Kasenna Delivers 133,000 MPEG-4 Streams from Single Rack

Kasenna released an updated version of its MediaBase XMP VOD server platform that surpasses the one million subscribers mark for video streams from one server rack at typical oversubscription rates. Media Base XMP 8.2 offers a clustered architecture enabling very large-scale VOD deployments -- sending more than 133,000 simultaneous streams from a standard server rack.


Kasenna combines standard, off-the-shelf Linux servers, file systems, GigE/10GigE network cards and SCSI/SAS storage with its own MediaBase XMP 8.2, "Stream Clustering" and "RAM caching" technology. MediaBase Stream Clustering technology uses a number of different patented techniques for pre-caching, hot-spot management, load averaging and predictive usage.



For the one-million subscriber deployment quoted above, the single rack system consists of 64-bit Intel Xeon servers powered by Kasenna MediaBase 8.2 software using a hybrid memory/disk streaming technology.

http://www.kasenna.com

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Canada's TELUS Reaches 1.1 Million Broadband Users

Canada's TELUS reported Q3 revenue of $2.2 billion, up 7% from a year ago due to continued strong wireless and data growth.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter were 94 cents, compared to 53 cents for the same period a year ago. EPS this quarter included favourable tax related adjustments of 9 cents per share.



Some operational highlights:

• Wireless revenues increased by $146 million or 17% to $1.0 billion in Q3 when compared with the same period in 2005. ARPU improved by $2 to $66. The data component increased by 79% to over $5.



• Wireless net subscriber additions were 137,200, stable quarter over quarter with 4% growth in postpaid additions to 108,600 and slightly lower prepaid loading.



• Wireline revenues were flat at $1.2 billion when compared to the third quarter of 2005 due to continued data revenue growth offsetting ongoing declines in local and long distance revenues.



• Data revenues increased 9.2% driven by strong high speed Internet and enhanced data service growth.



• Long-distance revenue declined 10% to $199 million, reflecting industry trends of lower volumes, strong price competition and technological substitution.



• High-speed Internet net adds were 41,500, up significantly from a year ago bringing TELUS' total Internet subscriber base to 1.1 million



• Network access lines declined by 40,000 in the quarter, down 2.8% from a year ago reflecting residential line losses from ongoing competitive activity and wireless substitution



• CAPEX was $423.9 million, up significantly from $263.3 million a year earlier.

http://www.telus.com

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Oracle Buys SPL for Customer Care & Billing for Utilities

Oracle has acquired SPL WorldGroup, a provider of revenue and operations management software for the utilities industry and tax management software for government organizations, for an undisclosed sum. SPL delivers solutions for customer care & billing, mobile workforce management, outage & distribution management, and asset management that are specifically designed for electric, gas and water utilities. http://www.oracle.com

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SureWest Sees Growth in Digital Video and High Speed Access

SureWest Communications, which serves the Sacramento, California region, reported Q3 revenue of $56.9 million, up 2% YoY, and consolidated net income of$2.2 million, up 10%. Broadband segment revenues were up 17% to $15.2 million.



Total subscribers in the Broadband segment increased to more than 55,000 subscribers at September 30, 2006, a 15% increase over the year earlier date. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is an average of composite revenues provided by subscribers on the fiber network who are offered a triple play of voice, digital video and hyper-speed data and subscribers on the copper network who are offered DSL service and, in some cases, digital video. Third quarter ARPU was $76.12, a 3% increase over the third quarter of 2005 and a sequential increase of almost 3%. The increase in ARPU was partially the result of the acceptance of HDTV, first introduced late in 2005. Subscribers to HDTV increased 33% during the third quarter.



Wireless segment subscriber counts were affected in the third quarter of 2006 by the company's decision to discontinue its pre-paid calling plan option. Customers with a pre-paid plan may continue that plan, but new subscribers are not offered the pre-paid option. While this is reducing pre-paid subscriber counts, contract subscribers have increased by 2% over the prior year period and more than 1% sequentially. Wireless segment revenues for the third quarter totaled $8.6 million, a decline of 3% over the prior year period, but an increase of more than 2% sequentially.



SureWest capital expenditures were $12.8 million in the current quarter, a decrease of 5% over the same period last year and essentially flat on a sequential basis. The company has consciously targeted its capital commitments since 2004 to concentrate on success-based capital projects, slowing the pace in growth of new marketable homes. Full-year 2006 capital expenditures are expected to be under $60 million, with approximately $20 million dedicated to support the planned fiber network build out and up to $30 million to be driven by new customer demand.

http://www.surewest.com

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DCL Participates in Global SIP Interoperability Test Event

Data Connection Limited (DCL) announced its participation in SIPit 19, a week-long event organized by the SIP Forum aimed at improving the quality of the SIP specification and forging global interoperability among SIP implementations. Data Connection was one of over seventy vendors who participated in the event, which was hosted by the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory. At the event Data Connection deployed DC-SIP, its carrier grade protocol stack utilized by softswitches, gateways, servers, phones, access devices, and IMS applications throughout the world. DC-SIP, which includes IPv6 functionality, successfully interoperated with a number of SIP solutions in peer-to-peer and multiparty test environments. http://www.dataconnection.com/http://www.sipforum.org

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Time Warner Telecom Selected for Fort Bragg Contract

Time Warner Telecom completed the installation of voice, data and Internet services at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina under a $1.1 million contract. Time Warner Telecom is providing 40,000 direct dial numbers and advanced voice and data services to Fort Bragg. Time Warner Telecom also serves Pope Air Force Base, which is located adjacent to Fort Bragg.
/ http://www.twtelecom.com

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FCC Classifies Broadband over Powerline as Information Service

The FCC declared Broadband over Power Line (BPL)-enabled Internet access service to be an information service, putting the technology on an equal regulatory footing with other broadband access methods, such as cable modem service and DSL service.



Specifically, the FCC ruled that the transmission component underlying BPL-enabled Internet access service is "telecommunications," and that the provision of this telecommunications transmission component as part of a functionally integrated, finished BPL-enabled Internet access service offering is an information service.



In a statement, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said "by finding that broadband over power line (BPL) Internet access services are information services, the Commission provides the regulatory certainty necessary to foster competition between different broadband platform providers. I believe that it is the Commission's responsibility to help ensure technological and competitive neutrality in communications markets. Accordingly, I believe that all providers of the same service must be treated in the same manner regardless of the technology that they employ."



FCC Commissioner Michael Copps concurred with the ruling but said in a statement that he hoped for more: "We seem to proceed on the happy presumption that if providers are free from legacy Title II regulation they will magically devote their attention and capital to building broadband infrastructure. The results? Well, after several years of Title I reclassification, not many. As other nations race at warp speed into the digital future, this one plods along at turtle velocity. While I dearly hope that BPL providers make real inroads into the cable-telephone broadband duopoly that we have in this country, I really don't think our international standing in broadband is going to improve until this nation develops a real honest-to-goodness broadband strategy, just as every other industrialized nation has done. Consumers want -- and consumers deserve -- some real competition in this critical market. But avoiding the tough regulatory questions and merely renaming things is not going to usher in that happy result. We are not providing the kind of certainty that business requires, nor any assurance to consumers about what rights they have in the new world of high speed which we hope some day to inhabit. The issues I am talking about today don't go away just because we call something by a different name. I would much rather see this Commission spending more time addressing real-world broadband needs and less time parsing regulatory language without filling in the blanks."http://www.fcc.gov

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