Orange Business Services Offers "Unik PC" Softphone

Orange Business Services has launched a "Unik PC" service for the French market enabling mobile subscribers to make calls from their PC using a USB key and bundled software.


Unik PC allows the mobile subscriber to call freely in France or abroad from any computer connected to the Internet either via the company network, from a home connection or with Wi-Fi. Calls made from a computer are unlimited 7/7 and 24h/24 to company mobiles and landlines in mainland France. Other calls are deducted from the mobile package at the same cost as a call made to mainland France wherever the call is made from. In this way, a company can control costs linked to mobile calls especially those made from abroad.


Unik PC is available as an option for company mobile packages from EUR 8.5 (excl. VAT) per month per line with a "Unik PC pack" at EUR 29 (excl. VAT) that includes the Unik PC key (including the mobile softphone, the "Click to Call" plug-ins and 4 GB of storage space), a headset (microphone + headphones), and a USB cable.http://www.orange.com

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AT&T Appoints Head for EMEA

AT&T has appointed Kevin Maher as Regional Vice President of Middle East & Africa. He will be based in Dubai, where AT&T maintains its regional headquarters, and will be responsible for the strategic direction and tactical management of the global resources serving AT&T's business customers in the region. Maher has been part of the AT&T global sales leadership for the past five years and was most recently a sales center VP supporting AT&T's global customers with networking requirements in the United States. He has more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry with AT&T, ITT, Western Union and Global One.http://www.att.com

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Nokia Siemens Networks Demos LTE-Advanced Relaying

Researchers at Nokia Siemens Networks in Germany have demonstrated relaying technology proposed for LTE-Advanced, which is currently being studied by 3GPP for Release 10 and will be submitted towards ITU-R as the 3GPP Radio Interface Technology proposal.


The demonstration combined an LTE system supporting a 2x2 MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antenna system, and a relay station. The relaying operated in-band, which means that the relay stations inserted in the network do not need an external data backhaul. They are connected to the nearest base stations by using radio resources within the operating frequency band of the base station itself. Towards the terminal they are base stations and offer the full functionality of LTE.


The demonstration featured an intelligent demo relay node embedded in a test network forming a FDD in-band self-backhauling solution for coverage enhancements.


Nokia Siemens Networks said the demonstration illustrates how advances to Relaying technology can further improve the quality and coverage consistency of a network at the cell edge -- where users are furthest from the mobile broadband base station. The performance at the cell edge could be increased up to 50% of the peak throughput.


"Demonstrating improved cell edge and indoor-user data rates is an important milestone for coverage scenarios. It further strengthens the position of LTE as the major mobile broadband technology. Consumers will enjoy an even richer user experience thanks to higher throughput everywhere in the cell, while operators will be able to deploy their networks in a more flexible and cost efficient way," said Stephan Scholz, Chief Technology Officer of Nokia Siemens Networks.

"LTE Advanced is the next step in the evolutionary development of LTE technology. Nokia Siemens Networks performs extensive research activities for LTE-Advanced in developing this important technology which will be decisive to our customers in the future,"http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

• In 2006, Nokia Siemens Networks demonstrated LTE technology with data speeds in the 160 Mbps range as well as a successful handover between LTE and HSPA.



• In 2007, the company demonstrated a multiuser field trial in an urban environment with peak data rates of 173 Mbps.



• In February 2008, Nokia Siemens Networks showcased a live demo on commercial hardware and launched its LTE solution based on Flexi Multimode Base Station.



• In September 2008, Nokia Siemens Networks started to ship its LTE compatible Flexi Multimode Base Station hardware.

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H3C Selects RMI's XLS Processor for SMB Gateways

H3C Technologies has selected RMI's Multi-Core Multi-Threaded XLS Processor for a series of products, including the SR66xx series secure routers, the ICG 2200 series information communication gateway, low-end security, wireless AC and switch products. The H3C ICG 2200 (Information Communication Gateway) is a unified communications system that integrates functions of router, switch, firewall, VPN, IAD, wireless AP and accelerator into single box, providing unified communications services through WAN, LAN, VoIP, direct-line, wireless and EPON interfaces.


