Sunday, November 27, 2011

Twitter Acquires Whisper Systems -- Security for Android

Twitter has acquired Whisper Systems, a start-up specializing in security for Android. Financial terms were not disclosed. Whisper is based in the San Francisco area.


Whisper integrates with the underlying Android OS to protect everything on the phone. The company's initial beta promises full disk encryption, network security tools, encrypted backup, selective permissions, etc.
http://www.whispersys.com
http://www.twitter.com

ST-Ericsson Appoints New CEO

ST-Ericsson has appointed Didier Lamouche as its new president and CEO, replacing Gilles Delfassy, who is credited with moving the company's portfolio from a focus on feature phones to smartphones and tablets.


Lamouche, chief operating officer of STMicroelectronics, has served on the board of ST-Ericsson since April 2011 and brings more than twenty-five years of IT and semiconductor industry experience to the role.


“I am very pleased with this appointment,�? said Hans Vestberg, Chairman of ST-Ericsson, on behalf of the whole board of directors. “Didier Lamouche's background and extensive industry experience will bring important additions to ST-Ericsson during this crucial phase in the company's evolution. On behalf of ST-Ericsson's board, I thank Gilles for his strong contribution to ST-Ericsson.�?http://www.stericsson.com

LightSquared Signs EATEL -- First ILEC Customer

EATEL, a privately-owned communications company based in Gonzales, Louisiana, has signed a wholesale agreement with that will allow EATEL to offer its subscribers high-speed wireless data and voice services using LightSquared's nationwide 4G-LTE network.


EATEL is the first Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) to sign on to LightSquared's network. The deal will enable EATEL's customer base in local communities of Louisiana to benefit from LightSquared's wireless broadband service.


"EATEL is exactly the type of company that LightSquared is building its wholesale network to serve," said Sanjiv Ahuja, chairman and chief executive officer of LightSquared. "We believe EATEL and the many other ILECs around the country provide critical and valuable communications services to their communities, and their customers deserve the benefits including ubiquitous connectivity and lower prices enabled by partnering with LightSquared."http://www.lightsquared.com

Twitter Acquires Whisper Systems -- Security for Android

Twitter has acquired Whisper Systems, a start-up specializing in security for Android. Financial terms were not disclosed. Whisper is based in the San Francisco area.


Whisper integrates with the underlying Android OS to protect everything on the phone. The company's initial beta promises full disk encryption, network security tools, encrypted backup, selective permissions, etc.
http://www.whispersys.com
http://www.twitter.com

ST-Ericsson Appoints New CEO

ST-Ericsson has appointed Didier Lamouche as its new president and CEO, replacing Gilles Delfassy, who is credited with moving the company's portfolio from a focus on feature phones to smartphones and tablets.


Lamouche, chief operating officer of STMicroelectronics, has served on the board of ST-Ericsson since April 2011 and brings more than twenty-five years of IT and semiconductor industry experience to the role.


“I am very pleased with this appointment,�? said Hans Vestberg, Chairman of ST-Ericsson, on behalf of the whole board of directors. “Didier Lamouche's background and extensive industry experience will bring important additions to ST-Ericsson during this crucial phase in the company's evolution. On behalf of ST-Ericsson's board, I thank Gilles for his strong contribution to ST-Ericsson.�?http://www.stericsson.com

LightSquared Signs EATEL -- First ILEC Customer

EATEL, a privately-owned communications company based in Gonzales, Louisiana, has signed a wholesale agreement with that will allow EATEL to offer its subscribers high-speed wireless data and voice services using LightSquared's nationwide 4G-LTE network.


EATEL is the first Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) to sign on to LightSquared's network. The deal will enable EATEL's customer base in local communities of Louisiana to benefit from LightSquared's wireless broadband service.


