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 $95 million in the comparable quarter last year and up approximately $4 million compared with the first quarter of 2007.


  • Revenues for the Broadband Access Division totaled $50 million for the quarter, down from $66 million in the comparable quarter last year and up from $45 million in the first quarter of 2007.


  • Veraz Networks completed its initial public offering (IPO) in NASDAQ and ECI recorded gains totaling close to $40 million. Following the offering, ECI owns 27.5% (23% on a fully diluted basis) of the common stock of Veraz Networks.


  • On July 2, 2007, ECI announced that it entered into a definitive merger agreement for the Company to be acquired by affiliates of the Swarth Group and certain funds that have appointed Ashmore Investment Management Limited as their investment manager. ECI now expects this deal to close in Fall 2007.


"I am pleased with our second quarter results as they reflect the continued positive momentum in our business. Our transport business remains strong, growing 15% year-over-year, its sixteenth consecutive quarter of revenue growth... Our broadband business also marked another positive quarter, with 13% sequential growth, driven primarily by healthy demand from the Division's two principal customers. At the same time, expanding our customer base remains a strategic focus of the Division and our efforts are progressing as planned," stated Rafi Maor, ECI's President and CEO.

http://www.ecitele.com

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, compared to income from continuing operations of $15.7 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2006.



During the quarter, Tekelec closed the sale of its Switching Solutions Group (SSG) to GENBAND.

http://www.tekelec.com

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.com

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://www.juniper.net

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 origination and termination services from Level 3.



Atlantic Broadband serves 286,000 customers located in four operating regions: central Pennsylvania, South Florida, Maryland/Delaware and Aiken, South Carolina.

http://www.ngt.com/http://www.atlanticbb.com

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 expense control," said Mark Canepa, president and CEO of Extreme Networks.

http://www.extremenetworks.com

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.
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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 and remote medical clinics. About half of the company's enterprise customer Ethernet ports are at 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps port speeds.



Time Warner Telecom claims to have connected more enterprise buildings with fiber than any other competitive carrier in the U.S..

http://www.twtelecom.com

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.com

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.com

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.com

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.com


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








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


Presented by Laura Howard


ECI Telecom

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 an auction for this spectrum no later than January 2008.



The "open access" requirement would allow consumers to use the handset of their choice and download and use applications of their choice, subject to "reasonable network management requirements that allows the licensee to protect the network from harm."



The FCC also approved a framework for a 700 MHz Public Safety / Private Partnership between the licensee for one of the commercial spectrum blocks and the licensee for the public spectrum block. Under this arrangement, the Public Safety licensee will have priority access to the commercial spectrum in times of emergency, and the commercial licensee will have preemptible, secondary access to the public safety broadband spectrum.







http://www.fcc.gov

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, Frame Relay and ATM/IMA support, and Any-to-Any Service Inter-working.



The new funding round was led by Foundation Capital and joined by all existing investors including Mayfield Fund, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, Pequot Ventures, Silver Creek Ventures and Apex Venture Partners. Hammerhead Systems has raised $98 million in total capital to date.

http://www.hammerheadsystems.com
  • In April, Hammerhead Systems announced plans for a PBT (Provider Backbone Transport) Service Gateway software capability for its HSX 6000 Layer 2.5 Aggregation Switch that will enable service providers to interwork PBT deployments with their MPLS backbones and growing VPLS installed base.


  • In April 2007, Hammerhead also enhanced its HSX 6000 platform with "Multi-Class" capabilities, enabling up to 6 different classes of service from a single customer VLAN attachment. Hammerhead's VPLS with Multi-Class is able to provide hierarchical QoS enforcement for segregating services. This enables service providers to more optimally match application requirements to pricing options at a fine-grained level.

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 a public company -- as it reflects our continued success in establishing ourselves as a leading systems company in the optical networking industry," said Jagdeep Singh, chief executive officer of Infinera.

http://www.infinera.com

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 DWDM architectures to a converged network. These benefits include protection and digital multicast features, as well as digital ROADM functionality that integrates DWDM transport with sub-wavelength switching and reconfigurability. In addition, Infinera's GMPLS service intelligence promises operational savings in terms of cost and speed of network deployments.

http://www.infinera.com

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.



The gross margin was lower than expected, as it was negatively impacted by continued significant investments in key markets, an unfavorable product and geographic mix as well as some impact from product related transition costs as customers migrate their networks. However, the company forecast sequential revenue growth as the year progresses, which implies a strong ramp-up in the second half 2007.



