Monday, April 30, 2007

Video Interview: Verizon Business' Mike Yancey Discusses the Wholesale VoIP Market









Video Interview: Verizon Business' Mike Yancey Discusses the Wholesale VoIP Market



Key Questions Covered:



Wholesale VoIP: Who are the customers for Verizon Business' wholesale voice offerings?



Verizon's VoIP infrastructure -- what are the key elements of the Verizon Business VoIP backbone? What upgrades are you planning?



SIP, ENUM and the IMS Architecture -- How are these technologies being integrated into your network?



Wholesale VoIP Security -- What are the security concerns of wholesale VoIP and how are they being addressed?



The FCC Declaratory Ruling on VoIP -- How will the recent Time Warner ruling impact the market for wholesale VoIP services?



recorded March 2007

Iowa CLEC Upgrades Network with Occam's BLC 6000

The Local Internet Service Company (LISCO), a leading competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) serving in the Fairfield, Iowa area has begun purchasing Occam's BLC 6000 Fiber products as part of a strategy to overbuild Fairfield with fiber to the home (FTTH). LISCO is using Occam's 6312 Optical Line Termination blades and 6314s 10GigE Optical Packet Transport and Optical Line Termination blades. When complete, LISCO will be able to offer Triple Play services to approximately 4,000 residential subscribers.

http://www.occamnetworks.com

Dept.of Defense Certifies Juniper Routers for IPv6

Juniper Networks' M- and T-series routing platforms are the first network routers to be certified for the Department of Defense Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Capable Approved Products List (APL).



The Office of the Secretary of Defense National Information Infrastructure (OSD-NII) has mandated that all DoD Program Managers purchase products from the IPv6 APL, in keeping with the Department's overall directive that defense organizations transition network backbones from IPv4 to IPv6, the next generation Internet protocol, by 2008.



The IPv6 Capable Special Interoperability Certification of Juniper Networks products were administered by the DoD Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC), which validated data analysis, tests and evaluated the M- and T-series routers for conformance and interoperability to IPv6 base requirements.

http://www.juniper.net

SeaChange Debuts Flash Memory Server for VOD

SeaChange International unveiled its 100% flash memory solution for on-demand television -- decoupling on-demand streaming from disk-based content storage and enabling television operators to push their streaming resources to the network edge and deploy centralized content libraries.



Available in Q3 2007, a single SeaChange MediaServer Flash Streamer (two rack units high) will provide 300 hours of storage and 1,000 streams.



SeaChange said the most popular content can be delivered most efficiently using diskless edge streaming, thereby enabling centralized storage and storage management at headends. In contrast to DRAM solutions, its Flash Streamer retains real-time ingested content in spite of server failures or maintenance downtime, a critical requirement for time-shifting.



SeaChange is also announcing its new Axiom Core 4.0 software, which can automatically distribute "hot" content to Flash Streamers to provide additional streaming capacity.



"With flash technology, operators can now bring much more content to the network edge to more subscribers without having to bring disk storage with it, which means more content and higher quality of service at a much lower total cost of ownership," said Bang Chang, director of server products, SeaChange.



SeaChange's MediaServer Flash Streamer also leverages technology used in the company's widely deployed MediaCluster disk-based servers . Without costly mirroring, MediaCluster stripes content files across flash modules in a server and across servers in an InfiniBand connected cluster, ensuring service fault-resilience and cost-efficient scalability since only one copy of a video is ever required at a server location.



SeaChange said its MediaCluster technology is also the key to extending flash memory's life expectancy by a factor of five to at least 10 years. Whereas content "write" hot spots would dramatically reduce life expectancy in other architectures, SeaChange's MediaCluster eliminates write hot spots by perfectly load-balancing content "writes" across all flash modules in a server and across all servers in a cluster.



Axiom Core 4.0 is SeaChange's latest generation on-demand management software. It is an open solution for automating television's rapidly expanding core services, including network PVR and broadband PC/mobile delivery and subscriber place-shifting.

http://www.schange.com

Joost Launches its Web TV Service

Joost announced the commercial launch of its broadcast-quality Internet television service, kicking off publicity campaigns in 32 countries. Joost reportedly has enrolled over 100,000 beta testers and now aims to attract over a million registered viewers in its first few months. The service initially is available under a controlled release to invited parties. The company plans to open registrations to any broadband user later this month.



Joost also announced five new content providers: Turner Broadcasting System (CNN, Anderson Cooper 360˚, Larry King Live); Sony Pictures Television; SI; NHL; and Hasbro.



Joost features more than 150 channels with programming across all genres, including: cartoons and animation; entertainment and film; sports; comedy; lifestyle and documentaries; and sci-fi. Channels and programs available on Joost vary by geographic region, based on copyright ownership.

http://www.joost.com

Qwest Reports Improved Profitability

Qwest Communications reported quarterly earnings of $240 million, or $0.12 per diluted share compared with earnings of $88 million, or $0.05 per diluted share in the first quarter 2006. Operating revenue for the first quarter 2007 was $3.4 billion, including data and Internet services revenue of $1.2 billion, now more than 35 percent of operating revenue. Some highlights:

  • High-speed Internet subscribers grew by 167,000 in the first quarter.


  • Qwest added 80,000 net DIRECTV subscribers in the quarter compared to 38,000 new subscribers in the year-ago quarter. Qwest surpassed the 500,000 video subscriber mark in the quarter and now has a total of 506,000 video subscribers.


  • At the end of first quarter, Qwest had a total of 13.6 million domestic access lines, down 6.8 percent from the first quarter 2006.


  • Combined data, Internet and video revenue increased by 11 percent year over year.


  • Wholesale revenue was flat with the prior year as more than 10 percent growth in data revenue largely offset access-line and volume-driven declines in local and access revenues.


  • First quarter capital expenditures totaled $318 million, compared to $390 million in the year-ago quarter when the capital spend was balanced throughout the year and commercial and housing development was expanding more quickly. Nearly half of the wireline spend in the quarter was directed toward increasing the speeds and capabilities of the network.
http://www.qwest.com

Comcast Raises Guidance, Strength in Triple Play

Speaking at its 2007 Analyst and Investor Meeting in Philadelphia, Brian Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation raised the financial guidance for the company, predicting strong long-term prospects, including continued double-digit revenue growth, operating margin expansion, and sustainable and growing free cash flow. The bullish statements reflected the positive market response for the company's Triple Play service bundle.



"The triple play is driving incredible operating momentum and we see that accelerating as it continues to roll out. We now expect Comcast Digital Voice penetration to exceed 20% by the end of 2009. As we have been reporting over the past several quarters, the triple play is increasing the already strong growth of our video and high-speed Internet services - we expect to deliver at least 7 million RGU additions per year through 2009. The fundamentals of our business are extremely strong and we have never been more enthusiastic about the future of our company."



Some key predictions by Comcast:

  • Cable revenue projected to grow a compounded average of 12% per year for 2007-2009.


  • Cable Operating Cash Flow (OCF) projected to grow a compounded average of 14% per year for 2007-2009.


  • Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) projected to reach a penetration level of 20-25% of the Company's available homes passed.






Some other notes and key metrics from the investor presentations:

  • Served over 4 billion VOD streams to date, including 203 million in March 2007 compared to 144 million in March 2006


  • Of homes passed, Comcast video has a 51% penetration rate, High-speed data (HSD) is at 26% and Digital Voice is 7%


  • 13 million customers now have access to ON Demand services


  • Pay per view revenue increased more than 20% on average over the past nine quarters


  • the percentage of analog customers has declined from 53% in 2003 to an estimated 25% in 2007


  • 4.7 million HDTV subscribers at the end of Q1 2007, compared to 4.2 million at the end of Q4 2006


  • 12.0 million High-speed Internet customers at the end of Q1 2007, compared to 10.1 million at the end of Q1 2006
http://www.comcast.com

Verizon Business Offer VoIP Assessment Tools & MOS SLA

Verizon Business introduced a reporting service to help enterprise customers better assess voice quality over their networks and manage them more efficiently.



Verizon's new Network Assessment with Voice service is powered by Centrisoft. The service can helps customers ensure that VoIP is deployed correctly by accurately sizing the network at the outset; fine-tune VoIP call quality in an existing network running both data and voice traffic; and appropriately prioritize network traffic to accommodate voice applications. The service is not limited to enterprises using Verizon's Private IP or even Verizon Business service. It service can be used to inventory all network application traffic and enable IT managers to determine if certain applications are interfering with VoIP data. Verizon Business said this service represents a cost-effective alternative to an in-house or a hardware-based solution that would require significant investment by the customer.



Verizon's new Network Assessment with Voice is targeted to be available globally later this month for U.S.-based multinational customers as part of the company's Application Aware suite of reporting tools.



In addition, Verizon Business is introducing a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) SLA. The MOS SLA, which augments the current Jitter SLA available for VoIP and video applications, uses a quantitative measure of audio clarity as defined by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector. The measure tests the end-users' voice-quality experience.



Verizon Business' new SLA provides that monthly average MOS performance for VoIP traffic on a Private IP customer's U.S. network will not drop below 4.0, a highly desirable score for IP telephony networks. This SLA sets a new bar for the quality of VoIP traffic running over MPLS networks.



