Denmark's TDC Selects Aricent for Operational Support Systems Integration

Denmark's TDC, a leading provider of communications solutions in the Nordic business market, has selected Aricent's telecommunications system integration services to integrate and deploy multi-vendor enhancements to its operations support systems.


Aricent's telecommunications system integration practice delivers advanced and reliable Operations Support Systems and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) solutions that facilitate fast roll out of innovative services, reduce operating expenses, improve the users' experience and loyalty, and create new revenue streams while preserving existing sources.
http://www.aricent.com

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Cisco Forms Strategic Alliance with Tata Consultancy Services

Cisco and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have formed a strategic alliance to develop and deliver information technology (IT) service solutions to help customers build or evolve next-generation data centers. The companies also announced the formation of a Cisco Technology Lab at the TCS campus in Chennai, India.


As part of the new practice, TCS will incorporate Cisco's Data Centre 3.0 technologies, with TCS' IT services, business solutions and outsourcing. The practice will focus on helping customers develop next-generation virtualized data centres and achieve greater operational and energy efficiency. The companies will also explore new networking innovations to address the needs of large and small businesses for IT services.
http://www.cisco.com

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Telefónica Expands 3G in Spain with NSN

Telefónica Spain has undertaken a 3G network expansion which will extend its service reach by more than 25% in dense urban areas. The expansion, which will also improve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact, has been carried out by Nokia Siemens Networks. Financial terms were not disclosed.


The network upgrade features Nokia Siemens Networks' Flexi Base Station. As the industry's smallest, and most energy efficient base station, the Flexi can offer energy savings of up to 70 percent. Telefónica expects to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 9,500 tones per year, which can be compared to getting 1,800 vehicles off the roads in Spain.
http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

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Nokia Siemens Networks to Demo ATCA-based Evolved Packet Core for LTE

At next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia Siemens Networks is launching two new products that will make up the key elements of its Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network solution for Long Term Evolution (LTE). The Flexi Network Server and the Flexi Network Gateway will both be based on an ATCA platform and will be available for early field deployment in the second half of 2009.


NSN said its Evolved Packet Core offering will ultimately support a full range of 3GPP access, such as 2G, 3G, HSPA and LTE. This will allow it to be conveniently deployed as an overlay solution for LTE alongside existing networks with minimum impact on present 2G and 3G services.


"Rapidly increasing data volumes in mobile networks and the commensurate pressure to reduce the cost per transmitted bit -- with the prospect of eventually offering all services including voice over this low-latency data network -- are encouraging operators to exploit the greater efficiency of LTE as soon as possible," says Petri Pöyhönen, Head of Converged Internet Connectivity, Nokia Siemens Networks.
http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

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France's RENATER Deploys Ciena CN 4200 for Extended Reach

RENATER, the national research and education network in France, has chosen Ciena's CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform to create a proprietary mesh WDM network spanning the entire country. The project, RENATER 5, showcases Ciena's CN 4200 regional and long-haul transport capabilities, which expand the platform's geographical range to more than 1500 kilometers.


Ciena said the new extended reach features of Ciena's CN 4200 platform deployed in the RENATER 5 project are aimed at bridging the gap between traditional metro and ultra long-haul platforms. With the use of high-performance amplifiers, transceiver enhancements and advanced software features, Ciena can extend the maximum distances between network nodes to more than 1500 kilometers, or more than double its previous transport distance capabilities.


RENATER was originally deployed in the early 1990s to connect universities and research centers throughout France. Today, RENATER connects more than 1000 sites across the country and beyond via campus, metropolitan and regional networks. As part of the RENATER 5 project, the organization replaced both leased bandwidth and its point-to-point WDM backbone with a national meshed WDM network linking all of its points of presence (PoPs) in France.
http://www.ciena.com

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Occam Networks Announces New Operating System

Occam Networks unveiled a new operating system that manages its range of BLC 6000 Copper, Gigabit Ethernet and GPON products. Occam said its new OS 6.1 is ideal for service providers migrating from all copper to a mixed copper/fiber or all fiber network. Service providers eager to take advantage of GPON in a mixed copper/fiber network leverage direct Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) to soft-switch capabilities from copper and FTTP applications or generate increased performance of DSL loops will benefit from Occam OS 6.1 software.