Some highlights:

  • Revenue for the carrier business segment was Euro 3,104 million compared to Euro 3,367 million in the year-ago quarter, a 5% decline at a constant Euro/USD exchange rate, or an 8% decline at current rate.


  • Revenue for the wireline business group was Euro 1,505 million compared to Euro 1,460 million in the year-ago quarter, a 7% increase at a constant Euro/USD exchange rate, or a 3% increase at current rate.


  • Revenue for the wireless business group was Euro 1,237 million compared to Euro 1,396 million in the year-ago quarter, a 8% decline at a constant Euro/USD exchange rate, or a 11% decline at current rate.


  • Revenue for the convergence business group was Euro 362 million compared to Euro 511 million in the year-ago quarter, a 27% decline at a constant Euro/USD exchange rate, or a 29% decline at current rate.


  • Revenue for the enterprise business segment was Euro 376 million compared to Euro 368 million in the year-ago quarter, a 5% increase at a constant Euro/USD exchange rate, or a 2% increase at current rate.


  • Revenue for the services business segment was Euro 750 million compared to Euro 699 million in the year-ago quarter, a 11% increase at a constant Euro/USD exchange rate, or a 7% increase at current rate.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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 from popular music subscription services such as Napster. And of course AT&T is supporting the iTunes store through its exclusive offering of the Apple iPhone. http://www.att.com

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 this private line solution to Leap with cost effective Ethernet handoffs.

http://www.level3.com/

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.

http://www.utstar.com

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 a cost-effective method to increase network capacity to support a surge in mobile phone users during the Games. More than 40,000 sports fans from around the world attended the Games.



Oi ("Hello" in Portuguese) provides mobile phone service to over 13.4 million customers throughout 16 states.

http://www.ditechnetworks.com

http://www.oi.com.br
  • Telemar adopted the "Oi" brand in March 2007.

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 and original equipment manufacturers to optimize their respective applications (VoIP, Video/Audio streaming), host interfaces (SDIO, SPI, Half Mini-card) and Operating Systems (Windows Mobile, Linux).

http://www.sychip.com


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 devices worldwide.



SiRF develops semiconductors and software for location-awareness utilizing GPS and other location technologies, enhanced by wireless connectivity capabilities such as Bluetooth, for high-volume mobile consumer devices and commercial applications.

http://www.sirf.com

http://www.intel.com

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 downloaded.

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.com

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 false or misleading statements about ShoreTel's alleged infringement, which were made on the eve of ShoreTel's initial public offering.

http://www.shoretel.com

http://www.mitel.com
  • Last week, Mitel Networks announced that it had filed a lawsuit against ShoreTel Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging infringement of four Mitel patents.

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 perimeter. The fully managed firewall service makes enforcement of customer's security policy an inherent part of the network across Intranet-, Extranet-, and Internet-based communications. The AT&T Premises -- Based Cisco ASA Firewall Option is available bundled with AT&T's Managed Internet Service or as a stand alone service to use on any internet service provider's connection.

http://www.att.com

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 with mandates that could significantly reduce the number of interested bidders. We remain committed to the principle that wireless consumers and American taxpayers are best served when such a valuable commodity is auctioned in a fair and competitive manner with no strings attached."



Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA's) Gary Shapiro: "With today's decision, consumers will soon enjoy the right to attach devices and download applications of their choosing to a portion of this spectrum. We urge the Commission to ensure that the auction of this spectrum remains on track so that consumers can quickly begin enjoying the benefits realized by the timely conclusion of the DTV transition."



Nokia's Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo: "Nokia believes that the Commission's rules are an important step towards meeting consumer demand and driving further innovation as mobility and the Internet converge. We commend the FCC and Chairman Martin for taking the initiative to promote even greater competition and innovation in the U.S. wireless industry."http://www.fcc.gov

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 Verizon Wireless coverage by 4.7 million licensed POPs (population).



Verizon Wireless said it plans to deploy CDMA service in Rural Cellular's existing GSM markets and convert the GSM customers to CDMA service. Verizon Wireless, however, anticipates maintaining Rural Cellular's existing GSM networks to continue serving the roaming needs of other GSM carriers' customers.



