Sunday, April 17, 2011

Calix Hires Cisco Exec

Calix has appointed Andy Lockhart as senior vice president, international sales and marketing. Lockhart joins Calix after over twenty years at Cisco, where he developed a wide range of international and cross cultural leadership experience. Most recently, Andy held worldwide sales responsibility for the integration of Cisco's largest acquisition in recent years. Andy was instrumental in establishing many of Cisco's largest international business operations, including the founding of Cisco Japan, building Cisco's Asia Pacific partner network, establishing Cisco's UK Sales operation, and launching Cisco's European Service Provider organization.
http://www.calix.com

TE Connectivity Launches "QUAREO" Connection Identification Chip

TE Connectivity introduced "QUAREO", a patented connection point technology that provides the ability to electronically trace, monitor and authenticate every connection from the data center to the desktop.



QUAREO connectors have an advanced chip technology that provides a unique "connection point identification" that records the real-time status of each fiber and copper connection point and its entire cabling pathway into a global database for access by upstream network management systems.


The design places the QUAREO Chip right on a standard form factor connector, allowing for something that TE Connectivity says is very akin to a MAC-like ID. The idea is likely to be most useful in high-density data centers.


The QUAREO end-to-end network ecosystem manages configuration, information security, change management, physical security, asset management, performance, IT service continuity, risk management, and disaster recovery. This would also eliminate the need to manually "tone" or "tag" millions of miles of cables from large data centers to users' desktops. Every physical connection would be uniquely identified.


"The ability to query, view and manage Layer 1 in a manner that is integrated with current network management policies has not been possible with existing network management solutions that can only monitor, control and secure Layers 2 through 7," said Stephen Mitchell, Sr. Vice President and General Manager of TE's Enterprise Networks business. "QUAREO technology shatters the barrier between Layer 1 and Layer 2, enables new, innovative applications and helps reduce network operating expense."


ADC Telecommunications, which was acquired by TE Connectivity late last year, began developing QUAREO technology in June 2009, and later piloted it with key prospects to enhance the technology even more. It is available through TE Connectivity throughout North America and other select markets immediately and will become available in additional locations throughout the coming year.
http://www.knowyournetwork.com
http://www.te.com

Verizon Cuts its DSL Pricing to $15 per Month

Verizon has introduced two new price tiers for both its stand-alone, unbundled High Speed Internet service and for so-called "dry-loop connections," which are connections without voice service.

No annual plan contracts are required, and prices are good for one year. When ordered online, customers save $5 on the monthly price for any price point, and also receive a free wireless router – a $34.99 value. The new price tiers are effective immediately.


Stand-alone service prices are:


500 Kbps to 1.0 Mbps -- $19.99 ($14.99 online)


Either 1.1-3 Mbps, 3.1-7 Mbps or 7.1-15 Mbps -- $34.99 ($29.99 online)


Customers are required to have a Verizon landline voice plan for these price tiers. Enhanced High Speed Internet service will be provisioned at the highest optimized speed available to that customer.


Dry-loop (without voice service) prices are:


500 Kbps to 1.0 Mbps -- $29.99 ($24.99 online)


Either 1.1-3 Mbps, 3.1-7 Mbps or 7.1-15 Mbps -- $44.99 ($39.99 online)
http://www.verizon.com

Verizon Wireless Prices MiFi LTE Hotspot at $99

Verizon Wireless began marketing its new MiFi 4510L 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot modem for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a 4G Mobile Broadband plan. 4G LTE Mobile Broadband plans begin at $50 monthly access for 5GB. User should expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage areas.
http://www.verizonwireless.com

Telecom New Zealand Submits Ultra Fast Broadband Proposal to Crown Fibre

Following months of detailed negotiations, Telecom New Zealand submitted its offer to Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH) to participate in the nation's new, open-access, fibre-to-the-home network. Under the proposal, Telecom would structurally separate its access business and physical infrastructure.


