Kevin Kelly Named CEO of LGS Innovations

 Kevin Kelly was named Chief Executive Officer of LGS Innovations, replacing Lt. General Ronald W. Iverson (Ret. USAF) who is retiring from the company after serving as its first and only CEO since inception in 2007. Kelly most recently served as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Corporate Strategy.

LGS Innovations is an independent subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent. The company focuses on the most complex networking and communications challenges facing the U.S. Federal Government.
http://www.lgsinnovations.com

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T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless Sign Spectrum Agreement

 T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless announced a sale and exchange deal covering certain Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum licenses in 218 markets across the U.S.
Some of the spectrum T-Mobile is acquiring in this transaction include licenses that Verizon is purchasing from SpectrumCo, Cox and Leap, and the agreement is contingent on the closing of those transactions and is subject to regulatory approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice.

Verizon Wireless believes the deal would help it gain regulatory approval for its SpectrumCo transaction.

The deal would provide improve T-Mobile’s spectrum position in 15 of the top 25 markets in the U.S. by providing an opportunity for T-Mobile both to acquire additional AWS spectrum and to realign its existing spectrum holdings. -Mobile will gain spectrum covering 60 million people — notably in Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Detroit; Minneapolis; Seattle; Cleveland; Columbus, Ohio; Milwaukee; Charlotte, N.C.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Greensboro, N.C.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Rochester, N.Y. — in exchange for spectrum covering 22 million people and certain cash consideration. The agreement also includes exchanges in a number of markets in which the companies will swap licenses to create more contiguous blocks of spectrum and re-align spectrum in adjacent markets.

"This agreement will provide T-Mobile with critical AWS spectrum, enhancing both network capacity and performance and allowing us to meet the growing consumer demand for 4G mobile broadband,” T-Mobile CEO and President Philipp Humm said. “This is good for T-Mobile and good for consumers because it will enable T-Mobile to compete even more vigorously with other wireless carriers. We anticipate FCC approval later this summer, in time for us to incorporate this new spectrum into our network modernization and the rollout of LTE services next year."

http://www.tmobile.com

http://www.verizon.com

• In December 2011, Verizon Wireless announced a deal to acquire 122 Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo, a joint venture between Comcast Corporation, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks, for $3.6 billion. The transfer of licenses will require approval from the FCC and review from the Department of Justice.
•  
• The companies also announced several agreements to resell each others' services. The cable companies will have the option of selling Verizon Wireless' service on a wholesale basis. Furthermore, the companies will form an innovation technology joint venture to develop technology that better integrates wireline and wireless products and services.
•  
• "Spectrum is the raw material on which wireless networks are built, and buying the AWS spectrum now solidifies our network leadership into the future, and will enable us to bring even better 4G LTE products and services to our customers," stated Dan Mead, President and CEO of Verizon Wireless.

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SK telesys Picks Radisys Trillium TOTALeNodeB

SK telesys, a leading Korean telecom equipment manufacturer (TEM), has selected Radisys' Trillium TOTALeNodeB as the foundation of its small cell product portfolio for early LTE deployments in Korea.



Radisys noted that its TOTALeNodeB software solution has gained significant market share in Korea for LTE small cell deployments. Radisys' Trillium TOTALeNodeB provides TEMs with a complete, integrated LTE eNodeB that is verified across leading small cell system on a chip (SoC) platforms from Radisys' premier silicon partners. The software includes the necessary Radio Resource Management (RRM), Self-Organizing Network (SON) and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) functionality necessary for rapid deployment of small cells and is built on top of the deployment proven Trillium LTE protocol stack portfolio. http://www.radisys.com

Read More

RCS VoLTE Interoperability Event Coming in Sept/Oct

A RCS VoLTE interoperability event will take place from September 24th to October 12th, 2012 in two labs hosted by Telecom Slovenia Group in Sintesio, Kranj, Slovenia and by China Mobile in China Mobile Research Institute Laboratory in Beijing, China.



The goal of the interoperability event is not only to test UE usability and functionality, but also to add the testing of the critical network components together with roaming scenarios. This allows the participants to gain knowledge of real network deployments.



