Monday, August 31, 2009

AT&T Activates 3G in 850 MHz Spectrum in NYC Metro Area

AT&T has activated 3G services using the 850 MHz band across large portions of metro New York City, Long Island and New Jersey. The 850 MHz spectrum was deployed for 3G use at more than 1,600 cell sites.

The use of 850 MHz spectrum results in better in-door building coverage. While specific benefits of the additional 3G spectrum will vary by location, AT&T 3G said customers should see improved quality and coverage throughout New York City, Long Island and New Jersey where 850 MHz spectrum has been deployed. AT&T technicians nationwide responsible for monitoring network performance for service quality and coverage have seen significant increases in total 3G data traffic in areas where the 850MHz spectrum has been deployed.

"Where we deployed the additional 850 MHz spectrum, we saw an immediate increase in wireless data activity across the AT&T 3G network in those areas," said Tom DeVito, vice president and general manager for AT&T in New York and New Jersey.
Recently, AT&T announced plans to further upgrade its 3G network nationwide with HSPA 7.2 technology to deliver considerably faster mobile broadband speeds. The upgrades are planned to begin in the fourth quarter, with completion expected in 2011.
http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer

China Telecom Deploys World's Largest Cluster Router System with Huawei

Shaanxi Telecom, a subsidiary of China Telecom, has deployed a five terabits per second (Tbps) cluster router system on its metropolitan area network in Xi'an.  The companies believe this to be the largest router deployment of its kind.

Huawei said its NE5000E multi-chassis cluster systems with 2.56 Tbps capacity have been serving Shaanxi Telecom since 2006. Shaanxi Telecom has now upgraded the capacity of its existing Huawei cluster router to 5Tbps (4 cluster line-card chassis each with 1.28 Tbps capacity and 2 cluster central chassis configuration). The upgrade occurred without service interruption or hardware replacements. http://www.huawei.com

Infinera Debuts Undersea Optical Transport Solution, Global Crossing Deploys

Infinera introduced its new submarine optical transport solution, which is designed to be deployed at land-based terminals of submarine networks. The platform, which has already been deployed by Global Crossing, offers submarine network operators a way to protect their investment in their subsea infrastructure while adding new capacity to the network via the Infinera Digital Optical Networks architecture.

Infinera claims several technical breakthroughs for its submarine solution. Infinera's large-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have been enhanced with the addition of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) to provide trans-oceanic optical reach for the Infinera submarine solution. The enhanced PICs are implemented in the new Infinera Submarine Line Module (SLM), which provides 100 Gbps of PIC-based DWDM capacity on every line card. With up to 16 SLM modules multiplexed onto a single fiber, the Infinera submarine solution can provide up to 160 wavelengths on existing submarine optical networks.

Infinera said the submarine solution has already been deployed by global carriers including Global Crossing, for a total of almost 50,000 subsea route-kilometers. Specifically, Global Crossing has deployed the Infinera submarine solution on its Mid-Atlantic Crossing (MAC) and its South American Crossing (SAC) networks, for a total of 26,000 route-kilometers.  http://www.infinera.com

T-Mobile and Sierra Wireless sign MOU for joint M2M

T-Mobile and Sierra Wireless are planning a joint solution for the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications market. The areas of co-operation identified by a recently signed MOU are product development, marketing, sales and deployment of M2M solutions and related services. The co-operation targets the European market, with initial focus on Germany.
http://www.sierrawireless.com
http://www.telekom.com

Verizon Business Expands Cloud Computing to Amsterdam Data Center

Verizon Business has extended availability of its "cloud-based" Computing as a Service (CaaS) solution to its Amsterdam data center. The service, which leverages Verizon's global IP infrastructure and data centers, enables mid-market and larger companies to use a Web-based portal to employ computing resources on an ad hoc basis. Verizon said the Amsterdam location particularly benefits companies doing business in Europe and elsewhere that need to operate under a "safe harbor" privacy framework that calls for a European-hosted location, or want to use facilities located closer to their European locations.

In June, Verizon Business announced its CaaS offering with the provisioning of the service in its U.S. data center based in Beltsville, Md. Additional CaaS locations are planned in the Asia-Pacific region in 2010.
http://www.verizonbusiness.com/us/itsolutions

Zain Nigeria Selects Harris Stratex Networks for Lagos NOC

Zain Nigeria has selected Harris Stratex Networks to launch a new network operations center (NOC) in Lagos. The NOC, which Zain commissioned in July, is part of a full, turnkey project completed by Harris Stratex, which includes NOC design and buildout -- supported by Harris Stratex' NetBoss integrated services assurance technology -- and network process re-engineering and optimization. The new facility is designed to boost the resilience and robustness of Zain's network, enhancing the customer experience while drastically reducing the amount of operational downtime. The state-of-the-art NOC is designed to monitor and manage multi-vendor, multi-protocol network infrastructure, including subscriber access, 4G/WiMax access, IP backhaul and core network technologies, as well as network elements providing energy, security and surveillance controls. It provides around-the-clock network surveillance, performance monitoring and trouble ticket management for Zain's voice, video and data networks. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.harrisstratex.com/

ARRIS Acquires EG Technology's Video Processors

ARRIS has acquired the key patents and video processing technology of EG Technology (EGT) , an Atlanta-based company, for an undisclosed sum. ARRIS will also hire about 20-25 of the company's employees.

EGT developed video processing technology, including encoders and transcoders, for digital networks. ARRIS said the acquisition complements its video offerings by adding multi-functional, flexible, and scalable video processors to its portfolio of market leading voice, video and data solutions.

"The addition of EGT's video processing portfolio to the ARRIS portfolio is another step in our evolution towards addressing all of the quad play, three-screen needs of broadband network operators," said Jim Lakin, President, ARRIS Advanced Technology. "The primary benefits from this acquisition will be the long term enhanced engineering and solution capabilities the EGT product portfolio will enable. The transaction is expected to be neutral with respect to earnings per share, excluding amortization of intangibles associated with the acquisition."http://www.arrisi.com

AT&T Wins $45 Million Contract with U.S. State Department

The U.S. Department of State has awarded an eight-year, managed services contract valued at $45 million to AT&T Government Solutions. The award was issued via the General Services Administration's Networx Universal program. Selected by the State Department as the sole provider of telecommunication services ordered from the Networx Universal contract for the Cabinet-level agency, AT&T will provide Managed Services including Private Line, Multi-Protocol Label Switching, Frame Relay, Voice and IP Telephony. AT&T will deploy these services at more than 100 State Department locations, supporting systems and applications for its 13,000 employee work force.


The AT&T Transition Management Center, a government-dedicated site with PMP-certified program managers and staff, will manage the voice and data network transition for the State Department. With this new award, AT&T has now announced Networx awards with customers including the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
http://www.att.com/

Microsoft Readies Windows Mobile 6.5

Smartphones based on Windows Mobile 6.5 are set for retail release on October 6, 2009. Windows Mobile 6.5 promises an improved, easy-to-use user interface, better browsing capabilities and access to valuable services, including Windows Marketplace for Mobile and Microsoft My Phone. The free My Phone service allows customers to automatically back up and sync photos, music, contacts and text messages from their phone to the Web, making it easy to access and manage them from their phone or PC or restore the information in the event of a lost phone. A redesigned Internet Explorer Mobile browser includes a new engine and built-in Adobe Flash Lite support. Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile delivers a consistent e-mail experience across the PC, phone and browser, while Microsoft Office Mobile allows customers to open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from their phone.


Microsoft announced the following partners for the upcoming launch:


In North America: Mobile operators AT&T, Bell Mobility, Sprint, TELUS and Verizon Wireless, and phone manufacturers HP, HTC Corp., LG
Electronics, Samsung and Toshiba Corp.


In Europe: Mobile operators Orange, Deutsche Telekom AG and Vodafone Group Plc, and phone manufacturers Acer, HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba.


In Latin America: Mobile operator TIM Brazil, and phone manufacturers HTC, LG Electronics and Samsung.


In Asia Pacific: Mobile operators NTT DOCOMO Inc., SOFTBANK Mobile Corp., SK Telecom, Telstra and WILLCOM Inc., and phone manufacturers Acer Inc., HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba.
http://www.microsoft.com

Orange Business Builds MPLS IP VPN for Neptune Orient Lines

Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), a world-leading global container shipping, terminals and logistics group, has renewed a five-year, $38 million communications infrastructure agreement with Orange Business Services. Orange Business will be responsible for NOL's global communications infrastructure entirely from design and implementation to management. The MPLS-based IP VPN drives NOL's complex international container shipping logistics and terminal management services. NOL will leverage managed IP Telephony, advanced messaging and unified communications solutions for greater business collaboration and efficiency across its operations that currently span more than 400 locations in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.
http://www.orange-business.com

Dell Validates Force10 Switches for 10GigE SANs

Force10 Networks' C-Series switches and S-Series access switches have been tested and validated for inclusion in Dell EqualLogic-based storage area networks (SANs). The Force10 C-Series and S-Series switches, combined with the Dell EqualLogic SANs, leverage end-to-end 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) capability as well as deep buffering to provide the bursty data center and storage applications with the ability to temporarily fill egress packet buffers.
http://www.force10networkshttp://www.dell.com

Mellanox Adapter Card Supports Both 40 Gbps InfiniBand and 10 GigE

Mellanox Technologies released a new ConnectX-2 Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) adapter card, providing fabric flexibility with InfiniBand and Ethernet connectivity.


The ConnectX-2 VPI adapter card includes both a 40Gb/s InfiniBand QSFP port and a 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ port, and enables users with both technologies, in a dense solution, to save server real-estate, reduce power consumption and consolidate their networking infrastructure.


Mellanox said the ConnectX-2 delivers up to 30% less power consumption than its predecessor. http://www.mellanox.com

Sprint and M2M DataSmart Enter Partnership

Sprint announced a partnership with M2M DataSmart, a new privately-held wireless data service provider based in San Diego, for the emerging machine-to-machine (M2M) marketplace.


