Amazon Improves its Virtual Private Cloud

The Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) has been improved with new functionality that opens up virtual networking capabilities to a much broader set of use cases.


Amazon is now supporting direct Internet access into a Virtual Private Cloud. Previously, you needed it was only accessible via an IPsec Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection to your corporate datacenter.


Amazon is now making it possible to define a virtual network topology that closely resembles a traditional network that you might operate in your own datacenter. The customer can control the selection of IP address range, creation of subnets, and configuration of route tables and network gateways.http://aws.amazon.com/

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National Cable & Telecom Assoc. Appoints Michael Powell as Head

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), which lobbies on behalf of the cable television industry, has appointed Michael Powell as its new President & Chief Executive Officer.


Michael Powell previously served as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2001 to 2005. He currently is a senior advisor with Providence Equity Partners and Honorary Co-Chair of Broadband for America. He is also the son of General Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State.


Michael Powell was nominated as a member of the FCC by President Bill Clinton and sworn in on November 3, 1997. He was designated by President George W. Bush as FCC Chairman in January 2001, serving in that role until April 2005.
http://www.ncta.com

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NetLogic Supplies SerDes for Arista's Low-Latency Switch

NetLogic Microsystems supplied several key innovations in high-speed physical layer SerDes development that resulted in the world's lowest latency 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) PHY solution used in Arista's next-generation data centers switch.


NetLogic Microsystems' new dual-channel AEL2020-LL PHY with integrated SerDes features an ultra low-latency of 70 nanoseconds (ns), which is nearly a half of existing solutions. In addition to the ultra low-latency, the AEL2020-LL PHY device offers the industry's lowest power consumption and supports multiple protocols and multiple media types – single-mode fiber (10GBASE-LR), multi-mode fiber (10GBASE-SR and 10GBASE-LRM), direct-attached copper (10GBASE-CR) and extended reach optics (10GBASE-ER).


"As the leading provider of ultra-low latency 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches for clouds and data centers, we are very pleased with NetLogic Microsystems' continued technical leadership in reducing PHY latency," said Andy Bechtolsheim, chairman and chief development officer at Arista Networks. "Our close collaboration with NetLogic Microsystems has been key to achieve the lowest Ethernet switch latency in the industry."http://www.netlogicmicro.com

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CommScope Launches Rebranding Following Privatization

CommScope introduced a new corporate identity and branding. The move follows the recent privatization by The Carlyle Group, which acquired all of the outstanding shares of CommScope for $31.50 per share in cash -- a transaction valued at approximately $3.9 billion.


CommScope, which is based in Hickory, North Carolina, began as a small provider of cabling to the nascent cable TV market in the 1970s. It is now a multi-billion dollar, global infrastructure leader with solutions for wireless, wireline, enterprise and cable television networks.


The brand makeover is the first for CommScope since the mid-1990s and follows the acquisitions of Avaya's Connectivity Solutions division in 2003 and Andrew Corporation in 2007.


CommScope said its new logo portrays a more dynamic company with a contemporary look and feel and a more structured hierarchy of product and solution brands serving the telecom carrier, cable television, business enterprise and government markets.
http://www.commscope.com

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Arista Debuts Sub 500 Nanosecond Latency Switch

Arista Networks introduced a new data center switch boasting sub-500 nanosecond latency. The Arista 7124SX, which is aimed at financial trading and ultra low latency applications, serves as a leaf or access top-of-rack 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch. The Arista 7124SX is a wire-speed, 24-port, L2/L3 switch supporting 100Mb, 1GbE and 10 GbE SFP+ based optics and cables in one rack unit.


Arista also introduced Latency Analyzer (LANZ), a new software capability to monitor and analyze network performance, generate early warning of pending congestion events, and track sources of bottlenecks. In addition, a Solid State Disk (SSD) is available as a factory-option and can be used to store packet data captures, LANZ generated historical data, and take full advantage of the Linux based Arista Extensible Operating System (EOS).
http://www.aristanetworks.com

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GE Announces Thermal Heat Dissipation Substrate for Electronics

GE's Global Research Center is developing an advanced thermal substrate with better heat dissipation properties than copper.