Verizon Wireless expects to realize more than $1 billion in synergies in reduced roaming and operations expenses.

http://www.verizonwireless.com

http://www.unicel.com

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.com

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% year-on-year to 121.8 million) thanks to the solid increase in the broadband segment and a robust mobile market.



Telefónica O2 Europe, which continues to focus its efforts on capturing and retention the value customers, saw its total accesses advance 7.4% to 39.8 million.



The company ended June with over 4.2 million retail broadband accesses in Spain (+30.4% year-on-year), 4.4 million in Latin America (+36.8% year-on-year) and 0.5 million in Europe (+60.9% year-on-year) after posting net adds in the second quarter of 206,000, 335,000 and 35,000 respectively.



Pay TV accesses at the end of the quarter 2007 totaled 1.3 million, 64.5% more than a year before, with operations in Spain, the Czech Republic, Peru, Chile and Colombia.



Telefónica España contributed the most to consolidated Group revenues, accounting for 36.6%. In the first semester of 2007, revenues at Telefónica España topped EUR 10,191 million, 5.4% higher than in the same period in 2006, building on the growth seen in the previous quarter.

http://www.telefonica.es/saladeprensa

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:



Wireless

  • 1.6 million retail net customer additions; 1.3 million total net customer additions after reseller reductions. This gives the company a total of 60.1 million retail customers and 62.1 million total customers.


  • Churn was 1.08 percent retail and record 0.85 percent retail post-paid.


  • Wireless revenues totaled $10.8 billion, up 17.1 percent. Service revenues were $9.4 billion, up 17.0 percent, driven by customer growth and demand for data services.


  • Retail service ARPU (average monthly revenue per customer) was $51.84, up 3.0 percent year over year.


Wireline

  • Added167,000 net new FiOS TV customers in quarter. This gives Verizon 515,000 total FiOS TV customers; and nearly 1.3 million total video customers, including satellite TV.

  • At the end of the quarter, Verizon had 7.7 million total broadband connections (FiOS Internet and DSL), up 25.5 percent, including 288,000 net new broadband connections in quarter; 203,000 net new FiOS Internet customers in quarter, 1.1 million total FiOS Internet customers.

  • Data revenues across all market segments increased 11.6 percent, to $4.4 billion. This reflects increasing revenues from consumer broadband -- such as FiOS services and Verizon High Speed Internet (DSL) -- as well as from wholesale data transport and sales of Verizon Business data services.


  • Verizon Business reported second-quarter 2007 revenues of $5.3 billion, or growth of 2.4 percent compared with the second quarter 2006 on an adjusted basis (non-GAAP).

http://www.verizon.com

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.com

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 and cable and numeric association models.



Wisair noted that its chip can deliver full-room coverage with connectivity ranges of 8 meters at 480Mbps and over 20 meters at 200 Mbps. For mobile devices where battery life is key, the WSR601 provides power-save modes and an average power consumption of 385 mW at 100 Mbps throughput.

http://www.wisair.com/

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, which XO implemented last year with the initial expansion of its network.



XO Communications has also extended the availability of its 3 Guarantee Program, which was initiated earlier this year to offer carriers, cable companies, content providers, large enterprises and wireless companies increased incentives to leverage XO's suite of inter-city and metro network transport solutions, including Ethernet, IP Transit, and Wavelength services.



XO also noted the following milestones:

  • A 514% increase in sales orders for high-capacity inter-city network transport services from Q1 2006 to Q1 2007;


  • New wins with major domestic and international telecommunications carriers, online gaming, content and Internet-centric companies including China Netcom USA, GameRail, NTT America and PCCW Global.


http://www.xo.com

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 corporate and product strategy, corporate research, R&D investment, mergers and acquisition (M&A) strategy, participation in venture funds, and patents and intellectual property. While at Alcatel, he also held various general management roles, including managing the Alcatel access and metro optical business in the U.S. Dr. Ransom joined Alcatel from BellSouth where he directed an organization responsible for expanding BellSouth's offerings into PCS wireless, IP, video, and advanced intelligent networks.



Phil Holmes, a former Director of Architecture and Technology for Motorola Networks in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), was responsible for ensuring that Motorola's overall network architecture developed in line with advances in telecommunications in the EMEA region and GSM/UMTS marketplace. Phil joined Motorola in September 2005 following a long and highly successful career with BT. Prior; he was CTO of BT Exact.

http://www.apptrigger.com

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.com

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.net

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 Terry Unter, Mintera CEO. http://www.mintera.com

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 15dB of maximum optical gain over G652 fiber. The amplifiers provide flat response for the entire C-band with the optional ability to be configured to other wavelength ranges.