The companies said their collaboration will make it easier and quicker for an entrepreneurial startup or a traditional brick-and-mortar to take an idea from concept to completion and enter the lucrative machine-to-machine arena using Sprint mobile broadband. Sprint and M2M DataSmart will become a "one-stop shop" for machine-to-machine solutions. M2M DataSmart provides a full portfolio of services that make embedding wireless within a variety of devices and applications an easy and quick process.


Sprint noted that it already has an established presence in the machine-to-machine and embedded device marketplace -- enabling partner solutions such as the Amazon Kindle, Ford Work Solutions and DriveCam. Through the Sprint Open Device Initiative, Sprint has certified more than 300 non-Sprint branded machine-to-machine and embedded devices for use on the Sprint mobile broadband network.
http://www.m2mdatasmart.com
http://www.sprint.com

eBay Sells Skype to Private Investors

eBay will sell its Skype communications unit to a group of private investors in a deal valuing the business at $2.75 billion. The buyer, who will control an approximately 65 percent stake, is an investor group led by Silver Lake and includes Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board. eBay is expected to receive approximately $1.9 billion in cash upon the completion of the sale and a note from the buyer in the principal amount of $125 million. eBay will retain an approximately 35 percent equity investment in Skype. The transaction, which is not subject to a financing condition, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.


In April 2009, eBay announced plans to separate Skype from the company, beginning with an IPO in 2010. The decision followed a year‐long review of Skype within eBay's portfolio. As it prepared for an IPO, the company said it would naturally consider bids for Skype that offered an attractive valuation.


In 2008, Skype generated revenues of $551 million, a 44 percent increase compared to 2007. Total eBay Inc. revenues for 2008 were $8.5 billion. Registered Skype users reached 405 million by the end of 2008, a 47 percent increase from 2007. Skype is attracting hundreds of thousands of new users each week.
http://www.ebay.com
http://www.skype.com

Occam Develops High-Density GigE FTTP Blade, VDSL2 Blade

Occam Networks announced a high-density Gigabit Ethernet blade for its BLC 6000 multi-service access platform. The new blade enables service providers to deliver up to 576 Ethernet FTTP customers from a 12 rack unit platform.


Whether deployed as a standalone network element supporting a single node or in a high capacity chassis with a mix of technologies, the BLC 6316 allows service providers to easily transition from copper to fiber networks, one 48-port blade at a time. The blade also supports carrier grade 10GigE transport while simultaneously subtending downstream nodes via resilient 10GigE. The 6316 with integrated 10GigE eliminates the need for additional network elements and scales to meet both broadband demands and middle mile capacity requirements.


Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) services are also supported for SMBs and Enterprises converging towards Gigabit Ethernet WANs. Occam estimates that when compared to alternative Gigabit Ethernet FTTP offerings, the BLC 6316 reduces the amount of physical space required in gigabit Ethernet FTTP deployments by as much as 75%. Further, Occam expects that operators will realize significant power savings -- as much as 25-30% per subscriber when compared to alternative solutions. Commercial availability is expected in Q1 2010 as part of the Occam OS 7.0 system release.


Occam announced the availability of this new solution at its Fifth Annual Occam Networks Users' Group (ONUG) Conference, held August 31 -- September 3 at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort in Austin, Texas. More than 300 service providers, partners and others are attending.


In addition, Occam announced the newest blade in its BLC 6000 platform. The BLC 6216 VDSL2 blade has automatic fallback to ADSL2Plus and provides double the port density of competitive products in a more compact form factor and with less energy consumption. Commercial availability is expected in Q1 2010 as part of the Occam OS 7.0 system release.


When used with a dual-mode VDSL2/ADSL2Plus modem, the 48-port BLC 6216 delivers a VDSL2 connection to single family residences (SFRs), multiple dwelling units/multiple tenant units (MDUs/MTUs), and small and medium businesses within 4000 feet and transitions to longer reach ADSL2Plus technology when placed in nodes at further distances. Occam expects ADSL2Plus mode rate / reach performance to be as good or slightly better than existing ADSL2Plus only offerings. The BLC 6216 also features an extensive suite of software features including IP Security Management (IPSM), which allows for dynamic, "hands free" broadband network security. To assure the highest QoE, Occam's Video Channel Analysis (VCA) tool is embedded in BLC 6000 blades to monitor IPTV services. Occam will also integrate the BLC 6216 into the Dr. DSL loop analysis tool for outside plant qualification and operations.
http://www.occamnetworks.com

NSN Appoints Rajeev Suri as CEO as Beresford-Wylie Resigns

Simon Beresford-Wylie will step down as CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks at the end of this month. The company's board of directors has appointed Rajeev Suri to take his place.


Suri, who currently leads the Services business of Nokia Siemens Networks, joined Nokia in 1995. He has held a number of executive positions in Business Development, Marketing and Sales and Strategy. He has been based in various locations including India, Finland, the United Kingdom and Singapore. Suri, 41, is an Indian citizen and is married with two children.

Beresford-Wylie joined Nokia in 1998 and held several positions in Asia and Europe before his appointment to head Nokia's infrastructure business group in February 2005. He was one of the leading drivers behind the creation of Nokia Siemens Networks and assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer of the company when it commenced operations on April 1, 2007. He has been a member of the Nokia Group Executive Board since 2005.
http://www.nsn.com

Sunday, August 30, 2009

EMC Acquires FastScale for Scaling Private Clouds

EMC has acquired FastScale Technology, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, for an undisclosed sum.

FastScale's technology simplifies application and server stack management and optimizes deployment for physical, virtual and cloud infrastructures. Its flagship product -- FastScale Composer Suite -- is a fully automated platform for building, optimizing, managing and deploying application environments in physical, virtual and cloud infrastructures. The company says its system allows data centers to run up to three times more virtual machines without degrading performance. FastScale also claims its technology decreases memory and disk usage by up to 75%, enabling some of the highest levels of tier-one application performance in the private cloud.
FastScale's technology will be used to enhance EMC Ionix portfolio, which is also aimed at accelerating the journey from physical to virtual to private cloud. The acquisition of FastScale extends EMC's Ionix solutions for automating IT management across a unified infrastructure of storage, compute, network and virtualization resources.

In addition, EMC announced an agreement to resell VMware's vCenter AppSpeed. This new solution, along with EMC's virtualization services, will be offered through EMC Select as part of the EMC Ionix portfolio, enabling customers to have full management capabilities across their physical and virtual IT infrastructures.
http://www.fastscale.com
http://www.EMC.com
  • Investors in FastScale included ATA Ventures, Leapfrog Ventures and Hunt Ventures.

Australia Japan Cable and Pacific Crossing Launch GigE, 10GigE Service

Australia Japan Cable (AJC) and Pacific Crossing Limited (PCL) have teamed up to launch a Gigabit Ethernet Service for carrier, enterprise, and ISP customers looking for scalable, flexible connectivity options between Australia and North America.


Both companies had announced Gigabit Ethernet offerings on their own networks earlier in the year.


"Partnering together, AJC and PCL can offer standard 1Gigabit and 10Gigabit interfaces together with the flexibility of scalable capacity from 150Mbs (STM1) up to the full size of the port interface," stated said Seth Davis, PCL CTO.


Testing of the Gigabit service on the AJC and PC1 networks confirmed transmission performance up to the full rate and for frames up to a jumbo size of 9224 bytes.


Australia-Japan Cable is a 12,700km optical fibre ring submarine cable network, directly connecting Australia and Japan, via Guam. Pacific Crossing owns and operates the trans-Pacific, subsea fibre-optic network ring, PC1, connecting the U.S. and Japan.
http://www.pc1.com
http://www.ajcable.bm

Calix Raises $100 Million in New Financing

Calix has raised $100 million in financing and added three new members to its board of directors. The new financing of $50 million in equity raised from existing Calix investors and $50 million in debt financing established with Silicon Valley Bank.


Calix will use the funds to capitalize on the growth opportunities afforded by the $7.2 billion U.S. Broadband Stimulus program. Noting that more than 40 percent of the rural service providers in the United States are using its Unified Access Infrastructure to deliver advanced broadband services. Calix said it is uniquely poised to benefit from the Broadband Stimulus portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA


The new directors to the Calix board include Michael Marks of Riverwood Capital, Adam Grosser of Foundation Capital, and Robert Finzi of Sprout Group. http://www.calix.com

Calix Raises $100 Million in New Financing

Calix has raised $100 million in financing and added three new members to its board of directors. The new financing of $50 million in equity raised from existing Calix investors and $50 million in debt financing established with Silicon Valley Bank.


Calix will use the funds to capitalize on the growth opportunities afforded by the $7.2 billion U.S. Broadband Stimulus program. Noting that more than 40 percent of the rural service providers in the United States are using its Unified Access Infrastructure to deliver advanced broadband services. Calix said it is uniquely poised to benefit from the Broadband Stimulus portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA


The new directors to the Calix board include Michael Marks of Riverwood Capital, Adam Grosser of Foundation Capital, and Robert Finzi of Sprout Group. http://www.calix.com

Blue Coat Enhances PacketShaper for Application Accountability

Advancing its Application Delivery Networking strategy, Blue Coat released new software that enables its PacketShaper appliances to provide more granular application visibility, enhanced application intelligence and policy-based control over traffic flowing between an enterprise network and WAN.


Application accountability enables businesses to better assure the quality of bandwidth-hungry business-critical applications and communication, including telephony and video conferencing, while controlling usage of progressively more taxing recreational applications. The new PacketShaper 8.5 release uses integrated workflows to enable more detailed application understanding with real-time monitoring, historical reporting and policy-based QoS controls. Unlike conventional security appliances and filters that isolate WAN traffic by port type, Blue Coat said its appliance analyzes traffic flow to detect specific applications that may appear as general Port 80 or HTTPS traffic. Similar applications can be automatically grouped together in class of service categories, such as peer-to-peer (P2P), games or instant messaging, for ease of management. In addition, PacketShaper appliances now provide more granular visibility and control over voice, video and virtualized applications.

