Qualcomm Atheros Intros 802.11n for Low-Energy M2M Sensors

Qualcomm Atheros introduced a new 802.11n single-stream Wi-Fi system-in-package with integrated networking stack and aimed at machine-to-machine (M2M) communications in the smart home, building and appliances channels.


The AR4100P is an enhanced version of the FCC-certified AR4100 that includes an integrated IPv4/IPv6 TCP/IP stack. It is the latest product within the Qualcomm Atheros Internet of Everything portfolio. The new device is featured in Qualcomm Atheros' SP137 development kit, which is a reference design for low-power IP sensors. The development kit integrates Energy Micro's EFM32 Gecko low-energy Cortex-M3 microcontroller running the Micrium uC/OS-III operating system. With a well of additional onboard sensors, the energy friendly Wi-Fi kit supports deep sleep modes of only 2uA, enabling operation off just AA batteries.
http://www.qca.qualcomm.com

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China Telecom Sees Rapid Transformation

China Telecom is undergoing a rapid transformation into "an intelligent pipeline, a provider of integrated platforms, and a participant in content and application development" as it continues to benefit from rapid gains in mobile users (up 40% YoY to 126 million, including 36 million 3G subs) and surging numbers of wireline broadband subscribers (up 21% to 76.81 million). Operating revenues for 2011 reached RMB244.9 billion (US$38.7 billion), up by 11.7% over 2010. Profit for 2011 was RMB16.4 billion (US$2.6 billion), up by 10.5%. Traditional access lines in service were 170 million at year's end, down 3.1% for the year.


"In 2011, we firmly seized the valuable market opportunities arising from the rapidly proliferating mobile Internet applications and the increasing demand of industry informatisation to continue to deepen our strategic transformation. We pragmatically promoted the development of our Three New Roles -– a leader of intelligent pipeline, a provider of integrated platforms, and a participant in content and application development -- and proactively expanded into emerging areas such as mobile Internet," stated Mr. Wang Xiaochu, China Telecom's Chairman and CEO.


Some key metrics at China Telecom:


During 2011, China Telecom added 35.95 million mobile users and became the world’s largest CDMA operator.


China Telecom has now captured 13% of the nation's mobile market. For 3G, its market share is now 29%.


The company is currently experiencing robust sales of smartphones priced around RMB1,000. China Telecom will differentiate itself with an integrated platform that gathers popular Internet applications such as instant messaging, Weibo, group buying and Best Tone services.


Mobile service revenue reached RMB68.2 billion, up 43% over last year, and rising to 28% of total revenue.


In 2011, mobile data revenue was RMB29,620 million, an increase of 57.4% over last year.


Revenue from wireline broadband service was RMB 60.8 billion, an increase of 12.3% over last
year.


By the end of 2011, all cities in service areas basically had 8 Mbps bandwidth access capability, while 20 Mbps bandwidth coverage reached 70%.


In 2011, the net addition of wireline broadband subscribers was 13.33 million and the total number of wireline
broadband subscribers reached 76.81 million.


Wireline voice revenue was RMB49,764 million, its proportion of total revenue declining to 20.3%


OPEX as a percentage of revenue was 90.2% compared to 89.5% last year.


CAPEX for 2011 was RMB49.55 billion. Broadband & Internet investment accounted for 66.8% of total CAPEX, The CAPEX forecast for 2012 is RMB54 billion.
http://www.chinatelecom-h.com

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GSMA and the Wireless Broadband Alliance Target Simpler Wi-Fi Roaming

The GSMA and the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) are launching an initiative aimed at simplifying connectivity to Wi-Fi hotspots from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Specifically, the joint initiative is developing technical and commercial frameworks for Wi-Fi roaming. The goal is to allow mobile devices to seamlessly connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot using the SIM card for authentication, as well as enable mobile operators to uniquely and securely identify users whether they are on a mobile or Wi-Fi network.


Wi-Fi roaming will be based on the WBA’s Next Generation Hotspot program and the Wi-Fi Alliance’s "Passpoint certification" technology. It will also build on the GSMA’s roaming principles.


