Sunday, August 21, 2011

More Hollywood Studios Offer Facebook Streaming

Miramax is the latest Hollywood studio to offer direct streaming of its films via a Facebook app. The studio is initially offering the choice of 20 movie selections in the U.S.. Rental pricing is set at 30 Facebook credits -- the equivalent of $3. http://www.facebook.com/miramax

FCC Chairman Deletes 83 Obsolete Rules

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the elimination of 83 "outdated and obsolete rules" as part of his ongoing regulatory review process. Genachowski has previously eliminated 50 other provisions deemed to be useless or unenforced.


Today's action include the elimination of the "The Fairness Doctrine," which has not been applied for more than 20 years, as well as the deletion of the obsolete "broadcast flag," cable programming service tier rate, and broadcast applications and proceedings rules.


"I'm proud of the work we are doing toward our goal of being model of excellence in government. This includes our recent commitment to act in accordance with the recent Executive Order on Regulation and Independent Agencies, which is consistent with the values and philosophy we apply at the FCC. The elimination of the obsolete Fairness Doctrine regulations will remove an unnecessary distraction. As I have said, striking this from our books ensures there can be no mistake that what has long been a dead letter remains dead. The Fairness Doctrine holds the potential to chill free speech and the free flow of ideas and was properly abandoned over two decades ago. I am pleased we are removing these and other obsolete rules from our books," stated FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. http://www.fcc.gov

ABRY Partners Completes Acquisition of Masergy Communications

ABRY Partners completed its acquisition of Masergy Communications for an undisclosed sum. Masergy delivers managed, secure virtualized network services to enterprises over its national IP/MPLS network. The deal was first announced in June. http://www.masergy.com

  • Masergy, which is based in Plano, Texas is headed by Royce Holland, who previously was CEO of McLeodUSA, a competitive local exchange carrier that was sold to PAETEC in January 2008. Mr. Holland was also previously Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Allegiance Telecom Inc., from 1997 until its 2004 acquisition by XO Communications Inc. Prior to Allegiance, he served as President and Co-founder of MFS Communications.

Sequans supplies TDD-LTE Silicon to NetComm

Sequans Communications will supply its TDD-LTE silicon to NetComm Limited.


NetComm, which is based in Sydney, Australia, is a developer of HSPA+, LTE, machine-to-machine (M2M) and fibre access devices.


"This licensing agreement supports our long-term TDD-LTE product strategy. Sequans has conducted comprehensive LTE interoperability testing with leading LTE equipment suppliers to ensure our LTE devices maximise the capabilities of commercial TD-LTE networks for outstanding performance results," said David Stewart, NetComm Managing Director. http://www.netcommlimited.com http://www.sequans.com/

nLIGHT Raises $17.5 million for its Chip-based Lasers

nLIGHT has raised $17.5 million in fully subscribed Series E financing to support its line of high-power semiconductor lasers. Its products include multi-kilowatt laser systems, high peak-power pulsed fiber lasers, and diode-pumped solid-state laser rangefinders.


This funding round brings the company's total equity funding to approximately $110 million. The company is based in Vancouver, Washington. http://www.nlight.net/

Vodafone NZ signs long term capacity deal with Pacific Fibre

Pacific Fibre announced Vodafone New Zealand as a customer on its forthcoming trans-oceanic cable system.



Pacific Fibre has previously announced a capacity deal with iiNet, Australia's second largest DSL broadband provider. http://www.pacificfibre.net

  • In July 2011, Pacific Fibre has awarded a supply contract to TE SubCom for its forthcoming 12,750km trans-Pacific cable.


    Pacific Fibre, which was founded in 2010, will deliver the longest and most technically advanced undersea cable systems linking Australia, New Zealand and USA. The two-cable system will link Australia and New Zealand via a trans-Tasman cable, while connecting New Zealand to the United States via a trans-Pacific cable. The cable landing points will be in Sydney, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Los Angeles, California in the United States.


    The cables will each have two fiber pairs, with an ultimate cable design capacity of 12.8 Tbps.


    Pacific Fibre is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand.