Based on more detailed application visibility, application accountability provides enhanced quality for important applications, including voice, video and real-time sessions. Blue Coat's appliance also manages applications to allotted bandwidth consumption and prevents them from impinging on the performance of other applications due to unexpected surges or changes in behavior.


In addition, the new PacketShaper 8.5 release adds the capability to specifically identify and manage network traffic from VMware View Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) applications on a granular basis. PacketShaper appliances, with this new software release, can prevent VDI set-up and downloads from temporarily dominating WAN capacity.
http://www.bluecoat.com

Qwest Appoints Teresa Taylor as COO

Qwest Communications announced the appointment of Teresa A. Taylor as chief operating officer, replacing Thomas E. Richards, who is leaving the company to become president and chief operating officer of CDW Corporation. Taylor has led Qwest's Business Markets, Wholesale and Product groups and also served as Qwest's chief administrative officer in which, among other things, she led two negotiations with the Communications Workers of America and the IBEW.
http://www.qwest.com

Brocade Adds Server and Storage Virtualization Capabilities

Brocade announced new features and capabilities across its networking hardware, software and management portfolio that provide storage area networks (SANs) more awareness and visibility of virtual machines (VMs) -- and vice versa -- while extending essential networking services beyond physical servers and into the virtual realms.


These enhancements currently apply for use in Brocade SANs but will support open, heterogeneous computing and storage environments established through Brocade's long-standing industry partnerships with the leading server and storage vendors.

Specifically, Brocade's DCFM SAN management application now provides visibility of VMs on Brocade fabrics. This enables SAN administrators to view VMs running inside of physical servers as well as VM properties end-to-end from the server to storage via Brocade HBAs and switches. Brocade also added support for a management "plug-in" for VMware vCenter that, once installed and activated, will supply key metrics and alerts through VMware vSphere. This capability will help VMware administrators troubleshoot issues pertaining to the fabric, which may impact VM and application performance. http://www.brocade.com/vmware

Sprint Expands its Managed Network Solutions

Sprint is continuing to enhance its managed solutions portfolio to help business customers optimize their network and align IT strategies with business priorities. These services include planning, implementing and end-to-end management of converged voice and data networks.


Sprint Managed Network Solutions are now being offered through Sprint's newly formed Business Markets Group (BMG), which consists of more than 4,000 sales, support, marketing and operations personnel.
http://www.sprint.com/convergence
  • In July, Sprint reached a seven year deal to outsource the management of its own network to Ericsson.

Dell'Oro: Mobile Infrastructure Market Drops 12%, No Rebound in Second Half of 09

Despite very strong growth in the 3G markets, declines in the 2G market, particularly with GSM, the worldwide mobile infrastructure market revenue contracted 12 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2009, according to a recently published report by Dell'Oro Group. Although GSM spending is expected to pick up in the second half of the year, and the WCDMA market is expected to continue to ramp, revenue for the total mobile infrastructure market is forecast to contract 10 percent in 2009, according to the report.


"India and China continued to be the engine of the GSM market, but that engine is beginning to lose steam," stated Scott Siegler, Senior Analyst of Mobile Infrastructure research at Dell'Oro Group.


"Despite high 2G subscriber growth, spending in both regions significantly declined in the first half of the year. In the second quarter, Chinese operators continued to focus on their 3G rollouts, driving the WCDMA market to another record setting quarter of Node B shipments. In India, operators focused on optimizing their existing infrastructure, rather than expanding their footprint. Nearly 10 percent fewer GSM base stations were shipped this quarter as compared to the same period last year, and GSM's share of the total market fell below 50 percent for the first time since we began tracking it," continued Siegler.






http://www.delloro.com

NFC Forum and Mobey Forum Collaborate on Mobile Payment Standards

The NFC Forum, an industry group promoting the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and the Mobey Forum, a global financial industry forum whose mission is to facilitate the offering by banks of mobile financial services, have agreed to collaborate to promote open standards that enable the delivery of services that provide secure and interoperable mobile financial transactions.


Near Field Communication (NFC) is a standards-based, short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables simple and safe two-way interactions between electronic devices. It operates in the 13.56 MHz frequency range, over a typical distance of a few centimeters.

The Mobey Forum has over 50 members with member categories covering leading banks, vendors, payment processors and mobile network operators. The Board Members of the Mobey Forum are from Deutsche Bank, UBS, HSBC, BBVA, eLaCaixa, Nordea, Rabobank, DnB NOR, and Nokia.
http://www.nfc-forum.orghttp://www.mobeyforum.org

Clearwire Announces Two Executive Appointments

Clearwire announced two new executive appointments: Erik Prusch as Chief Financial Officer, and Teresa Elder as President of Strategic Partnerships and Wholesale.


Prusch was most recently President and Chief Executive Officer of Borland Software, where he also previously served as Chief Financial Officer, leading the restructuring of the company and returning the business to profitability. Prior to Borland, he was Vice President of Finance in Intuit's Turbo Tax division.


Elder, who assumes the newly created position of President of Strategic Partnerships and Wholesale where she will oversee Clearwire's wholesale operations, most recently was CEO of Vodafone, Ireland - a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group. Before joining Vodafone, Elder served as President, West of AT&T Broadband (now part of Comcast).


Clearwire also announced that Scott Richardson, who has served as Clearwire's Chief Strategy Officer, will leave the company, but continue to serve as a strategic advisor. http://www.clearwire.com

Trend Micro Tool Reports a Company's Entire Web Activities

Trend Micro launched a new Web Gateway Security solution that integrates its InterScan Web Security Virtual Appliance 5.0 product and a new Advanced Reporting and Management module to monitor and manage employee Internet use at the office while proving on-premise malware scanning. The Advanced Reporting and Management module gives visibility into an entire company's Web activities, delivering real-time information at a very granular level.
Key features include:
  • The ability to scan HTTPS traffic and create exception policies based on specific sites or categories of sites to support privacy requirements


  • Flexible URL filtering policy engine that supports capabilities such as custom URL categories, exceptions and file type whitelisting.


  • Object-level blocking, which secures Web 2.0 Web pages by providing more granular enforcement of policy without blocking the entire page.


  • Support for Google and Yahoo!'s SafeSearch feature to prevent inappropriate content from appearing in search results.


  • Support for directory-based user identification while deployed in transparent bridge. This deployment mode allows all Internet traffic to be analyzed without having to reconfigure users' browsers or other network devices in the environment.
http://www.trendmicro.com/

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Evolution Digital Gains CableLabs Qualification for CableCARD

Evolution Digital LLC, a supplier of digital solutions for bandwidth reclamation and set-top boxes, and Conax, a provider of content security solutions, have partnered to develop a Multi-stream CableCARD specific to the North American cable market. The product, which has recently been awarded qualification by CableLabs, is designed to meet OpenCable CableCARD Interface 2.0 Specifications. http://www.evolutionbb.com

China Unicom and Apple Announce Deal on iPhone

China Unicom reached a deal to offer Apple's iPhone. The deal reportedly does not involve revenue sharing.
http://www.chinaunicom.com.hk

China Unicom Posts Revenue Decline in 1H2009

Citing the general economic malaise, mobile voice substitution of traditional fixed lines, and competitive pressure, China Unicom reported first half 2009 operating revenue of RMB76.32 billion. Service revenue amounted to RMB74.51 billion, representing a decline of 4.3% over the same period of last year and a decline of 3.3% over the same period of last year when compared on the same basis. Service revenue of the GSM business reached RMB34.19 billion, representing an increase of 5.7% over the same period of last year.


Service revenue of the fixed-line business reached RMB 40.19 billion, representing a decline of 11.3% over the same period of last year and a decline of 9.7% over the same period of last year when compared on the same basis. Of the revenue from the fixed-line business, revenue from the fixed-line broadband service was RMB11.73 billion, representing an increase of 10.3% over the same period of last year.


Due to the impact of corporate restructuring and intensified industry competition, the company recorded profit of RMB6.62 billion, representing a decline of 42.1% when compared with profit from the continuing operations over the same period of last year and a decline of 33.2% when compared on the same basis. Basic earnings per share was RMB0.28.


In the first half of the year, China Unicom added 7.012 million GSM subscribers, taking the total subscriber number to 140.377 million. ARPU was RMB41.7, representing a decline of 4.3% over the same period of last year and remained stable compared with the second half of last year. The company's mobile value-added services accounted for 26.8% of the total revenue from mobile services, representing an increase of 2.5 percentage points over the same period of last year. Revenue from GPRS reached RMB1.32 billion.



In the first half of the year, the net addition of fixed-line broadband subscribers was 4.832 million, taking the total subscriber number to 34.913 million. ARPU was RMB60.2, representing a decline of 13.5%; a total of 1.118 million local telephone subscribers were lost, taking the total subscriber number to 108.452 million. The revenue proportion of the fixed-line non-voice business to the total fixed-line service revenue (excluding upfront connection fees) reached 47.2%.


China Unicom also noted that since obtaining its 3G (WCDMA) operating license on 7 January, it has moved forward aggressively on developing its 3G network construction and preparing for service launch. On May 17th, China Unicom initiated 3G pre-commercial friendly trials in 56 cities including various 3G services, such as mobile internet, mobile search, mobile music, mobile TV, video telephony, mobile newspaper and wireless internet access cards.


China Unicom has also established a new full-service brand -- "WO" -- which was launched on April 28th.
http://www.chinaunicom.com.hk

Australia passes 50% for Digital TV Transition

More than half (53%) of Australian households have converted to free-to-air digital TV broadcasts -- up from 47% in the previous quarter, according to the latest Digital Tracker Survey released by Australia's Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy. The Rudd Government has made a commitment to complete digital switchover by December 31, 2013 http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au

DOCOMO's Credit Payment Service Tops 10 million Subscribers

The number of subscribers to NTT DOCOMO's DCMX credit payment service has topped the 10 million mark.

