AT&T Picks Alabama for All-IP Transition Trial

AT&T is proposing to select Carbon Hill, Alabama as one of two sites to test a complete transition to IP and subsequent decommissioning of its PSTN infrastructure.

The multi-year trial, which will be overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, would serve as a model for an eventual rollout of AT&T's Internet-based network nationally.

"We believe all consumers and businesses deserve the opportunity to be connected by the best network technology available," said Fred McCallum, President of AT&T Alabama. "This trial is going to help the entire country learn how to make that happen while assuring that consumers stay safe and connected. We look forward to strengthening America's communications future with our customers in Carbon Hill, and to preserving the values of universal service, competition, public safety, reliability and consumer protection."

http://www.att.com

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Axell Wireless Develops Interface for BaseStation-to-DAS

Axell Wireless launched an Active Point of Interface (APOI) system to manage the interface from base stations to the DAS system for optimum performance for both single and multiple operator deployments.

Currently, such interfaces are passive in nature and require manual on-site intervention to ensure optimum performance of the DAS system.

Axell said its new APOI ensures that BTS (base station) RF signals feeding the DAS are “managed” to pre-set criteria, thus minimising the need for regular on-site operational maintenance and ensuring optimum signal-to-noise ratio and thus data throughput within the system. The APOI is fully manageable remotely via a web server intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) and supports SNMP allowing alarms to be reported to a mobile operator’s NOC (network operations centre).

The APOI supports up to 8 frequency band modules in one compact 3U chassis. All major global cellular frequencies are supported as are all wireless technologies. Each band module supports two separate BTS connections (with internal combining if required) thus allowing up to 16 BTS connections per chassis. APOIs can be cascaded together to support larger BTS deployments. Additional band modules can be easily installed in the field allowing for easy expansion of the system.

“With in-building wireless deployments rapidly growing, both mobile operators and systems integrators need a simpler and cost-effective way of installing distributed antenna systems and managing the interface with connected base stations. Such systems have historically had to be tailored to each situation and are not easily expandable. Our new APOI now solves that problem and provides many features that aid both the rapid deployment and ongoing management of the DAS in-building system, thus bringing mobile operators significant cost savings in their in-building systems,” said Ian Brown, CEO, Axell Wireless.

http://www.axellwireless.com

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CenturyLink to Implement Ericsson's Next Gen OSS/BSS

CenturyLink has selected Ericsson's next-generation OSS/BSS solution to simplify its business processes.  Ericsson's Service Agility solution will support CenturyLink's next-generation products such as Global Ethernet, Internet, Virtual Private Network and Optical Wavelength services to its enterprise customers. As part of this effort, CenturyLink will implement an open Application Program Interface (API) structure, allowing quicker delivery of new products and features. Rollout will begin at the end of 2014 and continue through 2015. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"Ericsson's Service Agility will help support our goals to simplify our business and better serve our customers by enabling faster product delivery, enhancing service capabilities and providing back office support for the software-defined network and virtualized environment we are creating," said James Feger, CenturyLink Vice President of Network Strategy and Development. "We recognize the value of Ericsson's thought leadership and innovation and are excited that our collaboration on this new OSS/BSS solution will provide our customers with an enhanced service experience."

http://www.ericsson.com
http://www.centurylink.com

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MWC Demo: Qualcomm and Partners Show 300 Mbps Downloads

Qualcomm, Samsung, SK Telecom and KT held live demonstrations of LTE Advanced Category 6 connectivity with download speeds of up to 300Mbps on a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphone.

The demo was conducted using a specially modified Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 processor and Qualcomm Gobi™ 9x35 modem.

"We're excited to be working with Samsung across products and technologies to break new ground in enabling customers with the fastest mobile broadband connections worldwide," said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president of product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "From enabling the world's first LTE Advanced Category 6 demo in a leading commercial smartphone form factor, to driving LTE in high-volume smartphones, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. continues to lead the industry's transition to next-generation network mobile connectivity."

The demonstrated solution supports global carrier aggregation deployments up to 40 MHz for both LTE TDD and FDD, and is backwards compatible to support all other major cellular technologies, including WCDMA /MC-HSPA, CDMA 1x/EVDO Rev. B, GSM/EDGE and TD-SCDMA.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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GENBAND and NetNumber Partner on Service Enablement

GENBAND and NetNumber announced a partnership to integrate NetNumber's TITAN centralized Signaling, Routing and Database (SRD) services platform into GENBAND’s portfolio to offer advanced interconnect and IMS solutions.

This joint solution architecture will evolve core telecommunications networks to new levels of scalability, efficiency and profitability for service providers and
wholesale carriers around the globe.

The partnership between GENBAND and NetNumber builds on a joint deployment by BT, which is using the combined solutionin its Global IP Interconnect network for UK and global wholesale customers.

