NSN's Acquisition of Motorola Wireless Networks Awaits China's Approval

Nokia Siemens Networks and Motorola Solutions announced a further delay in NSN's pending acquisition of Motorola's wireless networks infrastructure assets. Originally announced on July 19, 2010, the deal is still pending anti-trust approval from the Chinese regulatory authorities. The companies said the closing will not be completed in the first quarter of 2011 as previously targeted.


The proposed acquisition has entered phase three of the review process with the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce in China (MOFCOM).


Nokia Siemens Networks said it remains committed to the acquisition but will provide no further guidance on when it is likely to be completed. Motorola said it also remain committed to the deal.
http://www.nsn.com
http://www.motorola.com

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Devicescape Tracks Consumer Demand for Wi-Fi Services

Devicescape, which works with device manufacturers and service providers to enable easy WiFi connectivity, published the results of a broad consumer survey into wireless connectivity preferences.


Key findings from the "Q1 2011 Devicescape WiFi Report" showed:

• Eighty percent of respondents believe 24/7 connectivity has improved their lives, and almost 90 percent of respondents like feeling connected while on the go.



• The majority of respondents (80.5 percent) prefer to shop at retail outlets that offer WiFi.



• More than 65 percent of respondents would take advantage of a WiFi zone in a retail store to sign up in real time for club cards, free memberships and coupons.



• WiFi availability and pricing have no real significance when choosing an airline, according to 55.3 percent of respondents.



• Reduced data plan costs are not enough to entice 50.3 percent of iPhone and Android enthusiasts to switch brands.



• When cash flow is strained, almost 60 percent of respondents say paying for a gym membership takes a backseat to paying for their smartphone.

The survey queried a cross-section of Devicescape's members — a group of 1,088 respondents that includes a variety of professionals and students.

"Connectivity is simply critical to everyday life, as evidenced by the demand for WiFi in our homes, shopping centers, airports, businesses, parks, cafés — you name it," said Dave Fraser, CEO of Devicescape. "Wherever there is a need to interact with another human, there is a need for connectivity. This is why such importance is placed on how we deliver that connectivity — whether over 3G or WiFi."http://www.devicescape.com

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Aircell Outlines Upgrades to its Gogo Inflight Connectivity

Aircell, which offers the Gogo Inflight Internet service, will enhance its existing Air-to-Ground (ATG) technology via a next generation version of ATG (ATG-4) as well as Ka-band satellite technology. Specifically, the Gogo Inflight Internet service will be supported by:

• Air-to-Ground (ATG): Aircell's ATG-based service will continue to use EV-DO Rev. A.



• ATG-4: Aircell's ATG-4 service will significantly enhance the existing ATG network and improve per aircraft capacity by approximately four times current performance through the addition of Directional Antenna, Dual Modem and EV-DO Rev. B technologies. ATG-4 is scheduled for commercial delivery beginning in the first half of 2012. This new platform is backward compatible and allows for upgrades to existing ATG systems through low cost retrofits.



• Ka-band satellite: Aircell's Ka-band satellite technology will provide additional capacity to supplement what is available through ATG, ATG-4 and current generation satellite technology, as well as enable Gogo service beyond the continental United States (CONUS). Based on satellite launch and antenna development schedules, Aircell expects its Ka-band technology to be available for CONUS in 2013 and globally by 2015. Aircell expects many aircraft to take advantage of its unique and proprietary ability to integrate air-to-ground solutions with satellite solutions for better performance, enhanced features and higher reliability.

These technology options will be selectable at the aircraft or fleet level and enable attractive solutions for every airline, aircraft and mission.


In the business aviation market, Aircell currently offers three different inflight technologies, including Iridium Satellite, Inmarsat SwiftBroadband (satellite) and Gogo Biz™ (ATG). Specific details about ATG-4 and Ka-band Satellite technologies for the business aviation market will be released in the coming months.
http://www.gogoinflight.com

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Dell'Oro: Wireless LAN Market Reached Record Level in 2010

The worldwide Wireless LAN (WLAN) market achieved a record high in 2010 as revenues grew 25 percent to surpass $5 billion, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. The report also shows that the small office, home office (SOHO) segment surpassed $3 billion, while the Enterprise WLAN segment grew at its fastest rate since 2006 to exceed $2 billion in 2010.