"EATEL is exactly the type of company that LightSquared is building its wholesale network to serve," said Sanjiv Ahuja, chairman and chief executive officer of LightSquared. "We believe EATEL and the many other ILECs around the country provide critical and valuable communications services to their communities, and their customers deserve the benefits including ubiquitous connectivity and lower prices enabled by partnering with LightSquared."http://www.lightsquared.com

Ruckus Wireless Offers Predictive Capacity Mgt to Improve RF Channel Selection

Ruckus Wireless is introducing a statistical adaptive channel selection technique to automatically determine the best radio operating frequency (RF channel) in noise Wi-Fi environments. The new "ChannelFly" feature leverages the same Ruckus-patented adaptive antenna approach, BeamFlex, that constantly learns and selects the best signal path for any given Wi-Fi transmission. ChannelFly applies similar principles to yield the highest client throughput.


ChannelFly is based on a predictive model that uses actual channel activity to learn what channels will yield the most capacity to provide the highest client speeds. The technology is delivered as a software upgrade for existing Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart Wi-Fi APs.


"Historical approaches to Wi-Fi channel selection use spectrum analysis or packet sniffing techniques to basically guess the impact of interference on Wi-Fi capacity,�? said Bill Kish, co-founder and chief technology officer at Ruckus Wireless. “But with Wi-Fi, what an AP hears doesn't necessarily determine capacity. We skip those needless and disruptive steps and just measure the wireless capacity directly." http://www.ruckuswireless.com

Amdocs Delivers Pre-Configured "Data Experience Solution" for 3G/LTE

Amdocs introduced a pre-integrated policy and charging solution to help operators rapidly deploy new data services. The Amdocs Data Experience Solution is a unified hardware and software system that pre-integrates a policy control and charging engine with product catalog and subscriber management functions.


Leveraging network and policy control assets of Bridgewater Systems, which Amdocs acquired earlier this year, the Amdocs Data Experience Solution features single, synchronized service definition and creation through the Amdocs Enterprise Product Catalog. This provides rapid configuration and extension of pre-configured market offers. It uses standards-based interfaces and features multi-vendor interoperability for ease of deployment into 3G and LTE network environments. Productized APIs (application programming interfaces) enable a single point of integration into provisioning, notification, billing and self-care environments.


Amdocs notes that the underlying product technology of this solution has been production-proven in leading service provider networks serving more than 100 million mobile subscribers.


Pre-configured market offers in the Amdocs Data Experience Solution include:

Tiered Services: Innovative data plans based on a combination of time, volume and application that provide new monetization capabilities (for example, targeted social networking or business data plans).


Shared Wallet: A common data quota that can be shared across a family or enterprise with unused quota diverted across plan members and devices in real time.


Up-sell Capabilities: Temporary add-on services that can be automatically offered and provisioned, such as data roaming or bandwidth boost, to increase ARPU.


Bill Shock Prevention: A personal usage limit with advance notifications that can be easily set by customers for increased transparency and data experience satisfaction.


Data Pass: Temporary data access that can be offered and provisioned quickly, such as a 24-hour roaming data pass.


Pay - Per-Use: Convenient access to data services that are paid for as they are consumed (as opposed to a monthly plan).


In addition, Amdocs provides network control and subscriber management capabilities pre-integrated and configured, including:


LTE Data: Support for next generation 4G services that feature guaranteed quality of service for a superior data experience.


WiFi Offload: Transparent offloading from 3G to WiFi which allows service providers to better manage network congestion. http://www.amdocs.com

  • In August 2011, Amdocs completed its previously announced acquisition of Bridgewater Systems for CAD$8.20 per share in cash, for about CAD$211 million, or CAD$139 million net of Bridgewater's cash, in aggregate.


