Infinera Targets 100G Coherent System for 2012

Infinera disclosed plans to release next-generation optical systems based on 100 Gbps coherent transmission in 2012. The company's product development team has been working on both 40G and 100G solutions, including key optical and electrical enabling technologies. Recently, the engineering team demonstrated the transmission of a 100G signal over 1600 kilometers of fiber using coherent modulation technology. This milestone has enabled Infinera to accelerate its timetable for a 100G solution.


The new 100G systems will be based on Infinera's next-generation photonic integrated circuits (PICs), which integrate the functionality of hundreds of optical devices to provide 500 Gbps) of optical capacity on a single pair of chips (500G PICs). Infinera said these coherent detection systems will push ultra-long-haul fiber capacity to 8 Tbps.


Infinera is also planning to add non-PIC based coherent capability to its DTN system in 2011, to meet the needs of customers who require a 40G solution.


"We expect that Infinera's 100G system will reach the market at a time that enables 100G mass adoption," said Infinera CEO Tom Fallon. "In addition, Infinera 100G networks will offer very significant competitive advantages. Advanced features like digital bandwidth management and Bandwidth VirtualizationTM, which customers expect from Infinera, will continue to deliver valuable benefits in our intelligent networks. We believe that traditional muxponder-based DWDM systems become even more inefficient when carrying a wide range of lower-speed services over 100G wavelengths."http://www.infinera.com

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FCC Issues Pole Attachment Order

The FCC issued an Order clarifying the statutory right of communications providers to use the same space- and cost-saving techniques that pole owners use, such as placing attachments on both sides of a pole. The Order also establishes that attachers have a statutory right to timely access to poles.


The FCC is also seeking public comment on revising pole attachment rates to make them as low and as close to
uniform as possible, reducing the disparity between current telecom and cable rates. The FCC said the current practice of different rates for different types of firms using the same space on a pole makes little sense when the cost of providing the space is the same to the utility pole owner. Disparate rates can affect investment decisions and product offerings, resulting in fewer competitive choices for consumers.


"The National Broadband Plan demonstrated that the U.S. is lagging globally in
broadband, and that rapid progress is essential to our global competitiveness and to U.S. world
leadership in innovation in the 21st century. The National Broadband Plan also demonstrated that
there's no silver bullet to achieve these goals -- indeed, that many key rules and policies will
involve the 'blood and guts' of broadband deployment. Our Order today is in this category -- I
believe it will yield real results for real people: faster, cheaper, and more widely available
broadband," stated FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.http://http://

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Tektronix Debuts Iris Performance Intelligence

Tektronix Communications unveiled its Iris Performance Intelligence (IPI) solution for end-to-end analysis and reporting capabilities combined with a KPI/KQI modeling engine that allows operators to better link desired business outcomes to events that occur at the network level.


The IPI is designed to provide multiple departments within an operator the ability to monitor and report on applications using a real-time and historic KPI dashboard. This provides the capability to identify network, service and IP performance issues, drill-down to their root cause, and proactively fix the issue before customers are even aware there is a problem. IPI allows multiple departments within an operator to develop their own Key Quality Indicators based on the industry standard categories of accessibility, retention, integrity and performance.


Applications within IPI include voice and data applications such as Web Browsing, E-mail, SMS, MMS and other services traversing on the data/IP network. User-defined applications can be associated to specific URLs, IP addresses and port numbers, application protocols and APNs. IPI can also monitor the performance of key network elements associated with legacy, 3G and 4G/IP networks.


"Realizing that every customer and every network is different, Tektronix Communications developed its Iris Performance Intelligence solution to enable specialized user workflows for unprecedented speed and efficiency in proactive network management and root cause path analysis," said Mark Driedger, vice president and general manager of Tektronix Communications' Network Management business.
http://www.tektronixcommunications.com/iris

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Alcatel-Lucent's LTE Supports Live Video Feed for Sail Boat Race

Alcatel-Lucent LTE network solution is supported a live, broadcast video feed of the World Match Racing Tour's German Grand Prix, an international sailing boat race being held this week on Lake Constance, Germany.


Live feeds from Formula-1 and cycling races, soccer games or track and field events are common today. However, the effort involved to get all video shots transmitted to the production studio is significant. Expensive satellite links, proprietary trunk radio systems, and even helicopters with mobile radio antennas are used for this very complex and costly operation.


