Toshiba Touts Fastest SD Cards -- 95 MB/sec

Toshiba is launching a new line of high performance SDXC and SDHC memory cards under a new brand name - EXCERIA.


The new cards offer the fastest data read and write speeds and full compliance with the SD Memory Card Standard Ver.3.0 UHS-I. The fastest EXCERIA Type 1 series card integrates new controllers that realize the world's fastest data transfers, with a maximum read speed of 95 megabytes (MB)/sec and a write speed of 90MB/sec. Type 2 series products offer a maximum read speed of 95MB/sec and a write speed of 60MB/sec, while Type HD products have a maximum read speed of 90MB/sec and a write speed of 30MB/sec.
http://www.toshiba.com

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ARM Unveils Cortex-M0+ Processor for Internet of Things

ARM introduced what it describes as "the world's most energy-efficient microprocessor" -- the ARM Cortex-M0+ processor, optimized for the "Internet of Things", including ultra low-power, low-cost sensors and smart control systems in home appliances, white goods, medical monitoring, metering, lighting and power and motor control devices.


The 32-bit Cortex-M0+ processor consumes 9µA/MHz on a low-cost 90nm LP process, around one third of the energy of any 8- or 16-bit processor currently on the market while offering 32-bit performance.


Early licensees of the Cortex-M0+ processor include Freescale and NXP Semiconductor.
http://www.arm.com

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Ericsson to Acquire Technicolor's broadcast services division

Ericsson agreed to acquire the Broadcast Services Division of Technicolor for an undisclosed sum.


Technicolor, which is based in France, develops advanced video services and management platforms for content creators and distributors. The broadcast services division has approximately 900 highly skilled professionals and operations in France, UK and the Netherlands. Ericsson said the deal substantially increases its current broadcast operations in terms of channels managed and households reached.


Technicolor said the sale enables it to focus on media monetization solutions, new growth businesses, and strengthen its balance sheet.


"As the TV industry is undergoing fundamental changes with the transition to multi-platform, on-demand television, teaming up with a trusted partner enables broadcasters to meet the increasing commercial and technological complexity and competition in the TV market" says Magnus Mandersson, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Unit Global Services, Ericsson. "We combine our service and technology leadership with strategic investments in playout operations, broadcast capability and competence."http://www.ericsson.com
http://www.technicolor.com

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Ofcom Allows Everything Everywhere to Refarm Spectrum for LTE

Ofcom, the official regulator in the UK, will allow Everything Everywhere to reuse its 2G spectrum to launch LTE service this year. Ofcom said it considered whether this would distort competition and has concluded that it would not. Public comment is welcomed for the next four weeks.
http://media.ofcom.org.uk

• In December 2011, Everything Everywhere, the joint venture that operates the networks for T-Mobile (UK) and Orange (UK), outlined plans to invest more than £1.5bn+ over the next three years to upgrade its infrastructure and set the stage for LTE. Capex will see double digit growth in 2012 network investment compared to 2011.



• The plans will bring tighter integration of the T-Mobile and Orange mobile networks. Everything Everywhere said it is in the final stages of “the big switch on�?. In the next few week, Orange and T-Mobile customers will be able to use 2G and 3G signals from either of the networks and benefit from fast data speeds in more places. In the first half of 2012, Everything Everywhere will further improve the cross-network signal sharing by enabling Orange and T-Mobile customers’ devices to automatically select the stronger signal from either network if their own signal is weak.

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Deutsche Telekom Partners with City Utility for FTTH

Deutsche Telekom announced its first partnership with a municipal power utility company for installing optical fiber.


Deutsche Telekom and eins energie signed a cooperation agreement under which the power company will construct the infrastructure and Deutsche Telekom will operate the network. Up t0 20,000 residences in Chemnitz will get fiber connectivity this year. Up to 60,000 homes are scheduled to be connected to the state-of-the-art optical fiber network by the end of 2014. Deutsche Telekom plans to offer Internet access at up to 200 Mbps.


Once the optical fiber network has been completed, Deutsche Telekom will lease the network from eins and will operate it with open access for other service providers.


"This is the largest optical fiber project Deutsche Telekom has undertaken anywhere in Germany and this project here in Chemnitz is the first time we have entered into a cooperation with a regional utilities company," said Niek Jan van Damme, Chairman of the Managing Board of Telekom Deutschland GmbH. "eins is the local power company, the people of Chemnitz know the company, and it is an expert in the construction and operation of supply networks. We are open to work together with other enterprises and we look at all forms of cooperation, including with regional companies such as municipal and regional utilities companies or other partners," emphasized van Damme.
http://www.telekom.com

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Huawei Launches LTE Wi-Fi Hotspot with eAccess

Huawei introduced a multi-band, multi-mode, Mobile WiFi hotspot for Japan's eAccess LTE network.


