CounterPath Announces Job Cuts

Vancouver-based CounterPath Corporation announced a restructuring to lower its overall operating costs by approximately $4 million per year. The restructuring includes a reduction in 32% of headcount (approximately 45 employees and contractors) as well as other operational changes that are being implemented to increase the overall efficiency of the company's operations.


CounterPath's product suite includes SIP-based softphones, server applications and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) solutions.http://www.counterpath.com

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Woven Introduces Top-of-Rack 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Woven Systems, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, introduced a 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) top-of-rack switch designed for data centers. The 24-port TRX 200 joins Woven's TRX 100, a 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch with four 10 GE uplinks, giving customers greater flexibility in configuring either non-blocking or oversubscribed data center networks.


Woven said its new TRX 200 sets a new price/performance standard at less than $500 per 10 GE port. The TRX 200 switch is a single rack unit high with 24 SFP+ 10 GE ports that can also function as 1 GE ports. It also includes four 10/100/1000 switched Ethernet ports, along with two additional Ethernet management ports and a single console port. Management options include Web browser, Telnet remote log-in, a command line interface (CLI) and SNMPv3. High availability features include field-swappable redundant AC or DC power supplies, and a field-replaceable fan tray.


The U.S. list price is $11,995, or less than $500 per SFP+ port.http://www.wovensystems.com/

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Quantenna Leverages Adaptive Vector Mesh Routing for Better Wi-Fi

Quantenna, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, unveiled its line of 802.11n chipsets featuring 4x4 MIMO and transmit (Tx) beam forming technology for delivering guaranteed wireless bandwidth of up to 1 Gbps anywhere within a home.


In Quantenna's design, a single home access point (AP) would communicate via multiple links to relay nodes plugged into electrical outlets throughout the home. Multiple paths would automatically be created and dynamically maintained from the AP to other client devices, such as IPTV set-top boxes, located anywhere in the house.


Quantenna's silicon leverages a unique architecture that combines MIMO with two or four concurrent bands to enable highly-reliable connections around potential dead zones in a home wireless environment. The design uses adaptive vector mesh routing to work around areas of poor coverage and signal interference. Beamforming technology enables the chip to locate receiving devices and focus the signal on them, improving range and data rate while conserving transmitter power. The concurrent dual band mode could be used for real-time video transmission via the 5 Ghz band and data could travel over the 2.4 Ghz band. Furthermore, the design integrates high efficiency power amplifiers (PAs) with 18 dBm output power along with low-noise amplifier (LNA), video graphics array (VGA), switches, baluns and diplexers that constitute a front-end module.

Quantenna's family of wireless solutions includes a several devices:

• QHS1000: A fully integrated chipset solution with up to 1 Gbps performance. It is available as a dual 4x4 or quad 2x2 and operates on both the 2.4 and 5 GHz spectrums concurrently.



• QHS600: A fully integrated single chip solution with up to 600 Mbps link speed. The chip is available as single 4x4 or dual 2x2 and operates on the less crowded 5 GHz spectrum for
  bandwidth-intensive applications such as video.



• QHS450: A fully integrated single chip solution with up to 450 Mbps link speed. It is available as single 4x4 or dual 2x2 and operates on 2.4 GHz spectrum for data-intensive applications.



• Quantenna OS: A full-featured access point operating software that runs on the Quantenna family of products. Quantenna also enables equipment vendors to port their own software features on to Quantenna chipsets to further reduce BOM cost.



• Quantenna Plug: A fully functional, small form factor access point that plugs directly into an electrical outlet. The Quantenna plug features an integrated mesh network element that acts as a reference system. It comes with a development kit that includes schematics, Gerber files and the BOM, and uses the QHS 1000 silicon and the Quantenna OS.

http://www.quantenna.com/

• Quantenna was founded in 2006 and has received more than $27 million in Series A and B funding. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Venrock Associates, Sigma Partners and Grazia Equity.



