Monday, November 9, 2009

MobileAccess Develops In-Building 4G-over LAN Solution

MobileAccess, which supplies in-building wireless solutions, introduced its 4G distributed antenna system (DAS) for delivering cellular services over a LAN infrastructure.


MobileAccessVE leverages existing building infrastructure, enabling carriers and enterprise customers to address indoor coverage needs at a significantly lower total installed cost and in less than half the deployment time of traditional DAS solutions.


MobileAccess said its converged wireless and cellular solution delivers:

  • a path to 4G MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) services in any indoor environment;


  • all wireless services - 2G, 3G and 4G cellular services as well as enterprise applications - over a single, shared LAN infrastructure without using any of the customer's Ethernet capacity;


  • patented, unobtrusive Access Pods that simply connect to any Ethernet port and use Power over Ethernet (PoE), removing the challenge and expense of individual power sources;


  • the unique ability to connect to a single or multiple distributed RF source of any type, including femtocells, picocells, microcells and bi-directional amplifiers (BDAs), which significantly reduces carrier costs;


  • a 100% recoverable asset by re-using cabling infrastructure, allowing carriers to recoup their investment in MobileAccessVE hardware for redeployment elsewhere.


"The growth of the smartphone, from the iPhone and BlackBerry to the newly introduced Droid, and the thousands of applications available on the Android Market, will continue to drive traffic and create wireless performance challenges for carriers," said Ron Wells, vice president of corporate development, MobileAccess. "In order to keep up with the data demand and off-load traffic from the macro network, carriers are seeking new ways to deliver in-building wireless solutions, Wi-Fi networks and 4G technologies to customers. The MobileAccessVE DAS solution is enabling carriers and enterprises to quickly and cost-effectively deploy in-building solutions in office buildings, hotels, hospitals and public venues, where users depend on reliable wireless service and strong performance."http://www.mobileaccess.com

Vodafone Doubles OPEX Savings Goals, Plans HSPA+ Upgrades

In its half year financial report, Vodafone reported that its group revenue increased by 9.3% to £21.8 billion. Group adjusted operating profit increased by 2.4% to £5.9 billion with a positive contribution from Verizon Wireless and foreign currency benefits offsetting lower profit in Europe.


The company showed growth in data revenues and confirmed further cost savings measures. Vodafone said it will continue to reduce its OPEX costs by leveraging its global scale, controlling marketing expenses, implementing better technology, further accelerating the outsourcing of IT functions, entering more network sharing partnerships, improving call centre effectiveness and consolidating network access expenses.


In an investor webcast, Vodafone executives stated that HSPA+ upgrades to its networks would be sufficient to handle increased data traffic for the next 2-3 years. While data traffic has risen 300% in the past two years, average network utilization has increased from 20 to 30%. Peak utilization -- or sites where 90% of network capacity is being used during the busiest hour of the day -- is actually 5%. Around 40% of the company's European 3G networks now supports 7.2 Mbps. In the coming six months, the company plans to upgrade 20-25,000 sites across Europe to a higher HSPA+ version. The company is also deploying Ethernet microwave backhaul upgrades. A major push into widescale LTE is not expected till 2011 or after.


"The Group has performed in line with our expectations and we have made strong progress with our strategic priorities, in particular in mobile data and cash generation. We have confirmed our guidance for the full year, despite the uncertainties of current economic trends. The £1 billion cost reduction programme is expected to be delivered a year ahead of plan and we have extended this to a further £1 billion of cost savings by 2012," stated Vittorio Colao, Vodafone's Chief Executive.


Some highlights:

  • In Europe service revenue decreased by 4.5% on an organic basis with continued growth in both data and fixed lined revenue offset by a decline in voice revenue resulting from continued market and regulatory pressure on prices. Service revenue decreased in the majority of markets but was partially offset by growth in Italy and the Netherlands. Data now represents 11% of all European service revenues.


  • In Africa and Central Europe service revenue declined by 3.2% on an organic basis as growth in Vodacom and the effect of a 6.8% increase in the average customer base for the region were more than offset by an adverse impact of around three percentage points from termination rate cuts as well declines in Romania and Turkey.


  • In Asia Pacific and Middle East service revenue grew by 12.3% on an organic basis driven by a 3.6 percentage point contribution from the revenue stream generated by the network sharing joint venture, Indus Towers, as well as the 48.2% organic rise in the average customer base and continued strong data revenue growth. Substantially all of the organic growth was generated in India.