The MSF, ETSI and GSMA said that in response to industry interest, they will offer an additional sign-up window for the event. Applications are now being accepted up through July 30, 2012.



Event sponsors Verizon and Radysis are joined by Alepo, Broadsoft, Cisco, Exfo, GENBAND, JDSU, Tekelec and Ulticom in participating in testing the upcoming deployment scenarios and technologies in the RCS VoLTE Interoperability event. http://www.msforum.org/interoperability/RCSVoLTE.shtml

Read More

Procera Wins $1.4 Million Order from European MSO

Procera Networks announced a $1.4 million initial order from a European MSO for network-wide deployment of its PacketLogic Intelligent Policy Enforcement systems. These systems will support detailed subscriber-aware traffic analysis and reporting across the operator's subscriber base.



Procera said it was selected in a competitive selection process as a replacement for an existing solution. Its
real-time QoE monitoring and Report Studio Analytics provides detailed visibility into the growth of streaming, social media and VoIP traffic, enabling network operators to ensure that they are delivering a high QoE to their subscribers. http://www.proceranetworks.com

Read More

Ixia Debuts IxCatapult Test for LTE Small Cells

Ixia introduced a new test solution to validate LTE small cell systems, including LTE femto, pico, and microcells.


Major challenges include scalability, security, mobility, ease of deployment, and interoperability. These areas must be fully validated to prevent product and service delays, which can ultimately impact small cell market growth.

Ixia's new small cell validation, based on its IxCatapult product line, provides:

• Functional, negative, and performance testing of femto, pico, and micro home eNodeBs


• Wraparound testing of small cells by emulating user equipment (UE) and the wireless core network


• Testing of all protocol layers from the physical layer (PHY) to the upper layer signaling (NAS)


• Comprehensive media emulation


• LTE Advanced ready

http://www.ixia-com.com

Read More

Apple Wins Preliminary Injunction Against Samsung Tablet

A U.S. District Court in San Jose, California issued a preliminary injunction on sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets in the United States, according to Reuters. The decision is a significant victory for Apple. http://www.reuters.com

Read More

TI and AirHop Announce Advanced SON software for Small Cells

Texas Instruments and AirHop Communications are collaborating to integrate AirHop's eSON advanced self-organizing network (SON) software on TI's KeyStone-based small cell System-on-Chips (SoCs). This will enable small cell base stations that will facilitate operators' ability to deploy heterogeneous networks.



The companies said HetNet requires SON technology specifically designed for small cell networks to actively optimize system capacity and manage inter-cell interference.



TI's scalable KeyStone architecture includes support for both TMS320C66x digital signal processor (DSP) generation cores and multiple cache coherent quad ARM Cortex-A15 clusters, for a mixture of up to 32 DSP and RISC cores. In addition, TI's KeyStone architecture includes fully offloaded, flexible packet and security coprocessors and capacity expansion for SoC structural elements such as TeraNet, Multicore Navigator and Multicore Shared Memory Controller (MSMC).



AirHop's eSON software delivers multi-cell coordination and optimization that can be deployed in fully distributed, centralized or hybrid architectures and, for maximum flexibility, can be located anywhere in the core network cloud and on a variety of network edge devices. TI's KeyStone multicore SoC architecture enables more efficient measurements from the lower level PHY stack, required by the higher level SON algorithms, resulting in optimized SON solutions for customers.



AirHop's SON software support will be available for TI's KeyStone-based small cell solutions in the second half of 2012. http://www.ti.com/multicorehttp://www.airhopcomm.com

Read More

Wi-Fi Alliance Begins Passpoint Certifications

The Wi-Fi Alliance has begun certifying mobile devices and infrastructure equipment under its Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint program.



The Passpoint program aims to make it easy for users to connect with hotspots using WPA2 security. The Passpoint certification program is based on technology defined in the Wi-Fi Alliance Hotspot 2.0 Specification. The first batch of products has just been certified.




