provides an end-to-end digital solution for distributed base station architectures.



The Paladin 20 provides 20 MHz of bandwidth for WCDMA, CDMA2000 and WiMAX applications giving wireless Service Providers enhanced flexibility to deploy various carrier configurations.



PMC-Sierra said the new PALADIN 20 provides the enhanced linearization a Doherty PA requires and increases efficiency by reducing the thermal and memory effects that contribute to performance degradation. The solution's DPD algorithm enables Doherty PAs to exceed the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) WCDMA specification requirements with greater than 3 dB of margin. The use of highly efficient Doherty PAs in WCDMA and CDMA2000 system deployments provides significant cost savings, including reduced energy expenses due to reduced heat dissipation, cost-effective plastic cooling units, and a smaller footprint that saves cost and board space on the RRH. Doherty PAs, combined with the PALADIN 20's advanced DPD technology, can cut annual energy costs by as much as 50 percent compared to DPD Class A/B PAs. For a typical 15,000 BTS rollout, with three PAs per BTS, this translates into an annual savings of more than $2.1M.

http://www.pmc-sierra.comIn February 2006, PMC-Sierra introduced its second-generation, single-chip Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) solution for enabling 3G distributed architectures. As mobile operators increase the coverage and capacity of their cellular networks, distributed base station architectures using Remote Radio Heads can help them realize major performance improvements and significant capital and operational savings.



PMC-Sierra said its Baseband to Radio Interface Controller (BRIC) product family will accelerate the adoption of distributed wireless base station architectures, significantly reducing capital and operational expenditures for carriers.

Read More

Spirent Adds 10GbE X2 Interface for Enterprise Switch Testing

Spirent Communications announced new test solutions to help network equipment manufacturers of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) switches and routers. Spirent now offers 10GbE copper and fiber interfaces on a single test module. The solution provides twenty-four ports of GigE and two ports of 10-Gigabit Ethernet.



The new MSA-1001A Two port 10GbE test Module with X2 interfaces starts at $70,000 US List price.



Spirent said equipment vendors are seeing high growth rates in blade switches and stackable Gigabit Ethernet switches that have two or four 10GbE uplinks. These uplinks are normally 10GBASE-CX4 copper, XFP or X2 fiber connectors, all of which can be evaluated on Spirent TestCenter.

http://www.spirentcom.com

Read More

Riverbed Launches New WAN Optimization Appliances

Riverbed Technology introduced three new "Steelhead" WAN optimization appliances that deliver high scalability and acceleration for up to one million simultaneous connections at 4 Gbps throughput. The latest release of the Riverbed Optimization System (RiOS), version 3.0, supports QoS enforcement for all traffic types, including TCP, VoIP, video, and any other forms of UDP.



The Steelhead appliances, which sit at both ends of a WAN connection, optimize performance across all traffic types, including voice and video. The product rollout includes:

• the Steelhead 5520 -- which delivers optimized WAN bandwidth of up to OC-3 (155 Mbps) and 800 Mbps with disk-based data reduction disabled. It supports up to 15,000 simultaneous TCP connections and has a disk capacity of 1.5 TB and a data store of 700 GB.



• the Steelhead 6020 -- which is the most scalable WAN optimization product on the market. It delivers up to 310 Mbps and 800 Mbps with disk-based data reduction disabled. The Steelhead 6020 can support up to 40,000 simultaneous TCP connections and has a disk capacity of 3.2 TB and a data store of 1.4 TB.



• The Riverbed Interceptor 9200 allows very large organizations to deliver massive scalability by enabling virtual in-path clusters of Steelhead appliances without Web Cache Communications Protocol (WCCP) or Policy-Based Routing (PBR). The device supports up to a million simultaneous TCP connections per cluster and up to 4 Gbps of optimized WAN throughput. WAN administrators can configure, upgrade, and scale clustered Steelhead appliances non-obtrusively.

Optimizations in RiOS 3.0 include Network File System (NFS) application streamlining, which accelerates NFS for Linux/Unix users without the need for caching or explicit proxies. The performance of Unix-based applications such as ClearCase, Unigraphics, Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA), and remote Home Directory access can increase by up to 55 times. RiOS 3.0 also includes new optimizations for the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol that improve the performance of collaborative applications such as Visio and SolidWorks by up to 20 times. Every Steelhead introduced into the network can auto-detect over 4,000 other Steelhead peers without requiring complex tunneling configurations.



Every Steelhead introduced into the network can auto-detect over 4,000 other Steelhead peers without requiring complex tunneling configurations.