Agreement has already be reached on a common approach to authenticating mobile devices on Wi-Fi hotspots, automatically and securely. The initiative will now work towards aligning guidelines on security, billing, data offload, device implementation and network selection to create a consistent solution for GSMA and WBA members. This work will build on the GSMA’s GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) and the WBA’s Wireless Roaming Intermediary Exchange (WRIX) roaming models, which combined, will enable billions of consumers around the world to enjoy straightforward Internet connectivity.


"The proliferation of smartphones and tablets around the world, as well as consumers’ huge appetite for data means innovative solutions need to be explored to make using the Internet as convenient and as accessible as possible,�? said Dan Warren, Senior Director of Technology at the GSMA. "Through combining the proven capabilities of Mobile Broadband and Wi-Fi technologies, users will have the freedom to move between networks with ease."http://www.gsma.com http://www.wballiance.com

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Northrop Grumman Wins Cybersecurity Contract with U.S. Navy

Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract to provide cybersecurity professional, technical and analytical support to a variety of U.S. Navy Information Operations organizations. The five-year contract was awarded by the NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk to eight companies and is valued at $16.3 million for Northrop Grumman. The contract vehicle replaces a previous blanket purchase order, reducing costs, increasing access to innovation and improving cybersecurity mission effectiveness.


Under the contract, the Northrop Grumman team will provide full scope information operations support to Fleet Cyber Command, Naval Information Operations Command Norfolk, Navy Cyber Forces, and Fleet and Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command. Northrop Grumman will support the Navy's warfighting capabilities and all command missions, functions and tasks.
http://www.northropgrumman.com/cybersecurity

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Motorola Mobility to Resell EdgeCast CDN Solutions

Motorola Mobility announced plans to EdgeCast Networks' content delivery network (CDN) solutions to service providers worldwide. This new relationship combines Motorola’s leading portfolio of on-demand, network DVR and IP CPE solutions, driving the evolution of multiscreen TV and the smart, simple connected home, with a leader in the world of CDN development and deployment of intelligent global CDN networks.


EdgeCast’s CDN platform includes advanced network provisioning, monitoring and management capabilities.


"Motorola is driving the evolution of TV and the smart, simple connect home. Working with EdgeCast provides us the ability to offer our customers simple and fast access to a proven CDN environment that enables the delivery of IP video on-demand and nDVR cloud based services directly to the multi-device, multi screen enabled consumer,�? said Joe Cozzolino, senior vice president and general manager, Network Infrastructure Solutions, Motorola Mobility. “EdgeCast’s CDN solution will immediately enable service providers the ability to efficiently delivery multi-screen IP content, and if desired, an option to generate additional revenue by offering their CDN services directly to content providers."
http://mediacenter.motorola.com

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Broadcom Boosts DOCSIS Ethernet-over-Coax to 1 Gbps

Broadcom has increased the performance of its DOCSIS-based Ethernet over Coax (EoC) cable architecture to 1 Gbps. The enhanced capability supports China's NGB initiative, led by SARFT, the Chinese government agency overseeing broadcasting.


Broadcom said the gain was achieved by leveraging existing EPON and GPON standards and employing DOCSIS technology as part of a customized "final 100 meter" solution. DOCSIS-based EoC cable architecture is a complete chipset and software solution that includes Coax Media Converter (CMC), DOCSIS 2.0 and 3.0 cable modem, and set-top box (STB) SoC solutions.
http://www.broadcom.com

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ZTE Announces 3.5GHz TD-LTE Base Station

ZTE announced the commercial release of its 3.5GHz high-power TD-LTE distributed base station.


The base station has wide coverage and transmission power of 80W. In addition, its RF module supports a 4-port antenna, with each port capable of transmission power of 20W. The base station also has interference suppression and carrier aggregation features. This increases site coverage by more than 25 per cent, dramatically reducing operator network development costs.


To date, ZTE has signed three contracts related to deploying and upgrading 3.5GHz TD-LTE networks in Asia-Pacific and Africa.
http://www.zte.com.cn

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Saudi Telecom Company Upgrades with NSN

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to upgrade its nationwide GSM and 3G networks and expand its commercial TD-LTE network. Nokia Siemens Networks is now responsible for building one-third of STC’s nationwide 4G network. Financial terms were not disclosed.