"Product manufacturers partnered with service providers to develop the Passpoint program in the Wi-Fi Alliance," said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. "Our organization has become a key collaboration forum driving Wi-Fi's evolution in support of service providers."http:// www.wi-fi.org/passpoint

Read More

AT&T Readies Enhanced Push To Talk

AT&T reports positive feedback from trial users of its forthcoming Enhanced Push to Talk (PTT) service. AT&T is now doubling the number of business PTT users who may participate in its free program. In addition, AT&T expects to offer a choice of up to five compatible smartphones, including multiple devices from Samsung, when Enhanced PTT is anticipated to be commercially available later this year.


CourierNet, an Atlanta-based courier company, is trialing AT&T Enhanced PTT with its team of more than 500 drivers and 75 dispatchers. A single CourierNet dispatcher often coordinates time-sensitive document and package deliveries with anywhere from 20 to 30 drivers at a time, so speed, prioritization and reliability are key when it comes to choosing the right technology for the job.
http://enhancedptt.com/ffa-forum/

Read More

Symmetricom Intros Small Cell Synchronization Solutions

Symmetricom introduced new embedded timing and synchronization solutions for residential and enterprise small cells.



Two versions are offered: the SCr (residential) and SCe (enterprise) SoftClocks, both of which support multiple timing protocols including IEEE 1588 (PTP), network time protocol (NTP) and softGPS. Both have been integrated and proven with leading processors, system software, and oscillators from prominent vendors such as Broadcom, Mindspeed, Qualcomm Atheros, Node-H, and Rakon.



Symmetricom said synchronization of small cells along with macro base stations is crucial to maintaining seamless end-user experience. Its software based SoftClock offerings allow small cell designers to execute a single base design with options to integrate one or more synchronization protocols for deployment in varied network topologies. This means multiple types of backhaul and quality of service can be supported.

Read More

Maxim Focuses on it Analog Expertise on Cellular HetNet

Maxim Integrated Products announced plans to leverage its analog integration to enable the evolving heterogeneous network (HetNet) requirements for next-generation base-station equipment. The solutions include single-chip multiband radio transceivers, broadband gain blocks, direct RF synthesis DACs, and intelligent, digital, point-of-load controllers.



Products include:



MAX2550–MAX2553 single-chip small-cell radio transceivers improve residential coverage and network capacity.



MAX5879 direct RF synthesis DAC for multicarrier, multiband, and multistandard macro cell, small cell, and wireless backhaul transmitters; allows designers to develop a fully digital RF transmitter on a common hardware platform.



MAX2870 ultra-wideband 23.5MHz to 6000MHz synthesizer with integrated VCO enables multiband LO frequency synthesis in base-station radios.



MAX15301 InTune digital point-of-load controller with automatic compensation, integrated FET driver, and integrated PMBus telemetry delivers high-efficiency, intelligent, power-management nodes to radio and baseband units.



The MAX2612–MAX2616 broadband, 40MHz to 4000MHz gain blocks deliver exceptional gain flatness, noise figure, and linearity; ideal for general-purpose RF amplifier applications in base-station and wireless backhaul radios.
]http://www.maxim-ic.com/

Read More

U.S. Cellular Changes its Chief Strategy Leadership

United States Cellular, which serves about 5.8 million mobile customers, announced the departure of its chief strategy and brand officer, Alan D. Ferber, and the elimination of this position. The company created three new leadership positions to increase its focus on long-term strategy, marketing and brand communications and expanded distribution channels.



David Kimbell, currently vice president, marketing, will assume the new role of senior vice president, marketing and chief marketing officer and will report directly to Mary Dillon, the company's CEO. The new position of vice president, business strategy will report to Steven T. Campbell, executive vice president, finance, chief financial officer and treasurer. The new position of vice president, multi-channel strategy and operations will report to Carter S. Elenz, executive vice president, sales and customer service.