Powered by Occam's pure packet over Ethernet BLC 6000 MSAP, Occam OS 6.1 delivers the following key features:

• Occam OS 6.1 maintains a high level of performance in GPON environments where service providers are maximizing available bandwidth to end-users. This is achieved by incorporating Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) to enable oversubscription of both upstream and downstream PON bandwidth. The platform also incorporates QoS techniques that assure bandwidth for a given subscriber or service under DBA oversubscribed conditions.



• To further optimize the ADSL2+ connection for transporting loss sensitive traffic such as IPTV and VoIP, Occam's ADSL2+ products now simultaneously support Seamless Rate Adaption (SRA) and physical layer retransmission features to guarantee the best performance in a spectrally noisy environment.



• With all lifeline POTS blades and FTTP ONTs now supporting Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) signaling in Occam OS 6.1, providers can seamlessly interface to MetaSwitch softswitch products for packet voice switching. The Occam architecture carries all voice traffic as VoIP from subscriber to Central Office and vice versa.



• Select DS1 interfaces in the BLC 6000 and ONT product lines now support industry standard PWE3 (pseudowire emulation edge-to-edge) standards. As the availability of PWE3 compatible DS1 solutions continues to grow, the integration of PWE3 into Occam's software is key to interoperability.



• Call Admission Control (CAC) capability is incorporated in Occam OS 6.1 to honor service level agreement (SLA) contracts found in Occam's GPON products. The CAC function ensures the DBA software added to Occam's GPON products meets Quality of Experience (QoE) expectations of end users.



• Occam OS 6.1 employs a cohesive suite of IP Security Management (IPSM) features applied to all Occam broadband products -- DSL, GPON and GigE FTTP. The IPSM software suite configures the BLC 6000 to control packet admission to the access network and distinguishes trusted from un-trusted and/or unnecessary traffic. The OS takes action automatically based on Occam recommended standards and best practices.

http://www.occamnetworks.com

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IP Infusion Adds PBB-TE Features to its ZebOS

IP Infusion announced the upcoming release of its ZebOS Network Platform version 7.7 software, featuring new support for PBB-TE functionality, an essential ingredient to creating large Carrier Ethernet networks. ZebOS 7.7, which will be available in April 2009, provides full support for MPLS and for Carrier Ethernet, allowing router and switch OEMs to lower their software engineering costs and reduce time to market in delivering next-generation transport hardware to market. Specific features in ZebOS 7.7 include:

• Support for Provider Backbone Bridge-Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE)


• Enhanced resiliency for IP routing and MPLS signaling with the support for Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)


• Complete non-stop forwarding (NSF) functionality for IP and MPLS


• Hardened implementation of BGP Route Server for deployment in Carrier Networks utilizing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware


• Support for OpenSAF, the industry's leading high-availability (HA) middleware


• Ability of MPLS solution to support pseudowires across multiple Packet Switched Networks (PSNs)


• Broadcom StrataXGS IV support

"In this time of economic uncertainty, it is becoming increasingly important for networking equipment manufacturers to develop their equipment with a time-to-market advantage, without sacrificing functionality," said Koichi Narasaki, president and CEO, IP Infusion.
http://www.ipinfusion.com
http://www.access-company.com

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ZTE Tallies Growth in Global WiMAX Market

China's ZTE Corporation reported significant growth in the global WiMAX market in 2008. According to a report entitled 'Global WiMAX Market, Takes off in 2009' released by In-Stat, ZTE claimed 15 out of the 94 new WiMAX 16e commercial networks deployed last year. The company said it performed well in high-end markets including the United States and Western Europe.


As of November 2008, ZTE has deployed more than 30 WiMAX 16e networks in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
http://www.zte.com.cn/

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Vendors Show TD-LTE Developments at MWC in Barcelona

China Mobile, Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE, Datang, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Potevio, Agilent, UT Starcom, Spreadtrum, MTK and Innofidei are among the companies expected to show TD-LTE on services, products, and technologies during the 2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.


