Aricent to Acquire DataLinx for its Network Consultancy Practice

Aricent, which is a full-service, full-spectrum communications software company, agreed to acquire DataLinx, a network consultancy, system integrator and software developer based in Tarrytown, New York. Financial terms were not disclosed.



DataLinx, founded in 1992, adds a highly experienced team of 400 consultants and developers to the Aricent organization. The company assists service providers in the planning, development, implementation and support of efficient and scalable OSS capabilities.



Combined, Aricent and DataLinx will deliver full lifecycle solutions to wireless, wireline, cable and satellite service providers. In addition, the two companies will offer a combined line of service provider products that includes applications for network capacity planning, subscriber management, billing mediation, service activation, customer relationship management and workforce management.



Aricent said the acquisition reflects its strategy to establish locations close to clients and relentlessly pursue the leading communications industry talent in the world.

http://www.aricent.com

http://www.datalinx.net

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Azul Systems Raises $40 Million for Network Attached Processing

Azul Systems, a start-up based in Mountain View, California, raised $40 million in funding for its network-attached processing appliance and architecture, which delivers compute and memory resources as a shared network service to transaction-intensive applications across an enterprise.



Azul Systems developed a "network-attached processing compute solution" designed to provide grid-like power computing for Java and J2EE platform-based enterprise applications. The Azul appliance transparently redirects application workload to a "compute pool" of resources across a corporate network. The technology does not require any change to applications, or the existing infrastructure configuration. Compute pool appliances are simply connected to the network and Azul software is installed on the application hosts. Azul's technology works with J2EE platform products, including BEA WebLogic and IBM WebSphere application servers.



The new funding came from Accel Partners, Austin Ventures, ComVentures, Credit Suisse, JVax Investment Group, Meritech Capital Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Worldview Technology Partners. All existing investors in the company participated in the financing.



Azul Systems said it intends to utilize the capital to continue its execution on an aggressive product roadmap of network attached processing products and associated solutions for the Java community, and dramatically expand its field operations and global presence.

http://www.azulsystems.comAzul Systems is led by Stephen W. DeWitt, who previously was the Vice President and General Manager of Content Delivery and Edge Computing for Sun Microsystems, where he joined following the acquisition of Cobalt Networks. Prior to joining Cobalt, DeWitt served at Cisco Systems as Vice President and General Manager of the Enterprise Network Management Business Unit and Vice President of Enterprise Marketing.

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PMC-Sierra Debuts New Multi-Service Processors for Network and Storage Applications

PMC-Sierra announced two highly integrated "Multi-Service Processors" (MSPs) targeted at applications such as networked appliances, storage systems and security solutions.



The new MSP8110 and MSP8120 System-On-Chip (SoC) solutions, powered by the MIPS32 34K core, offer large 64KB caches with integrated I/O interfaces and consume less than 1.5Watts. Both devices support the following standard interfaces:

• Two 10/100 Mb/s Ethernet MAC interfaces supporting industry standard MII/RMII interfaces to standard Ethernet transceivers;



• A USB 2.0 controller and PHY supporting both host and device mode operation;



• A 32-bit PCI controller providing PCI 2.3 compliant operation at 33/66 MHz;



• A 166 MHz DDR I/II SDRAM controller;



• A local bus interface providing connectivity to boot ROM and Flash; and



• Up to twenty GPIO pins that can optionally be configured as UART, SPI, TDM, or TWI ports.

In addition, the MSP8120 features an integrated IPSec hardware acceleration engine that boosts Internet protocol security, and provides secure socket layer performance for security appliances, firewalls, networking, and storage applications.

http://www.pmc-sierra.com

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Telstra Boosts Broadband to 30 Mbps in Sydney and Melbourne

Telstra announced BigPond Cable Extreme consumer broadband service at rates up to 30 Mbps in Sydney and Melbourne. The service is being rolled out in areas with more than 1.8 million homes and businesses across both cities. Telstra said consumer broadband service will be boosted to a maximum of 17 Mbps in other areas of its footprint.

http://www.telsta.com

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AllPeers Enables BitTorrent Downloads Inside Firefox

AllPeers Ltd, a software start-up based in Oxford, England with offices in the Czech Republic, has added new capabilities to its free plug-in to support standard BitTorrent downloads directly inside the Firefox web browser. With this new release, AllPeers becomes a Social BitTorrent client, making it far simpler to share and recommend torrents to friends.



AllPeers said its goal is to make downloading of torrent files as easy as normal web downloads. The new plug-in enables the user to just click on a link and the download starts, right inside the Firefox browser. The social features let users share torrent files using the encrypted AllPeers network, directly with their existing AllPeers contacts or by sending files to any email address.



AllPeers estimates that BitTorrent already accounts for over 40 percent of all Internet traffic, boasting over 35 million users.

http://www.allpeers.com

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Avanex Expands 10G Tunable Transponder Portfolio

Avanex has expanded its 10G extended reach tunable transponder product portfolio with a new "PowerReach" 10 Gbps Optical Duobinary (ODB) transponder. The unit combines Avanex's Lithium Niobate modulators with its tunable transponder design to create a high performance extended reach tunable transponder with reach capability up to 160 km without added amplification.



The PowerReach ODB advanced modulation technology provides higher dispersion tolerance and narrower laser line width -- two key features that allow optical signals to travel longer distance with low transmission bit error. The PowerReach ODB can typically achieve a bit error rate below 10-3 with OSNR as low as 12 dB through ±3200 ps/nm, while maintaining power consumption below 12 W (7W at 35oC). The PowerReach ODB is also compliant with large form factor 300pin MSA standards.

http://www.avanex.com

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Nikon Offers T-Mobile Hotspot Access for Digital Camera

Nikon has partnered with T-Mobile USA to provide buyers of its new COOLPIX S51c digital camera with a complimentary six month subscription to T-Mobile's HotSpot Wi-Fi service for digital cameras. This enables the user to send images and videos to friends and family from the nearly 8,500 T-Mobile HotSpot locations across the U.S.



