Sunday, August 1, 2010

FCC Chairman Appoints Senior Advisor on Broadband

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has appointed Phoebe Yang as Senior Advisor to the Chairman on Broadband. Yang most recently served as General Counsel of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative at the Commission, in which role she was Chair of the Broadband Steering Committee. Her prior experience includes executive roles at Discovery Communications, as Vice President of Corporate Development and Vice President of Digital Media Operations and Strategy; and at AOL Time Warner as Vice President of International Strategy and Policy focused on China. She served under President Bill Clinton as Special Coordinator for China Rule of Law and practiced corporate law at Hogan & Hartson.
http://www.fcc.gov

Motorola Names President of Mobility Unit

Motorola named Daniel M. Moloney president of its Motorola Mobility business. He joins Motorola Mobility after serving as chief executive officer of Technitrol, a leading electronic component company. Previously, he was executive vice president at Motorola, Inc. and president of Motorola's Home and Networks Mobility business, a provider of integrated and customized end-to-end media solutions for cable, wireline and wireless service providers.


Moloney will oversee Motorola Mobility's Home business as well as the following functional organizations: Supply Chain, IT and Government Affairs. In addition, Moloney will help prepare Motorola Mobility for its launch as an independent, publicly traded company.


Moloney will begin in his new role next month and report to Dr. Sanjay Jha, Co-CEO of Motorola, Inc. and CEO of Motorola Mobility.
http://www.motorola.com

Extreme Reports 17% Sequential Rise in Revenue in North America

Extreme Networks reported quarterly revenue of $85.5 million, which was in line with company's revised guidance and compares to revenue of $78.2 million in the previous quarter and $81.3 million in the fourth quarter of last year.


"Product revenue in North America and EMEA increased by 17 percent and 22 percent, respectively from Q3, as we enter new markets and add new customers," said Bob L. Corey, CFO and acting President & CEO of Extreme Networks. "Revenue per employee for the fourth quarter was the highest in more than 16 quarters, as we continue our focus on growing revenue and introducing innovative new products."


Fourth quarter non-GAAP operating income increased by 17 percent to $5.6 million or 6.6 percent of net revenue, compared to $4.8 million or 6.2 percent of net revenue in the previous quarter, and increased by 84 percent from $3.1 million or 3.8 percent of net revenue in the fourth quarter of last year. http://www.extremenetworks.com

Limelight to Acquire Delve Networks for Video Publishing Tools

Limelight Networks has acquired Delve Networks, a privately-held provider of cloud-based video publishing and analytics services. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Limelight Networks operates a leading global content delivery network (CDN). The company said the Delve acquisition complements and extends the value of Limelight's mobility platform and EyeWonder's in-stream video advertising products by providing a web-based workflow for these solutions.

Founded in 2006, Seattle-based Delve Networks' software-as-a-service platform provides online businesses with a streamlined and scalable solution for the addition, management, syndication, analysis, and monetization of web video. Delve offers for publishing videos online, including hosting, encoding, channel and playlist management, video search, metrics, and advertising.


"As online content consumption accelerates, content producers and online businesses need scalable tools to easily and quickly publish their video and syndicate it to an ever-expanding list of web properties and connected devices. With Delve Networks added to our global computing infrastructure, Limelight Networks now can provide our customers with an at-scale value-added solution for publishing online video, analyzing end-user preferences, and, in conjunction with our EyeWonder and mobility products, monetizing their digital assets," said Jeff Lunsford, chairman and chief executive officer, Limelight Networks, Inc.
http://www.limelightnetworks.com
  • In May 2010, Limelight Networks completed its acquisition of EyeWonder, a privately held company based in Atlanta offering video content monetization tools for publishers. At the time the deal was first announced last December, the companies valued the transaction at approximately $110 million, comprised of approximately $62 million in cash (subject to adjustment based on EyeWonder's financial condition at Closing) and approximately 12.74 million shares of Limelight common stock. EyeWonder's advertising serving platform was projected to service over $500 million in media spend globally in 2009, helping stakeholders across the digital advertising ecosystem to realize increased return-on-investment from that spend.

Harris Unveils BeOn -- Global Push-to-Talk Enterprise Solution

Harris introduced its "BeOn" push-to-talk solution designed to enable enterprises to have managed group communications anywhere in the world using both 3G and 4G cellular networks. The goal is to enable users to communicate instantly on a host of commercial smartphones or rugged devices with one or many people, over multiple GSM-based wireless carriers--domestic and international.


The Harris BeOn solution offers traditional land mobile radio features such as group calling, individual calling, group scanning, distress calls, and dispatch/administrative services, while integrating wireless services such as user location, user presence/status, and text messaging.


