Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Postal Savings Bank of China Deploys Alcatel-Lucent's Contact Center

The Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC) has deployed a new contact center solution from Alcatel-Lucent. The new network and contact center solution, led by Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, enables PSBC to centralize data management and improve data stability further improving PSBC's reliability, especially in peak service hours, while its customized reports system will help the bank further expand its telemarketing services.


Alcatel-Lucent provided its OmniGenesys contact center solution, the combination of the OmniPCX Enterprise and Genesys customer interaction management software, linked together with a unique Routing Service Intelligence component. The solution supports thousands of interactive voice response (IVR) ports for self-service that reduces operational costs, with seamless escalation to agent-assisted service that improves customer satisfaction. The advanced outbound dialing function enables more sophisticated telemarketing for all sorts of campaigns. The workforce management software enhances efficiency, which is vital to service center operation.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Infonetics: Recovery expected in 2010 for Equipment Market

A mild contraction in the overall telecom and datacom equipment market in 2009 will be followed by a recovery between 2010 and 2011, according to a newly released "Telecom and Datacom Network Equipment" report from Infonetics Research. Some highlights of the report:

  • Telecom and datacom equipment tracked by Infonetics Research grew 8% in 2008, with worldwide revenue totaling $150 billion, driven in large part by currency appreciation against the US dollar


  • The two largest segments of the telecom/datacom market by revenue: service provider mobile/wireless infrastructure and enterprise router/switch/wireless LAN equipment


  • Cisco leads the overall worldwide telecom/datacom network equipment market in 2008, followed by Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson; they dominate the enterprise segment


  • The battle for service provider money rages on, with Ericsson maintaining its lead in the carrier network equipment segment in 2008, while Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens continue their neck and neck race for second


  • The biggest increases in revenue market share in the service provider network equipment market in 2008 were made by Samsung, ZTE, and Huawei


  • The Asia Pacific region, led by China and India, is forecast to increase its telecom/datacom revenue market share by 5 points from 2008 to 2013, taking from EMEA and North America.


    • "Though service provider capital expenditures are slightly decreasing in 2009 and 2010, spending is still on the rise for products that help carriers transform their networks. On the enterprise side, while companies of all sizes everywhere have been hit hard by the recession, they are in the middle of key network transformations of their own, which drive pockets of good growth. Whether to save on operating expenses or to increase revenue, service providers and enterprises are investing in new network technology. The three segments showing the highest growth potential are IPTV and video equipment, broadband customer premise equipment, and subscriber data, policy, and service management software," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.


      "We expect a mild contraction in the overall telecom and datacom equipment market in 2009, and a recovery between 2010 and 2011, followed by strong growth through 2013, when worldwide revenue will reach $195 billion," Wilson added.
      http://www.infonetics.com

Motorola Names Chief Marketing Officer for Mobile Devices

Motorola has appointed William Ogle as chief marketing officer for its Mobile Devices business. Ogle will lead the marketing and branding efforts for Mobile Devices and will be responsible for all aspects of the marketing, advertising, interactive marketing and brand strategy, management and execution. He will report to Sanjay Jha, Motorola's co-chief executive officer and CEO of Mobile Devices.


Most recently, Ogle served as chief marketing officer for Samsung Telecommunications America. Previously, Ogle served as chief marketing officer at Pizza Hut. Prior to joining Pizza Hut, Ogle held brand management positions at Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee Corporation.
http://www.motorola.com

IBM Offers Unified Communications Appliance for SMBs

IBM introduced a new, self-managing, "office in a box" appliance for small and midsized businesses (SMBs) that combines all of the unified communications and collaboration (UC2) tools needed to run a business with the ability to connect to telephony, in a single solution.


The new Lotus Foundations Reach solution customizes and extends the IBM Sametime UC2 capabilities in a single appliance designed specifically for SMBs that have limited IT skills and smaller budgets. It combines key UC features such as instant messaging (IM), presence awareness to see who is online and available, email, calendars, contacts, office productivity tools, network security, remote access, file and print sharing, and backup and disaster recovery.