MRV supports several protection techniques including automatic optical shut down upon detection of fiber break or open connector.

http://www.mrv.com

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 security appliance, which associates network packets with unique user IDs and the user's group affiliation. This allows cloaking and access policies to be defined in simple, easy to manage rules aligned with organizational group definitions. Access policies can be designed to be extremely granular down to a particular application, or specific server.



For example, a user within an organization's engineering department can be prevented from sending/receiving traffic to or from an HR application server. Unlike other access control technologies, it doesn't matter where the engineering user accesses the network from, or how the LAN is segmented, or what workstation he uses. The policy for his role is enforced everywhere in the network. Unauthorized packets are dropped before ever reaching their destination, removing the need for mission critical servers and applications to defend themselves from potential intruders, who can still overwhelm systems with attack attempts.

http://www.nevisnetworks.com

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 LLC will be acting as co-managers.
http://www.entropic.com
  • In June 2007, Entropic Communications introduced a new version of its c.LINK Coaxial Network Processor for home networking of digital entertainment. Entropic's solution uses existing coax cabling, found in more than 90 percent of all households in the U.S., for distribution of multiple high definition and standard definition video, digital voice and broadband data.



    Entropic said its latest chipset can sustain performance of 270 Mbps. It operates at RF frequencies between 850 to 1500 MHz, allowing coexistence with the frequencies used by wired delivery services. The EN2210 carries key protocols such as IEEE 1394 and Ethernet, the latter making for an easy transition to IP television. c.LINK is essentially IP over coax. It also has embedded all of the required yet still evolving digital rights management (DRM) formats and protocols.



    Entropic's c.LINK is the core technology behind the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA-TM) MAC/PHY 1.0 specification.

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.com

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. The platform is integrated with a subscriber-centric Fixed Mobile Convergence solution, roaming features, a service profile creation toolkit, and a web craft interface (WebCI). http://www.blueslice.com


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.eu
  • In 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 billion.

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 was a regional president managing the company's California, Nevada, and Hawaii regions. http://www.yahoo.com

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.gov
  • On 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 when he knew, but did not disclose publicly, that Qwest was unlikely to continue to meet its publicly announced earnings targets as that year progressed. In June 2002, Nacchio was forced to resign as CEO, when the companies financial troubles became apparent.

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 that developed the pioneering dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) optical system. He is a 46-year veteran of Bell Labs.



Dr.James Edward West, currently Research Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, is being recognized for co-inventing the electret microphone with Gerhard Sessler while working at the Bell Labs, one of over 200 patents that he received. Ninety percent of the 2 billion microphones produced annually and used in everyday items such as telephones, hearing aids, camcorders and multimedia computers employ electret technology.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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 his expertise in customer support and service delivery.

http://www.huawei.com

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.com
  • Earlier this month, VMware announced that Intel Capital will invest $218.5 million in VMware's Class A common stock.

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.

http://www.cisco.com

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 to increase its share buyback program allows the company to continue to return cash to shareholders."http://www.cisco.com

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.com

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.com


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 its WiMAX ecosystem infrastructure and device partnerships.



"Google and Sprint will optimize the Internet experience for the digital lifestyle," said Barry West, president, 4G Mobile Broadband for Sprint. "This collaboration brings what will be the best mobile Internet network together with the leading Internet search company. It allows us to capitalize on the powerful mobility and Internet trends, and create wireless services and applications that take advantage of each company's history of product development innovation."



Sprint also confirmed plans to provide open standard APIs (application programming interfaces) to its go-to-market partners and the Internet developer community to create customized products for browsable devices, facilitating the delivery of personalized and interactive services to consumer, business, public safety and government customers. These services will be available in a variety of WiMAX embedded devices, including connection cards, stand-alone modems, laptop computers and consumer electronic devices such as personal media players, mobile Internet devices, gaming devices and phones. Eventually, the WiMAX service will be available in vehicles for navigation information, news and entertainment.

http://www.sprint.com

http://www.google.com
  • Earlier this month, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire agreed to jointly build a nationwide mobile broadband network using WiMAX technology and to promote the global development of WiMAX-based services. The partnership significantly reduces the cost of network construction and is expected to accelerate the rollout of a 4G service.

