EC Telecom Rules: More Progress on Emergency 112 Caller Location Info

The European Commission cited progress on the issue of European emergency number 112 caller location information. Following action from the European Commission, caller location information for mobile calls is now available in Latvia and that the issue is being tackled with urgency by the authorities in Poland. The issue of caller location information in these two countries will no longer be taken to the European Court of Justice.


There are five Member States in which caller location information for 112 calls from mobile phones is not yet available. These are Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia. In addition, the 112 number is not yet fully available in Bulgaria .http://www.europa.eu

Read More

Europe's GÉANT Extends Global Connections

GÉANT, the advanced pan-European backbone network connecting National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) across the continent, is now linking up to similar networks world-wide with the aim of creating a single global research network.


GÉANT currently connects 34 national research networks using multiple 10 Gbps wavelengths and linking some 3,500 universities and their 30 million users. High-speed links will now be established with regional research network infrastructures emerging in the Balkans, the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions, as well Asia, Southern Africa and Latin America.


GÉANT was launched in 2000 as a jointly funded initiative to upgrade Europe's research and education networking infrastructure with €200 million in total.http://www.geant2.nethttp://europa.eu/information_society

Read More

Mario Rosso appointed new CEO of Tiscali

Tiscali announced the appointment of Mario Rosso as its new CEO, replacing Tommaso Pompei, who has stepped down after two years at the post. The company also confirmed its intention to pursue a strategic plan in light of the ongoing consolidation process in the telecommunication arena in Europe.http://www.tiscali.com

Read More

Harris Stratex to Resell Brix Networks' Service Assurance Products

Harris Stratex Networks has agreed to resell Brix Networks' converged service assurance products as part of its NetBoss network management offering. The two companies have also integrated Brix Networks' BrixWorx analysis and correlation software engine with the NetBoss product suite. The combined BrixWorx/NetBoss offering provides IP service and network performance visibility, network management, and service impact analysis - plus automated service level agreement (SLA) capabilities.http://www.brixnet.com

Read More

Covad Shareholders Approve Buyout by Platinum Equity

Shareholders in Covad Communications holding a majority of the company's outstanding shares approved Covad's acquisition by an affiliate of Platinum Equity for $1.02 per share in cash. The deal remains subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval of the Federal Communications Commission and state public utility commissions in many of the states in which Covad operates. Covad confirmed that the required FCC and state commission filings have been completed and that it is awaiting approval from the FCC and two remaining state commissions. The approvals are expected within the next 30 to 60 days.


The deal was first announced in October 2007.http://www.covad.com

Read More

Akamai Wins Patent Case Against Limelight

The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled in favor of Akamai in a patent infringement case against Limelight Networks. Both companies operate content delivery networks. The jury awarded Akamai $45,526,946 in damages, plus interest, for infringing U.S. Patent No. 6,108,703.
http://www.limelightnetworks.com/

Read More

FCC Publishes Studies on Spectrum Management Issues

The FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis (OSP) released three working papers
on two important spectrum management issues:


Working Paper #41, "Enhancing Spectrum's Value Via Market-informed Congestion Etiquettes"
and Working Paper #42, "Modeling the Efficiency of Spectrum Designated to License Use and
Unlicensed Operations," examine ways in which spectrum designated to licensed and unlicensed use can
be more efficiently used. Under the examined environment, theory predicts that society leaves half of the value it can
receive from spectrum "on the table."


The FCC said one new approach to spectrum management utilizes various types of user information to address the inefficient use
problem. Assuming a close similarity between the naturally occurring environment and the experimental
one, analysis reveals that the average efficiency of the existing etiquette employed in most unlicensed
equipment is 42%. In comparison, experimental analysis reveals that the average efficiency of one
market-informed etiquette - the Informed Greedy Algorithm - is 70%. This and other results form the
factual basis for generating an entirely new type of spectrum allocation wherein a given band of spectrum
is treated as a common pool resource in the absence of excessive spectrum congestion, but is treated as an
excludable private good in the presence of such congestion.


Working Paper #43, "A Market-based Approach to Establishing Licensing Rules: Licensed
Versus Unlicensed Use of Spectrum," examines the feasibility of employing a market mechanism to
determine whether spectrum should be designated to either licensed or unlicensed use.


The full text of each working paper is available online.http://www.fcc.gov/osp/workingp.html

Read More

Tata Consultancy Services to provide R&D for Nokia Siemens Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks announced a multimillion Euro outsourcing agreement with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to transfer product engineering and R&D services as well as parts of the Operations and Business Software (OBS) business unit activities from Nokia Siemens Networks to TCS. The reassigned parts belong to the Nokia Siemens Networks development center in Düsseldorf, Germany, including 90 employees who will be transferred to TCS as part of this engagement.


Nokia Siemens Networks said the transfer of R&D capabilities to trusted business partners such as TCS is part of Nokia Siemens Networks' overall strategy to realize synergy savings.http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

Read More