"The pace of change in the wireless industry continues to accelerate. These new leadership positions will provide role clarity, simplify decision making and will enable us to respond more quickly to changing industry dynamics," said Mary N. Dillon, president and CEO.
http://www.uscellular.com/

• In Q1 2012, U.S. Cellular reported a net loss of 34,000 retail customers, reflecting loss of 38,000 postpaid customers and gain of 4,000 prepaid customers. Postpaid customers comprised 94 percent of retail customers. The company had 7,875 cell sites in service, and LTE available in several markets. The company said: "Our top priority remains to improve our net customer additions. We’re encouraged by the increase in retail gross additions, which we attribute to improved marketing awareness, strong in-store execution and the launch of 4G LTE service in several of our markets. However, we experienced higher postpaid churn and therefore had a net loss of postpaid customers."

Read More

Hibernia Rebrands as Global Express Platform

Hibernia Atlantic has re-branded its Global Financial Network (GFN) as the Global Express Platform.



The Global Express Platform, which provides connectivity to 60+ global exchanges and low latency entry points in Europe and North America, serves the financial community, including global broker dealers, hedge funds, and capital markets.



Hibernia is also building "Project Express", a new cable promising the lowest latency connecting the greater New York City area with London. This transatlantic cable will be the first build of its kind in over ten years and will offer financial clients such as traders, global banks and exchanges, connectivity with sub 60 milliseconds latency between NY and London.



"Hibernia's Global Express Platform connects high frequency traders to global exchanges along the lowest latency, purpose built network," states Joe Hilt, Vice President of Sales North America for Hibernia Atlantic. "With direct access to international interconnection facilities, Hibernia provides global businesses the source for fast and secure financial connections."
http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com/

Read More

Alcatel-Lucent Proposes Build-Operate-Transfer for Small Cell Rollouts

Alcatel-Lucent is proposing to deploy small cell networks in railway stations, shopping malls and sports stadiums using a "Build, Operations Assist, and Transfer" (B-O-T) model for mobile network operators.



The new Metro Cell Express service combines Alcatel-Lucent's lightRadio metro portfolio, its small cell expertise, its backhaul solutions and its installation experience in dense cities like New York, Paris and Shanghai. These metro networks of small cells promise to ease network congestion problems in urban hotspots.



Alcatel-Lucent said the benefit to mobile network operators is that this model takes the pain and risk out of deploying large numbers of small radios in unfamiliar locations, such as lampposts. Alcatel-Lucent would assume the challenges of building networks in these tough urban environments. Operation of the metro network would be transferred to network providers only once the metro network has been installed, fully integrated, and shown to be delivering the technical performance required to ensure that customers are delighted with their wireless service.



Mike Schabel Vice President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Wireless lightRadio Metro said: “Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio Metro Cell Express solution uses our wealth of expertise to take the pain out of building metro networks for operators, and more importantly, to enable customers to enjoy the benefits of real mobile broadband anytime, anywhere with consistently high quality. Our solution will bring massive capacity to urban environments, but is also highly applicable for delivering coverage in rural locations as well. We see this as a real game changer for operators."
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Read More

FBI Undercover Operation Hits Cyber Carding Crimes

The FBI announced the arrest of 24 people in what is described as the largest coordinated international law enforcement action in history directed at “carding�? crimes — offenses in which the Internet is used to traffic in and exploit the stolen credit card, bank account, and other personal identification information.



The two year undercover operation led to the arrest of individuals in 13 countries: U.S.(11 arrests), United Kingdom (6 arrests), Bosnia (2), Bulgaria (1), Norway (1), and Germany (1), Italy (1) and Japan (1). Australia, Canada, Denmark, and Macedonia conducted interviews, executed search warrants, or took other coordinated action in connection with the takedown.
http://1.usa.gov/L06tXH

Read More

Telkom South Africa Upgrades Access Network with Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent has been selected for Telkom’s strategic "Network Transformation Initiative", whichincludes upgrading the existing access network with VDSL2 serving 4.4 million subscribers. Where commercially viable, the project will also include GPON FTTH. Alcatel-Lucent is providing Telkom SA with its Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) product family, which supports PON and DSL on the same platform.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Read More

BT Openreach Expands its Fibre Rollout

Openreach is extending its fibre rollout to a further 98 exchange areas as part of BT’s £2.5bn fibre initiative.
The deployment, which will be completed by late 2013, will add nearly 800,000 homes and businesses to Openreach’s previously announced fibre plans. In total, the company aims to serve around two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014.



