Verizon Expands IPv6 Dedicated Internet Services

Verizon has added IPv6 support to its Internet Dedicated Services across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.


Verizon's global Internet services will accept IPv6 data in several formats, including native or pure IPv6; dual stack, which can handle IPv4 and IPv6 concurrently; and IPv6 traffic within IPv4 packets, which is known as tunneling. The company later this year will continue to roll out IPv6 capabilities across Canada and Latin America as well as on its global Private IP service, an MPLS-based virtual private network.


"This is another important milestone for the Verizon public IP backbone, our customers and the global Internet community," said Farooq Muzzafar, vice president of public and private IP communications solutions for Verizon. "As an early proponent and adopter of IPv6, we want to help ensure the Internet continues to deliver on its promise to keep us all connected to each other and to the information that sustains and enriches our everyday life at work, at home and everywhere in between."http://www.verizon.com
http://www.verizonbusiness.com

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Skype Partners with Citrix for Business Services

Skype plans to introduce Web and audio conferencing capabilities enabled with GoToMeeting technology from Citrix. This will expand Skype's business offerings by providing the collaboration features of GoToMeeting.



The Web and audio conferencing features are expected to supplement the Skype for Business desktop experience, which already offers Skype users instant messaging, voice and video calling, group video calling, conferencing, file sharing, etc/ Adding the GoToMeeting capability will also allow Skype's business users to quickly set up online audio conferencing meetings that users can join via Skype or through public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone numbers.http://www.skype.com

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Mashable: Google Finds 21 Free Android Apps with Malware Root Access

Google has pulled 21 free apps from the Android store after being informed by third parties that the apps contained malware capable of giving hackers root access to the victim's device. Mashable reports that malicious apps were downloaded by about 50,000 users.http://mashable.com/2011/03/01/android-malware-apps/

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Infonetics: 2G/3G Remains the Main Game

The number of 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile subscribers is forecast to reach 7 billion by 2015, however the vast majority will continue to be on the 2G/3G infrastructure, according to a new report released by Infonetics Research.



After plunging in the second half of 2010, the GSM RAN market bounced back (up 38% in 4Q10 over 3Q10), fueled by the start of major 2G capacity upgrades in China and India as well as modernization projects in Europe. The report takes a comprehensive look at the mobile and wireless equipment markets, including vendor market share, forecasts, and LTE and WIMAX deployment trackers by service provider and country.



"At the end of the day, 2G/3G remains the major mobile infrastructure event, dollar-wise. In 2010, the global 2G/3G/4G infrastructure market declined 10.7% to $42.4 billion, dragged down by 2G, but is expected to rebound by 9.7% this year, driven by large-scale 2G capacity upgrades, 2G network modernization, and 3G coverage optimization. It's only in 2015 that 4G (LTE and WiMAX) will have a more significant impact when a new global procurement cycle starts," predicts Stéphane Téral, Infonetics Research's principal analyst for mobile infrastructure.



"WiMAX likely will become established as the solution of choice for niche applications, such as supporting the smart grid, public safety, private citywide communications segments, as well as more basic broadband needs. With the high volume of LTE news, people tend to overlook the fact that the WiMAX equipment market, which jumped 85% in 2010 to $1.7 billion, remains bigger than the LTE market, and continues to show healthy growth," notes Richard Webb, directing analyst for WiMAX, microwave, and mobile devices at Infonetics Research.



Some other key findings:



LTE network equipment, including E-UTRAN (eNodeB) macrocells and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) equipment, jumped 704% in 2010 over 2009



Infonetics forecasts the 4G infrastructure market to hit $16 billion by 2015, driven by LTE and WiMAX investments



Ericsson is the #1 LTE infrastructure vendor, followed by Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks

Samsung remains the top-selling WiMAX vendor, followed by Huawei, Alvarion, and Motorolahttp://www.infonetics.com

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Motorola and Cox Test 356 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 RX48 Return Path

–Motorola Mobility and Cox Communications announced a record 356 Mbps for return path data transmission. The test used an ultra low noise, high performance Motorola DOCSIS 3.0 RX48 return path receiver module operating within a Motorola BSR 64000 CMTS Edge Router. The record of 356 Mbps for a 5-85 MHz return path was set by transmitting across twelve return path channels of which six channels employed 256QAM modulation.



Typical HFC networks today have two or three upstream channels delivering an aggregate of 40-70 Mbps.



In addition to establishing the world record at 5-85 MHz, a maximum transmission rate of 141 Mbps was also achieved over a 5-42 MHz return path using six return path channels. Three of these channels were able to operate using 256 QAM modulation, as opposed to 64 QAM maximum in use today, which is also believed to be a record. For the first time, cable operators can use the 5-42 return path to provide 100 Mbps dedicated to business customers and simultaneously provide residential customers with the return path bandwidth necessary to meet their growing needs.



"The RX48 and these tests demonstrate that Cox's HFC networks are much more future proof than many have believed," Jay Rolls, senior vice president of technology, Cox Communications. "We also increasingly need to be able to segment our business and residential customers, visibility into which is provided by the 5-85 MHz return spectrum utilizing 256QAM. Our networks have the capability to support much higher data speeds than today without the need to replace any of the amplifiers, taps or cables."



