Finland's Corenet Deploys ROADM Mesh with ECI Telecom's XDM

Corenet, a leading telecom provider in Finland, has selected ECI Telecom's XDM all range ROADM platform for deployment of one of Europe's first and most advanced ROADM mesh networks. The key building blocks in this deployment are WSS ROADMs, full support of Optical Transport Network (OTN) for all services and "SDH-like" wavelength management.



ECI said its advanced ROADM network will allow Corenet to swiftly lease high-speed wavelength and sub-wavelength services across the region. By deploying WSS ROADMs and 10Gbps widely tunable transponders, Corenet will be able to provision services from any node to any node across the entire nationwide network. In addition, by relying on full OTN mapping and multiplexing of all services, including 10GE LAN, high-power variable-gain amplifiers and automatic power balancing, Corenet will be able to offer fully transparent SDH and data services with high QoS and interoperate with other carriers. Corenet will also be able to seamlessly add 40Gbps services to the network, once necessary. This new ROADM network will be deployed as an expansion to the existing XDM-based MSPP and DWDM backbone of Corenet, and the entire network is managed by ECI's LightSoft V3 management system.

http://www.ecitele.com

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Ericsson to Acquire Mobeon for Messaging Apps

Ericsson will acquire Mobeon AB, a supplier of IP-messaging applications.



Ericsson already owns 21 percent of Mobeon and is also the primary partner and original developer of Mobeon's CompEdge series of carrier-class messaging. Specifically, Mobeon produces the key component of Ericsson's Messaging over IP (MoIP) solution - an IP-based voice and video-mail solution for telecom operators. The largest MoIP installation has more than 26 million mailboxes.



Ericsson said the acquisition will accelerate development of its new messaging architecture, which will allow easier integration of new messaging applications with established messaging methods, such as SMS, voicemail and MMS, to maximize the addressable user base for these new messaging services.



Mobeon has 130 employees in Sweden and the UK.

http://www.ericsson.com

http://www.mobeon.com

• Ericsson's recent acquisition targets have included Tandberg TV, Entrisphere (GPON), Redback Networks and Marconi.

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Alcatel-Lucent Supplies Data/Optical Backbone for Europe's GÉANT2

Alcatel-Lucent and DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe Ltd) completed the roll out of a new converged optical-data network linking national research and education networks across Europe. The deployment was carried out in the framework of the GÉANT2 project launched in 2004 to connect approximately 3,500 scientific sites in 34 European countries to facilitate collaborative research.



GÉANT2 is engineered for core speeds of up to 400 Gbps. DANTE has deployed the Alcatel-Lucent 1626 Light Manager (LM) DWDM platform for long to ultra long-haul applications and the 1678 Connect (MCC) that converges optical and data switching capabilities on a single platform. The solution can support Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS), which can provide high network protection by enabling fast, automated re-routing if needed.



The Alcatel-Lucent 1350 management suite controls both the 1678 MCC and the 1626 LM equipment. Operation of the 1350 management suite is carried out by the GÉANT2 Network Operation Center (NOC) in Paris, France, with support from the Alcatel-Lucent NOC in Stuttgart, Germany. The GÉANT2 project is developing monitoring and management procedures to enhance inter-domain operations between the European backbone and its partners, the National Research and Education networks.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

http://www.geant2.net

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EU Seeks to Trim Mobile Roaming Charges

The EU's 27 Telecom Ministers met at the CeBIT show in Germany and agreed in principle to adopt new rules that would cut mobile phone roaming charges by June or July. The current proposal would be to cap roaming charges at EUR 0.50 per minute.



EU Telecom Commissioner Viviane Reding has been seeking even more aggressive price cuts. An EC proposal from July 2006 sought to reduce by up to 70% the charges consumers have to pay for using their mobile phone abroad.

http://www.europa.eu

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Hughes Introduces High-Speed BGAN Mobile Satellite Terminal

Hughes Network Systems' new 9250 mobile satellite terminal has been approved to operate over Inmarsat's Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN). The unit supports speeds of up to 464/464 Kbps transmit/receive, has a built-in Wi-Fi access point/router, and supports dedicated IP QoS at up to 128 kbps. It is also software upgradeable to the high-performance Class 11 land vehicular rating, which will operate with Inmarsat's BGAN-X network expected to be commercially launched later in 2007.
http://www.bgan.hughes.com/

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Verizon Begins Selling Novatel's EV-DO Rev. A Card

Verizon Wireless has begun selling Novatel Wireless' V740 ExpressCard EV-DO Rev. A card. Users can expect average download speeds of 600 kbps to 1.4 Mbps and average upload speeds of 500-800 kbps. The card features a dual-band diversity antenna system the incorporates a flip-up design, maximizing data speed performance and allowing for stronger network signal reception. The unit is priced at $179.99 with a new two-year customer agreement or $229.99 with a new one-year customer agreement.
http://www.verizonwireless.com

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Sonus Realigns Marketing to Target Growth Areas

Sonus Networks announce a realignment of its marketing to focus on key areas of growth for the company: Trunking Networks, Access Networks, Wireless Networks, and Applications. Steve Edwards, the company's current Chief Marketing Officer, is stepping down from his position to pursue other opportunities.



