Monday, April 2, 2012

PureWave Secures $5 Million for Small Cell Base Stations

PureWave Networks, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, secured $5 million in Series C funding from existing and new investors for its 4G wireless base stations. The funding will be used to continue the development and commercialization of its new line of small cell LTE base stations, as well as to grow the company’s market presence in key markets.


"Our sales have increased roughly fourfold in 2011 and we expect them to double again this year,�? said Don Meiners, PureWave’s CEO. “With such strong sales growth, we approached this investment round as an opportunity to extend our global reach and to strengthen our presence in key markets. We are excited to announce that one of the investors in this financing round is a strategic partner that will extend PureWave’s reach in Asia, give us on-the-ground presence in future growth markets and allow us to better serve our existing Asia-Pacific customers.�?http://www.pwnets.com/

Verizon's Terremark Launches Single-Tenant Private Cloud

Verizon's Terremark division introduced the latest addition to its secure cloud offerings – Enterprise Cloud Private Edition. The service is designed as a single-tenant environment to meet the security compliance requirements of many large enterprises and government agencies.


Enterprise Cloud Private Edition is an extension of the company’s hybrid cloud strategy, offering customers the capability of migrating application workloads between traditional and cloud environments – including their own dedicated infrastructure, Terremark’s cloud platforms, and cloud resources offered by other providers – in a seamless and secure way.


Application workloads in this private cloud are able to connect into Terremark's public cloud platform for bursting during peak usage periods and as part of a cloud migration strategy.


The Enterprise Cloud Private Edition solution is delivered from Terremark cloud-enabled data centers across its global footprint of strategically located facilities.
http://www.verizon.com

Pertino Raises $8.85 million for SDN

Pertino, a start-up based in Cupertino, California, announced $8.85 million in Series A funding to back its cloud networking innovations. The company is working on software-defined networking for enterprises. Product plans have not yet been made public.


Pertino is led by Craig Elliott, formerly CEO of Packeteer and International General Manager of Apple’s internet and online services.

The funding came from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Craig Elliott and other noted networking and tech luminaries and private investors participated in the round, including: Steve Campbell, Co-founder and former CEO of Stratacom; Joe Graziano, former CFO of Apple and Sun Microsystems; Rob Ryan, Co-founder and former CEO of Ascend Communications; Peter Wagner, former General Partner at Accel Partners; Gaurav Garg, Special Limited Partner at Sequoia Ventures; and Jeffrey Drazan, Managing Partner at Bertram Capital.
http://www.pertino.com

Union Members Call for Strike at AT&T Midwest

With their current contract set to expire on April 7th and negotiations at an impasse, unionized members of the Communications Workers of America at AT&T Midwest have voted to authorize CWA leaders to call a strike if a fair contract cannot be reached. Ninety-two (92) percent of voting AT&T Midwest members approved the strike authorization.


About 15,000 CWA-represented workers are at AT&T Midwest in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.


"These negotiations are all about good jobs. A successful company like AT&T Midwest should invest in rebuilding the American economy and not follow the low road of outsourcing and layoffs,�? said CWA District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen.
http://www.cwa-union.org

Saudi Telecom CEO to Step Down

Saudi Telecom CEO Saud AL Daweesh announced his intention to retire. Over the past six years as CEO, AL Daweesh has helped transform STC into an international powerhouse with over 160 million subscribers and 19 operations in south East Asia, The Middle East, Turkey and Africa. http://www.stc.com.sa

GSMA Predicts Rapid Mobile BB Growth in India

The number of 3G HSPA subscribers in India has passed the 10 million mark and this number will grow to 100 million by 2014, predicts the GSMA. This will make India the largest HSPA market worldwide within the next two years, surpassing China, Japan and the US in the process.


