Extreme Networks Ships Enterprise Access Switches

Extreme Networks introduced a new family of value-based Gigabit Ethernet access switches that deliver Layer 2 connectivity for enterprise networks. The new EAS family of Gigabit switches, available in 24-port models, feature standards-based PoE Plus, Quality of Service and critical support for devices that require a wired connection such as VoIP phones, security cameras, and WLAN access points. At the access layer, traffic from the EAS family of switches and Extreme Networks Altitude Wireless LAN access points is forwarded to the advanced ExtremeXOS edge, extending the benefits of sophisticated identity management for wired and wireless and complementing Extreme Networks end-to-end intelligence and automation portfolio. The 24 port non-PoE EAS-100 begins at U.S. list price $995, while the 24 port PoE+ EAS-200 begins at U.S. list price $1,995.
http://www.extremenetworks.com

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China Unicom Expands 3G with Alcatel-Lucent

China Unicom has selected Alcatel-Lucent to expand its 3G network in over ten provinces to meet the rapidly rising demand for mobile broadband coverage in China. Under the agreement Alcatel-Lucent will expand the deployment of its GSM/W-CDMA solution in preparation for the future introduction of LTE. In more than ten provinces, Alcatel-Lucent will also provide optimization activities, allowing China Unicom the ability to monitor, troubleshoot and optimise network efficiency as subscribers increase, using a range of reporting capabilities, to ensure consistent quality for subscribers. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Alcatel-Lucent noted that its commercial W-CDMA contracts in the Asia-Pacific region also include Mobicom China, Celcom Malaysia, Telecom New Zealand, SK Telecom, South Korea and KT Corp, South Korea.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Apple's Q2: 20.34 Million iPhones, up 142%

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter, and 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.


Some notable iPhone stats:

• iPhone sales for Q2 reached $13.3 billion, up $5.3 billion a year ago.



• Sales in all regions are hot, especially Asia/Pac, where sales almost quadrupled in the quarter compared with a year ago.



• The iPhone is now being sold by 228 carriers in 105 countries. This is up from 186 carriers offering the iPhone at the end of last quarter.



• There are 5.9 million iPhones in the channel, representing about 4-6 weeks of inventory.



• 91% of Fortune 500 firms are now accepting the iPhone for their corporate network.



• There have now been 220 million cumulative iOS devices sold to date.



• $1.4 billion in in iTunes sales in the quarter. There are 225 million iTunes accounts.

http://www.apple.com

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Riverbed Posts Q2 Revenue of $170M, Sees Softness in EMEA

Riverbed Technology posted Q2'11 revenue of $170.3 million, up 35% compared to the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 (Q2'10). Net income (GAAP)was $11.3 million, or $0.07 per share. This compares to GAAP net income of $6.6 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, in Q2'10.


"Overall it was a solid second quarter, with sales in the U.S. increasing 50% over the prior year," said Jerry M. Kennelly, Riverbed® president and CEO.


"We experienced softness in the EMEA region, which we attribute to both the regional economy and our own execution. Looking ahead, we have confidence in our ability to improve our execution in this region with new EMEA sales leadership announced last week. Our top-line growth was led by a 38% year-over-year increase in product sales. Non-GAAP product gross margin reached an all-time high of 81.5%, and we achieved a record non-GAAP operating margin of 29.6%. Our competitive position is stronger than ever, our product portfolio is even more robust with the acquisitions announced today, and our market opportunity is growing. We expect a strong second half of 2011."http://www.riverbed.com

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ADTRAN Cites Momentum for Total Access 5000 Platform

ADTRAN announced a number of significant milestones for its flagship Total Access 5000 platform:

• The Total Access 5000 has seen a market share growth of 136 percent in 2010, the highest increase in the global market, according to market research firm Infonetics.



• Total Access 5000 has now been adopted by every U.S. Tier 1 and Tier 2 service provider, as well as a growing number of global, regional and rural ILECs, CLECs and alternative carriers.



• More U.S. Tier 3 and CLEC service providers have selected the Total Access 5000 for Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) deployments than any other platform since September of last year, according to Broadband Communities. This has enabled ADTRAN to take market share from incumbent vendors.



• The Total Access 5000 is now deployed by carriers on six continents, making it one of the most widely accepted broadband access and transport platforms on the market.