Verizon Business recently announced several new SLAs available to all Private IP customers, including an enhanced Time to Repair (TTR) SLA. It is based on the amount of time taken to restore service during an outage, rather than the average or Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) service outages.

http://www.verizonbusiness.com

http://www.centrisoft.com


TI Extends Codec Interoperability

Texas Instruments (TI) introduced its "eXpressDSP" Digital Media Software Standard (xDM), a low-level application programming interface (API) for DSP-based software that provides a framework for integrating and exchanging multiple codecs within an application.



xDM is an extension of TI's widely deployed eXpressDSP Algorithm Interoperability Standard (xDAIS), and makes it possible to exchange codecs by simplifying codec APIs to encode, decode, and control functions. Simple exchange of algorithms is an essential characteristic for many applications.



TI said that for fixed applications, the ability to swap out different algorithms without having to rewrite application code enables developers to leverage the same hardware platform across a wide range of applications. For emerging applications, such as Surveillance IP Networked cameras that can support both MPEG-4 and H.264, the ability to dynamically exchange codecs improves management of limited network bandwidth and allows flexible use with security DVRs and other equipment.

http://www.ti.com/xdmpr

Motorola Integrates Video Server with SeaChange Axiom Software

Motorola has integrated its B-1 Video Server with SeaChange's newly released Axiom 4.0 on-demand management software to enable the streaming for high-definition (HD) VOD content. The Motorola B-1 Server is an open platform, designed to integrate with standards-based solutions such as Axiom software.



The Motorola B-1 Video Server features a solid-state architecture based on the intelligent configuration and management of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). As a result, the platform uses less space and power than traditional video server technology, while providing performance, reliability and scalability improvements for video ingest, streaming, and storage. Motorola has shipped more than 500,000 on-demand video streams worldwide on the B-1 platform.



SeaChange's Axiom Core 4.0 leverages open application programming interfaces to host the widest range of innovative applications and components, including third-party servers like Motorola's. Axiom automates and optimizes the use of streaming, storage and network resources to ensure service to millions of television subscribers. http://www.motorola.com

http://www.seachange.com

Internet2 FiberCo Partners with Ciena

Internet2 FiberCo, a fiber holding company formed to support dark fiber initiatives for U.S. research and higher education, and Ciena are partnering to provide a suite of customized professional services and optical networking equipment solutions to assist Internet2 members with planning, installing, and managing their advanced network infrastructures. FiberCo will offer Ciena's basic and professional services to provide Internet2 members end-to-end solutions and support for any and all components of their dynamic research networks, including network management and maintenance. The range of offerings includes: network architecture and design, installation, vendor-neutral engineering support, staging and implementation services, and program management.



Additionally, FiberCo can offer Internet2 members a wide range of products within Ciena's FlexSelect Architecture to provide optical transport and switching capabilities that enable dynamic Ethernet lightpath connectivity. These product offerings include the CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform, the CoreDirector Multiservice Optical Switch, the CN 2000 Storage and LAN Extension Platform and the CoreStream Agility Optical Transport System.

http://www.FiberCo.orghttp://www.ciena.com

Motorola's Board Issues Stock holder Letter Against Carl Icahn

Motorola published a open letter too all stockholders in connection with the company's upcoming Annual Meeting of stockholders. In the letter, Motorola advised against electing Carl Icahn to its Board, saying his responsibilities appear to be to investors in his own business, which may conflict with his ability to represent all stockholders of Motorola. The Board said it unanimously determined that Icahn is "not the right person to serve as a Motorola director."http://www.motorola.com

Vonage Files Motion to Vacate Court Decision

Vonage filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. to vacate and remand the U.S. District Court's decision finding Vonage infringed on certain Verizon technology.



Vonage cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week in the KSR v. Teleflex case, which establishes a new test for determining when an invention is too obvious to warrant patent protection.



"We are very encouraged by the Supreme Court's decision and the giant step it represents towards achieving much-needed patent reform in this country," said Jeffrey Citron, Vonage chairman and interim chief executive officer."



"Everyone knows you can't patent an orange, but you can - and someone likely already does - hold the patent for an orange picker," said Sharon O'Leary, Vonage's executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary. "According to the Supreme Court's ruling, if you patent an orange picker, and then someone else comes along and puts a glove on it to protect the oranges against bruising, you can't patent this new invention as "novel" as it is just an obvious improvement of the original invention. The Supreme Court's decision thus focuses on keeping only what's truly novel and original protected by patents."http://www.vonage.com

BBC Confirms Plans for Web TV Service

The BBC Trust granted approval to plans for launching on-demand audio/video services, following a trial involving over 10,000 participants. The BBC iPlayer will allow users to download programs that were broadcast in the past seven days and to store them for up to 30 days. Internet simulcasts will also be offered.

http://www.bbc.co.uk
  • The BBC first announced plans to launch an Internet video player application in August 2005.


  • In March 2007, Google announced that the BBC will post some of its video content on YouTube in a non-exclusive deal.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Video Interview: BT -- Peter Russo Discusses 21CN, SIP, IMS, FMC and MPLS










Video Interview: BT -- Peter Russo Discusses 21CN, SIP, IMS, FMC and MPLS



Key Questions Covered:



Update on BT's 21CN Project -- What is the current status of 21CN as of Spring 2007? Is BT now actively decommissioning its TDM switches?



VoIP Traffic Peering -- How does 21CN impact how voice traffic is exchanged with other carriers?



The Role of Open Standards in 21CN -- The alphabet soup of standards supported by BT



SIP, ENUM and the IMS Architecture -- How will these technologies benefit BT and its customers?



FMC for Consumers and Enterprises -- What is BT Fusion?



BT and International Markets -- What strategy is behind BT's recent acquisitions?



The Move to MPLS -- What are the benefits of migrating to an MPLS network service? What are BT's strategic differentiators in enterprise services?



recorded March 2007

BT Tests "Motion-sensing" Consumer Devices

BT researchers in the Broadband Applications Research Centre at Adastral Park are testing motion-sensing technology for possible use in consumer devices, such as laptops.
The BT Balance adapter uses an accelerometer chip to enable the user to manipulate menus and applications simply by moving or tilting their machine.

http://www.btplc.com

BT Names Group Strategy and Operations Team

BT announced the appointment of the senior management team that will support Andy Green in his new role as CEO of Group Strategy and Operations:

  • Al-Noor Ramji is appointed CEO of BT Design, with responsibility for the design and development of software-driven products and services. Al-Noor is currently CEO of BT Exact, the IT division of BT. Al-Noor retains his responsibility as BT Group CIO.


  • Roel Louwhoff becomes CEO of BT Operate, responsible for deploying, testing and operating the new software services on BT's Global 21CN platform. Roel is currently President - Customer Service & Network Operations at Global Services, where he has overseen a major transformation of BT's worldwide customer-facing and network capabilities.


  • Matt Bross, Group Chief Technology Officer, joins Andy Green's leadership team to drive innovation across the business. Matt is responsible for strategic innovation and vision across BT, and has been a leading force on BT's 21st Century Network transformation programme. Matt continues to head up BT's global research and venturing laboratories.


  • Olivia Garfield becomes Group Strategy & Portfolio Director. Olivia is currently Managing Director Commercial & Brands for Global Services, having previously been responsible for managing customer services on BT Global Services UK corporate and government contracts, leading a team of more than 6,000 people.


  • Dina Matta is appointed Group Transformation Director, moving from her role as Director of Strategy for BT Exact where she worked closely with Al-Noor to deliver the IT strategy.
http://www.btplc.com


Telcordia Names New CEO

Telcordia Technologies named Mark Greenquist as its new President and CEO, succeeding Daniel J. Carroll, who will retain his position on the Telcordia Board of Directors. Greenquist who previously served as both Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Telcordia will also remain a member of the Board. Previously, Greenquist served at both Symbol Technologies, Agere Systems, and General Motors in several international leadership positions throughout Europe and the United States.

http://www.telcordia.com

Zhone Debuts its FiberSLAM -- a Hybrid C/DWDM Multiplexer

Zhone Technologies unveiled its FiberSLAM -- a 1 RU hybrid access system that integrates Coarse/Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (C/DWDM) Gigabit-Ethernet (GbE) and Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) capabilities.
The unit is designed for bringing fiber access to carrier Remote Terminal (RT) and cell tower installations.



FiberSLAM is based on Zhone's Single Line Multi-Service (SLMS) architecture and supports a migration from TDM (E1/T1 and DS3) to all-Ethernet (GbE) networks. Separate wavelengths may be used for dedicated channel delivery.



Flexible filter options allow the same chassis to be deployed in point to point, protected, and 1310 sideband applications through the addition of the field upgradeable module.

http://www.zhone.com

Cisco Enhances Catalyst 6500 with Programmable Intelligent Services Accelerator

Cisco announced a major enhancement to its flagship Catalyst 6500 Switching Platform with introduction of the Supervisor Engine 32 with Programmable Intelligent Services Accelerator (PISA) technology. The modular component provides the ability to analyze stateful and stateless application traffic flows for proactive security protection, compliance with corporate policies and management of network resource utilization.



PISA leverages deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to identify applications on the network and then allocate the necessary network resources to support each application based on business priorities. The new Supervisor Engine 32 with PISA also provides distributed protection against notable worms and viruses and day-zero attacks in the campus edge.



Cisco said PISA can be tuned to provide visibility into more than 100 applications, including P2P, CRM, ERP, IP video, IM, etc). Network managers can then block or limit these applications based on their business objectives.



A Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 32 with PISA Technology and 8x1 Gigabit Ethernet Uplinks carries a list price of US$28,000. Availability is set for June. A Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 32 with PISA Technology and 2x10Gigabit Ethernet Uplinks will also be available.

http://www.cisco.com

LignUp Enhances its Communications Application Server

LignUp announced Release 4.0 of its LignUp Communications Application Server, which enables telephony Web services deployed within enterprise service-oriented architectures (SOA) and existing telecom infrastructures. LignUp 4.0 features 125 call control and media control functions exposed through LignUp Communications Web Services. The Web services are implemented by the J2EE-compliant1 LignUp Communications Integration Server, a new component of the LignUp Communications Application Server.



