Wednesday, April 30, 2008

WiMAX Forum and University of Maryland to Open Applications Lab

The WiMAX Forum has endorsed the MAXWell Lab at the University of Maryland as its first applications lab in North America. Designed to be an environment where future innovators from the university and corporations can develop and test new WiMAX applications, the MAXWell Lab will support application testing in a real-live environment at a technologically neutral site. The initial focus of the MAXWell Lab, which is part of the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, will be location-aware applications. For example, with the deployments of WiMAX in the Washington D.C. area, the Maryland-based MAXWell Lab will be an ideal site to test any applications that run on that system.


In addition to the North American MAXWell Lab, the WiMAX Forum endorsed the M-Taiwan WiMAX Application Lab located in Hsinchu, Taiwan in October 2007. The Taiwan lab, developed to test new WiMAX applications covering categories such as Voice over Internet Protocol and entertainment, opened its doors to equipment and application developers offering a chance to test their products and services for performance on a live WiMAX system and conduct and measure consumer acceptance before bringing them to market.http://www.wimaxforum.orghttp://www.umiacs.umd.edu/

RMI Launches Multi-core Multi-threaded XLS-Based PCIe Platform

RMI Corporation released its "Axcel" PC3104 Network Accelerator Card -- an XLS-Based PCIe platform for IP networking, VoIP, 3G and broadband applications requiring line-speed gigabit network packet processing in a single PCI Express slot.


Leveraging the power of the XLS multi-core, multi-threaded MIPS64 ISA network processor, the card delivers high-performance deep packet inspection, general-purpose processing, Autonomous Security Acceleration Engine technology, and a compression engine.


RMI said the new card could make a considerable dent in time required to develop new products for broadband and wireless applications.http://www.razamicro.com/

Sezmi Unveils its TV 2.0 Service and STB

Sezmi , a start-up based in Belmont, California, unveiled a new TV service that combines terrestrial digital broadcast television with existing broadband services to deliver video content to a customized set-top box. The system utilizes available capacity in existing digital television broadcast networks and creates a private, secure broadcast transmission for content. The Sezmi interface aims to provide a seamless integration of live, stored, on-demand and Internet video from different sources.


Sezmi has also developed a smart antenna indoor reception system that makes both its private broadcast and existing terrestrial TV broadcasts accessible. The company said its network-attached reception system can be placed in any location in the home.


Sezmi is seeking partnerships with broadcasters, broadband providers and content companies. It plans to commence technical trials in preparation for commercial launch across several major U.S. markets later this year.http://www.building-b.com
  • Last month, Sezmi (formerly known as Building B) announced plans to co-locate its network operations center (NOC) within Harris Corporation's world-class NOC facility in Melbourne, Fla. in order to leverage Harris' expertise in digital asset management, content aggregation and its nationwide distribution network.

  • In August 2007, Sezmi attracted funding from Morgenthaler Ventures, OmniCapital, Index Ventures and private investors in a $17.5 million financing round.


  • Sezmi is headed by Dr. Buno Pati (co-founder and CEO), who previously founded Numerical Technologies (acquired by Synopsys). Before co-founding Numerical, Dr. Pati served as assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Harvard University and a post-doctoral research associate at Stanford University.

XO Communications Extends Ethernet Services Nationwide

XO Communications has significantly expanded its nationwide Ethernet services footprint. The company is now capable of delivering Ethernet services to more than half a million business locations in 75 major metropolitan markets across the United States utilizing its nationwide fiber networks, expanded deployment of Ethernet over copper technology, and fixed broadband wireless capabilities.


XO said its Ethernet services revenue increased more than 50 percent between 2007 and 2006. In addition to increasing XO Communications' ability to serve this fast growing market, the expanded footprint also increases the company's ability to deliver other services, such as dedicated Internet access, converged IP and MPLS-based IP-VPN services, which can utilize Ethernet as a network access method.


XO's access options include:


  • Fiber -- XO offers Ethernet services at speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps through its 18,000 route mile inter-city fiber optic network and nearly one million fiber miles of metro networks.


  • Ethernet over Copper Technology -- XO is offering mid-band Ethernet services at speeds from 10 Mbps to 88 Mbps


  • Fixed Broadband Wireless Capabilities -- XO has the capability to utilize fixed broadband wireless technology in 36 major metropolitan markets to further expand its network footprint and deliver Ethernet services directly to businesses at speeds ranging from 10Mbps to 155Mbps.


"XO Communications is breaking down the barriers to the wider availability of Ethernet with the unrivalled reach of our Ethernet service delivery capabilities," said Randy Nicklas, chief technology officer at XO Communications. "Our broad nationwide footprint leverages multiple access technologies to support businesses and service providers that are increasingly relying on Ethernet to support mission-critical applications and data across their wide area networks."http://www.xo.com
  • In February 2008, Cisco announced that XO Communications is deploying new Cisco Ethernet over SONET/SDH (EoS) technology on many of the more than 4,000 Cisco ONS 15454 Multi-service Provisioning Platforms (MSPPs) currently deployed in its network.


  • In December 2007, XO Communications confirmed an upgrade of its nationwide IP/MPLS network using the Cisco IP Next Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture.


  • In October 2007, XO Communications completed an 800 Gbps capacity upgrade on major coast-to-coast routes of its nationwide fiber optic network. The upgrade delivers an additional 80 10-Gbps channels on major coast-to-coast network routes. The upgrade is being delivered on Infinera's DTN system, which XO implemented last year with the initial expansion of its network.

NDS Sees Growth in its Conditional Access

NDS Group, which supplies open end-to-end digital technology and services to digital pay-television platform operators and content providers,
reported quarterly revenue of $213.3 million, up 20% compared to a year earlier.


The number of smart card deliveries in the quarter was 10.6 million, up from 6.4 million a year earlier, while the number of Middleware clients added rose to 6.7 million compared with 5.1 million a year earlier. NDS now has 83.1 million middleware clients deployed.


Commenting on NDS's performance, Dr. Abe Peled, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDS said, "This has been another good quarter for NDS. We are particularly pleased with our continuing progress on entering the German pay-TV market, and our additional wins in India. Our CA contract extension with Viasat and expanding the relationship to include our MediaHighway middleware are also gratifying and clear evidence of our focus on customer support."


http://www.nds.com

UTStarcom Settles with SEC

UTStarcom has reached final settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") regarding the previously-disclosed SEC investigation of the company's financial disclosures during prior reporting periods, historic option grant awards practices, certain historical sales contracts in China and other matters. Without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC's complaint, UTStarcom said it has agreed to settle the charges by consenting to a permanent injunction against any future violations of the reporting, books-and-records and internal control provisions of the federal securities laws. No monetary penalties were assessed against the company.


Hong Lu, the Company's current Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company, also agreed to settle with the SEC without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC's complaint, by paying a civil penalty of $100,000 and consenting to a permanent injunction on similar terms as the company. Mr. Lu's settlement is subject to a final judgment by a United States District Court. http://www.utstar.com/

Nokia Siemens Networks Joins the Multicore Association

Nokia Siemens Networks has joined The Multicore Association, a global non-profit organization focused on developing standards for multicore solutions, and will be represented on the association's executive board.


The Multicore Association is working to enable the widespread adoption of multicore processor implementations by setting standards for how systems will be utilized and programmed.http://www.multicore-association.org/

AT&T to Activate FLO TV Mobile Service

AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service will go live on May 4. This powerful new mobile television service will provide around-the-clock access to some of today's most popular television programs -- live and in color on the mobile phone.


The service will offer TV-quality programming from leading news and entertainment brands: CBS Mobile, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go, MTV Networks' COMEDY CENTRAL, MTV and Nickelodeon, as well as PIX and CNN Mobile Live, which are both AT&T-exclusive channels on MediaFLO USA's FLO TV service.http://www.att.com

Comcast Adds 492K Broadband Customers in Q1, Penetration at 28%

Comcast reported steady growth in subscribers, revenues, operating cash flow and free cash flow, as the number of high-speed Internet customers topped 14 million and the number of digital voice subscribers topped 5 million.



Some highlights for Q1 2008:



  • Basic video subscribers declined 57,000 or 0.2% during the first quarter


  • Added 494,000 digital cable subscribers during the first quarter -- 65% or 16.0 million video subscribers have digital service compared to 55% or 13.7 million one year ago. ARPU remained stable at $42/ month.


  • 6.9 million or 43% of digital cable subscribers have advanced services such as digital video recorders (DVR) and/or high-definition television service (HDTV) compared to 5.2 million or 38% one year ago


  • During the quarter, 450,000 digital cable customers added advanced services, like DVR and HDTV, to their digital service either by upgrading or as new customers.


  • Added 492,000 high-speed Internet subscribers during the first quarter to reach 14.1 million customers. Penetration reached 28%.


  • High-speed Internet revenue increased 12% to $1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2008 from $1.6 billion in 2007.


  • Added 639,000 Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) customers during the first quarter - penetration reached 12% or 5.1 million customers.


  • Phone revenue increased 65% to $587 million in the first quarter of 2008 from $356 million in 2007.


  • Comcast has 66,000 circuit-switched customers, and expects to wind down that business by mid-year 2008.


  • Advertising revenue increased 6% to $344 million in the first quarter of 2008 from $322 million in 2007, due primarily to one additional week in the broadcast advertising calendar and an increase in political advertising including revenue from the U.S. presidential primary elections.
http://www.comcast.com

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Time Warner to Spin-Off Cable Business, Triple Play Reaches 18% Penetration

Time Warner announced plans to separate its cable business from its media assets.


During Q1 2008, Time Warner Cable's revenues grew 8% year over year ($309 million) to $4.2 billion. Subscription revenues were up 8% ($301 million) to $4.0 billion.


Some highlights:

  • Video revenues climbed 4% ($99 million) to $2.6 billion, driven by continued growth in digital video services and video price increases.


  • High-speed data revenues rose 11% ($100 million) to $1.0 billion, fueled mainly by continued year-over-year residential high-speed data subscriber growth.


  • Voice revenues increased 39% ($102 million) to $366 million, reflecting strong Digital Phone subscriber growth. Advertising revenues grew 4% ($8 million) to $197 million.


  • Revenue generating units ("RGUs") reached 33.0 million, reflecting a robust 896,000 net additions.