The TD Industry Association said over 100 enterprises have been engaged in R&D of TD-SCDMA equipment. TD-LTE, the next evolution for TD-SCDMA. 3GPP's standards work for TD-LTE was completed by the end of 2008, after which interoperability and field trials are expected commence. Following the issuance of 3G licenses in China early 2009, TD-SCDMA is expected to provide 3G services with China Mobile in 238 cities by the end of 2009.


http://www.tdia.cn

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Qualcomm Adds Near Field Communication to Chipsets

Qualcomm has added support for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to certain chipsets in its product portfolio. NFC is a short-range wireless connectivity technology operating at 13.56 MHz and transferring data at up to 424 Kbps. The company is also engaged with leading NFC solutions providers to develop reference designs based on the company's Mobile Station Modem chipsets.
http://www.qualcomm.com

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Brasil Telecom Reaches 5.6 Million Mobile Users

Brasil Telecom reported consolidated gross revenue of R$17,007.1 million for 2008, up by 6.3% year-on-year. Consolidated net income came to R$782.2 million, 16.2% up on 2007 and equivalent to R$ 2.1579 per share.


At the end of 2008, Brasil Telecom's mobile telephony client base reached 5.6 million users in service, a growth of 31.5% in comparison with 2007. Broadband users totaled 1.8 million in the 4Q08, 15.2% up on the previous year.


In 2008, the number of lines in service (LIS) totaled 8.1 million, a growth of 1.2% in comparison with 2007.


Consolidated investments came to R$1,097.6 million in the quarter, 80.3% up on the previous year. Of this total, R$709.3 million wenthttp://www.brasiltelecom.com.br/ir

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AT&T Mobility Employees File Federal Charges Against Union

The National Right to Work Foundation said it will provide free legal assistance to AT&T Mobility employees who are threatened with fines for exercising their right to go to their jobs during an imminent national strike. Communication Workers of America (CWA) union officials may order 20,000 AT&T employees to abandon their jobs at any moment. In a press statement, the foundation said it has already helped two New Jersey AT&T employees file unfair labor practice charges against the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1101 union for threatening workers.
http://www.nrtw.org

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Motorola Extends Cable PON Portfolio with Alloptic's RFoG

Motorola will resell Alloptic's Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG) solutions as part of its cable passive optical network (PON) portfolio. The agreement between Motorola and Alloptic provides Motorola with exclusive rights to offer Alloptic's RFoG solutions to leading cable operators worldwide. The RFoG product line gives cable operators the ability to launch existing video, voice and data services over an all-fiber network supporting residential and commercial service applications where legacy voice and new IP-based services are needed.


Motorola fiber portfolio for cable operators already includes deep hybrid-fiber-coax (HFC) and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) portfolios. With this agreement, Motorola rounds out its comprehensive Cable PON portfolio of hybrid and all-fiber access network solutions ready for cable operators.


"The strong interest in RFoG solutions by cable operators stems from their increased need to deploy new and operationally sensitive business and residential network architectures," said Dr. George Simmons, corporate vice president and general manager, Access Network Solutions, Motorola, Inc. "With this agreement, Motorola is now poised to enable customers' long-term all-fiber strategies with FTTH solutions that address their economic requirements and deployment timelines."http://www.motorola.com
http://www.alloptic.com

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Intel to Invest $7 Billion in 32nm Fabs in U.S.

Intel announced plans to invest $7 billion over the next two years to build advanced manufacturing facilities in the United States. The investment funds deployment of Intel's industry-leading 32 nanometer (nm) manufacturing technology that will be used to build faster, smaller chips that consume less energy.


Intel's investment will be made at existing manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico and will support approximately 7,000 high-wage, high-skill jobs at those locations -- part of a total Intel workforce of more than 45,000 in the U.S. Intel, while generating more than 75 percent of its sales overseas, carries out roughly 75 percent of its semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. At the same time, about 75 percent of the company's R&D spending and capital investments are also made in the U.S.


Intel's investment will be made at existing manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico and will support approximately 7,000 high-wage, high-skill jobs at those locations -- part of a total Intel workforce of more than 45,000 in the U.S. Intel, while generating more than 75 percent of its sales overseas, carries out roughly 75 percent of its semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. At the same time, about 75 percent of the company's R&D spending and capital investments are also made in the U.S.


"We're investing in America to keep Intel and our nation at the forefront of innovation," said Intel CEO Paul Otellini. "These manufacturing facilities will produce the most advanced computing technology in the world. The capabilities of our 32nm factories are truly extraordinary, and the chips they produce will become the basic building blocks of the digital world, generating economic returns far beyond our industry."

http://www.intel.com

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Alcatel-Lucent Extends Carrier Ethernet to the Enterprise

Alcatel-Lucent has expanded its Carrier Ethernet portfolio with introduction of the 7210 Service Access Switch, a family of next generation, small footprint customer edge devices that extends Carrier Ethernet to the enterprise site.