Openreach is making fibre broadband available on an open wholesale basis using a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies. http://www.btplc.com

Read More

Quantance Claims Big LTE Handset Performance Gains with ET Chip

Quantance, a venture‐backed semiconductor startup based in Silicon Valley, has begun sampling its third‐generation chip to several major players in the LTE supply chain, including baseband/transceiver chipset providers and handset OEMs. Envelope tracking provides power amplifier efficiency and transmit power improvements. This enhances battery life, reduces heat and helps deliver maximum 4G/LTE wireless system performance.



Quantance claims its patented "qBoost" envelope tracking (ET) technology enables power amplifier (PA) efficiency to reach theoretical limits, and at the same time, dramatically increases PA transmit power. The Q845 chip supports ET operation up to 20MHz LTE, providing the response time equivalent of a 400MHz switcher for ET systems. The company said its Q845 chip is more than 100 times faster than any other mobile ET power supply solution available today.



Investors in Quantance include TD Fund, Granite Ventures, InterWest Partners and DoCoMo Capitalhttp://www.quantance.com

• Quantance was founded in 2006 by Vikas Vinayak and Serge Drogi, both of whom previously worked at Maxim Integrated Products.

Read More

SK telesys Picks Radisys Trillium TOTALeNodeB

SK telesys, a leading Korean telecom equipment manufacturer (TEM), has selected Radisys' Trillium TOTALeNodeB as the foundation of its small cell product portfolio for early LTE deployments in Korea.



Radisys noted that its TOTALeNodeB software solution has gained significant market share in Korea for LTE small cell deployments. Radisys' Trillium TOTALeNodeB provides TEMs with a complete, integrated LTE eNodeB that is verified across leading small cell system on a chip (SoC) platforms from Radisys' premier silicon partners. The software includes the necessary Radio Resource Management (RRM), Self-Organizing Network (SON) and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) functionality necessary for rapid deployment of small cells and is built on top of the deployment proven Trillium LTE protocol stack portfolio. http://www.radisys.com

Read More

RCS VoLTE Interoperability Event Coming in Sept/Oct

A RCS VoLTE interoperability event will take place from September 24th to October 12th, 2012 in two labs hosted by Telecom Slovenia Group in Sintesio, Kranj, Slovenia and by China Mobile in China Mobile Research Institute Laboratory in Beijing, China.



The goal of the interoperability event is not only to test UE usability and functionality, but also to add the testing of the critical network components together with roaming scenarios. This allows the participants to gain knowledge of real network deployments.



The MSF, ETSI and GSMA said that in response to industry interest, they will offer an additional sign-up window for the event. Applications are now being accepted up through July 30, 2012.



Event sponsors Verizon and Radysis are joined by Alepo, Broadsoft, Cisco, Exfo, GENBAND, JDSU, Tekelec and Ulticom in participating in testing the upcoming deployment scenarios and technologies in the RCS VoLTE Interoperability event. http://www.msforum.org/interoperability/RCSVoLTE.shtml

Read More

Procera Wins $1.4 Million Order from European MSO

Procera Networks announced a $1.4 million initial order from a European MSO for network-wide deployment of its PacketLogic Intelligent Policy Enforcement systems. These systems will support detailed subscriber-aware traffic analysis and reporting across the operator's subscriber base.



Procera said it was selected in a competitive selection process as a replacement for an existing solution. Its
real-time QoE monitoring and Report Studio Analytics provides detailed visibility into the growth of streaming, social media and VoIP traffic, enabling network operators to ensure that they are delivering a high QoE to their subscribers. http://www.proceranetworks.com

Read More

Ixia Debuts IxCatapult Test for LTE Small Cells

Ixia introduced a new test solution to validate LTE small cell systems, including LTE femto, pico, and microcells.