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 performance to any employee, whether on the road, working from home or connected wirelessly in the office. The Steelhead Mobile software accelerates application performance on laptops. Many file downloads that once took mobile or remote workers an hour can be completed in a couple of minutes or seconds, according to the company.

http://www.riverbed.com

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 to be completed by the end of 2007. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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 mobile technology with Alcatel-Lucent's wired network infrastructure and communication/collaboration applications suite. The goal is to allow enterprises to benefit from secure mobility, including mobile communication and collaboration, without comprising the integrity of their business critical network traffic. The solution will be designed to identify, authenticate, and manage users regardless of the means by which they access the network. Alcatel-Lucent will market and sell this mobility solution.



Aruba's user-centric networking technology associates security policies with users, instead of ports or hardware. The policies can be enforced independently of how or where a user accesses the network.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

http://www.arubanetworks.com

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.com

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 for over seven years.

http://www.above.nethttp://www.nortel.com

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 existing institutional investors including Selby Venture Partners, Needham Capital, Pacifica Fund, Glenbrook Capital, Crossbridge Partners and Franklin Park Investment Partners also participated in this most recent round.

http://www.baymicrosystems.com


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.com/

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 Networks. "Our teams are focused and continue to deliver on our key business objectives, which has resulted in our fourth consecutive quarter of record revenue.

http://www.foundrynetworks.com

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.tw/


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 cable subscribers in the second quarter of 2007 -- the highest level of quarterly digital additions in company history.


  • The number of digital subscribers rose to 14 million or 59% of video subscribers -- an increase from 48% digital penetration one year ago.


  • During Q2, Comcast Installed a record 2.1 million digital set-top boxes -- roughly equal to that deployed in the previous six months combined.


  • Basic cable subscribers decreased by 95,000 to 24.1 million during the second quarter of 2007 in what is historically a weak quarter for basic subscriber additions.


  • HSD: Added 330,000 high-speed Internet subscribers during the second quarter - penetration now exceeds 26%. Comcast ended the second quarter of 2007 with 12.4 million high-speed Internet subscribers.


  • VoIP -- added 671,000 Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) customers during the quarter and surpassed 3 million CDV customers and 8% penetration.




http://www.comcast.com

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 u-velOSity realtime operating system (RTOS) and will utilize the MULTI Professional Edition integrated development environment.
http://www.qualcomm.com

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 increase was due primarily to the growth in long-haul transport services and Vyvx broadcast services.


  • IP and Data revenue declined primarily as a result of the implementation of new prices under a contract renewal by the company's largest high-speed IP customer.


  • In the second quarter 2007, the percent of Core Communications Services revenue by each market group was as follows: Wholesale Markets Group - 56 percent; Business Markets Group - 27 percent; Content Markets Group - 10 percent; European Markets Group - 7 percent.


"While we have a great deal of work remaining, we made good progress on our overall integration of acquired companies," said James Q. Crowe, CEO of Level 3.


http://www.level3.com

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.com/

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 for eMTAs, which will be worth about EUR 650 million this year alone according to market research firm Dell'Oro.

http://www.thomson.net

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 not disclosed.



The end-to-end network, operating in the 3.5GHz frequency band, will comprise WiMAX infrastructure, IMS core, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), voice and data applications, and operational and business support systems. Under the terms of the contract, Motorola will also take responsibility for the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, as well as the technical operations of the project and management of the entire WiMAX/IMS network.



Mena Telecom expects the network to be ready for service by the fourth quarter of 2007. In the first phase, a full range of services is expected to be available from Manama to the Seef Area beginning in January 2008. In the second phase, coverage will be extended to other areas in the Kingdom by March 2008.

http://www.motorola.com


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 users to start with a single system that can be expanded to a large transcoding server farm, and includes features such as load balancing and failover protection for maximum reliability. Rhozet is based in Santa Clara, California.



Harmonic said the addition of Rhozet's software transcoding technology will enable Harmonic's existing broadcast, cable, satellite, and telco customers to seamlessly create and deliver high quality Internet and mobile video programming. It is also expected to expand Harmonic's presence into the online video service provisioning market, where Rhozet's transcoding solutions are today in use by leading Web video content providers including Amazon.com, MSN and Yahoo!.

http://www.harmonicinc.com

http://www.rhozet.com

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 measures will have a positive economic effect on the sector and promote the take-up of new wireless services. Estimates given by the sector itself suggest that in Europe the wireless communications industry may achieve cumulative capital expenditures reductions of up to 40% in network costs over five years.

