Boingo Extends Roaming to Gogo's Inflight Service

Boingo Wireless announced a roaming partnership with Gogo, which provides inflight connectivity. The deal means that Boingo customers can now log in to Gogo using their existing Boingo account. This access includes more than 1,100 planes from nine carriers, providing robust Internet access above 10,000 feet.


"The Boingo Roaming Network now extends six miles above the Earth thanks to the expansive fleet of Gogo equipped airplanes," said Luis Serrano, senior vice president of business and corporate development for Boingo Wireless. "Gogo's inflight network is a key addition to our roaming portfolio, especially since inflight access is one of the most requested service enhancements we receive through our customer feedback channels."http://www.boingo.com

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FCC Releases 15th Annual Wireless Competition Report

The total service revenue generated by the mobile wireless industry reached approximately $154.7 billion in 2009, according to the FCC's newly released Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market Conditions With Respect to Mobile Wireless.

The report provides a look at competition across the entire mobile wireless ecosystem, including an analysis of the "upstream" and "downstream" market segments, such as spectrum, infrastructure, devices, and applications. It makes no formal finding as to whether there is, or is not, effective competition in the industry. Data is presented through the end of 2009.


Some key findings:

• At the end of 2009, there were 274.3 million subscribers to mobile telephone, or voice, service, up nearly five percent from 261.3 million at the end of 2008.



• At the end of 2009, there were 55.8 million subscribers to mobile Internet access services at speeds exceeding 200 kbps in at least one direction – which is more than double the number at the end of 2008.



• Two measures of pricing for wireless services – the Cellular Consumer Price Index (CPI) and unit price (revenue per user per month divided by average unit consumption per month) – show that the price level remained generally flat during 2009. After declining every year since 1997, the annual Cellular CPI was unchanged during 2009, while the overall CPI decreased by 0.4 percent. In addition, average voice revenue per minute (RPM), rounded to the nearest cent, remained at $0.05 for the third straight year.



• The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), which is calculated by summing the squared market shares of all
  firms in any given market, is a commonly used measure of industry concentration. In the mobile wireless services industry, the weighted average of HHIs (weighted by population across the 172 Economic Areas in the United States) was 2811 at the end of 2009, compared to 2842 at the end of 2008.



• Most of the spectrum below 1 GHz suitable for the provision of mobile broadband is held by the two largest mobile wireless service providers. Verizon Wireless and AT&T together hold approximately 90 percent of Cellular spectrum based on megahertz-POPs (MHz-POPs),18 which was the first band to be licensed for commercial mobile services and has the most extensive network buildout. Verizon Wireless holds 45 percent of the MHz-POPs of Cellular and 700 MHz spectrum combined, while AT&T holds approximately 33 percent. In the Broadband PCS (PCS) and Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum between 1 GHz and 2.5 GHz, no licensee holds more than 23 percent of the MHz-POPs, with TMobile holding the most. In the 2.5 GHz band (which include the Broadband Radio Service (BRS) and Educational Broadband Service (EBS)), Clearwire holds the majority of the spectrum.

In his remarks on the report, FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps noted darkening clouds over the state
of mobile competition. In his words, "It also appears that consumers are no longer enjoying falling prices, according to the CPI for cellular services. We know there is a looming spectrum crunch and a growing need for backhaul. There is no doubt that the mobile market is an American success story, and there are many ways to measure industry health. But it would be foolish and decidedly not in the public interest to ignore the facts
this Report reveals. If we want Americans to continue to enjoy innovation, affordability and improved mobile coverage, we must heed these facts and continue to examine areas where the Commission can act to encourage mobile competition."


The full 300 page report is online.
http://www.fcc.gov

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Nirvanix Hires Former Head of Google Worldwide Data Center Infrastructure

Nirvanix announced the appointment of Paul Froutan as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), effective immediately. Froutan most recently served at Google as Head of Global Data Center Infrastructure, responsible for designing, building and managing the extremely high levels of reliability and efficiency present in Google's worldwide green data center operations. Prior to Google, Froutan was Vice President of Product Development at Rackspace Hosting, where he led the team that pioneered the launch of Rackspace Cloud and other key managed services.


