Sunday, September 7, 2008

BT Employs Mu's Service Analyzer for Vendor Evaluation on DFTS Network

BT is using Mu Dynamics' Mu-4000 Service Analyzer to support the evaluation and testing of proposed services on the UK's Defense Fixed Telecommunications Service (DFTS) network. The deployment aims to quicken the reliable deployment of new services -- from initial vendor and equipment evaluation through systems integration and testing. The DFTS network supports a broad range of services to the 230,000 users at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), who place more than 750,000 VPN calls a day and send two million emails per week through the DFTS EGS (Enterprise Gateway Service). Under the MOD's Defence Modernization Program, BT is in the process of introducing a new core network which aims to enhance services while reducing tariffs paid by the MOD.


The Mu-4000 is an IP service assurance test solution that quantifies many dimensions of system behavior. The Mu solution automates the detection, isolation and elimination of a wide range of weaknesses in IP-based networks and supplier products. The methodical and proactive approach maximizes network operator service availability and network uptime.


"With Mu's Service Analyzer we are able to baseline the reliability of every vendor and potential system prior to making a purchase decision--proactively detecting any problems that could lead to disruption or downtime in our production networks," according to Matt Graff, BT's defense account manager. "The automated analysis performed by the Mu-4000 is far more comprehensive than any manual process or point product solution we have evaluated to date, and this will be critical to BT as we implement our next generation of real-time network infrastructure and services."http://www.mudynamics.com

Sprint Provides Visibility into Customer IP/MPLS Connections

Sprint has introduced a new online tool that provides its customers with a view into the performance of their IP and MPLS networks. The new "Compass" application provides visibility into a customer's network vital statistics previously available only to service providers. Key features include:

  • Quickly locating network connections, and obtaining critical information and status by business location.

  • Real-time reporting that allows customers to better manage and understand WAN performance, status and behavior.

  • Visibility into class of service (CoS) configuration and reporting.

  • Access to historical performance statistics.

  • Ability to monitor performance and view stats for both domestic and international locations.

  • Initial troubleshooting and testing prior to opening a trouble ticket.


"Compass enhances the Sprint business customer experience by providing them with full knowledge of what is going on within the ‘cloud,' the ability to take control and manage their network, and in-depth, real-time reporting available at their fingertips, whenever needed," said Dan Dooley, president of Wireline, Sprint. "We're meeting an important customer need with this on-demand, self-service tool, which displays IP and MPLS key performance indicators, customer port inventory and configuration that goes beyond the customer premises."http://www.sprint.com

Stratecast and Innopath Quantify the Positive Billion-Dollar Impact of MDM

Using mobile device management (MDM) technology within mobile operators' customer care organizations could have a major impact on global operational and support costs in the range of $3 billion in 2009 to over $23 billion by 2013, according to market researcher Stratecast and InnoPath, a leading supplier of MDM solutions.


Using MDM, customer care representatives both on the phone and in the store can view a customer's handset configuration and quickly understand what is missing, incorrect, or out-of-date. Following identification of the problem, a solution can be immediately applied Over the Air (OTA) without any intervention from the customer. This streamlines the customer support process, creating efficiencies that reduce the number and length of support contacts and in turn results in tremendous cost savings. Stratecast and InnoPath predict that these cost savings, when applied to an average North American operator (with 70 million subscribers), would result in a total savings of $2 billion dollars over five years.


The jointly developed ROI model includes more than twenty-five independent variables and leverages both Stratecast's empirical data and InnoPath's practical experience.


"The advanced services customers demand from their cell phones are creating an unprecedented burden on the mobile operator," says Nancee Ruzicka of Stratecast's OSS/BSS Global Competitive Strategies group. "Increasingly complex requirements for device configurations, software updates and convoluted trouble-shooting procedures are driving up support costs. These are costs which cannot be contained without streamlining traditional methods of customer support for mobile devices."http://www.innopath.com

Tata Comm. Launches Global CDN Powered By BitGravity

Tata Communications announced the worldwide launch of a content delivery network (CDN) service powered by BitGravity. Tata Communications, which has more than 300 points of presence worldwide, is now offering the CDN service over its global IP network throughout Europe, Asia, North America and India. Tata Communications' next-generation CDN service aims to provide immediate access to content, including High-Definition Video, without delay or jitter, and the highest levels of throughput for end users. Its feature list includes fast forwarding, cache clearing, resolution switching and rate throttling from within a Flash player.