Alcatel-Lucent said this sailing event demonstrates the LTE technology can replace a traditional set-up for streaming video. For this project, Alcatel-Lucent has set up a complete end-to-end network covering the 4-5 km racing event area -- spanning Lake Constance, Kressbronn as well as the city of Langenargen where the TV production centre is located.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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The SIP Forum and i3 Forum Partner on Fax Interoperability

The SIP Forum and the i3 Forum are collaborating to spur the interoperability of SIP-based carrier services, including Fax-over-Internet-Protocol (FoIP) interoperability on a global basis.


The partnership brings together two premier organizations tasked with similar missions -- to accelerate the deployment of IP-based communications worldwide -- but with different stakeholder communities. The SIP Forum features a broad membership of primarily telecom applications, services, and infrastructure vendors, as well as a growing list of US-based cable operators and service providers. The i3 Forum's global membership focuses on international service providers.


As done since last January, the SIP Forum leadership and its FoIP Task Group will continue working with i3 Forum membership committees on joint technical initiatives pertaining to FoIP. Collectively, the two groups will address key interoperability issues pertaining to the deployment of fax services, specifically ITU-T T.38, in SIP-based networks. The challenges surrounding IP-based fax and the use of T.38 make it difficult for users to determine if T.38 can or will work reliably and thus offer a viable alternative to traditional TDM-based fax transport.
http://www.sipforum.orhttp://www.i3forum.org

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FCC Releases Wireless Competition Report

Average monthly mobile voice usage in the U.S. has declined as data usage has soared, according to the FCC's newly released 14th annual report on the state of competition in the mobile wireless industry.


Industry concentration has increased over the past five years, with the two largest providers, AT&T and
Verizon Wireless, now controlling 60 percent of both subscribers and revenue and gaining share
(accounting for 12.3 million net additions in 2008 and 14.1 million during 2009).


The coverage analysis suggests that approximately 284 million people, or 99.6 percent of the U.S. population, are served by one or more mobile voice providers. Approximately 281 million people, or 98.6 percent of the population, are served by at least two mobile voice providers.


The study also indicates that U.S. consumers pay relatively more on a monthly basis than most other countries but also consume more airtime and enjoy lower unit rates.


Some additional trends highlighted in the report:


Innovation in and around devices and applications: Handset manufacturers have introduced a
growing number of new smartphones -- 67 in 2008 and 2009 -- that provide mobile Internet
access and other data services, and provide many of the functionalities of personal computers.


Transition to a data-centric market: Data traffic has grown significantly, with the increased
adoption of smartphones and data consumption per device.


Role of spectrum for mobile broadband: Especially as mobile wireless broadband usage grows, access to spectrum becomes increasingly important for competition. While many wireless service providers have access to significant amounts of mobile spectrum, most of the spectrum below 1 GHz, in both the cellular band and the 700 MHz band, is not widely held.


Maturation of the mobile voice segment: As of the end of 2008, 90 percent of Americans had a mobile wireless device.


Continued industry concentration: There appears to be increasing concentration in the mobile wireless market. One widely-used measure of industry concentration indicates that concentration has increased 32 percent since 2003 and 6.5 percent in 2008.


Robust capital investment but declining relative to industry size: Providers continue to invest significant capital in networks, despite the recent economic downturn. One source reports capital investment at around $25 billion in both 2005 and 2008, while another shows that capital investment declined from around $25 billion to around $20 billion during the same period.


As noted by Commissioners Robert McDowell and Meredith Attwell Baker, for the first time since 2003, the report omitted the conclusion that the wireless marketplace is "effectively competitive." On this point, Kathleen Grillo, Verizon senior vice president of federal regulatory affairs, commented: "The U.S. has the most intensely competitive wireless market on the planet, and it's becoming more competitive by the day. New devices and new apps hit the market constantly. Prices keep falling and usage keeps rising."


http://www.fcc.gov

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Brocade Posts Revenue of $501 Million, Down 7% Sequentially

Brocade
recorded quarterly revenues of $501 million, down 7.1% sequentially or a decrease of one percent year-over-year, resulting in a diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.05 on a GAAP basis and $0.13 on a non-GAAP basis.