  • Triple Play subscribers surpassed 2.6 million (or 18% of total customer relationships), benefiting from a record 247,000 net additions.



http://www.timewarnercable.com

Motorola and Widevine Sign Global Reseller Agreement

The home and networks mobility division of Motorola will resell Widevine Technologies' conditional access and digital rights management products globally under an agreement announced by the firms.


Motorola offers head-end and consumer device solutions while Widevine Cypher, a downloadable conditional access, digital rights management and digital copy protection solution, enables video operators to acquire and securely distribute premium multimedia from major Hollywood studios and broadcasters. Currently, Motorola and Widevine jointly support over fifty video service providers worldwide.


The joint solution includes Motorola's consumer devices, compression and infrastructure solutions for video delivery and Widevine Cypher which enables telco, cable, Internet, mobile and satellite service providers to support an unlimited number of subscribers and assets using a single content security solution for protecting delivery to all major consumer devices--including set-top boxes, PVRs and PC-based consumer devices.http://www.widevine.comhttp://www.motorla.com

HP Labs Develops “Memristor�? -- A New Type of Electronic Circuit

Researchers from HP Labs are developing a "memristor" -- a blend of "memory resistor" -- had previously been only theorized as the fourth fundamental circuit element in electrical engineering. The "memristor", which has the unique property of retaining a history of the information it has acquired, promises a new level of innovation in electronics.


In a paper published in today's edition of Nature, four researchers at HP Labs' Information and Quantum Systems Lab, led by R. Stanley Williams, presented the mathematical model and a physical example of a "memristor."


HP said the innovation could lead to the development of a new kind of computer memory that would supplement and eventually replace today's commonly used dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Computers using conventional DRAM lack the ability to retain information once they lose power. A memristor-based computer would retain its information after losing power and would not require the boot-up process, resulting in the consumption of less power and wasted time. Other applications could include the memory and storage systems used in data centers and in cloud-computing clusters.


Leon Chua, a distinguished faculty member in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department of the University of California at Berkeley, initially theorized about and named the element in an academic paper published 37 years ago. Chua argued that the memristor was the fourth fundamental circuit element, along with the resistor, capacitor and inductor, and that it had properties that could not be duplicated by any combination of the other three elements.http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/quantum_systems.html

BT Introduces ADSL2+ Wholesale Broadband Service

BT will begin offering a Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) service to ISPs over its 21st Century Network (21CN). The service uses ADSL2+ for a maximum downstream capacity of 24 Mbps (distance from the exchange, internal wiring, interference from electrical appliances and other factors affect performance.)


Wholesale Broadband Connec will initially be available from exchanges serving around one million homes and businesses. The service will progressively roll out across the country, rising to a potential footprint of 10 million homes and businesses by the spring of 2009.http://www.btplc.com

3Com Names Robert Mao as CEO, Ronald Sege as COO

3Com appointed Robert Mao as its new CEO, replacing Edgar Masri who is leaving the company. Mao will continue to serve on the company's Board of Directors. The company also announced that it hired Ronald Sege as President and Chief Operating Officer and appointed him to the Board of Directors effective upon his joining the company on April 30, 2008.


To support the company's increasing emphasis on its growing and profitable China-based H3C operations, Mao will be based in China. Sege will be located in the United States and will focus on 3Com operations outside of China, accelerating the adoption of H3C-developed products in global market.


Mao, 64, was most recently 3Com Executive Vice President, Corporate Development from August 2006 to March 2007. Prior to joining 3Com, Mao worked for Nortel Networks, where he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the company's greater China operations from 1997 to 2006. Prior to his time at Nortel, he was Regional President of greater China for Alcatel. Mao also held senior managerial and technical positions at ITT in Asia and the United States. He holds a master's degree in material science and metallurgical engineering from Cornell University, and has a master's degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).


Before returning to 3Com, Sege, 51, most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tropos Networks, Inc. a provider of wireless broadband networks, from 2004 to 2008. He is currently on Tropos' Board of Advisors. Prior to Tropos, Sege was President and Chief Executive Officer of Ellacoya Networks.http://www.3com.com

Mellanox Wins "Best of Interop" for 10GigE Adapter with FCoE

Mellanox Technologies was named "Best of Interop" in the Data Center and Storage category for its ConnectX EN 10GigE server and storage I/O adapter with Fibre Channel over lossless Ethernet (FCoE). ConnectX EN is the first adapter to support FCoE hardware offload and Priority Based Flow Control, providing a substantial performance boost while also enabling networking and storage I/O consolidation over a unified Ethernet fabric in the Data Center.http://www.mellanox.com

New Zealand's WorldxChange Deploys Juniper's E320 Broadband Routers

New Zealand's WorldxChange has deployed Juniper Networks' E320 Broadband Services Routers, enabling the delivery of premium voice and data services over a single connection. WorldxChange has also deployed Juniper Networks Secure Services Gateways (SSGs) to secure its services and backend systems, including its domain name system (DNS) servers. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Juniper noted that in the two years since it was introduced, more than 1600 E320 platforms have been shipped to over 70 service provider customers worldwide.http://www.juniper.net

Akamai's Q1 Revenue Grows to $187.0 million, up 34% YoY

Akamai Technologies reported Q1 2008 revenue of $187.0 million, a 34% over first quarter 2007 revenue of $139.3 million, and a two percent increase over fourth quarter 2007 revenue of $183.2 million. Net income (GAAP) was $36.9 million, or $0.20 per diluted share.


The number of customers under long-term services contracts at the end of the first quarter increased by 27 to a record 2,672, an 8 percent increase year-over-year. http://www.akamai.com

Cisco and Nokia See Gains in Mobile Unified Communications

The Mobile Business Solution from Cisco and Nokia is currently being commercially deployed with more than 100 customers, including the city of Biel, Switzerland; the city of Maastrich, The Netherlands; Millipore, United States; Omicron, Austria; SESCAM, Spain; Tifco Hotels, Ireland; and University of Arizona, United States. Additionally the combined solution is in trials with more than 600 enterprise and small and medium-sized business customers.


The Mobile Business Solution from Cisco and Nokia is an IP-based Cisco Unified Communications solution, featuring Nokia's dual-mode business-optimized Eseries smartphones and Cisco Unified Wireless Network family of wireless LAN controllers and access points. The Cisco and Nokia combined mobile unified communication solution helps businesses improve productivity and efficiency across their enterprise and mobile workspaces by extending the rich set of communications features from the Cisco Unified Communications family of products to Nokia Eseries smartphones.


The two companies also announced that they are beginning to deploy each other's mobile solutions. Cisco is beginning to deploy Nokia Eseries smartphones for its sales organization in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific theaters, while Nokia will begin with Cisco Unified Wireless Network in its offices, labs, and manufacturing sites.http://www.cisco.comhttp://www.nokia.com

Alcatel-Lucent Posts Q1 Revenue of EUR3.864 billion

Alcatel-Lucent reported that its Q1 2008 revenues declined 0.5% year-over-year and 26.2% sequentially to Euro 3.864 billion. At constant Euro/USD exchange rate, revenues grew 6.3% year-over-year and declined 23.2% sequentially.

At constant exchange rate and on a year-over-year basis, Carrier revenues grew 1.7%, Enterprise revenues grew 8.4% and Services revenues grew 14.6%. The adjusted gross margin was 36.2% of revenues, of which approximately 0.9-percentage point is due to gains on currency hedging. Adjusted2 operating income1 was Euro 36 million or 0.9% of sales, including a Euro 31 million capital gain from the receipt of proceeds due to a sale of intellectual property rights.


"Considering the impact of the Euro/USD adverse shift, our revenue performance was in line with our expectations, with a year-over-year growth of 6.3%and a sequential decline in the mid point of our typical seasonal pattern of --20% to --25%. Our carrier business grew year-over-year at constant exchange rate, reflecting the solid performance of our wireline business, essentially driven by optics. Our wireless access business showed good resilience, as the expected decline in CDMA was more than offset by the strong year-over-year double-digit growth of our revenue in GSM, W‑CDMA and RFS. Our strategic initiatives to enhance growth in the Enterprise and Services businesses are paying off as we report a strong year-over-year growth in each of these segments at constant exchange rate. And our business in North America showed good year-over-year growth in US dollar terms," stated Patricia Russo, Alcatel-Lucent's CEO.


Q1 Revenue Breakdown By Geography


Europe -- 33%

North America -- 35%

Asia-Pacific -- 17%

Rest of World -- 15%


Some other highlights from the financial report:


  • Alcatel-Lucent noted strength in its submarine activities where both revenues and orders doubled in the first quarter 2008.

  • Fixed access activities were impacted by the ongoing decline in new subscribers to copper-based broadband access, with shipments of ADSL ports down 8% year-over-year to 6.6 million. However, the company saw continued growth in the FTTx market, with an increase in shipments of GPON solutions to a number of European, Korean and U.S. large customers such as AT&T, Verizon and France Telecom/Orange


  • Alcatel-Lucent added ten new customers in IP routing and introduced its next generation 7750 SR and 7450 ESS.


  • Alcatel-Lucent's GSM business grew year-over-year in a declining market, driven by network expansions in China, India, the Middle East and Africa. W-CDMA revenues more than doubled year-over-year, albeit from a low base, benefiting from the ramp-up in revenues at several key clients. CDMA revenues declined materially year-over-year, from an especially strong first quarter 2007. Radio Frequency Systems enjoyed very strong year-over-year growth, benefiting from surging demand in North America and China.


  • Alcatel-Lucent's core switching business declined strongly year-over-year, as the rapid drop in legacy TDM voice was only partly offset by growth in mobile and fixed NGN.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Matisse Networks Announces Virtualization For its Metro EtherBurst

Matisse Networks is introducing "vMETRO" virtualization capabilities for its metropolitan optical networking solution.


Matisse's EtherBurst architecture, which has been shipping since last year, integrates Ethernet and WDM technologies.


The new virtualization capabilities could simplify the interconnection of distributed data centers and campus local area networks (LAN) so that servers, storage and bandwidth resources may be efficiently shared across the metro area. Specifically, Matisse's vmSwitching capability, now integrated into EtherBurst, makes it possible for an entire network of EtherBurst systems to operate as a single distributed Layer 2 Ethernet switch. Since vmSwitching makes the metro network of EtherBurst nodes manageable as a single entity, the entire metro network can be managed as any Ethernet switch within the datacenter.