Riverbed said it now has over 1,000 customers. For its latest fiscal quarter, the company racked up sales of $18 millionhttp://www.riverbed.com/

WAN Optimization: Finding the Best Approach

There are critical factors beyond bandwidth limitations that impede performance and productivity. While users complain that the network is painfully slow, network managers insist that the problem must lie outside the network, since utilization is at only a fraction of the total bandwidth available. How can both arguments be correct? Latency is the secret throughput killer. Physics dictate that latency is unavoidable in a wide area network - the information takes some small amount of time to traverse the network connection. But when transport and application protocols are layered on top of typical network latencies, frustration can mount as employees wait for data and applications to load.

Read More

Verizon Launches Free "PlayLinc" Games Messenger

Verizon began offering a free "PlayLinc" service that provides gamers with an integrated interface for voice, instant messaging and access to free public servers. Essentially, PlayLinc is a free games messenger with VOIP tools. It also allows players to host games on their own PCs and invite friends to private Internet gaming sessions.



PlayLinc can be used with any broadband connection, but Verizon said its fiber-based FiOS Internet service will deliver superior performance.



PlayLinc's peer-to-peer voice capabilities allow up to 32 players to communicate with one another in real time.

Verizon's introduction of PlayLinc is the result of the company's new relationship with SuperComputer International (SCI), a leading provider of high-performance game-server hosting solutions, gameplay-related services and fully integrated gaming portals. Verizon acquired an equity position in SCI in May.



Verizon also announced the launch of its new online community Web site, games.verizon.com, which showcases PlayLinc and includes forums, frequently asked questions, blogs, gaming news and other features for online gaming aficionados.



Verizon said PlayLinc and the new Web site are key parts of its overall strategy to establish relationships with and encourage the growth of a large, loyal community of serious and casual gamers. These relationships with gamers are expected to fuel business opportunities for Verizon, including digital distribution of games, in-game and on-site advertising, promotion of other Verizon services, and increased adoption of Verizon's FiOS and DSL broadband services.http://games.verizon.com

Read More

XO Deploys Fixed Broadband Wireless in Nine U.S. Cities

XO Communications announced its first significant market deployments of fixed broadband wireless in nine metropolitan markets -- Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Tampa and Washington, DC.



The deployments are the first in a series of markets nationwide in which XO plans to utilize fixed broadband wireless technology through a partnership with its sister company, Nextlink, the nation's largest holder of Local Multipoint Distribution System (LMDS) spectrum with licenses in 75 metropolitan markets.



XO is using LMDS fixed broadband wireless as a last mile access method to deliver Dedicated Internet Access and Metropolitan and Inter-city Ethernet solutions directly to businesses at speeds of 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps.



From Nextlink wireless hubs deployed in each market, XO can deliver services to any qualified line-of-site location within an average of five miles. Services include Internet access, VoIP, and private business local area networks at native LAN speeds. XO is also reducing local network costs by replacing leased circuits that connect local switch locations to the XO network with more cost-effective and scalable fixed wireless links.htp://www.xo.com

Read More

QUALCOMM Introduces Single-Chip CDMA Solution for Low-Cost Handsets

QUALCOMM introduced a single-chip solution for low-cost CDMA2000 handsets aimed at emerging markets worldwide. The design integrates baseband modem, RF transceiver, power management and system memory into a single chip. QUALCOMM said the chip reduces the number of discrete components required, reduces bill-of-materials costs and delivers board-area savings of more than 50%. Key features include downloadable polyphonic ringtones and color displays.

http://www.qualcomm.comhttp://www.cdmatech.com/singlechip

Read More

Atheros Adds Network Processor and Debuts 802.11n Chipset with 2x2 MIMO

Atheros Communications launched its first family of network processors, the AR7100, targeting triple-play wireless APs and routers. Key features of the Atheros network processors include a high-performance MIPS-based processor core; a 33/66 MHz PCI interface; dual Ethernet ports for LAN and WAN connectivity; a high- speed 32-bit DDR memory controller to support high-bandwidth applications; and on-chip cache memory. The NPUs also offer dual USB 2.0 interfaces for wireless network storage and printing; a PCM interface to support analog and VoIP telephony; and an I(2)S interface to support audio streaming through the router.



Two NPU processor models are initially offered: 300MHz with dual 10/100 Ethernet ports, and 400MHz with dual 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) Ethernet ports.





Atheros also introduced a high-performance, cost-optimized draft 802.11n chipset (AR5008V) featuring a 2x2 MIMO design. The 2x2 solution, based on Atheros' XSPAN technology, achieves cost savings through silicon and other bill of materials cost reductions. It provides PCI and PCIe host interface support for integrating the chipset into laptops, routers and APs.



The chipset provides up to 300 Mbps physical data rates. Atheros said the technology delivers 10 times the range of legacy 802.11g and a/g solutions.



