Sunday, June 12, 2011

Aruba Delivers 1 Mbps Video Simultaneously to 100 iPads

Aruba Networks, in collaboration with the University of Ottawa, demonstrated the delivery of six multimedia educational applications 100 iPads concurrently located in a single auditorium. Each of the applications was delivered simultaneously to all 100 iPads with the highest quality and without any noticeable jitter, delay or frame loss. Aruba reports that 100 percent of the iPads passed the multimedia Service Level Agreement (SLA), as measured by VeriWave WaveInsite, which was also used to objectively verify sustained performance of 1Mbps of multimedia streaming to each iPad.
http://www.arubanetworks.com/solutions/campus-mobility/

ARRIS Shows 4.5 Gbps Downstream DOCSIS

At this week's NCTA Cable Show in Chicago, ARRIS will demonstrate DOCSIS downstream file transfer throughput of 4.5 Gbps. This is achieved by transmitting over 128 DOCSIS downstream channels into a single Fiber Node. In the demo, an ARRIS C4 CMTS will be configured using four newly-released 32 Downstream Cable Access Modules (32D CAMs) to source the 128 DOCSIS downstream channels into the Fiber Node. The Bandwidth Monitor will illustrate that the total downstream bandwidth sent into the Fiber Node remains fairly constant at about 4.5 Gbps.


ARRIS is also demonstrating a proof-of-concept implementation of a 5-200 MHz high-split DOCSIS upstream system with 575 Mbps of DOCSIS upstream bandwidth being transmitted over 24 DOCSIS Upstream channels out of a single Fiber Node. This demo uses a single ARRIS 24U CAM to receive the high-split 5-200 MHz upstream spectrum from a Fiber Node. This record-breaking upstream bandwidth is intended to help the industry explore the future frequency allocations of HFC to protect its value and viability for many years to come.
http://www.arrisi.com

GSA: 37 Vendors with Announced LTE Consumer Devices

A new "Status of the LTE Ecosystem" report published by the GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) finds that 42 manufacturers have announced 137 LTE-enabled user devices, signalling 40% growth in the number of products launched in the past 3 months. The breakdown of LTE devices by form factor is as follows (March 2011 figures in brackets):


Modules = 27 (22)

M-Tablets = 8 (7)

Notebooks/netbooks = 7 (6)

PC Cards = 2 (1)

Smartphones = 9 (6)

Routers (including personal hotspots) = 45 (28)

USB modems/dongles = 39 (28).
http://www.gsacom.com

ECI Telecom Appoints Shimon Bart as President and CEO

ECI Telecom has appointed Mr. Shimon Bart as its new President and CEO, replacing Rafi Maor, who will now serve as Chairman of the Board.


Bart was most recently the CEO of Keter Plastic Ltd. - IPG, one of the world's leading global manufacturers and marketers of resin-based home consumer products, with hundreds of millions of dollars in sales and an employer of nearly 1,500 people worldwide. Prior to that, he served as the General Manager of one of Keter's Strategic Business Units. Before joining Keter, he was founder and CEO of VLScom, a start-up company focused on video technologies.
http://www.ecitele.com

Verizon Wireless to Offer Mobile Payments via Payfone

Verizon Wireless is preparing to launch a new service that will allow customers to make online purchases from their smartphones, tablets and PCs using numerous payment methods, including charging purchases to their monthly wireless statements or using traditional payment methods through financial institution partners. The service will be powered by Payfone.


"Our relationship with Payfone complements the part of the mobile payments equation we're already working on with our Isis joint venture," said Greg Haller, marketing vice president, Verizon Wireless. "We approach the mobile payments arena from a customer's perspective. As we move forward, the most important goals will be security, privacy and simplicity. Through our relationship with Payfone, we will be able to quickly offer value to our customers by offering them greater choice and a simple, safe and secure purchasing experience when shopping online from their smartphones, tablets and PCs."


We are pleased to be working with Verizon Wireless to deliver a new level of convenience, security and flexibility to their customers and to boost revenue and conversion for operators, merchants and publishers," states Rodger Desai, chief executive officer, Payfone. "This underscores Verizon Wireless' dedication to cutting-edge innovation as it stays ahead of the mobile payments curve."http://www.verizonwireless.com
http://www.payfone.com/
  • Payfone is a member of the GSMA and is based in New York, NY. The company was founded in March 2008 and is backed by American Express, Verizon Investments, Rogers Ventures, BlackBerry Partners Fund, Opus Capital, and RRE Ventures.