Under this architecture, optical VLANs control the logical grouping of virtualized IT resources throughout a metro region. Matisse noted that conventional circuit based WDM systems only provide point-to-point circuit connectivity and require the ongoing management of a separate Layer 1 network. In contrast, optical VLANs are managed using standard VLAN management interfaces, enabling end-to-end Layer 2 networking of distributed resources.


Matisse's mQOS delivers dynamic bandwidth reallocation, shifting bandwidth in real-time between applications and between sites while ensuring higher priority applications receive all resources necessary for optimal operation. EtherBurst dynamically responds to changing traffic patterns to deliver bandwidth to the highest priority users and applications anywhere across the metro optical network.


http://www.matissenetworks.com/

Monday, April 28, 2008

Cricket Deploys GENBAND's G9 Converged Media Gateway

Cricket Communications, an operating subsidiary of Leap Wireless, is deploying the G9 Converged Media Gateway controlled by GENBAND's C3 Signaling Controller, to deliver enhanced voice quality and advanced IP services as they continue to evolve to an all-IP architecture. The deployment of the G9 platform complements existing GENBAND products, the GENBAND 8000 Media Gateway and the GENBAND C3 platform, already operational in Cricket's network. Financial terms were not disclosed.


GENBAND noted that in addition to a wide range of features to provide voice quality enhancements (VQE), it is adding Enhanced Variable Rate Codec (EVRC) support over IP. The G9's ability to support EVRC over IP allows Remote Transcoder Operation (RTO) throughout the Cricket network. An added advantage is that the G9 gateway can now interface with a wider range of MSCs, providing added flexibility for future Cricket network growth.http://www.genband.com
  • In April 2008, GENBAND announced a five-year OEM agreement under which Nokia Siemens Networks will be the preferred supplier of trunking media gateways for their global fixed network market. The companies have also reached a definitive agreement for GENBAND to acquire Nokia Siemens Networks' SURPASS hiG fixed line trunking media gateway product line. Nokia Siemens Networks will continue with its fixed core networks solution portfolio and provide service and support to its current installed base and future customers.

Belgacom selects Alcatel-Lucent for IMS Integration

Belgacom has selected Alcatel-Lucent as its technology and network integration partner to design, integrate, and deploy an end-to-end multi-vendor IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) solution. The platform will enable Belgacom to effectively support and to further develop a wide variety of fixed and mobile services including VoIP and multimedia communications for both residential and business customers.


Alcatel-Lucent will deliver a complete IMS applications and core network solution, based on a standard architecture, incorporating products from Alcatel-Lucent and partners, including application servers, session controllers, home subscriber servers, session border controllers and network/service management functionality. The solution, based on widely adopted standards facilitating convergence, will be a cornerstone of Belgacom's future network. Financial terms were not disclosed.http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Solera Announces Search Engine for Packet and Payload Data-in-Motion

Solera Networks released a beta version of its "DeepSee" tool for enabling IT or business executives to search, locate and reconstruct specific network traffic in an intuitive, web-like search format. DeepSee works in conjunction with Solera Networks' DS appliances, which provide complete network visibility for both virtual and physical networks through software-based packet capture and stream-to-storage technology.


Key capabilities of Solera DeepSee include the ability to:

  • Execute web-style queries, searching by keywords, user, type of traffic, type of attachment, IP or MAC address, and many other variables

  • Search network traffic for the existence of the most common enterprise file formats

  • Extract and view network artifacts from the search results

  • Obtain visibility into key network-based traffic for legal, HR and other business professionals without requiring networking expertise
  • Monitor and keep a record of all data-in-motion inside the enterprise
http://www.soleranetworks.com

SkyPilot Raises $3 million in Funding for its Wireless Mesh

SkyPilot Networks, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, raised $3.4 million in new funding from its existing investors, including August Capital and Mobius Ventures, bringing the total raised since inception to over $70 million. The primary use of the funds will be to continue to expand sales and bring new products to market for the growing customer base of broadband wireless service providers.


"The recent financing is designed specifically to bring SkyPilot to profitability," said Paul Gordon, president and CEO of SkyPilot.http://www.skypilot.com

NXP to Acquire Conexant's Set-top Box Operations

NXP Semiconductors, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, agreed to acquire the Broadband Media Processing (BMP) business of Conexant Systems for US $110 million in cash up front, and additional consideration of up to US $35 million based on achievement of certain revenue milestones over the period from closing through 2009.


Conexant's BMP business, which provides industry-leading solutions for satellite, cable and IPTV applications, accounted for US $205 million in revenue in 2007.


NXP said Conexant's strengths in broadcast operator set-top box (STB) solutions are complementary to its terrestrial IP and retail STB and Digital TV products. The combined operations will create a top three player in digital video systems.


When the transaction closes, approximately 700 Conexant employees at locations in the United States, India, Northern Ireland, Israel and China will join NXP's Home Business Unit. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the next 60 days.


The deal represents NXP's fourth acquisition since independence and is the first for its Home Business Unit.
http://www.nxp.comhttp://www.conexant.com

Taiwan's Chunghwa Reaches 435,000 IPTV Subscribers

As of the end of the first quarter of 2008, Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom had 435,000 IPTV subscribers, a 52.7% year-over-year increase, with the addition of 41,000 new subscribers during the first quarter of 2008 alone. Some highlights from the companies financial report.:

  • Total revenue increased by 12.1% to NT$51.0 billion


  • Internet and data revenue grew 2.9% to NT$12.5 billion; ADSL & FTTB revenue increased by 2.3% to NT$5.1billion


  • Mobile revenue grew 0.3% to NT$18.1 billion; Mobile VAS revenue increased by 35.3%


  • Net income totaled NT$10.7 billion, representing a decrease of 11.4%, Earnings per share (''EPS'') decreased by 1.8% to NT$1.12


  • Capital expenditures totaled NT$5.5 billon for the first quarter of 2008, of which 71% was for wire line (including fixed-line and internet and data), 5.8% was for mobile equipment, and the remainder 23.3% was for other investments, including purchases of state-owned land where one of our outlets locates.


  • Total HiNet Internet subscribers decreased 5.8% year-over-year due to the separation of 350,000 Prepaid Card subscribers from the total HiNet subscriber base in May 2007. This decline was partially offset by the strong HiNet FTTB subscription growth, with 385,000 net additions over past twelve months bringing the total HiNet FTTB subscriber number to 622,000 as of March 31, 2008.


  • Overall, the company had 4.28 million broadband subscribers (including ADSL and FTTB) at the end of the first quarter of 2008, representing a 4.1% increase in total broadband subscribers compared to the end of the first quarter of 2007. By the end of the first
    quarter of 2008, the number of ADSL and FTTB subscriptions with a service speed greater than 8 Mbps reached 1.28 million, representing a 29.9% increase of the total broadband subscribers.


  • As of March 31, 2008, Chunghwa had 8.72 million mobile subscribers up by 2.0% compared to 8.70 million as of the first quarter of 2007. Chunghwa remained the leading mobile operator in Taiwan with a 36% share.


  • As of March 31, 2008, Chunghwa had 2.59 million 3G subscribers, a 12.9% increase as compared to that of the end of 2007. At the end of the first quarter of 2008, 3G ARPU was 61% higher than that of 2G.


  • Mobile VAS revenue for the first quarter of 2008 was NT$1.7 billion, posting a 35.3% increase year-over-year, with SMS revenue up 32.8% and mobile internet revenue up 54.7% year-over-year, respectively.
http://www.cht.com.tw/

Extreme Delivers "Top of Rack" 24-port 10GigE Switch

Extreme Networks unveiled its new Summit X650, a 24-port non-blocking 10 Gigabit fixed switch aimed at next gen data centers. The Summit X650 is a purpose-built, top-of-rack 1 RU switch, with up to 32 10 Gigabit ports on a single system, or up to 256-ports in a stacked system. The Summit X650 supports switch stacking with total throughput performance of 512 Gbps. It also features the ExtremeXOS Operating System -- a modular OS that is consistent with Extreme Networks core, aggregation and edge switches.


The Summit X650 switch will be available in the fourth quarter of 2008 and has a U.S. list price starting at $19,995.http://www.extremenetworks.com

Mobile Handset Vendors Develop Next Gen Memory Interface Standard

A group of leading mobile handset vendors have formed a new working group committed to creating an open standard for next-generation memory interface technology targeting mobile devices.


The proposed standard for dynamic random access memory (DRAM), named Serial Port Memory Technology (SPMT), aims to enable extended battery life, bandwidth flexibility, significantly reduced pin count, lower power demand and multiple ports by using a serial interface instead of the parallel interface commonly used in today's memory devices. The technology would significantly extend battery life while allowing high-performance media-rich applications on next-generation mobile phones.


Companies backing the new working group include ARM, Hynix Semiconductor, Inc., LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Silicon Image, Inc., Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, and STMicroelectronics.


The SPMT Working Group said its goal is to define a technology that reduces pin count by a minimum of 40 percent, provides a bandwidth range from 3.2GB/s to 12.6GB/s and higher, reduces input/output power by 50 percent or more to extend battery life, and provides the ability to use either a single port or multiple ports into a single SPMT-enabled memory chip. While initially targeted at the mobile handset market, the technology will also be in demand by other markets such as portable media players, digital still cameras and handheld gaming devices.http://www.spmt.com

Broadcom Debuts 65nm StrataXGS 4 Switching Architecture

Broadcom introduced its next generation family of single-chip 65 nanometer (nm) Ethernet switching chips for OEMs designing modular, stackable and fixed form factor equipment for the service provider, data center, and enterprise markets. Broadcom's 4th generation StrataXGS architecture utilizes a low power, 65nm CMOS process. Two new devices are being announced:

  • The Broadcom BCM56624 -- a 48-port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) plus 4-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) solution that provides carrier-class features such as IPv4 and IPv6 routing, as well as advanced metro encapsulation protocols and advanced security mechanisms such as IPFix and large access control lists (ACLs) for user and flow-based authentication. The BCM56624 also includes advanced QoS features for service provider applications with a new dynamic adaptive memory buffer technology that provides better QoS and network performance. It also features large external address and security tables that scale to meet the demands of high performance equipment at the core of the network.


