DOCOMO Extends Cloud Services

NTT DOCOMO is preparing to launch an array of new personal services for smartphone and tablet users under a new "docomo cloud" brand.

The cloud strategy, which the company highlighted in its financial report issued late last month, aims to transform the company into being a "trusted personal agent" of its customers rather than a dumb pipe. Since launching its "Shabette-Concier" voice command-based app for Android on March 1, DOCOMO has logged over 2 million downloads. Starting next month, Shabette-Concier voice command-based app will be enhanced to provide precise answers to inquiries on a wide range of topics.

In June, DOCOMO will launch, Mail-Hon’yaku-Concier, an app that automatically translates text messages, such as e-mails and social networking messages, between Japanese and English/Chinese/Korean. The service uses cloud-based mobile interpretation technologies that DOCOMO currently is developing.

In August, DOCOMO will begin providing users with 5GB of free cloud storage for photos and videos. The service recognizes facial features and scenes for automatic sorting and grouping. Photo Collection will link to external services like Evernote, Eye-Fi and HighlightCam.

Also in August, DOCOMO will enhance its dmarket portal for smartphone and tablet apps and content. Content purchased from DOCOMO’s VIDEO Store, MUSIC Store, BOOK Store or ANIME Store can be enjoyed for no extra charge on multiple devices registered to the same subscriber. http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/2012/001591.html 

Read More

Equinix to Acquire ancotel GmbH for Frankfurt Interconnect Facility

Equinix, agreed to acquire ancotel GmbH, a leading provider of carrier-neutral colocation and interconnection services in Europe.

ancotel operates a data center in Frankfurt with 2,100 square meters of capacity that serves more than 400 customers, including 200 new networks and 6,000 cross connects. ancotel’s assets also include edge nodes in Hong Kong, London and Miami. ancotel generated approximately $21.4 million in revenue in 2011, and has been growing at a greater than 20 percent CAGR for the past three years.

"The acquisition of ancotel significantly strengthens Equinix’s value proposition and capabilities both in Europe and globally," said Eric Schwartz, president, Equinix EMEA. "Both companies enjoy strong reputations in the market and serve the world’s leading companies. The agreement will also grow the total number of network customers available at Equinix from 700 to 900." http://www.equinix.com http://www.ancotel.com 

Read More

Amazon CloudFront CDN Tunes for Dynamic Content

Amazon CloudFront is now delivering dynamic content, providing Amazon Web Services customers a simple CDN solution with international reach.

Amazon CloudFront works seamlessly with dynamic applications running in Amazon EC2, without any custom coding or proprietary configurations, making the service simple to deploy and manage. Requests for dynamic, static and streaming content are all routed through Amazon CloudFront’s full worldwide network of edge locations.

Amazon CloudFront charges the same rates for both static and dynamic content.

Last October, Amazon noted that CloudFront had over 20,000 active customers which is double the number of customers from the same time last year. Currently, Amazon has 30 edge locations including Sao Paolo, Brazil (the first location in South America), Paris (launched in February 2011), and Stockholm (launched in June 2011). http://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront 

Read More

TeliaSonera IC Provides European Connectivity for Facebook

TeliaSonera International Carrier has been selected to build and operate a new pan-European managed optical network for Facebook. The multi-terabit optical network will provide Facebook with connectivity between Internet exchange points in multiple European cities and their newest data center on the edge of the Arctic Circle in Luleå, Sweden.

TeliaSonera International Carrier owns and operates more than 43,000 kilometres (~27,000 miles) of fiber network, which covers more than 200 points of presence in major cities in 35 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. http://www.teliasoneraic.com 

• Earlier this year, Rostelecom, Russia’s leading long distance operator, selected TeliaSonera International Carrier to operate and manage its new backbone network between Kingisepp, Russia and Stockholm, Sweden.

Read More

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Deploys Cisco Unified Data Center

Chunghwa Telecom has selected the Cisco Unified Data Center architecture to support its "hicloud" Cloud Server Service. The deployment comprises the Cisco Unified Computing System and Cisco Nexus switches. Chunghwa Telecom's "hicloud" will provide virtual server space, cloud data security and protection, applications for smart devices and program access platforms, and other cloud services. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.cisco.com 

Read More

Verizon Wireles Sees End to Unlimited iPhone Data, Start of Shared Data

Verizon Wireless is planning to phase out unlimited mobile data plans as customers upgrade to LTE devices, said Fran Shammo, Verizon Communications' EVP & CFO, speaking at the J.P. Morgan 40th Annual Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.

Some notes from his presentation:

• Verizon Wireless is looking to introduce data share plans this summer, allowing customers to share a bucket of GBs across multiple devices on the account 
•  LTE iPad sales are going quite nicely without a carrier subsidy. Smartphone penetration was at 47% at the end of Q1. 
• The company is confident that its spectrum deal with the cable operators will get regulatory clearance. VZ sees the enterprise space going more to the cloud and security-type services.

Read More

RADWIN Supplies Wireless for Israeli "Safe City" Video Surveillance

The Be'er Sheva Municipality in Israel has deployed RADWIN 2000 radios in a large-scale video surveillance project.

High-definition cameras are installed throughout the city in places such as traffic intersections and public parks. The RADWIN radios transfer high-resolution video from the megapixel PTZ cameras back to the municipality's control center.

Shimon Halfon, VP Projects, Bynet Systems Applications, said: "RADWIN 2000 systems backhaul video from as many as 8 cameras per site and transmit video over 5 Km with high capacity of 50 Mbps and zero latency. Systems operate in particularly challenging city conditions, including non-line-of-sight, high interference and extreme environmental forces such as strong winds, fog, dust, and harsh climate."

Read More

Equinix to Acquire ancotel GmbH for Frankfurt Interconnect Facility

Equinix, agreed to acquire ancotel GmbH, a leading provider of carrier-neutral colocation and interconnection services in Europe.

ancotel operates a data center in Frankfurt with 2,100 square meters of capacity that serves more than 400 customers, including 200 new networks and 6,000 cross connects. ancotel’s assets also include edge nodes in Hong Kong, London and Miami. ancotel generated approximately $21.4 million in revenue in 2011, and has been growing at a greater than 20 percent CAGR for the past three years.

"The acquisition of ancotel significantly strengthens Equinix’s value proposition and capabilities both in Europe and globally," said Eric Schwartz, president, Equinix EMEA. "Both companies enjoy strong reputations in the market and serve the world’s leading companies. The agreement will also grow the total number of network customers available at Equinix from 700 to 900."

Read More