Thursday, August 6, 2009

Allot Announces Largest Mobile Operator Win to Date

Allot Communications announced a framework agreement with a global tier-1 mobile operator group (name withheld) to supply its IP service optimization and revenue generation solutions based on deep packet inspection (DPI). Initial orders received are worth approximately US$5 million, The initial order includes the widest global deployment of Allot Service Gateway to date. In the current deployment, the Allot solution is being installed with local operators in a number of countries which collectively service more than 60 million voice subscribers.


The 3GPP mobile standard compliant solution is designed to ensure fair use network management and maximize subscriber quality of experience (QoE). Allot said its solution enables the operator to intelligently manage the network resources and optimize bandwidth utilization while giving each subscriber equal access to the network. Key to the solution is Allot's subscriber and application awareness technology which enables real-time identification of the traffic, giving the operator real-time visibility into the behavior of their own network.


"This deal has the potential to significantly change the way the mobile market offers subscriber services," said Rami Hadar, Allot's CEO and President. "Mobile broadband is growing beyond the industry's wildest expectations, and the current challenge for operators is to deploy reliable solutions that readily integrate into their networks and help them manage this data traffic explosion, as well as develop new revenue opportunities going forward. Allot has both the experience and expertise to meet these challenges head on."
http://www.allot.com
http://www.allot.com

Teknovus Demonstrates 10G-EPON with DOCSIS Mediation Layer

Teknovus is demonstrating its integrated 10G-EPON/DML solution at this week's CableLabs Summer Conference in Keystone, Colorado.


Teknovus' DML middleware enables preservation of the MSO's system integration model and all back-office systems. New FTTx-based services can be provisioned and managed using the DOCSIS and PacketCable architecture, eliminating the rewriting of subscriber provisioning and management systems and costly retraining.


"The 10G-EPON standard is nearing ratification by the IEEE," stated Dr. Glen Kramer, Teknovus Chief Scientist and Chair of IEEE 802.3av. "EPON continues to demonstrate tremendous flexibility and adaptability to various network environments and service models, matching the success of Ethernet standards around the world. Demand for 10G-EPON is exceeding our expectations with telcos and MSOs worldwide evaluating this easy, next step in widely deployed PON networking."http://www.teknovus.com

Union Ratifies Wireline Agreement in AT&T's Western Region

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) announced a labor agreement AT&T West covering about 23,000 CWA-represented workers in California, Nevada and Hawaii.


Bargaining is continuing for about 70,000 CWA-represented members at AT&T. These negotiations include AT&T East (CWA District 1), Southeast (District 3), Southwest (District 6), and AT&T Legacy, a nationwide unit.
http://www.cwa-union.org

Union Ratifies Wireline Agreement in AT&T's Midwest Region

Unionized wireline employees in AT&T's Midwest Region (CWA District 4) have voted to ratify a three-year agreement with the company.


The agreement covers about 18,500 Communications Workers of America (CWA) members in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. The contract expired on April 4 and employees have worked under the terms of the expired contract while negotiations continued.


"We applaud the negotiating teams in District 4 for their hard work in reaching an agreement during tough economic times and a period of significant change in AT&T's wireline business, and we applaud the membership for recognizing it was a fair and reasonable agreement and voting for ratification," said Bill Blase, senior executive vice president-Human Resources.


AT&T said negotiations are continuing in other regions where contracts expired on April 4, as they did in Midwest. They include East (CWA District 1), Southwest (District 6), West (District 9), and Legacy T (CWA ComTech unit). Negotiations are also continuing for Core Wireline contracts with the IBEW for employees mostly in Illinois and northwestern Indiana; those contracts expired June 27. The Core Wireline contract in the Southeast region (CWA District 3) expires on Aug. 8 and negotiations began in that region July 20.


A total of about 120,000 employees are covered under the various contracts.
http://www.att.com

Italy's Wind and FASTWEB Sign Network Sharing Deal

Wind and FASTWEB, both broadband operators in Italy, announced a network sharing agreement concerning local loop unbundled (LLU) exchanges and fiber-optic infrastructure. The aim of the agreement is to rationalize network costs following recent decisions on unbundling fees.


The companies noted that as a result of the increase in unbundling fees applied by Telecom Italia, the alternative fixed-line operators are having difficulty in undertaking further investment in areas not directly covered by their networks, a situation that is harmful to the development of competition in the fixed-line market. With this agreement, the two companies will make joint requests to Telecom Italia for the opening of access to unbundling.


In addition, the agreement comprises the mutual transfer of rights of use of civil infrastructure, dark fiber and other forms of transport capacity, for example base transceiver stations (BTS).
http://company.fastweb.it/http://www.windgroup.it

Motorola to Build DVB-H Network for Info-TV-FM in Poland

Motorola has been selected by INFO-TV-FM to design and deploy a mobile TV network in Poland. The Motorola Mobile TV solution, comprising video headend and transmitters, is based on DVB-H and OMA BCAST standards and utilizes Motorola's extensive service capabilities to accelerate the delivery of rich media experiences. It will be deployed in Warsaw and 9 other Polish cities, by the end of 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed.


INFO-TV-FM will provide a wholesale mobile TV and radio offering to service providers in Poland.


"This is the first time DVB-H mobile TV services will be made available in Poland and represents an excellent opportunity for our service provider partners to generate new revenue streams by allowing consumers to watch their favorite programs on the go," stated Zbignew Gumiński, INFO-TV-FM, CEO. "Motorola's end-to-end solution is fully integrated and architected using best in class technology and components allowing us to meet challenging deployment timescales."http://www.motorola.com

Sunrise Telecom Appoints New CEO

Sunrise Telecom announced the appointment of Bahaa Moukadam as the company's new CEO. Paul Marshall, the company's co-founder and former CEO, has been appointed to the position of chief technology officer. Lyron Bentovim, director and former head of the company's strategy committee, has been appointed to the position of chief operating officer.


Moukadam previously was the company's vice president of marketing. Prior to Sunrise Telecom, he spent more than 18 years at Spirent Communications, Hewlett Packard and Wandel & Goltermann (now part of JDSU) in a variety of executive positions.


The company also announced that as a result of the strategic alternative review and in order to achieve annual savings of approximately $2 million in administrative and regulatory compliance costs, Sunrise Telecom will voluntarily de-register its shares with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In order to preserve investor liquidity and transparency about the company's performance, Sunrise Telecom will continue to trade on the Pink Sheets under its current ticker symbol and will post regular quarterly and annual reports on the Pink Sheets website.


Another outcome of the company's strategic alternatives review is the decision to move most of its manufacturing operations from San Jose to its Taiwan facility. This move is expected to yield manufacturing cost savings of about $2 million annually, while reducing inventory by $3 million. This transition is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.
http://www.spirentcom.com

FCC Launches National Broadband Plan Notice of Inquiry

The FCC launched its sixth inquiry for Congress into the state of broadband in the U.S. -- an inquiry that this year is intertwined with the agency's larger effort to create a National Broadband Plan.

Congress has mandated that the FCC develop a comprehensive National Broadband Plan by Feb. 17, 2010 and that it improve its broadband data collection.
http://www.fcc.gov