Thursday, April 29, 2010

Taiwan's Chunghwa Continues ADSL-to-FTTx Migration

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom was serving 4.3 million broadband subscribers as of March 31, 2010. There were 1.74 million FTTx subscribers, accounting for 40.4% of Chunghwa's total broadband subscriber base. This compares to 1.64 million FTTx subscribers at the end of the last quarter (Dec 2009).


By the end of the first quarter 2010, the number of ADSL and FTTx subscribers with a service speed greater than 8 Mbps reached 2.1 million, representing 48.8% of total broadband subscribers, compared to 39.0% at the end of the first quarter of 2009.


As of March 31, 2010, Chunghwa had 9.4 million mobile subscribers, an increase of 4.2% compared to 8.98 million at the end of the first quarter of 2009. Chunghwa had 4.9 million 3G subscribers at the end of March 2010, accounting for 52.7% of its total subscriber base.


Chunghwa's total consolidated revenue for the first quarter of 2010 increased by 1.0% year-over-year to NT$49.6 billion, of which 44.8% was from the mobile business, 11.8% was from the internet business, 34.7% was from the domestic fixed business, 8.0% was from the international fixed business and the remainder was from the other business segment. The primary reasons for the year-over-year increase were the economic recovery and the company's marketing efforts.
http://www.cht.com.tw

Two Minute Video: Dispersion Compensation at 40 and 100 Gbps










Presented by Dr. Adell Asseh, Proximionhttp://www.proximion.com

Motorola Achieves 80 Mbps Downlinks in TD-LTE Field Trials with China's MIIT

Motorola has completed the Phase I TD-LTE field trials with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). This over-the-air (OTA) TD-LTE trial included key functionality, performance and mobility test cases in a multi-sector, multi-site environment that lays a solid foundation for large scale TD-LTE deployment.


Motorola noted the following achievements for the trial:

  • High performance with downlink throughput up to 80 Mbps


  • Successful demonstration of key TD-LTE features including mobility and handover with live applications, low latency and more


  • Utilization of third-party user equipment (UE) test to guarantee standard compliance


  • TD-LTE trial sites overlaid on existing 2G/3G sites


Motorola is now ready to begin Phase II TD-LTE field trials with increased focus on applications and quality of service (QoS) in Shunyi, Beijing.


The milestone follows the recently announced TD-LTE key functionalities test initiated by the TD-LTE working group, which was set up by MIIT in June 2009 with China's three telecom operators and other key industry partners.


In addition, Motorola said it is demonstrating end-to-end TD-LTE experiences at the Information and Communication Pavilion to support China Mobile Communications Corporation's (CMCC) presence at the Shanghai Expo.
http://www.motorola.com

Ericsson Outlines TCO2 Framework for Energy Efficiency

Two-thirds of all CO2e emissions associated with network equipment during its lifetime are attributed to its operation, according to a recently published whitepaper from Ericsson.



To help operators who are being challenged to respond to growing carbon emissions concerns, volatile fuel prices and potential added costs such as carbon taxes, Ericsson is now offering a TCO2 approach that measures carbon emissions and uses the total-cost-of-ownership methodology. During 2009, Telstra worked with Ericsson on this approach during a nationwide carbon and energy audit of its wireless network.


Ericsson said telecom operators can use its TCO2 methodology in network operations to evaluate carbon emission
and energy consumption savings from different solutions and network scenarios.


In its whitepaper, Ericsson observes that networks worldwide are expanding to serve more subscribers and increasing traffic per subscriber. The ICT sector is estimated to account for about 2 percent of global energy use and subsequent carbon emissions (with telecom representing just 0.6 percent). Nevertheless, the absolute amount of energy consumed by telecom networks is growing -- along with associated CO2e emissions.


However, the carbon intensity of the network traffic is lower than the activities the traffic replaces (such as video conferencing replacing travel). One approach is to increase energy efficiency in driving additional traffic so the carbon intensity differential between that traffic and the activities it replaces is as great as possible.


Ericsson TCO2 also provides a framework for evaluating two or more network architecture choices for their overall energy efficiency. The approach applies to both greenfield and existing networks.


The whitepaper is posted online.
http://www.ericsson.com
http://www.ericsson.com/res/thecompany/docs/whitepapers/TCO2_0211high.pdf

Motorola and Opticon Announce Cross Licensing Agreement

Motorola announced a cross license agreement settling all outstanding intellectual property disputes between the two companies and their subsidiaries, including Motorola's subsidiary, Symbol Technologies.


Under the cross license agreement, Opticon has taken a royalty bearing license to Motorola's patents in the fields of laser based barcode scanning, imaging based barcode scanning and mobile computing. The specific terms of the settlement are confidential.
http://www.motorola.com

Cisco Wins Major Contract with Emirates

The Emirates Group a three-year contract for the purchase of Cisco network support and optimization services to be financed by Cisco Capital in the UAE. Emirates Group has selected Cisco Gold partner Gulf Business Machines (GBM), a leading IT solutions provider in the Middle East fulfilling the IT requirements of local, regional and international organizations in the GCC, to purchase Cisco services and work closely with Cisco to deliver these services and support the Cisco infrastructure.

Cisco said this deal represents an important milestone in that the Emirates Group is one of the first companies in the region to utilize the additional innovative resources that Cisco has to offer beyond its products and standard maintenance services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.cisco.comhttp://

China Telecom's Mobile Base Continues Fast Growth as Wireline Declines

China Telecom continues to ramp-up its mobile subscriber base, ending Q1 2010 with 65,450,000 mobile subscribers up by 9.36 million for the quarter. The average mobile service revenue per user per month (ARPU) for the first quarter primarily remained stable, while the average mobile minutes of usage per user per month (MOU) has slightly increased, as compared to that for the full year of last year.


However, due to this intensified mobile substitution and churn of its Personal Handyphone System (PAS) subscribers, China Telecom continued to record negative growth in its number of local access lines in service for the first quarter. It ended Q1 with 184.23 million local access lines in service, down by 4.3 million for the quarter.


Mobile voice usage is correspondingly expanding rapidly and will likely soon eclipse local access voice usage.


Services like Internet and data services, integrated information services continued its robust growth momentum, which effectively mitigated the impact of decline in the wireline voice services. The wireline broadband subscribers reached 55.84 million, representing a net addition of 2.38 million.


For Q1, the China Telecom Group reported operating revenues of RMB 52,712 million, representing an increase of 3.6% from the first quarter of last year. The profit attributable to equity holders of the Company was RMB 4,272 million, representing a decline of 9.1% from the first quarter of last year and an increase of 127.4% from the fourth quarter of last year. EBITDA (before CDMA network capacity lease fees) was RMB 22,796 million, an increase of 2.7% from the first quarter of last year and an increase of 22.7% from the fourth quarter of last year. EBITDA margin was 43.2%, representing a decline of 0.4 percentage points from 43.6% of the first quarter of last year and an increase of 8.5 percentage points from 34.7% of the fourth quarter of last year.
http://www.chinatelecom-h.com

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Microsemi Releases Energy Efficient Power-over-Ethernet

Microsemi introduced highly efficient, single port Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) midspans, featuring lowest power consumption in both no-load and load conditions. Microsemi's new single port midspans offer compact, fully IEEE 802.3af compliant solutions for remotely powering wireless LAN access points, IP security cameras, VoIP phones, access control systems and other low port density installations. The new midspans enable delivery of both data and power over a single standard RJ-45 cable, eliminating the need for external power supplies and their associated AC/DC power cabling, while providing affordable, safe and reliable power over existing Ethernet infrastructures.


In addition, Microsemi introduced a one-port Power-over-Ethernet manager chip (PD69101) capable of delivering 51 watts to powered devices while still complying with stringent IEEE802.3at-2009 requirements. The company said system designers also can go well beyond the IEEE standard to safely deliver up to 75W of power by using two of the new Microsemi PoE chipset devices over four pairs of Ethernet cable.


The IEEE802.3at-2009 standard defines sourcing of 30W over two pairs of Ethernet cable, guaranteeing delivery of 25.5W to powered devices across distances of up to 100m. The standard does not preclude delivering power over all 4-pairs in a CAT5 cable. Thus, Microsemi said its new PD69101 chip enables customers to build four-pair PSEs that can deliver 51W of fully standards-compliant power to a PD. Applications include a wide variety of power sourcing equipment including switches, routers and specialized platforms including PoE-enabled TVs and set-top boxes.
http://www.microsemi.com

ADVA Posts Q1 Revenue of EUR 63 Million, up 11% YoY

ADVA Optical Networking reported Q1 2010 revenues of EUR 63.2 million -- above guidance of between EUR 57 million and EUR 62 million -- and up 10.9% compared to a year earlier and up 6.0% compared to the preceding quarter. The IFRS net income amounted to EUR 2.4 million in Q1 2010, after a net loss of EUR 0.5 million in Q1 2009.