The solution is built on the Harris integrated VIDA (Voice, Interoperability, Data and Access) network platform, currently deployed by public safety, public services and large private sector entities. VIDA enables high performance Push-To-Talk (PTT) over commercial wireless networks, as well as seamless interoperability with legacy and future land mobile radio (LMR) systems.


Harris said its BeOn solution is group-oriented, instantaneous and geared for enterprise customers covering large footprints. Its capabilities will allow users to create centralized dispatch services over commercial 3G or 4G wireless networks, or if needed, connect with legacy LMR system.
http://www.harris.com

SK Telecom Teams with Google for Android Market in Korea

SK Telecom and Google announced a deal aimed at strengthening the Android Market in Korea. The agreement includes provisions to cooperate on launching carrier billing for Android Market, setting up the Company Channel and supporting Android application developers.


SK Telecom and Google plan to launch carrier billing for purchases made on Android Market. With the introduction of carrier billing, SK Telecom users will be able to pay for Android Market content by having fees charged directly to their monthly mobile bills. Applications will be priced in the local currency (Korean Won) to prevent any confusion stemming from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.


SK Telecom plans to introduce and recommend useful applications for their subscribers by rolling out a SK Telecom channel on the main page of Android Market. The company said this will enable SK Telecom's Android phone users to discover high quality applications most relevant to their interests.


In addition, SK Telecom plans to strengthen its efforts to support developers by establishing the Open Innovation Center. Its previous efforts include application contests and the operation of T Academy.
http://www.sktelecom.com
http://www.google.com

CBS and Comcast Sign 10-Year Content Deal

CBS Corporation and Comcast announced a ten-year agreement that provides for retransmission consent of CBS Television Stations until the year 2020. The long-term, wide-ranging pact also includes carriage of the full suite of Showtime Networks, Comcast's launch of the Smithsonian Channel and expanded distribution of CBS College Sports. In addition, Comcast will have greatly expanded on-demand access to CBS and SHOWTIME content via their cable and online platforms.
http://www.cbscorporation.com
http://www.comcast.com

Clearwire Launches in 5 New Markets

Clearwire launched its CLEAR 4G mobile broadband service in five additional markets: Jacksonville, FL; Wilmington, DE; Stockton and Modesto, CA and Grand Rapids, MI. With today's launches, the Clearwire WiMAX network now serves 49 markets and covers 51 million people.
http://www.clearwire.com

BroadLight Launches its 3rd Gen 40nm GPON Processor

BroadLight released its 3rd Generation GPON Processor family featuring 40nm process technology for reduced power consumption. The BL23500 features a MIPS controller, the RunnerGrid Network Processor, and a VoIP DSP for meeting both the GPON CPE platforms requirements and the emerging GPON residential gateway market requirements. The device utilizes Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) and offers advanced power saving modes specifically designed for optimal performance at minimal energy costs demanded by leading worldwide operators.


BroadLight's consolidated software platform enables a single comprehensive software development environment for rapid development of SFU/Gateway/MDU solutions. These solutions include OMCI and TR-69 interworking with the 3rd Generation GPON Processor family, coupled with the highest level of OLT interoperability in the industry it thereby offers the lowest cost of ownership.


The BL23500 family will be available for customers in Q4 2010.
http://www.broadlight.com

Great Plains Comm. Selects ADTRAN Total Access 5000

Great Plains Communications, a provider of integrated communications services to businesses and residents in Nebraska, has selected ADTRAN's flagship Total Access 5000 Multi-Service Access and Aggregation Platform (MSAP) for legacy switch migration and next-generation IP-based voice and data service delivery. Great Plains Communications is now in its 4th generation of family ownership and serves 30,000 customers in 90 rural communities.
http://www.adtran.com

Mindspeed Pitches Comcerto 300xv VoIP Processors

Mindspeed Technologies announced its "Comcerto" 300xv family of VoIP processing devices for integrated VoIP media, signaling and control processing in low-to-medium density next-generation network (NGN), IP multimedia system (IMS) and IP-private branch exchange (IP-PBX) equipment.


Mindspeed's Comcerto 300xv system-on-chip (SoC) leverages the company's multi-core Comcerto 300 architecture and reduces bill of material (BOM) costs for PON multi-dwelling unit (MDU) equipment and IP-PBX systems. Platforms using the Comcerto 300xv SoC retain full software feature and application programming interface (API) compatibility with prior Comcerto 300 designs. The software also supports wideband voice codecs for high-definition VoIP applications.