  • The BCM56720 -- a 4th generation StrataXGS HiGig switch fabric that provides half a terabit of packet switching capacity on a single chip and scales to achieve multi-terabits of capacity on a single backplane. It is compatible with the new StrataXGS 4 series of products as well as products from earlier StrataXGS architectures. This switch fabric also leverages the company's HiGig stacking protocol and service aware flow control (SAFC).


http://www.broadcom.com
  • In November 2007, Broadcom introduced its BCM56820 24-port, multi-layer 10GbE switch solution for the data center and other high performance applications. Also designed in 65nm, the BCM56820 offers significant per port power savings over previous generation 10GbE switch products, providing greater density at a lower power.

Verizon and Vodafone Team Up to Deliver First Live Global Mobile Simulcast

Verizon Wireless and Vodafone are teaming up to deliver a live global mobile simulcast, with performances from Madonna's exclusive up-close and personal show at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. Specifically, the carriers will provide a live broadcast of four songs exclusively to Verizon Wireless V CAST Music customers in the U.S and to Vodafone users in Cyprus, Egypt, France (SFR), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, South Africa (Vodacom), Spain, and the UK. Verizon Wireless and Vodafone said their live global mobile simulcast represents a milestone for the mobile industry.
http://www.verizon.comhttp://www.vodafone.com

LSI Introduces New Media Gateway Chips

LSI announced two new media gateway system-on-a-chip (SOC) solutions featuring lower power consumption per voice channel, and video transcoding for new mobile video and enterprise collaboration services. The solution is scalable up to 12 DSP cores per chip, providing a single platform for a wide range of applications from entry-level multi-service business gateways through wireless carrier-class media gateways. All SOCs are equipped with embedded CPUs, on-board memory for voice applications and carrier-class packet processing engines to support advanced QoS and traffic management. The devices are aimed at high-density platforms that support advanced voice services and video processing in a wide range of network environments. LSI is including a software development environment and leading voice, fax and video codecs supporting H.263, H.264 and MPEG-4 standards. Shipping is now underway.


"With these additions to their StarPro portfolio, LSI has delivered an impressive architecture that will enable the industry to develop new high-density media gateways," said Will Strauss, principal analyst with Forward Concepts. "The industry trend of implementing media gateways for 3G and 4G cellular bodes well for LSI because of their extensive cellular infrastructure base."http://www.lsi.com

Broadcom Offers Low-Power GigE Switch Chips for SMBs

Broadcom introduced a family of 65 nanometer (nm) single-chip Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch chips for small- to-medium-sized business (SMB) applications. Total system power savings are estimated at 40%. The new switch family includes 5-, 8-, 16- and 24-port configurations, with full Layer 2 (L2) switching. The new chips integrate a MIPS processor, Broadcom's 65nm octal GbE physical layer (PHY) core, as well as QSGMII connectivity. Broadcom said support for the QSGMII interface is significant as next generation switches are expected to adopt this technology as the standard interface for external PHY connectivity. Having both an integrated octal GbE PHY and QSGMII interface allows Broadcom to offer high performance switching solutions that reduce power consumption, design complexity and total system cost.http://www.broadcom.com

Towerstream Adds NYC Skyscraper as Sixth City POP

Towerstream will be powering one of New York City's landmark skyscrapers with building-wide access to its high-speed, wireless broadband solution. The 50-story building, which extends a full city block, will also serve as Towerstream's sixth point-of-presence (PoP) in its New York City wireless broadband network, extending broadband coverage to much of Manhattan's north side.


Towerstream said the property is the first building to take full advantage of wireless gigabit broadband delivered directly from the company's rooftop equipment. Building tenants will have bandwidth options including T1, T3, 100 and 1000 Mbps connections.

http://www.towerstream.com

AT&T U-verse TV Adds Flickr, Yahoo! Games, YellowPages.com

AT&T has added some new features to its U-verse TV service, including:

AT&T Online Photos from Flickr, allowing viewing of photos uploaded to flickr.com on the U-verse TV screen

AT&T U-bar, which brings customizable weather, stock, sports and traffic information to the U-verse TV screen, without interrupting the
current program.

YELLOWPAGES.COM TV, for fast and easy searches to find local businesses and other information via the TV screen.

AT&T Yahoo! Games, including Sudoku, Solitaire, JT's Blocks, Mah-jongg Tiles and Chess -- on the TV screen.

The features are now available to customers in San Antonio, Texas at no extra charge.http://www.images.com

Harris Stratex Networks Sees Strongest Wireless Growth in Africa

Harris Stratex Networks, which supplies wireless transmission solutions, reported quarterly revenue of $178.2 million. GAAP net income was $7.3 million or $0.09 per diluted share, which includes $7.3 million in pre-tax charges associated with the merger transaction, integration and stock compensation expense.


n its seasonally softest quarter, North America microwave grew 16 percent year-over-year with revenue of $56.9 million. This compares with $63.8 million in the prior quarter.

International revenue of $117.1 million grew 6 percent from the prior quarter and increased 27 percent compared with the year-ago period. Growth was led by revenue from Africa at $55.9 million, which increased 36 percent sequentially, and 49 percent when compared with the year-ago quarter, reflecting a rebound in capital investment following a series of operator consolidations. Revenue in Europe, the Middle East and Russia was $39.2 million, a sequential increase of 23 percent and an increase of 17 percent compared with the year-ago period. Combined Q3 revenues for Latin America and Asia Pacific were $22.0 million, compared with $37.8 million in the prior quarter and $21.4 million in the year-ago period. Network Operations revenue was $4.2 million compared with $6.5 million in the prior quarter and $5.2 million in the year-ago period.

"I am pleased with our 21 percent year-over-year revenue improvement. In particular, I am pleased with the rebound in Africa as shipments to major operators gained traction," said Harald Braun, president and chief executive officer of Harris Stratex Networks.


The company also noted that it now believes revenue for fiscal 2008 will be at the high end of prior guidance. Due to continued pressure on gross margin, non-GAAP earnings for fiscal 2008 are expected to be at the low end of prior guidance. http://www.harrisstratex.com

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Fujitsu to Reorganize Photonics Business

Fujitsu Limited and its subsidiary Fujitsu Access Limited plan to merge and reorganize their photonic systems businesses in July in order to strengthen their photonics systems development, manufacturing and sales operations for the Japanese market. The plan was approved today at a meeting of Fujitsu Limited's Board of Directors.


Fujitsu is a global supplier of WDM and SONET backbone network systems.


Fujitsu Access is a supplier of GE-PON access network solutions for customers in Japan.


The company said as the boundary between backbone and access networks has become increasingly blurred, it necessary to generate greater collaboration between these divisions by combining their capabilities and know-how, particularly for the development of next-generation photonic systems for the Japanese market.


The photonics divisions to be merged and reorganized are as follows:


1. Photonics Sales Divisions -- the Japan sales divisions of Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Access Limited will be merged into one Fujitsu Limited sales division for the Japanese market.


2. Photonics Development and Manufacturing Divisions -- the Japan product development divisions of Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Access Limited, and all the companies' photonics manufacturing divisions will be merged and reorganized. Fujitsu Limited will continue to develop products for markets outside Japan. The power electronics(5) business of Fujitsu Access, including its sales division, will continue to be managed by Fujitsu Access.


Details on the merger and reorganization will be announced in the middle of May.http://www.fujitsu.com

RMI Rolls Out Dual Core Processor for the SMB Market

RMI Corporation has released its newest XLS Processor, a 1 GHz Dual-Core Multithreaded device for accelerating packet-oriented and control plane applications in the SMB market. The XLS208 Processor offers eight parallel processing elements and advanced application
acceleration techniques for systems solutions sensitive to cost and power.


Built on TSMC's 90nm LP Process, the XLS208 Processor extends RMI's multicore multi-threaded XLS Processor Family. The XLS family of processors is pin compatible and provides the ability to combine control plane, data plane and security operations into a single Super System-On-a-Chip (SuperSOC) solution.


The XLS208 integrates eight vCPUs (fine-grain H/W processing threads using single-clock, zero overhead, context switching) from two MIPS64 compatible CPU cores with 32KB instruction and 32KB data level-1 caches. Also included are three high speed on-chip interconnects, a 512KB level-2 banked cache, 1Gbps Autonomous Security Acceleration Engine technology, an on-chip memory controller supporting 32/36/72b DDR2
memory allowing low-cost commodity DIMM memories, Quad Gigabit Ethernet MACs
with network accelerators, and Quad PCI-Express controllers.
http://www.RMICorp.com

Foundry Expands Data Center Portfolio with High Density 10GbE and Gigabit Ports

Foundry Networks has expanded its next generation data center portfolio with two new high-density interface modules for its BigIron RX Series switches and the NetIron MLX Series routers, enabling a density of up to 512 ports of 10GbE and 1536 ports of GbE in a single system.
The BigIron 16-port 10GbE SFP+ module (RX-BI16XG), and NetIron MLX 48-port GbE MRJ21 module (NI-MLX-1Gx48-T), which deliver more than twice the 10GbE and GbE density of their nearest competitors, are aimed at data center expansions and HPC clusters.


The product launches are part of Foundry Network's new vision for data center evolution. Key requirements for driving the next wave in data design are capacity, performance, flexibility and convergence. Foundry anticipates the migration of many mainstream servers from gigabit Ethernet (GbE) to 10GbE connectivity. This drives the need for data center network capacity, including the capacity of the data center interface to the backbone/Internet. In addition, virtualization is driving the consolidation of applications and services into fewer servers and network devices. Foundry's advanced data center vision and products enable IT managers to utilize virtualized network services, such as virtual LANs, multiple virtual routing, switching and security domains, and advanced application switching and service abstraction to extend the benefits of virtualization into the network, thereby accelerating consolidation of applications over a unified virtualized infrastructure.





Foundry's new 16-port 10GbE module offers advanced Quality of Service (QoS) functionality, Virtual Output Queue (VOQ) and the lossless Clos fabric-based architecture of the BigIron RX series. The 10GbE module augments the current BigIron RX series GbE capacity of up to 1,536 GbE ports per system. The module has a U.S. list price of $34,995 and general availability is expected in August 2008.