As part of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is modernizing STC’s GSM and 3G networks to its award winning Single RAN (radio access network) platform based on the compact, energy-efficient Flexi Multiradio Base Station. The company is deploying its 4G radio network infrastructure across 2,500 STC sites over the next two years. Nokia Siemens Networks is also providing its FlexiPacket Microwave transport platform, which is a common transport medium for STC’s GSM, 3G and 4G networks with on-air speed of up to 400 Mbps.
http://www.nsn.com

• In January 2012, Alcatel-Lucent announced a contract to supply LTE solutions to STC.

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Broadcom + Broadlight Merger?

TheMarker, an Israeli news website, reported that Broadcom will acquire Broadlight in a deal that could be worth $230 million. Neither company has commented on the report.


Broadlight, which is based in Herzliya, Israel, is a leading supplier of GPON chipsets. It also offers a line of embedded multicore processors. Investors include Azure Capital Partners, Benchmark Capital, Delta Ventures, Israel Seed Partners, Motorola Ventures, Star Ventures and Cipio Partners.
http://www.broadcom.com
http://www.broadlight.com

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Video: Software-defined Networking, De-fragging the Data Center

This text will be replaced

Kyle Forster, Co-founder of Big Switch Networks, discusses the latest in Open Flow and Software-defined Networking.


00:15 -- Key drivers for SDN: the challenge of multi-tenancy and the new imperative to "de-frag" the data center

03:00 -- How strong is the business case?

04:23 - How does software-defined networking improve VMware deployments?

05:54 -- How open is open?

07:28 -- Any proof points in 2012?

08:23 -- How far along is Big Switch with product commercialization?
09:56 -- Is Big Switch aligned with any major vendors?http://www.bigswitch.com

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Ixia's Atul Bhatnagar Steps Down as CEO

Atul Bhatnagar, Ixia's President and CEO, will step down as of May 10, 2012 and will not stand for re-election to the company's Board of Directors. Ixia has appointed Victor Alston as its new CEO, following Mr. Bhatnagar’s departure from the company.


Alston joined Ixia in 2004 and has served as the company’s Senior Vice President, Product Development since June 2007.


"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank Atul for his leadership and service to the Company,�? said Errol Ginsberg, Chairman of the Board. “Atul deserves tremendous credit for his contributions to Ixia and the progress the Company has made under his leadership. I also deeply appreciate Atul’s commitment to make this a seamless transition."http://www.ixiacom.com

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AT&T to Donate $250 Million for High School Drop-Out Prevention

AT&T will donate $250 million over the next five years through an educational initiative aimed at promoting high school success and college/career readiness for students at-risk of dropping out.


Since 2008, the company has invested over $100 million in its AT&T Aspire program. Based on the success of the program in reversing the drop-out rate, AT&T is now launching the new quarter-billion-dollar campaign.


According to a March 19, 2012 report by Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center, America's Promise Alliance and the Alliance for Excellent Education, Georgia has seen a 6.7 percentage increase in 2009 graduation rates, compared with data from 2002.


"It will take all of us working together and supporting educators' hard work to continue to improve graduation rates and preparedness for careers and college," said Sylvia Russell, AT&T Georgia State President. "American business has an enormous stake in the success of our students. It's time to commit more innovation and resources to the task."


http://www.att.com
http://www.americaspromise.org

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NetZero Launches Low-Cost, No-Cost Mobile Broadband

NetZero Wireless, a subsidiary of United Online, began offering a 4G Mobile Broadband data service on the Clearwire network, with no-cost or low-cost pricing. An entry plan is $0 for 200MB of monthly data. The next tier is $9.95 per month for 500MB. Customers are not required to sign a contract. Modems cost $49 for a USB stick or $99 for a Wi-Fi mobile hotspot supporing up to 8 devices.


The NetZero service launches today in over 80 cities nationwide, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Miami.

NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband also lets customers switch the speed of their service. "LightSpeed" delivers download speeds of up to 1Mbps. "WarpSpeed" provides download speeds of up to 10Mbps. An alert lets customers know when they reach their monthly data limit, at which point, they have three options. Option One: If customers are on a pay plan, they can buy extra data "Top Ups" that they can use through the end of their current billing cycle. Option Two: Customers can upgrade to a higher capacity data plan. Option Three: Customers can wait until the next month to utilize the service with a fresh allotment of data according tohttp://www.netzero.com

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Verizon Aims to Reduce Carbon Intensity in Half by 2020

Verizon announced a new environmental sustainability target: the company aims to cut its CO2 intensity in half by 2020, as compared with its 2009 level.


