Reliance Globalcom Integrates Operations

Reliance Globalcom is structuring its services under four core business segments comprising of Data, Voice, WiMax and NLD.


The company said it is in unique position to deliver a unrivalled hybrid network reach, depth and breadth with a private undersea cable system spanning 65,000 km, over 110,000 kms of domestic optic fiber in India, and a Global Service Delivery Platform connecting 40 key business markets in India, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the U.S..


The Data segment integrates Reliance Globalcom Limited ( formerly known as FLAG Telecom), Reliance Globalcom Services Inc (formerly known as Yipes Enterprises) and Reliance Vanco Group ( formerly known as Vanco Group). The company provides multinational clients with low-latency connectivity into developed and developing markets, global Ethernet VPLS spanning key metros, and relationships with over 750 carrier partners.


The Reliance Globalcom data business will compete with AT&T, British Telecom Global Services, Orange Business Services, and Verizon Business, for medium to large MNCs around the world, serving them directly or through channel partners.


"Reliance Globalcom is now poised for strong exponential growth." said Mr. Punit Garg, President and CEO, Reliance Globalcom. "This consolidation will augment our capabilities to offer highly customer-focused solutions to end consumers and businesses (including enterprises, systems integrators, and carriers) around the globe. This is an important step towards making Reliance Globalcom one of the Top 5 Global communications enterprises", he added.http://www.relianceglobalcom.com

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Kontron to Acquire Intel's Rack mounted Server Division

Munich-based Kontron AG announced an agreement to acquire Intel's Communication Rackmount Server operations. The Intel family of IP network security servers comprised of 1U, 2U servers are designed for enterprise application acceleration and content caching, as well as for running Telco SoIP, such as IMS, IPTV, video on demand (VoD), SIP application servers, IP-PBX, and IP-PSTN gateways.


The Intel carrier-grade rackmount and network server team mainly centered in Columbia, South Carolina, and Penang, Malaysia, which include various employees engaged in engineering, product development, product marketing, technical support and operations. Kontron's Management expects for 2009 revenue from this new acquisition of more than US$40 million.


Kontron said the addition of Intel communication servers will be an excellent complement to the Kontron family of AdvancedTCA and MicroTCA communication platforms and industrial rackmount servers. It will enable Kontron to further address the needs of tier 1 and tier 2 telecom and network equipment providers who need to deliver compelling solutions for the growing communications market.http://www.kontron.comhttp://www.intel.com

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SureWest Launches FTTH in Kansas City

SureWest Communications has launched fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network service in the Kansas City communities of Merriam and Olathe. The network initially passes 1,500 homes and SureWest plans to reach another 1,500 fiber homes in Merriam and Olathe by November 2008 and 8,000 total by the end of the year. The company is also expanding its FTTH network into the community of Prairie Village by the end of 2008 or early 2009.


SureWest's FTTH platform delivers 100 Mbps of bi-directional bandwidth to each customer's home, which is one of the fastest and most reliable broadband networks of any system in the country. SureWest provides the only residential service in the United States that delivers 50 Mbps of Internet speed both uploading and downloading.


SureWest's FTTH pricing begins at $79.95 for a triple-play of unlimited telephone calling, high-speed Internet and cable TV.http://www.surewest.com/http://everestkc.com/about/rates.shtml

• In December 2007, SureWest Communications, which serves the Sacramento, California region, agreed to acquire Everest Broadband, which serves the greater Kansas City area, for $173 million. Everest was a portfolio company of Seaport Capital.

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BT Wins 5-Year Wireless Backhaul T-Mobile and 3 UK

BT has won a five-year managed network solutions agreement with T-Mobile and 3 UK, through their joint venture company, Mobile Broadband Network Ltd (MBNL). Specifically, BT will provide Ethernet backhaul connecting 7,500 base station sites on their consolidated 3G infrastructure. The network services contract supersedes the original contracts that BT had in place with both T-Mobile and 3 UK.


BT's next-generation Ethernet service is currently being rolled out across the UK. The service will deliver improved access and backhaul service delivery to MBNL. It is the latest new service to launch on BT's 21CN global platform. The migration of the common backhaul network to Ethernet technology will follow BT's roll-out programme. In the shorter term, BT will continue to upgrade the legacy leased line connections.


Emin Gurdenli, Technology Director at T-Mobile UK, said: "We are now moving ahead with the large scale consolidation of cell sites with the objective of achieving scale and integrating quickly and smoothly. This agreement with BT will make sure backhaul is not a constraint now or in the future at a time when T-Mobile is experiencing strong growth in mobile broadband and other mobile data services. It will help ensure we continue to deliver a superior mobile broadband experience to our customers."http://www.btplc.com

• In August 2008, Nokia Siemens Networks announced that it had been selected as technology partner for Mobile Broadband Network Ltd. (MBNL), the network collaboration joint-venture between T-Mobile UK and 3 UK. The companies anticipate creating the UK's most extensive 3G network providing near complete population coverage by the end of 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed.
  
