Lyatiss Targets Application-defined Networking

Lyatiss, a start-up based in Mountain View, California with R&D in Lyon, France, unveiled its CloudWeaver network intelligence tool for optimizing application performance in public clouds.

The Lyatiss CloudWeaver is an orchestration tool that gathers intelligence on cloud performance and network resources to help users optimize their application performance.  Lyatiss is currently launching a public beta for Amazon Web Services users.

Lyattis sees a growing need for understanding and controlling the rapidly growing pool of virtualized network resources. Application-defined networking (ADN) aims to accelerate and streamline movement of data throughout the entire virtual infrastructure of each application.  Unlike SDN, which focuses on controlling the forwarding of individual packets within the network infrastructure, ADN orchestrates application flows – or the actual sequences of information exchanged. Lyattis levergages APIs so that application delivery and performance across public and private cloud networks are optimized, without compromising application portability or security.

"As cloud applications incorporate rich services – video, gaming, real-time collaboration and big data – businesses deploying these mission-critical applications will run into a variety of issues, including unpredictable latencies and potentially disastrous cascading effects from bottlenecks, failures and cloud outages. In addition, they'll experience wasted capacity and spiraling costs resulting from overprovisioning," said Pascale Vicat-Blanc, CEO of Lyatiss. "Software defined networking (SDN) is not sufficient to address the predictability and performance issues encountered in current cloud applications, nor can it meet the need for infrastructure differentiation and software control. Instead, evolving to a complementary ADN solution, like CloudWeaver, will be required."

Some key features of Lyatiss CloudWeaver:

•  Map.  Users can see where their virtual resources are located and how they are organized, how devices are talking to each other, and where hot spots and bottlenecks are being built up.

•  Build. Users can locate resources by selecting a provider and a region, provision and configure network services, interconnect easily and orchestrate heterogeneous resources. As a result, users can optimize and accelerate their cloud sourcing and avoid over or under-provisioning, as well as misconfigurations.

•  Operate. Users can have a better understanding of end-to-end performance and follow up on activities in terms of throughput and latency, and set up alerts to signal failures and path capacity limitations.

•  Analyze. Users can determine if and where the cloud network is inadequately provisioned or congested, if resources are properly located and configured, if jobs are well placed, and identify which component is responsible for increased latency. CloudWeaver also can anticipate problems, such as bottlenecks or cascading effect of undetected failures.

•  Fix. Users can fix failures, as well as provisioning or configuration issues, in minutes and activate the appropriate remediation workflows in a single click.

•    Program. Users can automatically capture the cloud network code in an XML-based virtual infrastructure description language (VXDL) so they can reuse or modify it offline. CloudWeaver also enables users to intuitively define minimum and maximum performance standards, program and enforce action plans for when those standards are not met.

http://www.lyatiss.com

http://youtu.be/L1IyrV4Xy1E

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China Mobile Transmits 1st Live TV broadcast via TD-LTE

China Mobile transmitted a live video stream of the Xiamen International Marathon over its trial TD-LTE on January 5th to TV centers of China Central TV and Xiamen TV for live broadcasting. It was the first such live TV broadcast over TD-LTE.

Nokia Siemenes Networks, which is the sole supplier of China Mobile's TD-LTE in Xiamen, said the high-definition (HD) video were transmitted with zero bit rate errors throughout the entire event from cameras on the move. Despite exceptional traffic and load conditions, there was no degradation in network performance, no packet loss and no delay during the two and a half hour live transmission.stable uplink throughput of 5 Mbps was maintained.

For the TD-LTE network, Nokia Siemens Networks deployed its Single RAN Advanced platform, based on its high-capacity Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station, to China Mobile’s TD-LTE pre-commercial trial network in Xiamen. The company also provided its Liquid Core-based Evolved Packet Core (EPC) platform, including Flexi NS (Network Server) and Flexi NG (Network Gateway). In addition, the company provided its NetAct network management system, enabling consolidated monitoring, management and operation of China Mobile’s networks.

“This world-first is yet another proof point for us as a leader in driving the TD-LTE innovation, globalization and commercialization,” said Markus Borchert, president of Nokia Siemens Networks Greater China Region. “With our advanced TD-LTE technology, we ensured optimal network performance with ultra high-quality and reliability for China Mobile to support such a mega international event with very high data traffic.”

http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M2hIdVj8Vo

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OVH Interconnects its Cloud Data Centers with Infinera's 500G Super-Channels

OVH, the leading web hosting in Europe with more than 140,000 physical servers online, will deploy the Infinera DTN-X platform to interconnect its data centers via its pan-European network. The OVH pan-Eureopan network links data centers throughout 10 major European cities in seven countries.

