ECI Telecom has appointed Darryl Edwards as its new President and Chief Executive Officer.
Most recently, Mr. Edwards was the Chairman of MACH, and telecommunications advisor to Warburg Pincus. Prior to MACH, Mr. Edwards was the Chief Executive Officer of AIRCOM International and previous to this, he spent 17 years at Nortel Networks, where he held several executive positions rising to the position of President of Global Sales where he was responsible for revenues in excess of $10 billion annually. http://www.ecitele.com
Citing softness in demand across multiple customer markets, Calix reported preliminary Q2 revenue of approximately $79 million, flat with the first quarter of 2012, below previous guidance for the second quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP earnings per share are expected to be 4 cents per share, up from 1 cent per share in the first quarter of 2012.
On May 1, 2012, the company provided guidance for the second quarter ending June 30, 2012 for revenue to range between $93 to $97 million and non-GAAP earnings per share to be between 7 to 11 cents per share.
Calix said it believes the softness is due to a slowdown in capital expenditures by service providers increasingly concerned about macro-economic conditions and uncertainties associated with the implementation of regulatory reforms. http://www.calix.com
DragonWave reported Q1 2013 revenue of $13.0 million for the quarter ending May 31, compared with $9.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012 and $11.0 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012. Revenue from customers within North America was $10.1 million, compared with $4.8 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012 and $8.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012. DragonWave had two customers who each contributed more than 10% of revenue in the first quarter.
Gross margin for the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 was 32%, compared with 13% in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012 and 42% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012. The gross margin in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012 reflects the inclusion of an inventory impairment provision of $1.7 million.
Net and comprehensive loss applicable to shareholders in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 was ($12.6) million or ($0.35) per basic and diluted share. This compares to a net and comprehensive loss applicable to shareholders of ($13.4) million or ($0.38) per basic and diluted share in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012 and ($9.9) million or ($0.28) per basic and diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012.
In addition, DragonWave said it expects revenue for the second quarter of fiscal year 2013 to be in the range of $35 million to $45 million.
“We recently completed a transformational event for DragonWave – the acquisition of Nokia Siemens Networks' microwave transport business,” said DragonWave President and CEO Peter Allen. "Nokia Siemens Networks continues to strengthen its position as a leading global supplier of complete solutions for broadband mobile networks. Industry-best packet microwave backhaul from DragonWave is a key component of Nokia Siemens Networks’ complete solution for broadband mobile networks. In turn, Nokia Siemens Networks gives DragonWave the leverage of its large direct sales channel and access to its customer base of tier one mobile operators throughout the world.” http://www.dragonwaveinc.com
ARINC and Lemko demonstrated a seamless video transmission carried over LTE via ARINC's RapydConnex mobile edge satellite broadband communications platform. The test achieved sustained data upload and download speeds of 2 Mbps.
The companies said their ability to deploy LTE systems using a satellite backbone enables important applications for mobile broadband in tactical communications for the military and public safety markets. Users are now able to establish stand-alone 4G LTE cellular networks that can be customized to meet unique situational requirements.
Lemko's distributed mobile wireless network (DiMoWiNe) has already efficiently connected hundreds of 2G and 3G GSM, CDMA, UMTS, and EVDO commercial and tactical networks via satellite.
AT&T released its Speech API featuring a suite of seven different speech recognition and transcription capabilities that "learn" different accents, speaker variations, background environments, platform variations, dialects and speech patterns. AT&T said its holds more than 600 patents in this area, and that the newly released API would open new possibilities for developers.
AT&T Speech API capabilities include:
Web Search – Search from within an app with the power of your voice. Web Search is trained to recognize several million mobile queries.
Business Search – Trained on tens of millions of local business entries, this context lets you transcribe your search query to let you find what’s in the area, from donuts to doctors.
Voicemail to Text – No need to scribble down a message, this context—trained on a massive set of data acquired from call centers, mobile applications and the web—turns your voicemail into sharable text.
SMS –Tuned to transcribe text, this context can deliver your spoken message as text through a messaging service of your choice.
Question and Answer – Trained on over 10 million questions, this context accurately transcribes your question and returns the correct answer.
TV – Searching for show titles, movies and actors? This context transcribes your spoken search queries to enable you to search the AT&T U-verse program guide.
Generic - Automatically recognizes and transcribes English and Spanish languages. This context can also be used for general dictation, communication and search.
ZTE is opening an innovation and training center in cooperation with the Universidad de Chile. The announcement was attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chilean President Sebastián Piñera. ZTE Chile will donate 4G equipments to the center and the Universidad de Chile’s Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences will provide human capital and laboratories. The university and ZTE will sign an MOU to expand the functions of innovation center to include training for ZTE engineers and Universidad de Chile students. http://www.zte.com.cn
Vitesse Semiconductor introduced an 11-port Gigabit Ethernet switch targeted at low power Industrial Ethernet and Enterprise applications.