  • Verizon Wireless contributed about 34% of adjusted operating profit. Organic service revenue growth was 7.5%, EBITDA margins were maintained and data revenue continued to grow rapidly.


  • The Group invested £2.6 billion in capital expenditure, a similar level to the same period last year after adjusting for foreign exchange, including £0.5 billion in India. Capital intensity for Europe and Common Functions was slightly higher at 8.8%.


  • Data revenue grew by 19.8% on an organic basis and is nearing £4.0 billion on an annualised basis.


  • In fixed broadband (DSL), Vodafone now has 5.1 million customers, up around 1.1 million in 12 months, with strong net adds share in Spain, Italy and
    Germany.
http://www.vodafone.som

BSNL Selects Dilithium for Mobile Video Services

BSNL, India's largest telecommunications company, has selected Dilithium solutions for the deployment of new mobile video & streaming services over 2G and 3G networks. BSNL South Zone will deploy 3G Live TV & other video services.


Dilithium has partnered with Huawei Technologies in BSNL South Zone to provide end to end delivery solutions for BSNL's live mobile video services. The solution includes the Dilithium DTG 3021 multimedia gateway and the DCA content adaptation and video streaming solution, enabling 2-way video calling and other advanced video services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.dilithiumnetworks.com

Occam Showcases New BLC 6006 Chassis

Occam Networks is showcasing its new BLC 6006 chassis at this week's TelcoTV 09 in Orlando, Florida. The BLC 6006 chassis is a new deployment option for the BLC 6000 multi-service access platform and is optimized for small to medium density access networks in the midst of transition to high capacity broadband.


The BLC 6006 incorporates Occam's distributed intelligence architecture which allows each BLC blade to function standalone or in system level operation. As a result, service providers can customize any BLC chassis to accommodate any broadband technology all within a single operating system. The new chassis can accommodate up to six BLC blades in a 7 rack unit space and, when paired with the high-density BLC 6216 VDSL2 or BLC 6316 Gigabit Ethernet FTTP blades, can support up to 288 subscribers.


The BLC 6006 complements the existing BLC 6001 single-slot chassis and BLC 6012 twelve slot chassis. ANSI and ETSI versions of the BLC 6006 chassis will be available. The 6006 is expected to be available in Q1 2010.
http://www.occamnetworks.com

Cavium to Acquire MontaVista Software for Embedded Linux

Cavium Networks agreed to acquire MontaVista Software for $50 million, comprised of $16 million in cash and $34 million in Cavium Networks common stock.



MontaVista Software supplies multi-core embedded Linux operating systems, virtualization, development tools and professional services to a broad array of Tier-1 customers. The company's Carrier Grade Linux is embedded in telecom gear from companies that include Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Fujitsu, NEC, Nokia-Siemens, NTT, Motorola, Samsung and others. MontaVista's embedded Linux market segment also includes Tier-1 CE manufactures such as Sony, Samsung and Philips; MID and Mobile vendors such as NEC and Garmin; Industrial Automation vendors such as HP, Kyocera-Mita and Fuji Xerox and leading Automotive infotainment suppliers.


"Software is becoming an increasingly important part of the total solution with the rapidly increasing adoption of multi-core processors.", said Syed Ali, President and CEO of Cavium Networks. "This acquisition will complement Cavium's market leading processor portfolio with world-class software expertise and will enable us to deliver highly compelling and differentiated solutions to the market."


After the acquisition, MontaVista Software will run as a separate operating unit and will retain the MontaVista brand name. In addition, Cavium Networks will continue the MontaVista business model and support embedded Linux on multiple architectures from multiple processor vendors. MontaVista will maintain its own dedicated and focused engineering, sales and product management staff. The deal is expected to close in December 2009. Cavium expects the deal will be gross margin and non-GAAP earnings accretive in 2010 and beyond.
http://www.caviumnetworks.com
http://www.mvista.com
  • In June 2009, Intel agreed to acquire Wind River Systems, a leading supplier of software for embedded processors, for $11.50 per share in cash, or approximately $884 million in the aggregate. Wind River's main products include its VxWorks, a proprietary and multicore-ready real-time operating system, and commercial-grade Linux software platforms. The company also provides design services and software expertise, including custom-built solutions, development tools and device testing products.

Zeugma Partners with Skitter.tv to Optimize OTT Video

Zeugma Systems, which supplies an advanced service delivery router, has formed a partnership with Skitter, a developer of an Internet TV platform.