BitGravity, a start-up based in Burlingame, California, has developed a new generation of content delivery technology that aims to eliminate routing and processing overhead -- an improvement that it claims can lead to 4-20X improvements in application responsiveness. Its network is based on 10 Gbps, which allows it to increase packet sizes and data per stream and removes throughput bottlenecks. the company combines open protocols with its own proprietary protocols.


Tata Communications, which announced a strategic partnership with BitGravity in March, 2008, has also invested $11.5 million in convertible debt in BitGravity, validating the company's content delivery platform as a key benefit in Tata Communications' value-added services offering. In turn, BitGravity has named Tata Communications' Chief Technology Officer, John Hayduk to its Board of Directors. Tata Communications' financial backing of BitGravity confirms Tata Communications' commitment to develop and offer innovative technology solutions to its global customers.


"The launch of Tata Communications' CDN service is a major milestone in our strategic roadmap to offer unparalleled managed services globally. We chose to work with BitGravity because it has the best architecture and technology to deliver high quality content and video," said Vinod Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Tata Communications. "Together, Tata Communications and BitGravity's capabilities are a formidable force to deliver high quality content and video."


"Global reach will be table stakes for content delivery and we are excited to receive funding and support from a strong strategic investor like Tata Communications that will enable us to effectively integrate our CDN architecture with their worldwide backbone and provide an unmatched user experience. Tata Communications' extensive relationships within and outside of the communications industry will accelerate the deployment and penetration of our innovative platform," said Perry Wu, CEO and co-founder of BitGravity.http://www.bitgravity.comhttp://www.tatacommunications.com

JDSU Enhances its AON Super Transport Blade

JDSU has added protection switch technology for its AON Super Transport Blade, the new single-slot solution that integrates major optical network transport functions onto a single blade.




Protection switch technology has been used for several decades to provide redundancy in networks, or backup pathways for network traffic in the event of a network failure, such as when a construction crew accidentally cuts through a fiber within the ground. When the fiber is damaged, or when its optical signal goes "dark," the JDSU protection switch detects the problem and switches the optical traffic to an alternate fiber within 15 milliseconds, greatly reducing the risk of a network outage.


JDSU said adding this enhancement was made possible by the AON Embedded Operating System, a highly modular framework that supports functions within JDSU transport products.http://www.jdsu.com
  • In February 2008, JDSU introduced its Agile Optical Network (AON) Superblade concept -- all major functions required for optical network transport integrated onto a single blade, significantly reducing size, cost and power requirements for network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) and service providers. The AON Superblade includes very small blocks of wavelength selective switch (WSS) technology that JDSU has invented called the Nano WSS, erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) technology, and an optical channel monitor technology into a single-slot device. As with existing WSS technology, the Nano WSS can direct traffic in network nodes requiring greater than two dimensions, and provides colorless routing and switching, or the ability to direct wavelengths in several directions instead of in just a single direction. JDSU is also developing a customized operating system-- called the AON Embedded Operating System - to ensure that AON Superblade seamlessly integrates within network equipment manufacturer's (NEMS) and service provider's unique network environments.


    JDSU said its high level of vertical integration will allow for flexibility during the individual design and manufacturing of each optical element. The company estimates that the new solution could be as much as 50 percent lower in cost compared to the total cost for all of the separate optical components currently used today. The AON Superblade will also be approximately four times smaller because all of the components will be integrated into a single-slot blade, compared to current solutions that can require up to four blades within NEM's systems.

Carbonite Raises $20 Million for Online Storage Services

Carbonite, a start-up based in Boston, closed $20 million in C round funding for its Online Backup service, which was originally launched in May 2006. So far, the company said it has backed up more than 4 billion files, has restored more than 300 million lost files for its customers and has a large data center where capacity is measured in petabytes.