  
  Under the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks will supervise the creation and operation of the joint network on behalf of both companies. The first integrated cell site was commissioned in early February. Although masts and the 3G access networks are being combined, each company's core network and T-Mobile's 2G network will not be shared. Both parties will retain responsibility for the delivery of services to their respective customers and use their own frequency spectrum.
  
  
  Nokia Siemens Networks said its radio access solution will replace most of the two operators' communications stations across the UK and equipment at the remaining sites is being upgraded and reconfigured for higher quality and capacity. The solution, featuring energy-efficient Flexi base stations from Nokia Siemens Networks, will allow a reduction the number of sites in the network by about 30 percent. As well as network infrastructure, Nokia Siemens Networks will deliver project management, network deployment and managed spare parts capability, as well as care services to maintain network performance and increase its efficiency.

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Brocade Announces $1.1 Billion Term Loan for Acquisition of Foundry Networks

Brocade has entered into a $1.225 billion secured credit facility with Bank of America, N.A. as Administrative Agent, Banc of America Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. as Syndication Agent and HSBC Bank USA, National Association and Keybank National Association as Co-Documentation Agents and other lenders providing for a $1.1 billion term loan facility and a $125 million revolving credit facility.

The proceeds from the term loan facility are expected to be used to finance a portion of Brocade's acquisition of Foundry Networks, which was announced on July 21, 2008. The proceeds from the term loan facility were deposited into a restricted Brocade custody account pending the closing of the acquisition of Foundry and other release conditions.


In addition to using the term loan facility proceeds, Brocade anticipates raising up to $400 million in additional financing as well as using cash on hand (at both companies) and limited proceeds from a portion of the revolving credit facility to fund the acquisition.


The acquisition has cleared US and foreign regulatory review, has been approved by the board of directors of each company, and is subject to vote and approval by Foundry's stockholders on October 24, 2008, along with certain other closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2008.http://www.brocade.com

• Brocade agreed to acquire Foundry Networks in a deal valued at approximately $3 billion. Under the agreement, Brocade will pay a combination of $18.50 of cash plus 0.0907 shares of Brocade common stock in exchange for each share of Foundry common stock, representing a total value of $19.25 (based on Brocade's closing stock price on Friday, July 18, 2008 of $8.27).
  
  
  The acquisition will position Brocade as a leading provider of enterprise and service provider networking solutions. Brocade currently offers a range of Storage Area Networks (SANs) and File Area Networks (FANs) solutions. The company is based in San Jose, California.
  
  
  Foundry, which was founded in 1996 and held its initial public offering in September 1999, supplies a range of enterprise and service provider switching, routing, security and Web traffic management solutions, including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 Backbone switches, Layer 4-7 application switches, wireless LAN and access points, metro routers and core routers. The company is based in Santa Clara, California.

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Ciena Builds on its Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery Portfolio

Ciena has enhanced its Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery with a new low-touch devices and intelligent software to simplify and scale Carrier Ethernet service delivery by automating and accelerating service creation and activation in access and metro networks.


Ciena believes that adopting programmable, carrier-class devices that use a common service-aware operating system and unified Ethernet services management software can reduce installation time by up to 75 percent through automated service creation, provisioning and activation.


Key additions to the portfolio include:

• The new CN 3911 Service Delivery Switch, which is environmentally hardened and suitable for mounting outdoors or indoors. It offers flexible deployment options to support a range of mobile backhaul and business services applications and also provides significant cost savings in terms of real estate, site conditioning and power consumption. It accommodates two Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network ports, eight 10/100/1000 user ports as well as optional system components, including a physically secure module for customer access to user ports and a voice module with two FXS ports with POTS-VoIP gateway functionality.



• The new CN 3920 Service Delivery Switch, a low-cost business service delivery switch with advanced features that include a high-capacity switching fabric with all GbE ports -- four 100/1000 Mbps optical and eight 10/100/1000 Mbps copper -- in a compact single rack unit ETSI form factor that provides front access to power and all network and management interfaces.



• Ciena's service-aware operating system serves as the common software intelligence shared across all Ciena Service Delivery Switches and Service Aggregation Switches for consistent system and service attributes. This latest version has been upgraded with new Ethernet control and management plane protocols, Ethernet encapsulation techniques and Carrier Ethernet Operations, Administration, and Maintenance mechanisms, all of which enhance its fault and performance management, virtual switching, SLA verification and quality of service capabilities.

The full value of these new portfolio enhancements is realized through Ciena's Ethernet Services Manager, which leverages the Carrier Ethernet management plane features of the service-aware operating system to enable automated service activation, creation and administration across Ciena's Carrier Ethernet service switches.http://www.ciena.com

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Orange Rolls Out New Branding Campaign in France

Orange has rolled out its new branding campaign in France. The corporate vision, built around the theme "Plus loin ensemble" ("Together we can do more"), was first launched in the United Kingdom (July), followed by Moldova (August), and Romania, Austria and Kenya (September).

