Luxtera Introduces 40 Gbps CMOS Photonics Device for Infiniband

Luxtera, a start-up based in Carlsbad, California, introduced its 40 Gigabit optical active cable (OAC) for High Performance Computing InfiniBand and 40G proprietary rack to rack interconnect applications. The new "Blazar" CMOS Photonics product, which combines the benefits of optical modules and copper cables, connects to a system via a QSFP MSA-compliant connector cage. The electrical interface is SFP+ compliant which enables it to support data rates of one to 10.5 gigabits per transport lane for a total throughput of up to 42 gigabits per second. Blazar utilizes single mode fiber, which is lower cost and higher performance than multimode fiber, further reducing interconnect costs while extending reach to 300 meters without the need for additional electronic dispersion compensation (EDC) electronics traditionally associated with VCSEL based optical modules.



The product supports Quad Data Rate (QDR) and an extended reach of up to 300 meters. Luxtera said this enables InfiniBand to become a ubiquitous datacenter interconnect for a wide range of applications that demand higher capacity and performance.



Luxtera plans to offer its Blazar OAC in multiple cable lengths from one to 300 meters. Luxtera will begin sampling Blazar in Q4 2007, with production quantities available in 2008.

http://www.luxtera.com

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Warburg Pincus Invests $245 million in Integra Telecom, a Western CLEC

Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, will invest at least $245 million in Integra Telecom, which provides voice, data and Internet communications to business and carrier customers in eight Western U.S. states, Integra Telecom will continue to operate as a privately held company and will not raise any primary equity in this transaction.



Integra Telecom, which operates in Arizona, California, Idaho, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington, owns eight fiber metropolitan access networks, a tier-one Internet and data network and a 4,700-mile high-speed long-haul network. Primary equity investors in the company currently include Banc of America Capital Investors, Boston Ventures and Nautic Equity Partners.



The Warburg Pincus equity transaction is separate from, and not required to complete its planned acquisition of Eschelon Telecom. The Eschelon acquisition is expected to close on August 31, 2007.



"Warburg Pincus' substantial investment in Integra validates our business model and recognizes the future potential that the company has as the largest, most established competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) in the Western United States," said Dudley R. Slater, chief executive officer of Integra Telecom.



Warburg Pincus has a history of investing in the information and communication technology sectors, including investments in Avaya, BEA Systems, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Cassatt, Harbour Networks, NeuStar, Telcordia and VERITAS Software.

http://www.integratelecom.com

http://www.warburgpincus.com

• In March 2007, Integra announced plans to acquire Eschelon Telecom, in a deal that would create the largest CLEC in the Western United States.

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Redback Builds Momentum in Multi-Service Edge Routing

Redback Networks announced several deployment milestones:

• Redback SmartEdge multi-service edge routers are delivering triple-play services to 15+ million broadband subscribers in China. Specifically, for China Telecom and China Netcom, Redback has deployed more than 1,000 broadband routing platforms in 22 of China's 32 provinces since 2005. Redback also is at the center of the largest IPTV deployments in China. Its IPTV customers include provincial carriers in Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Jiangsu. In the coming months, Redback will begin deploying video-on-demand and other broadband services for PCCW of Hong Kong, which has more than 800,000 IPTV subscribers today.



• In greater Asia, Redback manages more than 27 million broadband subscribers, including 15+ million in China, 5.2 million in Korea, 3.6 million in Taiwan, 1.6 million in Thailand and 1.5 million in Japan.



• Redback manages more than 63 million broadband subscribers for 15 of the top 20 telephone companies worldwide, an increase of 13 million since 2006. Since 2005, Redback is managing an additional 23 million broadband subscribers for telephone carriers building out next generation triple-play infrastructures, a 58 percent increase from 40 million subscribers in 2005.



• Redback manages more triple-play subscribers in greater Asia (27M+) than it does in either EMEA (21M+) or the Americas (15M+).



• In France, SmartEdge multi-service edge routers are delivering triple-play services to 7+ million broadband subscribers in France. This includes the deployment of more than 500 broadband routing platforms in France since 2001.



• In greater Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Redback manages 21+ million broadband subscribers today, including 7+ million in France, 5.5+ million in the United Kingdom, 3.5+ million in Germany, 3+ million in Turkey and 1+ million in Belgium.

htt://www.redback.com

http://www.ericsson.com

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Juniper Names Robyn Denholm as CFO

Juniper Networks named Robyn M. Denholm to the position of chief financial officer (CFO). She previously served at Sun Microsystems as senior vice president, Corporate Strategic Planning.

http://www.juniper.net

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SyncVoice Raises $11.6 Million for Unified Mgt. Software, Changes Name to Communicado

SyncVoice Communications, a start-up based in Costa Mesa, California, raised $11.6 million in Series B financing for its solutions for managing converged voice/data communications. The company's "VXTracker" software product line is used by more than 400 customers.



