Blueprint 2013: OSS/BSS Adapts for Complex Services

Customers are tough to get and easy to lose. The good news is that communications service providers (CSPs)have more and more options for attracting and retaining customers. Here are nine strategies that will play out in 2013. Policy will evolve from a isolated defensive capability to business integral offensive measure. CSPs – particularly mobile operators – currently use policy to a large extent to protect their network. Increasingly...

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Infonetics: Service Provider CAPEX Increases in 2013

Globally, mobile service revenue is the main growth engine in the overall telecom/datacom market, up 4.3% year-over-year in the first half of 2012,according to Infonetics' newly released December 2012 Fundamental Telecom and Datacom Market Drivers report, which analyzes global and regional market trends and conditions. Some key trends: User mobility, specifically BYOD anywhere, is putting pressure on carriers to move to a single network for...

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UK Attracts 7 Bidders for Upcoming 4G Spectrum Auction

The following company have registered as bidders in the UK's forthcoming 4G mobile spectrum auction, which will start in January 2013: Everything Everywhere Limited (UK) HKT (UK) Company Limited (a subsidiary of PCCW Limited) Hutchison 3G UK Limited MLL Telecom Ltd Niche Spectrum Ventures Limited (a subsidiary of BT Group plc) Telefónica UK Limited Vodafone Limited Bidders will be competing for spectrum in two separate bands – 800 MHz and 2.6...

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O2 Picks Nokia Siemens Networks for London Upgrade

O2 (Telefónica UK) has selected Nokia Siemens Networks for its upcoming LTE rollout across London and the South East of England. The UK operator is anticipating a rapid launch of 4G following Ofcom’s spectrum auctions scheduled for early 2013. Under the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is providing its Single RAN platform, and implementing its high-capacity Liquid Radio solution based on its Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station. The contract includes...

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Pluribus Raises $23M for Hardware Accelerated Network Virtualization

Pluribus Networks, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California, raised $23 million in series C funding for its hardware-accelerated network virtualization platform for private and public cloud data centers. Pluribus provides a platform for fabric-based computing that enables applications to move into the network, and to serve both physical and virtual network infrastructure. The solution includes highly-optimized Server-Switch hardware along with...

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René Obermann to Step Down as CEO of DT in One Year

René Obermann will step down as CEO of Deutsche Telekom at the end of 2013 and has asked the company's Board of Directors not to renew his contract after that point. He will leave Deutsche Telekom after 16 years, of which he spent seven at the head of the company and 11 years as a member of the Board of Management. Deutsche Telekom's current chief financial officer, Timotheus Höttges, has been named to succeed him as Obermann as of January 1,...

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Ericsson Decides Against Taking Full Ownership of ST-Ericsson

Ericsson has decided not to take over full ownership of ST-Ericsson and  will take a non-cash charge of approximately SEK 8 b. in Q4, 2012 related to its 50% stake in the company. Earlier this month, STMicroelectronics unveiled a new corporate strategy under which it will exit the ST-Ericsson partnership and the wireless broadband market, choosing instead to focus on sensors and embedded processing. Ericsson continues to explore various strategic...

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Shenick Names New CEO and Opens in Silicon Valley

Shenick Network Systems named Gerard Moore as its new Chairman and CEO. Previously, Moore was founder and CEO of Spectel, which he grew from 10 to 240 employees, before it was acquired by Avaya in 2004. Moore is also Managing Partner of Sanvest Ventures. In 2008, Moore became an investor in Shenick and joined its board of directors. The company has also expanded its executive team to include Ultan Kelly, CTO; Frank Bawle, VP of Engineering and Ameet...

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Blueprint 2013: Backhaul Gets Smarter, Small Cells Get Rolling

2013 should be an eventful year in the network and communications industry. Given the intense focus on 4G and LTE, it helps to have a sense of what’s next in wired and wireless networks. Five Top Predictions for Networking Data and video surges cause a shift from a single class of service to multiple classes of service in the backhaul network:  In 2013, we’ll see a shift from a single class of service to multiple classes of service to address...

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ARRIS to Acquire Motorola Home from Google for $2.35 B

Google will sell its Motorola Home Business to ARRIS for $2.35 billion in cash and stock. Motorola Home is a leading global supplier of digital video and IPTV hardware and software solutions for the cable, telecom, broadcast & satellite markets.  The Motorola Home division, which is based in Horsham, PA, had revenues of approximately $3.4 billion over the past 4 quarters and about 5,000 employees. The company is profitable. ARRIS reported...

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FCC Gives Go Ahead to AT&T Acquisitions of WCS and AWS Licenses

The FCC approved AT&T's request to acquire certian Wireless Communications Service (WCS) and Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-1) licenses from Comcast, Horizon, NextWave,  and San Diego Gas & Electric. AT&T will acquire AWS-1 and WCS spectrum in 608 CMAs,15 covering 82 percent of the population of the contiguous 48 states. By spectrum band, AT&T would acquire: 10-20 megahertz of WCS A and B Block spectrum in 473 CMAs, covering...