"The mobile industry in India is set for immense growth as Mobile Broadband technologies such as HSPA and LTE start to proliferate, but there is scope for far greater development," said Anne Bouverot, director general of the GSMA. "To take full advantage of this, the Indian government should facilitate the timely release of additional spectrum in a fair and transparent way for all stakeholders. The benefits are clear to see – a 10 per cent increase in Mobile Broadband penetration could contribute as much as US$80 billion (INR 3,506 billion) of revenue across the country's transport, healthcare and education sectors by 2015."http://www.gsma.com

Equinix Builds Out Data Center in Sydney

Equinix has accelerated construction of phase two of its third Sydney International Business Exchange (IBX®) data centre. Equinix cited high demand for premium colocation and interconnection services from cloud and financial service providers. The company is investing an additional US$50 million into the expansion of SY3, doubling the number of cabinets to 2,000. The expansion capital required is already reflected in the company’s 2012 guidance.
http://www.equinix.com

GENBAND Acquires Aztek Networks

GENBAND has acquired Aztek Networks, a supplier of switch consolidation and network migration solutions, for an undisclosed sum.




Aztek Networks supplies Emergency Stand Alone (ESA) switches that are environmentally hardened, fully redundant and designed to ensure public safety by constantly maintaining local calling capabilities and subscriber access to emergency 911 services in the event the link to the primary host switch is severed due to an accident or natural disaster. The company is privately held and backed by a number of notable VC investors, including Verizon Investments LLC as arranged by Verizon Ventures. The company was founded in 1982 as Aztek Engineering and is based in Boulder, Colorado.



GENBAND said Aztek's line access technology enhances its Network Transformation offering by enabling operators to eliminate legacy TDM sites, consolidate and modernize their core network and realize significant savings in capital and operating expenses. The Aztek 5000-series will be supported and marketed under the GENBAND G5 platform brand. The G5 Line Access Gateway is distinguished in its ability to drive long copper loops. As part of the GENBAND Network Transformation solution, the G5 interworks with the transformed IP core to support advanced IP services (including Multimedia, Unified Communications, Dynamic Routing and Mobility) and critical functionalities including Emergency Stand Alone (ESA) services, 911, fault reporting and alarms, as well as Trunking and DLC aggregation capabilities.


"The Aztek acquisition strategically enhances our network transformation capabilities with both innovative technology and talent," said Charlie Vogt, President and Chief Executive Officer of GENBAND. "We welcome Aztek customers, employees and solutions to the GENBAND family and look forward to offering the G5 platform, which is fully integrated into our network transformation portfolio. With this acquisition, GENBAND is uniquely positioned to offer our customers a true end-to-end network transformation solution - from the edge all the way to the core."http://www.genband.com
http://www.azteknetworks.net/

Sigma Designs to Acquire Trident's Digital TV

In a bankruptcy proceeding, Sigma Designs was the successful bidder to acquire certain assets of Trident Microsystems' Digital Television (DTV) Business, which includes certain products, licensed intellectual property, software, working capital assets and leased facilities. The deal was for $21 million in cash plus assumption of specified liabilities upon the closing of the transaction.


Trident’s DTV Business supplies global System-on-a-Chip (SoC) products for set top boxes. Sigma expects to make employment offers to approximately 300 employees of the Trident DTV Business, most of whom are engineers located in China.


"Sigma Designs’ acquisition of the DTV business assets of Trident Microsystems represents a significant step forward in our company’s long term strategy of being the industry’s leading provider of advanced SoC solutions for converged media platforms,�? said Thinh Tran, Sigma Designs’ Chairman and CEO.
http://www.sigmadesigns.com

EB Updates its Military Tough VoIP Desktop and Field Phone

EB, Elektrobit Corporation, introduced its next generation of EB Tough VoIP Field Phone and EB Tough VoIP Desktop Phone for military deployment. EB Tough VoIP Field Phone and EB Tough VoIP Desktop Phone are both equipped with an integrated speaker and Ethernet connectivity. EB Tough VoIP Field Phone is also equipped with SHDSL connectivity. The units can be configured to have e.g. optical Ethernet connectivity.


The enhanced features of the next generation of EB Tough VoIP Field Phone and EB Tough VoIP Desktop Phone are:

  • Support for GPS positioning

  • Support for new audio codecs further improving the products versatility

  • Improved usability with new keypad, UI and wall mounting capability.

  • Completely new mechanical construction for reduced weight and improved durability

  • New connector options to allow better configuration for all users and applications
http://www.elektrobit.com