The company also announced a new corporate name -- Communicado -- reflecting its value of extending beyond telephony to improving performance of all types of real-time collaborative communications across converged networks, including voice, video and live conferencing.



The new funding came from SoftBank Capital, Clearstone Venture Partners, and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. http://www.communicado-inc.com

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VMware Soars in IPO

Shares in VMware (NYSE: VMW) soared 76% in its first day of trading to close at $51. The Palo Alto, California based company specializes in virtualization software.

http://www.vmware.com

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GTL and Navini Sign Partnership for Deploying WiMAX Networks

Navini Networks signed a Value Added Services (VAS) agreement with GTL Limited, a network services provider based in India. Navini has an R&D center in Bangalore and offices in Bangalore and New Delhi. http://www.navini.com/http://www.gtllimited.com/

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Wisair Builds Executive Team -- UWB Silicon

Wisair, a provider of Ultra Wideband (UWB) and Wireless USB (WUSB) chipset solutions, named Ziv Azmanov as vice president of marketing and Tal Keren-zvi as the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) vice president.
Azmanov previously was vice president of marketing at Octalica Inc., which was recently acquired by Broadcom. Before Octalica, he was manager of the Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) business line at Texas Instruments. Keren-zvi previously was manager of all worldwide wireless PAN programs at Texas Instruments. In this role, he led a team of more than 100 engineers, spread over three continents, that specialized in wireless communications designs integrating analog, digital and several RF cores on the same chip. Previously, he was manager of VLSI development at BrightCom Technologies, a creator of Bluetooth silicon solutions. http://www.wisair.com

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AT&T Wins $9.8 Million Project with U.S. Army Fort Bliss

AT&T was awarded a contract worth up to $9.8 million to develop a customer premise data network at Fort Bliss, Texas, for the U.S. Army. The project includes design, engineering, furnishing, installation, securing and testing outside plant cable and data-networking equipment for the Fort Bliss data network.



The contract was awarded to AT&T by the U.S. Army Project Manager Defense Communications and Army Switched Systems (PM DCASS) through the Infrastructure Modernization Program (IMOD). PM DCASS provides core data backbone and telecommunications infrastructure upgrades and modernizations to Army installations around the world.

http://www.att.com

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AT&T Offers Storage Over SONET

AT&T announced a new capability that allows businesses to access a storage area network directly over Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) rings without the need for additional interface equipment. Until now, businesses with SONET rings had few choices if they wanted to operate a storage network; they could upgrade their existing SONET configuration or build a separate storage area network.



AT&T said its new storage-over-SONET interfaces to eliminate the need for new equipment by enabling a customer's existing SONET equipment to recognize traffic "tagged" specifically for a storage area network. The interfaces are available to customers of AT&T SMARTRing and LightGate optical transport services.



AT&T expects the storage-over-SONET interfaces will be especially useful to organizations such as hospitals, government institutions, call centers and financial services companies, which are required to maintain separate storage networks to comply with consumer-privacy regulations.



AT&T's storage interfaces over SONET are among several new enhancements to its SMARTRing and LightGate optical transport services. Other enhancements include expanded Ethernet capabilities over SONET and more options for connecting AT&T Wavelength services to SONET equipment. The enhancements to optical wavelength services include:

• The reduction of required nodes for the Wavelength Dedicated Rings to two. This allows customers with smaller networks to take advantage of AT&T's wavelength services.
  
  
• The introduction of a 10 GB Layer 1 local area network feature for point-to-point Wavelength service.
  
  
• The ability to connect Wavelength services with SONET equipment for delivery of DS1 and DS3 services. This capability reduces the need for capital investment in additional optical connection equipment. AT&T offers a complete suite of optical solutions for both business and wholesale customers.

http://www.att.com/

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Verizon Wireless Unveils Expanded National Test Lab

Verizon Wireless opened an expanded test lab that is four times the original size and provides new areas for rigorous hands-on testing, evaluation of new applications and technologies, and confidential collaboration with manufacturers and software vendors.



Verizon Wireless said the facility in Bedminster, New Jersey, serves as a product and applications incubator. The lab will be used for testing everything from handset durability and voice call quality to data throughput, camera phone picture resolution and on-demand multimedia services. Verizon Wireless test lab team consists of 37 employees.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/

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Rebtel Rolls Out Facebook Application

Rebtel introduced an application for Facebook users to create local numbers for global friends across their Facebook network direct from the Facebook site. The application allows users to add a "Reb me!" box onto their profile so friends can instantly create a local number for them. New users receive 10 minutes of credit with which to try the Rebtel service, and another five minutes each time a friend they've invited adds the application and makes a call.

http://apps.facebook.com/myrebtel

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