The Nikon COOLPIX S51c is an 8.1 megapixel camera featuring Wi-Fi connectivity. MSRP is $329.95.

http://www.nikonusa.com

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Alcatel-Lucent Supplies IMS Gear for CableLab's PacketCable Lab

Alcatel-Lucent has supplied its next-generation IP multimedia applications and core network technology for use in the CableLabs PacketCable 2.0 Applications Lab. The lab, launched in April 2007, provides a PacketCable application showcase and development test bed for the cable industry and is a venue where network equipment providers and application developers can test and demonstrate cutting-edge applications for voice, multimedia, wireless, and converged services across PacketCable 2.0 core networks from multiple suppliers. The lab will additionally be used as an interoperability test bed to help CableLabs and manufacturers prepare for PacketCable 2.0 certification.



Alcatel-Lucent has provided a 3GPP-compliant IMS network consisting of the Alcatel- Lucent Session Manager that provides IMS session management and control and includes the functions which manage voice, data, and video communication sessions for end users. Alcatel-Lucent also supplied the Alcatel-Lucent Feature Server 5000 that offers both residential and enterprise voice applications and the Alcatel-Lucent Unified Subscriber Data Server that contains subscriber data used by IMS applications.



Additional gear includes the Alcatel- Lucent Communication Manager web portal, which can be used in conjunction with SIP-based clients, and an Alcatel-Lucent element management system for provisioning and management of the solution.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

http://www.cablelabs.com

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Alcatel-Lucent Trims Financial Guidance

Citing delayed sales to some wireless operators in North America, Alcatel-Lucent trimmed its full year 2007 revenue outlook, saying revenue growth is now likely to be flat to slightly up at a constant Euro/USD exchange rate. The company had previously estimated that its revenue would grow in the mid single digits at a constant rate.



The company's revenue for the fourth quarter 2007 is still expected to ramp-up strongly over the third quarter 2007. Additionally, the change in revenue mix is expected to negatively impact the profitability of the company, especially in the current quarter. For the third quarter 2007, the operating income (loss) is expected to be around breakeven.



As for the weakness in Q3 sales, Alcatel-Lucent said it is now seeing a change in capital spending with major North American wireless carriers in 2007, compared to what it had anticipated. As a result, the company is not seeing the projected volume changes that would have mitigated the ongoing pricing pressures it is experiencing. In other regions and businesses, in particular wireline, enterprise and Asia-Pacific revenue performance continues to be strong.



Alcatel-Lucent noted that it is planning to achieve its synergy related pre-tax savings of EUR 600 million this year. As the company has previously said for this year, it will not retain its gross margin savings due to competitive market conditions but expects it will retain most of its operating expense savings on a comparable basis.



Alcatel-Lucent continues to expect a strong sequential revenue growth in the fourth quarter, driven by IP transformation, broadband deployment and associated services.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Mexico City's CABLEVISION Launches TiVO Service

CABLEVISION, Mexico's largest digital cable operator, began offering TiVo DVRs and the TiVo Service to its digital cable subscribers throughout Mexico City. TiVo service is being offered to CABLEVISION subscribers as a package with a monthly charge covering both service and box rental.

http://www.tivo.com

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Virgin America Selects AirCell for In-Flight Broadband

Virgin America, which launched service in August, is partnering with AirCell to offer air-to-ground broadband Internet service beginning next year. Passengers will be able to access the Internet in-flight either through their WiFi-enabled personal devices or through the airline's "Red" In-flight Entertainment system at every seat.

Passengers will be able to check and send web-email from their seatbacks through Red's TALK -- the airline's onboard chat system -- using popular instant messaging services such as MSN, Google talk, Yahoo!, Skype, and AIM.



"We believe that broadband connectivity on our planes will help enhance the in-flight experience for our guests," said Charles Ogilvie, Virgin America's Director of Inflight Entertainment & Partnerships.

http://www.aircell.com/http://www.virginamerica.com/

• In August 2007, American Airlines announced plans to conduct passenger testing of AirCell's Wi-Fi broadband Internet service on coast-to-coast flights over the U.S. beginning in 2008. Passenger testing will be conducted on American Airlines fleet of Boeing 767-200 aircraft that primarily fly transcontinental routes.

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SEC Charges Four More Ex-Nortel Execs

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged four more former officers of Nortel Networks with engaging in accounting fraud by manipulating reserves to manage Nortel's earnings.



The defendants, Douglas A. Hamilton, Craig A. Johnson, James B. Kinney and Kenneth R.W. Taylor, were the former vice presidents of finance for Nortel's Optical, Wireline, Wireless and Enterprise business units, respectively.



The SEC's original complaint, among other things, charged three former corporate officers of Nortel -- CEO Frank Dunn, CFO Douglas Beatty and Controller Michael Gollogly -- with directing the earnings management fraud.



Among other allegations, the amended complaint alleges that Hamilton, Johnson, Kinney and Taylor engaged in the following misconduct:



The amended complaint charges Hamilton, Johnson, Kinney and Taylor with violating and/or aiding and abetting violations of the antifraud, reporting, books and records and internal controls provisions of the federal securities laws. The Commission seeks a permanent injunction, a civil monetary penalty, an officer and director bar, and disgorgement with prejudgment interest against each of these defendants.

http://www.sec.gov

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