Verizon defines carbon intensity as the amount of energy needed to move data across its network. The goal can be achieved by moving more data with same unit of energy, and cutting the absolute amount of energy used by the company.


"This is the era of big data," said Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam. "Our business continues to grow at a rapid pace, but we're committed to innovating our way to growing responsibly by becoming more energy efficient, even as our business expands."


One focus of Verizon's sustainability efforts has been its vehicle fleet. By the end of 2011, about 7% of the fleet was running on alternative fuel, including CNG. The company aims to have 15% of vehicles on alternative fuels by 2015.


Some other efforts highlighted by the company:


In 2011, Verizon cut approximately 4 million kilowatt hours of electricity, equivalent to 3.6 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, by retiring network equipment that was underused or housed in facilities that were closing in Europe and Asia.


An estimated 55 million kilowatt hours annually, or 38,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, were eliminated by installing intelligent energy management systems in 32 data centers in the U.S., thereby allowing 40 percent of air conditioners to be shut off.


Verizon collected more than 1 million no-longer-used wireless phones through its HopeLine phone recycling and reuse programhttp://www.verizon.com

• In April 2011, Verizon introduced a carbon intensity metric to quantify its energy efficiency in moving a terabyte of data across its global backbone. The new measurement, which was developed by Verizon's Sustainability Office and tested over the past 12 months, showed an improvement of approximately 15 percent in the company's carbon efficiency, from 2009 to 2010. Verizon is aiming for a further 15 percent improvement in 2011.
  <>
  
  The metric is derived by first combining Verizon's total carbon emissions (in metric tons) from the electricity, building fuels and vehicle fuels used to run the company's business. Then, that total is divided by the number of terabytes of data that the company transports across its network. (One terabyte equals about 300 feature-length movies.) Verizon transported 78.6 million terabytes across its global network in 2010 – an increase of about 16 percent, compared with 2009.

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UNH-IOL to Conduct IPv6 Home Gateway Tests

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) will conduct interoperability testing of IPv6 enable home gateways next month. The deadline for companies to register for the test event is April 9, 2012.
http://www.iol.unh.edu/services/testing/ipv6/grouptest/april_16_2012/

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Seagate Cites HDD Record - 1 Terabit per Square Inch

Seagate reported a new milestone for hard disk drive density -- 1 terabit (1 trillion bits) per square inch. The technology demonstration used heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). Current HDDs use Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), which was introduced in 2006 to replace longitudinal recording, a method in place since the advent of hard drives for computer storage in 1956, and is expected to reach its capacity limit near 1 terabit per square inch in the next few years.


Seagate said HAMMR technology could give rise to 3.5-inch hard drives with a capacity of up to 60 terabytes over the next 10 years.
http://www.seagate.com

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Emobile Launches LTE in Japan

eAccess Ltd. launched its "EMOBILE LTE" service, covering roughly 40% of Japan's population with access speeds of up to 75 Mbps downstream and 25 Mbps upstream. Kick off coverage is provided in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, with plans to expand the footprint progressively thereafter.

eAccess already provides HSPA+ at up to 42 Mbps covering 93% of the population.

eAccess is initially shipping several Pocket WiFi LTE routers for connections to tablets, laptops and smartphones.http://emobile.jp

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Big Switch Pitches Openness for OpenFlow

Big Switch Networks, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California, marked its two-year anniversary with a call for greater openness and interoperability for software-defined networking. The Big Switch "Open SDN" architecture will be defined by three pillars:


1. Open Standards: Support for networking industry standards, including newer ones like OpenFlow, ensure better integration and interoperability today and in the future between different players within the SDN ecosystem. It allows for smooth deployment of SDN solutions into existing physical and virtual networks and for multi-vendor environments without increasing complexity.


2. Open APIs: Open APIs foster the creation of a vibrant ecosystem of infrastructure, networks services and orchestration applications. Solutions delivered by this ecosystem can transform networks into a competitive business advantage by enabling dynamic coordination between networking, compute and storage resources and by providing a tighter alignment with business priorities.


