Tuesday, July 31, 2007

ECI Telecom Posts Q2 Revenue of $164 Million

ECI Telecom reported Q2 revenue of $164 million, compared with $170 million in the second quarter of 2006 and $155 million in the first quarter of 2007. GAAP net income reached $24.8 million, or $0.20 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared with second quarter 2006 net income of $9.6 million, or $0.08 per diluted share. Some highlights:Revenues for the Transport Networking Division (reflecting the merger of the company's Optical Networks and Data Networking Divisions), totaled $109 million for the quarter. This represents a 15% increase from...

Tekelec Reports Q2 Sales of $110.0 Million

Tekelec reported revenue from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2007 was $110.0 million, down 8% compared to $119.1 million for the second quarter of 2006. For the second quarter of 2007, the Company had orders of $84.7 million, up 4% compared to $81.8 million for the second quarter of 2006. Backlog as of June 30, 2007 was $334.7 million compared to $360.0 million as of March 31, 2007.On a GAAP basis, the Company reported income from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2007 of $3.8 million, or $0.05 per diluted share,...

Sylantro Systems Names Bill Russell Chairman of the Board

Sylantro Systems, which supplies feature servers for hosted VoIP services in carrier networks, appointed Bill Russell as non-executive Chairman of the Board. Pete Bonee, former chairman, remains a board director.Russell served in a number of senior-level roles in his more than 20 years at HP, including vice president and general manager of the multi-billion dollar Enterprise Systems Group. http://www.sylantro....

Hong Kong's iAdvantage Deploys Juniper M-series Routers

iAdvantage, a leading IT Infrastructure Provider (IIP) based in Hong Kong, is expanding its deployment Juniper Networks' M-series multiservice routers in its network. This upgrade increases network capacity between iAdvantage's data centers and Hong Kong's metropolitan-wide network hubs.iAdvantage provides mission-critical network application, database and bandwidth services to some of Asia Pacific's most successful enterprises, including major financial institutions. The company has used Juniper Networks M-series routers since 2005. http://w...

NGT Supplies SIP-based VoIP for Atlantic Broadband

New Global Telecom (NGT) will become the managed services provider for Atlantic Broadband's SIP-based telephony solutions for both residential and business end users. The NGT service includes a range of residential and commercial feature packages, telephone numbers throughout the U.S., FCC-compliant 911, as well as key back office functionality including provisioning, usage rating or complete end user billing, as well as session border controller (SBC) management and network monitoring services. A key component of the service is integrated voice...

Extreme Networks Reported Quarterly Revenue of $87 Million

Extreme Networks reported quarterly revenue of $87.1 million, up 6% from $82.4 million for the same period a year earlier. Net loss on a GAAP basis for the quarter was $5.0 million or a loss of $0.04 per diluted share."We're pleased with our U.S. business results, which show year-over-year revenue growth of 17 percent. We're experiencing strong demand for some of our newer products, such as the Summit X450 and the X250, and we are performing well in our vertical markets. We continue to drive the turnaround, focusing both on revenue growth and...

Time Warner Telecom Surpasses 10,000 Ethernet Ports for Enterprise Customers

Time Warner Telecom now has more than 10,000 retail Ethernet service ports in service to enterprise customers locally and nationally over its national backbone and metro fiber optic network. <>Time Warner Telecom offers a broad service portfolio of local Ethernet services delivering Ethernet over wavelengths, switching infrastructure and SONET. In 2003, the company added a city-to-city Ethernet service using VPLS technology. And, in 2006, the company extended its portfolio to use copper facilities that enable connectivity to the branch office...

Acme Packet Posts Revenue of $27.0M, Up 8% sequentially

Acme Packet reported Q2 revenues of $27.0 million -- an increase of 8% sequentially and 41% year-over-year and the seventh consecutive quarter of both sequential and year-over-year revenue growth. The company achieved record quarterly pre-tax earnings of $7.2 million -- an increase of 5% sequentially and 34% year-over-year.Acme Packet said it acquired 34 new service provider customers to expand its customer base to over 420 service providers, including 76 of the 100 largest carriers in the world. http://www.acmepacket....

American Airlines to test AirCell's In-Flight Wi-Fi over U.S.

American Airlines will conduct passenger testing of AirCell's Wi-Fi broadband Internet service on coast-to-coast flights over the U.S. beginning in 2008. Passenger testing will be conducted on American Airlines fleet of Boeing 767-200 aircraft that primarily fly transcontinental routes. http://www.aircell.com http://www.aa....

QUALCOMM and Exoteq Sign OFDM/OFDMA Deal

QUALCOMM and Exoteq, a mobile broadband solutions developer based in Denmark, signed a new, commercial OFDM/OFDMA license agreement that enables Exoteq to develop, manufacture and sell subscriber unit and modem card products for high-speed mobile broadband access based on OFDM/OFDMA technologies, including QUALCOMM's FLASH-OFDM technology. The royalties payable by Exoteq are at QUALCOMM's standard OFDM/OFDMA rates.http://www.qualcomm.com http://www.exoteq....

FiberTower Wins Backhaul Deal for Sprint Nextel's WiMax Buildout

Sprint Nextel awarded a contract to FiberTower to provide backhaul services in seven of its initial WiMax launch markets. The deployment will use Ethernet as the backhaul technology. Financial terms were not disclosed. FiberTower's network architecture consists of both microwave and fiber trunks. It holds an extensive spectrum footprint in 24 GHz and 39 GHz bands. http://www.fibertower....

One Minute Video: What is Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM)?

One Minute Video: What is Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM)?Presented by Laura HowardECI Tele...