"We are very pleased with our Q1 2010 revenues of EUR 63.2 million, which exceed guidance and are nicely up 6.0% vs. the previous quarter and 10.9% vs. Q1 2009. This development is largely based on strong Ethernet access business and significantly improved sales into enterprises. Q1 2010 pro forma gross margin at 43.0% of revenues came in below the 45.4% seen in the previous quarter and was muted by the stronger USD, and by the evolution of our FSP 500 platform to the next-generation FSP 150 platform," commented Jaswir Singh, chief financial officer & chief operating officer of ADVA Optical Networking.
http://www.advaoptical.com

Ixia Posts Revenue of $62 Million

Ixia reported total revenue for Q1 2010 of $62.0 million, an increase of 67 percent over $37.1 million reported for the 2009 first quarter and an increase of 11 percent over the $56.1 million reported for the immediately preceding quarter. Revenue for the 2010 first quarter includes $10.1 million attributable to IxN2X sales following the acquisition of Agilent Technologies' N2X Data Network Testing Product line on October 30, 2009 and $9.1 million related to sales of our IxCatapult products following the acquisition of Catapult Communications in June 2009.

"Despite normal seasonality, we were encouraged by solid demand for our testing solutions in the first quarter, especially in Asia and from our largest customer in the United States," commented Atul Bhatnagar, Ixia's president and chief executive officer. "The integration of the N2X product line continues on track and feedback from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. While the market remains competitive, N2X contributed significantly during the period and we are encouraged by the outlook for the future. Also reassuring, even without the contributions from the N2X or Catapult products, Ixia grew sequentially and on a year-over-year basis, pointing to the underlying health of our business. Additionally, we have begun to realize many of the cost synergies from our acquisitions and expect to see the positive benefit on our bottom line in the second quarter."http://www.ixiacom.com

France Telecom Q1 Revenues Down 2.7%, FTTH Rollout Planned for 2H

The France Telecom Group reported Q1 2010 revenues of 10.96 billion euros, down 2.7% compared to a year earlier. Excluding the impact of regulatory measures, the company said its decrease would have been 0.3%. EBITDA was 3.76 billion euros, a margin of 34.3%, down 1 point on a comparable basis.


"The Group again proved its ability to maintain its performance in terms of revenues and profitability against the backdrop of an economic and regulatory environment that remains difficult. France saw a slight improvement in revenues and the resumption of the fiber optic network deployment in more than 20 cities and towns," stated Stéphane Richard, Chief Executive Officer of France Telecom.


Some highlights:

  • The group now has 123.7 million mobile customers and 13.5 million broadband subscribers.


  • In the Enterprise segment, revenues fell 6.1% (excluding equipment sales), marked by the migration towards Internet usage and the persistent slowdown in the services business.


  • CAPEX of 874 million euros: the CAPEX rate to revenues was 8.0%, compared with 9.9% in the first quarter of 2009 on a comparable basis.


  • CAPEX was stable in France. Investment in 3G mobile services increased in order to support the growth in data service volumes.


  • The Group confirms its annual CAPEX rate objective of about 12% of revenues.


  • France Telecom expects to ramp-up its FTTH rollout in France in the second half.
http://www.francetelecom.com

Amsterdam Internet Exchange Deploys MRV's LambdaDriver

The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX), one of the world's largest public Internet exchanges, is deploying MRV Communications' LambdaDriver DWDM equipment.


AMS-IX recently moved to a MPLS/VPLS setup to continue to grow beyond the limitations of a pure layer 2 platform, for which larger switches or switches with 100 Gigabit Ethernet ports were not available on the market yet.


"Meanwhile, in a few months we will move to a double density blade allowing the Brocade's NetIron MLX32 routers we use to support 256 10-Gbps Ethernet ports each," said Henk Steenman, AMS-IX CTO. "However," he added, "this blade does not have integrated optics. The edge and core routers with double-density blades will therefore have to rely on DWDM systems to connect to one another," explaining the addition of the MRV systems to the exchange infrastructure.


The network has a total capacity of 2.2 Terabits divided over 220 x 10 Gigabit in a quadruple redundant hub/spoke topology. The developments in the optical transport market are going fast and AMS-IX will move towards 100 Gigabit DWDM links in 2011.
http://www.mrv.com
http://www.ams-ix.net

Amazon Expands its Cloud Services for Asia Pacific

Amazon.com has expanded its cloud computing services for the Asia-Pacific region. Businesses with customers based in Asia can now leverage the AWS suite of infrastructure web services to build their businesses and run their applications in the cloud. Prior to today, the AWS platform has been available from datacenters in the U.S. and Europe.


The first AWS Asia Pacific Region is located in Singapore.


Amazon cited several examples of companies using its AWS. For example, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is using AWS for its e4 Mars Rover Application, which acts as a platform to massively parallelize the analysis of telemetry and images from the Mars Rovers; global pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is using AWS to provide computational pipelines to scientists across the globe for a number of tasks, ranging from sequence database searching to protein structure prediction and virtual screening.


AWS technology partners include Red Hat, Oracle, Sun, MySQL, IBM, salesforce.com and RightScale along with Consultancies supporting AWS include Capgemini, Deloitte, Accenture, Tata Consultancy Services and Patni Computer Systems.
http://www.amazon.com

Cisco Highlights its Progress in Cloud Services

Cisco highlighted its progress so far in cloud-based networking services. The company currently operates more than 30 global data centers and claims to have delivered more than seven consecutive years of near 100 percent uptime for its customers.


Cisco said its traffic to its cloud security solutions continue to grow rapidly. Every day, these services are currently handling 2.8 billion reputation look-ups, 2.5 billion Web requests and the detection of more than 250 billion spam messages. The Cisco IronPort Anti-Spam solution is in more than 235 million seats with organizations all over the world. These solutions are supported by automated intelligence and by 100 engineers dedicated to ensuring that Cisco cloud security is there to fortify customer networks.


In addition, Cisco introduced the following cloud-based services:


Cloud-based Cisco IronPort Email Data Loss Prevention and Encryption -- Cisco's cloud e-mail data-loss prevention solution utilizes the power of Cisco Cloud Security Services to help protect outbound e-mail in the cloud, helping enable customers to meet compliance requirements. The service is aimed enterprises that require high levels of protection of their sensitive data but do not want to manage the infrastructure themselves. Additionally, it provides customers with hosted mailboxes as well as the advantage of regulating compliance and acceptable-use policies. Cisco said its solution offers more than 100 predefined policies related to global compliance, regulatory compliance, regional laws, intellectual property protection and acceptable use.


Cisco ScanSafe Web Intelligence Reporting -- WIRe is a business intelligence platform developed by ScanSafe, which was acquired by Cisco in December 2009. WIRe gives enterprises insight into how their Web resources are being used, focusing on ensuring that business-critical applications are not being affected by non-business-related traffic. In a matter of seconds, WIRe can deliver detailed user-level information and provide extensive information about Web communications activities. More than 80 predefined reports are available, and WIRe enables activities to be reported and filtered by 87 different attributes, including search terms and employee bandwidth usage over time. By clearly seeing the types of traffic coming into and exiting the network, enterprises can have a high degree of confidence that their corporate information is highly secure and that all malware and inappropriate content has been blocked.
http://www.cisco.com
  • In December 2009, Cisco agreed to acquire privately held ScanSafe, a provider of software-as- a-service (SaaS) Web security solutions, approximately $183 million in cash and retention-based incentives. Based in London and San Francisco, ScanSafe offers Web security via a SaaS model. Its Web Security offering combines Web filtering with a proprietary "Outbreak Intelligence" engine that uses dynamic, reputation and behavior based analysis to identify and block zero-day threats. Its Web Filtering service enables customers to define what content is permitted to enter their network, as well as what information can leave. ScanSafe also provides an inbound and outbound email filtering and security service.

Occam Posts Q1 Revenue of $22 Million

Occam Networks reported Q1 2010 revenue of $22.3 million, compared with $21.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2009 and with $19.4 million for the first quarter of 2009. Gross margin for the first quarter of 2010 was $9.8 million, or 44% of revenue, compared with $8.9 million, or 40% of revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009. Gross margin for the first quarter of 2009 was $8.2 million, or 42% of revenue. There was a GAAP net loss of $610,000 or a net loss of $0.03 per basic share.


"This quarter marked the shipment of several important new products," said Bob Howard-Anderson, president and CEO of Occam. "With our product breadth and depth and continued good financial performance, we continue to believe that we are well positioned for growth in broadband deployments by service providers worldwide."http://www.occamnetworks.com

NetLogic and TSMC Collaborate on 28nm Process Tech

NetLogic Microsystems will adopt Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC's) NEXSYS 28HP (28nm high performance) semiconductor process node for its next-generation knowledge-based processors, multi-core processors and 10/40/100Gigabit PHY.