GENBAND’s interconnect solutions seamlessly interface with NetNumber’s TITAN centralized routing and protocol interworking solutions in both IMS and non-IMS networks to enable optimal route decisions and to apply policies to ensure route quality and profitability.

“Carriers face the dual challenge of transitioning from legacy technologies to next-generation IP networks, while dealing with an ever-increasing signaling load brought on by new devices and new services on the network,” said Brad Boston, NetNumber President and CEO. “NetNumber and GENBAND are working together to deliver a robust and flexible framework for interworking legacy and next-generation IP network services. The strategic integration of NetNumber’s TITAN platform with GENBAND’s broad range of SMART solutions will foster new levels of innovation for carriers to leverage.”


http://www.netnumber.com
http://www.genband.com

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Good to Acquire Boxtone for Mobile Service Management

Good Technology agreed to acquire BoxTone, a privately held supplier of mobile service management solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The BoxTone mobility management platform for enterprises will be integrated into Good's portfolio to deliver a comprehensive end-to-end secure mobility solution.

The comprehensive combined solution provides unmatched functionality:

• Secure email, contacts, calendar both on premise as well as in the cloud
• Secure browsing
• Secure instant messaging and presence,
• Secure Sharepoint, network file and cloud storage access
• Mobile device management
• Mobile application management and analytics
• Mobile content management
• Mobile service management including BlackBerry migration tools
• Custom secure app development tools: wrapping, SDK and hybrid support
• Broad coverage across Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Mobile, Samsung, BlackBerry Enterprise Server and Exchange ActiveSync

In addition, BoxTone has significant market presence in Japan through partnerships with leading carriers. Consistent with Good's continued expansion in other regions, Good sees strong opportunity for the integrated solutions to generate more value for customers in Japan and across global markets and multi-national corporations.

http://www.good.com

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MediaTek Positions 64-bit LTE SOC for "Super-mid Market"

MediaTek introduced a 64-bit LTE SOC MT6732 at Mobile World Congress 2014 consisting of a coherent 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cluster and Mali-T760 GPU.

Key specs for the Super-mid Smartphone market:

• 64-bit
• Quad-core, 1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A53 processor system
• Mali-T760 GPU with support for the Open GL ES 3.0 and Open CL 1.2 APIs and premium graphics for gaming and UI effects
• Low-power, 1080p, 30fps video playback supporting H.265 and legacy H.264 and 1080p, 30fps H.264 video recording
• Integrated 13MP camera image signal processor with support for unique features like PIP (Picture-in-Picture), VIV (Video in Video) and Video Face Beautifier
• MediaTek ClearMotion technology eliminates motion jitter and ensures smooth video playback at 60fps on mobile devices
• MediaTek MiraVision™ technology for DTV-grade picture quality
• Integrated Multi-mode 4G LTE Modem
• Rel. 9, Category 4 FDD and TDD LTE (150 Mb/s downlink, 50 Mb/s uplink)
• 3GPP Rel. 8, DC-HSPA+ (42 Mb/s downlink, 11 Mb/s uplink), TD-SCDMA and EDGE are supported for legacy 2G/3G networks
• Integrated Connectivity Solutions
• Supports dual-band Wi-Fi to effortlessly connect to a wide array of wireless routers and enable new applications like video sharing over Miracast
• Bluetooth 4.0, supporting low-power connection to fitness gadgets, wearables and other accessories such as Bluetooth headsets

"Following the launch of the world's first 4G LTE Octa-core smartphone SOC - MT6595 - earlier this month, we are quickly expanding our LTE offering across a range of performance points to meet the growing demand for smartphone devices across all markets. The MT6732 provides excellent performance and a very comprehensive feature set," added Jeffrey Ju, General Manager of the MediaTek Smartphone Business Unit.

http://www.mediatek.com

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Asia NFC Alliance Gets Underway

Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), HKT (Hong Kong), KDDI (Japan), and SK Planet (South Korea) haved formed an alliance seeking to extend existing NFC services beyond national borders to further accelerate the adoption of convenient and compatible NFC services worldwide. Mobile NFC services are already being offered independently in several countries.

“We hope that this alliance will be an open organization for the expansion of overseas cooperation services. We aim to actively promote collaboration with telecommunications carriers not only in Asia but in Europe and America, and create a world in which users in every country can avail themselves of NFC services,” stated Takashi Tanaka, President of KDDI.

www.global.kddi.com

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Swisscom Picks ALU for 1 Gbps FTTH

Swisscom has selected Alcatel-Lucent to bring ultra-broadband access speeds of up to 1 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) to one million households in metropolitan areas of Switzerland.

Specifically, Swisscom is using Alcatel-Lucent’s 7302 Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) using point-to-point gigabit Ethernet technology to offer fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) residential broadband services up to 1 Gbps – the fastest in Switzerland.

The deployment is part of Swisscom’s strategy to bring the benefits of ultra-broadband to 85 percent of the country’s households and businesses by 2020, using both optical fiber and existing copper infrastructure.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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