The development of GE's prototype substrate, which utilizes phase-change-based heat transfer, is part of a four year, $6 million program funded by the Defense Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA).


Dr. Tao Deng, a senior scientist at GE Global Research and the project leader, said, "As electronics become more advanced, we are approaching the point where conventional materials like copper can't take the heat. For computing to go faster and electronics systems to become more capable, better cooling solutions such as GE's prototype substrate will be required to allow this to happen."


GE said its phase-change based prototype substrate can be applied to computer chips and a variety of different electronic components. It acts as a cooling mechanism that spreads or dissipates the heat generated in electronic systems to keep components cool. Tests have shown at least twice the thermal conductivity as copper at only one–fourth of its weight. In addition, the prototype successfully operated in a condition that was more than 10 times normal gravity.
http://www.ge.com/researchhttp://visualization.geblogs.com/visualization/nanotech/

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Telecom Union Supports AT&T + T-Mobile USA Deal

CWA and ver.di, which are unions representing telecom workers in the U.S. and Germany, announced their support of AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA.



In a statement, CWA President Larry Cohen said:



"Today's announcement of the acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T is a victory for broadband proponents in both the U.S. and Germany. For the U.S., it means that T-Mobile customers will get quick access to the AT&T network, soon to include LTE or data speeds of at least 10 megabits down stream. More important, as part of the deal, AT&T is committing to build out to nearly every part of the U.S. within six years. Both AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM technology so there will be the immediate benefit of shared spectrum. Other reported deals involving T-Mobile would have joined incompatible networks; not only would that have forced a rebuild but would have required new phones for T- Mobile customers."



The unions believe that T-Mobile USA workers will gain better employment security and that AT&T has a good track record in working with unions. Some 42,000 ATT mobility employees are union represented.



From the German perspective, the unions expect that the cash deal will enable Deutsche Telekom to increase investment in its own fiber network.http://www.cwa-union.orghttp://www.t-mobileunion.org/

• In April 2010, ver.di, the union representing workers at Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile operations in Germany, the Communications Workers of America and UNI Global Union held a press conference to denounce a double standard they see in the way the Deutsche Telekom treats its Germany and American workers. Specifically, the unions accuse T-Mobile USA of engaging in an anti-union behavior.
  
  
  
  Lothar Schröder, an executive board member of ver.di, pointed out that "in Germany and many countries, DT complies with its Social Charter which directs the company to adhere to internationally recognized norms, directives and standards. DT also respects the human rights standards of the International Labor Organization and upholds the labor principles of the United Nations Global Compact regarding freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
  
  
  
  "But when it comes to U.S. operations, which employs about 40,000 workers and produces about 25 percent of DT's revenue, DT's Social Charter is no where to be found," Schroeder said.



• The Communications Workers of America and ver.di, Germany's largest union, established a separate organization to unite and represent workers in the U.S. and Europe. The new T-Union, which is a joint affiliate of both organizations, will support T-Mobile workers who want a union voice and collective bargaining rights in the United States and other countries, and German union members who work for T-Mobile in the U.S.

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Tellabs 7100 Optical Transport System Boosts OTN Capabilities

Tellabs announced new OTN switching capabilities on its 7100 Optical Transport System, enabling service providers to aggregate and encapsulate a variety of traffic, including native Ethernet and SONET/SDH, and transport it as an aggregated traffic bundle across backbone networks.



Tellabs said the new OTN offering improves traffic delivery by reducing the service provider's overall cost per bit of transport by as much as 80%, as multiple customers' traffic can ride on the same wavelength.