Devicescape -- The Easy WiFi Mobile Data Offload Network







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http://www.devicescape.com
  • Motivated by cost savings and spectrum limitations, carriers are looking at alternative options such as Wi-Fi to accommodate the rapid growth of mobile data traffic. However, the Wi-Fi offloading solution must be seamless and reliable for the subscriber and provide clear benefits to the carrier. In this video, Devicescape highlights the benefits of using Wi-Fi as the offloading technology.

Telco Systems Embeds Symmetricom in Packet Backhaul

Telco Systems has partnered with Symmetricom to embed IEEE1588v2 technology into its mobile backhaul solution. The combined solution ensures the delivery of precise timing and synchronization over packet-based networks.



Telco Systems' mobile backhaul edge solution uses Carrier Ethernet and IP/MPLS as transport technologies. It supports a variety of synchronization technologies (1588v2, SyncE, ACR) and synchronization interworking to provide optimized and flexible support of different customer networks. http://www.telco.com http://www.symmetricom.com/syncworld

Broadcom's 3rd Gen DOCSIS 3.0 Chips Optimize 1GHz Downstream Spectrum

Broadcom introduced its third generation DOCSIS 3.0 system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution featuring Full-Band Capture (FBC) technology, dual-band concurrent Wi-Fi and a custom applications processor. The FBC digital tuning technology directly samples and digitizes the entire 1GHz downstream spectrum of a cable plant, providing access to any channel anywhere. Advanced signal processing techniques enables finer digital tuning and supports DOCSIS and digital video on any frequency, eliminating limitations of "block" tuners.

When combined with Broadcom's set-top box SoC with fast acquisition technology, video channels can be pre-tuned and users can enjoy the experience of Broadcom's FastRTV™ fast channel change technology. The new chip support simultaneous 2.4 and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11 band streams. It also provides a multi-threaded 500MHz processor, a 50 percent increase in CPU speed. http://www.broadcom.com

Motorola Televation Offers CableCard Programming, Transcoding, Wi-Fi

Motorola Mobility introduced its "Televation" broadband device for distributing live TV via Wi-Fi to any IP-enable screen around the home.



Televation employs a 1GHz digital tuner and CableCard to access broadcast TV channels directly from a coax outlet. The device has a high-performance transcoder that translates programming in real-time from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4, as well as changing resolution and bit rate to match the capabilities of the consumer's viewing device.



Televation uses Motorola's SecureMedia IPRM-HN technology to keep the programming secure while it is being streamed, and to preserve the digital rights associated with the program. IPRM-HN has been approved by both CableLabs and the DTLA (Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator), giving content owners peace of mind that their valuable asset remains safe.



Motorola is providing Software Development Kits (SDKs) for both Android and iOS development environments. The company is also providing a reference client application for tablet devices that can be easily branded by cable providers.



"Motorola shares our focus on developing innovative consumer entertainment experiences, and we're pleased to have been able to work with them on Televation," said Tony Werner, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Comcast. "As the digital home continues to evolve, Televation is one of many tools that MSOs can use to give consumers a more portable TV experience in the home so they can watch anytime and anywhere."



"Consumers love entertainment, and want easy access to TV no matter where they are in the home. Coupled with the explosive popularity of tablet devices, this represents a terrific opportunity for MSOs to increase customer satisfaction while generating new revenue," said John Burke, senior vice president and general manager, Converged Experiences, Motorola Mobility. "Televation gives our customers the ability to launch a new service that puts innovation back into TV, enabling their subscribers to enjoy TV beyond the TV."http://motorola.com/mobility

LulzSec Hacks Senate.Gov

The Lulz Security hacktivists continued their cyber attack exploits by releasing an internal data map of Senate.gov -- the official website of the U.S. Senate. This is the same group of hacktivists who in recent weeks have gained notoriety by attacking Fox.com, the U.K.'s National Health Service, Nintendo, PBS.org, and a company that provides IT services for the FBI.http://www.convergedigest.com

Alcatel-Lucent Teams with thePlatform to Extend Cable to Any Screen

Alcatel-Lucent has formed a strategic alliance with thePlatform to help cable and IPTV providers deliver a new generation of live scheduled TV, Video-on-Demand (VOD) and "TV everywhere" services services to any screen, including subscribers' TVs, PCs, tablets, and mobile phones.



thePlatform is an online video management and publishing company that supports some of the largest TV Everywhere initiatives across the cable industry.



The joint solution from Alcatel-Lucent and thePlatform offers advanced video management capabilities together with optimized video distribution through a content delivery network (CDN) deployed by the service provider. It also brings the security and reliability found today on TV set-top boxes to a broader range of devices.



