Deutsche Telekom to Offer Unlimited Spotify - Exclusive Deal

Deutsche Telekom announced an exclusive deal to offer unlimited Spotify music streaming in Germany as an add-on option for its mobile and broadband customers.

Beginning in October 2012, customers will be able to listen to more than 18 million music titles via their mobile phone, tablet and PC - both online offline. Music streamed from Spotify will not count against any data volume caps.

The Spotify app is available for desktop, tablet PCs and a range of mobile platforms including iPhone, Android, Windows Phone or BlackBerry. Spotify also has a handy Offline mode, which means that you can sync up to 3,333 tracks to up to three devices, for you to enjoy wherever you are, with or without internet access, such as on a plane, train or on the beach.

The exclusive cooperation agreement will be valid for at least one year.

Deutsche Telekom said the deal represents another important step for its partnering strategy.

"Music streaming is the business model of the future, and we are proud to be the first German telecommunications provider to offer our customers the pleasure of unlimited music as part of our tariffs. Spotify is an outstanding partner for this endeavor," says Niek Jan van Damme, Management Board Member of Deutsche Telekom for Germany.

http://www.telekom.com

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SingTel's ConnectPlus E-Line Service Rides Global ASON + MPLS-TP Backbone

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) launched its ConnectPlus suite of global connectivity services, linking key business hubs in Asia, Europe and USA at rates up to 10 Gbps.

SingTel’s ConnectPlus International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) and Ethernet Line (E-Line) services are delivered over SingTel’s meshed network of extensive submarine cable assets using Automatically Switching Optical Network (ASON) and the Multi-Protocol Label Switching – Transport Profile (MPLS-TP).

The intelligent optical network is able to detect faults swiftly and automatically switch data traffic to backup routes within 50 milliseconds.

SingTel noted that it is the first service provider in Asia Pacific to deploy MPLS - TP globally. This allows enterprises to increase their bandwidth by increments of 1Mbps, thereby offering them more cost-effective connections. Next year, SingTel will leverage this platform to deliver dedicated point-to-multipoint and electronic Bandwidth-On-Demand (eBOD) for E-Line services.

http://www.singtel.com

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Taiwan's Academia Sinica Deploys HPC Cluster with Extreme

Taiwan's Academia Sinica, an educational research institute, has selected Extreme Networks' scalable data center switches as part of a network upgrade to support the demands of its high performance computing (HPC) and cloud network.

At Academica Sinica, a team of physicists within the Academia Sinica Grids (ASG) research area are analyzing the particles created in collisions within the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator.   ASGC implemented more than 2,500 blade servers from Extreme Networks in its computer facility with 52 racks in 135m^2. With more than 5.4petabytes of storage capacity including disk and tape, it represents one of Taiwan's largest data centers.

ASGC is using Extreme Networks BlackDiamond 8900 series fabric switches, comprising a BlackDiamond 8810 chassis fully loaded with BlackDiamond 8900 module cards.

http://www.extremenetworks.com

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Kaspersky's Forensic Analysis Examines Destructive Wiper Virus

Kaspersky Lab released digital forensic analysis of  a destructive malware program, codenamed Wiper, which was discovered in Iran in May.

Although the malware code itself has note been identified, an analysis of the hard disks of machines destroyed by Wiper, including its unique data wiping pattern and destructive behavior, suggest that it may be related to Duqu and Stuxnet.  During an attack, Wiper destroys all traces of itself, wipes critical data from the disk, and corrupts the file system so thoroughly that the machine cannot be rebooted and no data can be recovered or restored.

Kaspersky Lab noted that no additional wiping incidents that followed the same pattern occurred, and no detections of the malware have appeared in Kaspersky Lab’s proactive protection.

Shamoon, another destrcutive malware which appeared in August 2012, is not believed to be related.  Further analysis is posted.

http://usa.kaspersky.com/about-us/press-center/press-releases/kaspersky-lab-publishes-new-research-about-wiper-destructive-ma

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SAIC to Split in Two with One Focus on Cyber + Big Data

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced plans to split into two stand alone businesses:

• A technical services business focused on government technical services and enterprise IT businesses.  It will be one of the largest, pure-play government services companies.  The spin-off will make it independent of potential OCI restrictions caused by its current relationship with other SAIC business pursuits, specifically those involved in developing ISR solutions and products for the Department of Defense and Intelligence agencies.  Pro forma revenue for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2013 for the future technical services business is estimated at $4 billion.
  
• A solutions-focused business delivering science and technology solutions in three high-growth markets that reflect high priority, long-term global needs – national security, engineering and health. These markets are experiencing a convergence of the physical and digital worlds. They operate in complex, data rich environments.  This business will offer mission-critical systems that leverage SAIC's rapidly emerging technologies in cyber defense and big data analytics.  Separation from SAIC's services business will allow this business to have unimpeded access to significant new business opportunities in both Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) and Programs of Record (POR) in multiple Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4ISR) regimes.  Pro forma revenue for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2013 for the future solutions-focused business is estimated at $7 billion.