"Our proposal meets all of the key components of the UFB vision. It would see the creation of a completely new listed company, Chorus, to deliver an open-access, national, fibre-to-the-home network. Chorus' fibre services would reach 75% of New Zealand within ten years and we believe it satisfies all of CFH's competitive pricing requirements," said Paul Reynolds, Telecom CEO.


"Of course, we are engaged in an intensely competitive process with other bidders and the Crown must decide, so we retain a degree of caution. However, the Telecom board is satisfied that we have submitted the best possible bid terms on behalf of our shareholders."http://www.telecom-media.co.nz

Texas Instruments Posts Strong Q1 Revenue of $3.39 Billion

Texas Instruments (TI) reported Q1 revenue of $3.39 billion, net income of $666 million and earnings per share of 55 cents. Orders were $3.58 billion, down 2 percent from a year ago and up 14 percent from the prior quarter.


"2011 started strong, with customer demand in January and February tracking our expectations for a first quarter of above-seasonal growth," said Rich Templeton, TI chairman, president and chief executive officer. "But the Japan earthquake that's taken such a heartbreaking human toll in the country also disrupted local demand starting in mid-March and impaired operations at two of our factories there. This impact and substantially weaker demand for Wireless baseband chips resulted in revenue that was below the middle of our expected range. The lower revenue combined with expenses resulting from the earthquake affected earnings per share. New orders, however, were strong through the quarter, indicative of the underlying strength in our markets.
http://www.ti.com

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom Seek Savings in Joint Procurement

Deutsche Telekom AG and France Telecom-Orange outlined details of their 50-50 joint venture company aimed at generating significant cost-savings through common purchases of network infrastructure equipment.


The companies estimate cost savings of 400-900 million Euros after three years of joint purchases.


The jointly owned and operated entity will have two operational units in Bonn and Paris staffed by employees from the respective procurement departments of both groups that already deal with purchasing customer equipment, network technology, service platforms, IT-Infrastructure and procurement engineering.


"I am very excited to announce this new project with Deutsche Telekom. By combining our procurement activities, our customers will benefit from the best networks, improved services and the widest choice of devices across our footprint," said Olaf Swantee, Executive Vice President Europe and Sourcing at France Telecom-Orange. "The new joint venture will offer a more efficient sourcing organisation that will lead to more effective partnerships with suppliers. This will enable us to drive innovation and shape the development of technology in a way that meets customers' needs."


"Operators are expected to invest more than ever in networks and infrastructure as data usage increases exponentially and efforts to reduce the digital divide are being ramped-up," said Edward R. Kozel, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Deutsche Telekom. "With France Telecom-Orange we have an experienced and trusted partner who shares the same approach regarding economies of scale as well as customer benefits in technology harmonization."


DT and FT confirmed that they are also discussing collaboration in WiFi roaming, equipment harmonization, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) services and a set of new growth business development areas.
http://www.orange.com
http://www.tekekom.de

BoxTone Advances its Mobile Device Management

BoxTone, a start-up based in Columbia, Maryland, released a major upgrade to its Mobile Service Management (MSM) platform, which helps enterprises to activate, secure and manage their smartphones, tablets and applications.


BoxTone 6, which supports BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, Android, Android Tablets, Windows Mobile/Phone 7 and Symbian devices, adds a real-time compliance engine with automated workflow capabilities. The company said its strategic differentiator in the mobile device management (MDM) space is its ability to enable IT security, operations and service desk staff to continuously monitor for – and automatically neutralize – threats that can arise when mobile users and devices intentionally or unintentionally do not comply with enterprise mobile security policies. The company said its software integrates with existing help desk software, enabling IT staff to disable user access across all enterprise systems, including smart phone and tablets, should a security threat be detected or if the employee leaves the firm.


BoxTone now more than 800,000 devices under management and claims 40 of the Fortune 100 as customers.