Orange said the new image reflects the profound changes in the Group over the past few years. It is based on the idea of pushing back the frontiers between different nationalities and cultures thanks to new technology.


The French version of the worldwide campaign, created by the Publicis Group and presented for the first time this summer, expresses the idea in which people themselves define who they are, what they can achieve and how they find their place in society through their contacts with other people. In short, this campaign, which is based on the idea that "I am nothing without them and with them I can do everything", has been developed to act as a catalyst and encourage people to think and put personal effort into whatever they undertake, in the same way that Orange develops and presents its products and services.htttp://www.orange.com/togetherwecandomore

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JDSU Introduces New FTTH Pump Laser

JDSU introduced its new 4900 Series pump laser offering twice the power of existing components. The pump laser increases an optical amplifier's signal power so that it can split a signal to travel over multiple fibers and reach the maximum number of homes, helping to decrease signal generation costs for network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) and service providers.


Some product highlights:

• Doubles laser pump power from 4 watts (W) to 8 W, allowing NEMs and service providers to replace two pump lasers with a single pump laser within optical amplifiers for FTTH deployments.



• Designed to improve pump laser efficiency by 20 percent, reducing power and cooling requirements.



• 70 percent smaller in size than the previous pump laser platform, freeing up valuable data center real estate for customers.



• Based on JDSU's telecom-grade L4 diode laser platform that was released in December 2007.

htttp://www.jdsu.com

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Ceragon Supplies Backhaul for Worldmax's WiMAX Network

Worldmax, a competitive WiMAX operator in the Netherlands, is using Ceragon Networks' FibeAir IP solutions in its commercial WiMAX networks. Ceragon powers Worldmax's network with up to 400Mbps of traffic aggregation capacity.


Worldmax launched its new WiMAX network in June 2008 and currently offers high-end data services throughout the city of Amsterdam. The operator plans to eventually expand its independent wireless network and provide nationwide coverage.
http://www.ceragon.com

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Sonus Networks Warns on Significant Revenue Decline

Sonus Networks expects to report a significant decrease in year-over-year revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. The company further expects that its year-over-year revenue for the full year 2008 will decrease from the full year 2007.


Sonus Networks said it continues to maintain a solid financial base, ending the third quarter with no debt and with cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and long-term investments totaling more than $400 million, up from approximately $398 million at the end of the second quarter 2008.


"We are disappointed with our expected revenue for the third quarter and the second half of 2008," said Richard Nottenburg, president and CEO of Sonus Networks. "Our business experienced weakness toward the end of the quarter, due to several factors including the challenging environment. We expect this to continue for the foreseeable future."
http://www.sonusnet.com/

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NETGEAR Offers Dual-Band Secure Wireless-N for SMBs

NETGEAR introduced its new ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall that combines dual-band Wireless-N with SSL and IPsec VPN for small to medium sized businesses. The new ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall offers two types of Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnels -- Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and IP Security (IPsec). It supports up to five SSL VPN tunnels and five IPsec VPN tunnels simultaneously for enhanced protection from network security threats.


NETGEAR's SRXN3205 operates in either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz radio bands. The 5 GHz radio band operating mode provides maximum wireless speeds by creating an overlay network that does not interfere with other existing 802.11g and 802.11b networks that include devices such as older laptops, print servers, hand-held inventory scanners, and IP cameras. While only Wireless-N clients can use the 5 GHz radio band, these Wireless-N clients realize benefits such as up to ten times the coverage and up to fifteen times the speed of 802.11g networks. To maintain wireless security, features such as WPA, WPA2, and 802.1x with RADIUS support are included. The device also includes four Gigabit LAN ports.
http://www.netgear.com

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Syniverse Announces 3-Year Contract Extension with Verizon Wireless

Syniverse Technologies announced a three-year contract extension with Verizon Wireless, effective Sept. 30, under which it will continue to empower the wireless operator with capabilities that enable it to deliver seamless mobile services by making it possible for disparate technologies and standards to interoperate. All of the existing product lines that Syniverse currently provides to Verizon Wireless for the management of its data clearing and roaming operations are encompassed by the contract, including:

• Mobile Data Roaming -- Enables mobile operators to cost effectively bridge technical gaps and simplify business relationships among roaming partners to meet subscriber demand for ubiquitous wireless data connectivity.



• Data Clearing House -- Effectively and efficiently manages data clearing and roaming operations for an operator, minimizing the resources required to handle roaming accounting and ensuring the rapid exchange of data records that drive accurate invoicing and settlement, and increase revenue assurance.



• UniRoam -- an inter-standard roaming solution that enables operators to provide global access to voice and data services across both CDMA and GSM-based networks.

http://www.syniverse.com

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