3. Open Source: Successes such as Hadoop, MySQL and Linux demonstrate the importance of open source in every major software revolution that has taken place in the past decades. As networking becomes more software-oriented, open source provides complete transparency on the quality of its code while enabling customers to benefit from contributions made by the active open source SDN community and, more importantly, prevents vendor lock-in in the new network landscape.


"SDN has the promise to change the networking landscape, helping drive innovation and increasing business agility and operational efficiency of the network," said Joe Skorupa, VP Distinguished Analyst at Gartner. "However to reach its full potential, it must integrate with the existing ecosystem and standards."


"OpenFlow and SDN have been gaining significant momentum and, as customers adopt these technologies, it is critical they look for open standards, open APIs and open source to ensure the SDN solution they implement is future-proof," said Guido Appenzeller, Co-Founder and CEO of Big Switch Networks. "Big Switch Networks has been at the forefront of the OpenFlow standard creation, offered enterprise-grade open source SDN solutions to the community and continuously expanded its ecosystem of partners. Openness will be core to SDN success and, by relentlessly delivering it in our Open SDN™ architecture, we plan to stay ahead of the market."http://www.bigswitch.com

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Telekom Austria Picks Procera for Service Optimization

Telekom Austria Group has selected Procera Networks' PacketLogic hardware and software platform as a Services Optimization Solution. The frame contract covers product deployment and services to all Telekom Austria Group companies, including Austria (A1), Slovenia (Si.mobil), Croatia (Vipnet), the Republic of Serbia (Vip mobile) and the Republic of Macedonia (Vip operator), Bulgaria (Mobiltel), Belarus (velcom) and Liechtenstein (mobilkom liechtenstein).


James Brear, CEO of Procera Networks said "We are very pleased to be chosen as the provider of the services optimization solution at TAG and look forward to working with TAG group companies to provide innovative optimization techniques that will assist TAG to maintain and enhance the excellent service levels that they currently provide to their fixed and mobile customers."http://www.proceranetworks.com/

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Zayo to Acquire AboveNet for $2.2 Billion

Zayo agreed to acquire AboveNet for approximately $2.2 billion, or $84.00 per share in cash, representing a 13% premium over AboveNet’s previous closing price.


Zayo’s network assets already include over 45,000 fiber route miles, covering 42 states plus Washington D.C. Additionally, Zayo has approximately 5,200 buildings and 2,300 cell towers on-net, and over 94,000 square feet of billable colocation space.


AboveNet operates a private, optical network delivering metro access, long haul services, and IP transit (Tier I IP provider) in and among top U.S. and European markets. Its network spans 2.3 million fiber miles with 2,800 buildings on-net.


The deal adds to Zayo's streak of acquisitions, which have included: MarquisNet(Las Vegas data center), 360networks, American Fiber Systems, AGL Networks, FiberNet Telecom Group, NTI, Citynet Fiber Network, Memphis Networx, PPL Telcom, Indiana Fiber Works, Onvoy, VoicePipe, Columbia Fiber Solutions and 5 CenturyTel CLEC markets.


"AboveNet and Zayo’s business models are closely aligned with a disciplined focus on high bandwidth fiber-based communications services for enterprises, government and carrier customers,�? said Dan Caruso, President and CEO of Zayo Group. “We have admired AboveNet's business model and results and believe the combination will create value for customers, employees and investors."


As part of the transaction, GTCR, a leading Chicago-based private equity firm, will make an equity investment in Zayo. "We have been looking for opportunities to make investments in the bandwidth infrastructure space and believe the exceptional leadership and assets of the combined company creates an excellent opportunity for our firm," said Phil Canfield, Principal at GTCR. In addition to GTCR’s new investment, Charlesbank Capital Partners, a current Zayo investor, will make an additional investment in the company.


The definitive agreement contains a 30-day "go-shop" provision, whereby AboveNet has the right to solicit and enter into discussions with respect to alternative acquisition proposals.
http://www.zayo.com
http://www.above.netIn December 2011, Zayo completed its previously announced acquisition of 360networks. This deal added 360networks' 18,500 route miles of metro and intercity fiber to Zayo's network, interconnecting 73 markets across the central and western United States, including 24 existing Zayo fiber markets. In addition to its intercity network, 360networks operates metropolitan fiber networks across 25 markets. The acquisition also provides Zayo access to a number of new markets including Albuquerque, Bismarck, Des Moines, San Diego, San Francisco and Tucson.

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