Alcatel-Lucent Acquires Tamblin for Interactive TV Apps

Alcatel-Lucent has acquired Tamblin, a privately held software company that provides applications and tool kits enabling IPTV users to find, connect and interact with brands and entertainment they care about. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Tamblin's primary product suite, i-ZoneTV, is an application creation and management system developed for the TV broadcast industry. Clients include broadcasters, network operators, brands and media and advertising agencies such as the BBC, ITV, BSkyB, Channel Five, Sky Media, Flextech/Telewest, Disney Channel UK, The Community Channel, and Bubblehits. Tamblin is based in London. Tamblin's 13 person staff will join Alcatel-Lucent's convergence business activities within its multimedia and payment team.



Alcatel said service providers can use its interactive TV applications, now enhanced by the Tamblin software, with their existing IPTV middleware to offer their subscribers a unique TV experience that lets them interact with their favorite brands and entertainment services.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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NTT DoCoMo Establishes Office in Hanoi

NTT DoCoMo has established an office in Hanoi, Vietnam to explore potential business opportunities. This is the company's fourth overseas office, joining existing facilities in Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore.

http://www.nttdocomo.com

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Pakistan's Mobilink selects Alcatel-Lucent for WiMAX Rev-e

Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (Mobilink), the leading mobile operator in Pakistan and a wholly owned subsidiary of Orascom Telecom Holding, awarded a contract to Alcatel-Lucent participate in deploying Pakistan's first live network based on the Universal 802.16e-2005 WiMAX solution. The network will cover major cities in Pakistan, including Karachi, the nation's financial capital and the major business center.



Based on the latest IEEE 802.16e-2005 standards (also called Rev-e), the new WiMAX network will be deployed in the 3.5 GHz spectrum enabling rapid implementation of broadband services available in fixed and nomadic environments. It will deliver high-speed internet access, enabling the delivery of advanced broadband multimedia services, such as video streaming, through a variety of end-user devices including laptops, desktop computers, modems and WiMAX terminals.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Nokia Siemens Networks Signs R&D Deal with Devoteam in Belgium

Nokia Siemens Networks will transfer its R&D team and Development Center in Herentals, Belgium to Devoteam Group, an IT consulting group specializing in telecoms, systems infrastructure, IT security and e-business applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.



As part of the deal, all development activities in Herentals with the exception of Open Transport Network (OTN) will be transferred to Devoteam Group. This includes the Development Center's current R&D activities in the Service Core and Applications Business Unit, Operations and Business Software Business Unit and in the Research, Technology & Platforms unit. The Development Center in Herentals supports R&D activities in fields including Next Generation Voice and Multimedia, Perfect Voice Fixed and Mobile, Element Operations and Network Management as well as Network Technology and Platform Development. Approximately 160 transferred employees are planned to become fully integrated into the operations of Devoteam Group.



Nokia Siemens Networks said the transfer is consistent with its plans to transfer R&D capabilities to trusted business partners. The company plans to hone its R&D activities to enhance efficiency and support operations in new growth markets like China and India. The company intends to tighten the focus of R&D centers of competence, and expand cooperation with R&D collaboration services to improve cost efficiency and complement its own competence offering.

http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

http://www.devoteam.com

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ABC to Feature Primetime Line-up on AOL Video

Disney-ABC Television Group agreed to feature full-length episodes of its primetime TV shows on AOL Video. The agreement marks the first time ABC's primetime programming has been made available on a major portal and is also the first time a major portal has offered a full feature version of a broadcast network's online video player.

http://www.aol.comhttp;//www.disney.com

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NetScout to Acquire Network General for $205 Million

NetScout Systems agreed to acquire Network General, a supplier of software and appliances that proactively monitor and manage IT infrastructure and network elements, for approximately $205 million in cash, stock, and debt transactions. Network General is a privately held company based in San Jose, California.



NetScout (NASDAQ: NTCT) specializes in network and service assurance solutions for large enterprises, government agencies, and service providers. Its "nGenius" Performance Management System helps to increase service levels to the end users by reducing or preventing service disruptions.



NetScout said the acquisition furthers its vision of providing superior network-based performance management based on a KPI (key performance indicator)/Flow/Packet paradigm.



The acquisition, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed by early November. Network General employees will become NetScout employees, and the newly combined entity will be headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts.

http://www.netscout.com

http://www.networkgeneral.com/

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NRTC and NTCA Launch IP-PRIME

The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) are now offering IP-Prime's IPTV solution to their rural telco members.



NRTC and NTCA members are being offered two models: 1) an end-to-end IPTV service using SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME(R), a centralized, satellite-delivered IPTV distribution solution content transport, headend, and set-top box solutions and 2) a programming-only solution for telcos with existing headend facilities or other transport arrangements.



