Bouygues Telecom to Test LTE with Alcatel-Lucent

Bouygues Telecom has selected Alcatel-Lucent to evaluate the performance of LTE services in the 1800 MHz spectrum band. Specifically, Alcatel-Lucent will serve as the sole supplier and network integrator for Bouygues Telecom's field trials program which is scheduled to begin in 2010 at a number of sites in the western part of France. The LTE trials program will enable Bouygues Telecom to evaluate opportunities to introduce a variety of new multimedia applications and services. Alcatel-Lucent will supply LTE base stations (eNodeBs), Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and its associated management system.


Alcatel-Lucent noted that it has now secured 19 customer LTE trials to date.


"This trial is another major step in the adoption of LTE technology in Europe, and more specifically in France," said Pierre Barnabé, Head of Alcatel-Lucent in France.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Beijing Mobile Deploys NSN's Direct Tunnel Solution

Beijing Mobile will be the first operator in the region to commercially implement Nokia Siemens Networks' direct tunnel technology to improve the efficiency of its packet core network while setting the stage for LTE. With mobile internet users accounting for more than half of China Mobile's subscriber base, data throughput has increased close to 200% over last year.


NSN said its direct tunnel technology provides an intelligent connectivity short cut for the massive user data streams. Transforming to a flat IP architecture via a simple software upgrade, the Direct Tunnel solution delivers substantial operational savings.


"Keeping pace with the unprecedented growth in mobile broadband demands innovation -- something our direct tunnel solution does well," said Ding Weiqing, head of China Mobile Customer Business Team, Nokia Siemens Networks. "It enables Beijing Mobile to deliver higher bandwidth, improve end user experience while maintaining simple connectivity architecture and reduced costs."http://www.nsn.com

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Siemens Appoints Deutsche Telekom Exec as New CEO

Siemens Enterprise Communications Group (SEN Group) has appointed Hamid Akhavan as its new CEO. Mark Stone, interim CEO over recent months will resume his duties as Executive Chairman and remain part of the Executive Board.


Hamid Akhavan joins SEN Group from Deutsche Telekom, where he serves as Chief Operating Officer, where he was responsible for mobile communications on the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom since 2006, when he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of T-Mobile International AG. Prior to joining T-Mobile International he served as Chief Technical Officer and Chief Information Officer at Teligent Inc, an international broadband fixed and wireless access company.


The SEN Group is a premier provider of end-to-end enterprise communications, including voice, network infrastructure and security solutions that use open, standards-based architectures to unify communications and business applications for a seamless collaboration experience.
http://www.siemens-enterprise.com

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ZyXEL Debuts First LTE CPE/SOHO Router Supporting up to 50 Mbps Service

ZyXEL Communications introduced the first fixed LTE CPE/SOHO router.

The ZLR-2070S is an all-in-one, multi-service gateway that leverages compact, system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology to deliver cost-effective, non-FPGA-based LTE connectivity. The device
delivers up to 50Mbps throughput and is optimized for multi service delivery. This includes broadband Internet connectivity, two VoIP ports, home networking via a four-port, 11n wireless switch, a USB port (to share devices, such as printers and storage). Service providers also can use the ZLR-2070S to enable Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) and other smart home automation services.
http://www.zyxel.com

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Solera Cites Strong Growth in Network Forensics

Solera Networks cited a strong uptake for its network forensics solutions by enterprises and government agencies, saying that it more than doubled its bookings in 2009. Solera's platform helps security professionals actively identify the full source, context and scope of a security incident within any network.


The company also unveiled Solera OS 4.0, the latest version of its flagship product that provides active network forensics for instant response when a security incident occurs. Version 4.0 of Solera OS not only improves the platform's record-setting performance, but also includes Solera DeepSee Forensics Suite, which indexes all captured network traffic, delivers detailed interactive reports and allows intuitive navigation for easy search and discovery. This complete historical record of all traffic, even on the fastest networks, enables security professionals to move from complex ‘incident response' to ‘instant response' for any security event, thus mitigating future risk. Most recently, the platform's performance was put to the test at SC09, where Solera Networks was exclusively asked to test their product using real traffic at speeds reaching sustained bursts of 9 Gbps.