The solution partnership combines the Zeugma Services Node (ZSN), a service delivery router providing subscriber management, edge routing, and broadband aggregation, Skitter.TV, a set of video technologies to encode, configure, deliver, and monetize internet and linear TV services. The ZSN automatically detects streaming content from Skitter.TV and, depending on subscriber policy, allocates bandwidth for that stream across the broadband network. Alternatively, broadband subscribers can dynamically alter their downstream bandwidth using Zeugma's SmartBoost application, in order to maximize video quality for both standard- and high-definition streams.


According to Andrew Harries, Zeugma president and CEO, "This really rounds out the over-the-top (OTT) approach to video delivery. What has thus far been lacking from the wide array of primarily on-demand OTT systems is live television broadcasts, something subscribers demand before pulling the linear TV plug. Skitter.TV adds that vital element and affords broadband service providers a compelling alternative to IPTV."http://www.zeugmasystems.com
http://www.skitter.tv

Clearwires Adds 49,000 WiMAX Subs in Q3, Confirms $1.5B New Financing

Clearwire's total subscribers increased to approximately 555,000 at the end of the third quarter of 2009, up from approximately 469,000 on a pro forma basis at the end of the third quarter 2008. Total subscribers in the Company's 13 CLEAR 4G markets (both new markets and legacy markets recently upgraded to CLEAR 4G service) were approximately 173,000 at the end of September. On a consolidated basis Clearwire added approximately 44,000 net new subscribers during the third quarter of 2009. This third quarter increase included the addition of approximately 49,000 net new subscribers in the company's 13 CLEAR 4G markets, which were partially offset by a modest net decline in subscribers in domestic and international pre-WiMAX markets for the quarter.


ARPU for the third quarter of 2009 was $39.71, a decrease of $0.72 from the $40.43 pro forma ARPU level from the prior year third quarter and a sequential quarter increase of $0.24 compared to $39.47 reported in second quarter of 2009. ARPU declined year-over-year on a pro forma basis due to increased promotional discounts as a result of higher gross subscriber additions during the third quarter of 2009 than in the same quarter of 2008


Financially, Clearwire maintained its business outlook for 2009 and 2010, expecting consolidated ARPU to be generally sustained at current levels over this period of significant development and expansion of its wireless 4G network. The company continues to anticipate that churn will increase in its pre-WiMAX markets as the company transitions these networks to mobile WiMAX technology and that cost per gross addition ("CPGA") will increase, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2009, as new markets are launched. Consolidated revenue increased by 13 percent to $68.8 million in the third quarter 2009, versus pro forma revenue of $60.8 million for the same quarter of 2008.


Clearwire also confirmed its new $1.564 billion round of equity financing from Sprint Nextel Corporation, Comcast Corporation, Time Warner Cable Inc., Intel Corporation, Eagle River Holdings, LLC and Bright House Networks, LLC in exchange for newly issued shares priced at $7.33 per share. This was divided as follows: Sprint Nextel for $1.176 billion, Comcast for $196 million, Time Warner Cable for $103 million, Intel for $50 million, Eagle River for $20 million and Bright House Networks for $19 million.
http://www.clearwire.com

Broadcom Offers Royalty-Free Wideband and Narrowband Codecs

Broadcom has begun offering its BroadVoice family of voice codecs royalty-free and without any licensing fees. Specifically, Broadcom is releasing its wideband and narrowband BroadVoice codecs in both floating-point and fixed-point C code as open source software under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), version 2.1, as published by the Free Software Foundation. The company said that by eliminating the royalties and licensing fees it is driving a cost effective transition to HD VoIP applications by enhancing the quality of voice transmissions enabling a higher quality audio experience. http://www.broadcom.com/broadvoice

Alcatel-Lucent Offers Triple Play Express for Regional IPTV Operators

Alcatel-Lucent introduced its Triple Play Express (TPE) solution for regional operators, utilities and municipalities in North America. The packaged end-to-end IP video solution is optimized to help these operators avoid installing a system that is too large, or too complex for their needs. The company said TPE is cost-effective starting with 5,000 IPTV subscribers and can be scaled up to 40,000 subscribers.


"Triple Play Express not only leverages Alcatel-Lucent's unsurpassed product and service portfolio and expertise; it builds on a wide ecosystem of experienced IPTV partners, and encompasses content licensing, management and distribution," says Charles Marsh, Vice President of Sales for Major Accounts for Alcatel-Lucent's Americas region. "This unique package directly addresses regional operators' key concerns, and will help them serve millions of households that have been deprived of IPTV, and other advanced IP-based services, until now."