The new BoxTone 6 compliance engine adds:


Real-Time Compliance Monitoring: Continuous collection and analysis of information across the end-to-end mobile service; delivering a comprehensive, real-time view and automated enforcement of mobile compliance. The critical security and policy data includes both device-level information (hardware, software, applications, configuration profiles and security policies), as well as current enterprise security policies and system configuration for authorization of each user, their device(s), the services they access, and their Active Directory (AD) profile.


Real-Time Compliance Enforcement: Leverages rapid identification of enterprise security policy changes or compliance violations and automatically takes rules-based actions to protect the user and the enterprise. Enforcement actions can include directly changing the mobile devices' configuration or security settings to align with policy changes, cutting off the user's device from enterprise access, and/or selectively wiping corporate data.


Real-Time Compliance Alerts: Automatic notification of all enforcement actions with details on changes, violations, actions, and recommendations to all relevant stakeholders in Operations, Security and Service Desk teams.


Compliance Auditing and Reporting: A complete and detailed audit trail of compliance information to satisfy legal, corporate and regulatory auditing requirements. These reports can be scheduled or generated-on-demand reporting, with automatic distribution to key compliance stakeholders and automatic archiving in the BoxTone data warehouse. All compliance activity is fully logged, and includes information on users and devices that have been activated, changed, deactivated or wiped; full configuration and change history for all devices; applications installed/de-installed; and what corporate resources have been accessed and used.


Enhanced Service Desk Support: BoxTone's Service Desk module is already proven to automate support across the most comprehensive set of mobile devices, applications and platforms; enabling faster first-call resolution (FCR), shortened mean time to resolution (MTTR), and fewer support escalations. The new capabilities in BoxTone 6 mean Level 1 to Level 3 support staff can now access real-time compliance information from within the Service Desk console along with recommended actions and a "1-click Fix-It" system to address any service issue and keep mobile users productive.
http://www.boxtone.com

Sequans Makes NYSE Debut

Sequans Communications, a supplier of LTE and WiMAX silicon, completed an initial public offering of American Depositary Shares (ADSs), representing 7,700,000 ordinary shares, at a price to the public of $10.00 per ADS.


The company's shares are now trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SQNS.


Trading closed on Friday at $8.25


Sequans is based in Paris.

http://www.sequans.com

Huawei's Revenue Hit CNY185.2 Billion in 2010, Up 24.2%

Huawei Technologies reported sales revenues of CNY 185.2 billion (US$28.36 billion) for full-year 2010, a 24.2% growth over the previous year. Huawei also reported an increased net profit of CNY 23.8 billion (US$3.64 billion), up 30.0% from 2009, and net profit margin of 12.3%. The financial results were independently audited by international accounting firm KPMG.


Huawei cited several factors for its steady growth in 2010, including a notable expansion in overseas markets, as well as continued development in its three core business divisions – Telecom Networks, Global Services, and Devices.


The company also vowed to adopt a more market-oriented corporate governance. Under this new structure, each of Huawei's main business units will be overseen by its own executive management teams that are in turn managed by the company's CEO alongside an active Board of Directors that provide direction and ensure synergies across the lines of business. The current Board was elected in at the beginning of 2011 and their biographies are included in Huawei's 2010 annual report.


Huawei will establish four business groups: Carrier Network, Enterprise Business, Device Business, and Other Business.


Sales revenue from the China market was CNY 64,771 million, an increase of 9.7% year-on-year.


The 2010 operating margin was 15.8%, increased 1.7 percentage points from 2009, as a result of consistent
implementation of expense control measures and favorable gross margin. Gross margin in 2010 was
41.9%, 2.3 percentage points higher than 2009.


Telecom Networks sales for 2010 were CNY122,921 million, an increase of 23.0% year-on-year.


Huawei is forecasting that the number of LTE subscribers worldwide will reach 600 million in 2015.