IBM said its Foundations Reach is built on an open platform that enables and encourages partners to innovate and build upon IBM technology.
http://www.ibm.com/lotus/foundations

Hutchison Selects Ceragon for Ethernet Microwave Systems

The Hutchison 3 Group has awarded a multi-year global supply agreement to Ceragon Networks to provide its high capacity Ethernet microwave systems, including the leading edge FibeAir IP-10 platform. The deployment will support Hutchison's network migration plans from TDM to IP, enabling the carrier to add network capacity quickly and cost effectively. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Ceragon's FibeAir IP-10 offers a combination of advanced native TDM and native Ethernet networking in a single, highly integrated mobile backhaul platform.


The Hutchison 3 Group is a division of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa. Hutchison 3 Group, together with Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited and Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings, is the leading global player in the 3G arena, holding licenses in 12 markets with total population coverage of approximately 481 million. To date, commercial 3G services have been launched in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Sweden and the UK. Hutchison announced more than 20 million 3G customers in March 2009.
http://www.ceragon.com

Verizon Adds Facebook, Twitter and Internet Video Widgets to FiOS TV

Verizon has enhanced its FiOS TV service with two new social TV services -- the Widget Bazaar applications store and Internet Video on TV.


Verizon has worked with Facebook Connect, Twitter, ESPN, Veoh, blip.tv, and Dailymotion to create a converged Internet-to-television experience that lets FiOS TV subscribers connect with others while watching TV, plus search and view a variety of online, personal PC-based videos on their television screens.


Verizon also plans an open development platform to permit developers to write interactive FiOS TV applications that will be available through the Widget Bazaar.


The new services combine television's larger-than-life entertainment experiences with the


The new Widget Bazaar applications marketplace, located within FiOS TV's Interactive Media Guide, is launching with free Facebook, Twitter and ESPN Fantasy Football Widgets.


Through the Twitter Widget, FiOS TV subscribers can follow Tweets related specifically to the program, movie or sporting event they are watching, bringing a new level of community and interactivity to watching TV. They also can select from a list of top topics to view Tweets associated with today's hottest topics and trends, search for specific Tweets, and create and save a favorite-topics list.


FiOS TV subscribers with Facebook accounts can log in to Facebook through the FiOS TV Widget to update their Facebook status with messages about what they're watching, view their own photos, and view their friends' photos and status updates.


The ESPN Fantasy Football Widget provides instant on-screen access to personalized ESPN Fantasy Football points and football statistics, including rosters, box scores, scoring leaders and player information. All the information is available, at no additional charge, for FiOS TV customers who are registered ESPN Fantasy Football players.


In the coming months, Verizon plans to add to the FiOS TV Widget Bazaar dozens of additional free and transactional applications developed by the company and others.



Later this month, customers who subscribe to the Home Media DVR service will have access a new Internet Video feature that will allow them to search and view on FiOS TV user generated online videos from video-sharing sites blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh. In addition, a new My Videos feature will let these subscribers view via FiOS TV personal videos stored on their PCs. Both new features will be available free of charge to FiOS Home Media DVR customers and require no additional equipment.


The new Internet Video feature will allow customers to search content on the blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh sites individually, or on all sites at once, using either key words or by selecting "most watched," "top rated" and "recent searches" categories; view thumbnail screen grabs of videos that appear in search results, and bookmark favorite videos - among other features.
http://www.verizon.com

NetLogic and TSMC Collaborate on 40nm 10/40/100 Gbps Silicon

NetLogic Microsystems has successfully migrated multiple silicon products to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC's) advanced 40nm technology.


By using TSMC's 40nm-G semiconductor process technology for NetLogic Microsystems' next-generation advanced knowledge-based processors and 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet physical layer (PHY) solutions, the companies seek to enable the next generation of networking equipment.


NetLogic Microsystems is one of first companies to tape-out and sample multiple silicon products in TSMC's advanced 40nm technology node.


NetLogic Microsystems is currently sampling its NLP2040 and NLP3040 PHY devices, the industry's first single-die quad-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) PHY devices, both of which are manufactured in the advanced 40nm process to deliver the highest performance and lowest power consumption for next-generation switches, routers and blade servers addressing the data center, enterprise networking, storage and service provider markets. In addition, NetLogic Microsystems is sampling the leading-edge NLP10000, the industry's first 100 Gigabit Ethernet PHY solution, which is also manufactured in the advanced 40nm process and offers customers unprecedented scalability for data-center, metro and long haul applications that require a 10X increase in performance while maximizing energy efficiency.