Nirvanix provides enterprise-class cloud storage services. The company offers cloud storage solutions designed specifically for customers with expectations of extreme security, reliability and redundancy levels. http://www.nirvanix.com

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ABRY Partners to Acquire Masergy

ABRY Partners, a private equity firm that has completed over $27 billion of leveraged transactions to date, will acquire Masergy Communications for an undisclosed sum. Masergy provides managed, secure virtualized network services to enterprises worldwide. The company leverages advanced transport technologies to deliver global Ethernet services across a native MPLS network.
http://www.masergy.com

• Masergy, which is based in Plano, Texas is headed by Royce Holland, who previously was CEO of McLeodUSA, a competitive local exchange carrier that was sold to PAETEC in January 2008. Mr. Holland was also previously Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Allegiance Telecom Inc., from 1997 until its 2004 acquisition by XO Communications Inc. Prior to Allegiance, he served as President and Co-founder of MFS Communications.

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Sprint Launches 4G Enterprise Access to MPLS

Sprint introduced a fixed 4G Enterprise WAN access solution that provides speed, reliability and secure wireless connectivity to the Sprint Global MPLS network. The 4G service can enable businesses to replace or improve on traditional "wired" options with a solution that is cost-effective, fast and flexible to deploy without compromising bandwidth and network reliability, available within all Sprint 4G markets.


Using professionally installed business-class outdoor modems, Sprint 4G Enterprise WAN provides secure 4G and 3G wireless access as primary and secondary network connectivity, backed by a 99.95 percent availability service level agreement (SLA).


Sprint 4G is currently available in 71 markets across the country, including Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York City.
http://www.sprint.com/convergence

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Ixia to Acquire VeriWave for Wireless Testing

Ixia agreed to acquire VeriWave, a performance testing company for wireless LAN (WLAN) and Wi-Fi enabled smart devices, for an undisclosed sum.


VeriWave wireless test solutions validate Wi-Fi networks, smart devices, and applications by benchmarking and measuring speed, quality, interoperability, compliance, and other pivotal aspects of wireless performance.


Investors in VeriWave include US Venture Partners, Montlake Capital, TL Ventures, Woodside Fund and Alloy Ventures.
http://www.ixiacom.com
http://www.veriwave.com

• The VeriWave team is headed by Christopher DeMonico, Chief Executive Officer, who previously was Vice President of AT&T’s- Microelectronics Group and Vice President of Lucent Technologies- IC Group. In addition he was also a Vice President and Corporate Officer at PMC-Sierra. The VeriWave technical team is headed by
  Dr. Thomas Alexander, Chief Technology Officer, who most recently was the chief architect for Ethernet products for PMC-Sierra. He is active in communications standards being the editor for the IEEE 802.3ae 10G Ethernet standard, the Chief Editor, IEEE 802.17 and the technical editor, 802.11T.

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UNH-IOL Expands 40G/100G Test Capabilities

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) ha expanded the capabilities of its 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet testing services.



Members of the UNH-IOL's 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium now have devices available that are ready for testing, and the enhancements to the testing services will allow members to prepare their products for market in advance of widespread industry adoption.



"Like all new technologies, repeated multi-vendor testing is imperative to speeding the development of 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet devices, as well as driving industry acceptance of the technology," said Jeff Lapak, senior engineer for the UNH-IOL. "Our members are leading the market with these devices, and rely on the lab's experience in offering reliable interoperability testing results that can get working products to the market quickly."http://www.iol.unh.edu/services/testing/ethernet/

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Lulz Security Issues "Final" Statement after 50 Day Campaign

Lulz Security issued a "final statement" saying it is disbanding after 50 days of high-profile cyber attacks.


