Vodafone Teams with Bosch on M2M

The Bosch Group and Vodafone announced a global partnership to pursue Machine to Machine (M2M) opportunities -- combining Bosch's experience in designing sensors and automated work flow processes with Vodafone's expertise in providing excellent network quality and management tools.


Under the partnership, The Bosch Group, a leading global supplier of technology and services, and Vodafone will offer global companies a joint solution aimed at making it easier to manage products with embedded SIM cards. It aims to simplify the management of workflow business processes in a variety of industrial domains in an intuitive, integrated and cost efficient way.


Examples of products that could benefit from embedded SIMs include lifts, air conditioning systems and escalators with automatic warning systems that alert maintenance staff in case of problems by sending messages over Vodafone's mobile network.


"Thanks to the rapid progress in technology, many everyday items are becoming more intelligent. Our task now is to combine the potential of web applications and cloud computing with analysis methods and miniature sensors. Bosch plans to develop and offer completely new, highly networked, products and services," said Dr. Siegfried Dais, Executive Member of Board at Bosch Group. "Global customers are set to profit from the experience of a global automotive and technology provider such as Bosch as well as from Vodafone's expertise in telecoms. This partnership shows that we are making huge progress in this segment of the future."http://www.vodafone.com

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Exar Exits 10Gb Ethernet NIC Market

Exar announced its withdrawal from the data center virtualization market. The company will stop development of 10 Gigabit Ethernet Network Interface Cards, including the X3100 and Xframe products acquired from Neterion in March 2010. This move to reduce expenses associated with the 10GbE NIC products allows Exar to focus on products with more significant market traction in the enterprise storage and communications infrastructure markets.


"We made this decision based on a combination of factors, including lack of revenue traction for our data center virtualization products, the increasing investment required for developing next generation 10GbE products, and our interest in ensuring that other better performing investments are properly funded," said Pete Rodriguez, the company's President and CEO. http://www.exar.com

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Verizon Declares Dividend - Same as Last Quarter

The Board of Directors of Verizon Communications declared a quarterly dividend of 48.75 cents per outstanding share, unchanged from the previous quarter. The dividend is payable on May 2, 2011, to Verizon Communications shareowners of record at the close of business on April 8, 2011.
http://www.verizon.com

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Molex CMOS Active Optical Cable Spans 4km at 40 Gbps

Molex introduced a Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP+) Active Optical Cable (AOC) assembly that can achieve 40 Gbps data rates over long reaches of up to 4km (2.49 miles) using only 0.78W per cable end. The innovation reduces overall data center power consumption while supporting longer reaches.


Molex's QSFP+ AOC assemblies' use Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Photonics technology, which integrates most of the transceiver functionality onto a single chip, providing a low-cost cable that delivers a reliable, long-reach solution. With four bi-directional optical data links per end, each operating at data rates from 1.0 to 10.3125 Gbps, the Molex QSFP+ AOC assemblies are compatible with multiple protocols including InfiniBand single data rates (SDR), dual data rates (DDR) and quad data rates (QDR), Ethernet systems (10 and 40 Gbps); Fiber Channel (8 and 10 Gbps) and SAS (6 Gbps). In addition to QDR data rate products, Molex plans the release of next generation InfiniBand FDR data rate AOC products based on low power consumption Silicon Photonics 56 Gbps optical engine technology in Q3 of 2011.


Molex also noted its recent acquisition of Luxtera's AOC business in January 2011. Luxtera transferred all aspects of its existing and future AOC business to Molex including its QSFP+ 40 Gbps Ethernet and InfiniBand products and customers.
http://www.molex.com

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Sweden Raises SEK 2 Billion (EUR 233 Million) in 800 MHz Spectrum Auction

The government
of Sweden raised approximately SEK 2 billion (EUR 233 million) in the auction of 800 MHz spectrum. Three bidders prevailed in the auction, which was held online in 31 rounds over the course of five days.


The licenses are valid to and including 2035. Winning bids: HI3G Access AB, Net4Mobility HB, TeliaSonera Mobile Networks AB.


Com Hem AB and Netett Sverige AB also participated in the auction but did not win any licenses.
http://www.pts.se

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AT&T Appoints New CFO

AT&T announced the appointment of John Stephens as its new chief financial officer (CFO), effective June 1, 2011, replacing Rick Lindner, who is retiring.


John Stephens, a 19-year company veteran, current serves as Controller. Previously, he was chief financial officer for Cingular Wireless, the joint wireless venture between SBC and BellSouth.
http://www.att.com

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Verizon Wireless Partners with Lextech on Video Surveillance

Verizon Wireless and Lextech Labs announced a business service agreement for video surveillance over 3G/4G.



