Nortel Supplies Packet Backbone Transport for Rural Carrier

Nortel will supply a Metro Ethernet solution based on Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) to Dakota Carrier Network, an association of independent rural telcos serving North Dakota. The Dakota Carrier Network solution is based on the Nortel Metro Ethernet Routing Switch 8600, which enables PBT control over Ethernet. PBT brings the ability for Ethernet to have carrier-grade reliability, as it enables data to traverse known paths at assigned bandwidth levels through the network.



In addition to PBT, DCN is deploying Nortel's Metro Ethernet Manager as the element manager of the carrier Ethernet portion of their network. Nortel's Metro Ethernet Manager will provide end-to-end service and PBT trunk provisioning, enhanced fault management and troubleshooting capabilities for DCN's PBT network.

http://www.nortel.com

http://www.dakotacarrier.com

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Ericsson Wins IMS Contracts with Vodafone Germany, Portugal

Ericsson announced two major IMS contracts: Vodafone Germany and Vodafone Portugal. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Vodafone Germany has selected Ericsson to be the sole IMS supplier. Ericsson will also provide professional services to ensure network implementation and integration by mid-2007. Likewise, Vodafone Portugal has named Ericsson as its sole supplier of its core IMS network.



Vodafone plans to use the IMS implementation for a range of converged fixed and mobile multimedia services for its consumer and business customers.



Ericsson noted that it now has 37 IMS contracts for commercial launch and more than 80 additional trials around the world. http://www.ericsson.com

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BroadSoft Secures $10 Million for VoIP Application Software

BroadSoft has raised $10 million in mezzanine equity financing from Meritech Capital Partners for its VoIP application software. This funding round brings BroadSoft's total venture capital investments to date to approximately $72.5 million.



BroadSoft plans to use the funding for corporate purposes, including financing the continued growth of its operations and its expansion of market share in fast-growing regions, including Latin America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.



In recent months, BroadSoft has announced a number of major customer wins, including Cox Business Services, which has chosen the BroadWorks platform to deliver hosted voice services to small and medium businesses; KPN, which has chosen the BroadWorks platform to migrate its network from traditional landlines to an IP network; Siminn, the incumbent in Iceland; and Telekom Slovenije, Slovenia's incumbent.

http://www.broadsoft.com

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Optical Internetworking Forum Provides Tool for CEI Compliance

The Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF) is providing a free, open-source software tool that system vendors can use to check compliance with the Common Electrical Interface (CEI). The new StatEye software provides a definitive method for analyzing high-speed channel interconnections, and includes native support of the CEI standard.



CEI defines specifications for serial signaling and channels in chip-to-chip and board-to-board applications up to 11 Gbps and requires mathematical analysis for determining channel compliance. Analysis using the StatEye software can demonstrate that a channel meets the specified minimum performance profile to ensure interoperability of the link.

http://www.oiforum.com

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ZTE to Supply WiMAX PC cards to Sprint

ZTE Corporation has entered into a master purchase agreement with Sprint Nextel to supply WiMAX PC cards in express and USB form factors, and advanced modem solutions for home networking.



Sprint plans to make its WiMAX services commercially available across the U.S. by year end 2008. http://www.zteusa.com

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Redback's SmartEdge Routers Get Carrier Ethernet Certification

Redback Networks' SmartEdge 400 and 800 multi-service edge routers have been certified by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF).



The Carrier Ethernet Certification Program run by the MEF demonstrates interoperability among vendors as well as quality of service for different types of data, voice and video services managed by network router vendors. Redback was awarded MEF 9 certification for business services over Ethernet and MEF 14 certification for service management.



Redback said the MEF tests open up a $4+ billion carrier Ethernet market and also focused on how well SmartEdge routers can manage IPTV and other types of video traffic. http://www.redback.com

http://www.ericsson.com

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Global Crossing Receives FCC Approval for ST Telemedia to Increase Stake

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a petition from Global Crossing for STT Crossing Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte Ltd (ST Telemedia), to increase its equity and voting interests in Global Crossing to as much as 66.25 percent.
http://www.globalcrossing.com

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Internet2 Commercial Peering Service Enters Production

Internet2 has launched a production Commercial Peering (CP) Service to its members on an opt-in basis at no additional charge through their existing connections to the Internet2 Network.



The service enables Internet2 organizations to leverage settlement-free connections between the Internet2 Network and major content providers and Internet Service Providers. It currently includes three major peering points across the country with plans to expand to five. The service includes over one- third of the global routing table and is continuing to grow.



The production service builds on trials begun in 2006. Current participants report that up to 40% percent of their commercial traffic now travels over the CP service.



Internet2 said more cost-effective commercial Internet access enables its members to invest additional resources in advanced networking infrastructure and capabilities. In turn, by using high-performance links to the Internet2 Network, the service has the potential to expand the performance envelope of the commercial services to which it provides access.

http://www.internet2.edu/network/cp.html

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Telefonica International Wholesale Signs Wi-Fi Roaming Deal with Trustive

Telefonica International Wholesale Services has signed an international roaming agreement with Trustive, a leading wireless hotspot access provider. The agreement allows Trustive wholesale customers to access Telefonica's 2,100 hotspots in Spain. The Trustive network includes over 30,000 hotspots worldwide, of which 23,000 hotspots are already available, with the remainder becoming accessible within 60 days. http://www.trustive.com

http://www.telefonica.com/carrierservices

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Verizon Adds FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide

Verizon is introducing an interactive media guide for its FiOS TV service that helps customers find content from TV listings, video-on-demand catalogs and digital video recorders as well as personal music and photos from the home network. FiOS TV's interactive media guide is currently deployed to customers in Indiana, Rhode Island and parts of New Jersey, and Verizon now is rolling out the new guide to other markets.



Verizon also plans to service's network-based capabilities. Within the next year, FiOS customers will be able to use cell phones and the Internet to manage their home entertainment -- including scheduling recordings on their Home Media DVR.



http://www.verizon.com

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Nielsen: 81 Million People in U.S. Watch Broadband Video

An estimated 81 million people, or 63% of the 129 million people who access the Internet over broadband in the U.S., watch broadband video at home or at work, according to new research conducted by The Nielsen Company for The Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM). This number increased from 70 million in September 2006 to 81 million in March 2007, a jump of 16% in just six months.



CTAM said the report, which is titled Barometer of Broadband Content and Its Users, also shows that traditional home television ratings are minimally, if at all, affected by broadband video viewing over the Internet, because broadband viewing was found largely to be incremental new viewing rather than a substitute for traditional television viewing.



Some other key findings from the report include:

• Online video (including broadband video at work and in the home) was shown to add to overall video viewing more frequently than it replaced traditional television viewing in the home, representing a net audience gain to total television viewing.



• Thirty-three percent of those surveyed indicated that watching video over broadband Internet increased their television viewing time, vs. 13 percent who indicated it decreased their traditional television viewing.

"There have been major changes over the last 30 years in how television is consumed-the remote control, portable TV, time shifting DVRs-but one of the most dramatic promises to be television via the Internet," said Tim Brooks, Research Committee liaison to the CTAM Board of Directors and Executive Vice President, Research, Lifetime Television. "This new study helps us understand the impact of this radically new method of distribution both as it is now, in its infancy, and how it is likely to unfold over the next few years."http://www.ctam.com

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