According to the report, the following vendors each posted full-year 2010 WLAN revenue growth that exceeded 40 percent: Alcatel-Lucent, Aruba, Belkin, NETGEAR, Tropos, and ZyXEL.


"The enterprise WLAN segment has now seen seven straight quarters of revenue growth, having pushed its way over the $500 million mark for the first time in the third quarter of 2010, and then over the $600 million mark in the fourth quarter," stated Loren Shalinsky, Senior Analyst of Wireless LAN research at Dell'Oro Group. "Enterprise WLAN vendors recognized continued strength from the education and healthcare vertical segments, but also saw a corresponding rise from their general enterprise sales as well. We believe this to be another sign of the continued importance of wireless LAN to companies' networking infrastructures, and of a worldwide economy that is on the upswing. Almost all enterprise WLAN vendors had at least modest quarterly revenue gains in the fourth quarter, but Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, and Aruba each posted quarterly revenue gains of more than 10 percent," added Shalinsky.

http://www.delloro.com

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NetApp to Acquire LSI's External Storage Systems Business for $480 Million

NetApp has agreed to acquire LSI Corporation's external storage systems business for $480 million in cash.


The business develops and delivers Engenio external storage systems products and technology to a wide range of partners that provide storage solutions to end customers. It generated revenues of $705 million in 2010.


The LSI RAID adapter business, which develops LSI MegaRAID and 3ware storage controllers and software for direct-attached storage environments, will remain with LSI.


"NetApp will build upon the success of the Engenio storage platform and OEM business model to expand our total addressable market and extend our market reach," said Tom Georgens, NetApp president and CEO. "We're excited about the talented team that will join NetApp and the valuable OEM partner relationships we're committed to supporting and making successful."http://www.netapp.com

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Extreme Networks Appoints Meyercord as Chairman, Replacing Gordon Stitt

Extreme Networks appointed Edward Meyercord as its independent Chairman of the Board, succeeding the company co-founder, Gordon Stitt. Meyercord joined the Extreme Networks board in October 2009 and also serves on the compensation committee. In addition to his role as Chairman of the Extreme Networks board of directors, Mr. Meyercord is the CEO and co-founder of Critical Alert Systems, LLC, a provider of wireless communications and technology solutions in the healthcare industry and also serves on the Board of Tollgrade Communications, Inc.



Gordon Stitt, co-founder of Extreme Networks and the prior Chairman, recently completed an 18 month assignment as a consultant to the company, working on data center market development.http://www.extremenetworks.com

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JDSU Expands 40/100G Portfolio

JDSU released a new set 40G and 100G optical components, including:

• 40G QPMZ Modulators supporting DP-QPSK coherent detection


• 40G Coherent Receivers supporting DP-QPSK coherent detection


• 40G DDMZ Modulators supporting DPSK direct detection


• 40G DPMZ Modulators supporting RZ-DQPSK direct detection


• 100G QPMZ Modulators supporting DP-QPSK coherent detection


• 100G Coherent Receivers supporting DP-QPSK coherent detection

JDSU said it is able to leverage in-house fabrication capabilities in Indium Phosphide, planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) and Lithium Niobate materials for these components.
http://www.jdsu.com

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Finisar Stock Drops 39% Following Weakened Outlook from China

On Tuesday, Finisar reported record revenue $263.0 million for its third fiscal quarter ended 30-January-2011, exceeding the revenue guidance. The company said revenue growth was driven primarily by demand for 40 Gbps transponders, wavelength selective switches (WSS) and ROADM line cards. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was a record $0.47, at the top end of our prior guidance of $0.45 to $0.47 per share, and would have been $0.48, except for the impact of our common stock offering in December 2010.



"We achieved new company records for quarterly revenues, non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP net income during the quarter. Our revenues for WSS/ROADM line card products grew 22.7% from the second quarter," said Eitan Gertel, Finisar's Chief Executive Officer."