The VSC7414 chip is optimized for power-sensitive enterprise router applications and dissipates only 1.6W – 75% lower than the competition, according to the company. It supports more than eight queues per port along with priority flow control (IEEE 802.1Qbb) mechanism for advanced Quality of Service (QoS). It also incorporates Vitesse's VeriTime IEEE1588v2 technology. The VSC7414’s support of the nanosecond-accurate synchronization in IEEE1588v2 network timing also makes it ideal for utility/smart grid and emerging Audio Video Bridging (AVB) applications where precision timing is required.
“Similar to Carrier networks, Enterprise networks are converging on Ethernet,” said Uday Mudoi, director of product marketing at Vitesse. “This raises the importance of IEEE1588v2 network timing as the data center becomes packet-based. Our customers focused on Industrial Ethernet and Enterprise networking can now leverage Vitesse’s highly accurate IEEE1588v2 VeriTime technology, already adopted by dozens of telecom customers for mobile backhaul applications.” http://www.vitesse.com
Viacom dropped its networks from DIRECTV at approximately midnight EDT as the companies failed to reach a carriage agreement. This includes popular channels such as Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 14 others.
"We have been very willing to get a deal done, but Viacom is pushing DIRECTV customers to pay more than a 30 percent increase, which equates to an extra $1 billion, despite the fact that the ratings for many of their main networks have plummeted and much of Viacom's programming can be seen for free online," said Derek Chang, DIRECTV executive vice president of Content, Strategy and Development. http://www.directv.com
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has selected Lockheed Martin as one of eight companies to offer worldwide analytic support across a variety of intelligence areas. The new indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, Solutions for Intelligence II (SIA II) from the Virginia Contracting Activity in support of DIA, has an estimated cost ceiling of $5.6 billion and a period of performance of two base years and three one-year options.
Through the contract's task orders, Lockheed Martin will provide worldwide analytic support across 29 specialized intelligence categories which are critical to satisfying DIA's mission requirements including: Computer Network Operations, Foreign Intel Activities, Foreign Space and Counterspace, Terrorism, WMD, Foreign Denial and Deception, and Illicit Drugs. http://www.lockheedmartin.com
Vitesse Semiconductor unveiled its "VeriTime" distributed timing technology for the highest accuracy in IEEE1588v2 timing for IP Edge networks. The VeriTime technology, which is already incorporated in nearly a dozen Vitesse products, including Carrier Ethernet Switch Engines and SynchroPHY portfolio of 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10GE and 10GE OTN PHYs, ensures a firmware upgrade path for meeting the more stringent timing requirements of LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).
IEEE1588v2 is widely expected to become the defacto packet synchronization standard for cell sites.
Vitesse's VeriTime eliminates the need for discrete timing FPGAs, processors, and software timing synchronization solutions in the cost-sensitive Edge and Access equipment. It supports both Boundary Clock (BC) and lower cost TC implementations of the IEEE1588v2 standard.
Vitesse recently reported network performance results to the ITU-T documenting VeriTime's < 3ns per hop accuracy over a nine-hop IEEE1588v2 Transparent Clock (TC) network, making it the industry's only solution that fulfills TD-LTE and LTE-Advanced requirements in real-world tests .
Vitesse also noted that VeriTime now includes components for implementing IEEE1588v2 timing over microwave links, overcoming latency variations due to weather and changes of modulation scheme.
"VeriTime represents Vitesse's fifth generation of IEEE1588v2 IP and is a significant architectural advancement towards providing GPS-grade timing over the network without sacrificing systems margin," said Martin Nuss, chief technology officer for Vitesse. "Based on our incumbency with dozens of telecom OEMs, VeriTime is quickly becoming the de facto solution in mobile networks." http://www.vitesse.com/VeriTime
BT Ireland will use Alcatel-Lucent’s 7750 Service Router and 5620 Service Aware Manager to underpin its recently launched IP Connect Ireland service as part of its extensive network infrastructure in Ireland.
BT Ireland already uses the Alcatel-Lucent platform to deliver Ethernet services. The same platform will now be used to deliver IP services for BT’s business customers. http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
Telefónica I+D has tested an automated multi-layer, packet/optical network using ADVA Optical Networking's FSP 3000 and Juniper Networks' MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers.
The trial, which was conducted in northern Germany as part of the IST project ONE funded by the European Union, tested the use of ROADM technology, RAYcontrol GMPLS control plane software and multi-layer configuration mechanisms to enable multi-layer restoration and automated DWDM service provisioning between IP/MPLS routers.