Major challenges include scalability, security, mobility, ease of deployment, and interoperability. These areas must be fully validated to prevent product and service delays, which can ultimately impact small cell market growth.

Ixia's new small cell validation, based on its IxCatapult product line, provides:

• Functional, negative, and performance testing of femto, pico, and micro home eNodeBs


• Wraparound testing of small cells by emulating user equipment (UE) and the wireless core network


• Testing of all protocol layers from the physical layer (PHY) to the upper layer signaling (NAS)


• Comprehensive media emulation


• LTE Advanced ready

http://www.ixia-com.com

Read More

Apple Wins Preliminary Injunction Against Samsung Tablet

A U.S. District Court in San Jose, California issued a preliminary injunction on sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets in the United States, according to Reuters. The decision is a significant victory for Apple. http://www.reuters.com

Read More

TI and AirHop Announce Advanced SON software for Small Cells

Texas Instruments and AirHop Communications are collaborating to integrate AirHop's eSON advanced self-organizing network (SON) software on TI's KeyStone-based small cell System-on-Chips (SoCs). This will enable small cell base stations that will facilitate operators' ability to deploy heterogeneous networks.

The companies said HetNet requires SON technology specifically designed for small cell networks to actively optimize system capacity and manage inter-cell interference.

TI's scalable KeyStone architecture includes support for both TMS320C66x digital signal processor (DSP) generation cores and multiple cache coherent quad ARM Cortex-A15 clusters, for a mixture of up to 32 DSP and RISC cores. In addition, TI's KeyStone architecture includes fully offloaded, flexible packet and security coprocessors and capacity expansion for SoC structural elements such as TeraNet, Multicore Navigator and Multicore Shared Memory Controller (MSMC).

AirHop's eSON software delivers multi-cell coordination and optimization that can be deployed in fully distributed, centralized or hybrid architectures and, for maximum flexibility, can be located anywhere in the core network cloud and on a variety of network edge devices. TI's KeyStone multicore SoC architecture enables more efficient measurements from the lower level PHY stack, required by the higher level SON algorithms, resulting in optimized SON solutions for customers.

AirHop's SON software support will be available for TI's KeyStone-based small cell solutions in the second half of 2012.
http://www.ti.com/multicore
http://www.airhopcomm.com

Read More

Wi-Fi Alliance Begins Passpoint Certifications

The Wi-Fi Alliance has begun certifying mobile devices and infrastructure equipment under its Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint program.



The Passpoint program aims to make it easy for users to connect with hotspots using WPA2 security. The Passpoint certification program is based on technology defined in the Wi-Fi Alliance Hotspot 2.0 Specification. The first batch of products has just been certified.


"Product manufacturers partnered with service providers to develop the Passpoint program in the Wi-Fi Alliance," said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. "Our organization has become a key collaboration forum driving Wi-Fi's evolution in support of service providers."
http:// www.wi-fi.org/passpoint

Read More

AT&T Readies Enhanced Push To Talk

AT&T reports positive feedback from trial users of its forthcoming Enhanced Push to Talk (PTT) service. AT&T is now doubling the number of business PTT users who may participate in its free program. In addition, AT&T expects to offer a choice of up to five compatible smartphones, including multiple devices from Samsung, when Enhanced PTT is anticipated to be commercially available later this year.



CourierNet, an Atlanta-based courier company, is trialing AT&T Enhanced PTT with its team of more than 500 drivers and 75 dispatchers. A single CourierNet dispatcher often coordinates time-sensitive document and package deliveries with anywhere from 20 to 30 drivers at a time, so speed, prioritization and reliability are key when it comes to choosing the right technology for the job.http://enhancedptt.com/ffa-forum/

Read More

Symmetricom Intros Small Cell Synchronization Solutions

Symmetricom introduced new embedded timing and synchronization solutions for residential and enterprise small cells.

Two versions are offered: the SCr (residential) and SCe (enterprise) SoftClocks, both of which support multiple timing protocols including IEEE 1588 (PTP), network time protocol (NTP) and softGPS. Both have been integrated and proven with leading processors, system software, and oscillators from prominent vendors such as Broadcom, Mindspeed, Qualcomm Atheros, Node-H, and Rakon.