The standards-based (SIP, RTP, HTTP, SOAP, WSDL2) LignUp Communications Application Server allows developers to use their favorite programming languages and development environments to incorporate IP-based communications into Web applications, Web portals, business processes, mashups, blogs and wikis.



LignUp said its 4.0 enables the integration of communications into applications using LignUp Communications Web Services for fine-grained access to telephony, real-time media, interactive voice response (IVR), text-to-speech (TTS), voicemail, unified messaging and presence capabilities. LignUp 4.0-powered applications can be used to ring any phone -- IP phones, mobile devices or fixed land line handsets -- independent of the enterprise PBX, carrier switch or network to which they are attached. By extending the reach of voice-enabled applications and services to a broad community of consumer and business users, LignUp 4.0 is empowering enterprises, Web 2.0 companies, and service providers to realize the promise of communication-enabled business processes (CEBP) for greater personalization, productivity, collaboration and efficiency.

http://www.lignup.com

AudioCodes Posts Q1 Revenues of $37 Million

AudioCodes reported Q1 revenues of $36.5 million compared to $42.6 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 and $31.3 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2006. First quarter revenues decreased 14.2% compared to the quarter ended December 31, 2006 and increased 16.6% compared to the first quarter of 2006. GAAP net loss was $2.4 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2007.



"The first quarter results were lower than originally anticipated. Our first quarter results were impacted by weakness in our APAC and Israel sales and weaker than expected performance by our recent acquisitions and our Blades Business Line sales," stated Shabtai Adlersberg, President, Chairman and CEO of AudioCodes.

http://www.audiocodes.com

Taiwan's Chunghwa Reaches 285,111 Media-On-Demand Subscribers

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom reported Q1 revenue of NT$45.78 billion, up 1.7% year-over-year. Internet and data revenue rose 8.9% year-over-year to NT$12.18 ; mobile revenue increased 0.7% year-over-year to NT$18.07 billion; and net income totaled NT$11.15 billion, a year-over-year increase of 19.6%.



Some highlights:

  • Chunghwa added 48,000 new HiNet subscribers over the quarter to bring the total number of Internet subscriptions to 4.35 million at the end of March 2007, an increase from 4.30 million at the end of December 2006.




  • Data revenue was up 9.1% year-over-year, and can primarily be attributed to Chief Telecom, which was consolidated from 3Q 2006, an contributed NT$126 million in 1Q 2007. 1Q 2007 was the first quarter in which MOD service revenue was reported in the data revenue category of the income statement as a result of its regulation under the Telecommunications Act. Prior to 2007, MOD service revenue was reported under 'other revenue.'


  • As of the end of March 2007, Chunghwa had 285,111 MOD (media on-demand IPTV) subscribers.


  • As of March 31, 2007, Chunghwa had 8.56 million mobile subscribers, up 0.82% from December 31, 2006. Chunghwa added 340,000 3G subscribers during 1Q 2007, bringing the total number of 3G subscribers to 1.28 million. At the end of the quarter, 3G ARPU was 63% higher than that of 2G ARPU.


  • As of the end of March 2007, the Company maintained its market leading fixed-line market position, with fixed-line subscribers totaling 13.08 million, down by 0.29% compared to 4Q 2006.
http://www.cht.com.tw

Atheros Posts Q1 Revenue of $96 Million

Atheros reported Q1 revenue of $95.5 million, up nine percent from the $87.8 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2006 and up 56 percent from the $61.1 million reported in the first quarter of 2006. Net income (GAAP) was $7.6 million or $0.13 per diluted share, compared with a GAAP net loss of $1.2 million or a loss of $0.02 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2006, which included $12.3 million in estimated acquisition related expenses.



"Q1 was another strong quarter for Atheros and one in which we experienced strong demand for both our WLAN and Ethernet products," said Craig Barratt, president and CEO of Atheros. "We reported our eighth consecutive quarter of record revenue and the highest pro forma net income in our company's history.

http://www.atheros.com

Verizon Adds 141,000 FiOS TV, 177,000 FiOS Internet Customers in Q1

Verizon reports $22.6 billion in revenues, up 6.4 percent from 1Q 2006, and 54 cents in diluted EPS before discontinued operations and special items (non-GAAP), up 17.4 percent from 46 cents per share in 1Q 2006. Some highlights for the quarter:

Verizon Wireless


  • Verizon Wireless added 1.6 million retail net customer additions (including acquisitions and adjustments) most of which were post-paid customers. The company now has 58.5 million retail customers. The company added 1.7 million total net customers. Total customers (which include retail and wholesale) number 60.7 million.


  • Retail churn was 1.08 percent.


  • Retail service ARPU (average monthly revenue per customer) was $50.73, up 2.8 percent year-over-year, delivering the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.


Verizon -- Wireline

  • Data revenues across all market segments increased 12.2 percent, to $4.2 billion, compared with the first quarter 2006. On pro-forma basis (non-GAAP), data revenue growth was 9.5 percent compared with the first quarter 2006.


  • Data growth reflected increasing revenues from consumer broadband - such as DSL and Verizon's all-digital, fiber-optic FiOS services - as well as from wholesale data transport and sales of Verizon Business data services.


  • Verizon added 416,000 net new broadband connections. This is the sixth consecutive quarter that Verizon has added more than 400,000 net broadband connections, a measure that combines the number of DSL and FiOS Internet connections.


  • Wireline broadband connections totaled 7.4 million, a 30.1 percent
    increase compared with the first quarter 2006. This total includes
    864,000 FiOS Internet connections, an increase of 177,000 in the first
    quarter 2007.


  • Verizon Telecom added a net of 141,000 new FiOS TV customers in the first quarter 2007. Verizon served 348,000 FiOS TV customers as of the end of the quarter. The company averaged approximately 2,200 FiOS TV net customer additions per business day in the first quarter 2007, about 750 more net additions per business day than the fourth-quarter 2006 average.


  • Verizon now serves 618,000 satellite TV customers in partnership with DIRECTV, for a total approaching 1 million video customers nationwide.


  • Revenues for Verizon Telecom's consumer market decreased by 3.5 percent, to $4.2 billion, comparing first quarter 2007 with first quarter 2006. However, in legacy Verizon markets, consumer revenues reversed recent year-over-year declines. (Legacy Verizon consumer markets exclude former MCI consumer markets - where Verizon's strategic focus has led to expected declines.) With an increasing shift to broadband and video sales, FiOS sales contributed to revenue growth in legacy Verizon markets of 1.6 percent, to $3.8 billion, comparing first quarter 2007 with first quarter 2006.


Verizon Business

  • Verizon Business reported first-quarter 2007 revenues of $5.2 billion, or growth of 2.3 percent compared with the first quarter 2006 on a pro-forma adjusted basis (non-GAAP, including MCI revenues from Jan. 1, 2006). This is the second consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year revenue growth.


  • Overall revenue growth at Verizon Business was driven by the continued momentum of strong sales of key strategic services, such as IP and managed services. In the first quarter 2007, strategic services generated $1.2 billion in revenue, up 22.8 percent from the first quarter 2006 on a pro-forma basis. This resulted in year-over-year growth of more than $200 million in revenues from strategic services, and it exceeded declines in revenues from core services, such as traditional voice and data services. Sales of strategic services were also up sequentially, increasing 2.0 percent from the fourth quarter 2006.


CAPEX

  • Capital expenditures were in line with the company's previously announced plans. Expenditures totaled $4.2 billion in the first quarter 2007, compared with $4.0 billion in the first quarter 2006.


http://www.verizon.com

QUALCOMM and 4G Systems Announce Licensing Agreement

QUALCOMM and 4G Systems GmbH, which is a QUALCOMM WCDMA and TD-SCDMA modem card and router licensee, have entered into an OFDM/OFDMA license agreement. Under the terms of the royalty-bearing agreement, QUALCOMM has licensed 4G Systems to develop, manufacture and sell OFDM/OFDMA modem card and router products for high-speed broadband wireless access, as well as external modems and products for machine-to-machine communications and telematics. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.qualcomm.com

http://www.4g-systems.com

Narad Changes Name to PhyFlex Networks

Narad Networks, a supplier of FTTx solutions for HFC cable systems, changed its name to PhyFlex Networks. The FTTxSWITCH product, the first of the PhyFlex FTTx family of products, is now in various stages of adoption with eight operators in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Korea. Additionally, the company today announced that the FTTxSWITCH is the first outdoor switch to be certified by the Metro Ethernet Forum as a Carrier Ethernet access network platform with both MEF 9 and MEF 14 certification over both fiber and coax.



The company said its new name emphasizes the inherent flexibility of PhyFlex's new switched Ethernet platform, which distributes switched Ethernet over fiber, Ethernet and coaxial cable, and a new focus on operators' needs to increase network bandwidth with a network that can quickly adapt, evolve and expand to meet increasing end user demand for expanded bandwidth as well as a developing competitive market.



PhyFlex's new product, the FTTxSWITCH, supports Gigabit Ethernet over each of six fiber/Ethernet ports and 100Mbps Ethernet over each of four coaxial cable ports. The FTTxSWITCH can be deployed in FTTN, FTTC and FTTP configurations. The FTTxSWITCH also supports wireless access points and standard Ethernet cabling.

http://www.phyflex.com

CBS Television Stations Adopt Microsoft Silverlight

CBS Television Stations plan to launch a community-generated content initiative for its network of local Web sites that uses the new Microsoft Silverlight cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for media on the Web.