Launched in April 2006, DCMX reached 1 million subscribers in November 2006, 5 million in February 2008 and 10 million, just three years and four months since the original launch.

DCMX is a service brand for DOCOMO-issued credit cards, which allows subscribers to make purchases using their mobile phones as credit cards via "iD", DOCOMO's branded mobile payment platform for handsets equipped with contactless IC cards (Osaifu-Keitai). For security, DOCOMO's Osaifu-Keitai phones can be locked remotely over the wireless network if misplaced or stolen.
DOCOMO noted that currently, over 30 million DOCOMO customers use Osaifu-Keitai-compatible handsets and about 60% of all DOCOMO customers are using Osaifu-Keitai services. As of July 31, 2009, there were approximately 420,000 iD readers/writers nationwide. iD is now used in various settings in daily life, such as shopping at convenience stores and electronics retailers, eating at fast food restaurants and taking taxis.
http://www.ntt.co.jp

Infinera Supplies Optical Transport for Washington Utility

Washington state's Grant County Public Utility District (PUD) has selected Infinera to supply an optical backbone supporting its triple-play broadband services.


Grant County PUD currently supplies fiber optic service is currently available to nearly 15,000 homes, businesses and farms in the county.  The utility began building its wholesale fiber-to-the-home network in 2000.  Currently, Grant PUD claims a 40% "take rate" for homes passed who have chosen to subscribe to one or more triple play services.
http://www.infinera.com

Comcast Prevails in Legal Battle over MSO Size

Comcast prevailed in a legal case against the FCC. The decision handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that vacates an FCC rule limiting the sized of cable operators. The court ruled that the FCC must consider competition from satellite providers when calculating the market share held by a cable operator. The decision could clear the way for further consolidation of cable operators.
http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/home.nsf

France Telecom to Acquire Digital Advertising Network

The Orange France Telecom Group has acquired 100% of UNANIMIS, the UK's largest exclusive digital advertising network.

The combination of UNANIMIS's premium advertising network and Orange's mobile and web assets, provides a reach of over 71.5% of the UK's online population and over 66% of the online population across UK, France, Spain and Poland.

UNANIMIS has exclusive online advertising relationships with key website brands such as the AA, Ticketmaster, ASOS, Gumtree and Shopping.com giving it the most extensive, exclusive-access, digital advertising portfolio in the UK.

France Telecom estimates that the Western European online advertising market was worth an estimated 12 billion euros in 2008 and the UK represented Europe's largest market (31%). Orange and UNANIMIS will also have strong positions in new growth areas such as mobile advertising.

"As 2008 marked the revolution in the mobile Internet space, so 2009 will see the major advances in digital and mobile advertising. The Orange mobile portal, Orange World, and our fixed portal attracts over 12 million monthly users and with the advances in handset technology coupled with new prices plans, this is set to rise even further. More companies are increasingly turning to the mobile Internet to enhance the way they advertise. A key part of our strategy at Orange UK is to grow and evolve our business in order to offer advertisers richer opportunities to engage with people," said Gerry McQuade, Chief Development Officer, Orange UK.
http://www.francetelecom.com

Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Sells Video Surveillance Business to Vimicro

Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell has agreed to sell its Video Surveillance System (ViSS) to Vimicro Electronics Corporation for an undisclosed sum. Vimicro Tianjin will acquire the complete ViSS business including all property, plant and equipment, inventories, business contracts, intellectual property and service and development capabilities in China. Moreover, Vimicro and ASB will continue to cooperate in the future.

ViSS is a leading security and surveillance solution addressing the needs of telecom operators and local governments in China. As part of ASB, ViSS has been well established as the business platform for unified surveillance, storage and management solutions utilizing a broadband network infrastructure to connect independent monitoring sites across a broad geographical area. Applications include the monitoring needs of city roadways, airports, shopping centers, banks, schools, and other large facilities.

The acquisition is expected to be closed in September of 2009.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

NTIA Receives 2,200 Applications for Broadband Stimulus Funding

The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) received almost 2,200 applications requesting nearly $28 billion in funding for proposed broadband projects in all 50 U.S. states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

This is the first round of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding aimed at expanding broadband access and adoption to help bridge the technological divide and create jobs building Internet infrastructure, with $4 billion available through loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations.

The Recovery Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to NTIA and RUS to expand access to and adoption of broadband services. Of that funding, NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion to deploy broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas in the United States, expand public computer center capacity, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. RUS will invest $2.5 billion to facilitate broadband deployment in primarily rural communities. Approximately $2.4 billion from RUS and up to $1.6 billion from NTIA is available in this first grant round.

"Applicants requested nearly seven times the amount of funding available, which demonstrates the substantial interest in expanding broadband across the Nation," said Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of NTIA. "We will move quickly but carefully to fund the best projects to bring broadband and jobs to more Americans." 

A preliminary analysis of applicant-reported data shows that NTIA and RUS received requests for grants and loans totaling nearly $28 billion. When including about $10.5 billion in matching funds committed by the applicants, there are over $38 billion in proposed broadband projects.
http://www.ntia.doc.govhttp://www.broadbandusa.gov/

Nokia Appoints Alberto Torres to Head New Soluions Business

Nokia has appointed Alberto Torres, currently head of Devices Category Management has been appointed to head its new Solutions Unit. Torres will also become a member of the Group Executive Board as of October 1, 2009.

Alberto Torres joined Nokia in 2004. Prior to his current position as Head of Devices Category Management, he held a number of senior positions in for example corporate strategy and Vertu devices.

The Solutions unit will drive Nokia's solutions offering and align it with the company's devices and services portfolio; manage the end-to-end creation and delivery of solutions across the company together with the other Nokia units, and bring together all design and user experience activities to drive excellence in consumer experience.
http://www.nokia.com

Occam Supplies GigE and GPON FTTP for Farmers Telephone Cooperative

South Carolina's Farmers Telephone Cooperative (FTC), who previously selected and deployed Occam Networks' BLC 6000 products to build out its advanced broadband network, is now using the latest GigE and GPON FTTP options to deliver IPTV to its deepest rural and highest density service areas.


Since FTC's deployment and installation of Occam's BLC 6000 System, FTC has successfully served over 3,500 video subscribers with MPEG4-based Triple Play services including IPTV, while upgrading the company's 450 remote cabinets using Occam retrofit kits. FTC is now adding fiber fed rural subscribers utilizing the Occam GPON technology integrated in its BLC 6000 System to access IPTV. This GPON deployment utilizes the same Ethernet based MSAP used in FTC's initial MPEG4 deployment, eliminating the need for a new system while providing greater scalability and more simplicity.

The Occam BLC 6000 System is a full-featured MSAP that offers a variety of access technology options including GPON, Ethernet FTTP, DSL, POTS, T1 and Ethernet. Serving a 3,000 square mile coverage area, FTC has taken advantage of multiple technology options (DSL, bonded DSL, GigE FTTP, GPON FTTP) available in the single, converged Occam BLC 6000 MSAP to deliver IPTV to its subscribers.


"We serve an area that is enjoying significant growth. However, this presents challenges as our broadband service area is very diverse and presents complexities with reaching remote rural areas, while also servicing areas that are highly populated," said Richard Haddock, Chief Engineer for FTC. "As challenging as it is to deliver IPTV to a diverse geographic serving area, the Occam BLC 6000 MSAP overcame our deployment obstacles with a robust solution to handle all of our broadband needs."http://www.occamnetworks.com

Nortel and LG Complete First Handover Between CDMA and LTE

Nortel and LG Electronics completed the first 3GPP standards compliant active handover of a data transmission between a LTE network and a CDMA network. The demonstration showed that online activities like video downloads, web surfing, and VoIP calls can be maintained when a mobile data user moves between LTE and CDMA coverage zones.

The test by Nortel and LG Electronics successfully demonstrates standards-compliant CDMA-LTE interworking. This enables idle mode handover between CDMA and LTE, and active mode handover from LTE to CDMA leveraging device assisted, network controlled functionality. The demonstration was conducted over 700MHz spectrum using Nortel CDMA Evolved High-Rate Packet Data (eHRPD) 1xEV-DO and Nortel Long Term Evolution (LTE) solution with LG Electronics' dual-mode CDMA-LTE M13 terminal. The M13 terminal is a test device created with commercial grade components that will form the basis for a consumer device which is expected to be available in 2010.

The handover between LTE to CDMA networks was completed in a Live-Air Drive Test at Nortel's Research and Development centre in Ottawa, Canada.

Nortel's CDMA business and LTE Access assets are the subject of an asset sale agreement with Ericsson.http//www.nortel.com
http://www.lge.com

J.D. Power Ranks U.S. Mobile Operators for Call Quality

J.D. Power and Associates' 2009 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study ranked Verizon Wireless as the best for the "Highest Call Quality Performance Among Wireless Cell Phone Users" in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest regions. In a tie, Verizon Wireless, Alltel and T-Mobile rank highest in the West region. T-Mobile performs particularly well in reducing the number of problems with echoes and distortion, while Alltel performs particularly well in limiting the number of problems associated with late or failed messages. In the North Central region, U.S. Cellular ranks highest for an eighth consecutive reporting period. Compared with the regional average, U.S. Cellular has fewer customer-reported problems with initial connections, static or interference, and late or failed voice message notification.


J.D. Power and Associates' semiannual study measures wireless call quality, based on seven problem areas that impact overall carrier performance: dropped calls; static/interference; failed call connection on the first try; voice distortion; echoes; no immediate voicemail notification; and no immediate text message notification. Call quality issues are measured as problems per 100 (PP100) calls, where a lower score reflects fewer problems and higher quality. Call quality performance is examined in six regions: Northeast; Mid-Atlantic; Southeast; North Central; Southwest; and West.