Infinera said its platform was selected for its ability to provision large amounts of bandwidth very quickly.  The Infinera DTN-X enables long-haul 500 Gbps super-channels across the optical transmission network.  I also offers integrated OTN switching, enabling efficient utilization of long-haul capacity while at the same time enabling OVH to rapidly deploy large amounts of optical bandwidth for customer services.

http://www.infinera.com
http://www.ovh.co.uk

• OVH first selected Infinera’s Digital Optical Network in 2007, deploying the DTN platform for an international expansion across Europe. OVH is based in Roubaix, France.
• OVH is also expanding to Canada and the U.S., including a massive new facility on the outskirts of Montreal with a record capacity of 360,000 physical servers. The Montreal BHS data center is powered by a hydro-electric dam located just 300 meters from the building.
• OVH is known for building its own data centers and for building its own water-cooled servers. Key technology partners include Infinera, Cisco, Intel, vmWare, Kingston, Seagate, Level 3, T-Systems and tata.

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NETGEAR to Acquire Sierra Wireless' AirCard Business

NETGEAR agreed to acquire Sierra Wireless' AirCard business, including customer relationships, certain intellectual property, inventory and fixed assets, for approximately $138 million in cash. Sierra Wireless expects to net about $100 million from the asset sale, after related liabilities, taxes, expenses, and funds held in escrow.

Sierra Wireless' AirCard business supplies a range of data cards, dongles, and hotspots for 3G and 4G networks. The business has a 12 month trailing net revenue run rate of approximately $247 million through December 2012.  Approximately 160 Sierra Wireless employees located primarily in Carlsbad, California and Richmond, British Columbia are expected to be integrated into NETGEAR's service provider business under Michael Clegg, Senior Vice President and General Manager of NETGEAR's service provider business unit.

After the sale, Sierra Wireless’s retained business will include its AirPrime embedded modules for M2M and Mobile Computing, AirLink intelligent gateways and routers, and AirVantage M2M cloud product lines.

Patrick Lo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NETGEAR, commented, "We are excited to announce that we have entered into an agreement to acquire select assets of the Sierra Wireless AirCard business. We expect this acquisition will accelerate the mobile initiative of our service provider business unit to become a global leader in providing the latest in LTE data networking access devices. We believe that LTE network technology represents a huge market opportunity, especially in emerging markets and rural areas where high speed broadband Internet access is currently limited. This asset acquisition reinforces NETGEAR's commitment to develop innovative products for the next generation of Internet service providers"

“This transaction is the next step in our transformation into a company focused on enabling the ‘Internet of Things’ – a strategy we have been pursuing with great success since 2007,” said Jason Cohenour, President and CEO of Sierra Wireless. “We are the world leader in this dynamic market, with the industry’s broadest product lineup, solutions across the value chain and an extensive, blue-chip customer base. In addition to realizing a solid return for the AirCard business, this transaction will provide significant financial resources and capacity to accelerate our growth in M2M and connected device solutions.”

NETGEAR also updated its financial guidance for Q4 2012, saying it now expects net revenue of $305 million to $310 million and non-GAAP operating margin within the 11% to 11.5% range, both of which are within the previous guidance.

http://investor.netgear.com

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NEC Builds Submarine Cable in Taiwan

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom has selected NEC to construct the Taiwan Penghu Kinmen Matsu No.3 (TPKM3) Submarine Cable system, a high-bandwidth non-repeater optical submarine cable that will link Taoyan (North Taiwan) with Matsu and Tainan (South Taiwan) with Kinmen through Penghu.

The TPKM3 cable system will span 510 km.

http://www.nec.com/en/press/201301/global_20130128_01.html

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Gigamon Scales Data Center Traffic Visibility with 40Gb Blade

Gigamon is introducing a new high density 40Gb blade, the GigaPORT-Q08, for the GigaVUE H Series Chassis.

Gigamon's flagship GigaVUE H Series can handle up to 2.5 Tbps of monitored traffic, delivering it intelligently to the appropriate application, security, or performance management systems. The new GigaPORT-Q08 blade enables 40Gb scalability in dense data center network architectures, whether end-of-row (EoR) or top-of-rack (ToR) deployments.

Gigamon said its new GigaPORT-Q08 blade offers line rate performance and connectivity with eight 40Gb ports. This allows the new blade to quadruple the 40Gb connectivity density of the GigaVUE H Series while providing high-speed traffic ingress from SPAN ports, inter-node stacking and aggregation uplinks at up to 40Gb. The blade also supports direct-connection to monitoring, management and security tools.  It can also aggregate multiple links with a GigaVUE-TA1 traffic aggregation node, which consolidates multiple low utilization links into "gateway" ports. This aggregation takes place at the top of each rack and then sends the traffic through the 40Gb ports into the GigaPORT-Q08 blade in a GigaVUE H Series Node at the end of the row, resulting in a consolidated and efficient visibility architecture.