The funding round was led by Performance Equity of Stamford, Conn., with participation of all of Carbonite's existing institutional investors, including Menlo Ventures, 3i, and Common Angels Fund. The round brings the total raised by the Boston-based company to approximately $47 million. http://www.carbonite.com/

Fusion-io Evolves Enterprise Flash Storage

Fusion-io, a start-up based in Salt Lake City, introduced its "ioSAN" networked enterprise solid state drive (SSD). The ioSAN can be deployed as networked, server-attached storage or integrated into networked storage infrastructure using the directly connected form factor.


Fusion-io said its design allows an off-the-shelf server to be configured into a storage area network (SAN) with multi-terabytes of low-cost tiered storage, high-performance enterprise flash and high- performance enterprise networking, even building systems that can do millions of IOPS and tens of gigabytes of sustained bandwidth, all at less than one millisecond of latency.


Using a standards-based, memory-speed protocol over either 10GigE or 40GBps QDR InfiniBand, the ioSAN shares ioMemory capacity between servers. Fusion-io claims latencies of less than two microseconds using an integrated network interface that can dynamically alternate between 10 Gbps Ethernet or 40 Gbps quad data rate InfiniBand.
http://www.fusionio.com

Denmark's TRE-FOR Bredbånd Selects Cisco for Video on Demand over Fiber

TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S, the broadband network operator serving the Triangle Region in Denmark, has deployed the Cisco Content Delivery System (CDS) in its open access fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network to deliver advanced entertainment and interactive media. The solution is used to provide TRE-FOR's content provider partners with a highly extensible platform to support high-value subscriber services such as video-on-demand (VoD), program time-shifting, local programming, "long tail" content, and public, educational and government channels. The Cisco CDS solution also offers the possibility of targeted ad insertion and network personal video recording (nPVR) services if future legislation allows.


The Cisco CDS solution is an IP NGN-based, modular video-delivery platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.http://www.cisco.comhttp://www.tre-for.dk/

Motorola Expands Global RFID Footprint

Motorola's Enterprise Mobility business introduced several new RFID product enhancements and an increase in geographic availability of its RFID portfolio for industry segments such as item-level inventory tracking in the retail industry, baggage tracking and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) in aviation, IT asset management in the financial sector and high value asset management in energy.


Specifically, Motorola introduced a new handheld RFID reader for the European market, the certification of its mobile RFID reader in six new countries in Asia, and a global firmware upgrade to increase the flexibility and performance capability of its XR series fixed reader. The new European R1 version of Motorola's high-performance RFID handheld reader is compliant with current ETSI 302 208 standards required for operation in countries in the European Union. The new R1 version offers integrated RFID reading/writing and barcode scanning and is able to seamlessly switch to multiple channels and transmit 100 percent of the time. The long read ranges produced by the linear antennae make the reader ideal for a variety of retail, manufacturing, transportation and logistics applications including shipping and receiving, work-in-process, item-level in-store inventory management and asset, baggage and cargo tracking.http://www.motorola.com

AT&T Picks Yahoo! as the Default Mobile Search Engine

AT&T has selected Yahoo! "oneSearch" as the default mobile search engine for the AT&T MEdia Net portal. AT&T is the first U.S. carrier to integrate Yahoo!'s mobile search service directly into their portal.


Specifically, Yahoo! oneSearch will provide customers who search AT&T MEdia Net with access to news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos and Web images, as well as Web and mobile web sites. Yahoo! oneSearch will also display relevant ringtones, wallpaper, games and other content available in the AT&T MEdia Mall within search results, eliminating the need for customers to search within a separate window for downloadable content. AT&T's YELLOWPAGES.COM will provide local search information to customers as part of the agreement.


Also beginning today, Yahoo! will provide mobile-sponsored search advertising within mobile search results conducted through the AT&T MEdia Net portal.http://www.att.comhttp://www.yahoo.com

Korea Awards IPTV Licenses to KT, Hanarotelecom, LG Dacom

The Korean Communications Commission has awarded the first three IPTV licenses in South Korea to KT, Hanarotelecom and LG Dacom Corp. The companies are required to launch their services by next spring. Korea has one of the highest broadband penetration rates in the world.http://www.kcc.go.kr/http://eng.kcc.go.kr