RingCentral Enhances its Virtual Phone Service for SMBs

RingCentral, a start-up based in Redwood City, California has enhanced its virtual phone system for small businesses with VoIP service.



RingCentral combines a toll-free and/or local number with advanced call management, PBX, voicemail and Internet fax, enabling customers to automatically screen, forward and place calls; take voicemail; send and receive faxes; and receive message alerts. Call routing rules enable the user to forward incoming calls to any extension.



In contrast to stand-alone VoIP services that focus simply on low-cost calling, RingCentral said its new DigitalLine gives customers the ability to use a mix of traditional land line, mobile and VoIP communications to place and receive calls. DigitalLine enables customers to receive calls over the Internet at no additional cost. They can place calls over the Internet using a softphone, IP phone or ATA adapter.



RingCentral, which currently serves more than 40,000 customers, is tailoring its service to small businesses with 1 to 10 lines.

http://www.ringcentral.com

• In September 2007, RingCentral announced that Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures have completed a financing round of $12 million.

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Italtel Debuts "The Service Box" SIP Applications based on BEA

Italtel unveiled its "The Service Box (TSB) product, a software package for creating advanced communications services and facilitating their development in NGNs independently of the end-user terminals. "The Service Box" targets applications including voice, Instant Messaging, location-based services, Smart Presence Services, Centralized Address Book and group list management.



Italtel's TSB is based on BEA's WebLogic SIP Server. BEA is a technology partner with Italtel. Services can be personalized and customized in line with a service provider's marketing requirements.



Italtel said additional uses for The Service Box could also include intelligent search capabilities and real-time voice communication in virtual worlds such as Second Life. Such capabilities are already being used by Telecom Italia.



At this week's Broadband World Forum in Berlin, The Service Box was awarded the InfoVision Award for the category "New Product Concepts".

http://www.italtel.com

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NEC Expands its Multi-Service Access Node Line

NEC launched two new additions to its AM3100 Series MSAN (Multi-Service Access Node) product range -- the AM3110 and AM3160 -- targeting deep fiber deployments.



The AM3110 is designed for high density Central Office and large street cabinet deployments and delivers 280 Gbps backplane capacity, 10 Gbps capacity per slot and sophisticated service flexibility supporting multiple services. It supports POTS, VDSL2, GPON, PDH, FE, and GE service interfaces. The chassis uses industry-standard PICMG ATCA architecture.



The AM3160 is for space-limited street cabinets and remote building equipment rooms and is unique in terms of its size, shape and dimensions, enabling new deployment scenarios and niche services catering for tens to hundreds of subscribers. It supports VDSL2, POTS, SHDSL, PDH, FE, and GE service interfaces. Uplink interfaces include GigE and GPON. The system is built on a MicroTCA-based architecture.



NEC said its one platform design yields lower OPEX through common spares, inventory and maintenance practices. Small form factor and card flexibility mean better matches for CAPEX to service growth.



"As we enter the third wave of broadband development, flexibility is the key. Continued cost pressure on operators and higher subscriber bandwidths drive deeper fiber penetration," stated Richard Hanscott, Vice President, Network Solutions of NEC Europe.

http://www.nec.com

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Bharti Airtel Installs Optibase IPTV Encoding Platforms

Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services (B&TS), India's largest private broadband and telephone service provider, has selected Optibase H.264 Media Gateway (MGW) 5100 IPTV encoding platforms for its planned IPTV service offerings. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Bharti Airtel is currently undertaking IPTV trials in a thousand households and is planning to launch its IPTV services in the last quarter of the current calendar year. Optibase's carrier grade TV streaming platforms, incorporated in UTStarcom IP-based end-to-end networking solution, will be utilized by Bharti Airtel to supply high-quality H.264 video.

http://www.optibase.com

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Vodafone Netherlands Deploys Sycamore SN 9000

Vodafone Netherlands has deployed Sycamore Networks' SN 9000 Intelligent Multiservice Switch to optimize and scale its mobile broadband service infrastructure. The SN 9000 leverages Sycamore's high-availability optical mesh technology to increase operational efficiencies and accelerate service provisioning, while providing a scalable foundation for next-generation, high-value mobile communications. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.sycamorenet.com

• In September 2007, Sycamore Networks introduced its new SN 9000 optical switching platform designed for carrier applications in the 80-320 Gbps bandwidth range. The SN 9000 offers a non-blocking multiservice switch fabric that provides distributed, tiered grooming that improves bandwidth utilization across the network. The platform brings important new functionality to multiservice switching – including unique bandwidth capacity licensing, service modularity, and any-service, any-port features. These functions include low-order (VT/VC) and high-order (OC-n/STM-n) switching, add-drop multiplexing, advanced Ethernet services, and integrated optical transport.

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Alvarion Announces its First Mobile WiMAX Trial in South America

Ertach Argentina will test Alvarion's Mobile WiMAX solution. Specifically, Alvarion's IEEE 802.16e 4Motion solution is to be tested in the city of Rosario, targeting SME and corporate users with primary fixed and nomadic broadband services, high-speed Internet and advanced voice services. This marks Alvarion's first mobile WiMAX trial in South America.



In 2004, Ertach used Alvarion's award-winning BreezeMAX 3500 solution, to build the first commercial WiMAX network in South America. Shttp://www.alvarion.com

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Neuf Cegetel Selects Redback's SmartEdge Router

Neuf Cegetel, the leading alternative telecom operator in France, has selected Redback's SmartEdge Router for its next generation fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) aggregation network. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Under the new deal, Redback and Ericsson will deploy and maintain Redback SmartEdge 1200 multi-service edge routers to aggregate optical access nodes into a high speed, 10 Gbps metro Ethernet network.