Monday, July 30, 2007

FCC Sets Rules for 700 MHz Spectrum

The FCC approved new rules for the 700 MHz band, which will become available for new services in 2009 as television broadcasters complete their DTV migration. In what is seen as a partial victory for Google and other Internet players, the FCC voted to require "open access" for devices and applications using services delivered in these bands, while not requiring carriers to sell wholesale capacity in the licensed spectrum. The FCC expects to commence...

Hammerhead Secures $18 Million for MultiService Switching

Hammerhead Systems secured $18 million Series D round of funding for its traffic aggregation and switching platform. Hammerhead said its HSX 6000 answers the need for traffic aggregation in a market in which Ethernet services are taking off and in which legacy services are also continuing to grow. Its single box solution offers dense Ethernet aggregation for both E-Line and E-LAN services, MPLS Pseudowire termination, VPLS, Leased Line IP Aggregation,...

Infinera Posts Q2 Revenue of $58.4 million

Infinera reported Q2 revenues of $58.4 million, compared to $49.2 million in the first quarter of 2007. Gross margins were 28% in Q2, compared to 24% in Q1. Including non-cash stock-based compensation and warrant revaluation expenses, the net loss was $26.1 million, or $1.10 per share, compared to a net loss of $19.8 million, or $2.62 per share, in the first quarter of 2007.Infinera added five new customers in the quarter, bringing its total customer roster to 31."We are pleased with Infinera's second quarter performance -- our first quarter as...

Cox Selects Infinera for National Transport Backbone

Cox Communications, the third-largest cable company in the U.S., has selected an Infinera Digital Optical Network for its national transport network. The 12,000-mile Cox national build extends from coast to coast, supporting Cox's voice, video, data, and wireless services for residential and business customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.Cox reports that traffic on its network has been doubling every 12 to 18 months.Infinera said its DTN platform provides many benefits for multiple system cable operators (MSOs) seeking to move from traditional...

Alcatel-Lucent Posts Q2 Revenue of EUR 4.33 Billion, Cites Integration Progress

Alcatel-Lucent reported Q2 revenues or EUR 4.326 billion, up 13% sequentially and 0.5% year-over year at a constant EUR/USD exchange rate. The adjusted gross profit was EUR 1,447 million, 33.4% of sales, including a positive impact of EU 34 million from a litigation settlement, compared to an adjusted pro-forma gross profit of EUR 1,711 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted operating income (loss) was EUR (19) million, (0.4)% of sales, compared with an adjusted pro-forma operating income (loss) of EUR 252 million in the year-ago quarter. ...

AT&T Launches "eMusic" Mobile Download Service

AT&T launched an over-the-air music download service with eMusic, a leading retailer of independent music. The eMusic over-the-air (OTA) service has a catalog of 2.7 million songs. Purchases are immediately sent to the user's wireless handset, and a duplicate copy is available for download to the user's PC at no charge. AT&T customers can subscribe to download five tracks a month for $7.49.AT&T said the new service complements its existing mobile music offerings, which include the ability to transfer songs from a PC to a wireless handset...

Level 3 Provides Core Backbone for Leap's 3G Network

Level 3 Communications is providing core network backbone services for Leap Wireless' "Cricket" 3G service. This includes intercity private line trunks, voice termination and colocation facilities.Specifically, Leap's Cricket service is using Level 3's Voice Termination service and Level 3 Intercity Private Line Services to connect its mobile switching centers to transport voice and data traffic over a single network. Additionally, Level 3 delivers...

UTStarcom Verifies the Security of its IPTV DRM

UTStarcom completed a security audit of its IPTV DRM System. The security audit was commissioned by UTStarcom in June 2006 and completed in April 2007 by Merdan Group, Inc. UTStarcom said the security audit concluded that all areas of its IPTV DRM System are robust at the "Criminal Enterprise Level," the highest rating, with the exception of one area involving the Set Top Box installation that was rated at the second highest rating of "University Challenge Level."UTStarcom has no current plan to offer its DRM solution as a standalone product. ...

Ditech Improves Voice Quality for Brazil's "Oi"

Oi, the Brazilian carrier formerly known as Telemar, deployed Ditech Networks' Voice Quality Assurance (VQA) platform to ensure voice quality for users of its mobile phone network during the recent 2007 Pan American Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Ditech's VQA solution reduces background noise and echo on every call while simultaneously adjusting voice levels. Additionally, it allows Oi to better utilize speech compression technology, which is...

SyChip Launches 802.16e-2005 WiMAX Chip Module

SyChip, a subsidiary of Murata Manufacturing, launched its first mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e- 2005) chip scale module for handheld manufacturers seeking to add WiMax functionality to devices such as handsets, ultra mobile personal computers, personal media players and personal navigational devices. SyChip is providing a BaseBand/MAC IC, a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver, a Power Amplifier (PA) and on-board memory and matching components. The software suite includes drivers and Application Layer interfaces that will allow content providers, manufacturers...

Intel Licenses SiRF's Location Technology for Mobile Devices

SiRF Technology signed a license and joint development agreement with Intel on certain future product platforms to help location and wireless connectivity become more mainstream in next generation mobile devices. As part of this agreement, SiRF has licensed certain technologies to Intel and will help co-develop certain future products that will be available for incorporation into Intel mobile platforms. The two companies also agreed to cooperate in the marketing and selling of these future products to customers developing a wide range of mobile...

Apple's iTunes Store Tops Three Billion Songs

More than three billion songs have been purchased and downloaded from Apple's iTunes store, which now features a catalog of over five million songs, 550 television shows and 500 movies. Apple noted that iTunes recently surpassed Amazon and Target to become the third largest music retailer in the US. http://www.itunes.com/In January 2007, Apple announced these milestones for its iTunes store: more than two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over 1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and download...