"Operators continue to choose Huawei for our unique ability to transform their needs into customized, innovative, and flexible solutions that create maximum value for their business," said Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman of Huawei Technologies. "As part of Huawei's future growth strategy, we leveraged our deep experience in the telecoms industry to expand into new areas, including the enterprise and device businesses, and will continue to capitalize on opportunities provided by the industry's digital transformation to support our global business in 2011."


The company also noted that by the end of 2010, it had deployed over 80 SingleRAN networks for operators, among which 28 LTE networks were commercially launched or ready to be launched.


Huawei now has 110,000 employees.
http://www.huawei.com

WildPackets and Gigamon Expand Partnership

Gigamon, which offers a line of data access switches that eliminate SPAN port contentions, has extended its technology partnership with WildPackets, a provider of network and application performance analysis solutions.

The integrated WildPackets/Gigamon solution leverages the synchronized and precise nanosecond time stamping of the Gigamon GigaVUE appliance with the WildPackets OmniPeek network analyzer, to direct network packets with 100% time stamp accuracy.



Highly precise data time stamping is essential for most organizations, especially those providing sensitive financial services where networks must be optimized, secure, and 100% compliant. Now network engineers can rapidly troubleshoot faults and fix problems, to maximize network uptime and user satisfaction, all within a single interface that aggregates data from 10/100 Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, VoIP, Video, and IPTV links to remote offices.



"This technology is essential for any organization where network uptime is critical," said Mike Valladao, Head of Product Management at Gigamon. "We are happy to extend our partnership with WildPackets to enable the next generation of network monitoring tools that allow our mutual customers to reap the benefits of highly efficient, high performing networks."



"Oversubscribed span ports, simultaneous analysis of multiple data types or multiple network segments at different speeds make real-time network monitoring hard for highly-utilized 10 Gigabit networks," said Tony Barbagallo, WildPackets Vice President of Marketing. "The combination of GigaVUE intelligent data access switches and OmniPeek network analyzers addresses these issues by providing the best solution for any highly utilized network environment."http://www.gigamon.com

Novatel Wireless Ships 3G/4G MiFi Devices

Novatel Wireless announced commercial shipment of new mobile broadband devices across multiple form factors and air interfaces that operate on 4G technology. This includes versions of the MiFi family of Intelligent Mobile Hotspots and USB modems.



"This has been among the most ambitious development initiatives in our company's history, with new products being commercialized across numerous form factors and next-generation 4G air interfaces, including Dual-Carrier HSPA+, LTE and WiMAX," stated Peter Leparulo, CEO of Novatel Wireless.



"Moving forward, we expect our 4G portfolio to continue with our family of 4G embedded modules that will enable notebooks, netbooks, tablets and other devices to connect wirelessly to the Internet by accessing a cellular network. We are working closely with a number of leading OEMs as we prepare for new product introductions."http://www.nvtl.com

CableLabs Demos Tru2way Premium Content Sharing among Home Devices

CableLabs hosted an interoperability event showing premium cable content being shared over the home network in a secure manner. Devices on the home network communicated and shared content using Ethernet, MoCA 1.1 (Multimedia over Coax Alliance), or Wi-Fi technologies. The tru2way software reference implementation (RI) was also included in the multi-vendor interoperability scenarios.



Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) Certified device manufacturers included Samsung Electronics, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Sony Electronics. DLNA Technology Component® suppliers included ACCESS Systems, AwoX, Irdeto and NDS. Tru2way host device manufacturers were represented by Cisco, Motorola and Samsung. Program guides that integrate tru2way technology with multi-room DVR capability from Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner Cable were also used in the event.



"Comcast is very pleased to see our program guide running on set-top boxes that have integrated the tru2way reference implementation software," stated Steve Reynolds, Senior Vice President, Premises Technology, Comcast.http://www.cablelabs.com http://www.cablelabs.com/opencable/specifications/ocap_115.html