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/radio_spectrum/

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.com

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.



"While we continue to capture market share among satellite operators with our powerful MPEG-4 AVC high-definition video encoding solutions, we are also seeing success with our strategy to extend our satellite solution footprint to include video-on-demand and innovative video processing."http://www.harmonicinc.com

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 take rate voice, data and video services in low-density applications. Combining the two blades will integrate subscriber DSL and POTS ports with Gigabit Ethernet transport capabilities allowing them to be 100% DSL equipped.



Foothills Telephone Cooperative serves over 15,000 residential and business customers throughout Johnson, Lawrence and Magoffin Counties in Kentuckyhttp://www.occamnetworks.com

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 data at speeds in excess of 160 Mbps to consumers and at 120 Mbps or more upstream from consumers. DOCSIS 3.0 also incorporates support for IPv6.



CableLabs noted that SG 9 has in the recent past begun the process of producing the second generation of standards known as IPCablecom. These standards, identified as PacketCable 2.0 in the U.S., provide the specifications for delivering advanced, real-time multimedia services over cable operators' networks. The initial set of IPCablecom2 Recommendations, covering the core elements of the PacketCable 2.0 architecture, was consented by the study group in 2006. The additional standards consented during the Singapore meeting add Home Subscriber Server (HSS) functionality to the architecture. The HSS provides key mechanisms needed to support subscriber mobility and roaming.



A new draft standard has been produced that defines service level requirements and an architectural framework for cable networks to provide new services based IPTV. The new draft standard is extensive and includes requirements for network elements as well as CPE, including middleware application interfaces which consist of software libraries that provide uniform access to system services. It leverages existing deployed cable technologies, such as MPEG, DOCSIS, GEM (Globally Executable MHP), and IPCablecom to provide a smooth path for cable operators to integrate IPTV into their networks.
http://www.cablelabs.com

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," said Carlton Hill, vice president of Voice Products and Devices for AT&T's wireless unit. "Because of this, we are excited to offer a secure backup option to protect this important information."



AT&T Mobile Backup is powered by Asurion, a provider of enhanced services to the wireless industry. The product will be available on compatible handsets for $1.99 a month.
http://mobilebackup.att.com/

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.net

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 Accelerator Processors.



Ikanos' Fusiv Vx180 is a single chip, multi-mode VDSL2 gateway processor that provides up to 2.7 GHz of processing power, on-chip VoIP, virtual private network (VPN) security, routing and bridging, while supporting QoS and wire speed performance.



Ikanos and Atheros will jointly market the fully integrated residential gateway reference designs to DSL service providers and their gateway equipment suppliers. The joint reference platform is now available. It is the first in a series of 802.11n-enabled solutions to be developed by Ikanos and Atheros to support VDSL2, ADSL2+ and Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) gateway solutions.

http://www.ikanos.com

http://www.atheros.com

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 reflect the previously anticipated and disclosed decline of CBR telephony product sales.



Supplies & CPE product revenues were $175.3 million in the second quarter 2007 as compared to $121.2 million in the second quarter 2006 and compared to $155.1 million in the first quarter of 2007.



International sales were $67.8 million in the second quarter 2007 and compare to $58.2 million in the second quarter 2006 and $60.5 million in the first quarter 2007.



Gross margins for the second quarter 2007 were 28.6%, and as expected, were down slightly from the first quarter 2007 gross margin results of 29.2%. http://www.arrisi.com

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 seamless access to information, entertainment, and social networks - at anytime, anywhere, from any connected device, in any way that you choose. We have the most complete suite of connected multimedia experiences including music, navigation, games, and - with the Twango acquisition - photos, videos, and a variety of document types," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Multimedia, Nokia.

http://www.nokia.com

http://www.twango.com/

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 amplifiers. The network also includes Nortel Optical Multiservice Edge 6500, an optical convergence platform that efficiently manages and transports converged TDM, data and wavelength services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.nortel.com

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 Generation Networks (NGNs).



The pilot program, scheduled for Q4 this year, will concentrate on verifying the technical components of RTCP implementations in media gateways and SIP end points, and the accuracy of the network statistics that they report. The RTP/RTCP protocol addresses the measurement and reporting of network quality for real-time applications such as VoIP, and any differences in implementation or faulty reporting between the very large number and types of nodes running these protocols would seriously degrade the network operation and damage application performance.