AT&T to Invest $350 Million for Fiber Upgrades in North Carolina

AT&T announced plans to invest approximately $350 million throughout the next several years in fiber network upgrades, further broadband deployment and Internet-based technologies in North Carolina. The announcement does not change AT&T's capital expenditure guidance for 2007 and 2008. AT&T said it is in the process of implementing the AT&T U-verse network in the Southeast region and plans to provide a comprehensive update later this year. http://www.att....

ShoreTel Files Counterclaims Against Mitel

ShoreTel announced that it has filed counterclaims against Mitel Networks Corp. in response to Mitel's patent infringement lawsuit against ShoreTel.In addition to denying all of Mitel's claims of patent infringement, ShoreTel alleges that Mitel's IP phone systems, including the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform, infringes ShoreTel's U.S. Patent No. 7,167,486 B2 entitled "Voice Traffic Through a Firewall." ShoreTel also filed claims for approximately $10 million in damages and an injunction against Mitel in Ontario Superior Court for making...

AT&T Launches Managed Firewall Service for SMBs

AT&T has begun offering a premises-based Cisco ASA option for its Managed Firewall portfolio. The service, which is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, combines AT&T's firewall software solutions with scalable, end-to-end management, monitoring and maintenance. The customer can locate services such as those for Web access and electronic mail in the protected network and can control access to those servers.The service is available through the AT&T BusinessDirect Web portal, which provides a single point to manage the customer's...

Industry Reaction to FCC Decision

CTIA's Steve Largent" "The FCC's considerable deliberation over the 700 MHz auction rules has left us pleased in a number of respects and still concerned in others. Specifically, we believe the Commission has taken the appropriate approach by recognizing the importance of not restricting the number of auction entrants, nor requiring them to fulfill wholesale licensing requirements or requiring geographic build-out on all the licenses....At the same time, we are disappointed that a significant portion of this valuable spectrum will be encumbered...

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Verizon Wireless to Acquire Rural Cellular for $2.67 Billion

Verizon Wireless will acquire Rural Cellular Corporation for approximately $2.67 billion in cash and assumed debt.Rural Cellular's network served 716,000 customers as of March 31, 2007, spread across five regional territories. It uses both CDMA and GSM technology separately across these five regional markets. The networks are located in the states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. The acquisition will increase...

Alcatel-Lucent Adds CDMA/EV-DO Base Station

Alcatel-Lucent has expanded its CDMA/EV-DO wireless portfolio with a new microcell-type base station that can be deployed in locations such as utility poles and the sides of buildings. Sprint is the first customer to deploy the new product.The Alcatel-Lucent CDMA Base Station 2400 is designed for seamless integration into both new and existing networks. It supports CDMA2000 1X, 1xEV-DO and Revision A (Rev. A) services. http://www.alctel-lucent....

Telefónica Reaches 1.3 Million Pay TV Customers

During the second quarter of 2007 the Telefónica Group reported continued growth, especially in wireless and broadband, ending the period with 212.6 million accesses, 11.3% more than a year earlier. Telefónica ended June with 9.1 million retail broadband accesses (+34.9%), 154.9 million mobile accesses (+15.1%) and over 1.3 million pay TV accesses (+64.5%).Telefónica España currently boasts 45.2 million accesses, an increase of 5.5% year-on-year. The total number accesses in Telefónica Latinoamérica continued to register a strong growth (+13.9%...

Verizon Adds 1.6 Million Wireless, 167,000 FiOS TV Subscribers

Citing strength in wireless and FiOS services, Verizon Communications reported $1.7 billion in Q2 earnings, or 58 cents in EPS, up from 43 cents EPS in the second quarter before discontinued operations. Revenues reached $23.3 billion in revenues, up 6.3 percent, compared to the same period last year. Some highlights:Wireless1.6 million retail net customer additions; 1.3 million total net customer additions after reseller reductions. This gives...

Amdocs Signs Services Agreement with Telkom South Africa

Telkom South Africa awarded a five-year services agreement to Amdocs. Under the deal, Amdocs will continue to provide maintenance and support services for the Amdocs customer experience systems deployed at Telkom SA since 1999, including consolidated billing, customer relationship management (CRM) and order management. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.amdocs....

Wisair Unveils Single CMOS Chip for Wireless USB

Wisair announced commercial availability of a single-die CMOS chip for both host and device Wireless USB applications. The production-ready chip, based on WiMedia and Certified Wireless USB standards, integrates UWB PHY (including RF), MAC and Wireless USB subsystems. Wisair said its new device could enable a range of Wireless USB applications, including battery-powered, portable devices. The device is implemented in digital CMOS process and supports HWA, DWA and Native device protocols, and features SDIO and USB interfaces, isochronous data transfer...

XO to Deploy Additional 800 Gbps to National Backbone

XO Communications will deploy an additional 800 Gbps of capacity on major coast-to-coast routes across its nationwide 18,000 route-mile optical network, augmenting a capacity expansion XO completed last year which delivered 400 Gbps of capacity across its network.Specifically, XO will light two new fiber strands on its nationwide fiber network, adding 800 Gbps of capacity in core XO network nodes which will deliver an additional 80 10-Gbps channels on major coast-to-coast XO network routes. The upgrade is being delivered on Infinera's DTN system,...

AppTrigger Adds Industry Execs to Advisory Board

AppTrigger announced the appointment of three noted industry executives to its advisory board: Mick Reeve, Dr. Niel Ransom, and Phil Holmes.Mick Reeve recently retired after 36 years at British Telecom (BT), where he was most recently Chief Architect responsible for BT's overall network and systems architectures. He also led the standards program, directing the architecture for BT's 21st Century Network and ensuring its alignment with global standards.Dr. Niel Ransom is the former CTO of Alcatel. At Alcatel, he managed an organization encompassing...