USDA Announces $103 million in funding for 23 Broadband Projects

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced more than $103 million in funding for 23 projects to provide broadband services to unserved and underserved rural communities. A total of 18 recipients will receive the awards.




In July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced $192 million in loans for broadband projects by rural telecom carriers in eight states. The new awards add to this figure.


Administered by USDA Rural Development's Rural Utilities Service (RUS), this financing is part of the $690 million investment during fiscal year 2011 and is in addition to the $3.5 billion in broadband funding RUS awarded for projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
http://www.usda.gov

Integra Telecom Deploys Overture's Carrier Ethernet

Integra Telecom has deployed Overture Networks' Ethernet-over-Copper (EoC) technology as part of Integra's expansion of its Ethernet Services product portfolio. The launch of Overture Networks' EoC platforms encompasses more than 120 Central Offices (COs). Integra, which currently provides EoC in 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 Mbps increments, will be raising its symmetrical bandwidth offerings to 100 Mbps, an increase facilitated entirely by this latest deployment of Overture's solutions.


Integra Telecom operates a 5,000-mile high-speed long-haul fiber network and a 3,000-mile metropolitan access network including more than 1,600 fiber-fed buildings. http://www.overturenetworks.com http://www.integratelecom.com33877

6fusion Raises $7 Million for Cloud Management

6fusion, a start-up based in Raleigh, North Carolina, raised $7 million in funding for its cloud management platform.


6fusion features a unique Workload Allocation Cube (WAC) metering algorithm that standardizes the measurement of storage and compute resources. The company said its UC6 Cloud Management Platform federates private data center and third party cloud operators, providing a single console to allow IT organizations of all types to meter, manage and optimize hybrid cloud infrastructures.


The funding was led by Vienna, Virginia based Grotech Ventures. Intersouth Partners, which led the company's first institutional investment in August 2010, also participated in the round. http://www.6fusion.com

Cisco Acquires Axioss Software for Service Fulfillment

Cisco will acquire Axioss service fulfillment software from Comptel Corporation of Finland for EUR 21.3 million (US$31 million) in cash.


The software, which was developed by Axiom Systems, helps service providers to more quickly and efficiently launch new video, data, mobility and cloud services to their customers.


As part of the deal, Cisco is also taking on some personnel related to the Axioss assets, mainly based in the UK. Mr Gareth Senior, Comptel CTO and member of the Executive Board, will also be transferring to Cisco.


"Through the acquisition of AXIOSS software and talent we will be investing in a unique set of technology and skills in the UK that will be a valuable addition to Cisco's network management portfolio," said Jordi Ferrer, managing director, UK Service Provider and Media, Cisco. "Cisco will deliver network management technology and services that will help service providers significantly increase the speed and lower the costs of delivering a wide range of voice, video and data services to their customers." http://www.cisco.com http://www.comptel.com

  • Cisco's 2011 acquisitions include newScale for Self-Service Portal Software (March), Inlet for Digital Media Processing (February 2011) and Pari Networks for Security Alert Compliance (January).

Fujitsu Extends its Reach with Ethernet over Anything (EoX)

Fujitsu introduced an Ethernet over Anything (EoX) framework that enables its FLASHWAVE 9500 Packet Optical Networking Platform (Packet ONP) to serve as a gateway for delivering Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)-compliant services across various transport networks.


Fujitsu's EoX vision, which is initially implemented as an EoX Gateway configuration of the FLASHWAVE 9500, now extends into the company's portfolio of access products.


The new or significantly enhanced Fujitsu EoX access solutions are:


FLASHWAVE CDS Micro Packet ONP – new COE cards enable 1GbE and 10GbE Ethernet over Fiber (EoF) applications for mesh, ring or point-to-point topologies on this trusted Micro Packet ONP platform. This Ethernet-centric, highly-scalable access and aggregation solution supports MEF-compliant EPL, EVPL, Access EPL and Access EVPL services supporting advanced traffic management with guaranteed bandwidth from 1Mbps to 10Gbps ensuring sub-50ms service protection and Y.1731-compliant Ethernet performance monitoring.