Under the deal, users of Lextech Labs' iRa C3 product will be able to view live and recorded video surveillance feeds on smartphones and tablets running on the Verizon Wireless 3G and 4G networks.



"Running on Verizon Wireless' reliable network, Lextech's C3 gives our customers, such as federal, state and local authorities, the ability to look around corners through buildings and onto rooftops, by providing the access to control and view the video from an IP camera with a Verizon Wireless smartphone or tablet regardless of their physical location," said Bryan Schromsky, associate director, Federal Government Data Solutions for Verizon Wireless. "This virtual capability improves safety and knowledge of a situation in order to make decisions smarter and faster than ever before."http://www.verizonwireless.com http://www.lextechlabs.com

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Hong Kong Completes Spectrum Auction

Hong Kong's Office of the Telecommunications Authority completed an auction for a total of 20 MHz of radio spectrum in the 850 MHz and 900 MHz Bands for a total sum of spectrum utilization fee of HK$1.952 billion (about US$250 million).



The two winning bidders are SmarTone Mobile Communications Limited and Hutchison Telephone Company Limited. Five mobile network operators and one fixed network operator took part in the spectrum auction.



"The mobile telecommunications service market has continued to boom in recent years. Take mobile data as an example. Total mobile data usage has witnessed an explosive growth with a year-on-year increase of 189%, from 638 terabytes in December 2009 to 1,847 terabytes in December 2010. The assignment of the radio spectrum through the auction enables the successful bidders to make use of the newly acquired spectrum to expand their existing networks with additional network capacity to meet the market demand. This is conducive to the further healthy development of the mobile market in Hong Kong," a spokesperson of OFTA said.



Conducted on an Internet-based software platform, the auction commenced on 28 February 2011 and was completed this afternoon after a total of forty one bidding rounds over four days.http://www.ofta.gov.hk

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Russian Operators Agree to LTE Network Sharing with Yota

Yota has signed an agreement with Beeline, Megafon, MTS and Rostelekom under which these leading Russian will offer 4G services over Yota's LTE network. The deal provides each of the participants with an option to buy shares in Yota in 2014.



Prime Minister Vladimir Putin witnessed the signing of this landmark agreement on March 3.



Yota said its vision is to offer an open infrastructure to competing service providers. The company aims to roll out the LTE network to cover 180 cities with a total population of more than 70 million by 2014.

http://www.yota.ru

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Specification Released for Low-Cost 100 Gbps Interfaces

The 10x10 Multi-Source Agreement industry group released a ratified 100 Gbps module specification intended to accelerate deployment of multi-sourced, low cost 100 Gbps interfaces, such as 100 Gigabit Ethernet and OTU4.



Modules built to the 10X10 specification directly map 10 electrical lanes at 10 Gbps onto 10 lasers and operate on a conventional Single Mode Fiber (SMF) enabling reach of 2 km. With the 2 km specification complete, a new 10X10 project is extending the reach to 10 km. Another 10X10 project is focused on developing a high density form factor.



The 10X10 MSA has brought together leading network end-users with system, optical module and semiconductor companies to develop an open, inclusive forum for development of specifications. The 10X10 MSA now includes over 18 companies. These are Google, Brocade, Santur, JDSU, Huawei, Facebook, BTI Systems, AMS-IX, MRV, EXFO, Enablence, Cyoptics, AFOP, Oplink, Hitachi Cable America, Kotura, Effdon and Cortina Systems.http://wwww.10x10msa.org

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NSN and Juniper Test 100 Gbps OTN

Nokia Siemens Networks and Juniper announced 100 Gbps interoperability testing between their Optical Transport Network (OTN) equipment and the routers. The trial was conducted at Nokia Siemens Networks' ResIP Center in Munich, Germany using Nokia Siemens Networks' hiT 7300 DWDM platform and Juniper's T1600 core router using the native 100 Gbps Ethernet interface. Commercial roll-out for 100G on Nokia Siemens Networks' hiT 7300 is scheduled for mid 2011.http://www.juniper.nethttp://www.nsn.com

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Seychelles Gains European Funding for First Optical Cable

The European Investment Bank has agreed to provide a EUR 8 million loan to the Seychelles Cable Systems Company (SCS) for the installation and operation of the first submarine fibre optic cable for international connections to the Seychelles. The EUR 27 million overall project cost will be financed through 40% equity and 60% debt. Long-term debt will be co-financed equally by the European Investment Bank and African Development Bank, and equity contributions split between three shareholders, the Government of the Seychelles, Cable and Wireless Seychelles and Airtel.



This will fund a 1,930km cable from the main island of Mahé to the existing Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System in Tanzania and is expected to be operational by the second half of 2012.http://www.eib.org/

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