"As enterprises and data centers respond to the ever-increasing volume of network traffic and the need to effectively and efficiently manage their environment, they look to Gigamon for a scalable, pervasive, and intelligent monitoring infrastructure.  The new 40Gb solution delivers the next wave in higher density deployments, while also enabling pervasive traffic visibility for monitoring, management and security tools for both physical and virtual networks," said Huy Nguyen, Sr. Director of Product Management at Gigamon.

http://www.gigamon.com/traffic-visibility-fabric

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Altera Supplies 28nm FPGA to Power JDSU's Optical Network Test

Altera has supplied its 28nm Stratix V GT FPGA to JDSU for volume production of the company's next-generation Optical Network Tester (ONT) solutions.  JDSU's ONT-600 platform is a multifunctional and multiport solution for testing OTN environments. The interchangeable Stratix V GT FPGA-based plug-in modules within the ONT-600 family provide customers flexibility by enabling a single platform to support multiple technologies, including Ethernet, OTN, jitter/wander, SDH/SONET, VCat, GFP, Fibre Channel and 40G/100G CFP.

Altera's Stratix V GT FPGA integrates 28.05 Gbps transceivers monolithically.  The FPGA supports backplane, optical module and chip-to-chip applications through four 28.05 Gbps transceivers and 32 full-duplex, 14.1 Gbps transceivers.

http://www.altera.com

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ITU Approves High Efficiency Video Coding -- H.265

The ITU-T’s Study Group 16 has agreed first-stage approval (consent) of H.265 or ISO/IEC 23008-2, also known as ‘High Efficiency Video Coding’ (HEVC).  The new video codec uses about half the bit rate of its predecessor, ITU-T H.264 / MPEG-4 Part 10 and is suitable for use in a range of applications, from mobile devices to Ultra-High Definition TV.

The specification was developed by the ITU Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The new standard is designed to take account of advancing screen resolutions and is expected to be phased in as high-end products and services outgrow the limits of current network and display technology.

Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary-General, ITU: “ITU-T H.264 underpinned rapid progression and expansion of the video ecosystem, with many adopting it to replace their own proprietary compression codecs. The industry continues to look to ITU and its partners as the global benchmark for video compression, and I have no doubt that this new standard will be as effective as its predecessor in enabling the next wave of innovation in this fast-paced industry.”

Companies including ATEME, Broadcom, Cyberlink, Ericsson, Fraunhofer HHI, Mitsubishi, NHK, NTT DOCOMO and Qualcomm have already showcased implementations of HEVC. The new standard  includes a ‘Main’ profile that supports 8-bit 4:2:0 video, a ‘Main 10’ profile with 10-bit support, and a ‘Main Still Picture’ profile for still image coding that employs the same coding tools as a video ‘intra’ picture.

http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2013/01.aspx#.UQcDub9rqSo

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Broadcom Advances its Switching Silicon for SMBs

Broadcom introduced the latest version of its StrataConnect Series of switch system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for small-to-medium business (SMB) networks, combining Layer 2 and Layer 3 (L2/L3) switching, 16 GbE physical layer transceivers (PHYs), 10 GbE and high-performance central processing unit (CPU) onto a single piece of silicon.

Broadcom said its latest StrataConnect silicon is designed for SMBs adopting cloud services and application requiring high-bandwidth and stringent security.

The new StrataConnect Series includes advanced features for tighter security and application-based prioritization. The integrated CPU can scale processing power as necessary and includes added intelligence to enable cloud-based network management. In addition, advanced power management features deliver power savings that go beyond Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) to reduce energy costs.


Four versions of the StrataConnect Series of switch SoCs are now sampling with volume production slated for 1H 2013.

http://www.broadcom.com

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Crehan Research: Five-Fold Increase in Server Networking Bandwidth by 2017

Server-class networking bandwidth will see a five-fold increase by 2017, exceeding 900 terabits in that year as data centers continue to increase network capacity to keep up with traffic demand, according to Crehan Research’s latest Server-class Adapter & LAN-on-Motherboard (LOM) Long-Range  Forecast Report.

The bandwidth increase is enabled by technology upgrades from 1 Gbps Ethernet (GbE) to 10Gbps Ethernet (10GbE), from 8Gbps Fibre Channel to 16Gbps Fibre Channel, and from QDR Infiniband to FDR Infiniband.

The transition to 10GbE is expected to account for more than 60 percent of the total bandwidth by 2014  – the year  in which  Crehan Research forecasts that 10GbE server-class adapter and LOM shipments should overtake GbE.  