The new 48-port gigabit Ethernet (GbE) MRJ21 interface module is designed specifically for all four chassis types of the NetIron MLX Series routers. Each interface module will have eight MRJ21 connectors, with each connector supporting six ports of GbE interface. The 48-port module will more than double the GbE density on the NetIron MLX routers giving them the highest GbE capacity and lowest power consumption for routers in their class. In addition, the NetIron MLX routers offers network scalability with up to 32 10GbE links per link aggregation and sophisticated link aggregation and equal cost multi-path (ECMP) load sharing algorithms. The module has a U.S. list price of $34,995 and general availability is expected in Q4 2008.http://www.foundrynet.com

Marvell Debuts "CarrierSpan" for Carrier Ethernet Networks

Marvell unveiled its "CarrierSpan" technology designed to ensure line rate service delivery with enhanced packet processors based on new and emerging standards (TR101, Mac-in-Mac, IP-VPN, VPWS, VPLS) in Metro Ethernet and carrier networks. Marvell said its CarrierSpan technology provides hardware assistance to insure five 9's uptime with reduced overhead in Operations, Administration and Management (OAM) of the network. Integrated timing and synchronization capabilities enable inter-working with existing circuit switched networks. Additionally, CarrierSpan provides flexible uplink capabilities with hardware hooks for quality of service (QoS) interoperability to the access nodes, enabling a variety of service delivery architectures (xDSL, GPON, GEPON, Ethernet FTTx).

"Our CarrierSpan technology creates a solid foundation and flexible infrastructure for service delivery over carrier Ethernet and metro networks to better meet the needs of service providers," said Dr. Simon Milner, vice president and general manager, enterprise business unit, communications and consumer business group at Marvell.


Marvell also announced the availability of its new Prestera 98DX2100 and 98DX4100 chips powered by the new CarrierSpan technology. Marvell's new 98DX2100 and 98DX4100 family of processors is targeted for the various flavors of high-speed broadband access including PON, VDSL and native Ethernet, by including versatile sets of programmable interfaces. To support future scalability, the devices integrate four resilient FlexUplink ports programmed for any speed to support network upgrades from 1G to 2.5G to 10G. To minimize power dissipation and save on overall system cost, the integrated service processor has a built-in controller for high-speed 800M DDR2 memory and low-cost NAND flash. Sampling is underway.http://www.marvell.com

Marvell Unveils Gigahertz-Scalable ARM-Compliant Processors

Marvell introduced three system-on-chip (SoC) devices that integrate single- or dual-core gigahertz-capable ARM instruction set-compliant processors along with a host of I/O peripherals.


Marvell said the new devices are fully optimized to consume very low power at 1 GHz plus speeds enabling "green" system design for a wide range of enterprise applications ranging from routers, base stations, storage and single board computers to high volume laser printer products.


The Discovery Innovation Series family is comprised of three devices -- the MV78200 with dual ARM instruction set compliant cores, a pin-compatible single core version, the MV78100, and the MV76100, a single core SoC specially designed for cost-sensitive applications. These devices support processor speeds ranging from 800 MHz to 1.2 GHz and incorporate up to 512KB of L2 cache per core, integrated x4 PCI-Express interfaces, multiple USB 2.0 ports, multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports, SATA and security engine -- setting new technology benchmarks for performance and integration. With this unparalleled integration and low power consumption, the MV78K and MV76K families of SoCs are ideally suited for a broad range of applications across various enterprise markets.http://www.marvell.com

Motorola Announces MOTOwi4 Wireless Ethernet Bridges

Motorola has expanded its MOTOwi4 Fixed Point-to-Point (PTP) portfolio with a new PTP 500 Series of Wireless Ethernet Bridges for secure, high-performance backhaul or broadband connectivity in obstructed, long-distance and harsh weather environments. The PTP 500 operate in the 5.4 and 5.8 GHz bands at Ethernet data rates up to 105 Mbps and distances up to 155 miles (250 km). Motorola said its PTP 500 series delivers up to 99.999% availability in virtually any environment, including NLOS, long-distance line-of-sight (LOS), over water or open terrain and in extreme weather conditions.


In addition to the PTP 500 series, a new Motorola PTP LINKPlanner tool is now available to help operators determine link performance prior to purchase, based on specific path characteristics such as geography, distance and transmit power.


Availability of the PTP 500 Series in the 5.4 GHz band is pending FCC certification in the United States.
http://www.motorola.com

Fujitsu Shows 26-Port 10-Gigabit Ethernet Switch IC

Fujitsu Microelectronics America (FMA) introduced a new 26-port 10Gbps Ethernet (10GbE) switch IC designed for data center and telecom equipment applications. The chip features the direct support of 10Gbps serial interface for Ethernet backplane standardized as 802.3ap (KR) on all 26 ports, as well as direct SFP+ optical module support. The chip integrates the PHYS and a complete set of Ethernet, Layer-2, Data-Center Bridging features, QoS and Layer-3 capabilities.
http://us.fujitsu.com/micro/10gethernet

Atheros Expands its GPS Silicon Portfolio

Atheros Communications has expanded its Radio-on-Chip for Mobile (ROCm) family of GPS solutions with a hardware and software combination that targets GPS in mobile phones, Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) and Personal Media Players (PMPs).


Atheros' new solution consists of its second-generation, single-chip GPS receiver, the AR1511, and companion ORION 3.0 software suite.
New features specifically designed to address the most challenging navigation environments provide considerable performance advances, with Time To First Fix (TTFF) reacquisition times reduced by nearly half, and positional accuracy increased by more than 50 percent.http://www.atheros.com
  • In December 2007, Atheros Communications agreed to acquire the assets and certain liabilities of u-Nav Microelectronics, a privately held fabless semiconductor company specializing in global positioning system (GPS) chipsets and software that enable mobile location-based products and services. Financial terms were not disclosed.


    u-Nav's silicon is designed for embedded GPS applications for the wireless handset, personal navigation device, personal computing, consumer and mobile telemetry markets. Its flagship product, the uN3010, is a single-chip GPS receiver that integrates the company's CMOS high-performance RFIC core with its third-generation baseband IC core. u-Nav's product portfolio also includes single-die solutions, several baseband chips and RFICs, and complete GPS system software solutions providing signal acquisition, tracking, data extraction and GPS navigation.

Atheros Reports Q1 Revenue of $114.5 Million

Atheros reported Q1 revenue of $114.5 million, compared with $114.3 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2007 and $95.5 million reported in the first quarter of 2007. GAAP net income for Q1 was $3.4 million or $0.06 per diluted share. This compares with GAAP net income of $13.4 million or $0.22 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2007.


"We are pleased to report our twelfth consecutive quarter of revenue growth. Revenue from our networking customers was particularly strong in the first quarter, due primarily to the continued adoption of our 802.11n WLAN products by retail and carrier customers," said Craig Barratt, president and CEO.http://www.atheros.com

Verizon Tops 1.2 million FiOS TV. 1.8 Million FiOS Internet, 67 Million Wireless Customers

Verizon Communications Q1 2008 revenues grew 5.5 percent to $23.8 billion, compared with the first quarter 2007. Verizon reported Q1 earnings of 57 cents in diluted earnings per share (EPS), compared with earnings of 51 cents per share a year earlier. Non-GAAP earnings were 61 cents per share, a 13.0 percent increase year over year. Some highlights from the quarter:

"Verizon has weathered the current economic uncertainty with strong first-quarter results," said Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg. "I am also confident of our position over the long term because we have further opportunities to drive revenue growth and further opportunities to eliminate costs."

Wireless

  • The company added 1.5 million retail customers, of which 1.3 million were retail post-paid customers. At the end of the first quarter 2008, 97 percent of the company's base was retail (post-pay and pre-pay). This gives the company a total subscriber base of 67.2 million.


  • Total data revenues were up 48.9 percent over the prior year, contributing $2.3 billion. The company had 48.1 million retail data customers in March (nearly 74 percent of the retail customer base), a 33.8 percent increase over the prior year.


  • In March, Verizon Wireless held its first Open Development Initiative (ODI) conference to provide minimum technical standards required for creating products that can physically connect to the Verizon Wireless network, and a process to certify that these products will operate on the company's network. Plans call for customers to have the option to use products and services certified through the ODI process by the end of the year.


  • In the 700 MHz auction, Verizon Wireless was the winning bidder for a nationwide spectrum footprint in the C-Block group of licenses, as well as 102 licenses for individual markets across the country.


  • During the quarter, Verizon Wireless customers sent or received more than 58 billion text messages and 1.1 billion picture/video messages. Customers also completed 34.6 million music and video downloads.


  • Total churn was 1.19 percent. Among the company's retail post-paid customers, churn was even lower, at 0.93 percent.


  • Revenues totaled $11.7 billion, up 13.2 percent year over year. Service revenues were $10.1 billion, an increase of 12.8 percent year over year, driven by customer growth and demand for data services. This is the first time quarterly service revenues have topped $10 billion.


  • ARPU levels (average monthly revenue per customer) increased year over year for the eighth consecutive quarter. Retail service ARPU was $51.40, up 1.3 percent year over year; retail data ARPU was $11.94, up 33.4 percent over the same period last year.


  • Wireless operating income margin was 27.9 percent, the highest ever.


Wireline

  • Verizon added a net of 263,000 new FiOS TV customers. The company had 1.2 million FiOS TV customers in total as of the end of the quarter, having added more than 850,000 FiOS TV customers since the end of the first quarter 2007. The fiber network passed 10.4 million premises by the end of the quarter.


  • FiOS Internet was available for sale to 7.9 million premises by the end of the quarter. Penetration for the service averaged 22.9 percent across all markets. FiOS TV was available for sale to 6.5 million premises by the end of the quarter. Penetration for the service averaged 18.7 percent across all markets.


  • Verizon added a net of 266,000 new broadband connections - 262,000 from FiOS Internet service. Total broadband connections were 8.5 million (6.7 million DSL-based Verizon High Speed Internet connections and 1.8 million FiOS Internet connections), an increase of 14.9 percent compared with the first quarter 2007.


  • Broadband and video revenues from consumer and small-business customers topped $1 billion, representing year-over-year quarterly growth of nearly 50 percent (56 percent growth in the consumer segment of broadband and video customers).


  • Growing revenue from broadband and video services drove consumer ARPU in legacy Verizon wireline markets (which excludes consumer markets served by the former MCI) to $61.02, a 9.6 percent increase compared with last year's first quarter. The ARPU among FiOS customers was approximately $129 per month.


