OIF Releases Tunable Laser and Transmitter Assembly Agreements

The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) released a new Integrable Tunable Laser Assembly Multi-Source Agreement (ITLA-MSA, version 01.2) with added features and improved performance. The new version realizes performance and cost improvements by optimizing the command set which enables the use of smaller, lower power microprocessors and leads the way in future size reduction of the ITLA. New features have also been added to support applications requiring non-traffic interrupting off-grid tuning as well as those requiring sub-tones for channel identification. Additionally, a project within the OIF Software Working Group has been created to work on interface testing to help ensure consistent software interface implementations across multiple ITLA vendors.


In addition, the ITLA platform has been leveraged into the next generation tunable laser agreement, the Integrable Tunable Transmitter Assembly (ITTA), which is a tunable laser integrated with a modulator encompassed by an electronics board containing the necessary laser and modulator control electronics. The ITTA uses an enhanced version of the ITLA's command interface that has been extended to include software control of the integrated modulator. The ITTA comes in two form-factors: One that is similar in size to the ITLA and a reduced size version compatible for use within a 300pinSFF transponder.


The OIF said the ITLA and ITTA multi-source agreements are the latest in a series of four tunable laser projects. The first project resulted in the Tunable Laser Implementation Agreement, OIF-TL-01.1 and involved a large number of contributors from a wide variety of consumers and suppliers of tunable lasers. It addressed the communication protocol, electrical interface and mechanical form factor interoperability for tunable continuous wavelength (CW) lasers. The second project, an MSA for the Tunable Laser IA, generated a more comprehensive specification of the optical, electrical, mechanical, and communication protocols.http://www.oiforum.com

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Level 3 Hires Former Leucadia Exec as COO

Level 3 Communications named Jeff K. Storey as president and chief operating officer. He will report to James Q. Crowe, CEO. Storey, 48, was most recently with Leucadia National Corporation, where he served as president of Leucadia Telecommunications Group. Prior to that position, Storey spent five years with WilTel Communications and its predecessor entities and was president and chief executive officer of WilTel Communications from 2002 until its sale to Level 3 in December 2005. http://www.level3.com

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KT Selects TANDBERG Television IPTV Head-end

KT has selected a TANDBERG Television IPTV head end to support the continued growth of its Mega TV IPTV service in Korea. Specifically, KT will use TANDBERG Television's EN8090 HD MPEG-4 AVC and EN8030 SD MPEG-4 AVC encoders to expand its linear broadcast TV services. Financial terms were not disclosed.


KT's Mega TV has over 700,000 subscribers and provides interactive and pay per view services, including movies on-demand.


Korea Telecom already uses a wide range of TANDBERG Television head end and C&D (Contribution & Distribution) equipment for the Mega TV IPTV service. This head end expansion contract follows a competitive tender.


TANDBERG Television is part of Ericsson.http://www.ericsson.comhttp://www.tandbergtv.com

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Nexans Partners with Sumitomo Electric for FTTH in Europe

Nexans and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (SEI) have agreed to collaborate in optical fiber cable business for terrestrial telecommunications in Europe. The agreement concerns more specifically the deployment of FTTH networks and more generally FTTx applications.


Under the deal, SEI has entered into a joint venture agreement with Nexans to acquire 40% of the share capital of Opticable, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nexans, based in Belgium, and fully dedicated to the design and manufacture of optical fiber cables for telecom terrestrial application. The transaction is subject to the approval of antitrust authorities and is expected to close by early 2009.


The companies said the synergies of Nexans' cable manufacturing facilities and its Sales & Network Engineering competences, combined with SEI's optical fiber production capacity and FTTH communications technology will bring added value to the European FTTH market.


SEI is a major manufacturer of electric cables, optical fibers and components, and within the TOP 5 of the world fibre producers, recognized as a leader in the FTTH related technology.http://www.nexans.com/http://www.sei.co.jp

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Intel Develops Silicon-based "Avalanche" Photonics

Researchers at Intel have developed a silicon-based Avalanche Photodetector (APD) that could be used to provide high-capacity optical communications between processor cores. The APD is a light sensor that achieves superior sensitivity by detecting light and amplifying weak signals as light is directed onto silicon.


Intel used silicon and CMOS processing to achieve a "gain-bandwidth product" of 340 GHz -- the best result ever measured for this key APD performance metric, according to the company. Intel said this opens the door to lower the cost of optical links running at data rates of 40 Gbps or higher and proves, for the first time, that a silicon photonics device can exceed the performance of a device made with traditional, more expensive optical materials such as indium phosphide.


"These fundamental scientific advances made by our silicon photonics team give me confidence that for decades to come, we will have the communications and I/O bandwidths to match the continued increases in computing performance provided by Moore's law," stated Justin Rattner, Intel Senior Fellow, Vice President, Director, Corporate Technology Group and Intel Chief Technology Officer.


Intel's research results were published in Nature Photonics.http://www.intel.com

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Telstra Delivers HSPA Evolution at up to 21 Mbps with Ericsson

Ericsson and Telstra announced an industry first: the successful activation of HSPA Evolution functionality capable of peak network speeds up to 21 Mbps into the Telstra Next G commercial network and the world's first data call on the newly-enabled network. The commercial deployment makes use of the enhanced, standardized improvements called HSPA Evolution.




Mike Wright, Executive Director Telstra Wireless made the first data call on the Next G network in Brisbane, Queensland at 16:00 AEST on 5 December 2008. Trials of the 21Mbps mobile broadband service on the Next G network will begin this month with a full commercial launch to follow early next year.http://www.ericsson.comhttp://www.telstra.com

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Obama to Include Broadband Effort in Economy Recovery Plan

Saying it is "unacceptable" that the United States ranks 15th in broadband penetration, President-elect Barack Obama said he would lead an effort to ensure that every child has the ability to get online. In his weekly address (posted on YouTube and Yahoo), Obama said that in addition to connecting libraries and schools to the Internet, he would ensure that hospitals are also fully online and using electronic medical records.http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/the_key_parts_of_the_jobs_plan/

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Ofcom Proposes New Wholesale Prices for Openreach

Ofcom, the telecoms regulator for the UK, published a new range of proposed prices that Openreach can charge communication providers for access to its main wholesale telecoms services. The proposed prices cover both full unbundling, where a communications provider takes over the line to provide broadband and telephone services; and shared unbundling, where a communications provider shares the line with BT for the provision of broadband only.




The following proposed ranges are for annual rental charges for the first year of 2009/10:

• A fully unbundled line: £85.00 to £91.00 (from £81.69 today);



• Shared unbundled line: £15.60 to £16.20 (from £15.60 today);



• Residential wholesale line rental: £100.68 and £104.40 (from £100.68 today);



• Business wholesale line rental: £106.00 and £110.00 (from £110 today); and



• Other related charges adjusting in line with underlying cost increases.

Ofcom has also proposed charges for unbundled lines for 2010/11.http://www.ofcom.org.uk

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UK Establishes Code of Practice for Broadband ISPs

Ofcom, the telecoms regulator in the UK, published a new Code of Practice through which internet service providers (ISPs) will give customers a true picture of likely broadband speeds at the point of sale. Under the Code, ISPs are required to:

• provide consumers at the point of sale with an accurate estimate of the maximum speed that their line can support;



• explain clearly and simply how technical factors may slow down speeds and giving help and advice to consumers to improve the situation at home;



• offer an alternative package (if there is one) without any penalties, if the actual speed is a lot lower than the original estimate; and



• explain fair usage policies clearly and alert consumers when they have been breached.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk

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