As an early development partner, NetLogic Microsystems is using TSMC's 28nm node to raise the networking infrastructure performance bar. NetLogic has development underway for multiple product lines on the TSMC 28nm node. In addition, NetLogic is developing a suite of custom high-performance circuits optimized around TSMC's 28nm 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 advanced node.
http://www.netlogicmicro.com

Motorola Posts a Profit on Q1 Sales of $5.0 Billion

Motorola reported sales of $5.0 billion in the first quarter of 2010. The GAAP earnings in the first quarter of 2010 were $69 million, or $0.03 per share, which compares to a GAAP loss from continuing operations of $291 million, or $0.13 per share, in Q1 2009. During the quarter, the company generated positive operating cash flow of $485 million and ended the quarter with a total cash position of $8.5 billion.


"We continue to execute on our business strategy, build momentum in smartphones and improve our operating performance. During the quarter, we increased smartphone shipments sequentially and introduced six new devices," said Sanjay Jha, Motorola co-chief executive officer and CEO of Mobile Devices and Home. "We are in a strong position to improve our share in the rapidly growing smartphone market, particularly in light of our competitive portfolio, strengthened brand and improved carrier relationships."

Some highlights:

Mobile Devices segment sales were $1.6 billion, down 9 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. The GAAP operating loss was $192 million, a significant improvement compared to the operating loss of $545 million in the year-ago quarter.

Motorola shipped 8.5 million mobile device units during the quarter, including 2.3 million smartphones.

During Q1, Motorola introduced six new Android-powered smartphones.

Motorola Home segment sales were $838 million, down 18 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating earnings were $20 million, compared to $3 million in the year-ago quarter.

Motorola shipped 3.1 million digital entertainment devices

Motorola's Enterprise Mobility Solutions segment sales were $1.7 billion, up 6 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating earnings were $141 million, compared with operating earnings of $66 million in the year-ago quarter.

During the quarter, Motorola secured one of the single largest TETRA terminal contracts ever awarded in Europe, including more than 50,000 terminals, from the German Federal Ministry of Interior.

Motorola's Networks segment sales were $896 million, down 7 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating earnings were $112 million, compared to $62 million in the year-ago quarter.

During Q1, Motorola shipped 2 millionth WiMAX CPE and dongles, doubling cumulative shipments in just five months.
http://www.motorola.com

Sonus Networks Enhances its NBS-9000 Network Border Switch

Sonus Networks announced significant enhancements to its existing NBS-9000, offered as a software upgrade on its proven GSX platform. The enhancements to the NBS-9000 include:


Improved Access SBC Functionality: improved security features to monitor and maintain SLAs with individual devices - especially useful in an access SBC environment. In addition, there is increased support for industry standards like SIPConnect and SIP-B that enables NBS-9000 to accommodate diverse SIP implementations from a wide variety of clients, devices and SIP servers. The product also adds integration support for third party PCRF implementations, making it more adaptable to the varying customer deployment configurations.

Adverse Condition Recovery: The NBS-9000 enhances support of network operations and emergency call handling in the event of network outages or adverse network conditions. In addition, new multi-level preemption and precedence features allow certain calls to have priority over existing calls in the network. These sets of enhancements enable Sonus to serve government and emergency network deployments.

Enhanced Call Control and Routing: The NBS-9000 now supports additional congestion control features that allow it to throttle messages to peers that are overloaded, improving overall network health. In addition, the NBS has added support to query multiple DNS servers to augment its market leading routing capabilities. The NBS-9000 can now directly interface to ENUM servers to bring more efficiency to routing.

Higher Capacity, More Cost Effective Deployment: Hardware capacity improvements now permit the NBS-9000 to scale to even greater transcoding densities and call rates, bringing increased deployment efficiencies.
http://www.sonusnet.comhttp://

Sierra Wireless Posts Revenue of $151 Million, M2M Sales187% YoY

Sierra Wireless reported Q1 2010 revenue of $151.3 million, an increase of 36% compared to $111.4 million in the first quarter of 2009 and an increase of 5% compared to $144.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. On a GAAP basis, net loss was $7.5 million, or loss per share of $0.24, compared to a net loss of $23.7 million, or loss per share of $0.76, in the first quarter of 2009.


Growth was driven by an increase in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) revenue to $88.7 million, up 187% compared to $30.9 million in first quarter of 2009 and up 15% compared to $77.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Revenue from M2M in the first quarter was nearly triple what it was a year ago and now represents 59% of total sales.


M2M growth was partially offset by a decline in Mobile Computing revenue to $62.6 million, down 22% compared to $80.5 million in the first quarter of 2009 and down 6% compared to $66.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.


"We are pleased with our first quarter results, including higher than expected revenue and improving profitability," said Jason Cohenour, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We also made significant progress during the quarter building on our leadership position in M2M, while also revitalizing momentum in our Mobile Computing business.

http://www.sierrawireless.com

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Samsung and NSN Complete TD-LTE Data Call

Samsung and Nokia Siemens Networks announced the world's first TD-LTE data call. The demonstration, which was conducted at Nokia Siemens Networks' R&D Center in Hangzhou, China, used Nokia Siemens Networks' end to end TD-LTE network solution and Samsung's TD-LTE USB dongle.


TD-LTE is the variant of LTE for unpaired spectrum expected to be deployed by operators such as China Mobile.
http://www.nsn.com
http://www.samsung.com

Comcast's Revenue Rises 3.8%, CAPEX Declines 20%

Comcast's overall revenue for Q1 2010 increased 3.8% to $9.2 billion, while Operating Cash Flow increased 3.5% to $3.6 billion. Earnings per Share (EPS) was $0.31, a 14.8% increase from the $0.27 reported in the first quarter of 2009.


Capital Expenditures for the first quarter of 2010 declined 20.3% to $925 million, or 10.1% of total revenue, reflecting timing of equipment purchases and improved pricing, partially offset by growth in Comcast Business Services and advanced services (HD and DVR), as well as the ongoing deployment of wideband and All-Digital.


"Our healthy operating and financial results for the first quarter mark a solid start to 2010. First quarter results were driven by robust customer growth, a rebound in advertising, momentum in Business Services and our continued focus on expense and capital management. We've also made significant progress in deploying All-Digital and DOCSIS 3.0, or wideband," stated Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast.


Some highlights for the quarter:

  • The company lost 82,000 video customers in the quarter, giving it a total of 23,477,000 -- down 2.6% YoY.


  • The company added 399,000 High-Speed Internet Customers in Q1, giving it a total of 16,329,000 at the end of the quarter -- up 7% YoY


  • The company added 273,000 Digital Voice customers in Q1, giving it a total of 7,895,000 -- up 16.6% YoY.
http://www.comcast.com

Sprint Sees Improving Trends, Wireless Base at 48.1 Million

Sprint lost a total of 75,000 net subscribers in Q1 2010, however, the company recorded its best year-over-year improvement in post-paid gross subscriber additions and the highest prepaid gross subscriber additions in five years as it achieved the best total company net subscriber results since the third quarter of 2007. Net post-paid subscriber losses improved year-over-year as the company lost 670,000 fewer subscribers than in the first quarter of 2009.



Sprint company served 48.1 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2010. This includes 33.4 million post-paid subscribers (26 million on CDMA, 6.8 million on iDEN, and 607,000 Power Source users who utilize both networks), 11 million prepaid subscribers (5.7 million on iDEN and 5.3 million on CDMA) and approximately 3.6 million wholesale and affiliate subscribers, all of whom utilize the CDMA network.


Financially, Sprint reported consolidated net operating revenues of approximately $8.1 billion and a net loss of $865 million, which includes a non-cash $365 million (12 cents per share) increase in valuation allowance on deferred tax assets.


"Sprint's first quarter results, including increased net operating revenues and significant year-over-year net post-paid subscriber improvements show we continue to make progress in improving the business," said Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel CEO.


Some other highlights:

  • Post-paid churn in the quarter was 2.15% compared to 2.25% in the year-ago period and 2.11% in the fourth quarter of 2009.


  • Prepaid churn in the first quarter of 2010 was 5.74%, compared to 6.86% in the year-ago period and 5.56% in the fourth quarter of 2009.


  • Retail wireless service revenues of $6.4 billion for the quarter increased by less than 1% compared to the first quarter of 2009 and increased approximately 3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. The year-over-year and sequential improvement is primarily due to an increased number of prepaid subscribers as a result of the acquisition of Virgin Mobile and success of the Boost Monthly Unlimited offering.


  • Wireless post-paid ARPU of approximately $55 for the quarter declined year-over-year from $56, but remained flat sequentially.


  • Wireless equipment subsidy in the first quarter was approximately $1 billion (equipment revenue of $567 million, less cost of products of $1.57 billion) as compared to approximately $840 million in the year-ago period and approximately $960 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.