Redback noted that its platforms manage more than 54 percent of all broadband subscribers in France.
http://www.redback.com

http://www.ericsson.com

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Verizon Business Selects Juniper for Managed WAN Optimization Service

Verizon Business has selected Juniper Networks' WXC platform for a new Managed WAN Optimization Service.



Juniper's WXC platform can help distributed enterprises to accelerate application delivery over the WAN by recognizing and eliminating redundant transmissions; accelerating TCP and application-specific protocols; prioritizing and allocating access to bandwidth; and ensuring high application availability at sites with multiple WAN links. The WXC application acceleration platforms work end-to-end with a multitude of applications, including Web-based, client-server, custom software, voice and video. The platforms also include a broad set of management tools for monitoring and reporting on WAN and application performance.

http://www.juniper.net

• In 2005, Juniper Networks acquire Peribit Networks, a developer of WAN optimization technology, for approximately $337 million in cash, stock and assumed stock options.

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Centillium and Jungo Collaborate on Gateways

Centillium Communications has partnered with Jungo to develop an integrated software platform for Centillium's Palladia high-performance system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for residential and business ADSL and VoIP residential and business gateway applications. The integration brings together Jungo's OpenRG and OpenSMB) software with Centillium's Palladia SoC product.



Centillium's Palladia 402 is an integrated VoIP solution for the ADSL markets. Palladia 402 integrates a network processor, as well as multiple dedicated hardware engines -- including a voice digital signal processor, a packet header processor, and an encryption accelerator -- that assist the network processor by off-loading many routine tasks. The Palladia 402 serves as a fully integrated data pump for ADSL2/2+/2++ networks with speeds of up to 50 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. Additionally, Palladia 402 supports Ethernet and USB LAN interfaces, and a PCI interface with a glueless interface to many mini-PCI WIFI modules.



The OpenRG software platform for Palladia gateway SoC solutions is currently in development for Centillium's and Jungo's mutual customers. Reference designs will be available in early Q4 2007.

http://www.centillium.com

http://www.jungo.com

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Bell Canada Standardizes on Avaya for Business IP Telephony

Bell Canada will standardize on Avaya's IP communication product line for delivering business IP telephony services.
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The standardization will allow Bell Canada to facilitate the migration of its customers who currently use Avaya DEFINITY Servers, INTUITY AUDIX, or Octel 250/350 voice and messaging platforms -- by far the most widely used traditional voice systems -- to Avaya IP-based communications solutions, which include telephony, messaging, conferencing, video and collaboration solutions that are accessible across a variety of devices.



Bell will offer the full range of Avaya solutions, including Avaya Quick Edition, Avaya IP Office, Avaya Distributed Office and Avaya Communication Manager, meeting the needs all sizes and types of enterprise customers.
http://www.avaya.com

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Broadcom Supplies VDSL2 for ZyXEL's DSLAM and CPE used in Chunghwa's NGN

Broadcom's VDSL2 and StrataXGS Ethernet chips have been qualified and selected by Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) of Taiwan for mass deployment in its next generation IP services network.



ZyXEL Corporation will use the Broadcom devices in its ZyXEL VES-1600 and IES-5005 next generation access products. As a result of this successful engagement, Broadcom and ZyXEL will supply VDSL2 IP DSLAM and customer premises equipment (CPE) products to Chunghwa Telecom for its next generation VDSL2 access network.

http://www.broadcom.com

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Ericsson and Sony Ericsson Partner on Home IMS Gateway

At the Broadband World Forum in Berlin, Ericsson and Sony Ericsson are demonstrating in-home technologies that leverage IMS and DLNA standards to enable multimedia experiences between mobile handsets and home network devices. The companies are developing, and prototyping an interworking gateway based on the Home IMS Gateway concept.



Specifically, the companies are demonstrating IPTV, remote media access and place-shift TV services. In the demonstration a Sony prototype TV connects into Ericsson's IMS-based service backend and IPTV Core via a home server (SIP-to-DLNA interworking) and the Home IMS Gateway. Mobile media access and remote place-shift control will be demonstrated on a Sony Ericsson P1 mobile phone.
http://www.ericsson.com

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Belgacom Extends IPTV Contract with Nokia Siemens Networks

Belgacom has extended its contract with Nokia Siemens Networks for the delivery and integration of an IPTV solution for another three years. Nokia Siemens Networks is also supporting Belgacom's plan to add HDTV to its existing portfolio of interactive TV services via IP-based broadband lines. Financial terms were not disclosed.





As part of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks also will be delivering and integrating MPEG-4 set-top boxes for high-definition TV beginning in November 2004. Nokia Siemens Networks' end-to-end solution uses its own middleware as well as best-of-breed components for encryption/content protection, content servers and TV head-ends.



Nokia Siemens Networks has been working on IPTV solution with Belgacom since 2004.



Belgacom's total customer base for its Belgacom TV exceeded 190,000 subscribers as of the end of June 2007.

http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

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Belgacom selects Alcatel-Lucent's VDSL2 FTTN

Belgacom has selected Alcatel-Lucent as supplier for its fiber-to-the-node VDSL2 network, which will deliver full triple play services, including multiple IPTV channels on multiple TV sets simultaneously and HDTV to more than 60% of the Belgian households in spring 2008. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Belgacom's Broadway infrastructure project will bring fiber down to the street cabinet level on a national scale. VDSL2 will provide the connection into the home. The large-scale rollout throughout Belgium will cover more than 14,000 nodes.

Under the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will be supplying its 7302 Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) for central office deployment and its 7330 Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) system with the 7356 Remote Expansion Module, all of which will be managed by the 5523 AWS Element Management System. The broadband access network integrates with the already operational IP aggregation network supplied by Alcatel-Lucent and based on its 7450 ESS and 7750 SR service router products.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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