Lulz has claimed credit for, or be associated with, malicious intrusions, SQL injections, data breaches and DDoS attacks against Sony, PBS.org, Nintendo, Black & Berg Cybersecurity Consulting, Bethesda Game Studios, Minecraft, Finfisher, Infragard (associated with the FBI), U.K. National Health Service, CIA.gov website, Senate.gov website, U.K. Serious Oragnised Crime (SOSA), Brasil.gov.br, Petrobras, U.K. Census 2011, Arizona Department of Public Safety, TheSun.co.uk, AT&T, AOL, and possibly others as well. In a final act, Lulz released a massive data dump of stolen documents, user accounts & passwords and network maps from various multinational corporations and government agencies.


In its farewell statement, Lulz said it was motivated by "uninterrupted thrill of entertainment and anarchy." The group, which claims a crew of six, encouraged others to carry on its mideeds through Anonymous and other Antisec hacker groups.


Several analyst reports cited internal dissent amongst the Lulz crew as the likely cause of its disbanding. So far, only one arrest has been announced in connection with Lulz -- Ryan Cleary, a 19-year old in the U.K.http://lulzsecurity.com

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Orckit-Corrigent Extends its Packet Transport

Orckit-Corrigent has extended its Packet Transport Network (PTN) portfolio with the introduction of a new CM-401x PTN access product line. Three PTN access devices will be offered, all of which are based on 16G full duplex of non-blocking, switching capacity, packed in 1RU with broad mixture of Ethernet, PDH and SDH interfaces.


CM-401x products highlights:

• Highly scalable mixture of Ethernet, PDH and SDH interfaces


• Dual stack IP/MPLS and MPLS-TP


• PDH and SDH circuit emulation over packet


• Full support for MEF based Ethernet services


• Packet synchronization, including SyncE and 1588v2


• SDH/Ethernet/MPLS/MPLS-TP OAM


• Sub 50ms protection and restoration


• Hard Quality of Service (QoS)

"We have identified strong demand from our customers and prospects for a smooth migration from their existing legacy SDH networks to an end to end future proof, packet based infrastructure which supports the mix of emerging data services together with large scale of legacy SDH/PDH leased lines" said Mr. Sharon Mantin, Vice President, Marketing, at Orckit-Corrigent. "Adding the CM-401x product line to our PTN product portfolio, improves our end-to-end PTN offering from access to core edge enabling cost-effective, highly scalable and future proof solution for 2G/3G/4G Mobile Backhauling as well as Ethernet and legacy SDH/PDH business services."http://www.orckit.com

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Huawei Debuts Unified Network Management System

Huawei introduced its iManager U2100 network management system (NMS) for super-large-scale bearer networks. The U2100 assists operators with grooming their end-to-end trails and manages its network faults, while also acting as a data center to provide information for planning network-wide resources, services, software and hardware versions, and standby parts.


Huawei said its U2100 also uses scalable software architecture and a carrier-class hardware platform to manage operator networks on a number of different scales.
http://www.huawei.com

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Infonetics: SAN Equipment Sales up 10%

The combined SAN switch and adapter market totaled $755 million globally in 1Q11, up 0.8% from the previous quarter, and up 9.8% from the first quarter of 2010, according to a new report from Infonetics Research which tracks storage area network (SAN) switches and adapters.


"We see steady growth ahead for the overall SAN equipment market. The long shift to cloud computing will propel the SAN switch market to more than triple from 2010 to 2015, and we forecast the SAN adapter market to grow at a 20% compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015, spurred by demand for FCoE (Fiber Channel over Ethernet) converged network adapters," expects Michael Howard, co-founder and principal analyst for carrier and data center networks at Infonetics Research.


Other highlights include:

• SAN switch revenue grew 4% and adapters declined 8% in 1Q11 from 4Q10.



• While most vendors in the SAN switch and adapter space had a down 1Q11 and lost share, Cisco picked up 3 percentage points of market share.



• Meanwhile, perennial market leader Brocade's market share and revenue held steady.



