XO Offers New Tools for Optimizing Applications Across IP MPLS

XO Communications announced a suite of network tools for giving its MPLS IP-VPN customers even greater levels of visibility and control over their business applications by using a private web-based interface to select between three service levels.


The XO Applications Performance Management suite provides real-time and historical network, server and applications statistics. XO said this enhanced, panoramic visibility enables network managers to quickly identify performance issues, determine if they are application or network specific, and make adjustments to bandwidth and Class of Service settings to optimize maximum network efficiency and bandwidth utilization. Specifically, XO Applications Performanchttp:/e Management can help businesses:

XO Applications Performance Management is fully integrated with XO MPLS IP-VPN, XO's private, managed wide area networking solution that enables businesses to connect offices, customers and partners and converge a wide range of voice, video and data applications over a single IP network infrastructure. The three tiers include:

Tier 1 -- Network Performance: Provides a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute snapshot of network performance, including:

• Analysis of physical access type, port and circuit;


• Traffic flows by location from the physical to the application layer;


• Live views of service-level metrics such as packet delay, packet delivery ratio, Jitter and availability;


• End-to-end performance validation of every XO Class of Service and bandwidth use by Class of Service; and


• Network layer troubleshooting alarms.

Tier 2 -- Network and Applications Performance: Provides all of the capabilities of Tier 1, plus:

• Protocol analyzer capabilities that capture live traffic of applications across all locations;


• Autodiscovery of applications, services and users across the entire network;


• Monitoring of server connect and response times; and


• Threshold alarms for applications and servers.

Tier 3 -- Network, Applications and VoIP Performance: Provides all of the capabilities of Tier 1 and 2, plus:

• VoIP performance troubleshooting;


• Autodiscovery of VoIP calls, call managers and handsets;


• Individual call forensics, including MOS score and Jitter measurements; and


• Long-term VoIP performance trending reports for network readiness assessments.
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Limelight Wins Patent Case Brought be Level 3

A jury serving with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in favor of Limelight Networks in a patent case brought by Level 3 Communications. (Civil Action No. 2:07cv589). The jury found that Limelight does not infringe any asserted claims of the patents at issue.


"We are pleased with the jury verdict in this matter, which is a positive development for our shareholders, employees, customers, and partners. This decision affirms that Limelight Networks respects the intellectual property of others, and that our ability to fairly compete in the marketplace is due to our own hard work and innovation," stated Jeff Lunsford, CEO of Limelight Networks.
http://www.limelightnetworks.com

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Verizon Business Wins $70 Million Contract for U.S. Army Installations

Verizon Business was awarded a contract valued at about $70.7 million to upgrade the communications infrastructure at five U.S. Army sites. Through task orders awarded under the Installation, Information, Infrastructure Modernization (IMOD) contract on behalf of the Project Manager for Network Services Center (NSC), which is under the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), Verizon Business is implementing upgrades at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland; the Fort Greely, Range Operations Center and the Cold Regions Test Center in Alaska; Fort Lee, Virginia; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and Kwajalein Atoll / Kwajalein Missile Range.


The IMOD contract was awarded in 2006 to Verizon Business and other prime contractors, which then bid on individual task orders. The IMOD program is designed to update the fiber-optic cable, data and voice communications at major Army posts and installations, integrating voice, data, cable plant and transmissions products. The Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Infrastructure Modernization (IMOD) program is valued at $4 billion over 10 years.


Some details of the projects include:

• Aberdeen Proving Ground -- Under a four-year, $36.9 million task order, the existing IP data network is being upgraded, increasing bandwidth and installing new equipment that is capable of operating on IPv6.



• Fort Lee -- Under a three-year, $9.6 million task order, the post's existing voice and data infrastructure will be upgraded. Fort Lee is the home of the Army's Combined Arms Center and provides logistics support to U.S. Army Joint and Coalition Operations around the world.



• Fort Greely - Verizon Business was awarded two task orders at the Fort Greely, Range Operations Center and the Cold Regions Test Center in Alaska. Under the approximately $1.3 million, one-year task order, the existing infrastructure will be upgraded. This project, located in one of the coldest regions of the world, involves installing fiber-optic cable and outside plant infrastructure. The second task order is approximately $7.5 million with an 18 month timeframe. It provides an upgrade of the Administrative Communications Systems. Verizon Business will engineer, furnish, install, secure and test all components required to relocate the existing digital central office and upgrade the current network infrastructure.



