VSNL Completes 10G Backbone Across Europe and North America

VSNL International completed a 10Gig upgrade to 21 locations of its global IP backbone throughout the United States, Europe and Canada. The upgraded network features Cisco 12000 Series and 7600 Series routers. The three-month upgrade project also included a 50 percent transatlantic increase of capacity to support additional traffic between the US and Europe.



The VSNL International global IP network touts 570 Gbps of OC48/192 MPLS backbone capacity and 500 Gbps of customer connectivity throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

http://www.vsnlinternational.com

• In August, VSNL International announced its plan to build a new multi-terabit submarine cable system linking Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. This investment follows the recent announcement by VSNL to build a new system from India to Europe that will provide connectivity to the Gulf region and the African continent. The intra-Asia cable, when combined with the Tata Indicom Cable System (TIC) and the TGN-Pacific cable system (both of which are built with 8 fibre pairs capable of supporting 7+ Tbps of traffic), will complete VSNL International's multi-Terabit capability from India to Asia and onward to the US.

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ORBCOMM Launches IPO

ORBCOMM, a global satellite data communications company focused on providing Machine to Machine (M2M) communications, completed its initial public offering (IPO) of 11,153,800 shares of common stock at an estimated offering price range of $12 to $14 per share. Shares are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "ORBC".

http://www.orbcomm.com/

• ORBCOM operates a global network of 30 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites and accompanying ground infrastructure. Its services track, monitor and control mobile and fixed assets in four core markets including commercial transportation, heavy equipment, industrial fixed assets, and marine/homeland security. The company's tracking devices are installed on trucks, containers, marine vessels, locomotives, backhoes, pipelines, oil wells, utility meters, storage tanks and other assets.

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EchoStar Rolls Out WildBlue Satellite Internet Service

EchoStar Communications launched its "DISH Network High-Speed Internet powered by WildBlue," a satellite-delivered broadband Internet service available across the US.



Packages start at $49.95 per month and include multiple email addresses, web hosting space, and 24/7 DISH Network technical support. A separate satellite dish is required to receive the high-speed Internet servicehttp://www.dishnetwork.com

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PMC-Sierra Posts Q3 Revenue of $116.5 Million

PMC-Sierra reported Q3 net revenue of $116.5 million, a decrease of 2% compared with $118.8 million in the second quarter of 2006 and 53% higher than in the same period the prior year. As compared to the third quarter of 2005, net revenues in the third quarter of 2006 included a full three months of revenue from the previously announced acquisition of Passave Inc., which closed on May 4, 2006, and the storage semiconductor business of Avago Technologies, which closed in March 2006.



Net income in the third quarter of 2006 on a non-GAAP basis was $17.4 million (non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.08) compared with non-GAAP net income of $19.4 million (non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.09) in the second quarter of 2006. GAAP net loss in the third quarter of 2006 was $11.5 million (GAAP loss per share of $0.05) compared with GAAP net loss in the second quarter of 2006 of $31.8 million (GAAP loss per share of $0.16).



"In the third quarter, our Enterprise Storage business showed strength as the Fibre Channel transition from 2G to 4G accelerated. The growth in storage during the quarter, however, was offset by reduced shipments of communications products," said Bob Bailey, chairman and chief executive officer of PMC-Sierra.

http://www.pmc-sierra.com

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Redback Posts Q3 Revenue of $70.9 million

Redback Networks reported Q3 revenue of $70.9 million, up 95% compared to $36.4 million for the same quarter last year. Net revenue was up 4 percent for the third quarter of 2006 compared to the second quarter of 2006.



Redback Networks generated $4.5 million in cash in the third quarter of 2006, boosting its overall cash total to $176.0 million.



Redback Networks also added 18 new customers in the third quarter for its SmartEdge family of multi-service edge routers, including a top 20 carrier worldwide. http://www.redback.com

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Acme Packet Completes IPO

Acme Packet (NASDAQ: APKT) completed its initial public offering (IPO) of 11.5 million common shares at a price of $9.50 per share. Of the shares sold in the offering, 8.0 million shares were offered by the company and 3.5 million shares were offered by selling stockholders.



Acme Packet also announced today that the underwriters of its initial public offering exercised in full their option to purchase an additional 1.7 million common shares from the company.



Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as the sole book-running manager, Credit Suisse was co-lead manager, and JPMorgan and ThinkEquity Partners were co-managers for the offering.



On Thursday, shares in APKT closed at $16.49, down 4.7% for the day.

http://www.acmepacket.com

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Telstra Selects Ericsson for Optical Transport

Telstra awarded a contract valued at more than US$230 million to Ericsson to help evolve the operator's inter-capital, regional and rural transport networks.



The Ericsson transport deal will provide significant capacity expansions up to 10Gbps through the use of optical (SDH/DWDM) and radio (PDH/SDH) technology. It also allows Telstra to increase the flexibility, capacity and resiliency of their Next Generation IP Network.