BridgeWave Raises $7.8 Million for 4G/WiMAX Backhaul

BridgeWave Communications, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, has secured $7.8 million in Series 3 financing for it broadband wireless solutions. BridgeWave supplies Gigabit capacity radio for the 60 GHz and 80 GHz bands.The funding round includes existing investors plus the additions of SDL Ventures and Intel Capital. In related news, BridgeWave also announced that former Juniper Networks executive Peter Wexler has joined the company's board of directors. http://www.bridgewave....

Hurricane Electric Activates 10GigE Peering Points with PAIX

Hurricane Electric has expanded its PAIX public peering footprint with 10GigE ports in both Palo Alto and New York, enabling it to provide nationwide data transmission between the sites. In addition to providing Internet connection and colocation services to Hurricane Electric in Palo Alto and New York, Switch and Data also provides the company with colocation and connectivity services in its Seattle market. http://www.switchanddata.com http://www.he....

Mintera Adds Adaptive-DPSK Capability for Long Haul DWDM

Mintera, which supplies high bit-rate optical transport systems, introduced a new TP40GA Adaptive-DPSK line card that enables ultra long-haul 40Gbps transmission through 50GHz filters and in-line ROADMs. Mintera said its Adaptive-DPSK is fully compatible with its existing Adaptive Dispersion Compensation technology."The combination of Adaptive-DPSK and Adaptive Dispersion Compensation provides a 40Gbps DWDM solution with automatic turn-up and in-service self-optimization suitable for deployment in the most demanding network configurations," said...

MRV's Raman Amplifiers Enable Ultra Long-Haul DWDM

MRV Communications released new ultra long-distance optical Raman amplifier modules for its Lambda Driver DWDM transport platform. MRV's new Raman amplifiers utilize stimulated Raman scattering to create optical gain. The new amplifiers increase the single span reach of an optical signal by more than 50 km over traditional Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA)-based alternatives by improving the optical signal-to-noise ratio in amplified long-haul networks.MRV's EM1600-OAR Raman amplifier family consists of three modules that offer 10dB, 12dB and...

Nevis Networks Develops Identity-Based Cloaking Technology

Nevis Networks announced a new secure "Cloaking" capability that enables security administrators to completely mask key network resources from specific users and user groups. The goal is to make network servers and application resources "invisible" to unauthorized users, thereby preventing unauthorized users from launching a range of malicious attacks, including denial of service (DoS), password cracking, and probing for open ports and vulnerabilities. Nevis said its new cloaking technology is built on the foundation of its LANenforcer identity-based...

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Entropic Readies IPO -- In-home Networking Silicon

Entropic Communications, a supplier of silicon solutions for in-home networking, filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The offering is expected to include shares sold by Entropic and by certain of its stockholders. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Lehman Brothers Inc. will be acting as joint book-running managers of the proposed offering. In addition, Thomas Weisel Partners LLC, JMP Securities LLC and ThinkEquity Partners...

Qatar Telecom Deploys Huawei for Ethernet

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has deployed Huawei Technologies' E60, Multi-Service Control Gateway (MSCG) as part of its full-service Ethernet network. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.huawei....

Blueslice HSS Completes Interoperability with Motorola IMS

Blueslice Networks, a start-up based in Montreal, has completed interoperability testing of its Home Subscriber Server 3000 with the Motorola IMS solution, including the Motorola Call Session Control Function (CSCF).The Blueslice HSS 3000 integrates a next generation Home Location Register (HLR) with a Home Subscriber Server into a converged subscriber profile management database. It can be used to manage subscriber data from GSM, UMTS/HSPA, or any network providing access to IMS services, such as WiMAX, TISPAN-based fixed lines, and cable networks....

EC Approves Sale of Bulgarian Telecom to AIG Captia

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition of Bulgarian Telecommunications Company by AIG Capital Partners. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it. http://www.europa.euIn May 2007, AIG Capital Partners announced plans to acquire up to a 65% equity stake in Bulgarian Telecommunications , the former state-owned incumbent, for approximately GBP 1 billi...

Yahoo! Appoints Telecom Exec to Board

Yahoo! has appointed Maggie Wilderotter to its Board of Directors. Wilderotter currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Citizens Communications. She previously was senior vice president of the worldwide public sector division at Microsoft and before that was CEO of Wink Communications Inc., executive vice president of national operations for AT&T Wireless Services and chief executive officer of AT&T's Aviation Communications Division. She also served as senior vice president of McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. and...

Former Qwest CEO Gets Six Year Jail Sentence

Joseph P. Nacchio, 57, the former CEO of Qwest Communications International Inc., was sentenced to 6 years in prison for insider trading. Nacchio was also ordered to forfeit $52 million, pay a $19 million fine and serve two years of supervised release.http://www.usdoj.govOn April 19, 2007, a federal jury convicted Nacchio of 19 counts of insider trading, covering $52 million in stock sales. The conviction came after 15 days at trial and six days of deliberation. According to the indictment, Nacchio sold Qwest stock from January to September 2001...

Bell Labs Veterans Awarded U.S. National Medal of Technology

Two Bell Labs veterans have been selected to receive the 2006 U.S. National Medal of Technology awards.Dr.Herwig Kogelnik, currently Adjunct Photonics Systems Research Vice President at Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, is being honored for his pioneering contributions and leadership in the development of lasers, optoelectronics, integrated optics and lightwave communications systems. Kogelnik is the co-inventor of the distributed feedback laser, which is the light source for most optical communications systems. He also led the Bell Labs research team...

