Sonus Hires Sycamore's CFO

Sonus Networks announced the appointment of Richard J. Gaynor as Chief Financial Officer, replacing Ellen Richstone, who is retiring. Gaynor previously served as CFO at Sycamore Networks. Earlier, he served as the Vice President and Corporate Controller of Manufacturers Services, Ltd. He has also served as CFO of Evans and Sutherland Computer Corporation, and held various senior financial management positions with Cabletron Systems. Gaynor is a graduate of the National University of Ireland and holds an MBA from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland....

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SeaChange Offers 72 TB of Video Storage System in Single Box

SeaChange introduced a new storage solution for network operators that features a "Drawer of Drives" supporting up to 72 terabytes of storage (3,300+ hours of High Definition content at 50 Mbps) in a 10-inch-high chassis. SeaChange customers can combine the company's nearline ML1G storage server with the offline Drawer of Drives to establish a petabyte storage facility. Every file stored on each of the 72 hot-swappable drives is protected by SeaChange's...

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Microsoft Opens Mediaroom Interoperability and Qualification Lab

Microsoft has opened a "Mediaroom" Interoperability and Qualification Lab (IQ Lab) at its campus in Mountain View, California to help enable the ongoing interoperability and compliance of encoders used in deployments of its IPTV software platform. IQ Lab-compliant encoding vendors will become recommended Microsoft Mediaroom ecosystem partners. The new IQ Lab gives encoding vendors the opportunity to test their products in a controlled IPTV production...

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Verizon Raises Quarterly Dividend 6.2%

The Board of Directors of Verizon Communications declared a quarterly dividend of 43 cents per outstanding share, an increase of 2.5 cents, or 6.2 percent, from the previous quarter. On an annual basis, this increases Verizon's dividend 10 cents per share, from $1.62 to $1.72 per share."This increase reflects the confidence we have in our business with its focus on creating value for shareholders," said Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon chairman and chief executive officer. "We are continuing to build momentum based on our strong balance sheet and cash...

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VUDU Debuts its $399 Movie On-Demand Box

VUDU, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, began selling its movie-on-demand set-top box. VUDU initially features more than 5,000 movie titles from every major U.S. film studio and more than 20 independent and international film distributors. The VUDU STB, which retails for $399, pre-caches content on its 250 GB internal HDD and then uses a broadband connection to download files using its peer-to-peer application.Consumers pay for each...

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Sony Offers Home Entertainment Server with 500 GB Drive

Sony Electronics unveiled a stand-alone device called the HES-V1000 Home Entertainment Server that features a full HD 1080p 200-disc Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD changer (196 12cm BD/DVD/CDs and four 8cm BD/DVDs) and 500GB hard disc drive that can store up to 137 hours of video, 40,000 songs or 20,000 digital photos. Additionally, the device is Sony's first Blu-ray Disc-capable component other than a VAIO(R) notebook or optical PC drive that can burn content...

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U.S. Department of Justice Opposes "Network Neutrality"

The U.S. Department of Justice cautioned the FCC against imposing "Net Neutrality" regulations, arguing that such proposal could hamper the development of the Internet and related services.In a response to a FCC Notice of Inquiry regarding broadband practices, the DoJ said that some regulatory proposals offered by various companies and organizations in the name of "net neutrality" could deter broadband Internet providers from upgrading and expanding...

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GSM Celebrates its 20th Anniversary, 2.5 Billion Connections

Twenty years ago , an historic agreement was signed in Copenhagen by 15 telecommunications operators from 13 countries that led to the development of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Today, more than 2.5 billion people across 218 countries and territories, are served by GSM.According to the GSM Association, the GSM family of technologies makes up 85% of the global mobile services market, which accounts for about 1.6% of global GDP....

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Microsoft Builds Extenders for Windows Media Center

Microsoft is previewing new Extenders for Windows Media Center platform, promising to make it easier for consumers to move audio/video between devices in various rooms of their homes. The extenders will enable photos, music, video content and live TV to stream from a PC running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate to a big-screen TV display. The technology, which has previously been available on the Xbox 360 platform, now supports Wireless N connectivity.New extenders will be available in a wide range of form factors, including...

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Verizon Offers 4GB of Email Storage for FiOS Customers

Verizon will offer its FiOS Internet customers 4GB of e-mail storage and access to their Verizon.net home e-mail accounts with select Verizon Wireless Get It Now-enabled phones from Verizon Wireless. New features of the enhanced Verizon e-mail include the ability to access accounts from any computer with an Internet connection, using a re-designed Webmail application, increased storage capacity and an unlimited e-mail retention period for active users. http://www.verizon.com/f...

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Cisco Partners with Adobe on "Any Stream to Any Screen"

Cisco is enhancing its Content Delivery System (CDS) to be the first system of its type to natively support Adobe Flash streaming capabilities, in addition to traditional progressive delivery. The goal would be to deliver "any stream to any screen" using Adobe Flash Player.The Cisco CDS is a platform for content and rich-media service delivery including streaming intensive Web services, video on demand, time shifted television, video ad insertion and next-generation content delivery network (CDN) services. The Cisco CDS family is part of the Cisco...

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Bell Canada Gains Cisco Powered TelePresence Status

Bell is the first service provider in Canada to achieve the Cisco Powered TelePresence network status enabling the delivery of the Cisco TelePresence solution.Cisco said its TelePresence certification process goes beyond static service measurement of network performance. It adds leading practices based on current industry standards for network architecture, management and performance including measurement, staff, processes and tools. These are audited...

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BT Utilizes Motorola Video Encoding for IPTV Sports Service

BT has utilized Motorola's VODxchange encoding capability as part of it "Vision Sport" IPTV service. This marks the first implementation of Motorola's VODxchange solution in the UK. Financial terms were not disclosed.Motorola's VODxchange is a real-time MPEG-4 AVC encoding solution for both standard definition and high definition delivered over IPTV networks. It is a real-time system that converts content from virtually any video or file format and encode it into MPEG-4 AVC. Motorola said the real-time workflow of VODxchange offers significant...

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UPC Selects Motorola and TANDBERG TV for VOD

UPC Broadband has selected Motorola and TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, to power its Video on Demand (VOD) services in The Netherlands. Deployments are underway and expected to reach 500,000 subscribers this year.Motorola has delivered its B-1 video server, a highly scalable platform that provides streaming of MPEG-2 video content. By separating storage of programming from streaming, the B-1 video server allows UPC to independently scale its content libraries and streaming resources at a fraction of the cost of legacy servers....

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TelASIC Raises $12.5 Million

TelASIC Communications, a start-up based in El Segundo, California, raised $12.5 million in new funding for its high-performance analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs) and sub-systems for the 3G wireless infrastructure market. TelASIC sells Remote Radio Head products to base station OEMs. The technology has been successfully deployed in live HSDPA/WCDMA networks serving 3G customers today. The new funding was led by ATA Ventures. The...

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