The new local initiative will allow users of the CBS-owned stations' sites to view, upload, share, rate, comment, sort and search video, images, audio and text submissions. A key component of the application is its full integration into the existing content publishing workflow of the CBS Television Stations' digital media groups. It allows the community-generated content to be managed alongside the station's professional content in a single workflow.



The CBS project will be built on the recently announced Microsoft Silverlight browser plug-in for Windows and Mac-based Web browsers and Microsoft Expression Media Encoder, a new tool for client and server-based encoding and publishing of Silverlight-based content.



CBS Television Stations and Microsoft said the Silverlight-powered beta version of its community-generated content initiative will launch in select markets later this year.

http://www.cbslocal.com/http://www.microsoft.com

Atheros Launches its First Ethernet Switching Chip

Atheros Communications introduced its first Ethernet switch chip and a low-cost, 6-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet switch. The AR8216 supports can be used in wired and wireless networking equipment, including mainstream 802.11n and 802.11g wireless router and gateway platforms.



With its new low-cost Fast Ethernet switch solution, Atheros now provides networking customers with all of the major silicon required for complete wire-to-wireless router designs.



The device consists of five 10/100 Ethernet PHY ports, one MII port for CPU connectivity and six independent Media Access Controllers (MACs). It is implemented in a 10mm x 10mm, 80-pin, low-profile quad flat package. It also supports an advanced QoS architecture that prioritizes switch traffic for different classes of applications, such as voice traffic for IP phones, video traffic for multimedia and data traffic for e-mail. The device also supports ingress policing and egress rate limiting, as well as IPv4 IGMP and IPv6 MLD snooping to significantly improve the performance of streaming media and other bandwidth-intensive IP multicast applications.

http://www.atheros.com/pt/ethernet_index.htm

Microsoft Prevails over AT&T in Patent Case

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Microsoft in patent case versus. AT&T. The court ruled that Microsoft does not royalty payments for software sales overseas where AT&T does not hold patents for the voice-processing technology in question.



"Today's Supreme Court decision is important for the entire information technology industry, adding clarity and balance to our patent system. This decision promotes a global patent system that works. The ruling ensures that U.S. courts, like courts elsewhere, can respect the patent laws of other countries, helping promote cooperation among patent systems worldwide."http://www.att.com

Microsoft Outlines Silverlight Initiatives

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, and Scott Guthrie, general manager of the Developer Division, outlined the vision and road map for Microsoft Silverlight, a core component of Microsoft's overall strategy for the Web.



Microsoft's Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET-based media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs). A beta of Silverlight has now been available for download. Final availability of Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 is scheduled for summer 2007.



Silverlight uses Windows Media Video (WMV), its implementation of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) VC-1 video standard, and promises scalability from full-screen high-definition (HD) to mobile devices.


Silverlight will support dynamic languages, including Python and Ruby.



Notably, Microsoft is also planning to launch a Silverlight Streaming service to help developers and designers to deliver and scale rich media as part of their Silverlight applications.

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight
  • Microsoft cited a number of early supporters for Silverlight, including Akamai Technologies, Brightcove, Eyeblaster, Limelight Networks, Major League Baseball and Netflix.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Arcadian Networks Raises More Funding for its 700MHz Network

Arcadian Networks, a privately held wireless telecommunications carrier, raised an additional $30 million of financing from lead investor Goldman Sachs for its IP-based, wireless broadband field automation services for the energy sector in rural America. Arcadian's deployment of a r700 MHz network has already begun in Minnesota with Great River Energy, a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative providing wholesale electric service to 28 distribution co-ops that serve more than 600,000 members or about 1.7 million people.



Arcadian Networks said its business model is focused on the imperative for US electric, gas, oil, and coal energy producers to augment, update, and replace legacy communication systems with state of-the-art broadband, IP-based wireless communications systems and services to enable 'smart' initiatives (smart grid, smart field, etc.).



Arcadian also expects demand for secure, licensed, unencumbered radio spectrum will continue to grow as the nation's critical infrastructure industries (electric, oil, gas & water utilities ) and first responders (police, fire and emergency medical professionals) seek to improve productivity, resilience, and response capabilities.



Through its 700 MHz-based network, the company offers utilities such as electric, oil and gas, and water with a turnkey flexible high-speed broadband network allowing real-time monitoring and control of operations and management applications.



With this closing, Arcadian Networks has raised a total of $90 million in financing over the past twelve months.



http://www.arcadiannetworks.com

Alcatel-Lucent and NEC Selected for Asia America Gateway

Alcatel-Lucent and NEC were selected to jointly build a terabit-class submarine cable network between Southeast Asia and the U.S. The contract was valued at about US$500 million. The project is scheduled to be completed by late 2008.



The Asia America Gateway (AAG) will span over 20,000 km linking Malaysia to the US via Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii and the West coast of the US.



The turnkey contract was signed with a consortium formed by 10 parties including the Government of Brunei, AT&T (USA), Bharti (India), CAT (Thailand), PLDT (Philippines), PT Telkom (Indonesia), Telekom Malaysia (Malaysia), Telstra (Australia), StarHub (Singapore) and VNPT (Vietnam).



The cable system design allows for future expansion to Australia, India, Africa, and Europe. http://www.nec.com

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

AT&T Opens New Office in Shenzhen, China

AT&T opened a new office in Shenzhen, China, seeking to strengthen sales support and customer care services to the increasing number of multinational enterprise customers in the southern region of China. The new office will join AT&T's three other offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in mainland China.



AT&T has been providing communications services to China for more than 20 years. With the network interconnections agreements with China Telecom and China Netcom, AT&T has national coverage in more than 135 cities, serving more than 300 multinational customers in China.



In addition, AT&T is the first foreign telecom company to establish a Sino-foreign telecom services joint venture in China. UNISITI is a joint venture between AT&T, Shanghai Telecom (STC) and Shanghai Information Investments (SII). The three companies signed the official joint venture agreement on December 5, 2000 and UNISITI received permission to operate from March 2001. AT&T distributes its Enhanced Virtual Private network Services, VPN Tunneling Services and Remote Access Services via UNISITI.

http://www.att.com

Whitacre to Leave AT&T with $158 Million Pension, Stephenson Takes Control

Edward E. Whitacre Jr. will retire as AT&T's CEO and chairman of the board effective June 3. Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T's chief operating officer, will succeed Whitacre as chairman and CEO.



Whitacre, 65, has been Chairman and CEO since 1990, when the company was Southwestern Bell, then the smallest of the so-called "Baby Bells." During his tenure, Whitacre led the company through a series of dramatic acquisitions and re-shaping the telecommunications landscape in the process.



Whitacre retires with a pension and deferred compensation worth around $158 million, along with additional perks, according to various media reports.



"I have had the extraordinary privilege to lead this company for 17 years, and I leave with complete confidence in the future of our great company," said Whitacre. "Randall Stephenson is an exceptional leader. He has a deep understanding of this business and a clear sense of where it should go."



Randall Stephenson currently serves as chief operating officer for AT&T for all wireless and wireline operations at AT&T. He was named chief operating officer for SBC Communications Inc. in April 2004, and continued as COO following SBC's acquisition of AT&T Corp. in November 2005. Stephenson began his career with Southwestern Bell Telephone in 1982 in the information technology organization in Oklahoma. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma and a Master of Accountancy degree from the University of Oklahoma.

http://www.att.com

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

TI Names President of Asia Operations

Larry Tan has been named President of Texas Instruments' operations in Asia. He assumes the top management position in Asia in addition to his current responsibilities for sales and marketing in the region. In this role, Tan will oversee three manufacturing facilities, one R&D center, two wireless support centers, six field applications engineering centers, and 19 sales and marketing officeshttp://www.ti.com

NYT: Vudu Casts Its Spell on Hollywood

The New York Times profiled Vudu, a Silicon Valley start-up preparing to launch a VOD set-box player this summer with the support of major Hollywood studios. According to the article, Vudu will leverage peer-to-peer technology to speed downloads. Anticipating the owner's likely content choices, Vudu will also pre-cache the openings to many movies in order to enable instant play. Vudu's content library is said to exceed 5,000 titles. The company is still in stealth-mode and has yet to announce its product.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/business/yourmoney/29vudu.htmlhttp://www.vudulabs.com/

Concurrent Launches MediaHawk Back Office Software for VOD

Concurrent introduced its next-generation Business Management System -- the "MediaHawk" On-Demand Back Office Software Suite (MHBOSS) for VOD.



MHBOSS is built on Oracle's 10g database and Real Application Clusters (RAC) and is designed for on-demand applications such as time-shifted TV and nDVR. As more subscribers are added and on-demand utilization rises, the capacity of MHBOSS can be increased by adding additional computing and storage modules. The system supports automatic data replication and load balancing capabilities. Content libraries can be expanded and user generated content can be added without limit. The open architecture allows interoperability with multiple VOD server vendors and numerous software applications through industry standard interfaces like XML and SOAP, and provides web services for reporting, subscription management, billing and any other applications that require information from the back office.



"MHBOSS was designed to address the latest trends in relational database and Internet technologies while anticipating the future," said Michael Pasquinilli, director of advanced engineering, Concurrent.

http://www.ccur.com

Spirent Announces Restructuring

Spirent Communications announced a restructuring that will see the company focus on its Performance Analysis business. The company said its restructuring will eliminate duplicated activities and processes, consolidate manufacturing and reduce general overheads. In addition, corporate overheads will be reduced significantly, with a number of activities being integrated into business units.