Huawei Expands North American Executive Team

Huawei Technologies has appointed Jerry Prestinario to the position of Vice President of Technical Services Division for North America. Prestinario will have full responsibilities for all customer technical support and delivery services. Huawei's Technical Services Division (TSD) provides engineering services (including network planning, installation and optimization) and support services. Prior to joining Huawei, Prestinario served in leadership roles at several major telecommunications companies, including Lucent and AT&T, where he refined...

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Cisco to Invest $150 Million in VMware Stock

Cisco Systems will purchase $150 million of VMware Class A common shares currently held by EMC Corporation. This will give Cisco approximately 1.6 percent of VMware's total outstanding common stock (less than one percent of the combined voting power of VMware's outstanding common stock). VMware has agreed to consider the appointment of a Cisco executive to VMware's board of directors at a future date.VMware develops software for virtualization solutions. http://www.VMware.com http://www.cisco.comEarlier this month, VMware announced that Intel...

Saskatchewan Deploys Cisco for Public Wi-Fi Access

The Government of Saskatchewan is deploying a Cisco Outdoor Wireless Network Solution to provide free Internet access to businesses, residents and visitors across the Province's largest four cities. SaskTel is spearheading the design and deployment of the outdoor wireless solution, which includes Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Outdoor Mesh Access Points at more than 450 locations in Saskatoon, Regina, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw. The wireless networks are now available for public access in all four centers. Financial terms were not disclosed. htt...

Cisco Authorizes Up To $5 Billion in Additional Stock Repurchases

Cisco's board of directors authorized up to $5 billion in additional repurchases of its common stock. Cisco's board had previously authorized up to $47 billion in stock repurchases. There is no fixed termination date for the repurchase program."Cisco's business strategy is to make investments for growth," said Dennis Powell, chief financial officer, Cisco. "The company believes that its available cash provides flexibility to make strategic investments in the business, including R&D and acquisitions, as well as repurchase shares. Today's decision...

Covad Extends Line Sharing Agreement with AT&T

Covad Communications has extended the commercial line sharing agreement it has with AT&T's local telephone companies. The deal guarantees access to AT&T copper and remote-terminal facilities for new Covad line share customers through May 2009. The agreement also provides for commercial access to AT&T copper facilities in the former BellSouth territory, also through May 2009. Covad and AT&T also resolved a number of disputes. http://www.covad....

Alvarion to Integrate ArrayComm's Multi-Antenna software

Alvarion will integrate ArrayComm's multi-antenna signal processing software (A-MASTM) into its 4Motion's Radio Access Network Solutions. Alvarion's WiMAX platform using ArrayComm's software is expected to offer 2 to 4 times more coverage and spectral efficiency than the WiMAX Forum's baseline profiles, through a unique combination of beamforming, MIMO and adaptive interference cancellation. http://www.alvarion.com http://www.arraycomm....

Sprint to Offer Google Services over Mobile WiMAX Network

Sprint will work with Google to spur new mobility and location-assisted services over its forthcoming WiMAX network. Sprint's WiMAX network bandwidth, location detection and presence capabilities will be matched with Google's communications suite - Google Apps - that combines the Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Talk services. Sprint describes the pact with Google as a milestone in its mobile Internet strategy, describing the deal as a boost for...

Riverbed Posts Strong Sales, Releases WDS Software Client for Laptops

Riverbed Technology reported Q2 revenue of $54.0 million, which represents an increase of 199% from the second quarter of last year. Riverbed posted GAAP net income of $3.9 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $6.1 million, or a loss of $0.46 per share, in the second quarter of 2006.Riverbed noted that it has won over 2,500 cumulative customers since it first introduced the Steelhead product line. Separately, Riverbed announced a software client version of its WDS technology that is intended to deliver LAN-like application...

China Telecom Deploys Alcatel-Lucent 7750 in Guangdong

Guangdong Telecom, the largest provincial subsidiary of China Telecom, has selected Alcatel-Lucent as a strategic partner for its province-wide metro area network optimization project. The Alcatel-Lucent 7750 Service Router (SR) will be deployed in 21 cities of Guangdong province, including the major cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It will enable Guangdong Telecom to satisfy the growing appetite for high speed Internet and IP VPN and NGN services.The project, which also foresees additional network upgrades and expansions in the future, is expected...

Aruba and Alcatel-Lucent to Form JV for Enterprise Solutions

Aruba Networks and Alcatel-Lucent will establish a joint venture focused on developing next-generation wired and wireless solutions for the enterprise. Specifically, the joint venture will focus on the design and delivery of hardware and software modules that add secure wireless LAN switching to Alcatel-Lucent's next generation products. The companies said these modules, used in combination with Alcatel-Lucent platforms, will address the growing need for pervasive secure mobility in enterprises of any size.The joint solution combines Aruba's secure...

Infineon to Use ARM Processors for Mobile Platforms

Infineon Technologies AG has extended a license agreement with ARM to enable its low-cost, high-performance ARM processors to be used in next-generation handset platforms. The companies said the ARM processors will enable re-use of development processes, accelerated time-to-market and higher performance solutions for mobile phones. http://www.arm.com http://www.infineon....

AboveNet Expands Deployment of Nortel's Optical Metro

AboveNet Communications UK announced its expansion of Metro-Wave, a service offering AboveNet customers private wavelengths between strategically placed hubs in and around London. The service uses Nortel's Optical Metro 5000 series equipment, and this network expansion involves a new hub in Slough. Having recently expanded to Park Royal, AboveNet's Metro-Wave footprint will now span from the Docklands in the east through the City, out to Heathrow and Slough in the west. AboveNet has been working with Nortel and the Optical Metro 5000 platform...

Bay Microsystems Raises $16 Million for Network Processors

Bay Microsystems has raised $16 million in new venture funding. The company plans to use the funding for enhancing operations and continuing its global expansion. Bay Microsystems reported strong demand for its Chesapeake 40G network processing silicon as well as it's recently introduced ABEx family of wide-area-network (WAN) virtualization system technology. New institutional investors, Quicksilver Ventures and W Capital, led the financing. Bay's...

