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/

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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/

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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.

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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.

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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

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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/

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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/

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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

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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

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