  • Wireless capital expenditures were $311 million in the first quarter of 2010, compared to $197 million spent in the first quarter of 2009 and $427 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.


  • Wireline capital expenditures were $56 million in the first quarter of 2010, compared to $77 million in the first quarter of 2009 and $62 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company made significant capital investments in prior years to build out its IP network, and less capital was required in recent quarters to maintain high quality performance levels.
http://www.sprint.com

Corning's Telecom Sales Decline 10% to $364 Million

In its financial report for Q1 2010, Corning noted that telecommunications segment sales were $364 million, a sequential decline of 10% and in line with the company's previous expectations. Year-over-year sales declined 5% in the quarter. Despite the quarterly sales decline, the company saw improved profitability in this segment as it began realizing operational improvements from restructuring actions taken last year. Corning had a telecommunications restructuring charge in last year's fourth quarter.


Corning also said that it anticipates its second-quarter telecommunications segment sequential sales will increase by 10% to 15%. Optical fiber and cable sales are expected to show strength across North America and China throughout the quarter. Sales of hardware and equipment and private network products are also expected to remain strong.
http://www.corning.comhttp://

eNsemble Multi-Core Alliance Gets Underway

A new eNsemble Multi-Core Alliance has been established to drive innovations in multi-core parallel processing platforms and software development for next-generation enterprise,telecommunications and data center networks.


The eNsemble Multi-Core Alliance said it will serves as a foundation upon which original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can more effectively and more efficiently develop high-performance networking equipment using industry-leading multi-core processors.


Founding members include: 6WIND, Abatron AG, Advantech, AirHop Communications, Aricent, Axentra, BitDefender, BroadWeb Co., Continuous Computing Corporation, CriticalBlue, D2 Technologies, Effnet AB, ENEA AB, JumpGen Systems, Kaspersky Lab, Lanner Group Limited, Macraigor Systems, Mentor Graphics, NetLogic Microsystems, NEXCOM International Co. LTD., Procera Networks, Qosmos, Sensory Networks, Silicom, and TeamF1.
http://www.ensemblealliance.orghttp://

Mexico's MetroNet Deploys Metro 10GE MPLS Ring with Orckit-Corrigent

MetroNet, which provides wholesale fiber optic service for telecommunications carriers in Mexico, has deployed a 10GE MPLS metro ring in Mexico using Orckit-Corrigent's CE+T solution. The recently deployed network upgrade enables MetroNet to bring 10G Ethernet with multilayer OAM and protection mechanisms to its "Carrier of Carriers" network. Financial terms were not disclosed.


MetroNet is using Orckit-Corrigent's standard and interoperable Layer 2 MPLS to deliver scalable and affordable Carrier's Carrier infrastructure, increasing their number of subscribers, services, and Gigabit Ethernet links. Orckit-Corrigent implements Layer 2 MPLS on a carrier Ethernet switch at the first level of metro aggregation.
http://www.orckit.com
http://www.metronet.com.mx/

ESnet Builds GMPLS Optical VPNs with Infinera

ESnet, the high-performance research network operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, is using Infinera's DTN platform to offer optical virtual private networks (OVPNs) to academic and government research institutes.


OVPNs will be designed to enable ESnet users to manage their own virtual private network securely over the shared Infinera infrastructure. In addition, the network will be designed to enable OVPN users to dynamically provision circuits on the network on demand, when and where they need them.


The network topology includes the following: Infinera's DWDM optical systems are General Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS)-enabled. The deployed Layer 2 switches will additionally support OpenFlow, an open standard that provides a standardized interface to add and remove flow table entries in an Ethernet switch. Layer 3 routers currently include small Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-enabled routers, compatible with ESnet's Science Data Network (SDN) running On-demand Secure Circuit and Reservation System or OSCARS.


The Infinera systems support the ability to experiment with multi-domain hybrid networking, enabling research activities targeted at multi-layer, multi-domain control and signaling.


"The ability to isolate and segregate traffic in different control planes for the different types of traffic is key," said Steve Cotter, head of ESnet. "This will allow researchers to test new protocols that can dynamically provision layer 1, 2 or 3 virtual circuits so traffic can be transferred to the most cost-effective layer. We transport very large datasets on our network for climate science and physics. The near term goal is to learn how to identify flows and move them down to the layer where they can be transported with greatest efficiency."


The deployment is part of ESnet's Advanced Network Initiative (ANI) testbed, which is funded by $62 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.


In the next few months, ESnet will be issuing a call for proposals for users to conduct research on the testbed. ESnet is also issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for equipment vendors and service providers to build the next phase of the ANI project; a planned nationwide 100G prototype network that is slated to link three of DOE's major supercomputing centers-- NERSC at Berkeley Lab, the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee-- and MANLAN, the international exchange point in New York.
http://www.lbl.gov/cs/Archive/news042610.htmlhttp://www.infinera.com

Bell Labs Opens Eco-oriented Research Center in Australia

Alcatel-Lucent's research arm, Bell Labs, the University of Melbourne and the Victorian State Government are partnering to establish a research center in Melbourne, Australia that will be devoted to innovation in energy efficient networks and technologies. Specifically, the research will focus on the energy efficiency of network infrastructure elements. Both the University of Melbourne and Bell Labs are members of the GreenTouch initiative, a global, industry-wide consortium formed to achieve a dramatic improvement in energy efficiency by driving a radical redesign of communications networks.


The Victorian-based research facility, to be called the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET), will have a staff of researchers and technology experts that will build to a team of 22 during the next three years. Bell Labs and the University of Melbourne will share governance of the center which will be based at the University.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
http://www.greentouch.org
  • In January 2010, Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs introduced a consortium of leading researchers to create the technologies needed to make communications networks 1000 times more energy efficient than they are today. Specifically, the Green Touch initiative aims to develop and demonstrate fundamental technologies within five years that could lead to radical redesign of how networks are built and operated.


    Researchers at Bell Labs calculate that wireless networks theoretically could be 10,000 times more energy efficient than they are today. Optical networks, in principle, could reach energy efficiency levels even lower than that. Significant efficiency gains could be possible by rethinking and improving transport, circuits, coding and protocols. Working groups will be established in each of these areas. The five year plan is to create a reference network architecture and demonstrations of the key components required to realize this improvement.

Verizon Launches Data Center Consulting Services

Verizon Business has begun offering new Data Center Consulting Services to help enterprise customers around the globe plan and implement effective data center strategies.


Verizon Business' consultants will assist IT departments avoid the potential pitfalls associated with commonly overlooked requirements such as power for heating and cooling, adequate physical and logical security measures, business continuity planning, and the human and capital costs associated with ongoing management.


The portfolio consists of the following services: facility and infrastructure design; facility and infrastructure implementation; facility, infrastructure and application migration; and facility, infrastructure and application consolidation.


"Verizon has offered enterprise-class data center outsourcing and management services for nearly two decades. The launch of Verizon Data Center Consulting Services is a logical extension of our capabilities and will help large-business and government clients better align their data center strategies to support business and sustainability objectives," stated Bart Vansevenant, director -- enterprise solutions development, Verizon Business.
http://www.verizonbusiness.com

Verizon Business Opens New Data Center in Hong Kong

Verizon Business has opened a second data center in Hong Kong to enhance its ability to deliver new cloud and data center services in the region while providing direct access to its global network. The new 3,000-square-meter facility, located in the iTech Tower in Tsuen Wan, will feature reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) technology and provide interconnections with the four main local carriers as well as with Verizon's global network, one of the fastest, most expansive and scalable IP networks in the world.

Verizon operates another data center located in Sino Favour on Hong Kong Island.
http://www.verizon.com

Ixia Scales 10GE Testing on IxN2X Platform

Ixia demonstrated its new NGY high-density 10GE load module running on its recently acquired IxN2X platform. This provides a high-density 10GE traffic generation solution with layer 2-7 packet generation, routing emulation, and application testing functionality. The new NGY 10GE hardware uses the same field-proven architecture as Ixia's legacy IxYukon load modules.


Ixia said this combination of the N2X line and Ixia hardware reinforces its commitment to preserve the IxN2X roadmap. A newly-released 6.13 version of the IxN2X software includes:

  • IEEE 1588 precision timing protocol emulation

  • L2VPN BGP emulation software

  • IPv6 capabilities for PPPoX

  • SIP over IPv6 emulation

  • HDMI Ethernet test capability

  • PVST+ Emulation

  • New high performance controller running 64-bit Windows 2008.
http://www.ixiacom.com
  • In October 2009, Ixia acquired Agilent's N2X Data Networks Product Line for $44 million in cash. The Agilent N2X is a multiservices test solution for validating the performance and scalability characteristics of next-generation network equipment. The platform offers a range of testing scenarios across broadband access, carrier edge and IP/MPLS core. Several N2X 2-slot and 4-slot chassis models are available along with various test cards for SONET/SDH transport, carrier routing, broadband access and enterprise networks and devices.