    Bridgewater Systems developed pre-integrated solutions for mobile and converged operators. Its portfolio includes Service Controller (AAA), Policy Controller (PCRF) and Home Subscriber Server (HSS), anchored by a common identity and device management system. Amdocs offers business and operational support systems, service delivery platforms, and professional services for network operators. The company generated approximately $3.0 billion in revenue in fiscal 2010, Amdocs has over 19,000 employees and serves customers in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Ericsson to Provide Managed Services for Majority of Bharti Airtel

BhartiAirte has awarded an expanded contract to Ericsson to provide multi-vendor, multi-technology managed services for a majority of BhartiAirtel's network across India . Under this new agreement, Ericsson will operate, maintain and provide services across 70 percent of BhartiAirtel's network in India. The contract covers 15 telecom circles for 5 years.


With India emerging as the third largest internet market and a multi-fold growth in data traffic on the back of a rising number of smartphones, wireless networks need to be ready for the data revolution that has only just begun. This unique multi-technology Managed Services partnership with Ericsson will help us focus on creating a compelling service proposition for our customers, as we look to ramp up our market access for next generation services on 3G and 4G," stated Sanjay Kapoor, CEO-India and South Asia, BhartiAirtel.


The 15 telecom Circles under the scope of the partnership include, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP(W), UP(E), Rajasthan, North Eastern states, Assam, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Kerala. http://www.ericsson.com

  • As of Septermber 2011, Bharti Airtel counted 178 million mobile subscribers in India and Bangladesh. The company serves an additional 48 million mobile users in Africa.

TELUS to Offer Juniper's Junos Pulse Mobile Security

TELUS has selected Juniper Networks' Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite for serving enterprises and small businesses.


The Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite helps businesses address the "Bring Your Own Device" phenomenon while maintaining data and network security. It supports Apple iPhones and iPads, Google Android, RIM Blackberry and broad range of other mobile devices. Enterprise IT departments will benefit from key capabilities including remote configuration, provisioning and enforcement of access and security policies, on-device security enforcement, application inventory and management, advanced heuristic-based antimalware, device and data loss and theft protection (via remote device locate, track, wipe and lock).


"With threats to mobile devices and enterprises at an all-time high -- and hackers turning their attention from the desktop or laptop to the smartphone and tablet -- our customers are looking for an easy to deploy, mobile security offering, and Juniper's mobile security suite fits that bill perfectly. In addition to mobile security, loss and theft protection, and back-up features, our customers are demanding technology services that support, manage and secure a wide range of mobile devices to access their corporate networks," said Yogen Appalraju, vice-president, TELUS Security Solutions. http://www.juniper.net

AT&T Partners with Accenture on Medical Imaging Solution

AT&T is working with on a new medical imaging solution for U.S. hospitals that will make it easier for radiologists to electronically share, review and store medical images, such as X-rays and CT or MRI scans.


The Accenture Medical Imaging Solution, enabled by AT&T, enables hospitals to centrally manage medical images and collaborate efficiently with other institutions, physicians and radiologists.


Roughly 73 percent of healthcare organizations plan to shift imaging data storage to the cloud, in some capacity, while 32 percent actively use some form of cloud solutions today, according to an Accenture study.


"Accenture's systems integration experience coupled with AT&T's cloud-based technologies means hospitals can have virtually real-time access to medical images while reducing healthcare costs," said Randall Porter, assistant vice president, AT&T ForHealth.
http://www.att.com http://www.accenture.com

MIT Develops Optical Diode

Researchers at MIT reported progress in developing an optical diode with potential applications in optical circuits on silicon chips. The innovation leverages a form of a material called garnet, which has a different index of refraction. A thin film of the material is deposited on a chip so that light passes only freely only in one direction and is diverted back into a loop if is coming from the other direction. The discovery is seen as a big step for optical circuits. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/optical-computing-diode-1123.html

Canada's Allstream Deploys 100G with Ciena

Canadian-based Allstream has deployed Ciena's 100G coherent optical technology in its national network. The upgrade uses Ciena's 6500 Packet-Optical Platform equipped with WaveLogic coherent optical processors. Allstream is an existing customer. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.ciena.com http://www.allstream.com/