J.D. Power noted that wireless carriers have reduced the number of connectivity issues, such as dropped calls, to 4 PP100 from 5 PP100 six months ago. Failed initial connections have declined to 3 PP100 from 4 PP100 during the same period. Wireless customers also report fewer audio problems, such as calls with static, which has decreased from 3 PP100 to just 2 PP100.


The 2009 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study-Volume 2 is based on responses from 25,512 wireless customers.

http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2009155

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Sees Revenue Drop in 1H09, FTTx Replacing ADSL

During the first six months of 2009, Chunghwa Telecom's consolidated revenue decreased by 3.7% to NT$97.2 billion,

of which 27.3% was from fixed-line services, 36.3%was from mobile services, 25.4% was from Internet and data services, and the remainder was mainly from handset sales from Chunghwa's subsidiary SENAO on a consolidated basis. Chunghwa Telecom blamed the deteriorating economic environment and market competition for the revenue decline, which resulted in the reduced traffic for fixed line and mobile businesses.

Some highlights:
  • Internet and data revenue decreased by 0.2% to NT$24.7 billion, mainly due to the tariff reduction for HiNet and ADSL services.

  • As of the end of first half of 2009, Chunghwa provides FTTx to about 1,342 thousand of subscribers, compared to 782 thousand as of the end of first half of 2008.

  • Mobile revenue decreased by 2.9% to NT$35.2 billion; mobile VAS revenue increased by 18.5% to NT$4.1 billion

  • International long distance revenue decreased by 10.7% year-over- year to NT$6.3 billion, as a result of the overall economic downturn, VOIP substitution and market competition.

  • For the second quarter of 2009, total revenue was NT$48.1 billion, a 3.8% decrease from the same period last year. Of this, 27.9% was from fixed-line services, 36.8% was from mobile services and 25.5% was from Internet and data services, with the remainder primarily attributed to the consolidation of NT$2.6 billion in revenue from SENAO.

  • The total capex for the first half of 2009 amounted to NT$10.3 billion, a 9.0% decrease compared to that of the same period in 2008. Of this CapEx figure, 73.2% was for wireline equipment (including fixed-line and Internet and data), 21.3% was for wireless equipment and the remainder was for other expenditures.

  • Total HiNet Internet subscribers decreased to 4.07 million as of June 30, 2009.

  • ADSL subscribers decreased by 156 thousand to 2.96 million quarter-over-quarter. This decline was offset by strong growth in FTTx subscriptions, with 148 thousand net additions to around 1.34 million over the course of the second quarter of 2009, compared to 782 thousand FTTx subscribers as of June 30, 2008.

  • By the end of June 2009, the number of ADSL and FTTx subscriptions with a service speed of greater than 8 Mbps reached 1.78 million, representing 41.4% of total broadband subscribers, which was 32.1% as the end of June 2008

  • Overall, the company had 4.3 million broadband subscribers (including ADSL and FTTx subscribers) at the end of June 2009, a 0.1% decrease in the number of total broadband subscriptions compared to the same period of last year.

  • As of June 30, 2009, Chunghwa had 9.04 million mobile subscribers, slightly up quarter-over-quarter by 0.7% compared to 8.98million as of March 31, 2009.

  • Chunghwa's total mobile subscriber market share (including 2G, 3G and PHS) was 34.5%, while its revenue share was 33.1%.

  • Chunghwa had 251 thousand net additions to its 3G subscriber base during the second quarter of 2009, recording a 6.5% rise quarter-over-quarter in the total number of 3G subscribers to 4.1 million as of June 30, 2009.

  • Mobile VAS revenue for the first half of 2009 was NT$4.07 billion, a 18.5% year-over-year increase, with SMS revenue up 13.4% and mobile Internet revenue up 47.6% for the same period.
http://www.cht.com.tw

Verizon Tests Online Platform for Streaming FiOS TV to Laptops

Verizon has joined the "TV Everywhere" initiative and has launched a trial to bring television programming online to its FiOS TV subscribers.

Verizon's trial includes content from Time Warner's Turner networks, TNT and TBS, and will soon include content from other providers. Trial participants will be able to watch the programs on their personal computers or laptops -- at home or away -- using any broadband connection. Using their Verizon Online user names and passwords, participating FiOS TV customers will be able to access the online programming at the networks' Web sites.

"As the appetite for instant, easy access to high-quality entertainment continues to explode, only Verizon is able to deliver to customers what they want, wherever they go," said Shawn Strickland, vice president of FiOS product management for Verizon. "Whether it's at home through FiOS TV, FiOS Internet or Verizon High Speed Internet or on the go with Verizon Wi-Fi or V CAST Video from Verizon Wireless -- Verizon is well ahead of the industry in listening to customers and giving them the access and control they're clamoring for."


Time Warner Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said, "When we first announced the TV Everywhere initiative, we hoped others in the industry would soon sign on to provide consumers with more on-demand television content over all platforms including broadband. We are pleased to partner with Verizon to deliver TNT and TBS programming on-demand and online at no additional cost to customers and to do so in a progressive manner that builds the business for the future."http://www.verizon.com/athomeblog

Time Warner Cable Launches “TV Everywhere�? over Broadband

Time Warner Cable is working with numerous networks and network groups to provide its customers greater online access to high-quality programming.

In upcoming trials of TV Everywhere, Time Warner Cable customers who subscribe to a video package containing the networks will have online access, at no additional charge, to a wide variety of content from participating programmers. They include TBS, TNT, HBO, CBS, Syfy, BBC America, AMC, WE tv, IFC, Sundance Channel, Discovery Communications and Smithsonian Channel.
The company described "TV Everywhere" as a big step toward fulfilling its vision for making content available on any screen, any time and any place its customers want to view it.

Time Warner Cable Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Britt said, "TV Everywhere is an all-around win for those of us who love television. It will give our customers more control over content and allow them greater access to programs they are already paying for, while enhancing the distributors' and networks' robust business model that encourages the creation of great content."

Time Warner Cable and the participating networks will launch the TV Everywhere trials in select markets over the next few months. The trials initially will reach approximately 5,000 Time Warner Cable customers. The company is working to include other networks and expects to expand TV Everywhere to more customers rapidly.
http://www.timewarnercable.com

Marvell launches 802.1 AVB for Multimedia Content Over Ethernet

Marvell introduced a suite of products for networking multichannel audio/video (A/V) over standardized Ethernet using the IEEE 802.1 A/V Bridging (AVB) standards.

This product portfolio includes Marvell's Link Street Gigabit Ethernet Switches, Gigabit Ethernet Network Interface Controller (NIC), and Kirkwood SoC featuring its Sheeva CPU technology. The Marvell AVB product suite is designed to allow seamless delivery of time-sensitive multimedia traffic for both consumer and professional A/V applications on an Ethernet network.

"We are thrilled to be the first to provide an end-to-end AVB solution and be part of the newly formed AVnu Alliance," said Ali Khan, Director of Marketing with the Communications and Computing Business Unit at Marvell. "We also congratulate AVnu for bringing industry wide collaboration together to support the years of standards development in the IEEE AVB committee. Marvell sees this as the next phase in the Ethernet evolution."http://www.marvell.com

Marvell Posts Q2 Revenue of $640.6 Million, up 23%

Marvell Technology Group reported Q2 revenue of $640.6 million, a 23 percent sequential increase from $521.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, ended May 2, 2009 and a 24 percent decrease from $842.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2009, ended August 2, 2008. GAAP net income was $58.5 million, or $0.09 per share (diluted), for the second quarter of fiscal 2010, as compared to a GAAP net loss of $111.5 million, or $0.18 per share (diluted), for the first quarter of fiscal 2010.


"We are pleased with the results reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2010," said Dr. Sehat Sutardja, Marvell Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our sequential revenue growth reflects both an improving economy and the acceptance by customers of our new and existing products. Additionally, the financial discipline we have adopted continued to deliver positive benefits during the second quarter, allowing us to achieve our long-term profitability and cash flow targets well ahead of schedule."http://www.marvell.com

FCC Seeks Comments on New Consumer Protections

The FCC is seeking public and industry comment on how best to ensure that consumers have the information they need to make informed decisions in the communications marketplace.


While the FCC's approach to information disclosure issues has traditionally focused on the formatting of consumer bills, the FCC is now considering what information should be available to consumers at each stage of the purchasing process: (1) choosing a provider, (2) choosing a service plan, (3) managing use of the service plan, and (4) deciding whether and when to switch an existing provider or plan for all communications services, including wireline voice and wireless services, as well as broadband and subscription video (cable and satellite).


This FCC also seeks particular comment on cost-effective best practices in information disclosure from within the communications sector -- as well as familiar examples for other areas, such as nutrition labeling on food products, fuel efficiency for automobiles, energy efficiency for household appliances, and rates and fees for credit cards.
http://www.fcc.gov

FCC Launches Mobile Wireless Competition Inquiry

The FCC has launched an inquiry that seeks to enhance its analysis of competitive conditions in the mobile wireless market.


The FCC noted that we are now in the midst of a transition from reliance on mobile voice services to increasing use of and reliance on mobile broadband services. A robustly competitive mobile wireless market will be essential to realizing the full benefits to American consumers and channeling investment into vitally important national infrastructure. The FCC said that it is seeking to ensure that competition in the mobile wireless market continues to bring substantial benefits to American consumers.


The FCC said it is seeking to enhance its understanding of the mobile wireless industry in three main ways. First, the FCC inquires about which analytic framework and data sources will most
clearly describe competition in the mobile wireless market. Second, it adjusts the inquiry to include new market segments not covered thoroughly in previous reports, such as device and infrastructure segments. Third, it inquires about vertical relationships between "upstream" and "downstream" market segments, and how these relationships affect competition.