NETGEAR Reports Q2 Revenue of $164 Million

NETGEAR reported Q2 revenue of $164.3 million, a 26% increase as compared to $130.7 million for the second quarter ended July 2, 2006, and a decline of 5% as compared to $173.6 million in the first quarter of 2007. Net income, computed in accordance with GAAP, for the second quarter of 2007 was $6.1 million, or $0.17 per diluted share.http://www.netgear.c...

Foundry Networks Revenues Rise to $143 Million

Foundry Networks reported Q2 revenue of $143.2 million, compared to $108.4 million in the second quarter of 2006, and compared to $135.8 million in the first quarter of 2007, an increase of 32.1% and 5.4% respectively. Net income was $16.4 million or $0.11 per diluted share, compared to net income of $4.4 million, or $0.03 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2006, and net income of $9.1 million, or $0.06 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2007."We are pleased to be executing well," said Bobby Johnson, President and CEO of Foundry...

Taiwan Awards Six WiMAX Licenses

Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) awarded six WiMAX licenses in the 2.5 ~ 2.69 frequency range, however, Chunghwa Telecom -- the island's incumbent operator -- was not among the winning bidders.Companies being awarded WiMAX licenses include Far EasTone Telecommunications, First International Telecom, Tecom-VIBO, Global On, Vastar Cable and Tatung. http://www.ncc.gov....

Comcast Continues Double Digit Growth

Reflecting continued strong consumer demand for its Triple Play services, Comcast's cable division reported Q2 revenue of $7.3 billion. Cable revenue increased 12% to $14.3 billion for the six months ended June 30, 2007. Some highlights for the quarter:Revenue generating unit (RGU) additions increased 94% to a second quarter record of 1.6 million in 2007 from the 830,000 RGUs added in the second quarter of 2006. Comcast ended the quarter with 54.2 million RGUs, an increase of 6.5 million units from one year ago. Comcast added 823,000 new digital...

QUALCOMM Announces Ultra Mobile Broadband Base Station

QUALCOMM introduced anew infrastructure reference design for Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) networks. The base station reference design is based on QUALCOMM's OFDMA Cell Site Modem CSM8900 and technologies from Freescale Semiconductor, Cavium Networks and Green Hills Software. Freescale Semiconductor's MPC8548 PowerQUICC III processor is used for the control plane and Layer 2 functions. Cavium's OCTEON Processor provides performance for Layer 3 and Layer 3+ networking applications. The UMB reference design also incorporates Green Hills Software's...

Level 3 Posts Revenue of $1.052 billion

Level 3 Communications reported Q2 revenue of $1.052 billion, compared to consolidated revenue of $1.056 billion for the first quarter 2007. The net loss for the second quarter 2007 was $202 million, or $0.13 per share, compared to a net loss of $647 million, or $0.44 per share, for the previous quarter. Some highlights:Total Communications Revenue for the second quarter 2007 decreased slightly to $1.035 billion, versus $1.037 billion for the previous quarter. Core Communications Services revenue increased quarter over quarter by 2 percent. The...

ARRIS Supplies CMTS to Cyprus

Cablenet Communication Systems of Cyprus has deployed a number of C4 CMTS system from ARRIS in Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca. The C4's were purchased from ARRIS Value-Added Reseller (VAR) B.A.S.E. Technologies.Cablenet plans on passing over 60,000 homes this year with another 60,000 homes planned for 2008.The MSO selected ARRIS equipment as part of a turnkey, end-to-end, IP backbone and triple play service solution provided by B.A.S.E. Technologies of Belgium, an ARRIS VAR.http://www.arrisi.c...

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Comcast Selects Thomson for VoIP Cable Modems

Comcast awarded a contract to Thomson for VoIP cable modems (eMTAs modems) to support the continued rollout of its Comcast Digital Voice service. As a long-term supplier of data-only cable modems to Comcast, the agreement strengthens Thomson's relationship with Comcast beyond the current provision of pure cable modems.Comcast will use Thomson's DHG535 eMTA to connect its customers to both Comcast Digital Voice and Comcast High-Speed Internet through one integrated device.Thomson said the contract enables it to further address the worldwide market...

Motorola Selected for WiMAX + IMS Network in Bahrain

Mena Telecom, an investment subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain), selected Motorola to plan, deploy and manage a nationwide 802.16e-based mobile WiMAX and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The deployment will enable Mena Telecom to deliver wireless broadband connectivity as well as advanced voice and nomadic broadband data services to both business and residential customers across Bahrain. Financial terms were...

Harmonic to Acquire Rhozet for Mobile Video Creation

Harmonic agreed to acquire Rhozet, a start-up offering software-based universal transcoding solutions that facilitate the creation of multi-format video for Internet, mobile and broadcast applications. Harmonic will pay $15.5 million comprised of cash and the value of approximately 1.1 million shares of Harmonic stock.The Rhozet product line includes Carbon Coder, a stand-alone software transcoding application, and Carbon Server, an enterprise-level distributed transcoding management application. This highly scalable solution is designed to allow...

European Commission Proposes to Open More Spectrum for New Services

The European Commission proposed opening more radio spectrum for advanced mobile data and multimedia services, such video streaming to mobile handsets. Specifically, the EC proposes to repeal the existing GSM Directive and replacing it with a directive that allows new technologies to coexist with GSM in the frequencies of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz, while preserving the continued operation of GSM in the EU.In the Commission's assessment, the proposed...

