Wednesday, June 6, 2007

P&TLuxembourg Selects Thomson's SmartVisionTV

P&TLuxembourg, the country's incumbent operator, selected Thomson's SmartVisionTV platform for its new TV service, schedule for launch at the end of 2007.



Using Thomson's SmartVisionTV, P&TLuxembourg plans to offer approximately 80 live TV channels, several PayTV bouquets, video on demand services, as well as advanced features such as Personal Video Recording (PVR), Time Shift TV and Electronic Programme Guides (EPG). The service will be offered in three different languages.

http://www.thomson.net

Limelight Boosts IPO, Raising over $230 Million

Limelight Networks, a leading provider of content delivery services, boosted the price of its initial public offering of 16.5 million shares to over $14, raising at least $230 million. Shares are expected to begin trading on Friday on NASDAQ under the symbol "LLNW".



Limelight's content delivery network, which boasts a global aggregate delivery capacity in excess of 1 Tbps, is used by over 800 traditional and emerging media companies, including Akimbo, ABC Radio Networks, Belo Interactive, Brightcove, "BuyMusic" @ Buy.com, DreamWorks, LLC, Facebook, FOXNews.com, IFILM, ITV Play, Marimba, MSNBC.com, MySpace, NC Interactive, Real Networks Rhapsody, Radio Free Virgin, Valve Software, and Xbox Live..



Limelight Networks offers three primary delivery services: Content Delivery, providing HTTP/web distribution of all digital media formats; Streaming Media, providing on-demand and live streaming for all major formats including Windows Media, Flash, QuickTime, Real, and MP3; and Custom CDN, which include custom content delivery deploymentshttp://www.limelightnetworks.com
  • June 2006, Akamai and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) filed suit against Limelight alleging infringement of its content delivery technology.


  • In July 2006, Limelight Networks announced a $130 million equity financing round led by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.

Infinera Soars in IPO, Raises $182 Million

Shares in Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) rose 51% on their first day of trading to close at $19.70. The company had offered 14 million shares at an initial price of $13, raising $182 million for the company.



Infinera offers a unique optical transport system. Unlike conventional optical systems, which use analog optical devices for key networking functions, the Infinera DTN uses digital technology. Its photonic integrated circuits convert all traffic from optical to electronic signals, allowing the DTN to add and drop, multiplex, groom, and protect circuits digitally rather than optically.



Infinera developed a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that incorporates 100 Gbps of transmit and receive capacity and the functionality of more than 60 discrete optical components into a pair of indium phosphide chips..



Announced deployments include Level 3 Communications, XO Communications, Internet2, ESNet, FLAG Telecom, Global Crossing, CityNet, BOREAS-NET, Telekenex, and the State of New Mexico General Services Department.

http://www.infinera.com
  • Infinera is headed by Mr. Jagdeep Singh (President and CEO, Founder), who previously was General Manager of CIENA's Core Switching Division. Previously, Singh headed Lightera Networks, another optical start-up that was acquired by CIENA.


  • In February, Reed Hundt, who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 1993 to 1997, has joined the Infinera board of directors.



ARRIS Supplies CMTS for Scandinavia's Canal Digital

Canal Digital, which delivers digital channels and IP services to over 2.9 million Scandinavian households, has selected the ARRIS C4 CMTS platform to deliver broadband Internet and VoIP service to its customer base in Denmark.



Canal Digital is planning to implement wideband DOCSIS service based on the ARRIS FlexPath technology, using the ARRIS C4 CMTS and ARRIS Touchstone Wideband Modem WBM650.



Canal Digital was founded as a joint venture between French pay-TV provider CANAL+ and Norwegian national telecoms operator Telenor. Since 2003, it has been wholly owned and operated by Telenor.

http://www.arrisi.com

Level 3 Selected for Pennsylvania's "Wall Street West"

Level 3 Communications was selected to be the exclusive network provider for Wall Street West, a Federal and Pennsylvania-funded initiative to provide back-up systems to New York City's financial institutions. Level 3 will construct a diverse fiber optic network from New York City to Northeastern Pennsylvania. The contract covers network infrastructure and services between the two regions, a workforce development program, and other financial incentives.



