Alcatel-Lucent Appoints VP of Wireless Marketing

Alcatel-Lucent has appointed Parker Moss as Vice President of Wireless Marketing, where he will be responsible for the promotion of the company's wireless products, including the lightRadio portfolio. Parker joins Alcatel-Lucent from the international GSM Association, where he was Head of Strategy. He previously served as Head of Technology & Telecom Research at Reuters and as a Telecoms Equity Analyst at Sanford C Bernstein.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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House Committee Acts to Halt Any FCC Expenditures Related to LightSquared

The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from expending any funds related to a conditional waiver it granted to LightSquared until all concerns have been resolved about interference with Global Positioning System (GPS).


The "Coalition to Save Our GPS" noted the ongoing concern about harmful interference to GPS systems if the FCC permits LightSquared to deploy 40,000 ground stations using adjacent spectrum. The amendment was offered by U.S. Reps. Steve Austria (R-Ohio) and Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) and was part of the Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee's bill.
http://www.SaveOurGPS.org

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Verizon's Terremark Expands its Global Reach

Terremark, which was recently acquired by Verizon, announced an expansion of its cloud, security and IT capabilities in North America, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.


Specifically, by leveraging Verizon's network and facilities, Terremark will deliver enterprise IT capabilities through nearly 50 leading-edge data centers, greatly boosting Terremark's existing data center footprint and enabling an expansive array of IT solutions.


Terremark will deliver advanced infrastructure and managed IT and security offerings, functioning as Verizon's arm for the delivery of enterprise-class IT services to businesses and government agencies around the globe. In addition to best-of-breed IT and cloud services, the Terremark portfolio includes Verizon's managed security, risk and compliance, and identity and access management services, as well as application management services and IT and security professional services, all of which are critical enablers to the delivery of enterprise-class cloud services.


"With the assets and resources of two market leaders, we have created a unique and powerful combination of highly skilled and seasoned people, strategically located infrastructure assets and unique intellectual property in IT resources orchestration, security and compliance that will propel global business forward in ways only possible via the enterprise-class cloud," said Kerry Bailey, group president of Terremark. "Terremark's vision is to transform and secure enterprise-class IT on a global scale so that enterprises and governments can realize the full benefits of the cloud, including better economics, faster time to market and ubiquitous access to information and content sharing."http://www.terremark.com
http://www.verizon.com

• Verizon Communications agreed to acquire Terremark, a global provider of managed IT infrastructure and cloud services, for $19.00 per share in cash, or a total equity value of $1.4 billion.
  
  
  At the time of the acquisition, Terremark, which is headquartered in Miami, operated 13 data centers in the U.S., Europe and Latin America (Miami, Dallas, Wash. D.C., Santa Clara, Bogota, Sao Paolo, Santo Domingo, Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid and Istambul. It provides secure cloud computing, colocation, and managed hosting services. For its most recent quarter, Terremark reported revenue of $84.9 million, a 22% increase over the previous year.
  
  
  Prior to the deal, Verizon operated more than 220 data centers across 23 countries, including 19 premium centers and five smart centers.

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Huawei Shows Prototype OTN Switch/Router

Huawei disclosed plans for an over-10T MS-OTN (multi-service optical transport network) platform featuring dense OTN cross-connection capacity and packet-based features such as Ethernet Layer 2 switching and MPLS-TP cross-connection.


A prototype, which was presented at the WDM & Next Generation Optical Networking 2011 event in Monaco this week, promises 10 Tbps of switching capacity. The device can be upgraded to manage capacity of over 20T.


The prototype features ultra-large capacity, uniform service switching, all-service access and 400G per slot, which fully supports the future evolution of OTN networks. Additionally, the prototype supports a uniform intelligent control plane for λ/ODUk/packet/VC services, which significantly enhances the reliability and durability of networks and reduces maintenance costs for customers.


"This achievement is Huawei's latest effort to address our customers' challenges by providing leading transport network solutions," said Christian Chua, President of Transport Network, Huawei. "We believe that this device will significantly alleviate pressure from our customers' operations and will help them tackle long-term challenges resulting from the uniformed grooming of multi-services and services with high-levels of traffic."http://www.huawei.com

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Krish Prabhu Appointed President of AT&T Labs

Krish Prabhu has been appointed president and CEO of AT&T Labs. He replaces retiring president and CEO Keith Cambron, who has led AT&T Labs since 2005.


Prabhu most recently served as CEO of Tellabs. His telecoms industry career began in 1980 at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories. He has served in several telecoms executive positions, including as chief executive officer of Alcatel USA. He also has worked with the start-up and developer communities as a venture capitalist.


Prabhu holds a Master of Science degree in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, where he also serves as a member of the Board of Visitors at the School of Engineering. In addition, he is a life member of the Development Board of the University of Texas at Dallas.


"Krish has a passion for innovation that fits our culture, and the right professional experience to lead AT&T Labs at a dynamic time in our innovation program," said John Donovan, AT&T Chief Technology Officer. "He'll be a key driver for AT&T's innovation strategy, which focuses on creating an open environment and bringing the best minds together to deliver the best products and services for our customers."
http://www.att.com

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Freescale Teams with QNX Software Systems

Freescale Semiconductor has expanded its relationship with QNX Software Systems Limited, a developer or operating systems and middleware for connected embedded systems, to include solutions for Freescale's QorIQ and PowerQUICC processor families. The companies intend to share IP, invest jointly in product and technology roadmaps, and work together on go-to-market activities.