"When we talk with our customer base and prospects, it is clear that other vendors are unable to address the needs of complex high-speed networks in an all-in-one, consolidated solution," said Steve Shillingford, CEO of Solera Networks. "Networks aren't slowing down anytime soon. Organizations are realizing that they can only analyze what they can see, index and store. The Solera OS 4.0 network forensics platform is like a 24-hour surveillance camera on your network, recording and cataloging every event, even on today's ultra-fast 10Gb networks. It allows customers to search all the traffic and identify the source, cause and extent of any network security breach."http://www.soleranetworks.com

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PIPE to Link its New Pacific Undersea Cable to Equinix Sydney

PIPE Networks has selected Equinix as a key interconnect provider for its new PIPE Pacific Cable (PPC-1) undersea cable, which will link Australia to Guam with up to 2.56 Tbps of capacity. Through Equinix Sydney-1 (SY1) International Business Exchange (IBX) data center located in its Sydney campus, Equinix will provide PIPE with convenient, secure and cost-effective access to the aggregation of Australia's leading carriers operating within the center. The connection in Guam provides onward connectivity to Asia as well as to the United States.


In addition to the Sydney IBX data center, PIPE is also utilizing Equinix's global footprint and operational expertise, with deployments to Equinix centershttp://www.equinix.com
http://www.pipeinternational.com

• In October, PIPE International and Tyco Telecommunications announced the completion of the PPC-1 cable system, a 6,900 km system linking Sydney to Guam. With a capacity of 2.56 terabits per second over two fiber pairs and 40 Gbps capable, the PPC-1 system will provide diversity to the few existing routes in the region, in addition to onward connectivity to Asia and the United States.

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Force10 Adds 50-Port Gigabit and 10-Port 10GbE Cards

Force10 Networks has introduced two new line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) and GbE line cards for use within its ExaScale virtualized core switch/routers that incorporate flexible pluggable transceiver modules. The 10-port 10 GbE line card and 50-port GbE line card for the ExaScale E1200 and the midsized ExaScale E600 chassis facilitate greater density.


The new ExaScale 10-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) line card provides support for SR, LR, ER, ZR, and CX4 interfaces using pluggable XFP transceiver modules, making them ideally suited data centers as well as in WAN and long-haul optical networks. Utilizing XFPs that also incorporate DWDM enables the support of direct, data center-to-data center interconnections over the deployed optical infrastructure using an alien wavelength.


The new ExaScale 50-port GbE line card supports pluggable SFP modules, which provide support for SX, LX, ZX and 1000Base-T interfaces. The line card's high-density design enables the ExaScale switch/router to support up to 700 line-rate GbE SFP ports in a single chassis.


Pricing for the 50-port 10/100/1000Base-T line card starts at $42,000. The 10-port 10GbE starts at $66,000.
http://www.force10networks.com

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Huawei Partners With Metaswitch For Packet Protocol Software

Huawei Technologies has licensed a broad portfolio of Metaswitch Networks' network protocol software to power its next generation family of packet transport platforms. Under the terms of the partnership agreement, Metaswitch is providing Huawei with Metaswitch's unicast and multicast routing, packet MPLS, and VPN / PWE support. Huawei will also take advantage of Metaswitch's integrated control plane components that bond together the protocol stacks to deliver a fully integrated solution.


The deal builds on an original relationship between Huawei and Metaswitch that goes back to 2002, when Metaswitch provided control plane software for Huawei's optical networking platforms. This new agreement significantly expands the relationship to include a much broader set of Metaswitch protocol products to be deployed on a new set of Huawei packet platforms. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.metaswitch.com

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Dell'Oro: Carrier IP Telephony Market Continues Gradual Recovery in Q3

The carrier IP telephony market grew almost 10 percent sequentially to $782 million during the third quarter of 2009, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. This growth is, in large part, a result of the increasing willingness of many service providers (SPs) to invest in infrastructure projects with strong near-term returns, such as voice-over-IP services for businesses.


During the quarter, Acme Packet and Huawei each posted double-digit revenue gains and continued to lead the Session Border Controller (SBC) market that grew more than 5 percent sequentially.


"Business VoIP remains a hot area," said Greg Collins, Vice President at Dell'Oro Group. "Enterprises as well as small and medium businesses increasingly embrace IP Centrex, unified communications and IP business trunks (or SIP trunks), and investment in equipment to support these services offers service providers attractive near-term returns and thus, has been a boost to the market," commented Collins.
http://www.delloro.com

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