"The Total Access 5000 differs from other access platforms in the industry because it has a proven ability to scale, both in terms of bandwidth capacity and application scope," said Kevin Schneider, CTO, ADTRAN. "This unique design enables service providers to quickly adapt to rapid changes in network capacity requirements, subscriber usage behavior and applications. It also provides the ability to quickly launch new best-in-class service offerings. The Total Access 5000 is commercially deployed to deliver 13 major service offerings today in optical, wireless and wireline applications. With a growing number of network options and industry architecture breakthroughs, the Total Access 5000 provides a means for service evolution for years to come."http://www.adtran.com

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Infinera Sees Improved Bookings, Progress in 500Gbps PIC

Infinera reported Q2 GAAP revenues of $96.0 million compared to $92.9 million in the first quarter of 2011 and $111.4 million in the second quarter of 2010. GAAP net loss for the quarter was $24.2 million, or $(0.23) per share, compared to net loss of $16.4 million, or $(0.16) per share, in the first quarter of 2011 and net loss of $9.6 million, or $(0.10) per share, in the second quarter of 2010. The company's GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 39% compared to 46% in the first quarter of 2011 and 42% in the second quarter of 2010.


"We are encouraged by our second quarter performance, including an improvement in bookings momentum," said Tom Fallon, president and chief executive officer. "We saw a continuation of healthy tributary adapter module purchases by a broad base of customers looking to meet their current bandwidth growth needs. The MSO space—which we placed a strategic focus on several years ago—was especially strong with two customers from that category in our top 5 customer count. In addition, we saw growth in new optical capacity deployments by our customers, establishing a base for future TAM purchases."



"On the new product front, we made excellent progress in the development of our next-generation 500Gbs/s PIC solution which will support 100G transmissions and on our 40G product with FlexCoherent technology. During this period of significant product development investment and transition to new products, we remain focused on delivering on our PIC-based digital optical strategy and product roadmap in order to generate the revenue growth necessary to achieve our long-term business model objectives." http://www.infinera.com

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GSA: Operators Moving Quickly to Implement Dual Cell HSPA+

There are now 39 dual carrier HSPA+ (DC-HSPA+) networks in commercial operation, an increase of 70% compared to the figure reported three months earlier, according to the latest figures from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). At least another 26 DC-HSPA+ networks are in deployment or planned.


DC-HSPA+ systems combine 64QAM modulation and double the bandwidth by using dual carriers (2 x 5 MHz = 10 MHz). This capability was introduced by 3GPP in the Release 8 specifications, and enables a theoretical peak downlink data throughput capability of 42 Mbps. For the uplink, using 16 QAM instead of QPSK modulation makes it possible to double the peak rate to 11.5 Mbps. DC-HSPA+ further extends the uplink performance up to 23 Mbps peak.


GSA also noted that there are now 410 commercial HSPA operators, confirming that every WCDMA operator worldwide has implemented and commercially launched HSPA on their networks.


Since its first commercial launch in February 2009, HSPA+ (HSPA Evolved) has become a mainstream technology. A total of 193 operators have committed to HSPA+ network deployments in 83 countries. 136 HSPA+ systems have been commercially launched in 69 countries, meaning that 1 in 3 HSPA operators have now deployed HSPA+ on their networks.


HSPA and HSPA+ deployments status - global:

• 446 HSPA operator commitments in 170 countries


• 410 commercial HSPA operators in 162 countries


• Includes 136 commercial HSPA Evolution (HSPA+) networks launched in 69 countries


• 33% of HSPA operators have commercially launched HSPA+


• 89 commercial HSPA+ networks support a peak downlink data speed of 21 Mbps


• 8 commercial HSPA+ networks support a peak downlink data speed of 28 Mbps


• 39 commercial networks support DC-HSPA+ for a peak downlink data speed of 42 Mbps


• Uplink speeds also increasing: 40% of HSPA operators have launched HSUPA


• At least 92 HSUPA networks (over 55%) support 5.8 Mbps peak uplink data speed; another 9 networks support 11.5 Mbps peak.

GSA has raised its market outlook and forecasts there will be at least 170 commercial HSPA+ systems in operation by end of 2011 (from 136 today). http://www.gsacom.com

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Telefónica Brazil Expands Managed Services Deal with Ericsson

Ericsson won a contract with Telefónica Brazil to provide managed services for field maintenance in São Paulo.


Ericsson will provide a range of field operations services, supervising and maintaining Telefónica's fixed network within the following areas in São Paulo city: Campo Limpo, Campo Belo, Jabaquara, Consolação and Ipiranga. The managed services will be provided in a multi-vendor environment.