The NGN network components subject to certification in the pilot phase include SIP endpoints and SIP phones, residential gateways (CPE), access gateways, trunking gateways, media servers and session border gateways. The test scenarios include point-to-point calls -- initiating calls between software under test and emulated endpoint and verifying that basic RTCP jitter, delay, packet loss, packet duplication and short calls are reported correctly by the end systems -- as well as complex calls, verifying that a mixer maintains the correct RTCP statistics for each RTP sessions it supports. Also, when a destination endpoint is changed, verifying that the end-point clears the statistics for the old media path and reports the statistics accurately for the new media path.

http://www.msforum.orghttp://www.iometrix.com/

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, ISP's and other service providers.

http://www.btplc.com

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.com/


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 new features:

  • Flexible and adaptable internet gateways -- Gateway nodes adapt to the potential loss of backhaul by instantaneously changing into wireless routers and routing traffic to an alternate gateway in the network.


  • Advanced management tools for web-based device configuration.


  • Dual-meshing capability -- Each 2.4/4.9GHz MOTOMESH Duo unit equipped with two, single-radio mesh devices that provide both access and backhaul capabilities. Spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band can be dedicated to public safety access and backhaul using one radio, while
    public access and backhaul are provided by the second, 2.4 GHz radio.
    Additionally, Motorola's dual band 2.4 GHz/4.9 GHz PCMCIA card delivers the capabilities of private, dedicated 4.9 GHz spectrum and designated 2.4 GHz spectrum for public access -- all in a single client access card.



http://www.motorola.com

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 second quarter of 2006. Second-quarter managed access revenue was $77 million, down 11% from $86 million in the second quarter of 2006. Second-quarter data revenue was a record $35 million, up 56% from $22 million in the year-ago quarter.


  • Transport -- Second-quarter 2007 transport revenue totaled $223 million, including deferred revenue from two prior quarters, up 10% from $202 million in the second quarter of 2006.


  • Services -- Second-quarter 2007 services revenue was $66 million, including deferred revenue from two prior quarters, up 34% from $49 million in the second quarter of 2006.
http://www.tellabs.com

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 digital voice and wireless phones without using wireless plan minutes and receive one consolidated monthly bill for all their services. Calling plans for Pivot start at $33 a month with multimedia plans offering television content and online access starting at an extra $15 a month. Supported handsets include the Fusic II by LG, Motorazr V3m by Motorola, 8500 Katana DLX by Sanyo, Sanyo 6500 (Katana II) and Samsung M510.

http://www.comcast.com/pivothttp://www.sprint.com

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 growth in the center over the next several years.

http://www.sycamorenet.com

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 to installing Strix OWS mesh networks at hotels, airports, and major metro areas such as Seoul, Incheon, and Dangjin that KT serves, Broadwave expects to install the Strix networks for many customers in factories, on islands, in coastal areas, and in any other areas that can benefit from a wireless mesh network.



Since launching the NESPOT service in February 2002, KT has deployed about 27,000 access points at 12,000 sites, including universities, banks, airports, and transportation terminals, and has gained more than 440,000 subscribers.

http://www.strixsystems.com
  • In February 2007, Strix announced a strategic investment from Samsung Ventures. Samsung Electronics is a leading supplier of WiMAX equipment worldwide. Financial terms were not disclosed.

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 leveraging dual-stack devices;
  • <

  • Analytics that develop capacity and configuration recommendations to preserve network performance after migration.
http://www.opnet.com

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 acquisitions, were $0.70, up 20.7 percent versus adjusted earnings per share of $0.58 in the year-earlier quarter. Some highlights for the quarter:

  • AT&T had 63.7 million wireless subscribers at the end of Q2,up by 1.5 million in the quarter.


  • Wireless service revenues grew 14.9 percent versus the year-earlier quarter to $9.5 billion. Total wireless revenues, which in addition to services include revenues from sales of handsets and accessories, were up 12.7 percent to $10.4 billion.


  • Wireless data revenues increased 66.9 percent versus the year-earlier quarter to $1.7 billion -- driven by strong increases in both consumer and business data usage including messaging, downloads, media bundles, laptop connectivity, smart phone connectivity and enterprise vertical market solutions. At the end of second quarter, AT&T's wireless operations had nearly 37 million active data users, up 39 percent over the past year.