The FCC is required to report annually on the state of competition in the "commercial mobile services".
http://www.fcc.gov

FCC Launches Wireless Innovation Inquiry

The FCC launched an inquiry that seeks to identify concrete steps to support and encourage further innovation and investment in the
wireless marketplace. This inquiry also seeks to better understand the factors that encourage innovation and investment throughout this area.


In particular, the inquiry focuses on spectrum availability and use, wireless networks, devices, applications, and business practices. It also seeks comment on how the public has used wireless services and technology to solve real-world problems in areas such as health care, energy, education, and public safety.
http://www.fcc.gov

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

China Telecom Selects Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS Backbone across Ten Provinces

China Telecom signed a centralized purchasing contract for Alcatel-Lucent to provide and maintain an IP/MPLS backbone across ten provinces (Guangxi, Hubei, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Gansu, Xinjiang and Shanghai). Completion of the project is set for October 2009. Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its 7750 Service Router (SR) and 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (ESS) providing the bandwidth, scale and service awareness required to support the growing market for more personalized, broadband offerings such as IPTV, WebTV, Virtual Private Networks, and 3G/4G mobile. The contract which is part of the US$700 million framework agreement recently signed between China Telecom and Alcatel-Lucent, was awarded to Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell. http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Arista Debuts Virtualized OS for Linking Physical, Virtual, and Cloud Networks

Arista Networks, a start-up offering 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches for large data centers and high performance computing environments, introduced its vEOS (virtualized Extensible Operating System), integrated networking software that peers with VMware vSphere 4 and manages the VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch to link physical and virtual machines to network policy and profiles. The software enables IT organizations to move workloads from physical servers to virtual machines and to cloud infrastructures while maintaining segmentation, trust boundaries, and policy control.


Today's data centers are increasingly virtualized creating a management gap between physical and virtual networks. Arista said new VMware vSphere 4 capabilities, such as VMware Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS) and VMware Fault Tolerance, are enabling virtual machines to move from one host to another automatically. This demands an order-of-magnitude more capacity, lower latency and new network architectures.


VEOS, which runs on the Arista 7000 Family of Cloud Networking Switches and as a VMware virtual appliance, provides a network interface to the administrator for configuration and monitoring, without disrupting the virtualized infrastructure. vEOS, in concert with VMware vSphere 4, enables workloads to be mobile, preserving networking state and policy as virtual machines move around data centers and into the cloud.

vEOS also brings critical monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities to virtualized environments including HP Openview support, standard SNMP monitoring, VM auto-discovery, and fully integrated access control while integrating with VMware Fault Tolerance to provide true high availability for the vEOS virtual appliance.


"With vEOS, Arista and VMware customers will now be able to more easily manage their growing converged networking infrastructure and enable easier mobility of virtual machines," said Jayshree Ullal, president and CEO of Arista Networks. "Arista's vEOS is fully compatible and capable of co-existing with the VMware vSphere 4 vNetwork Distributed Switch while providing consistent administrative experience to both the network and virtualization operator."


Arista Networks is preparing to launch an open-beta of vEOS. Commercial release is expected in Q4.
http://www.aristanetworks.com
  • In May 2009, Arista Networks, a start-up based in Menlo Park, California, introduced its high density 10GBASE-T switches in a 1U form factor. The Arista 7100T layer 2/3 switches include 24 and 48-port models. Each model offers auto-negotiating 1/10GBASE-T ports with standard RJ-45 connectors and SFP+ uplink ports. The Arista 7100T switches support 10GBASE-T over Category 6a cabling up to 100m, but also support Category 5e and Category 6 cabling with distances up to 55m. This allows for investment protection with existing cabling plants.

Dell'Oro: Access Equipment Sales Rise in Q2 Driven by PON

Worldwide revenue for DSL, Cable and PON Access equipment recorded the first sequential increase in a year, propelled by strong EPON shipments to China and Japan in the second quarter of 2009, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. Combined Access revenue increased 2 percent over the previous quarter, but was 19 percent lower over the year-ago period. PON continues to be the bright spot in the market, as exhibited by its double-digit revenue growth both sequentially and over the year-ago period. On the other hand, DSL and Cable each experienced steep declines over the year-ago period.

"Two important factors impacting demand for Access equipment are broadband subscriber additions and network upgrades," said Tam Dell'Oro, President of Dell'Oro Group. "Total broadband subscriber additions have been lower since the peak year of 2006, and are having a negative impact on equipment demand, especially for a slower-speed technology such as ADSL. On the positive side are the upgrade projects that are being driven by competition, increasing internet traffic, government incentives, and the desire by operators to enable new revenue-generating services such as TV over broadband. These upgrade projects increasingly drive demand for higher-speed PON, VDSL, and Cable DOCSIS 3.0 equipment," Dell'Oro added.
http://www.DellOro.com

Deutsche Telekom Chooses Verizon Business for Security Compliance

Deutsche Telekom has entrusted Verizon Business to help ensure that T-Pay, Deutsche Telekom's online-payment system, achieves compliance with the international payment card industry data-security standards.

T-Pay is the Internet payment system for all Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries in Germany, including T-Mobile and T-Home. The system processes daily a large amount of confidential financial data, particularly linked to consumer purchases such as music, software, games or video on demand. As such, compliance with the global Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), which is designed to protect credit card data from misuse, is business-critical.

Verizon Business' professional security services team is providing a range of consultancy, audit, management and implementation services to help T-Pay achieve PCI-DSS certification.
http://www.verizonbusiness.com

First China-India Terrestrial Cable Transmission System Enters Service

China Telecom Americas and India's Reliance launched service on the first terrestrial broadband cable transmission system between China and India.

The cable system, with an initial capacity of 20 Gbps, is connected through Tibet to India. The terrestrial cable is co-built by China Telecom and Reliance, and carries DWDM and SDH transmission. The total cable capacity design is 4.8 Tbps, which is thousands times more than what had been the existing bandwidth between China and India.


"The launch of the China-India Cable System will change the communications status quo of connecting via international marine cable systems between China and India," Donald Tan, President of China Telecom Americas, stated. "By providing the direct connection between the two largest developing nations in the world, it will promote the growth of political, cultural and business relationships between China and India and the other South Asian countries, contributing to increased prosperity in the region. It also contributes to the implementation of 'The Five Year Plan for Full Economic and Trade Cooperation' between China and India"http://www.chinatelecom-h.com

JDSU Enhances Triple Play Services Handheld Tester

JDSU announced expanded functionality for its SmartClass Triple Play Services (TPS) test instrument, a handheld tool for the installation, maintenance and troubleshooting of IP video, VoIP, IP data, ADSL 1/2/2+ and copper services. New functions include an integrated Web browser for ease-of-use and verification of on-site subscriber website access; copper tests that are field tested and proven, including CableCheck and balance tests that provide one-button, pass/fail copper verification; a Broadcast Auto feature that simplifies IPTV testing and automatically detects IP stream formats; and a Packet Capture feature that enables technicians to capture data for offline analysis in the back office.

The SmartClass TPS provides triple-play services testing with Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) functionality, advanced IP video analysis including the ability to test multiple HDTV streams, VoIP phone emulation, and a built-in USB Host 2.0 interface for easy file transfer.
http://www.jdsu.com

EXFO Enables QoS Testing

EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering has integrated multiservice testing capabilities across its portfolio of transport and datacom modules, enabling simultaneous per-service measurements for more efficient QoS assessment and SLA validation. These new test functions allow service providers to simultaneously test up to 10 different service applications with different QoS levels, based on Ethernet and IP parameters such as VLAN ID (802.1Q), VLAN priority (802.1p), VLAN stacking (802.1ad Q-in-Q), ToS and differentiated services code points (DSCP). Specific service profiles including voice-over-IP (VoIP), video and data can be applied for quick and easy test configurations. All critical test parameters-throughput, latency, frame loss and packet jitter (RFC 3393)-are accessible simultaneously for each stream, allowing fast and in-depth qualification of all SLA criteria.

These enhanced capabilities are offered with all EXFO Packet Blazer and Transport Blazer test modules.
http://www.EXFO.com

Nokia Sets Strategy for Mobile Financial Services

Noting that there are now over 4 billion mobiles phones worldwide but only 1.6 billion people with their own bank account, Nokia announced plans to launch a "Money" service that will provide consumers with mobile device with access to basic financial services. For many consumers, this will be the first time they have had any access to such financial services.


Nokia Money promises to make it possible to send money to another person just by using the person's mobile phone number, as well as to pay merchants for goods and services, pay their utility bills, or recharge their prepaid SIM cards (SIM top-up). The services can be accessed 24 hours a day from anywhere, meaning savings in travel costs and time.


Nokia said it is building a wide network of Nokia Money agents, where consumers can deposit money in or withdraw cash from their accounts. The goal is to make sending money as simple and convenient as making a voice call or sending an SMS.

The Nokia Money service will be operated in cooperation with Obopay, a start-up based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nokia made an equity investment in the firm earlier this year. The service is based on Obopay's mobile payment platform, with unique and newly developed mobile elements. Nokia intends the service to be open and interoperable with other payment services as well.


"We believe mobile financial services offer a market opportunity with long term growth potential. In many countries, mobile phone ownership significantly exceeds bank account usage, suggesting that many mobile phone users have very limited or no access to basic financial services," said Mary McDowell, EVP and Chief Development Officer, Nokia.


Mobile payments will be the next step for delivering financial services to hundreds of millions of people, both urban and rural, who are underserved by existing payment means, especially in emerging economies.


"Obopay shares Nokia's vision for bringing mobile financial services to millions of people worldwide. We're excited that Nokia has chosen Obopay's platform. Nokia's leading market position, strong brand recognition and global distribution channel, using the Obopay platform with uniquely developed mobile elements, means the Nokia Money service is well positioned to bring the next generation of mobile payment services to the world," said Carol Realini, Founder and CEO of Obopay.