The total annualized cost reductions resulting from the restructuring are £21.5 million (US$43.0 million) representing an approximate 12 percent reduction in costs for Performance Analysis, shared services and corporate overheads combined. Approximately 70 percent of the cost reductions will occur in manufacturing and overhead areas.



Spirent said it believes that that there are significant opportunities for growth in broadband revenues, Wireless products and in Spirent TestCenter sales. In order to best exploit those opportunities, the allocation of development resources has been adjusted to achieve net sales growth and reduce risk by concentrating on the development and adoption of Spirent TestCenter and investing in the growth of Wireless and positioning products. The resulting reduction in product development spending for Performance Analysis will be achieved in significant part by consolidating projects into a smaller number of locations.

http://www.spirentcom.com

Telefónica Leads Investors to Gain Control of Telecom Italia

Telefónica will lead a consortium of investors to acquire Pirelli's stakes in Olimpia, which is the principal shareholder in Telecom Italia.



The new consortium, in which Telefónica holds 42.3% of the shares, will account for 23.6% of Telecom Italia's capital, thus becoming the largest shareholder of the Italian operator. The other members of the consortium include Generali (28.1%), Mediobanca (10.7%), Intensa SanPaolo (10.7%), and Benetton (8.2%).



Telefónica said it looks further to deepening its cooperation with Telecom Italia. Nevertheless, the two companies will be operated separately.



http://www.telefonica.com

Nokia Siemens Networks Selected for IPTV in Poland

Dialog telecom, one of the largest independent fixed-line telephony operators in Poland, has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks to deliver and integrate an IPTV-platform into Dialog's network for interactive television and video-on-demand services. Nokia Siemens Networks will also supply the set-top boxes for the consumer homes to allow the new multimedia services to be used. The test installation will be rolled out this June and the commercial roll out is expected for end of this year. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

Ericsson Sees Sales Grow 8% YoY in Q1 2007

Ericsson reported Q1 net sales of SEK 42.2 (39.1) b., up 8% year-over-year, excluding divested operations. Earnings per share rose to SEK 0.37 (0.29), up 28% year-over-year.



"We have concluded another quarter with solid performance and market share gains in a stable growth environment," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson. "Sales growth in the quarter was primarily driven by Western Europe, and large turnkey projects in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Our capability in managing such projects around the world is a competitive advantage. Margins remain stable, due to the benefits of scale and technology leadership. Our commitment to operational excellence continues and operating expenses grew less than 3 percent versus a sales growth of 8 percent."



Some highlights:

  • Networks: Ericsson said a 5% year-over-year sales increase in Networks was driven by growth in both fixed and mobile networks. The sales decline in North America due to the Cingular rollout peak in first quarter of 2006 is overshadowing the underlying growth in other parts of the world. Outside North America, growth amounted to 14% year-over-year. Operating margin was stable year-over-year.



    The good demand for GSM continues. Growth is primarily driven by new network deployments and capacity expansions in high-growth markets. New features are still being added, for example super EDGE with 1 Mbps downlink. 3G/HSPA rollouts continue and new licenses have been or will be issued in several regions, also in developing countries. Sales of fixed networks grew slightly, excluding acquired sales, with increased sales of transmission products more than offsetting a decline of traditional circuit-switching equipment.



    Ericsson also noted strong demand for Redback's intelligent router and said demand for transmission equipment is growing.


  • Professional Services -- The Professional Services business continued to make advancements throughout all areas and sales grew by 15% year-over-year. Growth in local currencies, which better reflects the actual activity level as services business is local, amounted to 20%. Recurring services revenues amount to more than 60%.


  • Multimedia -- The Multimedia group, which includes service layer products, revenue management systems, enterprise solutions and mobile platforms as well as the two companies Tandberg Television and Mobeon (presently being acquired) recorded strong growth during the quarter with especially encouraging development in revenue management, primarily prepaid and mediation solutions, and mobile platforms. Operating margin increased year-over-year as a result of the good growth and the effects of restructuring of enterprise solutions operations. As a fairly new business activity, growth and margins may fluctuate over the coming quarters.
http://www.ericsson.com

Comcast Cites Strong Growth for Triple Play Bundles

Comcast's cable revenue increased 12% to $7.0 billion for the first quarter of 2007 reflecting increasing consumer demand for its Comcast Triple Play package. Revenue generating unit (RGU) additions increased 63% to a record 1.8 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to 1.1 million additions in the same quarter of 2006. Comcast ended the first quarter of 2007 with 52.6 million RGUs.



Some highlights for the quarter:

  • Added 644,000 new digital cable subscribers in the first quarter of 2007 - highest level of quarterly additions in Company history and the 3rd consecutive quarter of accelerating digital subscriber growth


  • Video revenue increased 8% to $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2007, reflecting growth in digital cable customers and increased demand for new digital features including ON DEMAND, digital video recorders (DVR) and HDTV programming (HDTV), as well as higher basic cable pricing.


  • Basic cable subscribers increased by 75,000 to 24.2 million during the first quarter of 2007 with 13.3 million or 55% of video customers taking digital cable services.


  • Comcast added 644,000 digital cable customers in the first quarter of 2007, an increase of 82% from the 355,000 digital cable customers added in the same period one year ago. The digital cable customer additions in the first quarter of 2007 include 337,000 digital cable and 307,000 digital starter subscribers.


  • During the quarter, 535,000 digital cable customers added advanced services, like DVR and HDTV, to their digital service either by upgrading or as new customers. This compares to 310,000 additions in the same quarter one year ago.


  • Pay-per-view revenue increased 26% to $181 million in the first quarter of 2007 driven by increasing ON DEMAND movie purchases. Pay-per-view revenue has increased more than 20% on average over each of the past nine quarters.


  • Added 563,000 high-speed Internet subscribers during the first quarter -- highest level of quarterly additions in company history


  • High-speed Internet revenues increased 21% to $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2007, reflecting a 1.9 million or 19% increase in subscribers from the prior year and stable average monthly revenue per subscriber of approximately $43. Comcast ended the first quarter of 2007 with 12.1 million high-speed Internet subscribers or 26% penetration of available homes.


  • Added 571,000 Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) customers during the quarter - nearly 2.5 times more than the 232,000 customers added in the same period of the prior year


  • CDV service now marketed to 35 million homes representing 73% of Comcast's footprint


  • Phone revenue increased 88% to $353 million in the first quarter of 2007 reflecting a $216 million increase in CDV revenues from the prior year as a result of the significant growth in CDV subscribers. The increase in phone revenue was partially offset by a $50 million or 38% decline in circuit- switched phone revenues as Comcast focuses on marketing CDV in most markets. Comcast ended the first quarter of 2007 with 2.4 million CDV customers or 7% of available homes.


  • Advertising revenue decreased 3% to $313 million in the first quarter of 2007, due primarily to the impact of 12 broadcast weeks in the current quarter compared to 13 weeks in the same period of the prior year.


  • Capital expenditures totaled $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2007, driven by a 63% increase in RGU additions and include approximately $70 million related to network improvements and integration of the newly acquired cable systems from Adelphia and Time Warner. Consistent with historical trends, approximately 75% of cable capital expenditures in the first quarter of 2007 were variable and directly associated with demand for new products.
http://www.comcast.com

Ellacoya Raises $13 Million for Deep Packet Inspection

Ellacoya Networks secured $13 million in new funding for its carrier-class broadband service optimization solutions based on deep packet inspection (DPI) technology.



Ellacoya's e30 platform and new e100 platform (a custom-designed 20 Gbps wire-speed DPI network hardware element) enable service providers to effectively identify and manage network traffic dynamically by subscriber, service type, time-of-day, etc. Ellacoya's platforms provide granular reports on network usage; manage traffic dynamically with precision; ensure VoIP quality; identity and prevent network threats; and provide the basis for quota management, differentiated service plans and quality-assured premium services (IPTV, VoIP, streaming video). The company has products installed at more than 150 service providers worldwide; including tier 1 telco and mobile wireless operators in each major region, and a recently announced deployment at SmarTone-Vodafone in Hong Kong.



The funding was provided by Ellacoya's syndicate of existing investors, including Atlas Venture, BCE (Bell Canada Enterprises) Capital, Canaan Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Presidio Venture Partners.

http://www.ellacoya.com

Joost Signs Thirty-two Blue-chip Advertisers

Joost has signed 32 leading companies as advertisers for its forthcoming, broadcast-quality, Internet television service. These advertising partners include The Coca-Cola Company, HP, Intel, Nike, Electronic Arts, Esurance, Garnier Fructis, Kraft, Lionsgate, Microsoft Corp., Motorola Inc., Nestlé Purina PetCare, Procter & Gamble, Procter & Gamble (Hugo Boss Fragrances), Sony Electronics, Taco Bell Corp., United Airlines, US Army, Visa, and the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.



Joost said it has worked with more than 20 media and brand agencies to develop meaningful advertising campaigns for their clients. In addition, the Interpublic Group, through its Emerging Media Lab, has entered into a year-long strategic partnership with Joost.



Additionally, through a partnership with Frank N. Magid Associates, Joost will measure user consumption habits and advertising efficacy, including ad awareness, receptivity, engagement, brand enhancement and intent-to-purchase, for launch partners.

http://www.joost.com

Level 3 Posts Communications Revenue of $1.037 Billion

Level 3's communications revenue for Q1 2007 increased 25 percent to $1.037 billion, versus $830 million for the previous quarter. Communications revenue increased primarily as a result of the inclusion of the results of the Broadwing acquisition and growth in Core Services revenue, offset by declines in other communications services revenues and SBC Contract Services revenue. The company recognized less than $1 million in termination revenue in its Core Communications Services revenue during the first quarter 2007, compared to $8 million in termination revenue during the fourth quarter 2006.