• FCoE (Fiber Channel over Ethernet) switches represent 15% of the total SAN switch market, and are expected to be a strong growth driver moving forward.

http://www.infonetics.com

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Infonetics: Data Center Equipment Slows in 1Q11

In 1Q11, the worldwide data center network equipment market, which includes data center Ethernet switches, application delivery controllers (ADCs), and WAN optimization appliances, declined 7% from the previous quarter, but is up 2% year-over-year (1Q10 to 1Q11), according to Infonetics' First Quarter (1Q11) Data Center Network Equipment report.


"After massive growth (+50%) in 2010, the data center network equipment market is slowing significantly in 2011, as some of the 2010 drivers like pent-up demand disappear and new challenges arise, such as slowing public sector spending. This dynamic is already playing out, with sales down on a sequential basis in the first quarter and year-over-year increases moving down to single-digit percent territory. Purpose-built data center Ethernet switches continue to enjoy strong growth as buyers transition to these devices to better address performance requirements in their data centers," notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research.


Some other highlights:

• In 2010, the global data center equipment market grew to $8 billion, and Infonetics Research forecasts it to top $10 billion by 2015.



• Cisco continues to lead the data center Ethernet switching market by far, with over 80% market share.



• ADC market leader F5 increased quarterly revenue only slightly, but gained 4 points of market share as rivals Cisco and Citrix declined.



• The data center equipment markets in Asia Pacific (APAC) and Central and Latin America (CALA), posted strong year-over-year growth in 1Q11, driven by emerging economies.

http://www.infonetics.com

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AT&T Holds Dividend at $0.43 per Share

AT&T declared a quarterly dividend of $0.43 a share on the company's common shares. The dividend is payable on August 1, 2011, to stockholders of record at the close of business on July 8, 2011.
http://www.att.com

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Charter Buys Missouri Systems from US Cable

Charter Communications will acquire cable television systems from US Cable of Coastal Texas for an undisclosed sum. These systems serve approximately 16,000 customers in Missouri, including the communities of Hannibal, Mexico and Moberly.


Charter serves more than 5 million homes and businesses in 25 states.
http://www.charter.com

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FCC Implements Fraudulent Caller ID Spoofing Fines

Last week, the FCC adopted new protections against fraudulent and deceptive use of caller ID. Callers are still permitted to alter caller ID if their purpose is not fraudulent or harmful -- such as calling a domestic abuse hotline -- but fines may be imposed for malicious intent.


Under the FCC's new rules:

• Violators are subject to up to $10,000 for each violation, or three times that amount for each day of continuing violation, to a maximum of $1 million for any continuing violation.



• The FCC may assess fines against entities it does not traditionally regulate without first issuing a citation.



• The FCC can impose penalties more readily than it can under other provisions of the Communications Act/

http://www.fcc.gov

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Wi-Fi Alliance and Wireless Broadband Alliance Collaborate

The Wi-Fi Alliance and Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) agreed to harmonize their programs related to Wi-Fi hotspot ease of use and roaming. Specifically, the organizations will align WBA's inter-operator Wi-Fi roaming efforts and Wi-Fi Alliance's planned certification program for Wi-Fi equipment. The two organizations will coordinate on testing methodologies and models, and will share information about their respective specifications and technologies to ensure that the programs are aligned. Members from the groups will also collaborate on the brand identity for hotspots implementing the solutions, enabling end users to easily identify products and hotspots based on the advanced specifications.


"Working together to harmonize these two programs helps ensure that there will be a complete solution to evolve the user experience in Wi-Fi hotspots around the world," said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance. "The Wi-Fi Alliance's work to bring streamlined access and WPA2™ security to hotspot environments is well complemented by the work in WBA to enable seamless Wi-Fi roaming."


"With the number of hotspots growing worldwide, and the increasing importance of Wi-Fi to service providers' strategies, this is a crucial time for our organizations to work together," said Shrikant Shenwai, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance. "WBA's Next Generation Hotspot program aims to deliver a seamless Wi-Fi user experience across operators globally, and the cooperation with Wi-Fi Alliance will maximize the benefits of innovation for end users, manufacturers and service providers."http://www.wi-fi.org

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ICANN Upgrades Internet Domain Name System with gTLDs

ICANN approved a plan to increase the number of generic top-level domains (gTLDs), from the current 22, which include such familiar domains as .com, .org and .net. The move is expected to facilitate the global expansion of the Internet by allowing any language script, such as Cyrillic, Arabic and Chinese, as a top-level domain. The approval follows many years of public debate and planning on the topic. Applications are expected to be accepted beginning on January 12, 2012.