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Deutsche Telekom Looks to Vectoring

Deutsche Telekom has submitted an application to Germany's Federal Network Agency to permit the use of vectoring for boosting the performance of its copper access network. Deutsche Telekom plans to invest about EUR 6 billion over the next four years primarily to enhance its fixed network with vectoring. This upgrade would entail extending fiber optics up to the cable distribution boxes and then installing vectoring technology in the cabinets. This...

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Verizon Replaces Copper with Fiber in Lower Manhattan

Verizon has completed the installation of fiber-optic cables between the company’s two critical central switching offices in lower Manhattan.  The rapid deployment replaces many copper lines which were damaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy. Copper cables were destroyed that served businesses and residences in the area south of Worth Street, from the East River to the Hudson River. The damaged resulted from inundation of salt water mixed...

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Sprint Gives LTE Update: 49 Markets On-Air, 150 Market Targeted

Sprint's LTE rollout has reached 49 markets across the U.S., including Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Baltimore – and sites are on-air and implementation is under way in hundreds more. Sprint has announced nearly 150 markets that should see an official LTE launch in the coming months.  The updated rollout plan adds 36 markets. Sprint launched its LTE network in July 2012. "With the network investments we made in 2012 and as the only national...

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MAYA-1 Cable Upgrades to 40G with Alcatel-Lucent

The MAYA-1 Submarine Cable System will upgrade from 10G to 40G using Alcatel-Lucent's 1620 Light Manager submarine line terminal equipment with single carrier coherent technology. MAYA-1 is a submarine telecommunications cable system owned by a consortium of telecom companies. The system, which was originally constructed in the year 2000, connects seven landing points in the Caribbean, including Hollywood, Florida , Cancun (Mexico),...

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Gigamon Appoints Paul Hooper as CEO

Gigamon named Paul Hooper as its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing co-founder Ted Ho, who is stepping down. Hooper previously served as Gigamon's Vice President of Marketing and Product Management. Before that, he held various positions at Extreme Networks, including Chief Marketing Officer, Vice President and General Manager for the Volume Products Group, and Chief Information Officer. Gigamon provides an intelligent Traffic Visibility Fabric...

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AT&T to Develop Highly-Secure Mobile Handsets for U.S. Military

The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded a contract to AT&T Government Solutions to develop and deliver trusted mobile devices able to send and receive highly-secure voice, video, and data across multiple security domains and wireless networks – domestic and international.  The Trusted Handheld Platform will support  secure, classified, and unsecure communications.   Initial devices will use a modified version of the Android. AT&T...

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Pulsant Acquires Huge Data Center in Scotland

Pulsant, which offers managed cloud and hosting services, has acquired  ScoLocate's 75,000 sq ft data centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.  The facility hosts over 30 telecommunication carriers, making it one of the most connected commercially available data centres outside the M25. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition brings Pulsant's nationwide network of data centres up to 10, positioning it as a leading supplier of data centre...

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Blueprint 2013: 100G & Self-Aware Networks Take Off; 400G On the Cusp

Consumers these days are hungrier than ever for data, and smart devices are the forks that feed. To keep pace, service providers have begun adopting higher-bandwidth networks like 100G infrastructures to meet ever increasing demand. But the advent of this new technology also brings a heightened need to test and measure the resulting infrastructure so providers ensure they are delivering content to consumers as expected. Network equipment manufacturers...

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China Mobile Launches TD-LTE + FDD-LTE in Kong

China Mobile launched a dual-mode TD-LTE + FDD-LTE capability in Hong Kong.The converged LTE FDD/TDD network allows subscribers with client devices supporting both formats to roam on-net between services.  The CMHK LTE network is the first dual-mode network in the Asia-Pacific region. Live demonstrations showcasing the high-speed data download capabilities of TD-LTE and LTE FDD networks and the seamless hand-overbetween TD-LTE and...

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SK Telecom: LTE will be its Mainstream Service in 2013

SK Telecom is reporting an accelerated growth in LTE subscribers. SK Telecom is currently experiencing a daily average of 60,000 customers new LTE enrollments, representing over 50 percent growth compared to the last month.  LTE subscribers surpassed 7 million as of December 12, 2012, thereby achieving the end of year target for LTE subscribers.  The company's LTE footprint covers 99 percent of South Korea's population. For comparison,...

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Cisco to Acquire BroadHop for Policy Control

Cisco announced plans to acquire BroadHop, a start-up providing policy control and service management technology for carrier networks. Financial terms were not disclosed. BroadHop, which is based in Denver, Colorado, specializes in application-centric policy technology.  Its Quantum Network Suite is an open policy-application platform based on PCRF architecture that can be used for network-centric bandwidth management, such as fair use...

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A List of Cisco's 2012 Acquisitions

At the Cisco Financial Analyst Conference Day in New York earlier this month, company CEO John Chambers said the company's ambition is to transform itself from being the top communications provider to the top information technology provider.   Cisco's key strategy remains to Build-Buy-Partner and Chambers said mergers & acquisitions remain a key part of the plan.   Most recent deals have focused on software. Cisco...

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