Sonus also plans to build its corporate brand on a global basis.
http://www.sonusnet.com/

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QUALCOMM and Nortel Sign Cross-License Agreement

QUALCOMM and Nortel announced an agreement that extends and expands the patent and product scope of their previous CDMA cross-license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, QUALCOMM has granted Nortel a royalty-bearing license under its patent portfolio to manufacture and sell infrastructure products for use in CDMA and GSM wireless networks, and Nortel has granted QUALCOMM a license under its patent portfolio to manufacture and sell components for use in CDMA subscriber devices (including multi-mode CDMA/GSM devices) and infrastructure products. "CDMA" includes CDMA2000(R), WCDMA and TD-SCDMA. The agreement also provides each party with additional patent rights beyond CDMA and GSM, but does not cover Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) / Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) (other than certain IEEE 802.11 and MediaFLO rights).

http://www.nortel.com

http://www.qualcomm.com

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Bookham Supplies 40 Gbps Tunable Laser Assembly

Bookham is supplying its LambdaFLEX integrable Tunable Laser Assembly (iTLA) to equipment vendors for use in 40 Gbps DWDM transmission systems. The device, which has already been extensively deployed in systems supporting 10 Gbps and below, has now been selected for use in 40 Gbps transmission systems, including the Mintera MI 40000XS next-generation subsystem for DWDM optical transport in metro, regional and ultra long-haul telecom networks. Mintera is currently shipping the MI 40000XS platform to customers worldwide.




Bookham said its LambdaFLEX integrable Tunable Laser Assembly (iTLA) is now in volume production at the company's manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, China. Based on the OIF MSA outline, the full-band tunable laser is supplied in module form, with control electronics and firmware. The Bookham tunable laser is built on a single InP optical chip, the DS-DBR, with no moving parts. This enables extremely fast wavelength tuning with excellent reliability, comparable to that offered by legacy DFB lasers.

http://www.bookham.com

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BigBand Networks Completes IPO

BigBand Networks completed an initial public offering of 10,700,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $13.00 per share.



BigBand's common stock is now listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "BBND".



Founded in December 1998, BigBand Networks is based in Redwood City, California. The company has a global customer base of more than 100 cable operators and telcos spanning North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. In the U.S. alone, BigBand Networks' customers include six of the top ten service providers.

http://www.bigbandnet.com

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Cisco to Acquire WebEx for Collaboration Service

Cisco Systems announced plans to acquire WebEx, a leading provider on online meetings and collaboration services, for $3.2 billion in cash. The acquisition will mark Cisco entrance into the market for business communication services. WebEx provides web conferencing, video conferencing, online seminars and other collaboration services.



"As collaboration in the workplace becomes increasingly important, companies are looking for rich communications tools to help them work more effectively and efficiently," said Charles H. Giancarlo, Chief Development Officer at Cisco. "The combination of Cisco and WebEx will deliver compelling solutions accelerating this next wave of business communications."



More than 3.5 million people use WebEx every month to communicate and collaborate online.



WebEx was founded in 1995 and held its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in July 2000. The company has close to 2200 employees. For FY2006, which ended December 31, 2006, WebEx reported revenues of $380 million.

http://www.cisco.com

http://www.webex.com

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Verizon Extends European Ethernet Private Line Services

Verizon Business has expanded the availability of its Ethernet Private Line (EPL) service to an additional six European countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland and Spain. Verizon Ethernet Private Line is already available in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.


http://www.verizon.com

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ECI Telecom Unveils Small Aggregation Platform for Metro

ECI Telecom introduced its XDM-300, the smallest Multi-ADM64 multi-service aggregation platform for metro access, metro edge, and wireless backhaul networks. The XDM-300 is positioned as a multi-service aggregation solution for fast growing applications such as wireless backhaul and Metro Ethernet services. The hybrid platform integrates high capacity and cost optimized CWDM with SDH sub-lambda grooming and efficient data transport. The XDM-300 is managed by ECI's multi- dimensional and multi-layered LightSoft management system, supporting existing and emerging metro transmission networks in a single shelf with a single network management system.

http://www.ecitele.com

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