Ericsson said the deal highlights the benefits of its Marconi acquisition.

http://www.ericsson.com

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Barablu Demos Free Mobile-to-Mobile Cross-Platform Calls

Barablu, a start-up based in London, demonstrated free, Wi-Fi enabled calls between several Symbian Series 60 based Nokia GSM mobiles and Microsoft Windows Mobile based GSM mobiles. A small Barablu client also enables IM sessions, video calls and conference calling all for free within the Barablu community.



Barablu is a free-calling network and also offers "Out" calling for a fee.

http://www.barablu.com

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Cingular Reports Rising Net Income, ARPU, 58.7 million Subs

Cingular Wireless reported its highest-ever net income of $847 million, a year-over-year increase of over 280 percent on total revenues were $9.6 billion, up 9.2 percent over revenues for the year-ago quarter and 3.6 percent compared to the second quarter of 2006.



Some highlights for Q3 2006:

• Cingular ended the third quarter of 2006 with 58.7 million cellular/PCS subscribers, tops among U.S. carriers and a year-over-year increase of 6.4 million.



• ARPU increased to $49.76. This compares to $49.65 in the year-ago quarter and to $48.84 in the second quarter of 2006. Continued growth in data ARPU contributed to this increase in overall ARPU.



• Data ARPU was $6.32, up 46 percent over the year-ago third quarter and up 10 percent sequentially.



• Postpaid churn was 1.5 percent. This is a year-over-year improvement of 50 basis points and flat compared to the second quarter of 2006.



• Overall monthly subscriber churn was 1.8 percent, which represents a year- over-year improvement of 50 basis points and a sequential increase of 10 basis points. The sequential increase resulted from normal seasonality patterns, the sunsetting of AT&T Wireless' prepaid plans, and from certain actions the company took to recover increased costs associated with serving the rapidly diminishing base of its TDMA customers.



• Cingular's net additions were driven by lower churn and strong gross customer additions. The company reported 1.4 million net adds. Cingular's performance in net adds compares to 867,000 in the year-ago quarter and to 1.5 million in the second quarter of 2006. Some 928,000 of the 1.4 million net adds were postpaid customers, marking the company's third consecutive quarter of postpaid net adds nearly at or above the 900,000 level.



• In addition, retail customers represented 87 percent of net adds in the third quarter, which compares to 74 percent in the year-ago quarter and to 75 percent in the second quarter of 2006. Reseller customer net additions were 174,000, which is down from 228,000 in the year-ago quarter and from 380,000 in the second quarter of 2006.



• Capital expenditures were $1.8 billion. These were driven by, among other developments: continued progress in merger integration; ongoing, rapidly accelerating improvements in network coverage and quality; and the continued introduction of Cingular's powerful UMTS/HSDPA 3G.

http://www.cingular.com

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BT Vision Signs More Content Partners

BT announced three new video-on-demand agreements with MTV, Paramount Comedy and Nickelodeon in the UK to supply some of their most popular entertainment content for its next-generation TV service, BT Vision.



BT Vision has already announced content deals with a range of leading entertainment companies including Dreamworks, i-concerts, Eagle Rock, BBC Worldwide, Paramount, Warner Music Group, National Geographic Channel, HIT Entertainment, Momentum, Universal, Nelvana, SONY BMG and Turner Broadcasting; as well as with independents including Lionsgate, Entertainment Rights plc, NBD Television and Wall to Wall Television. BT Vision has also announced 'near-live' FA Premier League matches from the 2007/08 season.



At launch, BT Vision customers will be able to enjoy film, music and television programming available on-demand as well as interactive services and all the Freeview channels, all available on the TV, with no compulsory subscription. The service, delivered on a software platform powered by Microsoft and through a set-top box made by Philips, will allow customers choice, control and convenience.
http://www.btplc.com

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BT Global Services Names CIO

BT Global Services announced the appointment of JP Rangaswami as chief information officer (CIO). Mr Rangaswami will report to Andy Green, CEO, BT Global Services, and to Al-Noor Ramji, CEO of BT Exact, BT's technology organization.



JP Rangaswami recently served at the investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, where he headed the Alternative Market Models after serving five years as the global CIO. He led the bank's transition to the EUR and managed Y2K and Minimum Requirements programmes. Originally an economist and financial journalist, Rangaswami also held a number of senior positions in multinational companies before joining Dresdner, including Burroughs Corporation, Data General, and Cap Gemini.



"As telephony became software, telcos the world over had to respond to the challenge, reinventing themselves as true global ICT providers," said JP Rangaswami. "I believe that BT has positioned itself uniquely in this respect, and I look forward to working in Global Services, helping build the business through pragmatic innovation and flawless execution."http://www.btplc.com

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Red Hat Introduces Linux Solutions for the Telecom Market

Red Hat is widening its reach in the global telecommunications industry. The company Red Hat Enterprise Linux is being positioned as a carrier-grade operating system and its JBoss Enterprise Middleware Suite (JEMS) has emerged a leading middleware suite for telecommunications by simplifying development of Enterprise Java applications.



Red Hat has announced its participation in OPUCE, a European Community Framework Program's Sixth Framework Program (FP6) project designed to deliver the next-generation telecommunication service delivery platform (SDP) for use across the EU. Red Hat and JEMS experts will be responsible for building an open source ecosystem around OPUCE and bringing direct expertise on how to build open source communities and support mission-critical environments based on open source software.