"In this next step of our strategic plan we configure ourselves for the future.  Our two new companies will be designed so that their businesses can be more differentiated and more competitive in their own space.  More importantly, that addressable space will expand for each as we eliminate the burden of organizational conflicts of interest (OCI)," said John Jumper, chairman and chief executive officer. "This affords both companies an excellent opportunity to combine optimized cost structures, unrestricted access to their respective markets, and the leveraging of decades of SAIC's scientific and engineering excellence to unleash the growth and value we can deliver to our customers, employees and shareholders."

http://www.saic.com/

• In 2010, SAIC acquired CloudShield Technologies, a supplier of carrier-grade cybersecurity and management solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.  CloudShield offers a CS-4000 next generation trusted network security platform for protecting critical carrier and enterprise infrastructure.  The CS-4000 deep packet inspection platform allows carriers and enterprise customers to integrate a variety of subscriber data privacy products. It also brings significant improvements to data rates and network security while reducing the total cost of ownership of the network architecture.
  
  The CS-4000's architecture combines the power of CloudShield's fourth-generation deep packet inspection (DPI) capabilities with the most advanced multi-core, general-purpose processing in a single converged platform for scalable, active network solutions. The system is hardened both at the operating system and with physical security countermeasures protecting the system itself. 

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Hibernia Atlantic Offers Amazon Web Services Direct Connect

Hibernia Atlantic is now supporting Amazon Web Services' Direct Connect, which enables customers to establish private connectivity utilizing Hibernia’s network between AWS and his/her network presence.

Hibernia said AWS Direct Connect can often reduce network costs, increase bandwidth throughput, and provide a more consistent network experience than Internet-based connectivity.

“We are proud to join the AWS Partner Network and to support its efforts to increase network connectivity options,” states Eric Gutshall, President of Wholesale for Hibernia Atlantic. “Through this program, Hibernia can offer its services to those customers accessing the AWS Cloud and provide further network connectivity options on-demand to meet growing requirements for customers’ public and private needs.”

Hibernia Atlantic operates a global network connecting North America, Europe and Asia with its own submarine and terrestrial network between the United States, Canada and Europe. Hibernia offers over 120 redundant network PoPs on over 24,000 kilometers of fiber. Hibernia provides secure and diverse dedicated Ethernet, DTM and optical- level services, including GigE, 10G and LanPhy wavelengths and traditional SONET/SDH services.

http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com

• AWS Direct Connect uses 802.1q VLANs. The dedicated connection can be partitioned into multiple virtual interfaces, enabling the same connection to access public resources such as objects stored in Amazon S3 using public IP address space, and private resources such as Amazon EC2 instances running within an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) using private IP space, while maintaining network separation between the public and private environments. Virtual interfaces can be reconfigured at any time.

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BT and Rostelecom Sign Interconnection Agreement

BT and Rostelecom, Russia’s national telecommunications operator, announced a new network interconnection agreement. The deal improves BT’s ability to serve its corporate customers across all regions of Russia with its BT Connect portfolio of intelligent network services.

BT already serves around 400 large organisations in Russia, including many of the world’s leading global multinational companies with operations in the country.

Rostelecom's national network consists of approximately 500,000 km of backbone infrastructure.

http://www.btplc.com

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Ciena Revenue at $474 Million - Weak Spending in Europe

Ciena reported revenue of $474.1 million for its  fiscal third quarter ended July 31, 2012, up 8.9% from the same period last year and down 0.7% from the preceding quarter.  Ciena's net loss for the fiscal third quarter 2012 was $(29.8) million, or $(0.30) per common share, which compares to a GAAP net loss of $(31.5) million, or $(0.33) per common share, for the fiscal third quarter 2011.

On a conference call, Ciena executives said macro economics continued to impact its customers, as the market in Europe deterioted while North America remained steady.  The company said major players are making next gen architecture decisions and that it is winning strategic projects, although rollouts are slow. 

The outlook for Q4 is for revenue in the range of $455 to $480 million, lower than predicted earlier in the year, due in part to weakness in Europe.  

“We continue to win in the market and take share as demonstrated by a solid operating performance in the third quarter,” said Gary Smith, president and CEO of Ciena. “We are experiencing the effects of ongoing macroeconomic challenges and slower than expected roll-outs of new design wins. However, our approach to the market is working, our OPn architecture vision is gaining traction with customers globally, and our view of the long-term opportunity is unchanged.”

Some other notes:

• Ciena ended the period with 4,463 employees.
• There were no 10% customers in the period
• Gross margin was 39.6%
• There were 13 new 100G customers in the quarter, bringing the total to 44.

http://www.ciena.com
http://investor.ciena.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=703457

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