At its meeting in Singapore, ICANN also approved a new .NET registry agreement with VeriSign for another six years.http://

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Telstra Launches HD Voice Network

Telstra has activated HD voice capabilities across Australia, greatly enhancing voice quality and reducing disturbance from background noise. A handset with HD voice capabilities is required. There is no additional cost for HD voice connections.


Ericsson supplied software upgrades for Telstra's core and WCDMA radio access network based on an existing contract between the companies. In addition, the integration of Mobile SoftSwitch Solution (MSS) and WCDMA software was done without interruption to current services.


HD Voice uses Wideband Adaptive Multi-Rate coding (WB-AMR), which provides a wider dynamic range. Over twice the range of voice frequencies are transmitted allowing customers to hear the full range of a person's voice and makes it much clearer to distinguish between similar sounds like ‘S' and ‘F'.


Mike Wright, Director of Networks and Access Technologies, Telstra, said: "Telstra has launched many firsts on the Australian market, including HSPA+ and we are the first Australian operator to commence deployment of LTE, the 4th generation of mobile communications technology. So not only do Telstra mobile customers have access to the largest and fastest national mobile network, they also have access to the latest voice technology."


Johan Wibergh, head of Ericsson's Business Unit Networks, says: "We believe HD voice is an innovation for voice services similar to the shift from standard TV to HDTV. The marked difference in quality is a leap in voice services, and we're delighted that the strong partnership between Ericsson and Telstra has made it possible to create the largest HD voice network in the world. Many recently released handset models have HD voice capabilities built in, such as recent models from the Sony Ericsson Xperia family."


Ericsson noted that close to 70% of global mobile revenues are still linked to voice calls.
http://www.telstra.com
http://www.ericsson.com

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Skyworks Unveils Range Power Detectors for 3G/LTE

Skyworks Solutions introduced high dynamic range power detectors for smart phones and data cards.



Skyworks' RF detectors are compatible with various baseband architectures and accommodate multiple 3G and LTE band combinations. The devices have been designed to work with the SKY7770X and SKY7772X series of 3G and 4G power amplifiers to expand the compatibility of the integrated daisy chain coupler for the majority of basebands and transceivers.



Skyworks' SKY77002 is manufactured with Skyworks' gallium arsenide hetero junction bipolar transistor process. The detector circuit technology is optimally aligned for transceivers that require external detection for power control. Exceptional temperature and voltage compensation maintains accuracy over extreme operating conditions.http://www.skyworksinc.com

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Singapore's Nucleus Connect Studies 10G GPON with Huawei

Nucleus Connect, Singapore's Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network Operating Company (OpCo), has signed a memorandum of understanding with Huawei to study the use of 10G GPON across the Next Gen NBN.



10G GPON promises downlink speeds of up to 10 Gbps and uplink speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps, enabling emerging services like 3D TV and Ultra HD TV, while co-existing with the current GPON system.



As part of this MOU, Nucleus Connect and Huawei will collaborate to explore the possibilities to develop the Next Generation Passive Optical Network based on Open Access for Singapore's Next Gen NBN. Studies will be made on possible deployment scenarios like FTTC/B, Enterprise, and Mobile Backhaul for 3G & LTE, etc.



"We are pleased to further our relationship with Huawei by undertaking this joint study," said Chong Siew Loong, Vice President of Networks & Systems, Nucleus Connect. "This study - the world's first 10G GPON investigation based on an Open Access scenario - will set a global example, and we are happy to contribute as a leader in innovation and development in the next generation network arena."http://www.nucleusconnect.com

• In 2009, Huawei was awarded the contract to supply and build the end-to-end network solution for Nucleus Connect and its Open Access Network.

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