"With dynamic optical networking, packet switching and OTN technology on one platform, service providers can rely on unparalleled flexibility and resiliency in their optical networks," said Dan Kelly, executive vice president, Tellabs global products. "With OTN on the Tellabs 7100 system, providers can scale as their networks grow and cost-efficiently aggregate all services to create a truly converged transport network."http://www.tellabs.com

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Ikanos Fusiv Processors Leverage G.Vector for 100 Mbps

Ikanos Communications introduced its Fusiv Vx185 and Vx183 communications processors supporting the ITU G.Vector standard and bonding for increased rate and reach. The new chipsets, which are aimed at advanced services gateways and integrated access devices, also feature ultra-low power for meeting the requirements of European Code of Conduct and Home Gateway Initiative.

The new Fusiv family offers full ADSL and VDSL2 support, including for all VDSL2 profiles and band plans for Asia, Europe, and North America. The chipsets exceed Broadband Forum performance requirements (TR-67, TR-100, and WT- 114) and support for all wired or wireless networking technologies including Wi-Fi (single or dual-band concurrent modes), HomePNA, HomePlug, Multi-media Over Coax, and ITU G.hn.

Some of the key capabilities include:



G.Vector Compliance: By employing industry-standard G.Vector (ITU-T G.993.5), Ikanos' Fusiv products are designed to enable 100 Mbps service over traditional copper lines. The new devices add to Ikanos' NodeScale Vectoring architecture, which spans the central office, remote cabinets in fiber to the node (FTTN) networks, and now the customer premises.



Bonding: The Fusiv Vx185 integrates cost-effective support for bonding (ITU-T G.998.1 andG.998.2) by natively interfacing directly to two integrated analog front-end devices. This built-in support is designed to allow service providers to extend the reach of their advanced broadband services by coupling two pair of copper wires together. Bonding can also be used to increase the data rate over shorter distances. Together, bonding and vectoring can be combined to push aggregate data rates up to 300Mbps.



Green / Ultra-Low Power: With the Vx185/183, Ikanos introduces key advancements in dynamic power management.



Gigabit Line Rate Performance: Ikanos' accelerator processor architecture enables reliable Quality of Service (QoS) and optimal packet processing performance. This 4th generation of accelerator processor implementation comes with advancements in packet handling which raises the performance bar for this class of service gateway. The new accelerator processor implementation enables bi-directional Gigabit routing performance while consuming less than 5% of the host application processor.



"Ikanos is focused on delivering next-generation products that provide very high performance coupled with extreme energy efficiency. That's what we built into our latest Fusiv Vx183 and Vx185 – gigahertz of processing horsepower and dynamic power management for operation that beats European Code of Conduct requirements. Add to that support for vectoring and bonding, and we have an innovative product that delivers the power-performance and differentiating value required by service providers around the world," stated John Quigley, president and CEO, of Ikanos.http://www.ikanos.com

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SiTime Launches Low-power, High Frequency Oscillator

SiTime introduced the industry's lowest power high frequency oscillator, which reduces oscillator power consumption by up to 66% and is ideally suited for high performance networking, video, computing and storage applications.



The SiT8004 MEMS-based programmable oscillator features 6.7mA of typical current consumption at 125MHz, which is up to 66% lower than that of a standard crystal oscillator. In addition to supporting any frequency between 125 MHz and 150 MHz, it is also available in popular, pre-configured options such as:

• 125 MHz and 125.00375 MHz for GPON, EPON and Gigabit Ethernet



• 133 MHz and 133.33333 MHz for MEMORY (DDR) and PCI



• 148.5 MHz and 148.35164 MHz for HDMI and Pixel clocks



• 150 MHz for SATA/SAS

"Reducing energy usage is a key goal of electronics manufacturers," said Piyush Sevalia, vice president of marketing for SiTime. "Typically, quartz oscillator suppliers do not have analog circuit expertise as they buy their oscillator die from semiconductor providers. Therefore, they have not been able to deliver low power devices for high frequency applications. SiTime uniquely has both resonator and analog circuit expertise, enabling us to integrate and deliver compelling features to our customers. The SiT8004 is an excellent example of this expertise: not only does it reduce oscillator power consumption by up to 66%, but it is also a drop-in replacement for quartz oscillators, which allows system vendors to reduce energy usage with zero design effort."http://www.sitime.com

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Verizon Wireless to Sell First 4G LTE Smartphone on March 17th

Verizon Wireless will begin sales of its first LTE smartphone -- the ThunderBolt by HTC, on March 17 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online for $249.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.