This new contract is an expansion of Ericsson existing managed services contract. In 2008, Ericsson and Telefónica Brazil entered into an agreement for field maintenance of the operator's fiber network in São Paulo state.
http://www.ericsson.com

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Stoke Ramps up its Mobile Broadband Gateway Business

Stoke, which supplies mobile broadband gateways, anticipates 300% sales growth year-on-year as it continues to expand its global footprint and engage new service provider customers.


As of June 15, sales revenues had surpassed the 2010 total; the company in this area. Headcount is now at 160% and unit shipments have exceeded 400% of 2010. The company has recently added branch offices in France and Spain. Adding to its subsidiary entities in the UK and Japan, Stoke most recently opened a new subsidiary in Seoul, South Korea, where veteran Howard Lee joins as Regional Senior Sales Director and Korea Country Manager. Lee's career spans senior roles in telecoms and networking companies including Cisco, Samsung, Force10 Networks and Riverstone.


"We believe the company is at the point where we are ready to massively grow the business," said Stoke President and CEO Vikash Varma. "The changing industry dynamics have created huge interest in our innovative approaches and we are increasingly invited to the table with major industry players. Bookings for the rest of the year are extremely solid and we expect 2011 to be our first full year of profitability." http://www.stoke.com

• In February, Stoke upgraded its mobile data offload solution to enable core-bound applications to be deployed with greater effectiveness at the edge of the Radio Access Network (RAN).
  
  
  Through a set of enhancements to its flagship mobile broadband gateway, Stoke is providing the capability to selectively steer traffic at the edge of a mobile to a collocated Content Delivery Network (CDN). In laboratory trials combining the Stoke MDO with a collocated Content Distribution Network (CDN) edge server, mobile user website load time latencies have been reduced by 60%.
  
  
  Stoke said this new edge deployment location, together with control plane information not available in the network core, is affording application providers new opportunities for innovation and is already leading to service delivery improvements. Essentially, Stoke's selective traffic breakout solution enables application providers to improve performance and QoS by locating critical traffic control, optimization, and content acceleration functions closer to subscribers.

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Verizon Wireless Lights up 28 More LTE Markets

Verizon Wireless is activating LTE in 28 additional markets this week, bringing its service to a total of 102 cities across the country. Verizon Wireless currently offer nine 4G devices – including three smartphones, a tablet, two hotspots and three USB modems.


The new areas where Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network will be available Thursday include Decatur and Huntsville, Ala.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Lakeland and Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.; Augusta, Ga.; Hilo, Honolulu, Kahului-Wailuku and Lahaina, Hawaii; Carbondale, Ill.; Wichita, Kan.; Louisville, Ky.; Baton Rouge and Hammond, La.; Springfield, Mass.; Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Toledo, Ohio; Tulsa, Okla.; Portland, Ore.; Wilkes Barre/Scranton, Pa.; Charleston, S.C.; Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tenn.; Olympia and Tacoma, Wash; and Charleston, W.Va. The company is also expanding its 4G LTE network in Phoenix, Ariz.; Los Angeles and San Diego, Calif.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Northern New Jersey; Dallas-Ft. Worth and San Antonio, Texas; and Seattle, Wash. http://www.verizonwireless.com

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Riverbed Acquires 2 Companies: Zeus Tech. and Aptimize

Riverbed Technology announced the acquisition of 2 companies to form the cornerstone of a new asymmetric optimization strategy.


Zeus Technology delivers high-performance software-based load balancing and traffic management solutions for virtual and cloud environments. The technology frees applications from the constraints of proprietary hardware-based load balancers, enabling them to run in any physical, virtual or cloud environment, and to migrate and scale on-demand. The company says its solutions help power the web presence of the BBC, BT, Comic Relief, Domino's Pizza, Gilt Groupe, ITV, PLAY.COM, See Tickets, STA Travel and Virgin Media. Zeus is based in Cambridge, U.K.


Riverbed will pay approximately $110 million in cash for the securities of Zeus and up to an additional $30 million in cash based on the achievement of certain bookings targets in a defined twelve month period following the closing. The acquisition is expected to be approximately breakeven to Riverbed earnings in the second half of 2011 and accretive beginning in 2012.


Aptimize Limited specializes in web content optimization. The company's software helps to reduce web page complexity, enabling significantly faster page downloads. The Aptimize Website Accelerator eliminates massive inefficiencies in modern web applications by effectively transforming the content (javascript, cascading style sheets, images, etc.) in real time—instantly accelerating websites or intranets with a simple software installation on the Web server. Specifically, Aptimize Website Accelerator (WAX) is an ISAPI filter for Microsoft IIS, or a Daemon module for Linux Apache. The company is based in Wellington, New Zealand. Financial terms were not disclosed.