IP-PRIME originates from the SES AMERICOM IPTV Broadcast Center in Vernon Valley, New Jersey, where video and audio are received and processed for distribution via satellite to IP-PRIME-equipped telco video hubs nationwide. The solution is based on the MPEG-4http://www.nrtc.coophttp://www.ntca.org

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Allied Telecom Deploys Hatteras Mid-Band Ethernet

Allied Telecom Group, a facilities-based Internet service provider, has selected Hatteras Networks' Mid-Band Ethernet solution as the preferred platform for its last-mile business Ethernet service roll-out throughout its Washington, DC metro-area footprint. Allied Telecom is rapidly deploying Ethernet-based business services in the 2 -- 90 Mbps range that address the current T1 to T3 service gap for enterprises not connected to the public network via fiber.

http://www.hatterasnetworks.com

http://www.alliedtelecom.net

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Nokia Debuts its Second UMA Handset

Nokia introduced its second mobile handset featuring Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology for providing seamless voice and data mobility across GSM cellular and WLAN networks. The Nokia 6301 phone enables the consumer to use the GSM network or a broadband Internet-connected WLAN network for mobile services.




For the network operator, UMA enables better in-home coverage and decreased costs related to network deployment.



The new model weighs 93 grams and measures less than 13.1mm thin. In addition to Wi-Fi, the Nokia 6301 includes a 2 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and full screen viewfinder.



The Nokia 6301 has a talk-time of up to 3.5 hours and a standby time of up to 14 days for GSM, and UMA talk-time of up to 3 hours and a UMA standby time of up to 100 hours.



The Nokia 6301 is expected to begin shipping to select markets in Europe during Q4 2007 with an estimated retail price of EUR 230.



Orange will be one of the first operators to offer the Nokia 6301, as part of its Unik/Unique portfolio.

http://www.nokia.com

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Cedar Point Adds Voice-over-WiMAX to Safari C(Cubed)

Cedar Point Communications is positioning its SAFARI C(CUBED) Multimedia Switching System for voice-over-WiMAX applications. SAFARI C(CUBED) is a fully integrated voice switching platform that supports TDM, packet and SIP-based telephony services. SAFARI C(CUBED) simplifies the network by integrating all of the elements of the VoIP switching architecture into a single unit. It scales from 2,500 lines to upwards of 250,000 lines on the same platform. The switch's integrated architecture combines voice applications, lawful intercept (CALEA), e911 and rich media services.



Cedar Point, which has deployed SAFARI C(CUBED) to a base of more than two dozen cable, telco and university customers throughout the Americas and in Europe, will demonstrate the simplicity, cost-effectiveness and scalability of the platform at WiMAX World USA (Booth # 747) September 26-27 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Cedar Point previously announced an initial WiMAX deployment, with Grupo TVCable, the largest cable system operator in Ecuador.



Cedar Point previously announced an initial WiMAX deployment, with Grupo TVCable, the largest cable system operator in Ecuador.

http://www.cedarpointcom.com

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BT's Carbon Impact Assessment Service Measures Net Usage Impact

BT has launched a service to help large corporates and public sector organizations reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint. The carbon impact assessment enables organizations "to accurately calculate the amount of CO2 emissions produced as a result of the use of networked IT services."



BT said its carbon impact assessment takes into account the way people's work patterns (such as their travel and IT use) contribute to CO2 emissions, and how business operations, shared services, and building infrastructure add to an organization's carbon footprint. It allows a number of business scenarios to be tested and an assessment made of the associated energy and carbon reductions, such as, "What if I virtualized all or part of my call center?"; "What if I introduced agile working?"; "What if people didn't need to travel to meetings?"



The service is initially available in the UK and USA.

http://www.btplc.com

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Two Years After Launch, Verizon FiOS TV Claims 25% Penetration

Two years after launching FiOS TV service in its first market, Texas, more than 25 percent of the customers there who could subscribe to FiOS TV have done so. Penetration for FiOS Internet, launched in August 2004, exceeded 35 percent in Texas as of June 30, 2007.



Verizon launched FiOS TV in Keller, Texas, on Sept. 22, 2005, delivering the service on the nation's largest fiber-optic network that extends all the way to customers' homes. As of June 30, 2007, Verizon FiOS TV had 515,000 subscribers and was available to more than 3.9 million households in nearly 500 communities in 12 states.

http://www.verizon.com

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Raza Supports Intel Geneseo and QuickAssist Initiatives

Raza Microelectronics announced its support for Intel's Geneseo (next generation PCI Express) technologies through the integration of RMI's XLR and XLS Processors into Intel-based products. The company said that for future RMI Scalable Processor Solutions, the addition of Geneseo (next generation PCI Express*) technologies will provide the next level in high performance. RMI will include this capability in its next generation high-end XLR Processor products, and with this, the full capabilities of the XLR Processor will be able to take advantage of the exceptional speed and low latency of the of the new interface.




Currently the high-performance acceleration capabilities of RMI's Scalable Processor Solutions Processor families can be integrated with an Intel Platform to produce solutions. RMI's Scalable Processor Solutions are multi-core multi-threaded processors for next generation applications such as integrated security, Web services, virtualized storage, load balancing, server offload and intelligent routing and switching systems. The XLR 700 and XLR 500 series processors are software and hardware compatible and each processor is available in a variety of power options including standard, low and ultra low power.

http://www.RazaMicro.com

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