Equinix Posts Q2 Sales of $91.8 million, up 8% Sequentially

Equinix posted Q2 revenues of $91.8 million, a 34% increase over the same quarter last year and an 8% increase over the previous quarter. Recurring revenues, consisting primarily of colocation, interconnection and managed services, were $87.9 million, a 35% increase over the same quarter last year and a 9% increase over the previous quarter. During Q2, Equinix announced plans to acquire IXEurope for approximately £270.1 million. http://www.equinix....

Harmonic Posts Q2 Sales of $71.3 million, up 34%

Harmonic reported Q2 net sales of $71.3 million, up 34% from $53.3 million in the second quarter of 2006. GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2007 was $6.2 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to a GAAP net loss of $2.9 million, or $0.04 per share for the same period of 2006. "We are pleased with our sales and earnings growth in the first six months of 2007, as well as our improved gross margins and inventory management, and our strong bookings in the second quarter of 2007," said Patrick Harshman, President and Chief Executive Officer....

Kentucky's Foothills Telephone Selects Occam

Kentucky's Foothills Telephone Cooperative has selected Occam Networks' Broadband Loop Carrier system and remote terminal cabinets to upgrade its network. Specifically, Foothills has purchased Occam remote terminal cabinets, Gigabit Ethernet transport ring equipment, BLC 6252-02 ADSL2Plus Blades and BLC 6244 ADSL2Plus Blades. The BLC 6252 will provide 48 ports of ADSL2Plus with Lifeline POTS on the same physical interface to deliver voice, data and video services. The BLC 6244 will provide 24 ports of ADSL2Plus with Lifeline POTS to deliver high...

DOCSIS 3.0 and PacketCable 2.0 Standards Advance at ITU

CableLabs announced that much of DOCSIS 3.0 and additional key elements of the PacketCable 2.0 specifications have been given "consent" status by a study group of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T) placing the technologies on a pathway to become international standards. The meetings of Study Group (SG) 9 occurred in mid-June in Singapore and were chaired by CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green.The DOCSIS 3.0 specification establishes ways for cable companies to tie multiple 6MHz transmission channels together to deliver...

AT&T Offers Mobile Backup for Handsets

AT&T is launching a Mobile Backup application that lets its mobile subscribers store, update and access the contact information on their wireless phones through a new downloadable handset application. AT&T Mobile Backup will be available on a variety of handsets, beginning with six Motorola devices: the Motorola RAZR V3xx, RAZR V3i, RAZR V3r, V365, SLVR L7 and KRZR K1. The service will be compatible with more handsets in the future."Most people have contact information on their wireless devices that they do not have stored anywhere else,"...

EarthLink and SK Telecom Add Funding to HELIO

EarthLink and SK Telecom will each could provide up to $100 million in additional funding to HELIO, their wireless voice and data services joint venture.EarthLink and SK Telecom have each approved initial funding of $30 million. EarthLink and SK Telecom had each previously announced that HELIO would require additional funding in 2007. http://www.earthlink....

Ikanos Partners with Atheros on VDSL2 Gateway with 802.11n

Ikanos Communications has partnered with Atheros Communications to develop a VDSL2 gateway reference platform based on Ikanos' Fusiv Vx180 processor and Atheros' dual-band concurrent and dual-band configurable XSPAN 802.11n draft 2.0 technology.The reference platform, which is aimed at Triple Play rollouts, supports 802.11n using less than one-half the processing power of comparable DSL platforms. This is accomplished by optimizing and running 802.11n drivers on Fusiv's distributed architecture, which includes a host CPU and multiple high-performance...

ARRIS Posts Q2 Revenue of $252.7 Million, Up 15%

ARRIS reported Q2 revenues of $252.7 million, up 14.9% as compared to $220.0 million in the second quarter 2006 and up 7.4% as compared to $235.3 million in the first quarter 2007. Net income was $23.3 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, and compares to net income of $24.8 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, in the second quarter 2006. Broadband product revenues were $77.4 million in the second quarter 2007 as compared to $98.8 million in the second quarter of 2006 and as compared to the first quarter 2007 level of $80.2 million. These results...

Monday, July 23, 2007

Nokia Acquires Twango for Media Sharing

Nokia has acquired Twango, a start-up based in Redmond, Washington, that offers a free, media-sharing service for photos, video, audio, Microsoft Office documents and PDFs. Twango is based in Redmond, Washington.Nokia said the acquisition of Twango enables it to offer people an easy way to share multimedia content through their desktop and mobile devices."The Twango acquisition is a concrete step towards our Internet services vision of providing...

Canada's Research Network Deploys Nortel's Metro Ethernet Optical

CANARIE, Canada's advanced network development organization, has deployed a new optical network from Nortel to more than quadruple its previous capacity. The CANARIE network in British Columbia and Alberta, and in Ontario and Québec has been enhanced with reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexing (ROADM) technology from Nortel. CANARIE also deployed Nortel's electronic Dynamically Compensating Optics (eDCO) which simplifies networking by extending wavelengths over 2,000 km without requiring dispersion compensation modules or their associated...

MSF Launches NGN Certification Program with Iometrix

The MultiService Forum confirmed plans to launch an NGN Certification Program and announced its selection of Iometrix as the host test lab. An initial pilot program is set to deliver results as early as Q4 2007.The MSF said its Certification Program will focus on areas of critical interest to both vendor and service provider members of the MSF, addressing key issues necessary to deliver multi-vendor practical open architecture solutions for Next...

BT appoints Sally Davis as chief executive of BT Wholesale

BT announced the appointment of Sally Davis as chief executive of BT Wholesale, replacing Dr Paul Reynolds, who leaves BT in September to take up the position of CEO of Telecom New Zealand. She reports to BT Group chief executive Ben Verwaayen. Until recently Sally was BT's Chief Portfolio Officer, leading the company's migration to new broadband and networked IT services. BT has Europe's largest wholesale business, delivering network services and solutions to more than 700 communications companies including fixed and mobile network operators,...