Nokia said it is also with different partners in different markets around the world. The Nokia Money service will be shown for the first time at Nokia World on the 2nd and 3rd of September 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany, and it is planned to be rolled out gradually to selected markets, beginning in early 2010.
http://www.nokia.com
http://www.nokia.com
  • In June 2009, Nokia announced the commercial launch of its pioneering Nokia Life Tools service in India. The service will be rolled out first in Maharashtra in association with the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB). Designed specifically for the emerging markets, Nokia Life Tools is a range of Agriculture, Education and Entertainment services sharply addressing the information gaps of target consumers. Nokia Life Tools service will be expanded to select countries across Asia and Africa later in 2009 and beyond.

360networks Positions Itself for Broadband Stimulus Funding

360networks (USA) has applied for federal stimulus funding to expand broadband access to rural and underserved markets. 360networks operates a 17,200 mile fiber network in the western United States.

360network's proposed "middle-mile" project will access seventeen rural markets and a surrounding ten-mile radius along its existing 1,011 mile fiber optic route extending from Chicago, Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana.


The company said this could provide a cost effective alternative for broadband providers from most existing backhaul solutions. http://www.360networks.com

NTT Electronics Full HD H.264 Codec Selected for 2010 World Cup

NTT Electronics' AVC/H.264 HDTV/SDTV encoder/decoder have been selected by Sentech, a state-owned communication service company in the Republic of South Africa, as the codec equipment to be used for HD coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

Sentech plans to use satellite links to carry video from each stadium to the International Broadcast Center (IBC), which is the base for broadcasters from around the world. The NTT Electronics HV9100 Series will be installed (system integrated by Comscience) in all 10 stadiums in various regions of the Republic of South Africa where games will be held, and will be used by Sentech for contribution feeds to the IBC.

The HV9100 Series supports both HD (1080i / 720p) and SD (480i / 576i). It additionally supports, optionally, up to 16 channels of audio input capability and an IP interface. http://www.nel-world.com/pr

Verizon Business Hazmat Team Ready for Emergencies

Verizon Business said its Major Emergency Response Incident Team (MERIT) is ready to roll in the event that the company's network becomes damaged during natural disasters or hazardous materials incidents. Potential threats include hurricanes, train derailments and industrial fires, plus the Santa Ana winds that sweep through Southern California during the fall.


Founded in 1992, MERIT consists of 35 team members including communications technicians and specialists, building engineers, and Verizon Business environmental, health and safety employees. All team members, who have fulltime daily responsibilities in their specialties, have been trained under Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines, the same certification guidelines used by major fire department hazardous materials teams in the U.S.

MERIT team members, who are also trained in emergency response management, are authorized to operate at the highest operational protection level (Level A), which allows them to enter a contaminated zone, wearing fully encapsulated hazmat suits. The team uses multiple tools to detect more than 30 chemicals, Ricin and radiological contamination.
http://www.verizonbusiness.com

Monday, August 24, 2009

Lebanon's OGERO Picks Zhone for Network Access

OGERO, the incumbent telecommunications operator of the government of Lebanon has named Zhone Technologies as its preferred IP access equipment provider. OGERO selected Zhone equipment to support several major projects which include public Wi-Fi access throughout the capital city of Beirut, and ADSL2+, EFM and VDSL2 deployments nationwide. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As the national incumbent in Lebanon, OGERO has already successfully rolled out services to over 75 percent of the country's DSL subscriber base using Zhone's MALC multi-service access platforms (MSAPs) and 8800 IP DSLAMs.

SkyZhone, Zhone's metro Wi-Fi solution, enables OGERO to leverage their existing copper infrastructure and Zhone management system (ZMS) which significantly reduces cost of provisioning and operations. SkyZhone is the only metro Wi-Fi system to provide integrated DSL backhaul and line powering coupled with an 802.11n, all-MIMO antenna architecture.
http://www.zhone.com

VeriSign to Sell Messaging Business to Syniverse for $175 Million

VeriSign agreed to sell its Messaging Business to Syniverse Holdings (NYSE: SVR) for $175 million in cash. The business has an annual revenue run-rate of approximately $140 million over the last 12 months. The business unit has approximately 300 employees, of which 100 are based in India.

The deal combines Syniverse's NEXT Advanced Messaging Hub and messaging services with with four of VeriSign's operator and enterprise messaging solutions:
  • Inter-Carrier Gateway enables operators to deliver inter-carrier person-to-person SMS and MMS messages across geographies and technologies.

  • PictureMail -- provides an MMS platform with core components that include a hosted MMS service center (MMSC) for MMS routing, handset photo applications, a social networking interface, and photo storage and sharing capabilities.

  • Premium Messaging Gateway -- manages delivery of "off-portal" or third-party content to subscribers.

  • Mobile Enterprise Solutions -- enables businesses to send time- and event-based messages or alerts via voice, text message or email to customers, employees or partners, and allows operators to offer their high-value customers a broader array of services, including enterprise and mobile financial services.

"As mobile messaging volumes continue to experience double-digit growth, Syniverse will have the scale, reach and capabilities needed to provide mobile operators -- large or small -- with greater vendor choice and faster time to market for the services subscribers demand. Ultimately, the mobile consumer will benefit from more messaging services and applications," stated Tony Holcombe, President and CEO, Syniverse.


"Even under challenging economic conditions, we have continued to execute on our divestiture strategy through aligning with buyers with complementary strengths," said Mark McLaughlin, president and CEO of VeriSign. "We are pleased to continue making progress on our divestiture program with this latest agreement with Syniverse."http://www.verisign.com
http://www.syniverse.com

Alloptic's RFoG Deployed in St. Kitts

The Cable of St. Kitts has selected Alloptic's RFoG equipment to upgrade its network and extend its advanced broadband service offerings to customers on St. Kitts.

The Cable provides cable television, voice and data services to homes and businesses on St. Kitts.

Two high end developments on St. Kitts are now leveraging The Cable's fiber-based broadband services, demonstrating how both FTTx and advanced Smart Home applications add value to their properties. At Sundance Ridge for example, the model home showcases advanced home automation via the ability to completely monitor and control all of the electrically-connected items in the house including remotely opening and closing of hurricane shutters.
"While St. Kitts primary industry is tourism, there is still great demand for high end communication services by both full time citizens and by visitors, many of whom expect and rely on access to high speed, high quality connections to the rest of the world," said The Cable's General Manager, Bill Ewing. "The Cable prides itself in providing not only traditional video, but also in providing exceptional voice, data, and specialized communications services."http://www.alloptic.com

Vietnam's VTN selects Alcatel-Lucent for Network Transformation

Vietnam Telecom National (VTN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vietnam Posts & Telecommunications Corporation Group (VNPT), selected Alcatel-Lucent to provide its IP and optical solutions . Under the contracts, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its IP/MPLS solutions, including the 7750 Service Router(SR) and the 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM).

Alcatel-Lucent will also supply its 1850 Transport Service Switch (1850 TSS) and 1830 Photonic Service Switch (1830 PSS). Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Dell'Oro: Router Market Rebounds in Q2

The worldwide service provider router market rebounded from the dismal first quarter performance with a solid 9 percent increase in the second quarter of 2009, according to a newly published report by Dell'Oro Group. Stronger demand in North America and the Asia Pacific region was largely responsible for the market growth. Router manufacturers Tellabs, Cisco, and Alcatel-Lucent led the resurgence with double-digit growth rates.

"What we saw in the second quarter was that service providers had a bit more confidence in the economic outlook and were much more willing to make capital investments," said Shin Umeda, Vice President at Dell'Oro Group. "We are not out of the woods yet, but it does look like the first quarter was the low-point in this downturn," added Umeda.
http://www.delloro.com

Blue Coat's Revenue Rises 13% YOY to $116 Million

Blue Coat Systems reported net revenue of $116 million for its first fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2009, an increase of 13% compared with net revenue of $103 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009, and an increase of 2% compared with net revenue of $114 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

On a GAAP basis, the company reported net income of $4 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, compared with net loss of $6 million, or $(0.15) per share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2009, and net loss of $3 million, or $(0.09) per share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

"Blue Coat delivered solid quarterly results in a challenging economic environment," said Brian NeSmith, president and chief executive officer, Blue Coat Systems. "In the first quarter, our revenue and non-GAAP EPS performance met our expectations, and we experienced good cash generation. Importantly, we improved non-GAAP operating profitability, as driving better leverage in our business model continues to be a strategic initiative for Blue Coat in 2010."http://www.bluecoat.com

Verizon Business Offer IP-Enabled Automated Speech Recognition

Verizon Business is now offering its speech services in an IP-enabled version. Customers are now able to run their speech services on the Verizon's Hosted IP Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform, as an alternative or in addition to its traditional Hosted IVR platform. Customers can choose to have Verizon Business host the services, manage them, or simply provide customer premises equipment.

Verizon Business' IP IVR service, together with VoIP Inbound, enables customers to efficiently manage and route inbound calls, with the flexibility to deliver customer calls to either traditional or IP-based contact centers.
http://www.verizonbusiness.com

Yahoo! Implements GIPS Codec for Messenger Video Calling

Release 10 of Yahoo! Messenger implements Global IP Solutions' GIPS VideoEngine to enable new high-quality video calling. Since early 2006, GIPS has provided the underlying voice technology for Yahoo! Messenger, allowing friends, family and colleagues to communicate. Now with the addition of the video calling feature, everyone on Yahoo! Messenger can enjoy video calls enabled by GIPS VideoEngine for superior sound, picture quality and user experience.

"With the launch of Yahoo! Messenger 10, we're allowing people to instantly communicate with friends and family around the world through new interactive and social features like video calls," said Dave Merriwether, senior director of Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/winbetahttp://www.gipscorp.com

Verizon Provides FiOS Customers with Service Management App

Verizon is now providing its FiOS customers with direct access to an application that performs many of the same setup, management and troubleshooting functions that previously required assistance from a help desk representative. Back-office systems and information resources have been integrated to create a tool that operates with point-and-click simplicity to perform functions like configuring a new PC to work on a home Wi-Fi network, setting up e-mail accounts, and automatically fixing Internet access or video problems.