NetLogic Microsystems will also be taping out its next-generation knowledge-based processor, the NL11000 device, in TSMC's 40nm process. The NL11000 knowledge-based processor will offer significantly higher performance, lower power and cost advantages as a result of the close collaboration with TSMC. NetLogic Microsystems has developed a suite of custom circuits optimized around TSMC's 40nm node, including high-speed serial interface technology, analog and clocking circuitry, core processing elements and other standard cells, as well as refining the design and tape-out flow for this node.
http://www.netlogicmicro.com
http://www.tsmc.com

Telenor Sweden Selects Amdocs OSS

Telenor Sweden has selected Amdocs' Operational Support System (OSS) suite of products to manage and automate its network inventory across its wireline operations. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Amdocs OSS already supports Telenor Sweden's mobile operations and it has expanded its relationship with Amdocs to support its fixed-line operations. Amdocs OSS will replace Telenor Sweden's current fixed-line solution with a consolidated, convergent OSS that places all network data in one repository, providing a single point of visibility across the network, and enabling Telenor Sweden to efficiently track and account for all its network assets. htt://www.amdocs.com/oss

Cisco Promotes Health TelePresence

Cisco introduced its "HealthPresence" patient care delivery concept that combines Cisco TelePresence and medical devices to enable caregivers and patients who may be miles apart to interact in a clinical setting. The company said that pilot programs it has conducted in Aberdeen, Scotland and San Jose, California has found that more than 90 percent of the patients were satisfied with the remote care experience and would recommend it to others.


Cisco and UnitedHealth Group also announced plans to build the first, nationwide telehealth network delivering healthcare services to rural and underserved areas. UnitedHealth Group's national care provider network, including 590,000 physicians and care professionals and more than 4,900 hospitals, combined with Cisco's video conferencing and other collaborative network technologies, will help connect patients more easily with primary care physicians, specialists and hospitals. Connected Care will make clinics available in the workplace, as well as in rural and retail locations. In-home visits using similar technology will also be introduced to bring care to the patient. UnitedHealth Group has committed tens of millions of dollars toward the new initiative.



By using a live high-quality video collaboration and secure telemetry, Cisco said its HealthPresence solution can help a remote physician evaluate patients based on physiological data derived from a variety of medical devices such as a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter and other diagnostic equipment. Each Cisco HealthPresence unit is staffed by an attendant trained to operate the medical devices under the instructions of the remote health care professional, who may be hundreds of miles away.


Cisco HealthPresence combines Cisco TelePresence, a live, real-time solution that delivers face-to-face interactions over the network, with call center-like technology and a highly secure telemetry network to deliver medical services at a distance, similar to what one experiences during an in-person visit to a doctor's office.


Pilot users of the system include the Scottish Centre for Telehealth and the National Health Service, which are continuing to test Cisco HealthPresence at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Scotland to provide a remote clinic experience for patients with non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries.


In California, the UnitedHealth Group (UHG) and Cisco, in partnership with HealthCare Partners began a pilot of Cisco HealthPresence with Cisco employees at Cisco's San Jose headquarters in October 2008 to determine its usefulness as an alternative to in-person doctor's visits. UHG coordinated the administrative processes for the visits to include scheduling, physicians' payments, the coordination of benefits, and the network availability of clinical services.
http://www.cisco.com

Nielsen: Total Video Streams up 34% YoY in June

According to the latest Nielsen VideoCensus for June 2009. year-over-year, unique viewers, total streams, streams per viewer and time per viewer were up, led by a 37 percent growth in time per viewer.



































Overall Online

Video Usage (U.S.)



Jun-09  



Year-Over-Year



Month-Over-Month



Unique Viewers (000)



134,310



12.7%



0.4%



Total Streams (000)



10,081,824



33.9%



0.4%



Streams per Viewer



75.1



19.0%



0.0%



Time per Viewer (min)



188.8



36.9%



0.1%





The Top Online Video Sites for June 2009 include:


1. YouTube

2. Hulu

3. Yahoo!

4. MSN/WindowsLive/Bing

5. Fox Interactive Media

6. Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network

7. Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network

8. MTV Networks Music

9. CNN Digital Network

10. ABC.com
http://www.nielsen.com

Times: BT Repatriates Call Centre Jobs from India

BT plans to move at least 2,000 call centre jobs back to the UK from India, according to a report in The Times. The issue was raised at the company's annual meeting.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article6715544.ecehttp://www.btplc.com