OPUCE will produce an open service infrastructure that enables easy service creation and deployment in heterogeneous environments. It will allow services to be accessed in a seamless way by a multitude of devices connected via different networks and makes open source central to building out next-generation telecommunications infrastructure. End users will benefit from enriched service variety and relevance, and service providers will discover eased service creation and the opportunity to expand service offerings.

http://www.redhat.comhttp://www.opuce.eu

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Siemens Applies RFID to TV Receivers

Siemens Business Services is using RFID to optimize the global delivery chain of TV receivers for Premiere, a broadcaster in Germany and Austria. The receiver required for program reception will be fitted with an RFID chip enabling its entire delivery route to be tracked - from production in Asia right through to delivery at the customer's front door.



In the past, reception of the encrypted program was ensured by means of a barcode fitted to the rear of the TV set. With this system, manual scanning of this barcode when televisions were delivered or returned and inventorying in the main warehouse were time-consuming and laborious.



In the future, RFID readers will be able to identify pallets with as many as 80 devices automatically and in seconds as they pass by.
http://www.siemens.com/sbs

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Sycamore Demos GMPLS Control Plane Interoperability

Sycamore Networks' SN 16000 intelligent optical switch has successfully demonstrated standards-based control plane interoperability in a multi-vendor event that featured a diverse range of next-generation IP/MPLS applications and services running over a dynamic optical core.



Held in conjunction with the MPLS 2006 conference, the Isocore Leading Edge Code (LEC) test event showcased the current state of multiservice interworking and multicast applications across a resilient, hybrid optical transport network, and included participation from industry-leading IP, MPLS and optical networking equipment vendors.



During the test event, Sycamore SN 16000 intelligent optical switches demonstrated multi-vendor IP/Optical control plane interworking using standards-based Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS). The scope of the test effort, which included validation of GMPLS UNI models and MPLS-to-GMPLS migration strategies, reinforces the carrier-class performance, scalability and reliability of Sycamore intelligent optical switching solutions.



Among the highlights of the event was Control Plane Resiliency, which included the ability of the optical transport network to recover from control plane failures using Graceful Restart mechanisms as defined for IETF-based GMPLS signaling.



With multiple network services carried across GMPLS LSPs, participating vendors successfully demonstrated Graceful Restart interoperability and the ability of network services to remain unaffected in the event of a control plane failure. The IP/Optical application testing also included the industry's first validation of graceful recovery mechanisms for dynamically signaled 10-GigE-over-SONET LSPs.
http://www.sycamorenet.com

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Telefónica Argentina Selects Juniper for National IP Network

Telefónica Argentina has deployed Juniper Networks' E- and M-series routing platforms in its new IP backbone and access networks. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Telefónica Argentina is a subsidiary of Spain's Telefónica Group.
http://www.juniper.net

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Australia's PIPE Networks Deploys Foundry

PIPE Networks, an Australian network infrastructure provider, selected Foundry Networks' NetIron MLX Series of MPLS-enabled metro routers for its first national VoIP Peering Network. The NetIron MLX Series offers IPv4, IPv6, MPLS, and Multi-VRF capabilities as well as advanced Layer 2 switching capabilities.



PIPE VoIP Exchange (PVX) is Australia's first commercial VoIP peering service. The new independent network allows VoIP providers to directly interconnect VoIP calls with other PVX clients, thereby reducing interconnection costs and increasing performance for VoIP providers. The PVX will provide real-time connection information, including call quality and billing information, back to VoIP providers to facilitate with billing and other activities.

http://www.foundrynet.comhttp://www.pipenetworks.com

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Octasic Adds MEGACO and SIP stacks by RADVISION

Octasic has added MEGACO and SIP stacks by RADVISION to its OCT9320 and OCT9360 Series of PTMC media gateway modules. The Octasic modules now perform all the voice processing and packet signaling required for media gateways in a ready-to-deploy format.



The OCT9320 and OCT9360 Series of PTMC modules both offer carrier-grade echo cancellation and voice quality enhancement features for G.711 media gateway hardware designs up to 1008 channels. Additionally, the OCT9360 Series provides processing for low bit-rate codecs like G.729, G.723.1 and T.38 (fax relay).
http://www.octasic.com

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Broadcom Reports Net Revenue $902.6M, Down 4.1% Sequentially

Broadcom reported net revenue for the third quarter of 2006 of $902.6 million, a decrease of 4.1% from the $941.1 million reported for the second quarter of 2006 and an increase of 29.9% from the $695.0 million reported for the third quarter of 2005. Due to the pending restatement of the company's historical financial statements, the company did not provide in-depth financial numbers.



"Despite the current near-term industry-wide challenges, we continue to experience strong design win momentum," said Scott A. McGregor, Broadcom's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The markets in which we compete continue to be favorable for Broadcom. Our broad technology portfolio enabled us to win new designs across a broad set of large and growing markets, such as digital television, 3G cellular, and next-generation wireless functionality for game platforms."http://www.broadcom.com/investors

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