Navini Announces Commercial Availability of 802.16e Mobile WiMAX

Navini Networks announced the first commercial implementation of its 802.16e Mobile WiMAX software with beamforming. The first deployment is in Panama City, Panama, where operator Liberty Technologies has started implementing Navini's software upgrade to convert their network to 16e.Navini said its implementation of Mobile WiMAX with beamforming technology is compliant with the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard and ready for certification. http://www.navini.c...

Motorola Expands its MOTOMESH Line

Motorola has added two additional radio configurations for its MOTOMESH product series of municipal wireless networks. Motorola now offers 2.4/5.4GHz and 2.4/4.9GHz versions of MOTOMESH Duo, to expand its two radio meshed WiFi product, currently available in 2.4/5.8GHz configuration. The 5.4GHz model addresses the needs of international customers while the 4.9GHz model introduces secure and dedicated mesh networking at a price for public safety departments.Motorola said its MOTOMESH Duo, formerly named HotZone Duo, includes the addition of several...

Tellabs Report Q2 Revenue of $535 million, down 3%

Tellabs reported Q2 revenue of $535 million, down 3% from $549 million in the second quarter of 2006. Tellabs earned $30 million or 7 cents per share in the second quarter of 2007 on a GAAP basis, down 45% from $54 million or 12 cents per share in the second quarter of 2006. Some highlights:Broadband -- Second-quarter 2007 revenue from the broadband segment totaled $246 million, down 17% from $298 million in the second quarter of 2006. Within the broadband segment, second-quarter access revenue was $135 million, down 29% from $190 million in the...

Comcast, Sprint Expand Pivot Wireless Service

Comcast and Sprint are now offering their "Pivot" wireless service in Oregon and Southwest Washington, enabling consumers to link their wireless phone with their Comcast digital cable, high-speed Internet and digital voice products.With Pivot, customers can watch mobile television, view television listings using a programming guide similar to the one they use at home, check email and voicemail, search the Internet, make unlimited calls between their...

Sycamore Opens R&D Center in Shanghai

Sycamore Networks has opened an R&D center in Shanghai's Caohejing Hi-Tech Park. The facility, which currently employs over 30 networking engineers, will focus on advanced features for existing products as well as new product development. The company said these R&D initiatives include products that support intelligent multiservice switching, ASON control plane technology, and advanced IP/Ethernet interworking. Sycamore expects to more than double its Shanghai-based R&D resources by this time next year, and also expects to see significant...

KT Deploys Strix Systems for NESPOT WiFi Hotspots

KT is deploying Strix Systems' Access/One Network Outdoor Wireless Systems (OWS) in a wireless mesh network to support seamless mobile access to its NESPOT Wi-Fi internet service. KT's NESPOT integrates fixed-line and wireless services, offering wireless internet access to laptops, PDAs, and homes. In this first wave of deployments, Strix distributor Broadwave, Inc., of Korea installed the Strix network in cooperation with its sales partner, Hyundai HDS, at the award-winning Westin Chosun Hotel Busan beachfront hotel in Busan, Korea. In addition...

OPNET Introduces IPv6 Network Planning and Operations

OPNET Technologies released an IPv6 Planning and Operations module for its "IT Guru" Network Planner and "SP Guru" Network Planner Version 12.0. Key functionality of the IPv6 Planning and Operations module includes:An automated Network Readiness Assessment to determine if devices in the current production network are compatible with IPv6, including operating system version, routing, QoS, multicast, and security;< A design wizard that recommends various mechanisms for migration, such as tunneling IPv6 traffic through the IPv4 backbone, and...

Mexico's Cablemas Deploys Allot's DPI

Mexico's Cablemas has selected Allot's carrier-grade NetEnforcer bandwidth management devices to manage network traffic and improve overall QoS for subscribers. Cablemas selected Allot's NetEnforcer AC-2520 to deliver 5 Gbps throughput devices, which rely on DPI technology and QoS enforcement capabilities to provide customers with superior Quality of Experience. Allot said its solution enables Cablemas to pinpoint top bandwidth consumers and create policies to allocate bandwidth on a per-application basis. http://www.allot.com/http://www.cablemas.com/...

AT&T Sees Strong Wireless Growth

Citing strong growth in wireless services, AT&T reported Q2 revenues of $29.5 billion, up from $15.8 billion in the year-earlier quarter, prior to AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth and the accompanying consolidation of wireless results. AT&T's second-quarter 2007 reported earnings per diluted share were $0.47 versus $0.46 in the year-earlier quarter. Adjusted earnings per share, which exclude costs and accounting effects related to major...

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Corning Announces Bendable "nanoStructures" Optical Fiber

Corning Incorporated announced a "nanoStructures" optical fiber design that allows the cabled fiber to be bent around very tight corners with virtually no signal loss. This is especially useful in FTTH deployments in apartment building because exiting optical fiber installations lose signal strength and effectiveness when bent around corners and routed through a building.Corning described the nano fiber design as a breakthrough technology because...

IEEE 802.3 Working Group Targets 40 Gbps Ethernet, 100 Gbps Ethernet, Energy-Efficient Ethernet

The Ethernet Alliance reported that the IEEE 802.3 working group has accepted project authorization requests (PARs) for the next generation of Ethernet technologies, including 40 Gigabit Ethernet, 100 Gigabit Ethernet and Energy-Efficient Ethernet. The Higher Speed Study Group (HSSG) was formed in July 2006, and its proposal envisions a single project encompassing a 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) rate for server and storage applications and a 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE) rate for network aggregation. The Energy-Efficient Ethernet Study Group (EEESG)...