Core Communications Services revenue, which includes transport and infrastructure, IP and Data, Voice and Vyvx services, increased quarter over quarter by 41 percent. The increase was due to the benefit of revenue from Broadwing and the Content Distribution Network (CDN) business and growth in voice, colocation and IP services. Excluding the benefit of revenue from Broadwing and the acquired CDN business in the first quarter and $8 million of termination revenue in the fourth quarter 2006, Core Communications Services revenue increased approximately 3 percent in the first quarter.



Some highlights:



In the first quarter 2007, the percent of Core Communications Services revenue by each market group was as follows:

  • Wholesale Markets Group -- 58 percent, with strong customer demand coming primarily from cable and wireless service providers.


  • Business Markets Group -- 26 percent, with a focus on selling on-net core services to enterprise customers with advanced network needs.


  • Content Markets Group -- 10 percent, including the benefit of acquired CDN revenues, as well as continued demand from internet and portal customers, broadcast service providers and satellite companies.


  • European Markets Group -- 6 percent, with continuing demand from content, cable and carrier customer segments.
http://www.level3.com

EarthLink Sees Continued Decline in Consumer Subscribers

During the first quarter of 2007, EarthLink's overall subscribers declined by 42,000 net subscribers compared to the fourth quarter of 2006 primarily due to a decline in consumer access subscribers. This decline in consumer access subscribers was related to a decline in premium narrowband subscribers, partially offset by growth in value, broadband and voice subscribers.



For the quarter, EarthLink's consolidated revenues increased to $324.4 million, or 4.7 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2006. This increase was driven primarily by growth in business services, partially offset by a decline in consumer services.



For the quarter, revenue from the business services segment increased from $18.2 million to $47.8 million primarily due to our acquisition of New Edge Networks in April 2006.



For the quarter, revenue from the consumer services segment decreased to $276.7 million, or 5.1 percent. Contributing to this change was a $21.2 million, or 8.0 percent, decline in our access services driven by declines in mature premium narrowband services, partially offset by growth in our value narrowband and broadband access services.



EarthLink also revised its previously issued guidance for 2007. Based on current results and expectations, EarthLink now expects year ending consolidated subscribers to decline by 200,000 to 250,000, and the company expects to generate approximately $1.3 billion in consolidated revenue. The company is narrowing its previously issued guidance for adjusted EBITDA from core access services of $190.0 million to $200.0 million and $108.0 million to $118.0 million for adjusted EBITDA for the year. EarthLink is also narrowing its consolidated net loss to $(110.0) million to $(140.0) million for the year.



The company is reaffirming its previously issued guidance for Helio. EarthLink expects Helio to end the year with 200,000 to 250,000 subscribers.

http://www.earthlink.net

Ikanos Posts Q1 Revenue of $24.7 Million

Ikanos Communications reported Q1 revenue of $24.7 million compared with revenue of $21.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2006 and revenue of $35.8 million for the first quarter of 2006. GAAP net loss for the first quarter of 2007 was $9.1 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, on 28.0 million weighted average shares. This compares with a net loss of $15.6 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, on 27.6 million weighted average shares in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and with a net loss of $1.4 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, on 24.5 million weighted average shares in the first quarter of 2006.



"We believe that the first quarter of 2007 was a turning point for Ikanos, marked by improved financial results. Revenues in the first quarter grew 17% sequentially led by demand for our access solutions. Gross margin improvements and declining operating expenses resulted in the reduction of our GAAP net loss by $6.5 million and our non-GAAP net loss by $4.0 million on a sequential basis," said Daniel K. Atler, CEO of Ikanos Communications.

http://www.ikanos.com

NETGEAR Reports Revenue of $173.6 million, 36% year-over-year Growth

NETGEAR reported net revenue for the first quarter ended April 1, 2007 of $173.6 million, a 36% increase as compared to $127.3 million for the first quarter ended April 2, 2006, and an increase of 6% as compared to $164.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. Net income (GAAP) for the first quarter of 2007 was $14.0 million, or $0.40 per diluted share. This net income was an increase of 41% compared to net income of $9.9 million for the first quarter of 2006 and an increase of 4% compared to net income of $13.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2006.



Gross margin on a non-GAAP basis in the first quarter of 2007 was 34.7%, as compared to 35.1% in the year ago comparable quarter, and 32.5% in the fourth quarter of 2006.



Patrick Lo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NETGEAR, commented, "Revenue in the first quarter came in above guidance due to continued momentum across all channels. Product wise, there was good uptake on our RangeMax NEXT draft 11n products and ProSafe Smart Switches. http://www.netgear.com

Broadcom Reports Q1 Revenue of $901.5 million

Broadcom Q1 net revenue of $901.5 million, a decrease of 2.4% from the $923.5 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2006 and an increase of 0.1% from the $900.6 million reported for the first quarter of 2006. Net income (GAAP) was $61.0 million, or $.10 per share (diluted), compared with GAAP net income of $45.1 million, or $.08 per share (diluted), for the fourth quarter of 2006, and GAAP net income of $117.7 million, or $.20 per share (diluted), for the first quarter of 2006.



"Broadcom's first quarter results came in better than we anticipated due to slightly higher than expected revenue combined with increased operating expense efficiencies," said Scott A. McGregor, Broadcom's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Mixed outlooks from a few of our larger customers are causing a lower than normal level of visibility into our near-term results. We believe that these issues are near-term in nature and we remain optimistic regarding our prospects for the second half of the year."http://www.broadcom.com

Sun Unveils its Massively-Scalable Video Streaming Server

Sun Microsystems unveiled its massively-scalable server for delivering personalized video-over-IP services to mass audiences at a cost of approximately $50 per stream. Sun expects the scalability of its Streaming System to reshape the economics of personalized video services over IP. Key capabilities include:

  • Up to 160,000 simultaneous 2Mbps streams per switch

  • Up to 640Gbps of total streaming capacity

  • Up to 768 TB of 300,000+ hours of storage

  • Open industry standards-based API for ease of integration

  • Simplified management with single point of control


The Sun Streaming System, which was designed by Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, offers approximately 10 times the streaming capacity of competitive platforms. Thirty-two integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet optical networking ports combine multiplexing, switching and routing in a high-density video streaming chassis.

The Sun Streaming System is composed of a distributed software suite running on Sun Fire x64 systems, storage and switching technologies.

Key components of the Sun Streaming System are the new Sun Streaming Software, the new Sun Fire X4950 Streaming Switch, the Sun Fire X4500 data server and the Sun Fire X4100 systems. The software is based on open industry standards and supports more than 20 video streaming features, such as: MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats; bit-rate support from 1Mbps to 20 Mbps; standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) streaming; encrypted and clear content streaming; at least six trick-play settings; Network Personal Video Recorder (nPVR) capabilities; and splicing and personalized playlists for permission-based targeted advertising. Open software standards, such as CORBA, XML, HTTP and RTSP, allow operators to integrate third-party components for an end-to-end video headend solution.



Sun Fire X4950 Streaming Switch: A scalable memory cache-based
content switching and streaming engine, the Sun Fire X4950 Streaming Switch provides the highest available streaming density at 320 Gbps and up to 2 terabytes (TB) of memory to enable scalable video streaming with a low cost per stream.



Sun Fire X4500 server: By integrating state of the art server and
storage technologies, the Sun Fire X4500 server powered by Second- Generation AMD Opteron processors delivers the performance of a
four-way x64 server and the highest storage density available, with
24 TB of storage in seven inches of rack space for up to 9,400 hours
of 2 Mbps video content storage.



s aligning with several resellers, partners and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), including EDS and Nortel, to bring the Sun Streaming System's market-changing economics to customers in the video services industry.



Early access and beta customers such as Acetrax of Europe have already been testing the Sun Streaming System. In addition, a number of ISV and Independent Hardware Vendor (IHV) solutions have been integrated and tested with the system, bringing together an end-to-end deployment architecture for video delivery services. These partners include Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB), AMD, Amino, Digisoft.tv, Harmonic, IMAKE Software, Juniper Networks, Minerva Networks, TANDBERG Television, Tellabs, Verimatrix and Widevine.

http://www.sun.com

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

China Mobile selects Alcatel-Lucent's Metro Optical

Beijing Mobile and Guangdong Mobile, two subsidiaries of China Mobile selected Alcatel-Lucent's optical solution to enhance mobile service delivery in the municipality of Beijing and the province of Guangdong. The deployments are based on the company's 1678 Metro Core Connect (MCC) and data-aware Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) systems. The Alcatel-Lucent 1350 management suite will supervise the new equipment. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Telkom South Africa Deploys Alvarion's WiMAX

Telkom SA Ltd., the incumbent operator in South Africa, has selected Alvarion's BreezeMAX 3.5 GHZ to roll out WiMAX networks. The first deployments are taking place in the highly urbanized province of Gauteng and along the coastal regions of the country. SAAB Grintek serves as Alvarion's local partner. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.alvarion.com


PMC-Sierra Posts Revenue of $104 Million, up 2%

PMC-Sierra reported Q1 revenue of $103.7 million, an increase of 2% compared with $101.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 and 18% higher than in the first quarter of 2006. The revenues in the first quarter of 2007 included revenues related to the acquisitions of both the Avago storage semiconductor business and the Passave Fiber To The Home business. There was a net loss of $15.8 million (GAAP diluted loss per share of $0.07) compared with a GAAP net loss in the fourth quarter of 2006 of $42.2 million (GAAP loss per share of $0.20).