• Quantenna's management team includes Dr. Behrooz Rezvani (founder, chairman and chief executive officer) and Dr. Andrea Goldsmith (co-founder and chief technology officer.) Prior to founding Quantenna, Dr. Rezvani founded Ikanos Communications in 1999 and served as chief technology officer through its successful IPO in 2005. Dr. Goldsmith is also a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University and a recognized expert in the field of wireless communications and networks, with an emphasis on MIMO systems, adaptive transmission, and QoS for wireless applications. Her prior experience includes both academic and industry positions with the California Institute of Technology, Memorylink Corporation (where she was chief scientist), AT&T Bell Laboratories and Maxim Technologies.

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XO Selects Ciena for Nationwide Ethernet Hubs

XO Communications has deployed Ciena's Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery Switches throughout its metropolitan networks as part of its new Ethernet Hub service, which provides a scalable way for domestic and international carriers to expand the reach of their Ethernet services in the United States.


XO has approximately one million miles of metro fiber networks in major markets across the United States and serves 75 metropolitan markets. The new XO Ethernet Hub service offers dedicated access to its extensive Ethernet footprint, including its Ethernet over Copper footprint serving more than 3.7 million buildings. The service offers a variety of Ethernet bandwidth options ranging from 5 Mbps to 10 Gbps and key Ethernet features, including 802.1Q, VLAN stacking and jumbo frames.


Specifically, XO is deploying Ciena's LE-311v Service Delivery Switch in all metro markets to provide the Ethernet Network-to-Network Interface (ENNI) function of the Ethernet Hub service -- identifying, separating and tagging different traffic types, aggregating the traffic for hand-off to XO's core network and switching the traffic across the network with the appropriate class-of-service, security and rate-limits in a point-to-multipoint architecture. Financial terms were not disclosed.http://www.xo.com

• In September 2008, Ciena announced that XO had selected its CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform to support the delivery of its optical metro transport services. XO Communications will utilize Ciena's CN 4200 in its metro networks nationwide to support the aggregation and transport of high-capacity services. In addition, XO Communications is now a designated Managed Services Provider (MSP) partner within Ciena's BizConnect global partner program.



• 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.

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Mintera Secures $8 Million Line of Credit

Mintera, a developer of high bit-rate optical transport systems, secured an $8 million revolving line of credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).


The company said it is experiencing strong demand for its 40 Gbps Adaptive-DPSK DWDM modules worldwide. Adaptive-DPSK enables the transport of 40 Gbps signals across ultra-long haul distances through Reconfigurable Add/Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs) with 50 GHz spaced signal wavelengths.
http://www.mintera.com

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AT&T Ships "Quicksilver" USB Modem for 3G/HSPA

AT&T has begun offering a new USB modem for providing access to its 3G/HSPA network. The new USBConnect Quicksilver from Option is the first USB mobile broadband device worldwide to use the Icera Livanto chipset. The device also supports international data roaming in more than 150 countries, with 3G available in more than 60 of those countries.


AT&T said users on its U.S. 3G network should expect typical downlink 3G speeds between 700 Kbps and 1.7 Mbps and typical uplink 3G speeds between 500 Kbps and 1.2 Mbps.


The AT&T Quicksilver is available at no cost additional through AT&T business sales channels, online at wireless.att.com and in company-owned AT&T retail locations for customers who choose a two-year DataConnect plan of $60 or more.http://www.att.com

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Motorola Debuts Krave Touchscreen Flip Phone for Verizon

Verizon Wireless and Motorola introduced the "Krave ZN4", featuring two layers of touch -- on the interactive clear flip outside and the full touch-screen inside -- and supporting V CAST Mobile TV, V CAST Video, V CAST Music with Rhapsody and VZ NavigatorSM services. Key features include:

• Visual Voice Mail
  
  
• a touch-controlled 2.0 megapixel camera. An accelerometer detects the movement when the phone rotates and changes the display for portrait or landscape shots.



• Bluetooth wireless pairing for headsets, hands-free for car kits, dial-up networking, stereo, phonebook access, basic printing and imaging, object push for vCard, and file transfer.