Network construction is targeted to begin over the next 12 months.

http://www.level3.com

Former Alcatel Exec Pleads Guilty in Costa Rica Bribery Case

Christian Sapsizian, a former Alcatel CIT executive, pleaded guilty to participating in the payment of more than $2.5 million in bribes to senior Costa Rican government officials in order to obtain a mobile telephone contract from Costa Rica's state-owned telecommunications authority. Sapsizian entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Miami.



Sapsizian was employed by Alcatel or one of its subsidiaries for more than 20 years. At the time the corrupt payments were made, Sapsizian was the company's deputy vice president responsible for Costa Rica.



Sapsizian admitted that from February 2000 through September 2004, he conspired with co-defendant Edgar Valverde Acosta, a Costa Rican citizen who was Alcatel's senior country Officer in Costa Rica, and others to pay more than $2.5 million in bribes to senior Costa Rican officials in order to obtain a mobile telephone contract on behalf of Alcatel. The payments, funneled through one of Alcatel's Costa Rican consulting firms, were made to a director of Instituto Costarrisence de Electricidad (ICE), the state-owned telecommunications authority in Costa Rica, which was responsible for awarding all telecommunications contracts.



Sapsizian faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and $330,000 in forfeiture.

http://www.usdoj.gov

Vitesse Surpasses 40 Million Gigabit Ethernet PHY Ports

Vitesse Semiconductor reached a company milestone: it has shipped in excess of 40 million Gigabit Ethernet (GE) PHY ports worldwide, doubling its total shipment number in just under a year.



Vitesse GE PHY solutions are used in a wide variety of applications ranging from metro and access telecom networking to the large enterprise and home networking markets.



Additionally, these devices have effectively penetrated the high-volume Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) switch and CPE markets when paired with Vitesse's Gigabit Ethernet switching ICs.

http://www.vitesse.com

Intellon: 10 Million HomePlug IC's Shipped

Intellon has now shipped more than 10 million HomePlug-based powerline communications ICs to OEMs and service providers worldwide. The HomePlug-based ICs are used for a wide range of applications including in-home data networking, Wi-Fi and Ethernet extension, audio and video streaming, online gaming and home monitoring. http://www.intellon.com

Ericsson to Supply HSPA-enabled 3G Net in Argentina

Argentina's Personal selected Ericsson to build an HSPA-enabled 3G network while expanding and modernizing its existing network with a Mobile Softswitch solution. Under the agreement, Ericsson will provide new 3G/HSPA core and radio networks, including the Mobile Softswitch. Ericsson will also be the prime-integrator for the network and will provide business consulting services.



Ericsson's HSPA solution enables top download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps and upload speeds of 1.4Mbps. Ericsson said the technology lets operators more than double their system capacity and cut response times for interactive services. On average, users will be able to download 20 times faster than with a GSM/GPRS connection. Future evolution steps will increase the HSPA download speed to 42 Mbps and the upload speed to 12 Mbps. Ericsson offers HSPA support on many frequency bands ranging from 850MHz to 2.6GHz.

http://www.ericsson.com


DSL Forum Selects HomePlug as Powerline Spec for TR-069 Gateways

The DSL Forum has selected HomePlug as the Power Line Technology (PLT) of choice to interface to TR-069 compliant residential gateways.



TR-069 standards-based solutions are designed to centralize the management, control, monitoring, and delivery of services, as well as simplify device configuration, remote management and service activation.



"Though the DSL Forum work is LAN access agnostic, we reference HomePlug technology in Technical Reports 069 and 124 (TR-069, TR-124) as the powerline technology of choice for in-home networking implementations for TR-069 compliancy. This was driven by the strong standards-based approach that HomePlug supports today," said George Dobrowski, chairman and president of DSL Forum Board of Directors and director of technology and product planning at Conexant. .

http://www.HomePlug.org

DIRECTV Opens National Operations Hub in Denver

DIRECTV, the largest satellite television service provider with over 16 million subscribers, opened its new Denver Operations hub. The new facility will create up to 1,000 new jobs and will be the nerve center for DIRECTV's sales and service support operations.