The trial enabled Telefonica to verify the significant potential for reduced operational and capital expenditures while driving new levels of speed and efficiency. According to Telefonica I+D analysis, multi-layer restoration led to over 37% reductions in capital expenditures in IP/DWDM networks. In addition, mean time to repair can be extended by a factor of 20 while keeping 99.999% availability, which translates to significant reductions in operating costs. However, the biggest impact was seen in the provisioning of new services.
Telefonica discovered that new services could be activated in less than 50 seconds. Previously this could take hours and was both costly and time intensive.
“The network is undergoing a huge transformation,” commented Christoph Glingener, CTO at ADVA Optical Networking. “This trial perfectly underlines the opportunities available to service providers to balance customer demand for bandwidth while at the same driving increased profitability and new business opportunities. Network automation is critical to this process and Telefonica has shown just how simple and effective unified multi-layer operations can be.”
Eurofiber has begun offering 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100 GbE) services across the Netherlands and Belgium using Infinera's DTN platform.
"About eight years ago, the first 10 GbE services entered the market,” said Bart Oskam, Managing Director of Eurofiber. “At that time, 10 Gb/s was a lot of bandwidth, even for Internet exchanges.
Today, given the pace in which the demand for bandwidth is increasing, the demand for 100 GbE connections will grow much faster. Rather than aggregating multiple 10 GbE links to increase capacity, it is often more efficient to simply deploy a single 100 GbE connection. The Infinera DTN enables these new 100 GbE services from our existing network.”
Eurofiber operates a fiber optic network that extends through the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The network spans across 13,000 kilometers with more than 5,400 connection sites and 590 industrial estates. Eurofiber offers managed dark fiber connections, Ethernet services and DWDM-based optical transmission.
Eurofiber first deployed the Infinera DTN platform in 2009.
Level 3 suffered a power failure at its data center in east London (Braham Street). The disruption lasted for nearly 5 hours and is reported to have taken dozens of companies with servers at the facility offline.
MikroTik, a developer of routing platforms based in Latvia, has selected Tilera’s 64-bit TILE-Gx processor to power its new flagship Cloud Core Router (CCR) family.
Tilera's highly integrated 64-bit TILE-Gx processor includes SGMII, PCIe, multiple integrated 10GbE interfaces, a high speed encryption engine, and several other modules.
The initial device in MikroTik's Cloud Core Router family, the CCR-1036-12G-4S, features 36-cores, 12 Gigabit Ethernet ports and four SFP fiber module ports. Future members of the family will support multiple 10Gbit SFP+ fiber ports and tens of gigabits of network throughput.
"The MikroTik Cloud Core Router family demonstrates how the TILE-Gx processor is being used by our customers to create differentiated solutions which leverage their unique IP,” said Devesh Garg, founder, president and CEO, Tilera. “We expect the disruption in the enterprise market to accelerate, and features such as video/voice processing, security and other application-aware services to become integral aspects of branch office and mid-range routers. Our unique value proposition of delivering the highest performance at the lowest power, ease of programming and high levels of integration makes us an ideal solution for this market," added Garg. http://www.tilera.com
Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has launched its "PowerON" cloud computing service from a state-of-the-art data center in Hong Kong. PowerON Compute is powered by VMWare. As with the PowerON Compute cloud services in Singapore and Australia, PowerON Compute Hong Kong is a hybrid enterprise-class cloud service which provides computing resources that can be accessed by either a public internet connection or through a private secured network.
The launch of PowerON Compute Hong Kong is part of SingTel’s initiative to roll out a federated cloud network linking Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong in the third quarter of 2012. With data centres in Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong, the federated cloud network will enlarge SingTel’s cloud footprint in Asia Pacific. This will offer customers a greater choice of locations from which to host their data so that they can be located closer to their regional operations.
Vodafone has agreed to acquire TelstraClear from Telstra Corporation for NZ$840 million (£430 million, US$664 million) in cash. The deal includes TelstraClear’s voice and data-based services, network infrastructure and New Zealand customer base.
Vodafone New Zealand is already the country’s largest mobile operator with more than 2.4 million customers. TelstraClear owns New Zealand’s second largest fixed infrastructure, which includes a 6,600km fibre backbone connecting 19 of the country’s largest cities. It also includes an extensive local access network with 2,000km of fibre and 4,500km of copper as well as a cable TV and broadband access network passing 150,000 homes in Wellington and Christchurch. Its customer base includes government and large corporations, small and medium enterprises as well as consumers.
Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group Chief Executive, said: “The proposed transaction offers significant benefits for New Zealand businesses, consumers and the country as a whole. TelstraClear’s infrastructure and capabilities are highly complementary to those of Vodafone New Zealand. The combined business will have the breadth and depth of resources and skills to meet our customers' long-term integrated communications needs."
Telstra Chief Executive Officer, David Thodey, says the deal is a natural one, bringing together TelstraClear’s fixed telecommunications and data products and corporate client base with Vodafone New Zealand’s substantial wireless offering and retail customer base.