The E589 FDD supports LTE FDD/HSPA+/UMTS. The unit provides Wi-Fi hotspot service for up to 10 Wi-Fi devices, including mobile phones, tablets, notebook computers, PSP consoles, and e-books. The product has a battery life of up to 10 hours, and is compatible with 95% of battery-powered Wi-Fi enabled devices currently on the market.


Dubbed the "Pocket WiFi" (a term trademarked by eAccess in Japan), the E589 frees users from geographical and network connection constraints. It supports top LTE download speeds of 100 Mbps.


The E589 global edition will feature internal SD cards which can be read and written through Wi-Fi connections, empowering consumers to easily share photographs, documents, music, and video files. It will also support text messaging functions – its sophisticated Web UI software design allowing users to compose, send and receive text messages via their computer quickly and conveniently.
http://www.huaweidevice.com

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VimpleCom Reaches 205 Million Mobile Users

Russia's VimpleCom reported Q4 2011 revenues of US$5.878 billion, up 5% YOY on an organic basis, and a net loss attributable to of US$386 million including special charges. Actual twelve months 2011 results reflect the consolidation of Italy's Wind Telecom as of April 15, 2011.


Some operating highlights:

The total mobile subscriber base increased 13% YoY to 205 million by the end of the fourth quarter. The largest absolute contribution came from accelerated growth in subscribers in the Africa & Asia Business Unit. The company also achieved strong growth in fixed and mobile broadband in Russia, Italy and Ukraine.


In Russia, the subscriber growth rate decreased in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter, in line with the announced strategy to focus on profitable growth. Mobile broadband subscribers in Russia increased 32% YoY to 2.5 million and fixed broadband subscribers grew 46% YoY to almost 2.1 million.


The Company's Italian business continued to outperform the broader Italian telecom market in the fourth quarter despite the ongoing weak macroeconomic environment and unfavorable regulatory developments. VimpelCom strengthened its market position in Italy in both mobile and fixed-line, increasing its revenue share in both segments. The fixed broadband subscriber base increased 12% YoY to more than 2.1 million, with an increase in Fixed Broadband revenues of 21% YoY, while Mobile broadband revenues increased 43% YoY.

In the Africa & Asia Business Unit, the Company achieved strong growth in its subscriber base across all countries of operation, exceeding 82 million in total. Solid performance across the main operations led to organic revenue growth of 5% YoY. Reported net operating revenues increased by 3% YoY, adversely impacted by local currency devaluation against the USD in the main operating countries of Algeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as the liquidation of the handset business of "Ring".


The Ukraine Business Unit continued to deliver healthy top line revenue growth in mobile and fixed data revenues and doubled its fixed line broadband subscribers. Mobile data revenue grew 12% YoY to UAH 218 million driven by increased usage of data services in USB modem offers and within the new bundled tariff plans.


The CIS Business Unit delivered double digit revenue growth in all of its markets with the exception of Armenia, and was able to maintain high quality subscriber growth.
http://www.vimplecom.com

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TI and 6WIND Partner on Packet Processing Software

6WIND announced support within the 6WINDGate software solution for TI's new scalable 28-nm multicore processors based on its recently announced KeyStone II multicore architecture.


6WINDGate includes a full set of control plane modules, a high performance networking stack and a wide range of data plane protocols that have been specifically optimized for TI's KeyStone II-based multicore processors. 6WINDGate said its fast path-based architecture enables OEMs to quickly migrate existing application software to TI's KeyStone II architecture, allowing the use of TI's on-chip network coprocessors, as well as reducing time to market and schedule risk.


"We're constantly looking for ways to push the envelope with our KeyStone II multicore processors," said Ramesh Kumar, business manager, multicore processors, TI. "No multicore architecture matches the performance, flexibility and power efficiency of KeyStone II and our collaboration with 6WIND gives our customers the software support they need to quickly and easily develop high performance applications."


TI's scalable KeyStone II architecture includes support for both TMS320C66x digital signal processors (DSP) generation cores and multiple cache coherent quad ARM Cortex™-A15 clusters, for a mixture of up to 32 DSP and RISC cores. The multicore architecture includes capacity expansion for SoC structural elements such as TeraNet, Multicore Navigator and Multicore Shared Memory Controller (MSMC). This expansion allows developers to fully utilize the capability of all processing elements, including ARM RISC cores, DSP cores and enhanced AccelerationPacs. RISC processing within KeyStone II has been significantly upgraded with the addition of quad ARM Cortex -A15 clusters, providing ultra-high performance at half the power consumption of traditional RISC cores.
http://www.6wind.com
http://www.ti.com

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Openreach to double FTTC speeds from April

Starting in April, BT Openreach will double the speed of its wholesale Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) service to up 80 Mbps downstream. Openreach’s fibre network is available to all Communication Providers on an open wholesale access basis. It will be up to CPs to choose when and if they offer these enhanced speeds to end users, as the current up to 40Mbps service will continue to be available.

FTTC technology underpins the majority of BT’s £2.5bn commercial roll-out of super-fast fibre broadband in the UK.
http://www.bt.com

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