Sunday, April 29, 2012

Sprint Awarded $2 Billion Contract

The Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA), a purchasing consortium composed of 15 states, has awarded Sprint a four-year, $2 billion contract to serve as one of its wireless products and services providers. The contract with WSCA, a national public sector purchasing consortium, represents one of the largest for Sprint in 2012.


WSCA participants will be able to take advantage of the full suite of Sprint wireless products and services, including devices, unlimited data plans, accessories, applications and end-to-end solutions.
http://www.sprint.com

SiTime Hits MEMS Milestone: 100 Million Timing Devices Shipped

SiTime Corporation, which specializes in silicon MEMS timing solutions, announced a major milestone: cumulative shipments of its MEMS oscillators, clock generators and resonators have exceeded 100 million units.


Over 800 electronics companies have adopted SiTime’s Silicon MEMS timing solutions in more than 100 unique applications.


“SiTime’s unique MEMS and analog technology is transforming the decades-old timing industry with revolutionary products that offer unsurpassed performance, flexibility and reliability,�? said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. “Our silicon-based technology has enabled dramatic advances in performance that have not been replicated by the quartz industry. Today, our products are 250 times better in stability and jitter than our first product in 2007, and we continue to innovate at this accelerated pace. In addition, SiTime’s MEMS timing products are up to 500 times more reliable than quartz oscillators. Almost every major electronics company has either shipped product with our MEMS solutions or is evaluating them and it is only a matter of time before volumes of MEMS oscillators will exceed that of legacy quartz oscillators."
http://www.sitime.com


Broadcom Unveils 100 GE Switching Silicon with L2-4 Classification

Broadcom unveiled its 100 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switching solution designed for next gen data center switching platforms with densities up to 4,000 100GbE ports.

Broadcom said a key innovation in its highly integrated BCM88650 system on chip (SoC) is that the features and functionality of a complete line card have been combined into a single chip. The chip can process a single stream of 200Gbps traffic at Layer 2-Layer 4 with integrated advanced packet classification and deep-buffer traffic management features to support data center, carrier Ethernet and packet transport requirements.

The new BCM88650 works with Broadcom's FE1600 (BCM88750) fabric for highly scalable systems a few hundred Gbps of aggregate capacity A chassis with a total capacity of 25Tbps can be designed for the core of the data center or the carrier core network. Multiple chassis of different capacities can be interconnected to create a scalable core platform and deliver up to 4,000 wire-speed ports of 100GbE or their 40GbE/10GbE equivalent.


Highlights include:

  • Integrates advanced packet classification, deep-buffer traffic manager, and cell based fabric interface


  • Integrated 1/10/40/100GbE network interfaces eliminates the need for additional components


  • Programmable packet classification engine with built-in support for data center, metro Ethernet
    and transport applications


  • Large on-chip classification databases can be extended using a companion Broadcom/NetLogic processor


  • Deep buffers with distributed scheduling scheme allowing state of the art hierarchical QOS, transmission scheduling and flow control schemes


  • Fully compatible with Broadcom's XLP multi-core processors and NL8865x knowledge-based processors for best-in-class control plane and expanded L2-4 header processing performance


  • Fully supported by Broadcom's common Application Programming Interface (API).

Broadcom plans to offer different versions of the BCM88650 series for data center, enterprise, carrier access, metro Ethernet, and transport designs. Sampling is underway and production volume is slated for the second half of 2012.

http://www.broadcom.com

Verizon to Market FIPS-140-2 Encrypted Mobile Voice Services to U.S. Government

Verizon will begin selling secure mobile voice services to the U.S. government using technology from Cellcrypt, a provider of government-grade encrypted voice-calling software. The two companies will jointly market Cellcrypt's mobile voice-encryption solution to military, intelligence and civilian agencies.


Cellcrypt helps address the potential risks of interception of sensitive voice communications. The technology is
currently undergoing trial testing with several government agencies. The yet-to-be named co-branded service will be available for sale this fall. When launched, the Verizon-Cellcrypt service will be supported on smartphones and tablets running on the widely used Android, BlackBerry and iOS mobile operating systems. The downloadable software application, which supports federal information processing standard 140-2, will work across cellular, Wi-Fi and satellite networks, including Verizon's wireless networks.


"The threats posed by cyberattacks are real and increasingly focused on U.S. national security interests," said Janet Schijns, vice president of vertical solutions, Verizon Enterprise Solutions. "By leveraging our combined strengths, Verizon and Cellcrypt will provide government agencies with an easy-to-deploy and interoperable mobile voice-encryption solution designed to maintain the security and integrity of sensitive communications."