However, looking ahead to this quarter, Finisar said it is being impacted by the full three months of the annual price negotiations with telecom customers that typically take effect on January 1, the 10-day long shutdown at certain customers for Chinese New Year in February, the adjustment of inventory levels at some telecom customers, particularly for products which had previously been on allocation and long lead times, including WSS and ROADM line cards, and a slowdown in business in China overall.



Primarily as a result of these factors, Finisar currently expects revenues for the fourth quarter to be in the range of $235 to $250 million. On a GAAP basis, operating margin is expected to be in the range of approximately 10 to 12%. http://www.finisar.com

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Hurricane Electric Scales its IPv6 Backbone with Brocade

Hurricane Electric now claims to operate the largest IPv6 Internet backbone in the world, measured by the number of networks connected. As of January 2011, the company had 1,200 IPv6 networks connected to its IPv6 backbone.



Brocade supplies IPv6-enabled switches and routers in Hurricane Electric's geographically distributed network. Specifically, Hurricane Electric has deployed the Brocade NetIron XMR Internet core router and Brocade MLXe core routers to future-proof its global network and multiple data centers, including its 200,000 square foot colocation facility in Fremont, California.http://www.brocade.com http://www.he.net

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NSN Carries 400 Gbps Line Rate with FlexiGrid

Nokia Siemens Networks has demonstrated FlexiGrid in its hiT 7300 DWDM platform that enabled it to carry a 400 Gbps transmission over a distance of 600 km.



At present, the channel spacing is hard wired and 50GHz by default . FlexiGrid dynamically adapts the wavelength grid to the needs of high-capacity transport channels, enabling speeds as high as 400G and beyond.



The trial was conducted at Nokia Siemens Networks' R&D lab in Munich, Germany.



Nokia Siemens Networks used FlexiGrid and advanced digital signal processing for this demonstration. Once the solution is commercialized, it will allow 400G evolution for operators' current 10G/40G or 100G DWDM multi-haul hiT 7300 platform and Next Generation Packet Optical Transport Solution (P-OTS). In addition, the increased utilization of fiber capacity will drive down costs.



"With the increase in network traffic outgrowing revenue coupled with 100G reaching the limits of spectral efficiency, operators are looking to evolve their network beyond 100G," said Uwe Fisher, head of optical networks product management at Nokia Siemens Networks. We have now reached another milestone, which demonstrates that our hiT 7300 paves the way for operators to easily upgrade their optical data transport networks and allow them to flexibly balance between speeds above 100G and the fiber length along with improving the efficiency of their fiber infrastructure."http://www.nsn.com

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Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs Shows 256 Gbps Line Rate

Alcatel-Lucent announced a number of innovations that make it possible to transmit data at significantly higher bit rates and over significantly longer distances by leveraging a number of innovations, including applying higher-order signal modulation to achieve greater spectral efficiencies; heightening the sensitivity of optical receivers to a point approaching their fundamental limit; exploiting new multimode transmission to increase the capacity of optical networks by orders of magnitude.



Highlights of the announcement:



Doubled spectral efficiencies -- enabling a per line transmission rate of 256 Gbps over a distance of 400 kilometers by using 64-QAM modulation.



Record modulation/receiver sensitivity -- reduces by half the number of photons needed to transmit information and achieves a record degree of sensitivity by applying an advanced 16-ary-pulse-position-modulation scheme.



New multimode fiberr -- promising the potential to increase the capacity of a single fiber strand by an order of magnitude.



Fully-integrated optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) generator -- based on photonic integrated circuits using Indium Phosphide(InP).
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Ciena and Internet2 Partner on New National 100G Network

Ciena and Internet2 announced a partnership on a 100G national network in support of the U.S. Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN) project, which is intended to help connect community anchor institutions including K-12 schools, libraries, community colleges, health centers, hospitals and public safety organizations across the country to next-generation Internet-based applications. Internet2 is significantly upgrading its national backbone network through a federal stimulus grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).



Internet2 will be using Ciena's ActivFlex 6500 Packet-Optical Platform equipped with WaveLogic coherent optical processors for its new network.



Through its partnership with Ciena, Internet2 will increase its network's bandwidth from approximately 100 Gbps to 8.8 Tbps to provide the necessary capabilities to connect over 200,000 community anchor institutions nationwide as part of the U.S. UCAN project.http://www.ciena.com

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