"In the first quarter, we experienced improved visibility in our telecom, fiber to the home, and microprocessor businesses on a sequential basis," said Bob Bailey, chairman and chief executive officer of PMC-Sierra. "We believe that the overall business environment is improving in each of the markets that we serve, and our recently announced cost reduction initiative will enable us to improve our operating performance going forward."http://www.pmc-sierra.com

SanDisk and Qimonda to Jointly Develop Mobile Storage Solutions

SanDisk and Qimonda agreed to jointly develop and manufacture MCPs (multichip products) utilizing SanDisk's NAND flash and controllers and Qimonda's low power mobile DRAM. The collaboration targets high capacity, integrated memory solutions of data-intensive mobile applications.



The MCPs will be sold by Qimonda and SanDisk through their existing sales channels to mobile handset manufacturers. Engineering samples are expected to be available for evaluation in the second half of 2007, with mass production planned towards the end of 2007.

http://www.sandisk.com

http://www.qimonda.com

BT Offers Enterprise Managed Mobility Service

BT has launched a new service in the U.S. and Canada to help enterprises simplify the management of corporate mobile assets, including mobile phones, BlackBerry devices, PDAs, pagers, aircards and other wireless assets. BT's Managed Mobility aims to help customers reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their corporate mobile assets while simplifying and centralizing the complex task of managing their mobile contracts and end-users across multiple regions and countries.



BT said its goal is to save customers 15% or more per user per month in hard cost savings, including recurring monthly usage fees and device maintenance. Components of the proposition include:

  • Consultancy and Total Cost of Ownership analysis

  • Optimized Contracts and Billing

  • Contract management, including mobile contract negotiations

  • Improved Business Intelligence and Detailed Reporting

  • Asset management

  • Order desk

http://www.btplc.com

FCC Targets "Third Pipe" for Broadband, Outlines Some New Rules for 700 MHz Band

The FCC outlined new rules for the 698-806 MHz spectrum band, commonly referred to as the "700 MHz Band," which is currently occupied by television broadcasters and will become available for wireless services, including public safety and commercial services, when the DTV transition is completed on February 17, 2009. The FCC also postponed decisions on other key issues related to the spectrum, calling instead for more public comment.



Among the actions that the FCC took related to the commercial services portions of the 700 MHz Band, it adopted a mix of geographic area sizes for licensing the spectrum -- including Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), Economic Areas (EAs) and Regional Economic Area Groupings (REAGs) -- and established rules related to power limits and other technical issues, as well as initial license terms.



In addition, the FCC applied 911/E911 and hearing aid compatibility rules to all commercial mobile radio services (CMRS) providers, regardless of the spectrum being used, to the extent the service meets the scope requirements in the FCC's current rules.



The FCC said it is seeking additional public comment on performance requirements for the unauctioned licenses in the 700 MHz Band, and also on several proposals to modify the 700 MHz band plan, including proposals recently filed by Frontline Wireless, LLC, and various public interest groups.



Other key points of the FCC action include:

  • The FCC adopted provisions to encourage the efficient and effective use of the 700 MHz Guard Band spectrum. The FCC replaced the existing Guard Band Manager leasing rules with the spectrum leasing policies established in the FCC's Secondary Markets proceeding, providing Guard Band licensees with greater flexibility. In addition, the FCC tentatively concluded that it would not adopt certain Guard Band proposals advanced by parties seeking a restructuring of the existing Upper 700 MHz band plan, and sought comment on a proposal recently filed by Access Spectrum/Pegasus.


  • With regard to the 700 MHz Public Safety spectrum, the FCC tentatively concluded that the current public safety wideband allocation should be revised such that only broadband applications consistent with a nationwide interoperability standard should be deployed on a going forward basis. The FCC also tentatively concluded that it should consolidate the 700 MHz Public Safety spectrum, by combining the narrowband spectrum at the upper portion of the public safety allocation and the broadband spectrum at the lower portion.


In a statement, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said "In much of the country, however, consumers have a choice of only two broadband services: cable or DSL. And in some parts of the country, consumers don't even have that choice. The most important step we can take to provide affordable broadband to all Americans is to facilitate the deployment of a third "pipe" into the home. We need a real third broadband competitor. And we need a technology that is cost-effective to deploy not just in the big cities, but in the rural areas, as well. All Americans should enjoy the benefits of broadband competition -- availability, high speeds, and low prices.



The upcoming auction presents the single most important opportunity for us to achieve this goal. Depending on how we structure the upcoming auction, we will either enable the emergence of a third broadband pipe -- one that would be available to rural as well as urban American -- or we will miss our biggest opportunity. Such a status quo outcome certainly would not sit well with consumer groups that have been strongly urging us to adopt rules that facilitate the ability of a "third pipe" to develop."

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein commented: "...as we consider a schedule for the upcoming 700 MHz auction, we must remember that our rules have not yet been finalized. We must be mindful that some companies may not currently be in a position to move forward with plans to participate in the auction until the Commission makes a final decision about the band plan and specific performance requirements. They need sufficient time to establish business plans and line up financing. Consequently, we must make sure that our auction schedule allows for sufficient spacing between the adoption of final 700 MHz band rules and the filing of auction applications. This will ensure that the auction truly is available to a diverse group of interested parties, and that full participation will lead to a more successful and robust auction. I am confident that we can provide the necessary time for preparation and still comply with our statutory obligations related to the auction."http://www.fcc.gov

ZigBee Alliance Targets Telecom Applications

The ZigBee Alliance announced its expansion into the telecom market with a new initiative for extending mobile telephone networks while providing new capabilities for mobile phone users. The new ZigBee Telecom Profile will feature secure mobile payment, information delivery, health care monitoring, peer-to-peer small data sharing and other location based services and features.



Key members of the ZigBee Alliance supporting this expansion into the telecom market include Motorola, Huawei Technologies, Samsung Electronics, ETRI, KDDI R&D Laboratories Inc., OKI Electric Industry, Orange FT, Telecom Italia and TSC Systems.



The companies are examining ways to leverage ZigBee capabilities: low power, reliable mesh networking, AES128 security, low data rate and global network acceptance.



ZigBee mobile devices could include mobile telephones and personal digital assistants with embedded ZigBee technology or using a ZigBee SIM card. These devices could act as a mobile terminal and/or as a sensor control device anywhere there is a ZigBee network or ZigBee access point.



The ZigBee Alliance said potential applications currently in development include:

  • Secure Mobile Payments: Mobile users pay for goods and services by waving handset in front of scanner and entering a pin number

  • Information Delivery: Users receive news, downloads (messages, ring tones, images, etc.), advertisements from network operators or localized information such as weather, traffic updates and movie showtimes based on their current location or neighborhood

  • Health Care Monitoring: Continuously monitored health data is recorded on a handset and transmitted to the patient's doctor. In an emergency situation, such as the absence of patient response or alarming vital signs, the mobile device can be programmed to immediately alert emergency services

  • Peer-to-Peer Small Data Sharing: Small files such as ring tones, images, address book contacts and other information provided by telecom operators is shared easily between two ZigBee-enabled mobile devices

  • Location Based Services: Discounted rates for calls from a ZigBee mobile phone users in a certain zone offers savings to users
http://www.zigbee.org
  • In September 2006, The ZigBee Alliance announced the completion and immediate member availability of its enhanced version of the ZigBee standard. Public availability of the standard is scheduled for the first quarter of 2007. The original ZigBee standard was ratified by members in December 2004.


  • The enhanced ZigBee spec continues use of mesh networking to communicate over the globally available 2.4 GHz frequency and 868/915 MHz technology is available in select countries.



    ZigBee uses digital spread spectrum technology and offers a large number of channels for noise immunity.



    The ZigBee protocol is designed to accommodate more than 65,000 devices on a single network.


  • Group Devices –- OEMs may create groups of devices, while allowing individual devices to belong to multiple groups. With the push of one button, all lights in a home could be turned off, or turn off all of the lights on a single floor or a single room. ZigBee enables endless design possibilities.


  • Easy Maintenance -– ZigBee technology prevents a single point-of-failure on the network and allows for easy replacement or repair of devices through a simple process of storing a device's information onto a nearby device.


  • Targeted Broadcasts -– Broadcasts of commands can be specified for specific types of devices: routers, “awake�? or “sleeping�? devices. This feature reduces RAM requirements, lowering the total cost of the components for ZigBee products.


  • Over-the-Air Setup –- Opens the door for an array of new setup tools to facilitate adding devices to a network. The setup tools can be used to bind specific devices, such as a light fixture and a corresponding switch, together, and professional installers may use the tools to modify a network on a larger scale.


  • The ZigBee Alliance said that a typical low-power ZigBee device should run on universally available batteries for years, eliminating the need for wiring to a power source and providing unparalleled convenience and flexibility.

EQO Secured Funding for Mobile Consumer Service

EQO Communications, a start-up based in Vancouver, raised US$9 million in Series B funding for its mobile Internet phone service for users of Skype, AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, GoogleTalk and Yahoo! Instant Messenger networks.



EQO uses a proprietary mobile soft-switch platform and a presence-enabled VoIP signaling network to deliver presence-enabled voice calling and instant messaging services.



The financing round was led by Ventures West and included investments from existing investors GrowthWorks and BDC Capital.


http://www.eqo.com/

QUALCOMM Reports Q1 Revenues $2.22 Billion, up 21%

QUALCOMM reported record revenue of $2.22 billion, up 21 percent year-over-year and 10 percent sequentially, for the second quarter of fiscal 2007 ended April 1, 2007. Net income (GAAP) was $726 million, up 22 percent year-over-year and 12 percent sequentially.