Aricent Implements Convergent Billing for Nepal Telecom

Nepal Telecom has awarded a three year systems integration contract to Aricent to provide Convergent Mediation and Convergent Interconnect Billing solutions that enable a wide range of next-generation communication services.


Aricent will act as the primary systems integrator for Convergent Mediation and Interconnect solutions, offering supply, delivery, installation and commissioning for systems supporting both pre-paid and post-paid customers.


In support of the agreement, Aricent will be implementing and integrating its Active Mediation System, in conjunction with Intec's InterconnecT software. The engagement also includes post-deployment managed services in support of the converged solution. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Nepal Telecom provides a wide range of telecom services to its existing five million customers in a variety of networks such as Fixed, GSM, CDMA and Data. The company's customer base is estimated to grow to over nine million subscribers in the next three years.
http://www.aricent.com
http://www.ntc.net.np/

Ikanos' CEO Resigns, Company Updates Financial Guidance

Michael Gulett has resigned as CEO and president and as a member of Ikanos Communications.


Diosdado P. Banatao, the chairman of Ikanos' board of directors, has been appointed executive chairman and has assumed the role of interim president and CEO. Banatao has served as the company's Chairman of the board of directors since August 2009, and has served as a managing partner of Tallwood Venture Capital, a venture capital firm, since June 2000. Previously, Banatao served as executive chairman and interim CEO of SiRF Technologies Holdings and as a venture partner at Mayfield Fund.


In addition, Ikanos updated its revenue and earnings outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2010. Ikanos now expects its revenues for the first quarter of 2010 to be in the range of $57.0 million to $58.0 million, and based upon preliminary results, expects non-GAAP gross margins to be the range of 42.5-43.5 percent and non-GAAP operating expenses to be in the range of $22.5 to $23.5 million.
http://www.ikanos.com

Monday, April 26, 2010

Canada's Mobilicity Outsources 3G Management to Ericsson

Ericsson announced a five-year managed network operations contract with Mobilicity (formerly Data & Audio Visual Enterprises Wireless -- (DAVE Wireless), a new carrier that will soon be entering the Canadian market. Mobilicity holds licenses which cover more than half of Canada's population in 10 of the 13 largest markets including Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.

Mobilicity previously selected Ericsson to design and build its 3G network. Ericsson will be responsible for front-and-back-office operations as well as field maintenance in Mobilicity's network. The Mobilicity 3G network will be handled by Ericsson's managed services organization which will provide operational competence and expertise right from market launch.
http://www.ericsson.com
http://www.mobilicity.ca

Tellabs Revenue Rises to $380 million, up 5% YoY

Tellabs reported Q1 2010 revenue of $380 million, up 5% from $362 million in the first quarter of 2009.
On a GAAP basis, Tellabs earned 12 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2010, up from 2 cents
per share in the first quarter of 2009. First-quarter 2010 GAAP net earnings were $45.9 million, compared
with $6.5 million in the year-ago quarter. First-quarter 2010 GAAP net earnings include a $3.4 million
net tax benefit.


Tellabs' GAAP gross profit margin was 50.7% in the first quarter of 2010, compared with 44.2% in the
year-ago quarter.


"By focusing on growth products, and innovating in growth markets such as mobile Internet, Tellabs is
helping customers succeed and achieving profitable revenue growth," said Rob Pullen, Tellabs president
and chief executive officer. "Customer demand for our growth products is improving, as they generated a
record 57% of Tellabs' first-quarter revenue."


Tellabs growth products include the Tellabs 6300, 7100, 7300, 8600, 8800 and 9100 platforms, as well
as Tellabs professional services.


For the first quarter of 2010, Broadband segment revenue was $191 million, up 7% from the year-ago
quarter. Transport segment revenue was $128 million, down 2%. Services segment revenue was $61
million, up 13%.
http://www.tellabs.com

Marvell Introduces Energy Efficient Gigabit Ethernet Silicon

Marvell introduced a new Gigabit Ethernet Switch Platform based on its Prestera family of packet processors and Alaska family of Gigabit transceivers and designed to drive down network Ethernet switch power consumption as much as 70 percent while significantly reducing systems cost.


Specifically, the new Prestera 98DX3130 Ethernet switch and Alaska 88E1545 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver ICs reduce the energy bill for SMB/SMEs by using Marvell's advanced power saving architecture to operate at less than half a watt per Gigabit port at maximum load. The new devices deliver additional power reduction advantages when network traffic is reduced or idle. Both support the emerging IEEE 802.3az Energy-efficient-Ethernet draft standard.


The Prestera 98DX3130 Ethernet switch also supports dedicated 10 Gbps ports between Ethernet switches over either optical or copper media. Fast switch interconnects, also known as stacking, and embedded IPv6 capability reduce management overhead and network operating costs.
http://www.marvell.com

Broadcom Hits Record Revenue of $1.46 Billion in Q1

Broadcom reported record revenue of $1.46 billion for Q1 2010. This represents an increase in net revenue of 8.9% compared with the $1.34 billion reported for the fourth quarter of 2009 and an increase of 71.3% compared with the $853 million reported for the first quarter of 2009.


Net income (GAAP) for the first quarter of 2010 was $210 million, or $.40 per share (diluted), compared with GAAP net income of $59 million, or $.11 per share (diluted), for the fourth quarter of 2009, and a GAAP net loss of $92 million, or $.19 net loss per share (basic and diluted), for the first quarter of 2009.


"Demand for current products, coupled with new product introductions, should enable us to deliver strong sequential growth into the second quarter. Our products for the Home, Hand, and Infrastructure are extremely well positioned to deliver sustained profitable growth and will benefit from both improved global demand and the increasing role of communications in a connected world."http://www.broadcom.com

Xilinx Unveils ARM-Based Processing Architecture

Xilinx introduced a new Extensible Processing Platform architecture that leverages ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processors for embedded systems. The Xilinx Extensible Processing Platform presents a processor-centric design and development approach for achieving high compute and processing horsepower required to drive tasks involving high-speed access to real-time inputs, high-performance processing and complex digital signal processing.



"Today's embedded software developer is being tasked to build complex applications that require tremendous levels of system performance, and they need to deliver that performance within tightly managed cost, schedule and power budgets," said Vin Ratford, Xilinx Senior Vice President for Worldwide Marketing and Business Development. "By creating an architecture within a familiar ARM processor-based development framework, this new Extensible Processing Platform can be the engine of innovation for many design teams held back today by performance bottlenecks."


Xilinx said its Extensible Processing Platform is especially relevant for next-generation wireless base stations, which can leverage parallel processing of 4G signals in combination with multiuser data management on Cortex A9 processors - all in a small, power-efficient, cost-effective integrated solution. Because the platform is extensible, developers have the flexibility to implement future equipment updates and performance upgrades of both hardware and software.
http://www.xilinx.com

Ixia offers Energy Efficiency Testing

Ixia has upgraded its iSimCity facility in Santa Clara, California to now provide green IT testing.


The testing uses Ixia's IxGreen suite, which has recently been upgraded to include the Telecommunications Energy Efficiency Ratio (TEER) measurement defined by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS).
http://www.ixiacom.com/

Conexant Posts Revenue of $62 Million

Conexant reported quarterly revenues of $61.9 million, exceeding the company's financial guidance. GAAP gross margins were 61.1 percent of revenues. GAAP operating expenses were $26.9 million. GAAP net income including discontinued operations was $10.9 million, or $0.15 per diluted share.


"During the quarter we completed the financial restructuring of our company, which was one of our highest priorities," Scott Mercer, Conexant's chairman and chief executive officer said.
http://www.conexant.com

Mellanox Launches InfiniBand-Ethernet-Fibre Channel Gateway

Mellanox Technologies launched its BridgeX BX5020, an InfiniBand to Ethernet and/or Fibre Channel gateway system in a 1 RU box. The BX5020, in conjunction with ConnectX-2 Adapters, enables Enterprise Data Centers, Cloud and High Performance Computing server clusters to share the same fabric for computing, networking and storage traffic.


Mellanox said its new gateway enables InfiniBand's inherent bandwidth and latency performance, QoS, and scalability benefits to transparently apply to Ethernet and Fibre Channel deployments. Some product highlights:

  • Four 40Gb/s InfiniBand server switch facing ports


  • Up to 12 10GigE LAN and iSCSI SAN facing ports


  • Up to 16 1/2/4/8Gb/s Fibre Channel SAN facing ports


  • A flexible mix of Ethernet and Fibre Channel ports


  • Ultra low-latency gateway system with less than 200ns latency between InfiniBand and Ethernet or Fibre Channel


  • Support for virtual I/O and a large number of virtual machines through instantiation of up to 8000 virtual NICs and HBAs.
http://www.mellanox.com

ZTE Reports Q1 Revenue of US$1.94 Billion, up 14% YoY

ZTE Corporation reported Q1 2010 revenue of RMB 13.26 billion (about US$1.94 billion, up 13.6% from RMB 11.67 billion for the same period last year. The Group reported a net profit of RMB 109.86 million (US$16 million) in the three months ended 31 March 2010, up 39.68% from RMB 78.66 million in the same period last year.