FLASHWAVE 9410 Ethernet Access Platform – a new Ethernet Network Interface Device (NID) supporting GbE EoF service demarcation at the customer premises. Supports Y.1731 for Ethernet service fault management and performance measurements to deliver high value SLAs. RFC 2544 support eliminates craft truck rolls for remote service turn-up.


FLASHWAVE 9420 Ethernet Access Platform – a new NID supporting Ethernet over PDH (EoPDH) available in two versions; one supporting Ethernet over up to eight bonded DS-1s (12 Mbps service) and the other supporting Ethernet over DS3. The product is ideal for delivering Ethernet services to off-net or out-of-franchise customer locations via wholesale Type 2 T1 or T3 access circuits. Interoperates with the FLASHWAVE 9500 EOX Mapper for single ended operation eliminating stacked units at hub locations.


The new products announced today join a pair of existing Fujitsu access solutions that also support EoX, including:


FLASHWAVE 7120 Micro Packet ONP – enables MEF-compliant GbE or 10GbE EPL, EVPL, ELAN and E-Tree services using Ethernet over wavelength (Eoλ) via CWDM/DWDM optics.


FLASHWAVE 4100 ES Micro Packet ONP – enables MEF-compliant EPL, EVPL, Access EPL and Access EVPL services using Connection-oriented Ethernet over SONET (EoS) over OC-3, OC-12 and OC-48 SONET networks including aggregation of DS1s and DS3s.


The Fujitsu NETSMART 1500 management solution provides the common management platform for the FLASHWAVE 9500 EoX gateway and EoX access product portfolio, greatly simplifying end-to-end Ethernet service provisioning, service fault management and troubleshooting, and ongoing performance monitoring of the network.


Fujitsu said that by deploying EoX at the customer premises and in the access network, as well as at the metro aggregation and core networks, means Ethernet services can be extended to locations that before may have been out-of-reach, or created quality concerns because of different transport technologies used in different parts of the network.


"Today's announcement is a huge step toward achieving the mass-market Ethernet services that end users are demanding," said Rod Naphan, senior vice president of product planning at Fujitsu Network Communications. "With Fujitsu's EoX solutions now extending to the access network infrastructure, ubiquitous Ethernet services can be deployed across SONET, wavelengths, PDH, copper, or directly over fiber using MEF-compliant service definitions. This enables our customers to deliver a standard set of Ethernet services using whatever transport network that is most cost effective for them which, in turn, gives their end users a consistent Ethernet experience. This flexibility will enable them to bring new, MEF-compliant Ethernet services to market more quickly." http://www.fujitsu.com

  • Last month, Fujitsu announced that OneCommunity, which is launching a "Transforming Northeast Ohio: From Rust Belt to Tech Powerhouse" project, had selected its FLASHWAVE 9500 Packet Optical Networking Platform (Packet ONP) for integrating Ethernet, ROADM and SONET/SDH. While the FLASHWAVE 9500 supplies the majority of OneCommunity’s transport capabilities, the Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 7120 is a significant complement. The FLASHWAVE 7120 extends the reach and capacity of the OneCommunity optical network. The platform combines multiplexing, amplification, signal conditioning and performance monitoring, delivering managed services and wavelengths at the network edge.


    Backed by a $44.8 million grant from the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), the project will deploy 1,000 miles of fiber across northern Ohio.


  • In May 2011, Fujitsu announced that Verizon had selected its FLASHWAVE 7120 Micro Packet Optical Networking Platform (Packet ONP) as the foundation of a communications infrastructure that provides ultra low latency performance, reliability, and expansion capability. The Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 7120 Micro Packet ONP is a combination access WDM and intelligent edge service delivery platform.

    While performing benchmarking tests, Verizon used the Fujitsu NETSMART 1500 carrier-class management solution to provision and monitor the Fujitsu FLASHWAVE equipment dedicated to the customer. The software helps assure optimum performance and availability while delivering instantaneous alarm reports, performance data tracking and graphing, and bandwidth capacity reports.


    Fujitsu noted that its FLASHWAVE 7120 platform, when working in conjunction with other Fujitsu platforms, such as the Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 9500 Packet ONP, makes core-to-edge deployments possible without the need for back-to-back transponders and separate management systems.