The ThunderBolt is powered by Android 2.2 and is equipped with support for Google Mobile Services, including Gmail, YouTube and Android Market. Additionally, the ThunderBolt by HTC will feature 4G LTE optimized apps such as EA's Rock Band, Gameloft's Let's Golf, Tunewiki and Bitbop.



Additional features:

• 4G LTE – customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage area



• 4.3" WVGA display



• 8- megapixel rear facing camera and HD (720p) video recording



• 1.3- megapixel front facing camera with video chatting capabilities



• Newest generation of the 1GHz Snapdragon processor



• Mobile Hotspot capability – share 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices



• 8 GB of onboard memory and a pre-installed 32 GB microSD card (Actual formatted capacity will be less)



• Built-in kickstand for easy media viewing

http://phones.verizonwireless.com/htc/thunderbolt/

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MegaPath to Expand Ethernet-over-Copper to 50 U.S. Markets

MegaPath, the new local exchange carrier formed through the merger of Speakeasy, Covad Communications and MegaPath, unveiled plans to expand its facilities–based Ethernet over Copper infrastructure to 15 markets by the end of 2011 and an additional 35 markets by the end of 2012.



During the first phase of the expansion in 2011, the Company will add more than 300 Central Offices (COs) in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. By the end of the second phase in 2012, MegaPath will have one of the largest Ethernet over Copper capable networks in the United States with about 680 Central Offices.



"Ethernet over Copper is proving to be the next wave in Internet connectivity – offering extremely high performance at a price point much lower than competitive offerings. By aggressively building out our network, MegaPath is once again showing our commitment to our customers and partners, by providing them with a new leading -edge network that can support all of their critical business applications," stated Craig Young, MegaPath's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.http://www.megapath.com

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Level 3 Enhances Intercity Backbones in Spain, France

Level 3 Communications has enabled two national intercity rings (backbones) in southern Europe made possible by the creation of two new, diverse points of presence (PoPs) in Toulouse, France. The new PoPs are located at major traffic aggregation points in Toulouse and enable Level 3 to deliver a wider range of services to customers in France and Spain, including Ethernet private line (EPL) and wavelength transport services, high-speed Internet protocol (HSIP), direct Internet access (DIA) and virtual private network (VPN), as well as content and media delivery services.



In creating the new PoPs in Toulouse, Level 3 has effectively split one of its larger network rings, which previously spanned France and Spain, into two smaller rings. The company noted that its network in Europe presently spans 21 countries and offers connectivity in 48 markets. For more information on Level 3's services in Europe, please visit www.level3.com/index.cfm?pageID=254.http://www.level3.com

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Ceragon Announces Realignment Following Nera Acquisition

Ceragon Networks announced a corporate restructuring following its recent acquisition of Nera Networks, a supplier of long-distance microwave radios based in Norway. This will result in the loss of 200 full-time jobs.



Ceragon's new organizational structure consists of three solution groups - Short Haul Solutions, Long Haul Solutions and Projects & Services - supported by a global sales organization.

The Short Haul Solutions group will focus on products and solutions in the Access and Aggregation backhaul segments. This group will be led by Hagai Zyss, previously Ceragon's EVP of Research & Development.

The Long Haul Solutions group will focus on trunk and multi-carrier solutions for long haul and wireless backbone applications. This group will be led by Eyal Assa, previously Ceragon's EVP & COO Sales.

The Projects & Services group will focus on providing a complete turnkey project offering including engineering, installation, commissioning and project management services. This group will be led by Ole Lars Oye, previously the Senior Vice President, Global Projects at Nera Networks

Supporting these three groups will be a Corporate Marketing organization lead by Udi Gordon. Worldwide sales will be organized under the Global Business organization led by Eran Westman in six geographies.http://www.ceragon.com

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