FIPS 140-2, created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is a U.S. government computer-security standard used to accredit cryptographic hardware and software.
http://www.verizon.com
http://www.cellcrypt.com
  • Cellcrypt leverages Encrypted Mobile Content Protocol (EMCP), an Internet Protocol (IP) based technology that optimizes delivery of encrypted data between mobile devices over wireless networks.

Comcast and Verizon Wireless Extend Co-Marketing

Comcast and Verizon Wireless are moving ahead with their co-marketing agreement with special bundled offers in a number of markets.


Depending on the package chosen, new and existing customers of both Comcast and Verizon Wireless could qualify for cash incentive between $50 and $300, and/or a "double your data package" on the Comcast Xfinity Internet service and a doubling of a 4G LTE data plan from Verizon Wireless.


"Because mobility is a top priority of the consumer, we co-developed an offering that provides a terrific wireless, entertainment and communications experience in one spot," said Jonathan Lecompton, president, Verizon Wireless Georgia-Alabama Region. "Comcast continues to deliver exceptional entertainment and communications services and the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network is the ideal complement to complete the package."

In addition to Atlanta, Comcast and Verizon Wireless are expanding the offer to five additional markets today: Chicago; Colorado; Kansas City, Mo.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; and Salt Lake City. Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless and Comcast launched in Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; and Seattle.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/xfinityhttp://www.comcast.com/wireless

IBM Outlines its New Foundation for Mobile Computing

IBM outlined its strategy for building an extensive portfolio of software and services that delivers enterprise-ready mobility for clients. The company believes this sector represents a $22 billion market, potentially growing to $36 billion in 2012 as companies increasing adopt mobile technologies to improve their productivity. The plan is to extend unified capabilities extend from servers and laptops, to smartphones and tablets.


The new IBM Mobile Foundation offers organizations the following core capabilities:


Connect Cloud & Mobile Environments: As the adoption of mobile computing continues to create increased demands for cloud services, IBM WebSphere Cast Iron is a crucial element of the new foundation. Now, clients will be able to easily connect mobile applications to a variety of Cloud and back-end systems.


Build and Connect Mobile Applications: A new set of development and integration tools from IBM Worklight will enable clients for the first time to develop mobile applications and their supporting infrastructures for a variety of platforms just once and run them on any mobile platform - including Apple iOS and Google Android, and RIM Blackberry.


Manage and Secure Mobile Environments: In an effort to help organizations manage the Bring Your Own Device or "BYOD" trend, the foundation includes new software from IBM Endpoint Manager to help customers deliver a single solution that effectively manages and secures all endpoints.


IBM noted that it has been steadily investing in the mobile space for more than a decade, both organically and through acquisitions.


"It's no secret that throughout the last decade, the most successful organizations have been quick to leverage new technology for business advantage," said Marie Wieck, General Manager, IBM Application and Integration Middleware. "Over this time, we have evolved our market-leading portfolio to meet our client's needs to extend their reach through new channels like mobile and cloud computing. Our latest offerings are yet another step in this direction and will provide customers with everything they need to support mobile devices in their business and use them to transform the way they interact with customers, partners and employees."


IBM is hosting its IMPACT conference this week.
http://www.ibm.com

Mindspeed Powers LTE + Wi-Fi Femtocell for SK Telesys

Mindspeed Technologies has supplied its Transcede wireless baseband processors for an LTE + Wi-Fi femtocell from SK Telesys, the wireless system manufacturer in SK Group Korea.


The Wi-Fi integrated LTE femtocells will be first deployed in densely populated regions in South Korea, focusing primarily on the commercial centers of major cities. The rollout will then be expanded to areas with high data demand – i.e. indoor areas like shopping centers, offices, houses and schools – based on an analysis of LTE service usage patterns.



Mindspeed's Transcede family of processors are complete NodeB and eNodeB SoC solutions that support concurrent 3G and LTE processing in a single device, including time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), W-CDMA/HSPA+ and both frequency division duplexing LTE (FDD-LTE) and time division duplexing LTE (TDD-LTE).
http://www.mindspeed.com
http://www.sktelesys.com

Shenick Network Systems Tests VoLTE with Leading Operator

Shenick Network Systems is supplying per-flow IP and 4G communication test systems for measuring quality of experience (QoE) of 4G networks for Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and streaming video.


Shenick’s diversifEye tests 4G networks for next generation VoLTE, IP video and other data services over both regular and secure mobile VPN’s such as SSL and IPsec; right down to each individual application flow. diversifEye can also stress test mobile VPNs to breaking point by scaling to tens of Gigabits-per-second of stateful traffic, pinpointing potential issues all the way down to each network, application and end-user flow on physical and virtualized networks. diversifEye also enables carriers to identify 4G performance bottlenecks and fully understand end user QoE limitations particularly for new voice, video and data services coming on to the market.