The Comcerto 300xv device's two ARM processors are coupled through shared memory to create a complete media stream processing (MSP) subsystem. One processor is paired to DSP resources and integrated memory to optimize real-time, low-latency voice processing, while the other is dedicated to control and signaling processing (CSP) functions. The inclusion of two independently configurable 10/100/1000 Ethernet interfaces enables the Comcerto 300xv device to support a rich set of configuration options, and allows direct control and management of Ethernet switches or PON media access control (MAC) functions. Comcerto 300xv devices are available in six performance levels to support from four to more than 128 G.711/20ms channels with echo cancellation, tone detection and other POTS-focused features.


The Comcerto 300xv is sampling now and scheduled for volume production in the second half of 2010.
http://www.mindspeed.com

Equinix Expands in Atlanta

Equinix has opened the first phase of its third International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Atlanta. The new $61 million Atlanta IBX data center, which is located in the Atlanta city center, will provide a total of 1,450 cabinet equivalents upon the completion of a second phase, already under construction, which is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2010. The new IBX data center is connected to Equinix's two existing IBX data centers in Atlanta, providing immediate access to almost 50 network providers.
http://www.equinix.com

Wavesat Develop Tri-Band LTE Reference Design for Consumer Handsets

Wavesat introduced a tri-band LTE reference design for use in the development of handset devices, USB dongles and consumer premises equipment. The reference design, based on the Odyssey 9000 platform, supports three frequencies to assist in the rollout of LTE services.


Wavesat said its multi-protocol architecture allows the Odyssey series of chipsets to support multiple 4G technologies, including LTE and WiMAX, on the same silicon. It features performance of 100 Mbps downlink, 50 Mbps uplink for mobile devices including USB dongles, data cards, mobile handsets and MIDs. It supports both FDD and TDD duplex schemes and comes complete with an LTE protocol stack including MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS layers, as well as reference design kits for manufacturing dongles and CPE.


"Our customer engagements and multiple trial activities around the world have clearly highlighted the critical requirement for a flexible product of this nature," said Raj Singh, President and CEO of Wavesat.
http://www.wavesat.com

Softbank Mobile Picks Ericsson

Japan's SoftBank Mobile Corp. has selected the Ericsson Service Aware Support Node (SASN) to provide expanded capabilities to its increasing number of smartphone subscribers. The SASN provides sophisticated traffic inspection functionality, enabling efficient usage of telecom infrastructure. The solution also enables truly flexible charging options and paves the way for the operator to develop differentiated service offerings based on individual subscriber needs and the service or application used.


SoftBank Mobile will also be deploying Ericsson's SmartEdge IP router for the first time. The contract includes professional services covering design, installation, and systems integration of the complete solution. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.ericsson.com

Sky Deutschland Selects Broadcom's STB Chipset

Sky Deutschland, a leading pay-TV provider in Germany and Austria, has selected Broadcom's high performance and energy-efficient satellite set-top box (STB) system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions to enable multi-channel HD and DVR functionality for subscribers. The single-chip BCM7325 solution will power the next generation of HD non-DVR STBs, while the single-chip BCM7335 will be at the heart of Sky Deutschland's first integrated digital video recorder called the Sky+. Both SoC solutions support MPEG-4 and integrate with NDS MediaHighway STB software to enable a Flash-based user interface that takes ease-of-use to a higher level.
http://www.broadcom.com

Cable&Wireless Worldwide Opens Regional HQ in Dubai

Cable&Wireless Worldwide has opened a new regional headquarters in Dubai Internet City (DIC) to better serve its growing customer base in the Middle East and Africa. The announcement follows the company's deployment of an extensive MPLS network across the Middle East in 2008. This included Points of Presences (PoPs) in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, connecting customers based in the United Arab Emirates back into the MPLS network. Since this deployment, Cable&Wireless Worldwide has been providing connectivity to global enterprise customers including HSBC.
http://www.cw.com

Motorola Offers Encrypted Bluetooth Earpiece for First Responders

Motorola's Enterprise Mobility Solutions business introduced an encrypted, mission critical, Bluetooth earpiece for secure communications when paired with the Motorola APX-series portable radios.


Designed specifically for the needs of first responders, Motorola's Mission Critical Wireless Earpiece provides simple pairing and fast push-to-talk. Mission Critical Wireless is enabled by adding an option board or enhanced expansion board to an APX radio. Secure pairing is simplified with Motorola's exclusive ultra-short range pairing system. During the pairing process, the Bluetooth IDs and a strong 128 bit key are exchanged to ensure transmission security is virtually unbreakable. The earpiece pairs within an inch of the APX radio and is nearly undetectable beyond a few inches. It takes only two seconds to pair and less than five seconds for the wireless connection to be ready to use.


