Clearwire Adds 1.8 Million Users in Q1

Clearwire announced record quarterly net subscriber additions of 1.8 million; including 1.6 million wholesale, and 155,000 retail customers.


Clearwire now has a customer base of 6.15 million - 1.29 million retail subscribers and 4.86 million wholesale subscribers – using its 4G WiMAX service.


"During the quarter we made good progress toward our objective of achieving positive EBITDA in 2012 by executing new agreements with Sprint, delivering strong post-pay subscriber growth and company-best wholesale revenue growth, as well as significantly lowering our operating costs," said John Stanton, Clearwire's Chairman and interim CEO.


Erik Prusch, Clearwire's Chief Operating Officer added, "Looking ahead, we expect to work closely with Sprint and all of our other wholesale partners to expand our 4G leadership and capitalize on our rich spectrum holdings that enable us to meet the exploding customer demand for mobile broadband internet access. Since the beginning of the year, our network has experienced a 40% increase in network usage due to expanded coverage, record subscriber growth and higher usage per device."


Clearwire now expects to end 2011 with approximately 9.5 million subscribers, with most of those subscribers coming from its wholesale business. This is an increase from the previous guidance of 8.8 million subscribers provided in February 2011. The Company continues to expect capital expenditures in 2011 to be less than $400 million.
http://www.clearwire.com

Read More

Meru Debuts Three-stream 802.11n Quad-radio AP

Meru Networks introduced its AP400 Mobile Edge access point (AP) platform featuring three-stream 802.11n quad-radio capability and a maximum total data rate of 1.8Gbps. It uses Meru's virtualized wireless LAN (WLAN) technology to deliver a flexible, software-configurable mobile edge architecture purpose-built for high-performance enterprise mobility, supporting indoor and outdoor use.


Meru said its new platform is optimized for mobile devices such as iPads, iPhones, Android-based smartphones and tablets, and supports the user's need to access high definition (HD) video, wireless VoIP and other multi-media applications. The AP400 Mobile Edge platform also leverages Meru's Orthogonal Array Beam Forming technology and next generation sub-carrier level beam forming to deliver Adaptive Optimization. This new innovative capability is designed to deliver the highest performance and consistent quality-of-service (QoS) for low-power multi-media mobile devices. The AP400 platform also includes an onboard USB port for adding an additional WLAN radio to provide cellular WAN backhaul capabilities.
http://www.merunetworks.com

Read More

Sierra Wireless Posts Q1 Revenue, Some Weakness in M2M

Sierra Wireless reported Q1 revenue of $144.3 million, a decrease of 5% compared to $151.3 million in the first quarter of 2010.


Mobile Computing revenue was $71.6 million, up 14% compared to $62.6 million in the first quarter of 2010.


Machine-to-Machine ("M2M") revenue was $72.7 million, down 18% compared to $88.7 million in the first quarter of 2010. The year-over-year revenue decrease in M2M was driven by significantly lower sales to Barnes & Noble, declining from $26.7 million in the first quarter of 2010 to $0.7 million in the first quarter of 2011, offset by solid year-over-year revenue growth of 16% in the remainder of the M2M business.


"While we are experiencing some weakness in the first half of 2011, we believe this is a short-term situation and expect to return to year-over-year growth and profitability in the second half," said Jason Cohenour, President and Chief Executive Officer. "The company continues to execute on our strategy and make good progress on a number of business initiatives. In Mobile Computing, we have a strong pipeline of 4G products and anticipate numerous launches with leading operators and PC OEMs during the year. In M2M, we continue to build on our market leadership position and expand our role in the value chain." http://www.sierrawireless.com

Read More

Etisalat Nigeria Outsources to Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent has won a renewed two-year multivendor managed services agreement with Etisalat Nigeria for day-to-day network operations and maintenance. Under the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will provide network operations, consulting, design, network optimization, spare parts management, maintenance services, and project management.


Etisalat Nigeria's mobile subscriber base has dramatically grown 120 percent year-over-year to over seven million subscribers in just two years.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Read More

Magyar Telekom Picks Ericsson for RAN Upgrade

Hungarian operator Magyar Telekom, of the Deutsche Telekom Group, has chosen Ericsson to undertake a complete overhaul of its radio access network. This includes deployment of Ericsson's multi-standard RBS 6000 radio access network equipment, which will also be ready for 4G/LTE functionality once licenses have been allocated. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Ericsson noted that this year marks 100 years for the company in Hungary. Also, Ericsson has the largest R&D operation in the country. http://www.ericsson.com

Read More

NSN Announces Single RAN Solution for Motorola GSM Base Stations

Having just completed the acquisition of Motorola Solutions' Networks assets, Nokia Siemens Networks announced a solution that connects existing Motorola Solutions' GSM base stations to its Flexi Base Station Controller. The solution will be available for commercial use by the end of June 2011.


Nokia Siemens Networks Single RAN Advanced implements GSM, 3G, LTE and LTE-Advanced within one single and flat radio access network. Single RAN Advanced is based on the software defined Flexi Multiradio Base Stations and the Multicontroller platform for GSM and 3G.
http://www.nsn.com

Read More

Sunrise Telecom Offers CATV Spectrum Analyzer

Sunrise Telecom introduced a CATV Spectrum Analyzer, providing enhanced Modulation Error Rate (MER) performance.


The new unit provides impairment detection in the head end, ensuring that operators can eliminate problems in the network before they affect the end customer experience. Features include automated digital proof of performance test capabilities, answering cable operators' need for a solution that assesses the quality of a rapidly expanding range of digital video services.