  • Wireline data revenues - which now represent nearly 40 percent of total wireline revenues - were $4.9 billion, an increase of 14.8 percent compared with the first quarter 2007. This includes revenues from consumer broadband services, and revenues from wholesale data transport and sales of Verizon Business data services.


  • Verizon Business had revenues of $5.2 billion, or growth of 0.4 percent compared with last year's first quarter. This is Verizon Business' sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year, pro-forma revenue growth (non-GAAP, calculated as if Verizon and MCI had merged on Jan. 1, 2005). Global enterprise revenue, representing retail sales, increased 2.0 percent to $3.9 billion, compared with last year's first quarter.


  • IP, managed services, Ethernet and optical ring services - continued to drive Verizon Business' growth. These services generated $1.4 billion in revenue, up 23.5 percent from last year's first quarter.


  • Wireline total operating revenues were $12.3 billion, a 1.4 percent decrease compared with the first quarter 2007. Wireline total operating expenses were $11.2 billion, a 1.0 percent decrease compared with the first quarter 2007.


  • Verizon Telecom's total revenues of $7.8 billion decreased by 2.5 percent, compared with the first quarter 2007 - an improvement of 30 basis points over the year-over-year quarterly revenue decrease in the fourth quarter 2007. In legacy Verizon consumer markets, year-over-year revenues grew 0.9 percent, comparing first-quarter 2008 with first-quarter 2007.
http://www.verizon.com

Thursday, April 24, 2008

NETGEAR Delivers Dual-Band 802.11n Wireless Access Point for SMBs

NETGEAR introduced its ProSafe 802.11n Dual Band Wireless Access Point (WNDAP330), a dual-band wireless solution for SMBs that provides the ability to support existing legacy 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11a devices.


The NETGEAR ProSafe 802.11n Dual Band Wireless Access Point (WNDAP330), which delivers up to 10 times the coverage and 15 times the speed of 802.11g-based networks, supports devices based upon the 5GHz 802.11a and 802.11n (draft 2.0 specification), or 2.4GHz 802.11b/g and 802.11n (draft 2.0 specification) technologies. The SNMP-manageable WNDAP330 incorporates 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support and offers support for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint bridging with Wireless Distribution System (WDS). The feature set includes WPA, WPA2, rogue AP detection, and 802.1x with RADIUS support.


The list price is $475.
http://www.netgear.com

Hanaro Reaches 900,000 IPTV Subscribers

South Korea's hanarotelecom posted revenues of KRW 493 billion for the first quarter of 2008, a 9.3% increase year-on-year and a 0.9% increase quarter-on-quarter. Hanaro posted operating income of KRW 10.0 billion, net loss of KRW 6.7 billion and EBITDA of KRW 129.3 billion for the first quarter of 2008.


As for hanaTV, Hanaro posted quarterly revenue of KRW 21.3 billion and recently reached 900,000 subscribers on a cumulative basis, strengthening the position as a leading player in IPTV. Furthermore, the company said it acquired 1.83 million subscribers for its 100 Mbps broadband services as of the end of March 2008, accounting for over 50% of its total subscribers.http://www.hanaro.com

EMBARQ Deploys Ciena's CN 4200 FlexSelect

Embarq has selected Ciena's CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform for deployment throughout its network. The solution will support the aggregation and transport of a variety of residential and business services. Financial terms were not disclosed.


EMBARQ is installing the Ciena CN 4200 platform across its service territories. Currently, more than 100 nodes have been deployed.
http://www.ciena.com
  • In January 2008, Ciena announced new G10 and G10X Ethernet Service Modules that deliver Layer 2 Ethernet aggregation, switching and transport capabilities on to the company's CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform family. Targeted applications for the CN 4200 with new Layer 2 Ethernet aggregation and switching capabilities include Metro Ethernet Forum-based Carrier Ethernet services, broadband aggregation for triple play and IPTV services and 3G wireless backhaul.


    Ciena's CN 4200 is a WDM transport platform that offers on-demand programmability and support for any service. The CN 4200 platform allows network operators to groom, switch, and transpond a diverse range of client services, such as OC-3/12/48 and STM-1/4/16, GbE, Fibre Channel, FICON, and ESCON into higher-speed 2.7 Gbps (OTU-1), 10.7 Gbps (OTU-2), and 43 Gbps (OTU-3) transport streams. In addition, an "RS" chassis can function as a multi-degree Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM).

NTT DOCOMO to Merge with Regional Subsidiaries

NTT DOCOMO announced an agreement to merge its eight wholly owned subsidiaries into a single operating company. The simplified corporate structure is expected to yield better customer service and faster decision making.http://www.nttdocomo.com

IP-PRIME Adds NFL Network to its IPTV Outsourced Service

IP-PRIME, which offers a turnkey IPTV solution for telecom carriers and cable operators, has added the NFL Network to its sports programming lineup. The agreement adds NFL Network's 24-hour suite of football programming to telecom carriers using SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME IPTV service.http://www.ip-prime.tv

Mformation Extends Mobile Device Mgt to WiMAX Networks

Mformation Technologies, which supplies mobile device management (MDM) software to mobile operators worldwide, has extended its product portfolio for new WiMAX-capable devices. The goal is to remotely activate, configure, diagnose, update, secure and manage WiMAX-capable devices through all phases of their life cycle.


Mformation's MDM technology is currently being used to support over 100 million devices on some the leading mobile networks worldwide.


Mformation said the user requirements for device management will be much the same regardless of whether they are connected to an all-IP WiMAX network or a cellular network (including CDMA, CDMA 2000, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, WCDMA, HSPA). Regardless of what network their subscribers are using at any given point in time, service providers still need to configure services, remotely activate users, get a real-time view of devices, distribute and update applications and firmware, secure devices and data, and monitor service availability and performance.

Specific enhancements to the MFORMATION SERVICE MANAGER platform to support WiMAX and the seamless management of devices across next-generation networks include:

  • Enablement of device-server interaction over all IP-based networks, supporting functionality such as IP address lookup, IP push notification and secured IP device bootstrapping

  • Consistent management of devices across next-generation networks--from activation/deactivation to security features such as lock and wipe

  • The ability to pull a real-time image of the device over both WiMAX and the wide area network, underpinned by the OMA DM protocol

  • Application and firmware management over both WiMAX and the wide area network, underpinned by the OMA DM protocol.


The technology leverages via all-IP versions of the OMA DM protocol. Device addressing is based on MAC address.


Mformation is commercially deploying MFORMATION SERVICE MANAGER for WiMAX to a number of customers, to provide seamless all-IP device management and remote activation capabilities.http://www.mformation.com/

Ericsson Beats Estimates in Q1, Professional Services Grows 8%

Ericsson posted Q1 2008 net sales of SEK 44.2 billion, up 5% over last year, and net income of SEK 2.6 billion, down 55% year over year. The company reported steady demand for mobile infrastructure, especially in high-growth markets, sayings sales are picking up in the US while Western Europe remains slow. The proportion of new network builds in high-growth markets, especially in India, is increasing. A weaker USD put pressure on margins.


"The rollout of mobile broadband continues throughout the world. HSPA will be the dominant standard for many years and is now an effective alternative to fixed broadband. Mobile broadband will play a significant role in bridging the digital divide. Furthermore, it is encouraging that LTE, the evolution of HSPA, is supported by the largest operators around the world. We are investing significantly in this technology to secure leadership also in this area," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson's CEO.


Some highlights by the company's divisions:


  • Networks -- Sales in Networks grew by 2% year-over-year despite a negative impact from the USD decline. The sales increase was driven by increased sales of GSM in high-growth markets, especially in China and India. The demand for GSM remains healthy and the business activity is increasing, particularly in India and China. 3G rollouts are ongoing throughout the world, including major rollouts in Russia and Latin America. The largest proportion of R&D investments in Networks is spent on WCDMA and an increasing part on LTE. Several major operators have announced plans to upgrade their networks to 14.4 Mbps and Ericsson will introduce 21 Mbps during the second half of the year. Redback has significantly increased its sales outside the US through leveraging Ericsson's global sales organization. Since the acquisition, Ericsson has signed agreements for the delivery of Redback-based solutions with more than 100 carriers in over 65 countries.


  • Professional Services -- Sales in Professional Services grew by 8% year-over-year with a growth in constant currencies of 10%. As expected, managed services sales decreased sequentially with the reduced scope of the 3 UK contract announced in the fourth quarter 2007 but increased 20% year-over-year.


  • Multimedia
  • --Sales growth amounted to 16% year-over-year, largely driven by acquisitions. The business activity has been high in the quarter with important reference contracts in IPTV as well as increased traction in Tandberg Television.


    Sales and operating income for mobile platforms were negatively affected by approximately SEK 0.3 b. in the quarter following Sony Ericsson's lower sales in the first quarter.
http://www.ericsson.com

BLADE Unveils Data Center Switch Priced at Under $500 per 10Gig E Port

BLADE Network Technologies is unveiling a "top-of-rack" data center-class switch featuring network virtualization capabilities and priced at under $500 per 10 Gigabit Ethernet port.
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BLADE's RackSwitch G8100, a 1U top-of-rack switch equipped with 24 lossless, low-latency 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GE) ports, is designed for emerging high-volume 10 GE application environments, high-performance clusters that require latency of 300 nanoseconds or less and/or as a 10 GE aggregation switch. BLADE's RackSwitch G8000, a 1U top-of-rack switch equipped with 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports and four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports for uplinks and/or stacking, is designed for rack-level server connectivity, Web 2.0 cloud clusters and/or as a Gigabit aggregation switch.


BLADE said its RackSwitch provides energy-efficient operations with server-rack compatible front-to-back airflow, lower power consumption than conventional switches and streamlined cabling. BLADE will also demonstrate how RackSwitch and BLADE's embedded blade server switches support the "loss-less" I/O required to carry Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) storage traffic across Ethernet networks based on the emerging standards for Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE).


In addition, BLADE's SmartConnect software enables multiple RackSwitches and/or BLADE's existing embedded blade server switches to operate as one large virtual switch. BLADE's Server Mobility capability allows server blades to be added, removed or replaced without the need of any address re-assignment -- reducing the coordination normally required between server and network administrators.