  • Total service ARPU in the second quarter was $50.63, up 3.6 percent.


  • During the first two days of iPhone availability in late June, AT&T activated 146,000 iPhone subscribers, more than 40 percent of them new subscribers.


  • AT&T's enterprise revenues were $4.8 billion, up 2.0 percent sequentially and down 2.1 percent versus the year-earlier quarter. This represents an improvement from declines in the first quarter of this year of 4.1 percent sequentially and 4.0 percent versus the year-earlier quarter.


  • Regional business revenues increased 4.5 percent versus the year-earlier second quarter with growth in both voice and data services. Regional business revenues from small and midsized firms increased more than 6 percent, consistent with year-over-year growth in the first quarter of this year.


  • Regional consumer revenues increased 0.4 percent, driven by a net gain of 946,000 regional consumer connections (retail access lines, high speed Internet plus video connections) over the past year.


  • Consumer primary lines declined by 193,000 in the second quarter versus a pro forma decline of 528,000 for the year-earlier quarter.


  • U-verseAt the end of the second quarter, AT&T had 51,000 U-verse video subscribers, up from 13,000 three months earlier. Total video connections, which include AT&T U-verse service and bundled satellite television service, increased by 200,000 in the second quarter to 1.9 million. At the end of the second quarter, 5.9 percent of AT&T's primary consumer lines also had a video solution from AT&T, up from 3.8 percent a year earlier. AT&T U-verse services are now available in parts of 23 metro areas, and sales and installations have ramped significantly.


  • AT&T's high speed Internet connections, which include DSL, AT&T U-verse high speed Internet and satellite broadband services, increased by 400,000 in the quarter, reflecting typical seasonality due to end-of-school-year disconnects. At the end of the quarter, AT&T had 13.3 million consumer and business high speed Internet connections, up 2.2 million, or 20.0 percent, versus pro forma totals a year earlier. Across AT&T's regional operations, 35.0 percent of its consumer primary lines now have the company's broadband service, up from 27.8 percent one year earlier.
http://www.att.com

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 it changes the way light travels through a fiber. The result is fiber that is 100 times more bendable that existing single-mode fiber. The new fiber also enables simpler and more aesthetically pleasing designs for the cable, hardware and equipment used in the deployment.



"This is a game-changing technology for telecommunications applications," said Peter F. Volanakis, president and chief operating officer at Corning. "We have developed an optical fiber cable that is as rugged as copper cable but with all of the bandwidth benefits of fiber. By making fundamental changes in the way light travels in the fiber, we were able to create a new optical fiber that is over 100 times more bendable than standard fibers."



Corning said it has been collaborating with Verizon Communications on this technology. In February of this year, Corning and Verizon commissioned a joint working team to solve the problems of multiple dwelling unit installation using this new fiber solution.



Corning plans to introduce a full suite of optical fiber, cable and hardware and equipment solutions based on its nanoStructures technology this fall.

http://www.corning.com

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) was formed in November 2006, and its proposal envisions a protocol to permit power savings in Ethernet networking equipment.



The HSSG investigated the needs and requirements for the next speed of Ethernet technology. A key finding was a divergence in bandwidth demand between the networking and computing industries. It was discovered 100GbE would likely best meet the demands of the next generation Internet backbone and network aggregation points. In enterprise computing, 40GbE better matches the bandwidth demand driven by server technologies such as host bus interfaces, memory speeds, and multi-core processing.



The HSSG has established a set of objectives including copper and optical physical layer (PHY) interfaces tailored for the intended applications. The 40GbE rate includes PHY solutions to cover distances up to 100 meters, and the 100GbE rate includes PHY solutions to cover distances up to 40 kilometers.

Other design objectives include preserving the 802.3 / Ethernet frame by utilizing the 802.3 Ethernet MAC;





The EEESG investigated the technical feasibility and market potential for a protocol to change the link speed on-the-fly to realize power savings in under-utilized links. The EEESG has established a set of objectives to include unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) copper cabling links and backplane Ethernet links.



The Ethernet Alliance is an industry group whose mission is to accelerate industry adoption and remove barriers to market entry by providing a cohesive, market-responsive industry voice on IEEE 802 Ethernet projects.

http://www.ethernetalliance.orghttp://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/3/hssg/index.html