The company observed that investments in telecommunications equipment in the domestic market remained stable during the quarter, with mobile network construction and optical communication equipment accounting for a major share of the capital expenditure of carriers. In the international market, the impact of the financial crisis was waning, and the Group was presented with more opportunities as some equipment manufacturers left the mainstream market.


By product category, ZTE's business segment of carriers' networks reported 0.9% growth compared with the same period last year, driven mainly by revenue from the sales of optical communication products and wireline switch and access products. The terminal segment reported sales growth of 41.8% year-on-year, attributable mainly to the rapid growth in the sales of high-end products featuring mainly 3G handsets. Revenue from telecommunications software systems, services and other products also grew by 40.8%, reflecting mainly growth in revenue from enterprise network products and servicing products.
http://www.zte.com.cn

FCC's Spectrum Task Force Gets Underway

The FCC announced the launch of the Spectrum Task Force under the National Broadband Plan. Julius Knapp, Chief of the Office of Engineering Technology, and Ruth Milkman, Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, will co-chair the cross-agency working group.


The Task Force will include the Chiefs of the Enforcement, International, Media, and Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureaus, as well as the Chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis.
http://www.fcc.gov

Netronome Clocks 200 Gbps of L2-L7 Network Flow Processing

Netronome unveiled its Network Flow Processing Platform, which combines its latest generation of network flow processors with Intel Xeon 5600 CPUs to deliver 200 Gbps of programmable L2-L7 networking performance in compact 1U and 2U form factors.


Netronome's heterogeneous multicore processing architecture provides independent layers of workload-optimized packet, flow, security and application processing to dramatically increase network performance. Simultaneously, it frees IA/x86 resources to provide more application and control plane processing.

Because the platform is based on standard Intel-based CPUs, developers of Linux-based network and security applications can significantly reduce development time and costs. Highlights of the Netronome Network Flow Processing Platforms include:

  • Application performance -- up to 200 Gbps of network and security application performance with sub-100 microsecond latency.


  • Configurable network interfaces -- offering 200 Gbps of modular front-facing network interfaces with integrated network resiliency hardware including 10/100/1000, 10-Gigabit and 40-Gigabit Ethernet.


  • System scalability -- through a 40 Gbps clustering module, traffic can be balanced across any number of devices for extremely high-throughput and compute-intensive workloads.


  • Rapid development -- standard Linux-based applications can quickly and seamlessly take advantage of these capabilities through C-based APIs and a fully integrated development environment that includes a C-compiler, powerful simulation environment, extensive software libraries and sample applications.


  • Programmable L2-L7 flow processing -- up to 480 Gbps of L2-L4 packet processing; line-rate, stateful L4-L7 flow processing; and accelerated security processing for bulk cryptography and PKI operations.


  • Enhanced I/O virtualization -- for application and control plane traffic requiring bandwidth guarantees and traffic isolation in virtual environments, to over two thousand x86 endpoints and other networking devices.
http://www.netronome.com

Spirent and EANTC Test Cloud Computing Performance

Spirent Communications and the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) demonstrated a dynamic cloud computing test environment that benchmarks the performance, availability, security and scalability (PASS) of private, public and hybrid clouds.
Some of the key findings of this test include:

  • Cloud computing service providers are not equal. At different workloads, service providers show different performance levels.

  • Traditional network SLAs have to be re-examined as companies transition to a hybrid cloud computing model

  • Distributed virtual switches are proving to be reliable during service disruptions and upgrades, taking only a few seconds to transfer services across physical resources

  • Convergence of SAN and LAN with Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) delivered the required performance for storage

  • Virtualization and high-speed Ethernet enable high availability with fast convergence times during live migration but the impact on application performance is a concern.


"To reap the full benefit of cloud computing, it is critical to understand the requirements of the cloud computing framework across key network attributes such as performance, security, availability and scalability," said Carsten Rossenhoevel, managing director, EANTC. "Spirent has partnered with us to stage an innovative test evaluating private and public cloud performance in the real world. We are excited to publish the results of this industry-first test of public cloud providers."http://www.spirent.com/cloudtestinghttp://www.eantc.com

Nokia Debuts N8 SmartPhone

Nokia unveiled its N8 Symbian ^3 smartphone, featuring a multi-touch screen, a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and the ability to record and play HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. Nokia said it is using a new 2D and 3D graphics architecture to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface.


Connectivity includes WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g/n; BT3.0 with support for stereo headsets; and positioning with GPS, A-GPS, WLAN and Cell-ID.


The N8 is expected to be available in select markets during Q3 at an estimated retail price of EUR 370.
http://www.nokia.com

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Actelis Networks Names Vivek Ragavan as CEO

Actelis Networks named Vivek Ragavan as its new CEO and president. Ragavan has previously served as CEO at Atrica and Redback Networks. Other executive positions held by Ragavan include CEO of Siara Systems, president of the residential broadband group at ADC Telecommunications, and vice president of engineering at General Instrument.


Tuvia Barlev, the long-standing CEO and president at Actelis, will remain active with the company as executive chairman of the board. Barlev co-founded Actelis Networks in 1998, along with current board director Kamran Elahian. http://www.actelis.com

Cyan Offers Multi-Layer Network Management with 3D Heat Maps

Cyan, a start-up offering multi-layer optical transport system, introduced new tools for improving network planning, operations, performance and revenue opportunities.

CyMS Release 2.3 features three-dimensional "heat maps" which indicate changing network conditions before services are impacted. The three-dimensional representation indicates alarms, configuration-errors, congestion, and even capacity utilization.

Cyan's multi-layer transport platforms modularly combine packet, TDM and optical add / drop multiplexer, cross-connect and transport functionality. The systems can be configured as basic 10G Ethernet, SONET or SDH edge aggregation and add/drop multiplexer systems or modularly scaled when and where needed to enable DWDM with highly advanced multi-layer packet, TDM and optical switching, aggregation and multiplexing both within and between technologies and network layers.



The company said a key advantage of its technology is the ability to provide an integrated and operationally unified view of the multiple virtual layers which comprise the complete network. Scalable networks are fundamentally multi-layer in nature. Each network is comprised of fibers, often located in conduits. Each fiber carries one or more wavelengths and multiple layers of aggregation and transport services operate over each wavelength to deliver a variety of voice, video and data services. Historically, these multiple network layers have been planned, implemented and operated as independent layers.


Release 2.3 of Cyan's multi-layer network management systems goes beyond three-dimensional displays of the various technology layers to provide visual indications of network locations and layers that may be experiencing varying forms of degradation or resource utilization that warrant operator action.


Proactively, the CyMS with multi-layer heat maps provide operators with a visual indication of various network parameters such as capacity utilization of a given service or technology layer at various nodes and spans.
http://www.cyanoptics.com

Tata Communications Opens Moscow POP

Tata Communications has expanded its global network with the opening of a local Moscow point of presence.


Tata Communications owns and operates one of the world's largest private sub-sea cable networks, enabling it to reach over 1,600 wholesale customers, 10,000 enterprise customers and more than 600 mobile operators. Thisnow includes over 100 service providers in Russia and CIS that are serviced from the Moscow office.


Multiple services from its Moscow location will integrate seamlessly into the company's next generation network and IP/MPLS and Ethernet infrastructure for onward national and regional connectivity. The company's MPLS network reaches 67 countries together with its VNO network that reaches 194 countries.
http://www.tatacommunications.com

ZTE Supplies IMS Core Network for China Mobile

China Mobile has selected ZTE to supply equipment for an IMS core network. The China Mobile's commercial IMS network will boast 1.4 million lines when it is completed over the next three months.


The IMS network will enable China Mobile to quickly launch fixed/mobile convergence services, such as Converged Centrex, Converged One Number, Multimedia CRBT and Converged Conferencing.


"This is a brand-new beginning of strategic cooperation in next generation core network field between China Mobile and ZTE. Our innovative and complete IMS solution helps China Mobile to provide cutting-edge converged services,expanding its business especially in enterprise market space," said Mr. Wang Xiaoqiang, Vice President of Core Network, ZTE Corporation.
http://www.zte.com.cn

Accton Selects Xelerated for GigE Fiber Access Products

Taiwan-based Accton Technology Corp. has selected Xelerated's programmable Ethernet switching silicon for new ODM products aimed at the unified fiber access market.