The RackSwitch G8000 is priced starting at $5,495. RackSwitch G8100 is priced starting at $11,950 ¬-- under $500 per 10 Gigabit Ethernet port.http://www.bladenetwork.net

AT&T and Starbucks Begin Nationwide Wi-Fi Rollout

AT&T has started the rollout of its Wi-Fi service in Starbucks cafes across the U.S. As of May 1, qualifying AT&T high speed Internet and Wi-Fi customers will have complimentary Wi-Fi access at more than 7,000 Starbucks locations nationwide as they become available. AT&T customers can connect to the Internet from Wi-Fi enabled company-operated Starbucks locations nationwide by selecting "ATTWiFi" after powering up their computers.


T-Mobile had previously been the Wi-Fi provider for Starbucks.

http://www.att.comhttp://www.starbucks.com

White House Blackberrys Stolen

Fox News reported a national security incident involving the possible theft or misplacement of six or seven Blackberrys belonging to White House staffers. The devices reportedly were stolen or mistakenly taken during the summit meeting held between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. last week. The Blackberrys apparently had been left on a table outside of one of the meeting rooms so as not be a distraction for the participants. The Secret Service later recovered the devices.http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Apr25/0,4670,MexicoUSBlackBerryScandal,00.html

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Huawei Announces Hybrid Access Line Assurance Solution

Huawei Technologies announced a hybrid access line assurance solution aimed at solving new line maintenance problems arising from hybrid xPON+DSL access deployments. Such problems can arise in networks where multiple FTTX network topologies with different copper lengths and aging copper loops are used. Issues arising out of crosstalk and interference seriously impact the performance of DSL, and affect the service rollout.


Huawei said its Xpert LAS implements the leading DSM (Dynamic Spectra Management) technology based on its APO (Associated Performance Optimization) algorithm, to solve the DSL crosstalk & interference bottleneck in an efficient and practical way. Its software-based provisioning and management solution enables operators to reduce service roll-out time and maintenance effort and in turn attract more customers with faster time-to-market. The end-to-end line assurance solution offers great power saving features for DSL, assisting operators in their effort for energy savings.


Huawei calculates that its Xpert LAS can improve ADSL2+/ VDSL2 performance by over 30%, while greatly reduces the probability of mosaics in IPTV. http://www.huawei.com

China Mobile, SOFTBANK and Vodafone to Open Joint Lab

China Mobile, SOFTBANK and Vodafone agreed to establish a Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) to promote the development of new mobile technologies, applications and services. The three companies expect the initiative will help to accelerate the commercial deployment of mobile Internet services. Specifically, the JIL will focus on mobile widgets. Initially, the JIL plans to develop a platform for mobile widgets to encourage the development of innovative new services that can leverage mobile operators' unique capabilities. The JIL also welcomes the co-operation of vendors and developers in the creation of new applications and services.
http://www.chinamobileltd.com/doc/pr/2008/20080421.htm

HSBC Mexico Deploys Converged Network with 9,800 Cisco Unified IP Phones

HSBC Mexico has implemented an IP network which supports 9,800 Cisco Unified IP Phones and 500 desktop video cameras using the Cisco Unified Video Advantage solution. This converged network connects 279 branches and the HSBC Tower in Mexico City, enabling voice, data and video transmission between the bank's nine main buildings. In addition to HSBC Mexico, Cisco Unified Communications is currently deployed in the HSBC offices in Argentina, Paraguay and Peru.


Cisco said that since 2005 it has experienced a 300 percent growth in IP phone sales in Latin America.http://www.cisco.com/go/uc/

Salira's EPON Attains MEF Carrier Ethernet Certification

Salira Systems' Ethernet PON (EPON) solution has attained MEF-9 and MEF-14 certification status for Carrier Ethernet services. MEF-14 certification is the first global program to test for QoS conformance, which is critical for delivering stringent service level agreements to enterprise customers. The certification is sanctioned by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). Salira noted that it is the first EPON vendor to gain such certification.

"For many compelling reasons, enterprise customers are moving more of their mission-critical applications to Ethernet-based networks," said André Martineau, Senior Director, Business Solutions for Advance Newhouse Communications. "As this migration continues, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that our networks are Carrier Ethernet compliant. Salira's MEF-9 and MEF-14 certifications are an important contribution to meeting our customers' needs."http://www.salira.com

Juniper Reports Q1 Revenue of $823 Million, up 31% YoY

Juniper Networks posted Q1 2008 revenue of $822.9 million, up 31% on a year-over-year basis, GAAP net income of $110.4 million or $0.20 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $149.5 million or $0.27 per diluted share. The non-GAAP EPS figure represents an increase of 44% from the $0.19 per diluted share reported for the first quarter of 2007.


Juniper's operating margin rose to 17.3% on a GAAP basis from 9.6% in the same quarter a year-ago. Non-GAAP operating margin rose to 23.5% from 19.6% in the first quarter of 2007. The improvement reflected strength in gross profit margins owing to a favorable mix of infrastructure products, particularly in the Company's T and M series products, as well as reduced operating expense as a percentage of net revenues due to the Company's efforts to manage expenses and improve efficiency.


"The strength of our first quarter results continues to underscore the value of Juniper's commitment to high-performance networking," said Scott Kriens, chairman and chief executive officer, Juniper Networks, Inc. "Across our markets and around the world, we are seeing clear opportunity to extend our lead through an optimal combination of Juniper size, speed, focus and execution, which translates directly into strategic advantage for our customers."http://www.juniper.net

Riverbed's Sales Rise to $73 Million, up 71% YoY

Riverbed Technology reported Q1 2008 revenue of $73 million, an increase of 71% from the first quarter of 2007. GAAP net income was $638,000, or $0.01 per share, in the first quarter of 2008, compared to net income of $3.3 million, or $0.05 per share, in the first quarter of 2007. Riverbed's first quarter of 2008 GAAP results included $11.3 million of stock-based compensation expenses and related payroll taxes. Excluding the impact of stock-based compensation and related payroll taxes in all periods, as well as related income tax effects, the non-GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2008 was $7.9 million, or $0.11 per share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $8.6 million, or $0.12 per share, in the first quarter of 2007.


"In the first quarter, we posted 71% revenue growth year-over-year but our results were impacted by a lengthening sales cycle at some accounts due to macro-economic trends," said Jerry Kennelly, Riverbed president and chief executive officer. "While we had fewer large deals in the first quarter than in recent periods, we did see broad-based demand from our installed base and added approximately 500 new customers this quarter across a broad range of verticals. With these new customers, we now have over 4,000 cumulative customers."http://www.riverbed.com

Ixia Posts Q1 Revenue of $41.7 Million, up 2% YoY

Ixia reported Q1 2008 revenue of $41.7 million, which represents a year-over-year increase of 2% from the first quarter of 2007. The company recorded net income on a GAAP basis for the first quarter of 2008 of $106,000, or $0.00 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $759,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2007. Ixia's 2008 first quarter GAAP results include non-cash charges of $2.9 million related to stock-based compensation, $1.5 million for the amortization of acquired intangible assets, and a net tax benefit of $1.7 million related to these items.


"Although we experienced a seasonally weaker than expected first quarter, we saw several positive trends during the quarter and we continued to position Ixia for future growth opportunities," commented Atul Bhatnagar, Ixia's president and chief executive officer. "The lower than expected shipments to Europe and Canada in the first quarter were partially offset by record sales to the Asia Pacific region. We were also encouraged by the sequential increase in shipments to network equipment manufacturers, led by higher sales to Cisco Systems, which were up over 20% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. On the product side, sales of our 10 gigabit Ethernet products continued to be strong and represented about 28% of revenue."http://www.ixiacom.com

Motorola Announces Q1 Sales of $7.45 billion, Mobile Sales decline 39% YoY

Motorola reported Q1 2008 sales of $7.45 billion and a net loss from continuing operations of $194 million, or $0.09 per share. The net loss from continuing operations includes net charges of $0.04 per share from highlighted items, primarily related to a charge associated with workforce reductions. The company had an operating cash outflow of $343 million and ended the quarter with a net cash position of $3.5 billion.


Some highlights from the report:

  • Mobile Devices segment sales were $3.3 billion, down 39 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. The operating loss was $418 million, compared to an operating loss of $233 million in the year-ago quarter. During the quarter, the Company shipped 27.4 million handsets.


  • Home and Networks Mobility segment sales were $2.4 billion, up 2 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. Operating earnings were $153 million, compared to operating earnings of $167 million in the year-ago quarter. Motorola saw strong demand for High Definition and DVR devices resulted in shipments of over four million digital entertainment devices during the quarter, including a milestone three millionth IP device to-date. Sales outside North America grew 30 percent compared to the year-ago quarter, led by Europe and Latin America. Motorola recorded WiMAX wins in Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.


  • Enterprise Mobility Solutions segment sales were $1.8 billion, up 5 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. Operating earnings increased to $250 million, compared to operating earnings of $131 million in the year-ago quarter.
http://www.motorola.com
  • In March 2008, Motorola announced plans to split into two independent, publicly-traded companies in 2009. The split would occur as follows: The Mobile Devices business will continue to supply multi-mode, multi-band communications products and technologies. The business designs, manufactures and sells mobile handsets and accessories globally with integrated software solution. It also licenses a portfolio of intellectual property. Motorola is currently searching for a new CEO for this business.


    The Broadband & Mobility Solutions business includes Motorola's Enterprise Mobility, Government and Public Safety, and Home and Networks businesses. These businesses manufacture, design, integrate, and service voice and data communication solutions and wireless broadband networks for enterprises and government and public safety customers worldwide. These businesses also provide end-to-end digital and IP video solutions, cellular and high speed broadband network infrastructure, cable set-top receivers, and associated customer premise equipment for residential and commercial wireless network system access.

DISH Network Selects Alcatel-Lucent for DVB-SH Test

DISH Network has selected Alcatel-Lucent for a trial of DVB-SH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite services to Handhelds) mobile broadcast technology in the United States. Alcatel-Lucent will supply DVB-SH equipment, test tools and training. The evaluation will take place in DISH Network's laboratories in Atlanta, Ga. from May to August 2008.