"Riverbed is the performance company," said Jerry Kennelly, president and CEO at Riverbed. "Our goal is to have the broadest and best portfolio of performance optimization products to solve a range of customer performance problems. The acquisition of Zeus is a perfect fit with that strategy. The Zeus solutions are designed for how people want to architect their applications now—high-performance software for cloud environments." http://www.riverbed.com http://www.zeus.com

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Intel to Acquire Fulcrum Microsystems for 10/40 GbE Switches/Fabrics

Intel agreed to acquire Fulcrum Microsystems Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company that designs Ethernet switch silicon for data center network providers, for an undisclosed sum. Intel said the deal strengthens its position in data center networking solutions.


Fulcrum Microsystems designs integrated, standards-based 10GbE and 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) switch silicon. Its FocalPoint 10G and 40G Ethernet switch chip family features low latency, fabric convergence, standards adaptability, and scalability. The device family delivers latency as a 200nS as a layer-2 switch and 300nS as a full router with all features enabled. With the new FM6000 Series, FocalPoint also offers a highly-adaptable packet processing pipeline, called FlexPipe, with a packet rate of 1B pps.


Fulcrum Microsystems was founded in 1999 and is based in Calabasas, California.


"Intel is transforming from a leading server technology company to a comprehensive data center provider that offers computing, storage and networking building blocks," said Kirk Skaugen, Intel vice president and general manager, Data Center Group. "Fulcrum Microsystems' switch silicon, already recognized for high performance and low latency, complements Intel's leading processors and Ethernet controllers, and will deliver our customers new levels of performance and energy efficiency while improving their economics of cloud service delivery."


Arista Networks is among Fulcrum Microsystems' customers. http://www.intel.com http://www.fulcrummicro.com

• Fulcrum Microsystems traces its origins to research on asynchronous circuit architecture conducted at Caltech. The technology is used in several key areas within Fulcrum's FocalPoint Ethernet switch product line.



• Fulcrum is headed by Bob Nunn (CEO), who joined the company 2001. Prior to Fulcrum, Nunn worked in a variety of engineering and management positions for Monolithic Memories, AMD and Vitesse Semiconductor, as well as a director and advisor to numerous start-ups and venture capital funds.



• Intel's recent acquisitions have included McAfee (Feb 2011), Infineon' Wireless Solutions Business (Aug 2010), and Texas Instruments' Cable Modem unit (Aug 2010).



• In November 2010, Mellanox Technologies agreed to acquire Voltaire, a supplier of data center fabrics, for approximately $176 million.

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FBI Makes Arrests in "Anonymous" Hacking Cases

The FBI arrested fourteen individuals across the United States on charges related to their alleged involvement in a cyber attack on PayPal's website. The hacking group "Anonymous" had previously claimed credit for the attack. Two other individuals were arrested on cyber-related charges and the FBI executed 35 more search warrants. as part of an ongoing investigation into coordinated cyber attacks against major companies and organizations. Also, the Metropolitan Police Service in the UK arrested one person and the Dutch National Police Agency arrested four individuals for alleged related cyber crimes.


In addition to the PayPal cyber attack, the indictments cite the attack of InfraGard (an IT contractor for the FBI) and the theft of thousands of documents from AT&T's servers in June. http://www.fbi.gov

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Santur Offers 10x10 100 Gbps Modules with Disruptive Pricing

Santur has begun full-scale production of a new 100Gbps CFP Optical Module, promising "disruptive" pricing of cost per bit. Based on volume production pricing, the new 100Gbps CFP module will have an entry point of below $5K in 100 units or higher volumes, which offers 100 Gbps performance at a price comparable to that of 10G XFP modules shipping today, according to the company. The new modules also further improve the energy efficiency by cutting maximum power dissipation down to 13W to match power per bit metrics comparable to 10Gbps SFP+ optical modules.

Unlike 100m Multi Mode based on ribbons of fiber, Santur's 100Gbps CFP Optical Modules operate on a conventional Single Mode Fiber (SMF) enabling extended reach of 2Km. Compared with other 4x25G 100Gbps implementations for single-mode fiber, this approach does not require 25Gbps electronics such as gearbox ICs to convert 10Gbps data streams to intermediate 25Gbps lanes.

"For more than 20 years, we have been discussing the possibility of integrating multiple active optical components on a single chip to reduce cost and power. Over time, several companies have tried but none offered such high level of integration that allowed us to meet our cost and power targets," said Paul Meissner, President and CEO of Santur. http://www.santurcorp.com http://www.10X10msa.org

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