RMI's XLS Processor is a feature-rich general purpose processor with application specific autonomous hardware accelerators and multiple on-chip interconnect options providing an ideal combination of high level programmability, performance scalability, and intelligent packet management. The XLS Processor enables integrated control plane, data plane, and security processing in a single System-on-a-Chip (SuperSoC) solution.http://www.RMICorp.comhttp://www.H3C.com

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Qatar's Qtel Selects NSN for Full Network Modernization

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has awarded a US$61 million contract to Nokia Siemens Networks for a full network modernization project that will double mobile broadband speeds in Qatar. Nokia Siemens Networks is deploying an energy-efficient radio access solution, based on a Flexi Base Station, that will offer very significant power consumption savings to Qtel. Nokia Siemens Networks is also providing technical and business consultancy, site preparation, field activities and network operations support. It is implementing a state-of-the-art infrastructure roll-out process, built upon a circuit-switch core network capacity expansion and a packet core network swap based on the Flexi ISN solution for optimized data traffic.http://www.nsn.com

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Huawei Supplies IP/MPLS Unified Core Router to Saudi Arabia's Mobily

Huawei Technologies has assisted Mobily, one of the major mobile operators in Saudi Arabia, to deploy an IP/MPLS unified core network. Mobily is a full service operator with wired and wireless broadband data services, but its voice service and data services used to be run through two separate bearer networks. Huawei has supplied six NetEngine 5000E core routers to deploy the nationwide bearer network built on a common IP/MPLS unified core. This paves the way for fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) evolution for Mobily. Financial terms were not disclosed.http://www.huawei.com

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Hawaiian Telcom Files for Chapter 11

Hawaiian Telcom, the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) in Hawaii, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.


The company is seeking relief to enable it to continue to operate its business without interruption to customers, employees and other critical constituents. The requests to the Bankruptcy Court include authority to honor all customer programs such as discounts and rebates, to continue to pay wages and salaries, and to continue various benefits for employees. In addition, the Company will seek authority to use its existing cash collateral to fund operations.


Hawaiian Telcom said its actions are a result of increased competition in an ever-evolving communications industry, an
inability to satisfy its capital expenditure needs while continuing to meet its debt service requirements, a significant
downturn in the economy, as well as the difficulties in the transition of certain back office functions from Verizon
following the 2005 acquisition.http://www.hawaiiantel.com/

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AT&T Expands VPLS to 14 Countries in Europe, Asia Pac

AT&T has expanded its virtual private local area network service (VPLS) in 14 countries across Europe and Asia Pac.


AT&T's VPLS service, called OPT-E-WAN, enables businesses to link multiple locations -- with the efficiency of a flat Ethernet wide area network that can be extended globally. The service is now available in a total of 15 countries -- United States; Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland in Europe; and Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and Japan in Asia Pacific.


AT&T said demand for Ethernet services worldwide continues to expand. This growth is being driven by the need that businesses of all sizes have for affordable and easy-to-manage bandwidth to support next-generation enterprise applications including disaster recovery, storage and converged voice and video.http://www.att.com

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Dell'Oro: PON Revenue Reaches Record High

Third quarter PON revenue including both Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) and Optical Networking Terminals (ONTs) reached its second consecutive record high growing 16 percent sequentially and 64 percent over the year ago period, according to a newly published report by Dell'Oro Group.


Third quarter's strength came from both EPON and GPON," said Tam Dell'Oro, President of Dell'Oro Group. "EPON's growth was driven by next generation network upgrades by NTT, Japan's largest service provider. GPON, driven by deployments for Verizon's FiOS service as well as increasing numbers of smaller deployments around the world, had even stronger growth with revenue increasing more than five times that of the year ago period. Despite the weakening economy, we are still forecasting annual GPON revenue to grow more than over 50 percent in 2009," Dell'Oro added.