Alcatel-Lucent noted that it has been involved in more than 60 triple play service deployments and 40 IP transformation projects worldwide.


http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/tripleplayexpress

Pillar Data Systems Selects Fanfare for Automated Testing

Pillar Data Systems, which develops application-aware storage systems, will use Fanfare's iTest software to automate the company's end-to-end testing process. iTest will provide a common platform from which test assets can be communicated across the developer chain for more effective documentation, test reproduction and defect resolution. Test cases can now be reused and referenced at any point during a product's testing cycle. iTest will also eliminate the time-intensive process of manually recreating testbeds. It also eliminates the use of manual scripting languages such as Tcl and Perl.
http://www.fanfaresoftware.com

Telefónica Adds ZTE to its LTE Pilot

Telefónica has shortlisted ZTE to participate in its LTE trial project across six countries in Europe and Latin America.


The six-month trials will take place in Spain, the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina and marks the start of Telefonica's LTE vendor selection process. By deploying LTE technology, the operator aims to reach a (theoretical) peak data transfer rates of 340Mbps, enabling data-rich services such as mobile video and TV. Telefonica has selected six vendors for its LTE (4G) trial project. In addition to ZTE, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks and NEC have been shortlisted.


In September, ZTE announced a commercial LTE trial in Hong Kong with CSL during a joint event that included a live demonstration of the LTE network with peak download speeds in excess of 100 Mbps. This project has drawn the attention of operators from across the globe.


In October, ZTE announced the opening of an LTE testing laboratory at its U.S. headquarters in Richardson, Texas.
http://www.zte.co.cn

Huawei Opens Regional Training Center in Egypt

Huawei opened a new Regional Training Center at Smart Village Cairo, Egypt's prime technology cluster and Business Park. The new facility, which replaces the previous training center in Nasr City, includes US$ 20million in new training equipment, allowing the latest technology training programs for WCDMA, GSM, CDMA, NGN, Datacom, Optical Networks, Broadband and Intelligent Networks, among others. With 11 classrooms and laboratories, the facility has increased its capacity, able to accommodate 150 trainees at a time.


"Huawei is dedicated to the growth of Africa. Huawei will grow its investments and presence together with Africa. The telecommunication sector is emerging as a driving force for local economies, in terms of creating income and jobs, and we at Huawei want to be a key contributor to African nations," commented Mr. Ding Shaohua, President of Huawei Middle East & North Africa.

Huawei noted that its fixed assets investment in Africa over the past decade has exceeded US$ 1.5 billion. The company now has six training centers in Africa, providing training to 12,000 students each year.
http://www.huawei.com
http://www.smart-villages.com

Telenor Replaces its Mobile Net with Huawei and Starent

Huawei announced a major contract with Telenor to supply multi-base stations for 2G, 3G/UMTS and 4G/LTE. Telenor is going to replace its entire mobile services infrastructure in Norway during the next years, with the aim of creating a flexible and cost efficient platform for mobile services. Financial terms were not disclosed. Starent Networks has been selected for the mobile core.


"This is the biggest upgrade of the mobile network in Norway we have ever carried out. It will create a solid and flexible base for further developing the services offered by the Telenor mobile network and the quality of those services. Our aim is to provide customers with better, more innovative services across the country. This means better in terms of capacity, speed and stability," explains Ragnar Kårhus, head of Telenor Norway.
http://www.huawei.com

Cisco Offers 0% Financing in Europe

Cisco is expanding its zero-percent financing program in Europe to include all Cisco products and solutions, while also doubling the maximum deal size up to £200,000 or EUR 250,000 until the end of July 2010. EasyLease financing is available through Cisco Certified Partners and enables partners to deliver a complete end-to-end technology solution to their customers.
http://www.cisco.com

Alcatel-Lucent Selected for Angola LNG Project

Bechtel awarded a $12 million contract to Alcatel-Lucent for the deployment of a fully integrated telecommunications infrastructure to support onshore and offshore operations of Angola LNG Limited's new plant in the Republic of Angola. Under the contract, Alcatel-Lucent is responsible for the design, construction and commissioning of a turnkey communications solution, along with comprehensive network integration support to ensure the rapid rollout of Angola LNG process plant telecommunications system.


Alcatel-Lucent will also provide a complete set of professional services including designing, installation, commissioning, supervising, integration and testing services as well as the overall network planning and design. The new end-to-end communications and security solution will include the following: integrating fiber optics cable network and structured cabling providing physical connectivity for the entire plant, satellite communications, LAN with VoIP systems, UHF analog radio system and VHF marine radio enhancing workforce mobility and productivity.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com