• Pricing of $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement.

http://www.motorola.com

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Atmel, Cisco and Swedish Institute Develop Open Source IPv6 Stack

Atmel , Cisco and the Swedish Institute of Computer Science (SICS) released an open-source, IPv6-ready protocol stack that could be used to enable a wide array of network-connected devices, including those with severe power or memory constraints. For instance, the IPv6 stack could be used in "Smart" objects powered by sensors and actuators in building automation, industrial monitoring, smart cities and energy management.


The open-source "uIPv6" stack includes standard IP applications and can be customized for specific requirements. It is integrated in the Contiki operating system developed by SICS, which provides all the necessary functionalities for networked smart objects. In addition, uIPv6's small footprint and memory usage allows it to run on the most constrained platforms. In particular, it was tested on Atmel's Raven wireless platform, chosen for its low-power performance.


The new uIPv6 stack requires 0.5 KB of SRAM for data structures, a minimum of 1.3 KB of SRAM for buffering, and 11 KB of Flash for the code. The Raven platform embeds a microcontroller and a wireless chip using the 802.15.4 standard, designed specifically to accommodate smart objects' requirements. uIPv6 includes an implementation of the 6LoWPAN standard, the adaptation layer between 802.15.4 and IPv6.


uIPv6 is released under a permissive open-source license, and as a result can be used for both commercial and noncommercial applications.


The collaborative project leveraged Cisco's expertise in IP networking, Atmel's low-power wireless hardware and SICS' knowledge in embedded operating systems design.http://www.sics.se/contikihttp://www.cisco.com

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Siemens Delivers Mobile UC Client for Blackberry, Symbian and Windows

Siemens Enterprise Communications released its "OpenScape Mobility" suite supporting a variety of unified communications (UC) users regardless of their location. OpenScape Mobility brings together enterprise telephony, video, unified communications, wireless and fixed mobile convergence applications in a single solution based on the Siemens HiPath MobileConnect, HiPath Wireless, and the new OpenScape Enterprise Mobile Client.. The solution is part of the Siemens OpenScape Unified Communications Suite launched earlier this year.


OpenScape Mobility encompasses the following new product releases:

• The All-Wireless Enterprise with HiPath Wireless (V5R3) -- this latest release provides high availability and rate shaping features. And now, for the first time, Siemens can deliver OpenScape HD Video over 802.11n, enabling portable HD Video units to be part of the overall mobility strategy of the university, health care facility or the enterprise.



• HiPath MobileConnect (V2) -- the fixed mobile convergence solution from Siemens. This latest release provides enhanced security for hotspot and tele-working users and improved least cost routing capabilities.



• The OpenScape Enterprise Mobile Client -- the unified communications application now goes mobile with a new mobile client for RIM, Symbian and Windows mobile .

http://www.siemens.com/open

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Fujitsu Releases IP-9500e MPEG-4 AVC Encoder

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, introduced an enhanced version of its IP-9500e MPEG-4 AVC encoder with new features for HD satellite news gathering (SNG) applications. The revision 3.1 firmware supports full HD video capture over DVB-ASI and IP. The IP-9500 delivers 300-millisecond total latency.http://www.fujitsu.com

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One Minute Video: Who is Narus?

One Minute Video presented by Greg Oslan, Narus

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Microsoft Releases Silverlight 2

Microsoft released Silverlight 2, its solution for the creation and delivery of applications and media experiences through a Web browser. Microsoft said Silverlight adoption continues to grow rapidly, with penetration in some countries approaching 50 percent and a growing ecosystem that includes more than 150 partners and tens of thousands of applications.


"We launched Silverlight just over a year ago, and already one in four consumers worldwide has access to a computer with Silverlight already installed," said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Division at Microsoft.


New Silverlight 2 features include:

• .NET Framework support with a rich base class library. This is a compatible subset of the full .NET Framework.



• New built-in controls. These include DataGrid, ListBox, Slider, ScrollViewer, Calendar controls and more.



• Skinning and templating support. This makes it easy to customize the look and feel of an application.



• Deep zoom. This enables interactivity and navigation of ultrahigh resolution imagery.