The Verizon In-Home Agent leverages the unique capabilities of the Verizon FiOS network to provide help with support issues -- within a single application -- for Verizon FiOS customers. The home network connects the PC, broadband home router, set-top box and TV in FiOS-enabled homes and links to various Verizon operating systems and information resources.

In addition to the In-Home Agent, Verizon also has introduced a series of "quick codes" on the TV screen that, when utilized, can quickly identify and resolve a customer's FiOS TV problems or subscribe on the spot to many video options. For example, customers who get a "channel not available" or other on-screen message are given instructions on how to restore or establish service: They dial a toll-free number, enter a four-digit code, both of which appear on the screen, and the networked systems can either authorize service on the channel or provide instructions for subscription or restore the channel by cross-checking the customer's account.

Later this year, subscribers will be able to initiate the support inquiries and solutions by just pressing a button on the FiOS TV's remote control, eliminating the need to make a phone call.
http://www.verizon.com

Tellabs 7100 Optical Transport Selected to Support U.S. Army Base Modernization

General Dynamics, a prime contractor for the U.S. Army's Infrastructure Modernization (IMOD) program, selected Tellabs Government Systems to deliver a secure, highly reliable optical transport network between Army bases in Texas and New Mexico. Specifically, General Dynamics will deploy the Tellabs 7100 Optical Transport System between White Sands Missile Range and the Fort Bliss Range Complex. The contiguous bases form the largest military installation in the United States, encompassing almost 3,200 square miles. The JITC-certified Tellabs 7100 system converges advanced optical networking and services layer technologies onto one seamless platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.tellabs.com

AT&T Expands Wi-Fi Footprint to 125,000 Hotspots

AT&T announced the addition of nearly 25,000 new Wi-Fi hotspots in countries across Europe and in China. The new locations bring the total of worldwide hotspots available to AT&T users to 125,000, representing a nearly 30 percent expansion of its global Wi-Fi footprint since the beginning of the year.

The additional hotspots will enable AT&T Remote Access enterprise customers to connect to their corporate networks from more locations across Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, the Netherlands, the UK and China. These locations include a variety of popular coffee shops, bookstores, hotels, airports, restaurants and convention centers. The new China hotspots are already activated, and the additional European hotspots will be activated over the next 45 days.


AT&T noted that during Q2 it handled nearly 15 million Wi-Fi connections to its U.S. Network. With approximately 25.6 million connections during the first half of 2009, AT&T Wi-Fi connections had already surpassed the 20 million connections seen in all of 2008.

Additionally, AT&T announced new features that are planned for the AT&T Global Network Client -- the remote access software that creates a gateway for Wi-Fi users to establish a highly-secure, virtual private network (VPN) connection to their corporate enterprises. The enhancements will include support for Windows 7, support for connecting to VPNs using Ipv6, a single installation package for all supported languages (English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish), and improved support for persons with certain visual disabilities.
http://www.att.com

AT&T Delivers 3G for Sony's Reader Daily Edition

Sony introduced a new Reader Daily Edition featuring built-in 3G mobile access in the U.S. to the Sony's eBook store via AT&T's network. Users will be able to browse, purchase and download books as well as select newspapers and magazines without paying monthly network access fees or transaction charges for the basic wireless connectivity. Users still have the option to side load personal documents or content from other compatible sites via USB.

Sony's new Reader Daily Edition features a seven-inch wide, touch screen display that provides navigation and reading in portrait or landscape orientation. In portrait mode, about 30-35 lines of text are visible, making the experience very similar to that of a printed paperback book. It has enough internal memory to hold more than one thousand standard eBooks and expansion slots for memory cards to hold even more. It will sell for about $399.
http://news.sel.sony.com/en
  • Sprint provides wireless connectivity for Amazon.com's Kindle reader.

Dell Offers Storage Arrays with 10 Gigabit Ethernet

Dell announced new high-speed storage and networking options with 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) connectivity. Dell expects availability of these additions next month:

  • 10Gb iSCSI -- UltraFlex Modular I/O on the CX4 arrays allows customers to add additional ports when needed. Since the arrays are dual-mode, supporting 8Gb and 4Gb Fibre Channel and 10Gb and 1Gb iSCSI ports, customers can choose the interconnect that best suits their needs. Adding 10Gb iSCSI enables customers to affordably consolidate stranded servers onto an existing SAN, support more virtual servers and aggregate multiple 1Gb iSCSI connections to fewer 10Gb ones.


  • Virtualization-aware Navisphere management software -- helps simplify storage in virtual environments with automation that has the potential to drastically reduce reporting time. Navisphere enhancements for virtualized environments provides automatic discovery of virtual machines and VMWare ESX servers, end-to-end virtual-to-physical machine mapping, and advanced search for instant virtual machine discovery.


  • Drive spin down has been added as a standard feature of the CX4 series arrays, further enhancing the ability of the CX4 to help reduce power and cooling requirements.


http://www.dell.com

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Solarflare Announces 10 Gigabit Controller Family, 10GBASE-T LOM Chip

Solarflare Communications introduced its new family of 10GbE controllers, including the industry's first 10GBASE-T LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) product.

This new product family, which represents the company's third-generation 10GbE products consists of the Solarstorm SFL9022 dual-port LOM, the Solarstorm SFL9021 single-port LOM and the Solarstorm SFC9020 dual-port controller.

Solarflare said its 10GbE controllers achieve sub-6 microsecond latency, enabling the use of 10GbE interfaces in high-performance, real-time applications, such as high-frequency trading, Web 2.0 and cloud computing applications.

The SFC9000 family also features a fully-virtualized architecture, which supports 10x the number of virtual machines and virtual NICs as leading competitors, and the ability to provision and manage IP flows to ensure optimal application performance and network resource utilization. The family also includes the world's first fully-integrated 10GBASE-T LOM, which enables the lowest cost, backwards compatibility with 1000 Mbps Ethernet and support for installed cabling media. These are all critical requirements for broad-based adoption in industry standard and volume servers. Solarflare's controllers deliver 37 Gbps aggregate bandwidth and a full array of stateless offloads.


Other key features include:

  • Less than half the power consumption of 1oGbE solutions, enabling 10GbE to be deployed in high-density servers with limited airflow and power budget

  • Support for 10x the number of virtual machines and virtual NICs as the leading competitors, and the ability to provision and manage IP flows to ensure optimal application performance and network resource utilization

  • 37Gbps aggregate bandwidth and a full array of stateless offloads that are fully compliant with leading operating systems and hypervisors

  • 10GBASE-T LOM, enabling backwards compatibility to 1GbE

  • Driver support for Microsoft Windows, Redhat and SUSE Linux, Solaris, VMware and Citrix XenServer.


The SFC9000 family is now sampling.
http://www.solarflare.com

Level 3 Requests Federal Stimulus Funding

Level 3 Communications has applied for federal stimulus funding to expand broadband access under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The applications propose $15 million in grant funding and an additional $5 million in Level 3 matching funds to create new access points or "middle mile" connections to the Level 3 network in more than 50 rural markets in six states.


Level 3 said it would use grant funding and its own capital to deploy new equipment in existing buildings located on the Level 3 network in rural areas. The additional equipment would create middle mile connections to the Level 3 network between major metropolitan markets for more efficient delivery of Internet, voice, data and video services to local or "last mile" providers, including telephone, cable and wireless companies, as well as governments and educational institutions.


The addition of middle mile connections to a neutral carrier such as Level 3 offers an alternative to incumbent providers and establishes a platform forhttp://www.Level3.com/Stimulus

Starent Surpasses 100th Carrier Deployment Milestone

Starent Networks' multimedia core platforms have now been deployed in more than 100 mobile operator networks in 45 countries worldwide.


Starent's ST40 and ST16 multimedia core platforms enable high-speed multimedia services such as video, music downloads and broadband Internet on mobile networks including CDMA, femtocells, UMTS/HSPA, WiFi and WiMAX. Additionally, the Starent platforms support an evolution to LTE through software upgradeability.
http://www.starentnetworks.com

Nokia Booklet Connects with 3G and Wi-Fi

Nokia unveiled a new Windows based "Booklet 3G" powered by an Intel Atom processor. Connectivity options include 3G/ HSPA and Wi-Fi. The Booklet, which is intended to be sold through service providers, boasts up to 12 hours of battery life, an ultra-portable aluminum chassis, and a weight of1.25 kilograms. The mini-laptop also comes with an HDMI port for HD video out, a front facing camera for video calling, integrated Bluetooth and an easily accessible SD card reader. Other premium features include the 10-inch glass HD ready display and integrated A-GPS which, working with the Ovi Maps gadget, can pinpoint your position in seconds and open up access for a truly personal maps experience.
http://www.nokia.com

Telstra International Launches Global VPLS and EVPL

Telstra International is now offering an expanded range of Ethernet Wide Area Network (WAN) services across the US, Asia and Europe.


Telstra International's Global Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) will provide multinational companies with a fully meshed, secure WAN connection over multiple global sites, while customers looking for point-to-point or point to multi-point connections can use the Global Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL). Both services operate at Layer 2, enabling customers to maintain control of their routing environment.


The new EVPL and VPLS , available immediately, will be supported by expanded Service Level Agreements, with enhanced service levels for all performance metrics including availability, latency, jitter, throughput, mean time to repair and service delivery.


These two new services join Telstra International's existing Global Ethernet Private Line (EPL) service to form Telstra International's global Ethernet Services portfolio, which allows customers to select from six classes of service and offers support for Virtual Local Area Network (LAN) tagging, all running across its global MPLS infrastructure.


The services are available throughout 12 countries.
http://www.telstrainternational.com