Sunrise Telecom said its new AT2500 Spectrum Analyzer ensures delivery of high quality digital video feeds and helps troubleshoot issues that impact QAM-supported digital video offerings, allowing operators to quickly catch impairments before they escalate into major service interruptions.
http://www.sunrisetelecom.com/at2500rq4/pr

Read More

Applied to Acquire Varian, Extending Silicon Wafer Expertise

Applied Materials has agreed to acquire Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates for $63 per share in cash for a total price of approximately $4.9 billion on a fully-diluted basis. The price represents a 55 percent premium to the closing price on May 3rd. Both companies supply equipment for semiconductor manufacturing.


Applied said the deal provides it with deep expertise in ion implantation - a critical step in integrated circuit manufacturing, thereby extending its leadership in wafer fabrication equipment (WFE). This complements Applied's Silicon Systems Group's suite of products in the areas of transistor, interconnect, wafer level packaging and patterning. The combined company will provide customers a broad product portfolio for transistor formation, enabling the manufacture of higher performance chips particularly for mobile applications with faster speeds and longer battery life. In addition, Varian's technology has strong potential to extend into adjacent markets, including solar, display and light emitting diodes.


"The pace of product innovation is accelerating, requiring devices that are more mobile, more connected and more personalized. These global trends are driving our customers to find new solutions for smaller transistors and faster and higher performance chips, while pushing the boundaries of innovation," said Mike Splinter, chairman and chief executive officer of Applied.
http://www.appliedmaterials.com
http://www.vsea.com/

Read More

India's AIRCELL implements Ericsson's Mobile Location System

Aircel has selected Ericsson to provide mobile positioning systems for its 2G and 3G subscribers. This will provide real time tracking, navigation information and information services of 2G and 3G subscribers while on the move. As part of this three-year contract for supply and support, Ericsson will supply its Mobile Positioning Centre (GMPC and SMPC) and features that support various applications to Aircel. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Ericsson Mobile Positioning Systems (MPS) will offer advanced Location Based Services (LBS) to Aircel subscribers and can support several positioning alternatives for GSM and WCDMA. That ranges from network-based methods with cell accuracy aimed for all terminals, to more accurate terminal-based methods using GPS positioning.



The WCDMA positioning method - Cell ID with round-trip time measurement - will improve the positioning accuracy for 3G and 2G phones. The same system can be used for GSM, WCDMA, circuit- and packet switching.



Mallikarjun Rao, Chief Technology Officer Aircel, said: "There is huge potential in offering this value- added service to our consumers. Most Indians spend on average 90 minutes per day on the roads; location-based services will definitely increase efficiency and enhance the quality of their life. Our belief in Ericsson technological superiority and their unparalleled support gives us the confidence to provide superior services to our customers."

http://www.ericsson.com

Read More

Boingo Completes IPO -- NASDAQ "WIFI"

Boingo Wireless completed its initial public offering of 5,770,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $13.50 per share. The shares are now trading on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "WIFI".



Boingo Wireless believes provides commercial mobile Wi-Fi Internet access at more than 325,000 hotspots worldwide, including top airports, major hotel chains, cafés and coffee shops, restaurants, convention centers and metropolitan hot zones. http://www.boingo.com

Read More

Intel Develops 3-D Tri-Gate transistors in 22nm

In what it calls a major technical breakthrough and historic innovation likely to drive Moore's Law for years to come, Intel unveiled its first 3-D transistors, called Tri-Gate, in a production device. The 22nm microprocessor – codenamed "Ivy Bridge" – will be the first high-volume chip to use 3-D Tri-Gate transistors.



The three-dimensional Tri-Gate transistor technology, which Intel first described in 2002, represent a fundamental departure from the two-dimensional planar transistor structure that has powered not only all computers, mobile phones and consumer electronics to-date, but all other electronic controls.



The 3-D chips to operate at lower voltage with lower leakage. Intel said these advantages provide an unprecedented combination of improved performance and energy efficiency compared to previous state-of-the-art transistors. The company calculates that the new 22nm 3-D Tri-Gate transistors provide up to 37 percent performance increase at low voltage versus Intel's 32nm planar transistors. Applications could include small handheld devices, which operate using less energy to "switch" back and forth. Alternatively, the new transistors consume less than half the power when at the same performance as 2-D planar transistors on 32nm chips.



"Ivy Bridge" has now been demonstrated working in a laptop, server and desktop computer. Ivy Bridge-based Intel® Core™ family processors will be the first high-volume chips to use 3-D Tri-Gate transistors, with volume production slated for later this year.

"The performance gains and power savings of Intel's unique 3-D Tri-Gate transistors are like nothing we've seen before," said Mark Bohr, Intel Senior Fellow. "This milestone is going further than simply keeping up with Moore's Law. The low-voltage and low-power benefits far exceed what we typically see from one process generation to the next. It will give product designers the flexibility to make current devices smarter and wholly new ones possible. We believe this breakthrough will extend Intel's lead even further over the rest of the semiconductor industry.http://www.intel.com

Read More

Sony's Data Breach Tied to Anonymous DDoS Attack

The recent data breach on the Sony Playstation Network followed a coordinated distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack mounted by the group calling itself "Anonymous," according to an open letter from Sony to a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. The "Anonymous" hacker(s) also left behind a file with the note "we are legion."



Sony's data forensic teams said the hackers used "very sophisticated and aggressive techniques to obtain unauthorized access, hide their access from system administrators, and escalate privileges inside the servers." The hackers deleted log files to hide their work. The criminals, who have not been identified, stole information from all of the approximately 77 million user accounts.
http://www.sony.com http://bit.ly/ktVhlm

Read More