Motorola said its RX48 provides between 33% and 50% higher data rates possible in the return path than previously possible based on its low noise receiver and hardware based DOCSIS 3.0 channel bonding capabilities. For example, with a 5-42 MHz return path connected to the RX48, it will be possible for the first time for cable operators to support 100 Mbps dedicated for business services in only three bonded return path channels instead of four, leaving three return path channels available for residential data services, all supported using only a single RX48 port in the CMTS.http://motorola.com/mobility

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Overture + Hatteras Merger Targets Carrier Ethernet Acceleration

Overture Networks and Hatteras Networks agreed to merge, creating a larger and more competitive supplier of Carrier Ethernet products. Hatteras is a leading supplier of Ethernet over Bonded Copper solutions, while Overture is the frontrunner in Ethernet over TDM and recently introduced a set of Ethernet over Fiber platforms. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Both companies are venture-backed, privately-held start-ups based in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.



Going forward, the combined company will use the Overture Networks' name. Jeff Reedy will continue to serve as chief executive officer of Overture Networks. Kevin Sheehan, who formerly served as chief executive officer of Hatteras Networks, has been appointed president of Overture Networks.



In a conference call, Reedy and Sheehan said the merger was driven by a desire to scale-up the operations to meet the rising demand for Carrier Ethernet solutions by Tier 1, 2, and 3 carriers both domestically and overseas. The companies both report record revenue for 2010. They noted non-overlapping customer bases and product portfolios. The combined entity will have about 200 employees.



"We have a unique opportunity to build a great company with the innovation and scale to bring a complete set of products and services to our customers," said Jeff Reedy, chief executive officer, Overture Networks. "Our two companies have grown up together as neighbors, and we have come to appreciate each other's strengths and at times envied the other's successes. Having each completed record setting years, the time is right to join together and establish a dominant force in the market."



"The unification of our two highly successful and profitable companies with a shared customer focus and leading-edge product portfolios will be extremely beneficial for the communications service provider industry around the world," said Kevin Sheehan, newly appointed president of Overture Networks and former chief executive officer, Hatteras Networks.http://www.overturenetworks.com http://www.hatterasnetworks.com

• In November 2010, Overture Networks introduced two new products, the ISG 400 and the ISG 4800, for enabling carriers’ migration to an all-optical Ethernet network. The ISG 4800 is a 10 Gigabit Carrier Ethernet Edge Platform with a rich feature set, operational flexibility and carrier class reliability, while the ISG 400 supports the delivery of Carrier Ethernet over TDM. Both offer a wide range of network interfaces for delivering Carrier Ethernet services over existing DS3 or SONET/SDH infrastructures.



• Hatteras' flagship HN6100 is a modular, multi-service Ethernet platform that enables carriers to offer any service, over any media, via any port or slot from a single chassis. Its portfolio also includes the HN500, a cost-effective Ethernet-over-Time Division Multiplexing (EoTDM) demarcation device, which allows bonding of multiple PDH signals (T1 or E1) into a single Ethernet connection for delivery of 10 Mbps of Ethernet service capacity; as well as the HN4000 for facilitating high-speed symmetrical bandwidth up to 100 Mbps and Ethernet services over copper.

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Finisar Introduces First EPON Stick for DPoE Specification

Finisar introduced its EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network) Stick, offering pluggable transceiver optics and a complete EPON MAC with DPoE provisioning within an SFP package. This allows an operator to insert the EPON Stick into any SFP host and operate a single demarcation device on the customer premise.



The EPON stick interoperates with other EPON equipment based on CableLabs DOCSIS Provisioning of EPON (DPoE) specifications. In addition to EPON and DPoE compatibility, the EPON Stick supports SFF-8472 digital diagnostics and other extended capabilities.



"We are proud that Finisar's EPON Stick is the first in an MSA SFP footprint compatible with EPON and DPoE," said Dr. Jianhui Zhou, vice-president and general manager of Access Products at Finisar. "It offers operators the advantages of automated provisioning with DPoE, while still allowing the flexibility of using a wide variety of Ethernet network interface devices, integrated access devices, switches, and routers.

http://www.finisar.com

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SAIC Wins Cybersecurity Contract with U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Center

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) to provide technical services in support of cyberspace operations. The multiple-award, indefinite-delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract has a two year base period of performance, three one-year options, and a total contract ceiling value of $219 million for all awardees, if all options are exercised.



SSC Pacific is the Navy's premier research, development, test, and evaluation laboratory for C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance). http://www.saic.com

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CENX Looks to Aggregate Wireless Backhaul Access Providers

CENX announced plans to serve as aggregation points for various Ethernet wireless backhaul access providers, eliminating the need by the wireless carriers for costly and cumbersome Ethernet backhaul service integration.



In addition to serving as the aggregation point, CENX will enable end-to-end service inventory and monitoring, regardless of the backhaul operating model (wholly-owned vs. shared infrastructure), the myriad of backhaul access providers or the diverse backhaul technology (switched vs. dedicated) or media (e.g., fiber, microwave, copper). CENX said it will thus provide wireless carriers with a normalized view of the operating state of all its backhaul services on per service basis.



"Wireless carriers continue to tell us that delivering the bandwidth required in the wireless backhaul space is the single biggest challenge in the industry. Ethernet is the recognized solution for opening up bandwidth, and CENX creates and manages a ubiquitous Ethernet wireless backhaul platform specifically designed to meet wireless carriers' technical and operating requirements," said Herb Hribar, CEO of CENX. "CENX also addresses the critical unmet need in the network sharing models: Independent service management for each carrier across a shared network. CENX delivers superior value, cost savings and time-to-market benefits to wireless carriers, as well as extraordinary Carrier Ethernet knowledge and leadership."http://www.cenx.com

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