"We are pleased to report that the 3G CDMA-based market continues to grow at a rapid pace. Our results reflect strong year-over-year growth in CDMA2000 and WCDMA chipsets and handsets driving record revenue and earnings per share," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chief executive officer of QUALCOMM. "Based on our current outlook, thanks primarily to stronger than expected chipset demand across our product portfolio and higher CDMA2000 handset shipments, we are raising our fiscal 2007 revenue and earnings per share guidance."http://www.qualcomm.com

Avaya Posts Quarterly Revenue of $1.24 Billion, up 4.5%

Avaya's second fiscal quarter 2007 revenues increased 4.5 percent to $1.294 billion compared to $1.238 billion in the same period last year. Sales of products grew 8 percent year over year, led by a 15 percent increase in sales of converged voice applications. Net income was $57 million and earnings per share of 13 cents for the second fiscal quarter of 2007 on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis.



"In the second quarter we generated strong growth across our strategic initiatives -- IP telephony, applications and professional services -- while maintaining our cost and expense management and delivering solid bottom line results," said Lou D'Ambrosio, president and CEO, Avaya. "As we move through the second fiscal half of 2007, we remain focused on delivering value through transforming our company around Intelligent Communications and creating customer impact through market-leading communications solutions."http://www.avaya.com

Motorola Markets In-Building, Powerline Solution in Europe

Motorola announced commercial availability in Europe of its Powerline MU, a broadband solution targeted at multi-unit (MU) buildings. The solution delivers broadband access through a building's existing electrical network.



The Powerline MU solution includes a Powerline MU Gateway which converts the Ethernet signal to a HomePlug protocol and the signal is then injected directly into a building's electrical system. Users can then connect their computer or router to a Motorola Powerline modem that is plugged into a standard electrical outlet to gain access to the Internet.



The Powerline MU will be offered as part of Motorola's MOTOwi4 portfolio, which can be combined with Motorola's wi4 Fixed wi4 WiMAX solutions for backhaul.

http://www.motorola.com


Motorola Invests in Vocera for Wearable VoIP Badges

Motorola has made an equity investment in Vocera Communications, which develops hands-free, wearable badges and related systems that allow mobile workers to communicate over facility's wireless network. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.



The Vocera Communications System, which is comprised of the Vocera System Software and a wearable, hands-free, lightweight voice controlled badge, allows mobile workers within Wi-Fi networked buildings to instantly communicate with colleagues and quickly obtain the resources needed to complete a task. By merging Wi-Fi, VoIP, and speech recognition technologies, Vocera has become a voice communication solution in hospitals, hotels, libraries and retail establishments.



Vocera Communications is based in Cupertino, California.

http://www.vocera.com

http://www.motorola.com

Sonus Networks Adds Support for ENUM

Sonus Networks has added support for the Electronic Number Mapping System (ENUM) to the latest release of its IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-ready network solution. ENUM is a number mapping system designed to streamline the convergence of IP-Based voice networks with the Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) and facilitate seamless IP-to-IP peering.



ENUM allows telephone numbers to be routed through IP-based architectures such as IMS using a Domain Name System (DNS)-based architecture. ENUM and DNS-based architectures can facilitate interoperability for a wide range of applications including IP-voice video, presence, and instant messaging. ENUM is a standards-based protocol resulting from the efforts of the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) Telephone Number Mapping Working Group.

http://www.sonusnet.com

AT&T Expands Its Local Ethernet Footprint

AT&T has expanded the reach of its OPT-E-MAN switched metro Ethernet services to include all 13 states in the former SBC territory.
In 2006, AT&T expanded its OPT-E-MAN footprint from 19 metropolitan areas to 41. With this announcement, AT&T extends the reach of the rollout.



AT&T OPT-E-MAN service is a fully managed, switched Ethernet service that can be used to link multiple locations either across town or across a state. The OPT-E-MAN service can be configured in a variety of ways, including point to point, point to multipoint and multipoint to multipoint. The service is scalable from 5 Mbps to 1 Gbps.

http://www.att.com


ARRIS Announces Preliminary Q1 Results

ARRIS announced preliminary and unaudited financial results for the first quarter 2007, saying its revenues were $235.3 million, up 13.0% as compared to $208.3 million in the first quarter 2006 and up slightly as compared to $234.6 million in the fourth quarter 2006. Operating income in the first quarter 2007 was $26.0 million and compares to $19.6 million in the first quarter 2006 and $28.5 million in the fourth quarter 2006. Net income in the first quarter 2007 was $37.6 million or $0.34 per diluted share and compares to net income of $20.7 million or $0.19 per diluted share in the first quarter 2006 and to net income of $70.3 million or $0.64 per diluted share in the fourth quarter 2006.



ARRIS said demand for its VoIP and high speed data products remains robust as cable operators' have announced increases in capital spending plans and market acceptance of aggressive Multi System Operators (MSOs) marketing plans for voice, data and video services in 2007.



"The business momentum that we experienced in 2006 continues robustly into 2007," said Bob Stanzione, ARRIS Chairman & CEO. "We see the spending trends of our customers now driven by external competitive and market forces that we believe should extend well into the future. Our technology leadership is well recognized in many product categories and new products now being introduced for the small and medium-size business markets will help maintain our momentum in voice over IP and high speed data rollouts."http://www.arrisi.com

Monday, April 23, 2007

Internet2 Sets New Land Speed Record -- 9 Gbps

An international team led by the University of Tokyo has set two consecutive new Internet2 Land Speed Records (I2-LSR) in the
IPv6 single and multi-stream categories. The team, which also included WIDE Project, NTT Communications, JGN2, SURFnet, CANARIE, Pacific Northwest Gigapop and other institutions, used a network path that spanned 30,000 km across 6 international networks. They trasmitted transferred data in the single and multi-stream categories at a rate of 7.67 Gbps, which is equal to 230,100 terabit-meters per second (Tb-m/s). This record setting attempt leveraged standard TCP to achieve the new mark.



In a follow-up test, the team used a modified version of TCP to achieve an even greater record. Using the same 30,000 km path, the network was able to achieve a throughput of 9.08 Gbps which is equal to 272,400 Tb-m/s for both the IPv6 multi and single stream categories.

http://data-reservoir.adm.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/lsr-200612-01/http://www.internet2.edu

IP Unity Glenayre Names Oscar Rodriguez as CEO

IP Unity Glenayre named Oscar Rodriguez as its new CEO, succeeding Dr. Arun Sobti, who has served as Chairman and CEO at IP Unity Glenayre since 2000, and who will remain as Chairman of the Boardto his new role, Oscar Rodriguez was Chief Marketing Officer for Alcatel-Lucent's Enterprise Business Group. Oscar was also CEO and President of Riverstone Networks, a public communications company delivering carrier MPLS/VPLS/Ethernet Solutions, before its sale to Lucent Technologies. He served as Nortel Networks' President of both the Enterprise Solutions division and the Intelligent Internet division, delivering profitable high performance IP-based products to both carrier and enterprise customers.

http://www.ipunity-glenayre.com

Ikanos Debuts Fastest Integrated VDSL2 Gateway Processor

Ikanos Communications unveiled a single chip, multi-mode VDSL2 gateway processor that provides 2.7 GHz of processing power, VoIP, multi-mode DSL and security capabilities for next generation residential gateways.



The new Fusiv Vx180 is designed to deliver wire-speed, Quality of Service (QoS)-enabled Quad-play services. It reduces space and power requirements by combining Ikanos' VDSL2 customer premises equipment (CPE) PHY and its widely deployed Fusiv network processor architecture onto a single chip. Ikanos' physical layer technology supports VDSL2, ADSL2+, ADSL2, ADSL and VDSL standards, and supports IPTV and triple-play optimized features such as Dynamic Rate Repartitioning (DRR) and Seamless Rate Adaptation (SRA), which are expected to be incorporated into future standards enhancements. The Vx180 also supports maximum interleaver and deinterleaver memory for high levels of Impulse Noise Protection, as well as on-chip Quality of Service (QoS) and wire speed performance, all of which is intended to enable optimum viewing experience.



Key capabilities of the Vx180 include:

  • Supports all VDSL2 profiles - 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d, 12a, 12b, 17a and 30a, as well as VDSL, ADSL2+, ADSL2 and ADSL standards, and is optimized for 17.6 and 30 MHz spectrums;


  • Supports all mandatory and optional features of VDSL2, as well as all band plans that are defined by Asian, European and North American standards groups;


  • Provides 2.7 GHz of processing power in order to support CPU-intensive features, like 802.11n, and still have additional processing power for current and future applications;


  • Achieves wire speed performance across all local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) interfaces using Ikanos' Accelerator Processor architecture;


  • Offers a rich set of integrated peripherals and interfaces that easily integrate with home networking technologies, like 802.11n, MoCA and HomePNA;


  • Enables IPSec and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) VPN implementation using on-chip cryptographic engines; and


  • Delivers comprehensive support for VoIP with a deployment-proven integrated Digital Signal Processor (DSP).


Ikanos also provides a suite of Vx180 support software that includes operating system independent drivers for Ethernet, xDSL and integrated peripherals. The Linux-based software includes a networking stack, voice processing and network management functions, making it possible for system vendors to quickly develop residential gateways.



Sampling is underway.

http://www.ikanos.com


































Reinventing
the IAD



The
boundary between service provider network and residential subscriber is
rapidly blurring. At the heart of this evolution is the vision of the
"digital home", which offers service providers an opportunity to
generate additional revenue through bundled services and associated
service level agreements.