Symmetricom said synchronization of small cells along with macro base stations is crucial to maintaining seamless end-user experience. Its software based SoftClock offerings allow small cell designers to execute a single base design with options to integrate one or more synchronization protocols for deployment in varied network topologies. This means multiple types of backhaul and quality of service can be supported.

Read More

Maxim Focuses on it Analog Expertise on Cellular HetNet

Maxim Integrated Products announced plans to leverage its analog integration to enable the evolving heterogeneous network (HetNet) requirements for next-generation base-station equipment. The solutions include single-chip multiband radio transceivers, broadband gain blocks, direct RF synthesis DACs, and intelligent, digital, point-of-load controllers.



Products include:



MAX2550–MAX2553 single-chip small-cell radio transceivers improve residential coverage and network capacity.



MAX5879 direct RF synthesis DAC for multicarrier, multiband, and multistandard macro cell, small cell, and wireless backhaul transmitters; allows designers to develop a fully digital RF transmitter on a common hardware platform.



MAX2870 ultra-wideband 23.5MHz to 6000MHz synthesizer with integrated VCO enables multiband LO frequency synthesis in base-station radios.



MAX15301 InTune digital point-of-load controller with automatic compensation, integrated FET driver, and integrated PMBus telemetry delivers high-efficiency, intelligent, power-management nodes to radio and baseband units.



The MAX2612–MAX2616 broadband, 40MHz to 4000MHz gain blocks deliver exceptional gain flatness, noise figure, and linearity; ideal for general-purpose RF amplifier applications in base-station and wireless backhaul radios.
]http://www.maxim-ic.com/

Read More

U.S. Cellular Changes its Chief Strategy Leadership

United States Cellular, which serves about 5.8 million mobile customers, announced the departure of its chief strategy and brand officer, Alan D. Ferber, and the elimination of this position. The company created three new leadership positions to increase its focus on long-term strategy, marketing and brand communications and expanded distribution channels.

David Kimbell, currently vice president, marketing, will assume the new role of senior vice president, marketing and chief marketing officer and will report directly to Mary Dillon, the company's CEO. The new position of vice president, business strategy will report to Steven T. Campbell, executive vice president, finance, chief financial officer and treasurer. The new position of vice president, multi-channel strategy and operations will report to Carter S. Elenz, executive vice president, sales and customer service.

"The pace of change in the wireless industry continues to accelerate. These new leadership positions will provide role clarity, simplify decision making and will enable us to respond more quickly to changing industry dynamics," said Mary N. Dillon, president and CEO.
http://www.uscellular.com/

• In Q1 2012, U.S. Cellular reported a net loss of 34,000 retail customers, reflecting loss of 38,000 postpaid customers and gain of 4,000 prepaid customers. Postpaid customers comprised 94 percent of retail customers. The company had 7,875 cell sites in service, and LTE available in several markets. The company said: "Our top priority remains to improve our net customer additions. We’re encouraged by the increase in retail gross additions, which we attribute to improved marketing awareness, strong in-store execution and the launch of 4G LTE service in several of our markets. However, we experienced higher postpaid churn and therefore had a net loss of postpaid customers."

Read More

Hibernia Rebrands as Global Express Platform

Hibernia Atlantic has re-branded its Global Financial Network (GFN) as the Global Express Platform.



The Global Express Platform, which provides connectivity to 60+ global exchanges and low latency entry points in Europe and North America, serves the financial community, including global broker dealers, hedge funds, and capital markets.



Hibernia is also building "Project Express", a new cable promising the lowest latency connecting the greater New York City area with London. This transatlantic cable will be the first build of its kind in over ten years and will offer financial clients such as traders, global banks and exchanges, connectivity with sub 60 milliseconds latency between NY and London.