The 7210 SAS, which is designed to be owned and managed by the service provider, could be deployed at the enterprise customer site or multi-tenant unit (MTU). With strong QoS capabilities, the 7210 SAS delivers fully managed Ethernet and IP virtual private network (VPN) services. Two versions of the 7210 SAS are being introduced. The 7210 SAS-E (available immediately) offers a combination of copper and fiber ports for delivering traditional Ethernet services. The 7210 SAS-M (available in Q3) will offer all fiber ports and serves as an MPLS node in addition to providing Ethernet demarcation.


In addition, the 7210 SAS leverages the Alcatel-Lucent Service Router Operating System (SR OS), which is now deployed in more than 30,000 switches and routers by 260 service providers in 100+ countries since 2004. By deploying a consistent OS from the network core all the way to the customer premise, Alcatel-Lucent can enable advanced SLA and OAM capabilities. In particular, the Carrier Ethernet OAM support now includes ITU-T Y.1731, which provides fault management and fault monitoring, performance management, jitter & delay, and standards-based SAA across the entire link.


Alcatel-Lucent is also introducing a Carrier Ethernet framework to meet the distinct network requirements of service providers based on their business and market objectives. The framework describes a three-tiered structure that responds to a wide variety of operators, from wholesale to retail, from MSOs to competitive carriers and incumbents. This includes:

• The transport layer helps reduce the cost of building and operating the network to carry high volumes of business and consumer traffic, enabling the migration from legacy circuit switching to Carrier Ethernet-based packet transport



• The services layer helps expand the reach and scale of consumer and business services, leveraging the Carrier Ethernet network for faster time to market and simplified management. This layer is boosted by the addition of the 7210 Service Access Switch



• The application enablement layer addresses operators' desire to leverage their network assets to develop new sources of revenue. Using this layer, Alcatel-Lucent can help service providers to optimize specific applications such as IPTV over their networks and tap into additional revenue opportunities such as advertising.

The 7210 SAS is now in carrier trials worldwide, including installations for mobile backhaul.


http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Cisco: Mobile Data Traffic will Double Every Year through 2013

Globally, mobile data traffic will double every year through 2013, increasing 66 times between 2008 and 2013, due mostly to video, according to the Cisco VNI Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast. Mobile data traffic will grow at a CAGR of 131 percent between 2008 and 2013, reaching over 2 exabytes per month by 2013.


"More personalized services and applications are becoming available on a wide range of devices. The key to success will be delivering video-rich any-play services to users, enabling them to move freely throughout the world while maintaining connectivity to others." said Kelly Ahuja, senior vice president, service provider routing technology group, Cisco. "As a result, service providers will have to take into account the need not only for more bandwidth when planning their network architecture but for greater network intelligence as well."


Mobile data traffic will grow from 1 petabyte per month to 1 exabyte per month in half the time it took fixed data traffic to do so. In the 7 years from 2005 to 2012, mobile data traffic will have increased a thousand-fold. The Internet grew from 1 petabyte per month to 1 exabyte per month in 14 years.

• Almost 64 percent of the world's mobile traffic will be video by 2013. Mobile video will grow at a CAGR of 150 percent between 2008 and 2013. Mobile video has the highest growth rate of any application category measured within the Cisco VNI Forecast at this time.



• Mobile broadband handsets with higher than 3G speeds and laptop aircards will drive over 80 percent of global mobile traffic by 2013. A single high-end phone like the iPhone/Blackberry generates more data traffic than 30 basic-feature cell phones. A laptop aircard generates more data traffic than 450 basic-feature cell phones.



• Latin America will have the strongest growth of any region at 166 percent CAGR, followed by Asia Pacific (APAC) at 146 percent. APAC will account for one-third of all mobile data traffic by 2013. Together, Western Europe and APAC will account for over 60 percent of global mobile data traffic.



• Western Europe will have the most mobile video traffic of all regions in 2013. Mobile video will account for 73 percent of mobile data traffic in Western Europe.

http://www.cisco.com

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