11/11/10 ~ Converge! Network Digest

LightSquared's SkyTerra 1 satellite was successfully launched into orbit on an ILS Proton

rocket from Kazakhstan. The SkyTerra 1 satellite, weighing over 5.3 metric tons, was placed into geostationary transfer orbit. It was the first satellite launch for LightSquared.

The satellite is based on the Boeing 702HP design and it will combine with four gateway ground stations and ground-based beam-forming equipment to create the first of two Space-Based Networks (SBN) that Boeing is building for LightSquared (formerly SkyTerra). The satellite features a 22-meter L-band reflector-based antenna -- the largest commercial antenna reflector to be put into service. The active phased-array antenna will offer state-of-the-art digital signal processing, channel formation and switching.

"At LightSquared, our goal is to revolutionize wireless communications and our timeline to do that is very aggressive. We knew we could count on ILS and ILS Proton to help us maintain a steady pace with an on-time launch. The ILS Proton launch of the SkyTerra 1 satellite is an important step toward bringing mobile wireless services that are accessible anytime, anywhere, throughout the United States. We are grateful to the entire team of dedicated professionals who worked on the SkyTerra 1 launch," said Sanjiv Ahuja, Chairman and CEO of LightSquared.
http://www.ilslaunch.com
http://www.lightsquared.com

Mobile Broadband Network Ltd (MBNL), the network joint-venture between Three and Everything Everywhere, has completed a network sharing and consolidation project across the UK. The project, which is managed by Ericsson, consolidates more than 12,000 sites of the two operators into a common infrastructure. Everything Everywhere is the new company that runs Orange and T-Mobile in the UK.

Thanks to this active network consolidation project, all 3G sites, transmitters, base station equipment and backhaul connected to the operator's core networks are now fully configured for high speed mobile broadband access. Alongside the customer benefits, Three and Everything Everywhere will see significant savings and environment benefits because of network sharing. This has included the switching off of more than 5,000 sites - more than 2,000 of which have already been fully decommissioned - as part of a project recognized as the largest and most successful integration of two live networks to have occurred anywhere in the world.

Under the five-year managed service contract announced in February 2009, Ericsson is the primary service provider for the project and was responsible for network design and deployment, building of sites, capacity management, equipment swaps and vital upgrades. Ericsson said the consolidation work started in February 2009 and was completed in October 2010. This was done while keeping the two networks running smoothly during the project, which also saw Ericsson deliver the all-important cost and efficiency savings.

Magnus Mandersson, Head of Business Unit Global Services, Ericsson, said: "This was an unparalleled and quite complex managed services and systems integration consolidation project. Its success shows the benefits to partners of network sharing and reflects a new business model that the industry can learn a great deal from. All the partners involved in this network sharing project - not least T-Mobile and Three customers - have all emerged as winners. I'm proud of our success and look forward to supporting and advising MBNL as their managed services partner."http://www.ericsson.com

Earlier this month, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom completed their UK merger transaction, combining T-Mobile UK and Orange into the UK's leading mobile operator. It will have a combined mobile customer base of around 28.4 million, representing approximately 37 percent of UK mobile subscribers.

In November 2008, Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), the 50:50 joint venture formed by 3UK and T-Mobile UK to manage the integration of both operators' 3G radio access networks (RAN), has awarded Ericsson a four-year managed services contract for the operation and maintenance of the consolidated network. Under the deal, Ericsson has responsibility for the operation and performance management of both parent companies' 3G networks and T-Mobile's 2G RAN infrastructure.

In December 2007, T-Mobile UK and 3 UK pooled their 3G network infrastructure in a 50:50 joint venture company, Mobile Broadband Network Ltd. (MBNL). The network sharing requires fewer masts, consumes less energy and provides customers with greater mobile broadband coverage.

TeliaSonera confirmed the commercial rollout of its LTE service in Finland before the end of this year. The initial launch will occur in Turku, followed by Helsinki.

Telia's LTE network in Finland will use two frequencies: 1.8 GHz and 2.6 GHz. In the first phase, only modems for the 2.6 GHz band will be available, although the carrier expects multiple modems operating in both frequencies by spring 2011.

Telia's 4G network boasts a top theoretical downlink speed of 100 Mbps and under normal circumstances 20-80 Mbps.
http://www.telia.com

NTT is developing an IP-optical virtual network architecture to enable the efficient sharing of infrastructure by multiple service providers.

With this architecture, the physical network infrastructure consists or IP routers, OXCs (optical cross connects) and optical fibers. The resources are virtually sliced and allocated to service operators. Using the allocated resources, service operators are allowed to setup optical paths between the router pairs in order to form IP links.

NTT said its architecture ensure resource isolation in the physical layer and enables virtual networks to be operated with high degree of autonomy compared to current virtual IP networks that are managed only in the IP layer.

In an experiment, researchers at NTT implemented multiple virtual networks over a wide-area network constructed upon the national testbed network, JGN2plus2. The virtual networks transmitted ultra-high density video at up to about 6 Gbps. The virtual network was also able to reconfigures its topology dynamically by setting up and tearing down the optical paths.

NTT has developed a physical network manager that triggers the setup of the optical path between a router pair, and configures it as an active IP link. For the given source-destination pair of the IP link, path computation for the optical path is done considering the available resources. As soon as the optical path is set up, physical network manager configures the IP routers so that the optical path can be used as an IP link. Such integrated control of IP and optical paths enables to provide virtual networks in a very short term. The architecture is leveraging GMPLS for the network management and control. It means that our virtual network architecture can be implemented using ordinary products that support GMPLS available now in the market.
http://www.ntt.co.jp

ASTRA TechCom Services, an SES company, has signed a contract with Spaceopal, the company providing ground-based services required to operate the Galileo constellation until it has been fully deployed. The agreement secures a role for SES in Europe's Galileo project.
http://www.ses.com

Broadcom will pay its next quarterly cash dividend of $0.08 per share to holders of the Company's common stock. The dividend was declared by the Board of Directors on November 11 and will be paid on December 13, 2010 to holders of record of the Company's Class A and Class B common stock at the close of business on November 26, 2010. The dividend so declared will be paid from U.S. domestic sources other than the company's retained earnings and will be treated for accounting purposes as a reduction of shareholders' equity.
http://www.broadcom.com