As with the entire Atheros XSPAN family, the new AR5008V supports all the mandatory technical elements in the Draft 1.0 802.11n specification to ensure interoperability with both legacy devices and draft 802.11n products that adhere to the specification.

http://www.atheros.com

Read More

KPN Selects Alcatel/Lucent for All IP Network

KPN, the incumbent operator in the Netherlands, selected Lucent Technologies to manage the deployment and integration of KPN's All IP Next Generation Network (NGN), based on IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) service architecture.



Lucent will serve as prime integrator in the migration of KPN's existing services and customers to the new All IP network, which will support multimedia services across the nation. KPN has earlier announced that it will be spending between EUR 1 to 1.5 billion on its All IP program. Following the successful migration of customers and services, the legacy networks and buildings will be phased out.



KPN has also selected Alcatel to provide the network equipment to extend its nationwide Ethernet Virtual Private Network (VPN) services for business customers and Ethernet aggregation for residential services. The contract is part of a substantial IP network transformation project that will give KPN one of the largest MPLS-enabled networks in the world, which in turn forms part of its All IP program.



The contract is the second phase of an ambitious IP/Ethernet network transformation. Phase one was awarded to Alcatel in October 2005 for the delivery of triple play services from 28 main POPs and 172 medium PoPs located in 14 different regions. The second phase extension is expected to be completed by 2008 and will result in a network with an additional 1300 smaller POP locations.



The foundation for the phase two extension is the Alcatel 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (ESS) and Alcatel 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM).

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

Read More

Consolidated Communications Launches IPTV in Texas

Consolidated Communications, the 17th largest local telephone company in the United States, launched its IPTV service in Conroe and Katy, Texas, offering 157 local and premium digital channels and over 1000 hours of movies on-demand. Consolidated serves approximately 239,000 local access lines and 46,000 DSL accounts.

http://www.consolidated.com

Read More

MoCA Certifies ONTs from Motorola and Tellabs

The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA-TM) has certified Optical Network Terminal (ONT) triple-play fiber-to-the-home terminals from Motorola, Inc. and Tellabs. These devices, the first ONTs to be certified by MoCA, convert optical signals, delivered over a passive optical network (PON) on fiber, into electrical signals that are sent to a homeowner's entertainment devices. MoCA technology, embedded in the ONT, enables triple-play content, including well over net 100Mbps of multiple HDTV and SDTV programs, high-speed data, gaming, voice and any other services over IP , through the existing in-home coaxial wiring. The ONT is typically attached to the outside of a home or apartment.



The Motorola ONT1000M Single Family MoCA Optical Network Terminal provides a single point of delivery for voice, video and data services over a single fiber network.



The Tellabs 1600-612 Single Family Unit (SFU) ONT supports residential voice, Ethernet-based data, video over IP, MoCA and RF analog-digital video services all over a single optical fiber in an easy-to-install unit. The unit supports either 10/100BaseT Ethernet or a MoCA interface for high-speed delivery of entertainment over IP throughout
a home using coaxial cable.

http://www.mocalliance.org

This web page requires Macromedia Flash Player 8
and Javascript enabled

Read More

Google Launches Hosted Communications Services for Businesses

Google began offering a set of business communications services, including email, messaging, calendaring and other web-based applications, aimed at small businesses that "the hassle of installing and maintaining software or hardware."



"Google Apps for Your Domain" allows a company to customize the user interface with their own branding and color scheme. Over time, Google will offer versions of Google Apps for Your Domain that are oriented toward the needs of a variety of organizations, from family websites and community groups to non-profits and small businesses, as well as universities, large enterprises, and ISPs.



Google Apps for Your Domain, an expansion of the Gmail for Your Domain service that launched in February 2006, currently includes Gmail web email, the Google Talk instant messaging and voice calling service, collaborative calendaring through Google Calendar, and web page design, publishing and hosting via Google Page Creator.



Domain administrators use a web-based control panel to manage their user account list, set up aliases and distribution lists, and enable the services they want for their domain. End users with accounts that have been set up by their administrator simply browse to customized login pages on any web-connected computer. Google said the service scales to accommodate growing user bases and storage needs while reducing maintenance costs.



Initially, Google is offering a beta version without cost to domain administrators or end users. Key features include 2 gigabytes of email storage for each user, easy to use customization tools, and help for administrators via email or an online help center. Furthermore, organizations that sign up during the beta period will not ever have to pay for users accepted during that period (provided Google continues to offer the service).



A premium version of the product is being developed and pricing will be disclosed shortly.



As a hosted service, Google Apps for Your Domain is available worldwide, though the control panel for domain administrators is currently available only in US-English. Google is currently working to make the service available to administrators in additional languages.

http://www.google.com/a

Read More