"Q2 was highlighted by a strong recovery in our Ethernet business, particularly in the Federal sector, which grew over 160% sequentially. The quarter highlights also included robust end-user demand for our storage networking products, measured on a sell-through basis, driven by positive macro trends such as the growth of the Fibre Channel market," said Michael Klayko, CEO of Brocade.
http://www.brocade.com

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SITA Selected BroadSoft's BroadWorks

SITA, which provides communications and IT solutions for the air transport sector, has selected BroadSoft's BroadWorks platform for its hosted communications services.


SITA provides services to around 550 members that represent over 90 percent of the total worldwide airline business, and 3,200 customers in more than 200 countries and territories. It includes airlines and all major computer reservation systems, as well as airports, aerospace companies, air-freight organizations and governments.


SITA is using the BroadWorks platform to provide its members and customers with web-based, enhanced communications features, including the ability to access these features from any type of handset or phone they choose.


"SITA has migrated its Voice Exchange service to the BroadSoft BroadWorks platform", said Rene Fourel, SITA vice president, Communications and Infrastructure. "Voice Exchange offers air transport industry customers a secure, simple and flexible telephone service connecting both legacy and new IP-enabled voice infrastructures, as well as providing a business-grade, end-to-end IP telephony service, together with the scalability, reliability and value-added features that the BroadWorks platform is known for."http://www.broadsoft.com
http://www.sita.aero/

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Google Gives Away 5,000 HTC EVO 4G Devices to Developers

At the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco this week, Google gave away 5,000 HTC EVO 4G devices to developers. The phone is the first 4G mobile in the U.S. and it operates on Sprint's CDMA and WiMAX networks.


Sprint also released a 4G developer guide that includes sample apps and source code for forward-facing camera, HDMI output and network detection (3G, 4G, Wi-Fi).


"The EVO 4G experience is much like going from TV to HDTV. But EVO has more than just an impressive list of features -- it is also fun to use with remarkable gaming, video and web-browsing capabilities," said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO.


Commercial release of the HTC EVO 4G is slated for June 4, 2010.
http://www.google.com
http://www.sprint.com

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Google TV Gathers Partners for Fall Launch

Google TV hopes to create a new experience in the living room by overlaying web functionality with existing channels. Unlike earlier approaches to this challenge, Google said its enormous advertising inventory combined with its search and cloud computing capabilities will prove to be a decisive factor in transforming television.


The company announced its first three technology partners, including Sony, Logitech (offering a STB and input devices) and Intel. The first products will hit the market this Fall. Best Buy has signed up to be a retail partner. Google also announced a partnership with DishNetworks on an enhanced Google TV experience.


The technology will be open sourced into both the Android and Chrome environments.


A specialized version of Intel's Atom processor with HD encode/decode will power the new category of STBs.


http://www.google.com/tv/

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Pakistan Blocks Facebook and Other Sites

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) confirmed that it has officially directed all concerned operators in Pakistan to block Facebook till further orders. The ban has been extended to include YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia.
http://www.pta.gov.pk

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Cisco to Acquire CoreOptics for 40/100G Electronic Distortion Equalization

Cisco will acquire CoreOptics, a designer of digital signal processing (DSP) solutions for high-speed optical networking, for approximately $99 million in cash and retention-based incentives.


CoreOptics supplies 10G and 40G Distortion Tolerant MSA Modules and IC solutions for optical networking. Its Electronic Distortion Equalization (EDE) technology leverages Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE)to address the physical layer challenges of optical fiber transmission. CoreOptics' algorithms are implemented using a DSP architecture.


The acquisition of CoreOptics expands Cisco's optical presence in Europe and builds on its existing European operations in Monza, Italy. CoreOptics will bring to Cisco a team with strong expertise in digital ASIC design, advanced modulation formats, as well as optical systems, applications and network architecture. Upon completion of the acquisition, CoreOptics employees will become part of the Cisco Service Provider Technology Group and work with Cisco's existing optical engineering teams in Monza, Italy; Bangalore, India; and Richardson, Texas.
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.coreoptics.com

• CoreOptics was founded in 2001 and has received financing from T-com, GIMV, Crescendo Ventures, TVM, High Tech Private Equity, Atila Ventures, Quest for Growth and others. The company has operations in Nuremberg and Stuttgart, Germany and San Jose, California.



• CoreOptics is headed by Mr. Hamid Arabzadeh, who previously was the General Manager and Vice President of Next Generation Metro Optical Networks at Nortel Networks.

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