The operations center is located in a six-story building, formerly occupied by ICG, in the Inverness Business Park in southeast Denver. A major overhaul of the building began in mid-2006 and was completed in late spring.

http://www.directv.com

Verizon Business Tops 2.5 Million Users for Mobility Access Services

Verizon Business now has more than 2.5 million users for its Mobility Email and Data Access services -- a two-fold increase since 2005. The Verizon Mobility Access portfolio includes:

  • 3G Mobile Data Access for US based customers via the Verizon Wireless network (EVDO).

  • 3G Mobile Data Access for UK based customers (since March 2006) with T-Mobile UK (GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA); further 3G Mobile Data expansion is planned to additional countries.

  • Wi-Fi Access at 45,000 hotspots in more than 60 countries (with ongoing expansion in progress).

  • Dial Access in more than 150 countries.
http://www.verizonbusiness.com

Global Crossing Expands VoIP Local Service to Nine More Countries

Global Crossing has extended its VoIP Local Service to six more European countries and three in Latin America (Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland). This brings to 20 the total number of countries worldwide where the service is offered.



Global Crossing VoIP Local Service is an inbound local service that provides nationwide Direct Inward Dialing/Direct Dial Inward (DID/DDI) functionality through a single IP interconnection. The service lets customers originate traffic on the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in different countries. The traffic is then converted to VoIP on Global Crossing's network and then delivered to the customer's IP network.



The newly available VoIP Local Service offering complements the existing suite of VoIP Outbound and converged IP services in these markets. VoIP



The company has also enhanced its new emergency calling services in the UK. Global Crossing will provide call routing and associated information, including trace back and call identification, via 999 or 112 to emergency service operators, so they can correctly identify the caller's registered location to emergency services personnel. In addition, Global Crossing's standard Local Services offer in the UK now includes local number portability.
http://www.globalcrossing.com

Verizon Broadband Turns to Goodmail for CertifiedEmail Service

Verizon announced an agreement with Goodmail Systems to provide Verizon Online customers with CertifiedEmail, a service that specially marks e-mail messages from known commercial and nonprofit volume senders.



These specially flagged messages will help Verizon Online customers distinguish certified e-mail from spam or phishing attempts. A blue-ribbon envelope icon tells the customer that the sender has been accredited and that the message is from a trustworthy source.
http://www.verizon.com
  • Other ISPs supporting Goodmail's CertifiedEmail include AOL, AT&T, Comcast, Cox and Yahoo!.

Aware and PMC-Sierra Enter VDSL2 Licensing Agreement

PMC-Sierra has licensed Aware's StratiPHY3 VDSL2 technology for use in its new MSP7140 VDSL2 residential gateway system on a chip (SoC) product.



Aware's StratiPHY3 intellectual property supports ADSL, ADSL2 and ADSL2+ as well as VDSL1 and VDSL2http://www.aware.com/
  • Earlier this month, PMC-Sierra unveiled a set of gigabit fiber access gateway system-on-chip (SoC) solutions designed for Fiber To The Home (FTTH) and Fiber to the Node (FTTN) deployments. Both SoCs deliver gigabit-per-second line-rate IPV4/V6 routing, Network Address Translation (NAT), QoS, encryption and a multi-channel VoIP terminal adaptor.

Arbinet Hires Former Deutsche Telekom VP

Arbinet-thexchange, which provides voice and data peering services, announced the appointment of Ken Robinson as Vice President of Strategic Development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Robinson most recently served as Vice President of Trading for Deutsche Telekom. He previously held executive positions at Swisscom, GTS and BellSouth.

http://www.arbinet.com/

AT&T Launches TeleNav Traffic for Mobiles

AT&T began providing mobile access to traffic information and rerouting services through TeleNav Traffic, offered initially on the BlackBerry 8800, BlackBerry Pearl, BlackBerry 8700c and the new BlackBerry Curve. TeleNav Traffic is a feature of the latest version of TeleNav GPS Navigator and is offered as a free feature upgrade for TeleNav GPS Navigator subscribers. TeleNav GPS Navigator v5.1 also includes enhanced business listings, which identify more retailers and office parks.

http://www.att.com