• Fort Sill -- Under a one-year, $2.5 million task order, the Fort Sill outside and inside plant communications infrastructure and the voice communications system will be upgraded. This effort will expand the existing voice network while adding advanced services, including a voice mail system. Fort Sill is home to the U.S. Army Field Artillery Center, including the U.S. Army Field Artillery School.



• Kwajalein Atoll / Kwajalein Missile Range -- Under a $12.9 million, 24-month task order, Verizon Business is upgrading facilities for the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll / Kwajalein Missile Range (USAKA / KMR), located at Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific along with its tenants, the Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Army Space and Missile Command and Army Corp of Engineers. Verizon Business is upgrading the outside plant infrastructure, the optical transport and mission critical data networks.

http://www.verizonbusiness.com

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Verizon Wireless Introduces Touchscreen Home IP Phone

Verizon Wireless introduced a new touch screen home phone system that runs on any broadband connection.

The Verizon Hub offers visual voicemail, contact list management, text message calendar alerts. The Verizon Hub can send audible turn-by-turn directions Verizon Wireless phones with just a few simple taps on the screen. Other capabilities include:

• Ability to quickly check local traffic and weather in the morning before leaving the house



• Ability to update your calendar and automatically receive a text when an appointment changes or as a reminder not to be late



• Preview the trailers from an upcoming movie and then purchase tickets using the Verizon Hub



• Verizon Wireless customers can use the Verizon Hub to connect to popular applications including VZ Navigator and Chaperone, as well as incorporate their wireless devices through text, picture and video messaging between wireless phones and the Verizon Hub. V CAST content will also be available on the Verizon Hub,



• When not in use, the Verizon Hub doubles as a digital picture frame displaying all of your favorite photos.

http://www.verizonwireless.com

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comScore: Global Internet Audience Surpasses 1 Billion Visitors

The total global Internet audience (age 15 and older from home and work computers) has surpassed 1 billion visitors in December 2008, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.


The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41 percent, followed by Europe (28 percent share), North America (18 percent share), Latin-America (7 percent share), and the Middle East & Africa (5 percent share).


China represented the largest online audience in the world in December 2008 with 180 million Internet users, representing nearly 18 percent of the total worldwide Internet audience, followed by the U.S. (16.2 percent share), Japan (6.0 percent share), Germany (3.7 percent share) and the U.K. (3.6 percent share).


The most popular property in the world in December was Google Sites, with 777.9 million visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites (647.9 million visitors), Yahoo! Sites (562.6 million visitors). Facebook.com, which has grown a dramatic 127-percent in the past year to 222 million visitors, now ranks as the top social networking site worldwide and the seventh most popular property in the world.


"Surpassing one billion global users is a significant landmark in the history of the Internet," said Magid Abraham, President and Chief Executive Officer, comScore, Inc. "It is a monument to the increasingly unified global community in which we live and reminds us that the world truly is becoming more flat. The second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that, until we have a truly global network of interconnected people and ideas that transcend borders and cultural boundaries."http://www.comscore.com/

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U.S. House Committee Refines Broadband Stimulus Proposal

The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved $2.825 billion for wireless and wireline broadband as part of the economic stimulus program currently under discussion. The broadband package would authorize the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to distribute these funds through a grant program.


Specific provisions of the proposed legislation include:

• The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (‘‘NTIA'') will develop and maintain a broadband inventory map of the United States that identifies and depicts the geographic extent to which broadband service capability is deployed and available from a commercial provider or public provider throughout each state. The map would be posted online.



• The priority of the grants will be based on whether a geographic area already had broadband or advanced broadband services available.



• The NTIA shall seek to distribute grants, to the extent possible, so that 25 percent of the wireless grants awarded go for providing wireless voice service to unserved areas and 75 percent of grants awarded shall be awarded to eligible entities for providing advanced wireless broadband service to under served areas.



• The NTIA shall seek to distribute grants, to the extent possible, so that 25 percent of the broadband (wireline) grants awarded go to eligible entities for providing basic broadband service to unserved areas and 75 percent of grants awarded go to eligible entities for providing advanced broadband service to underserved areas.



• Grant recipients (both wireless and wireline) will be required to operate basic and advanced broadband service networks on an open access basis;



• The NTIA shall consult with the Federal Communications Commission and other appropriate federal agencies in implementing these grants;



• "Advanced broadband" service is defined as at least 45 Mbps downstream and 15 Mbps upstream;



• "Basic broadband" service is defined as at least 5 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream;



• "Advanced wireless broadband" service is defined as at least 3 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream;



• The term "Open Access" shall be defined by the FCC no later than 45 after enactment of the legislation.

http://energycommerce.house.gov

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