The companies said joint development will initially focus on the use of QNX operating system software, middleware, development tools, and engineering services to create solutions for the medical, industrial automation and general embedded markets.

http://www.freescale.com

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ST-Ericsson Announces Restructuring

Citing recent changes in the business environment and reduced demand for legacy products at certain customers, ST-Ericsson announced a restructuring aimed at achieving about $120 million of annualized savings by the end of 2012. The plan calls for a global workforce review that may affect up to 500 employees worldwide and restructuring costs of $55 million.


The company also pushed out the predicted date to return to profitability, saying the target break-even, based on current visibility, is now seen to be later than the previously anticipated second quarter 2012.


"These actions while necessary to strengthen the financial position of the company, will not compromise the execution of our new products and delivery to our customers," said Gilles Delfassy, president and CEO of ST-Ericsson. "We continue to gain traction on our new product portfolio and remain steadfastly committed to leadership in the smartphone and tablet markets."http://www.stericsson.com

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Optus Signs Binding Agreement with NBN Co

SingTel Optus Pty Ltd signed a binding agreement with Australia's NBN Co. to migrate its subscribers off of its HFC network and onto the new fibre-based National Broadband Network. The agreement is subject to ACCC approvals and confirmation of tax treatments.


Under the deal, Optus, Australia's second largest retail telecommunications provider, agrees to a fixed-line network preference in favour of NBN Co for residential and small business customers served by Optus' HFC network
NBN Co agrees to make progressive payments to Optus based on the actual number of customers that migrate from its HFC network to the NBN.


Optus estimates that total payments over time by NBN Co will deliver a post-tax net present value of approximately AUS $800 million.


NBN Co. said the deal brings more customers and services to the new fibre infrastructure, thereby providing an improvement in NBN Co's Internal Rate of Return when compared to the company's Corporate Plan of December 2010.

"The agreement with Optus is expected to enhance the take-up rates on the National Broadband Network, thereby improving NBN Co's revenue plan," said NBN Co Chief Executive Officer Mike Quigley.
http://www.nbnco.com.auhttp://www.optus.com.au

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Telstra and Australia's NBN Sign Definitive Agreement

Telstra signed a Definitive Agreements with NBN Co and the Commonwealth for its participation in the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) through the decommission of the Telstra copper network and eventual migration of traffic onto the new fibre infrastructure.


The deal provides Telstra with replacement revenue, through disconnection payments as the rollout of the NBN occurs, and new revenues, through access payments for the use of Telstra's infrastructure over an assumed average 30 year period. Telstra estimates the value of this arrangement at approximately AUS $11 billion in post-tax net present value over their long-term life.


The agreements remain subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions, including the critical step of ACCC acceptance of Telstra's structural separation undertaking and approval of its migration plan.


Key elements of the signed deal include:

• Telstra has agreed to disconnect, progressively, copper-based Customer Access Network services and broadband services on its HFC cable network (but not Pay TV services on the HFC) that are provided to premises in the NBN fibre footprint, and will migrate its services onto NBN-based services, over the expected 10 year build period of the NBN;



• Telstra will provide NBN Co with large scale access to certain infrastructure – dark fibre, exchange space, lead-in-conduits and ducts - at prices based on committed large volume levels of usage and availability. The term of the infrastructure agreement will be between 35 and 40 years (the precise term depends on a number of factors including NBN Co's rollout schedule) from commencement, plus two 10 year options to extend exercisable by NBN Co.



• The infrastructure will be taken over the course of the NBN rollout and payments made for an assumed average period of 30 years. In order to maximise the availability of this infrastructure, Telstra will undertake necessary work on the infrastructure. Telstra retains ownership of all infrastructure assets, except for those lead-in-conduits used by NBN Co which will become NBN Co property once used;



• The Government has agreed to a package which includes increased funding for the delivery of the Universal Service Obligation (USO), clarification of Telstra's USO responsibilities for the supply of infrastructure in new developments in the NBN environment, and the avoidance of certain costs to Telstra through various funding measures such as funding of a public information campaign, and for employee retraining; and



• Telstra and NBN Co have also agreed to key product feature and price commitments relating to NBN Co's basic voice and data offering. These will be addressed in NBN Co's full product terms, which remain subject to further development and industry consultation.

Telstra Chairman Catherine Livingstone said "The Government's commitment to the NBN and other related policy changes meant that the Telstra Board had to decide whether the company should participate in the NBN rollout or pursue other options. The decision to participate was made on the basis that the proposed transaction is expected to provide us with the ability to recover more value for the business than the available alternatives, given the loss of value after the NBN policy announcements.


"After rigorously assessing the options before it, including the regulatory and commercial implications of each, the Telstra Board expects to recommend that shareholders approve a proposal to participate in the NBN rollout, subject to the conditions precedent being satisfied."http://www.telstra.com.ahttp://www.nbnco.com.au

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Lulz Releases Classified Data from Arizona Police Agencies

The hackers at Lulz Security continued their campaign with a targeted attack on police agencies in Arizona. The attack includes the posting of classified documents related to immigration and narcotics enforcement.



Meanwhile, key websites of the Brazilian government remained offline, including the Presidential website and the Ministry of Sports.http://www.convergedigest.com

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