Motorola said the new earpiece is designed for strenuous environments and has been optimized to provide loud, clear audio in noisy conditions, while allowing essential on-scene sounds to be heard.

http://www.motorola.com

Harris Intros 700 MHz LTE for Public Safety Communications

Harris, in partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks, introduced its "VIDA" Broadband LTE solution for mission-critical communications for first responders.


Harris VIDA Broadband LTE is a 700 MHz solution that is part of the Harris VIDA (Voice, Interoperability, Data, Access) network platform for first responder communications. The VIDA network integrates VIDA Broadband LTE with P25 (Project 25) and OpenSky communication systems, which are in use by first responders across North America.


Harris said its network solution meets the requirements of the FCC National Broadband Plan, enabling public safety agencies to seamlessly integrate their existing narrowband LMR systems into the emerging nationwide, interoperable wireless broadband network. VIDA Broadband LTE also is designed to meet the emerging FCC cyber security and critical infrastructure survivability requirements, and will fully support the evolving technical framework for the FCC's Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC).


Existing VIDA customers can now integrate VIDA Broadband LTE networks into their current systems, allowing for future growth in capacity and capabilities. Likewise, new broadband customers can take advantage of the inherent interoperability of the VIDA core network to connect with legacy LMR systems.


"Harris is excited to bring together these two extremely powerful solutions into a single, unique public safety broadband network at 700 MHz," said Steve Shanck, president, Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications. "Working with global LTE leader Nokia Siemens Networks means that Harris can ensure that first responders will have available the next generation of voice, data and mobile video communications, yet still keep a solid and secure connection to today's narrowband networks."


"At Nokia Siemens Networks we recognize that there is a real need for a robust, LTE voice and data solution for public safety communications," said Robert Fennelly, Head of Government Business, Nokia Siemens Networks. "With Harris, we are developing a way to put the benefits of true wireless broadband, such as streaming video and advanced situational awareness, into the hands of first responders."http://www.harris.com

Dell'Oro: Mobile Infrastructure Market to Reach $43 Billion in 2014

Mobile infrastructure market annual revenues are forecast to reach $43 billion over the next 5 years, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. After a double-digit revenue decline in 2009, and a flat forecast for revenues in 2010, market revenue growth is expected to accelerate yearly beginning in 2011. The report shows that although the LTE market is expected to start small in 2010, revenues are forecast to exceed $6 billion by 2014.


"The growth of mobile data traffic is driving, and will continue to drive operators to increase the capacity of their 3G and next generation networks to meet demand," stated Scott Siegler, Senior Analyst of Mobile Infrastructure research at Dell'Oro Group. "As the ecosystem of 3G devices continues to rapidly grow, such as the iPhone and Android-based smartphones, operators are experiencing a surge in data traffic on their mobile networks. As smartphones penetrate deeper in the mobile subscriber base and each subscriber consumes more data, we forecast worldwide mobile data traffic will double each year. While initial LTE deployments are beginning in the second half of 2010 and revenue is expected to see strong growth, we believe WCDMA will be the most significant driver of the market, and will represent over three-quarters of total market revenues in 2014," continued Siegler.
http://www.delloro.com

NTT DOCOMO Acquires PacketVideo for Embedded Mobile Software

NTT DOCOMO announced an agreement with NextWave Wireless Inc. to acquire the remaining 65 percent equity interest in PacketVideo Corporation, a subsidiary of NextWave Wireless Inc., for US$111.6 million, turning PacketVideo into a wholly owned subsidiary of DOCOMO.


DOCOMO aims to create synergies with PacketVideo for enhanced media services, including the creation of an all-new domain of services that allow users to easily link their mobile handsets with home electronic devices to remotely enjoy and share content.


San Diego-based PacketVideo supplies mobile phone-based multimedia software and media service platforms that have been widely adopted by mobile operators and device manufacturers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company also provides solutions that allow users to share pictures, music and videos among PCs, mobile phones and consumer electronic devices such as TVs, digital picture frames and audio equipment.
http://www.ntt.co.jp
  • DOCOMO acquired a 35-percent stake in PacketVideo from NextWave in July 2009.


  • DOCOMO and PacketVideo have enjoyed a productive partnership since 1998, enabling PacketVideo's technologies to be incorporated in multimedia applications for DOCOMO's FOMA 3G mobile network services. To date, PacketVideo's popular CORE multimedia player, pvPlayer, has been installed in more than 90 DOCOMO handset models.