DVB-SH, which is an evolution of DVB-H, is a mobile broadcast standard for mobile TV. It can be used in any frequency spectrum below 3GHz, including UHF, L band and S band, and in terrestrial, satellite or hybrid networks. The DVB-SH waveform definition was published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in March 2008.http://www.alcatel-lucent.comhttp://www.dishnetwork.com/

Foundry Networks Posts Q1 Revenue of $150 Million

Foundry Networks reported Q1 2008 revenue of $150.1 million, compared to $135.8 million in the first quarter of 2007 and compared to $168.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, an increase of 10.5% year-over-year. Net income was $13.9 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared to net income of $9.1 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2007, and net income of $28.9 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2007.


"While Foundry experienced a challenging environment during the first quarter, we still achieved over 10% growth year-over-year," said Bobby Johnson, President and CEO of Foundry Networks. "As the overall macro environment stabilizes, we believe the recent investments we've made in our sales organization and product portfolio will have a positive impact on our business."http://www.foundrynet.com

Ikanos Posts Q1 Revenue of $29.7 Million

Ikanos Communications reported Q1 2008 net revenue of $29.7 million compared with revenue of $29.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2007 and revenue of $24.7 million for the first quarter of 2007. GAAP net loss for the first quarter of 2008 was $4.8 million, or $0.16 per share, on 29.5 million weighted average shares. This compares with a net loss of $4.1 million, or $0.14 per share, on 29.3 million weighted average shares in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 and with a net loss of $9.1 million, or $0.32 per share, on 28.0 million weighted average shares in the first quarter of 2007. Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2008 was $0.6 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, on 30.8 million weighted average shares.


"I'm very pleased that Ikanos achieved non-GAAP profitability for the second consecutive quarter. Our quarterly revenues increased 20% from the year ago period driven primarily by increased demand in Europe and Japan," said Michael A. Ricci, Ikanos' president and CEO. "During the quarter we expanded our product portfolio by introducing the industry's first single chip integrated front end (IFE) which enables cost effective, low power, multi-mode triple play residential gateways. In addition, we have made significant progress on our GPON initiative."http://www.ikanos.com

Qwest Launches 20 Mbps and 12 Mbps Broadband based on FTTN

Qwest Communications launched a new generation of residential Internet access services with downloads speeds of up to 20 Mbps. The new services powered by Qwest's ongoing fiber to the neighborhood (FTTN) network expansion. The new tiers include:

  • Qwest Connect Quantum -- delivering connection speeds of up to 20 Mbps for a bundled price of $99.99 per month.


  • Qwest Connect Titanium -- offering connection speeds of up to 12 Mbps for a bundled price of only $46.99 per month.


Both services will be available in 23 of Qwest's top markets across 10 states in 2008 as Qwest continues to execute its phased rollout of fiber-optic technology to the neighborhood.http://www.qwest.com

Jeff Pulver Resigns from Pulvermedia

Jeff Pulver has resigned as a director of Pulvermedia, which runs the VON tradeshows amongst its activities. No reason was given.

http://www.pulvermedia.com

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Cable Companies and Sprint Unwind Their "Pivot" Service

Sprint Nextel is unwinding the relationship under which Comcast, Cox and Time Warner bundled its mobile service under the "Pivot" brand. According to media reports, the partners found the operational details of the jointly marketed service to be too complex and will now transfer the existing customers directly to Sprint.http://www.sprint.com

Foundry Introduces Compact Routing Switch

Foundry Networks has expanded its line of FastIron Edge X Series of compact Layer 2/3 routing switches with the introduction of the FastIron Edge XE Series routing switches featuring IPv4 and IPv6 hardware-based routing capacity in a compact 1.5 rack unit (RU) platform.


The FES-XE series is available in three models including fiber and copper configurations and port densities of 24- and 48-ports. All three models are upgradeable with a two-port 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) module.


Some technical highlights include:

  • Support for up to 512,000 IPv4 and up to 64,000 IPv6 routes in hardware forwarding memory

  • Up to 1,000,000 BGP route advertisements in software for storing and processing multiple views of the full Internet routing table
  • Wire-Speed Performance and Deep Packet Buffers with up to 88 to 136 Mpps forwarding throughput and independent IPv4 and IPv6 ,hardware forwarding tables


  • 32MB ingress and 32MB egress packet buffers deliver maximum performance under high traffic loads


  • IPv4: RIPv1/v2, OSPF, BGP-4, PIM, IGMP, ECMP


  • IPv6: RIPng, OSPFv3, IPv6 Static Routing, IPv6-to-IPv4 static tunneling to facilitate network transition and a range of IPv6 edge features including IPv6 extended ACLs.


  • Advanced Layer 2 Features: Metro Ring Protocol (MRP), Virtual Switch Redundancy Protocol (VSRP), IEEE 802.1s, IEEE 802.3ad, IGMP v2/v3 snooping, MLD v1/v2 snooping, etc.


The FastIron Edge XE series will be available May 2008 with U.S. list prices starting at $14,995.http://www.foundrynet.com

Telecom Italia Completes MBMS Field Trial with Huawei, Qualcomm

Telecom Italia has completed a field trial of MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) technology conducted with Huawei and Qualcomm. MBMS technology is based on 3GPP standards and supports multicast and broadcast innovative services, allowing speeds of up to 256kbps on a mobile device. The trial, which was conducted by means of Huawei MBMS solution together with the handsets powered by Qualcomm's MSM7201A chipset, demonstrated MBMS service deliveries of between 128kbps and 256 kbps under various indoor and outdoor MBMS channel conditions.http://www.huawei.com

Tata Introduces Global Suite of Security Services

Tata Communications introduced suite of security services designed to protect the applications, IT systems and networks that power its customers' critical business infrastructures. The managed security solutions are backed by performance-based Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The services are overseen by an experienced, globally distributed support team using state-of-the-art systems, processes and tools. Tata Communications' wide range of supported vendors and solutions, combined with its globally consistent and efficient service delivery model, meets the security needs for businesses.


The suite of security services, which includes managed and monitored Firewalls and Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances, Intrusion Detection and Prevention systems, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Detection and Mitigation, and Penetration Testing, offers customers proactive detection and evaluation of information security threats, accompanied by swift incident response and remediation actions. Evaluation and response is based on Tata Communications' real time security incident and event analysis, which draws upon a global base of current activity and trends.http://www.tatacommunications.com

NextWave Considers Sale of Its Wireless Spectrum Holdings in the U.S.

Citing offers from several potential buyers, NextWave Wireless has retained Deutsche Bank and UBS Investment Bank to explore the sale of its extensive spectrum holdings in the United States.


NextWave's U.S. spectrum footprint covers over 251 million people, or pops, in the United States and includes major markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Houston, and Detroit. The company's holdings include licenses and lease rights for a total of 4.7 billion MHz/pops of spectrum comprised of 154 Advanced Wireless Service ("AWS") licenses in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band, 30 Wireless Communication Service ("WCS") licenses in the 2.3 GHz band, and 39 Educational Broadband Service ("EBS") and Broadband Radio Service ("BRS") licenses and spectrum leases in the 2.5 GHz band.


"Since the completion of the recent 700 MHz auction, we have received multiple offers for our U.S. spectrum assets. Given our continued success in developing highly differentiated wireless broadband and multimedia-enabled products, we no longer view our spectrum holdings as critical to reaching our product sales objectives, and believe that now is the perfect time for us to sell these valuable assets while network operators are trying to finalize their band plans and spectrum holdings for their continuing 3G and planned 4G rollouts," said Allen Salmasi, chief executive officer and president of NextWave Wireless. "Monetizing the value of our substantial spectrum assets would allow us to further strengthen our balance sheet, retire debt, and continue the commercial introduction of a wide range of innovative wireless broadband and multimedia solutions such as our high-performance WiMAX and RFIC chipsets, advanced multi-mode, multi-band TD-CDMA, WiMAX and LTE enabled base station platforms, breakthrough MXtv and TDtv mobile television systems, highly advanced mobile multimedia software solutions and platforms that we are now bringing into commercial deployments globally with many of the largest mobile operators and device manufactures in the world."http://www.nextwave.comEarlier this month, NextWave Wireless announced its NW2000 Wave 2-ready family of second-generation mobile WiMAX chipsets designed for high-volume, small form-factor wireless broadband subscriber stations, including CPE modems, PC card modems, laptops, multimode/smartphone handsets and mobile multimedia terminals. Specifically, the new mobile WiMAX chipsets include:

  • NW2100: NextWave's NW2100 is a family of 802.16e-based mobile subscriber baseband System-On-a-Chip (SoC) solutions designed for Wave 2 WiMAX Forum compliance. Integrating an ARM9 processor and memory, the NW2100 provides a complete self-hosted modem, enabling designs with minimum processing load on the host processor. The chip uses 65-nanometer CMOS process and includes integrated 802.11b/g MAC/BB, SIM controller, multiple host interfaces, an embedded device security/firmware authentication engine, support for optimum data throughput, and advanced proprietary techniques that significantly reduce the overall system power consumption.


  • NW2200: Designed to be used in conjunction with NextWave's NW2100 WiMAX SoC family, NextWave's NW2200 family of single-chip, highly integrated, multi-band Radio Frequency (RF) transceivers have dual independent receive chains optimized for mobile applications. The NW2200 provides a compact, ultra low-power, high-performance solution for manufacturers of wireless broadband mobile devices, and unlike competitor RF ICs it supports all major worldwide WiMAX bands and profiles. To further decrease total system cost and chip footprint, NextWave has deployed a direct-conversion architecture, integrated low-noise amplifiers, and integrated low-dropout voltage regulators for reduced external component count.

Ixia Debuts 10 GbE Load Modules for High Density Data Center Testing

Ixia introduced a layer 2-7, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) IP testing solution for high-density next-generation data center infrastructure.


The new 10 GbE IxYukon load module, which leverages Ixia's converged testing applications, IxLoad and IxNetwork, is aimed at testing for next generation data centers.


Ixia said the new 10 GbE IxYukon module provides four times the 10 GbE port density of its nearest competitor. When used with the Ixia XM12 chassis, the solution requires one-quarter of the laboratory space and one-half the power consumption. With the eight-port IxYukon, 96 10 GbE test ports fit in a standard 19-inch rack-mount Ixia XM12 chassis. The nearest competitor requires four fully loaded chassis to match Ixia's 96-port, single chassis 10 GbE solution.


Ixia's IxYukon 10 GbE load modules begin shipping at the end of Q2 2008.http://www.ixiacom.com