The two companies are bringing to market Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) access switches based on Xelerated's silicon and data plane software with Accton's system level product and production expertise.


Xelerated and Accton are showcasing their first product, a Gigabit Ethernet fiber access switch at this week's Interop show in Las Vegas.


The design provides a service density of 44 GE point-to-point access ports and four 10GE uplink ports in one rack unit space. The data plane is based on Xelerated's unified fiber access software, which supports point-to-point Ethernet, PON and mobile backhaul applications.
http://www.xelerated.com
http://www.accton.com

Ceragon Networks Report Sharp Revenue Rise for Mobile Backhaul

Ceragon Networks reported record Q1 2010 revenue of $59.7 million, up 36% from $43.9 million for the first quarter of 2009 and up 12% from $53.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Net income (GAAP) was $3.0 million or $0.09 per basic share and $0.08 per diluted share, compared to net income of $0.2 million in the first quarter of 2009, or $0.01 per basic and diluted share.


Ceragon supplies high-capacity, LTE/4G-ready wireless backhaul equipment.


Geographic breakdown of revenue:


EMEA -- 23%

North America -- 21%

Asia Pacific -- 53%

Latin America -- 3%


"The year is off to a very strong start in part because we were able to recognize revenue from some turnkey projects earlier than originally expected," said Ira Palti, President and CEO of Ceragon. http://www.ceragon.com/

TI joins HomeGrid Forum's Board

Texas Instruments has joined the HomeGrid Forum board of directors to contribute to this worldwide standardization effort through the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU-T) G.hn organization.


ITU-T recently commissioned G.hnem, a new project within G.hn, intended to address the home networking, electric vehicle communications and grid access aspects of energy management. G.hnem will look to learn from existing Low Frequency Narrowband OFDM (LF NB OFDM) technologies.


"AMI, home networking and electric vehicle communications are critical smart grid applications, and low frequency narrowband PLC is essential to not only enabling the technologies, but also to realizing their full benefits. Texas Instruments will bring extensive experience from its involvement in the leading European PLC initiatives, PRIME and G3, to the G.hnem effort," said Emmanuel Sambuis, general manager for TI's metering business. "To eliminate fragmentation in the industry, TI sees HomeGrid and ITU-T as essential partners with other standards organizations, and together we will help achieve worldwide harmonization that will drive low cost, low power dissipation and high-reliability for smart grid solutions."


"G.hn and G.hnem have the ability to connect hundreds of end products in and outside of the home, allowing manufacturers and service providers to overcome traditional challenges while enabling new functionality," said Matthew Theall, president, HomeGrid Forum.
http://www.ti.com/smartmetering-hgfhttp://www.homegridforum.org

Extreme Networks Posts Revenue of $78 Million

Extreme Networks reported quarterly revenue of $78.2 million, which was in line with company guidance, and compares to revenue of $79.4 million in the previous quarter and $77.2 million in the third quarter of last year. Net income on a GAAP basis was $3.7 million or $0.04 per diluted share, which included a restructuring charge of $0.4 million and a charge of approximately $1.4 million related to stock based compensation. That compares to a net loss of $1.4 million or $0.02 per diluted share in the previous quarter, and a net loss of $2.2 million or $0.02 per diluted share for the same period last year.


"Third quarter revenue reflected solid performance in North America, where product revenue increased 30% from the second quarter, reversing a historic pattern of sequential revenue declines as we executed to our target for the quarter," said Bob L. Corey, CFO and acting President & CEO of Extreme Networks. "We also posted positive net income and grew revenue-per-employee to the highest level since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.
http://www.extremenetworks.com

Verizon: No Record of Traffic Blocking in U.S.

In an FCC filing, Verizon argues that no new U.S. government regulations are needed to ensure an open Internet. Based on the public record of comments and testimony amassed by the FCC during its Open Internet regulatory proceeding, there is no evidence or pattern of blocking access to websites, anti-competitive discrimination, or any other harmful behavior by U.S. broadband Internet access providers.


Verizon believes that no evidence has emerged of a failure in the marketplace that would justify sweeping Internet regulations.


"The Internet has historically been governed largely through the efforts of the Internet community in the form of technical standards bodies and other self-regulatory measures such as the development of industry best practices," Verizon told the commission. "That model should be built upon by creating additional technical and industry groups with the requisite technical expertise that can address problems that do arise, develop industry best practices, and provide a forum to help resolve disputes, much as the Better Business Bureau oversees an alternative dispute resolution mechanism [concerning advertising]."


To guard against potential bad actors in the Internet sector, Verizon said government should address "demonstrated harm to users or to competition on a swift and surgical basis based on an 'ex post' finding of specific facts involved in a particular incident where industry mechanisms are unable to resolve the conduct at issue."


Verizon said the Internet has thrived "because successive administrations of both parties have resisted the urge to regulate."http://www.verizon.com

Brocade Tunes its Application Broker for Virtualized Data Centers

Brocade released new software for its Application Resource Broker that provides visibility into application performance across a data center and related network and virtual machine (VM) infrastructures. The goal it to help ensure application service level agreements (SLA) are met by dynamically allocating additional resources to service increases in application load. The Brocade Application Resource Broker offers monitoring, decision-making and application-centric reporting features delivered as a plug-in for the VMware vSphere administrative interface. This VMware plug-in can determine in real-time if application resources are meeting user demand. Using its policy-based decision engine, the Application Resource Broker can log events and alert administrators to potentially inadequate application resources. Using those same policies, it can automatically provision additional application VM instances and application delivery controller resources to service user demand, and de-provision the VM instances and resources when demand subsides.


Brocade also unveiled a new ServerIron ADX 1008-1 model, adding an entry-level platform to the ServerIron ADX 1000 Series. The Brocade ServerIron ADX 1000 Series features software-enabled capacity on-demand that doubles or quadruples device performance without hardware upgrades. Brocade also introduced a software release that enables IPv6-to-IPv4 gateway functionality for application delivery to IPv6 clients, Layer 7 switching and application delivery services for the Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol, and predictive load balancing functionality based on real-time application performance measurements.
http://www.brocade.com

Allied Telesis Shows Stackable, Eco-Friendly Access Switches

Allied Telesis
introduced its AT-8100 Series of stackable, access edge switches with energy-efficiency features.


The AT-8100 Series combines advanced layer 2+ and basic layer 3 features with a range of connectivity options from copper to fiber. The switches support the latest security features required at the edge of the network and is designed to interoperate with Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP). Various models offer 24- and 48-port Fast Ethernet stackable platforms with PoE and non-PoE ports. All PoE ports support the IEEE 802.3at (PoE+) 30W standard, which enables their use in video surveillance and/or other outdoor connectivity applications. Dual fixed redundant power supplies, a first for this class of product, come as standard on all but the smallest model.


Allied Telesis emphasized the power efficiency of its new series, saying the platform were designed now only to reduce energy across idle links, but to reduce energy consumption in other areas -- such as power supplies -- not covered by the latest Ethernet standards.


"Reducing power consumption and thermal footprint was a major consideration in the development of this product line," said Dael Bartlett, product strategy and marketing director, Allied Telesis. "Energy efficiency combined with access security and support for next-generation protocols such as IPv6 are critical to sustainable systems for the office, classroom, or factory floor. We are excited about the result because we have achieved significant power savings."http://www.allied-telesis.comhttp://

Allied Telesis Debuts Core SwitchBlade

Allied Telesis introduced its SwitchBlade 6000S Series family of multilayer switches for core networks.


The chassis-based platform, which is designed for large enterprise and service-provider networks, provides the ability to scale to terabit switching capacity in a modular fashion. Separate modules are dedicated to both device management and packet processing. With this architecture, the packet forwarding engine is implemented in common switching control unit. Multiple switching modes are thus possible.


Allied Telesis said that it designed this platform especially for networks migrating from IPv4 to IPv6, and for where hybrid topologies are required. In addition, the SwitchBlade 6000S Series supports virtual routing functionality (VRF) to enable distinct networks to work together as one system. For example, in the case of a merger or acquisition, this chassis can map two networks seamlessly despite overlapping Internet protocol (IP) addresses.


"The SwitchBlade 6000S Series is the next step in our evolution as a conscientious innovator responding to the needs of our customers," said Dael Bartlett, product strategy and marketing director, Allied Telesis. "We have always had a strong set of solutions at the edge of the network, and the introduction of the Switchblade 6000S Series adds to the network core the same level of reliability and capabilities our customers have experienced in our access and aggregation devices."


The base chassis systems are available in three sizes, providing the appropriate port density and bandwidth depending on specific customer requirements.
http://www.alliedtelesis.com

Netronome Accelerates L2-L7 Packet and Flow Processing

Netronome introduced its Network Flow Engine (NFE-3240) family of PCIe 2.0 acceleration cards for providing line-rate programmable L2-L7 packet and flow processing. The cards are designed for use by network and security appliances that require high performance and low latency, as well as highly-virtualized multicore servers.