The multiscreen video platform is made up of three main components - Cloud, Content Delivery Network and Clients – each of which can be deployed individually, in combination.A central element of the Multiscreen cloud is thePlatform's cloud-based external video management system which provides the central logistics system for multi-screen video publishing. It provides video and metadata management, rights enforcement and business policy modelling between TV providers and content owners, and automated publishing capabilities. The Multiscreen Content Delivery Network - based on Alcatel-Lucent's Velocix Digital Media Delivery Platform - enables service providers to build and operate their own dedicated CDN as an alternative to shared third-party CDNs. The Multiscreen Clients are a suite of subscriber applications, each designed to support video playback on either a PC, tablet or mobile device, including pre-integrated Interactive Program Guide (IPG) with search and personalization features.



Alcatel-Lucent is also adding a number of enhancements to its Velocix Digital Media Delivery Platform, which is the content delivery network (CDN) solution for service providers. These upgrades include per-stream and per-session encryption, which ensures that content is protected all the way to the specific client device. The system is also aware of the geographic location, so that content viewing could be restricted to the subscriber's home while viewed over Wi-Fi for instance. Alcatel-Lucent is also adding streaming state-awareness, so that if the session is inadvertently dropped, the video playback will automatically resume from the marker where the disruption occurred.



Derrick Frost, Senior Vice President, Global IP Video Solutions at Alcatel-Lucent said: "Consumer demand for anywhere, anytime video services is exploding and our customers are looking for an edge. Alcatel-Lucent's leadership in IPTV and content delivery networks, coupled with our strategic alliance with thePlatform provides a unique suite of capabilities that allow service providers to offer the best of traditional pay-TV and online video worlds to their customers."



Ian Blaine, CEO of thePlatform observed: "In recent years, we've seen tremendous growth and innovation with online video, which is reshaping the future of TV. Our alliance with Alcatel-Lucent allows us to address the new opportunities and challenges facing TV service providers today. Expanding the use of our capabilities beyond online and mobile video to manage TV itself represents a significant new business opportunity for thePlatform. Alcatel-Lucent's strong customer relationships and experience in the service provider space will help us reach a broader set of customers than was possible previously. Our joint solution will enable pay-TV providers to create groundbreaking consumer services that unify content delivery across any screen."



The multiscreen video platform is made up of three main components - Cloud, Content Delivery Network and Clients – each of which can be deployed individually, in combination.A central element of the Multiscreen cloud is thePlatform's cloud-based external video management system which provides the central logistics system for multi-screen video publishing. It provides video and metadata management, rights enforcement and business policy modelling between TV providers and content owners, and automated publishing capabilities. The Multiscreen Content Delivery Network - based on Alcatel-Lucent's Velocix Digital Media Delivery Platform - enables service providers to build and operate their own dedicated CDN as an alternative to shared third-party CDNs. The Multiscreen Clients are a suite of subscriber applications, each designed to support video playback on either a PC, tablet or mobile device, including pre-integrated Interactive Program Guide (IPG) with search and personalization features.http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/multiscreen-video-platform
  • In May, thePlatform was selected by Cox Communications, the third-largest U.S. cable TV company, to provide the back-end video management for Cox’s new video initiative, Cox TV Online.

Ciena Extends Packet-Optical, Adding Control Plane and Coherent Optics

Ciena is evolving its packet-optical portfolio to enable intelligent infrastructures using advanced silicon, software and switching technologies.



Specifically, Ciena is adding OTN switching to the 6500 Series and 5410 Reconfigurable Switching System, and is introducing a 2-slot variant of the 6500 Series for smaller, network edge installations, expanding customers' solution set options depending on their capability requirements at particular network sites.



Ciena is also adding its optical control plane to the 6500 Series for enabling multi-domain (metro and core) automated mesh provisioning and restoration, operated-defined service levels and 99.9999 percent service availability across its large installed base.



In addition, Ciena is adding "WaveLogic" coherent optical processors to the 5400 Series. This capability was previously announced on the 4200 Series.



At the network and service management layers, Ciena is introducing OneControl Unified Management System which offers cohesive visibility and control of wavelength, OTN and packet services from the edge access through the network core.



Ciena said that by integrating these intelligent switching, optical control plane and coherent optics innovations across multiple packet-optical products, it will provide an applications-optimized portfolio that offers maximum flexibility for their next-generation core and metro networks. The company noted that it now has more than 20,000 OTN switches deployed.



"As more content and applications are delivered as a service to hyper-connected consumers and business users with multiple devices, it only highlights the value of the optical layer in networks and the critical need for them to be more scalable, dynamic and reconfigurable – and OTN switching is a key centerpiece of enabling that network vision," stated Steve Alexander, senior vice president and chief technology officer, at Ciena.http://www.ciena.com