“High bandwidth LTE deployments carrying VoLTE calls, streaming video and data services, together with increased demand for secure enterprise VPN connections pushes the LTE network to its limits. In all of this, there are serious considerations for quality, scale, performance and integration,�? says Robert Winters, chief marketing officer at Shenick Network Systems. “Shenick is helping SP’s and NEM’s to address the real quality challenge in moving mobile voice services from what used to be dedicated voice handling infrastructure to VoLTE which utilizes the shared medium of IP with bandwidth hungry video and data applications.�?http://diversifEye.shenick.com/

Fujitsu Builds Optical Backbone for National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has selected Fujitsu's FLASHWAVE 7420 Metro/Enterprise WDM Platform to implement a multi-node regional fiber optic network linking remote data centers. The deployment will also use Fujitsu's NETSMART 1500 Management System and its professional services.


The network is designed for tunable bandwidths reaching 40 Gbps, sub-microsecond latency, multi-protocol, multi-application support and remote monitoring and management.

NIAID conducts and supports research to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses.

Fujitsu’s FLASHWAVE 7420 is a scalable Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM)-based transport solution engineered for high-performance, low-latency networks. The platform, which includes Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) technology, supports Ethernet, SONET/SDH, G.709 OTN, ATM, video and SAN protocols in fixed and reconfigurable point-to-point, linear add/drop and ring topologies.http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom

PMC-Sierra Posts Q1 Revenue of $132 Million

PMC-Sierra reported Q1 revenue of $132.1 million, a decrease of 13% compared to $152.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, and 16% lower than net revenues of $157.4 million in the first quarter of 2011. GAAP net loss in the first quarter of 2012 was $96.3 million, or $0.41 per share, including $85.4 million income tax provision related to an intercompany dividend made in preparation for funding a share repurchase program.


“Despite a challenging first quarter, we continued to execute well, making key product announcements and winning designs in all of our business segments,�? said Greg Lang, president and chief executive officer of PMC. “We expect sequential improvement in our business in Q2 and a stronger second half of 2012.�?http://www.pmc-sierra.com

Taiwan'ss Chunghwa Migrates 55% of Broadband Users to FTTx

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom saw its Q1 consolidated revenue increase by 5.6% to NT$55.4 billion over a year ago, although net income fell 20% to NT$9.5 billion.

Dr. Shyue-Ching Lu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We began 2012 with a solid market leadership for all of our major business segments. For the first quarter, our growth was driven primarily by mobile business such as value-added services, increase of mobile internet subscribers, and innovative mobile service marketing. In addition, our MOD/IPTV is also gaining traction due to both increased ARPU and market share. We have executed well against the interim set-backs from the various business and regulatory environment.

Some highlights:

Mobile communications revenue increased by 12.0% to NT$25.6 billion; mobile value-added services (VAS) revenue increased by 29.2% to NT$4.6 billion.

Internet revenue increased by 1.7% to NT$6.2 billion; internet VAS revenue increased by 1.6% to NT$0.6 billion.

Domestic fixed communications revenue decreased by 1.1% to NT$19.0 billion.

International fixed communications revenue decreased by 4.0% to NT$3.6 billion.

Total operating costs and expenses increased by 14.4% to NT$44.1 billion.

Q1 CAPEX amounted to NT$6.7 billion, representing a 52.9% year-over-year increase. Of the NT$6.7 billion capex figure, 49.8% was used for the domestic fixed communications business, 29.7% was for the mobile business, 11.9% was for the internet business, 7.2% was for the international fixed communications business, and the remainder was for other uses.


Broadband access revenue, including ADSL and Fiber to the x ("FTTx"), decreased by 9.2% year-over-year to NT$4.7 billion, primarily due to the Company's voluntary broadband tariff reductions, as well as the mandated the National Communication Committee ("NCC") tariff reduction.


As of the end of the first quarter 2012, FTTx subscribers had reached 2.5 million, accounting for 55.8% of total broadband users. The company is continuing to push for FTTx migration from ADSL.


HiNet broadband subscribers totaled 3.7 million at the end of March 2012, a year-over-year rise of 3.2%.
Mobile.


As of the end of March 2012, Chunghwa had 10.1 million mobile subscribers, an increase of 3.1% compared to 9.8 million a year ago.


As of the end of March 2012, Chunghwa had 1.8 million mobile internet subscribers compared to 1.5 million subscribers as of the end of 2011, demonstrating the strong growth momentum that the Company has achieved. As a result, Chunghwa enhanced its target number for mobile internet subscriber to 2.35 million by the end of 2012.


Chunghwa's Multimedia-on-demand (IPTV) service now has 1.1 million subscribers. MOD ARPU also increased significantly to NT$145 in the first quarter, representing a growth of 15.7% compared to the same period of 2011. http://www.cht.com.tw