"Hibernia's Global Express Platform connects high frequency traders to global exchanges along the lowest latency, purpose built network," states Joe Hilt, Vice President of Sales North America for Hibernia Atlantic. "With direct access to international interconnection facilities, Hibernia provides global businesses the source for fast and secure financial connections."
http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com/

Read More

Alcatel-Lucent Proposes Build-Operate-Transfer for Small Cell Rollouts

Alcatel-Lucent is proposing to deploy small cell networks in railway stations, shopping malls and sports stadiums using a "Build, Operations Assist, and Transfer" (B-O-T) model for mobile network operators.



The new Metro Cell Express service combines Alcatel-Lucent's lightRadio metro portfolio, its small cell expertise, its backhaul solutions and its installation experience in dense cities like New York, Paris and Shanghai. These metro networks of small cells promise to ease network congestion problems in urban hotspots.



Alcatel-Lucent said the benefit to mobile network operators is that this model takes the pain and risk out of deploying large numbers of small radios in unfamiliar locations, such as lampposts. Alcatel-Lucent would assume the challenges of building networks in these tough urban environments. Operation of the metro network would be transferred to network providers only once the metro network has been installed, fully integrated, and shown to be delivering the technical performance required to ensure that customers are delighted with their wireless service.



Mike Schabel Vice President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Wireless lightRadio Metro said: “Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio Metro Cell Express solution uses our wealth of expertise to take the pain out of building metro networks for operators, and more importantly, to enable customers to enjoy the benefits of real mobile broadband anytime, anywhere with consistently high quality. Our solution will bring massive capacity to urban environments, but is also highly applicable for delivering coverage in rural locations as well. We see this as a real game changer for operators.�?http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Read More

FBI Undercover Operation Hits Cyber Carding Crimes

The FBI announced the arrest of 24 people in what is described as the largest coordinated international law enforcement action in history directed at “carding�? crimes — offenses in which the Internet is used to traffic in and exploit the stolen credit card, bank account, and other personal identification information.



The two year undercover operation led to the arrest of individuals in 13 countries: U.S.(11 arrests), United Kingdom (6 arrests), Bosnia (2), Bulgaria (1), Norway (1), and Germany (1), Italy (1) and Japan (1). Australia, Canada, Denmark, and Macedonia conducted interviews, executed search warrants, or took other coordinated action in connection with the takedown.
http://1.usa.gov/L06tXH

Read More

Telkom South Africa Upgrades Access Network with Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent has been selected for Telkom’s strategic "Network Transformation Initiative", whichincludes upgrading the existing access network with VDSL2 serving 4.4 million subscribers. Where commercially viable, the project will also include GPON FTTH. Alcatel-Lucent is providing Telkom SA with its Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) product family, which supports PON and DSL on the same platform.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Read More

BT Openreach Expands its Fibre Rollout

Openreach is extending its fibre rollout to a further 98 exchange areas as part of BT’s £2.5bn fibre initiative.
The deployment, which will be completed by late 2013, will add nearly 800,000 homes and businesses to Openreach’s previously announced fibre plans. In total, the company aims to serve around two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014.



Openreach is making fibre broadband available on an open wholesale basis using a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies. http://www.btplc.com

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Quantance Claims Big LTE Handset Performance Gains with ET Chip

Quantance, a venture‐backed semiconductor startup based in Silicon Valley, has begun sampling its third‐generation chip to several major players in the LTE supply chain, including baseband/transceiver chipset providers and handset OEMs. Envelope tracking provides power amplifier efficiency and transmit power improvements. This enhances battery life, reduces heat and helps deliver maximum 4G/LTE wireless system performance.



Quantance claims its patented "qBoost" envelope tracking (ET) technology enables power amplifier (PA) efficiency to reach theoretical limits, and at the same time, dramatically increases PA transmit power. The Q845 chip supports ET operation up to 20MHz LTE, providing the response time equivalent of a 400MHz switcher for ET systems. The company said its Q845 chip is more than 100 times faster than any other mobile ET power supply solution available today.



Investors in Quantance include TD Fund, Granite Ventures, InterWest Partners and DoCoMo Capitalhttp://www.quantance.com

• Quantance was founded in 2006 by Vikas Vinayak and Serge Drogi, both of whom previously worked at Maxim Integrated Products.

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