• Expanded networking support. Out-of-the-box support allows calling REST, WS*/SOAP, POX, RSS and standard HTTP services, enabling users to create applications that easily integrate with existing back-end systems.



• Expanded .NET Framework language support. Unlike other runtimes, Silverlight 2 supports a variety of programming languages, including Visual Basic, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby, making it easier for developers already familiar with one of these languages to repurpose their existing skill sets.



• Advanced content protection. This now includes Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, offering content protection for connected Silverlight experiences.



• Improved server scalability and expanded advertiser support. This includes new streaming and progressive download capabilities, superior search engine optimization techniques, and next-generation in-stream advertising support.



• Expanded partner ecosystem. Visual Studio Industry Partners such as ComponentOne LLC, Infragistics Inc. and Telerik Inc. are providing products that further enhance developer capabilities when creating Silverlight applications using Visual Studio.



• Cross-platform and cross-browser support. This includes support for Mac, Windows and Linux in Firefox, Safari and Windows Internet Explorer.

http://www.microsoft.comDuring the 17 days of the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing, NBCOlympics.com, powered by Silverlight, had more than 50 million unique visitors, resulting in 1.3 billion page views, 70 million video streams and 600 million minutes of video watched, increasing the average time on the site (from 3 minutes to 27 minutes) and Silverlight market penetration in the U.S. by more than 30 percent. Broadcasters in France (France Televisions SA), the Netherlands (NOS), Russia (Sportbox.ru) and Italy (RAI) also chose Silverlight to deliver Olympics coverage online.

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Microsoft Previews Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2

Microsoft previewed key features in Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 (R2), which is currently expected to be released in February 2009.


Office Communications Server 2007 R2 aims to extend software-powered voice, particularly for remote and mobile workers; provide on-premise audioconferencing; and introduce new developer advances, including the ability to build communications-enabled business processes.


Office Communications Server interoperates with legacy PBX and IP PBXs, allowing customers to transition to the new platform without undergoing an expensive rip-and-replace upgrade of their network. It features deep integration with Microsoft Office, Microsoft Exchange Server and Office SharePoint Server.

Key new features of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will include:

• Dial-in audioconferencing. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 enables businesses to eliminate costly audioconferencing services with an on-premise audioconferencing bridge that is managed by IT as part of the overall communications infrastructure.



• Desktop sharing. This feature enables users to seamlessly share their desktop, initiate audio communications and collaborate with others outside the organization on PC, Macintosh or Linux platforms through a Web-based interface.



• Persistent group chat. This enables geographically dispersed teams to collaborate with each other by participating in topic-based discussions that persist over time. This application provides users with a list of all available chat rooms and topics, periodically archives discussions in an XML file format that meets compliance regulations, provides tools to search the entire history of discussion on a given topic, and offers filters and alerts to notify someone of new posts or topics on a particular topic.



• Attendant console and delegation. This allows receptionists, team secretaries and others to manage calls and conferences on behalf of other users, set up workflows to route calls, and manage higher volumes of incoming communications through a software-based interface.



• Session Initiation Protocol trunking. This feature enables businesses to reduce costs by setting up a direct VoIP connection between an Internet telephony service provider and Office Communicator 2007 without requiring on-premise gateways.



• Response group. A workflow design application manages incoming calls based on user-configured rules (e.g., round-robin, longest idle, simultaneous), providing a simple-to-use basic engine for call treatment, routing and queuing.



• Mobility and single-number reach. This extends Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile functionality to Nokia S40, Motorola RAZR, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, allowing users to communicate using presence, IM and voice as an extension of their PBX from a unified client.



• APIs and Visual Studio integration. This improves the efficiency of everyday business processes by enabling businesses to build communications-enabled applications and embed communications into business applications.

"Office Communications Server 2007 R2, debuting just one year after the Microsoft unified communications launch, highlights the pace of innovation that is possible with software," said Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division at Microsoft. "This new release puts Microsoft on a rapid path to deliver voice software that does much more than a network private branch exchange (PBX) and with much less cost."http://www.microsoft.com

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