The report also shows Mitsubishi remained the leader in the overall PON market benefiting by being the primary EPON supplier to NTT for its NGN build-outs. Alcatel-Lucent retained its number two status in the overall PON market and number one for GPON largely due to being a primary supplier of GPON to Verizon as well as having a number of other deployments in Europe and Asia.http://www.DellOro.com

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The New Clearwire Sets Course

Clearwire will drop the "Xohm" branding and adopt a new "Clear" branding for its mobile WiMAX services.


In a conference call to follow-up on last week's closure of the Clearwire-Sprint deal, Benjamin G. Wolff, CEO of the new Clearwire, said the new company now possesses the three key ingredients needed to revolutionize the broadband wireless market:

• 
  Extensive spectrum holdings -- Sprint contributed its entire 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings to Clearwire. With this combined spectrum portfolio, Clearwire now has 100 MHz or more of 4G spectrum in most markets across the U.S. Clearwire plans to deliver 2-4 Mbps and peak rates that are considerably faster.



• 
  An All IP next generation Network Architecture, based on standard mobile WiMAX technology. The company noted that there are now over 80 suppliers in the WiMAX ecosystems.



• An Open Internet Business Model -- the network will be open to devices, application and services from third parties. The company confirmed that new devices based on the Android platform are in development.

Clearwire has not yet announced its market rollout schedule, but said most of its 46 planned markets would be upgraded to mobile WiMAX in 2009. The company will offer a dual-mode broadband service that lets customers roam onto Sprint's 3G network in locations where mobile WiMAX is not available.


The company also announced today that, while its company name will remain Clearwire, its new mobile WiMAX services will be branded Clear. The Clear brand will apply to all new mobile WiMAX services to be offered by Clearwire in the U.S. and will be phased in to those markets where Clearwire offers pre-WiMAX services, as these existing markets are upgraded to mobile WiMAX technology. In addition, the company unveiled a new marketing tagline, "Let's Be Clear," that will be used in conjunction with the new Clear service brand in upcoming market launches.


"As we roll out our network across the country, people will no longer have to make the choice between speed and mobility. We are bringing a new mobile Internet experience to customers at speeds previously relegated to fixed locations," said Benjamin G. Wolff. "With significant spectrum holdings yielding unmatched network capacity, a next-generation all-IP network, and an open Internet business model, Clearwire will deliver a simple value proposition aimed to improve productivity and make the Internet experience more enjoyable, wherever our customers happen to be."http://www.clearwire.com

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HP Counts Benefits of Internal IT Transformation

As a result of a three-year IT transformation effort, HP has reduced its IT operating costs by approximately half; provided more reliable information for executives to make better business decisions; and, established a more simplified and dependable IT infrastructure that provides improved business continuity and supports the company's future growth. Starting in fiscal year 2009, the transformation will lower IT costs by more than $1 billion per year from fiscal year 2005 levels. Over this period, HP added more than $25 billion in revenue.


HP said its IT transformation focused on five major initiatives: next-generation global data centers, portfolio management, workforce effectiveness, building a world-class technology organization and a true enterprise data warehouse.


Some key points of the IT transformation project:

• Reduce spending on internal IT from approximately 4 percent of revenue in 2005 to less than 2 percent in 2009;



• Consolidate more than 85 internal IT legacy data centers globally to six next-generation data centers in three geographic locations equipped with new, standardized and automated technology. These data centers have 342,000 square feet of computing "white space" -- expandable to more than double that amount -- to accommodate growth, including acquisitions such as EDS;



• Consolidate more than 6,000 applications running the business to approximately 1,500 standardized applications;



• Reduce annual energy consumption in its data centers by 60 percent;



• Decrease the number of servers by 40 percent while increasing processing power by 250 percent, by utilizing HP virtualization and energy-efficiency technologies;



• Reduce networking costs by 50 percent while tripling bandwidth;



• Eliminate more than 700 data marts and create one enterprise data warehouse where employees are accessing consistent data to make business decisions.

http://www.hp.com

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