The NFE-3240 acceleration cards are powered by Netronome's 40 Gbps NFP-3240 network flow processor and are available with two 10-gigabit Ethernet or six 1-gigabit Ethernet ports.


Netronome calculates that its NFE-3240 delivers a 10 times performance increase over standard network interface cards in x86-based appliances and servers. Several techniques are used to improve network I/O workloads, including packet classification, stateful flow analysis, deep packet inspection, integrated security processing and dynamic load balancing of flows across a virtualized PCIe datapath to multiple x86 CPU cores.


The company said its NFE-3240 is ideal for line-rate packet capture or inline applications requiring zero packet loss and low latency. Linux-based applications benefit from a heterogeneous multicore architecture that couples the application processing power of multicore x86 with the high-throughput networking capabilities of the NFE-3240. The heterogeneous multicore architecture allows the NFE-3240 to remove networking workloads that degrade x86 performance, enabling the x86 to provide more resources to application and control plane processing. Benefits of the NFE-3240 include:

  • Programmable L2-L7 flow processing -- offering 1,800 instructions per packet at 30 million packets per second, delivered by 40 multithreaded, RISC microengine cores running at 1.4 GHz.


  • Line-rate networking performance -- for packet capture, flow processing and deep packet inspection across all packet sizes.


  • Integrated security processing -- for 20 Gbps of line-rate cryptography and 20 thousand PKI operations per second.


  • Enhanced IOV support -- offering bandwidth guarantees and traffic isolation, with extremely low latency, to over two thousand x86 endpoints and other networking devices.


  • Comprehensive development tools -- including easy-to-integrate C-based APIs or a fully integrated development environment that includes a C-compiler, powerful simulation environment, extensive software libraries and sample applications.


  • Energy efficient design -- offering energy savings from the industry's highest BIPs (billion instructions per second) per watt, providing over 70 percent reduction in power consumption over existing designs.


"Internet traffic continues to rise at dramatic rates and manufacturers of network and security appliances aim to keep pace, while offering greater levels of intelligence," said Niel Viljoen, founder and CEO of Netronome. "Combining the NFE-3240 with multicore x86 processors, designers can scale their applications to 40 Gbps and beyond while maintaining the benefits of standard x86 systems."http://www.netronome.com

Two Minute Video -- Network Acceleration with Heterogeneous Multicore Processing



Presented by Daniel Proch, Netronome
http://www.netronome.com

Thursday, April 22, 2010

FCC Recommends Public Safety Network Leverage Commercial Rollouts

The FCC issued a detailed report recommending that the public safety network for first responders that is called for in the National Broadband Report be built alongside next gen commercial networks rather than as separate infrastructure. This approach would cost approximately $6.5 billion over 10 years, significantly less than the projected $15.7 billion in capital costs associated with building a stand-alone public safety network.


In addition, the FCC's analysis indicates that to build and operate a stand-alone public safety network would be substantially more expensive than a network constructed under the FCC's recommended incentive-based approach. The study projects $12 to $16 billion in network costs for upgrades and operations within the first 10 years of the network's existence, while the cost for a stand-alone public safety network over the same 10-year period is projected at $25 billion.


"It is vitally important that we move forward with our plan to solve the public safety communications crisis that was exposed on 9/11 and during hurricanes Katrina and Rita," said Jamie Barnett, Chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.
http://www.fcc.gov

FCC Establishes New Emergency Response Interoperability Center

The FCC has established a new Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) under the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) with the mission of promoting nationwide operability and interoperability in
wireless broadband communications for America's first responders.


Operating under the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB), ERIC will work closely with industry, commercial providers, manufacturers and standards setting groups to ensure interoperability and operability on the new network.


The FCC's recently released National Broadband Plan recommended a framework to create a nationwide interoperable wireless broadband network for public safety. ERIC's mission is to adopt and implement:

  • Technical requirements and procedures for ensuring a nationwide level of interoperability;


  • Mechanisms to address operability, roaming, priority access, gateway functions and interfaces, and interconnectivity of public safety broadband wireless networks; and


  • Authentication and encryption requirements for common public safety broadband
    applications and network usage.


The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be instrumental in the functions of the ERIC.http://http://

Ericsson's Q1: Network Sales Decline as Global Services Rises

Ericsson's Group sales in Q1 2010 declined 9% year-over-year with lower sales in Networks but with an increase of 3% year-over-year in Global Services. Sales for comparable units, adjusted for currency exchange rate effects and hedging, declined -16% year-over-year. Gross margin, excluding restructuring, improved year-over-year to 39% (36%) due to efficiency gains and product mix.


Ericsson's share in earnings of joint ventures, before tax, amounted to SEK -0.3 (-2.2) b. excluding restructuring charges, compared to SEK -0.4 b. in the fourth quarter. Sequentially, Sony Ericsson improved sales and margins significantly due to efficiency programs and new products, while ST-Ericsson's loss increased mainly due to lower sales and seasonality. Restructuring charges in joint ventures were SEK 0.1 b in the quarter.


Some highlights for the quarter:

  • Networks' sales in the quarter declined by -14% year-over-year, positively impacted by CDMA sales.
    However, tight industry component supply conditions affected sales in the quarter. This was more than
    offset by the acquired CDMA operations.

  • Voice related sales, such as 2G access and core continued to decline. Increased mobile broadband
    (3G) sales, including radio, mobile backhaul and packet core, partly offset this impact.

  • Global Services sales grew 3% year-over-year and declined -22% sequentially. Professional Services sales
    increased 4% year-over-year and in local currencies growth amounted to 12% year-over-year. Managed
    Services sales in the quarter increased by 17% year-over-year.

  • Network Rollout sales increased 3% year-over-year.

  • There is a continued good demand for services targeting the operational efficiency of operators, such
    as managed services, systems integration and consulting. Services related to 2G voice sales
    developed unfavorably.

  • Multimedia sales in the quarter decreased by -29% year-over-year and -31% sequentially, due to continued
    slower sales of revenue management solutions in regions Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and South
    East Asia and Oceania. Sales in multimedia brokering (IPX) were also somewhat slower.
    The TV business continued to show good development with strong demand for compression technology and
    IPTV solutions.

  • Sony-Ericsson shipped 10.5 million units in the quarter, a decrease of 28% year-over-year. Sales in the quarter were EUR 1,405 million, a decrease of 19% year-over- year.

  • ST-Ericsson's net sales in the quarter showed a -18% decrease sequentially, due to the impact of the ongoing
    portfolio transition, to seasonal effects as well as the number of days in the quarter.


Market Observations and Milestones


  • Global mobile data traffic has surpassed voice traffic.


  • In addition, 3G/WCDMA traffic has surpassed GSM traffic.


  • Ericsson's findings show that mobile data traffic globally grew 280% during the last two years
    and is forecast to double annually over the next five years. The data traffic growth is contributing to
    operator revenue growth as more and more consumers use data traffic generating devices, such
    as smartphones and laptops.


  • Mobile subscriptions grew by 184 million in the quarter to a total of 4.8 billion, returning to higher growth levels.


  • Global mobile penetration is now 70%.


  • China and India alone accounted for 44% of net mobile additions in Q1 2010 with 28 and
    53 million respectively.


  • The global number of new WCDMA subscriptions grew by 39 million in the quarter to a total of 490 million, of
    which 225 million are estimated to be HSPA. In the fourth quarter 2009, fixed broadband connections
    grew to 457 million, adding 19 million subscribers.
http://www.ericsson.com

SES-1 Successfully Launched from Kazakhstan

SES-1, a hybrid C- and Ku-band spacecraft that will provide coverage over the United States, was successfully roared into space on board a Proton Breeze M booster from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation and is owned an operated by SES WORLD SKIES. The spacecraft is poised to be the 42nd satellite in SES' global fleet.


The spacecraft carries 24 active C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders of 36 MHz capacity each. Six of the channels in each band can be cross-strapped to the opposite band, enabling new service capability.
http://www.ses.com

Equinix Opens Second IBX Data Center in Amsterdam

Equinix is ready to open its new Amsterdam (AM2) International Business Exchange (IBX) data center, which has been under development since November 2009. The first phase represents an expected investment of approximately $40.0 million and provides 480 cabinets equivalents. The second phase is targeted for completion during the third quarter of 2010 and is expected to provide an additional 520 cabinets equivalents. A third phase, to be timed to meet market demand, will provide an additional 500 cabinet equivalents.


Equinix noted that its new AM2 IBX data center represents its fourth facility in The Netherlands, including two IBX data centers located in Enschede and Zwolle, and is part of the company's $2.0 billion investment to expand operations between 2007 and 2010.
http://www.equinix.com