"Even without a very high attach rate of 10GbE  LOMs  on volume enterprise rack servers due to the current high 10GbE Modular LOM end-customer price premiums, there is enough volume on alternative server platforms such as Cloud, Blade and High-end servers to drive the 10GbE transition within a couple of years,” said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research.   “Furthermore, with the default inclusion of a four-port GbE Modular LOM on many Romley-based volume enterprise servers, the native Ethernet networking bandwidth (and number of ports) on these servers has been doubled at no additional price to customers," Crehan added. As a result, the Crehan report shows GbE has continued to grow while 10GbE has grown much more rapidly, leading to very healthy combined Ethernet port growth.

http://www.crehanresearch.com/

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Dell'Oro: WDM Market to Hit $13 Billion in 2017

The total worldwide wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) market revenue is forecast to grow at a ten percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years, reaching $13 billion in 2017, according to a newly released Optical Transport forecast report by Dell'Oro Group.

"Forty and 100 Gigabit is really where the growth is going forward," said Jimmy Yu, Vice President of Optical Transport Market Research at Dell'Oro Group.  "Demand for 40 and 100 Gbps WDM wavelengths will drive the optical market's growth for the next five-years.  We are finding that the demand for 100 Gbps wavelengths is especially strong as service providers continue to expand their network capacity.  We currently predict 100 Gbps wavelength shipments to grow at a 75 percent CAGR over the next five years, and that by 2017 approximately 60 percent of the WDM capacity shipments will be with 100 Gbps wavelengths," added Yu.

http://www.DellOro.com

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NTT Looks to Network Virtualization for Faster Disaster Recovery

NTT, along with Osaka University and The University of Electro-Communications, are developing virtualized network control technology to provide rapid recovery from unexpected disaster or severe network congestion.

As cloud computing gains traction, it is increasingly the case that multiple network services share the same physical infrastructure. In order to ensure business continuity in the event of a widespread outage or sudden spike in traffic, network operators need the ability to rapidly and autonomously reconfigure routing and topology.

NTT and its university partners have developed a biologically-inspired "Yuragi" (fluctuations) algorithm for virtual network control.  The technology will be demonstrated in February at an event sponsored by Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT).

http://www.ntt.co.jp/news2013/1301e/130124a.html

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FCC Streamlines Mobile Infrastructure Rules

The FCC announced new actions as part of its Broadband Acceleration Initiative to remove barriers to broadband build-out, including streamlining the deployment of mobile broadband infrastructure, such as towers, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells.

The actions include the clarification of rules regarding local review of requests to modify an existing wireless tower or base station.  The FCC said this new provision will help to accelerate deployments and create greater certainty and predictability for network operators. The FCC is also clarifying rules regarding the placement of temporary cell towers – cells on wheels (COWs) and cells on light trucks (COLTs).  

In the coming months, the FCC will consider ways to further streamline DAS and
small cell deployment; examine whether current application of the tower siting shot clock offers sufficient clarity to industry and municipalities; and begin developing model facility siting rules for localities.

"Providing more certainty to industry and municipalities, and more flexibility to carriers to meet extraordinary, short-term service needs will accelerate private and public investment to strengthen our nation’s communications networks. Just as is the case for our nation’s roads and bridges, we must continue to invest in improvements to cell towers and transmission equipment, in order to ensure ubiquitous, high-speed Internet for all Americans. To keep pace with technological advances, such as the advent of small cells, and to lay the groundwork for new developments, our policies
must continue to adapt," stated FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

http://www.fcc.gov

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Verizon Wireless Sells 700 MHz AWS Spectrum to AT&T

Verizon Wireless announced deals to sell some of its remaining lower 700 MHz band spectrum licenses. in certain western markets.  The deals include:

• the sale of 39 lower 700 MHz B Block licenses to AT&T in exchange for a payment of $1.9 billion, and the transfer by AT&T to Verizon Wireless of AWS (10 MHz) licenses in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Fresno, Portland, Oregon and other smaller market.
  
• the sale of lower 700 MHz B Block licenses covering the Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham markets in North Carolina to Grain Management, a Sarasota, Florida-based private equity firm that invests in the telecommunications sector, in exchange for a payment of $189 million.
  
• Verizon Wireless will lease from Grain Management an AWS license covering Dallas, Texas, which Grain is acquiring from AT&T.

Previously, Verizon Wireless has sold or agreed to sell 35 of its 77 lower B block licenses to 10 different entities, including transactions that were initiated prior to the sale process. The company also noted that its LTE in Rural America program has signed leases covering the upper 700 MHz C block spectrum with 20 rural operators to jumpstart the delivery of 4G LTE in rural areas.

http://news.verizonwireless.com/news/2013/01/verizon-wireless-spectrum-license-transactions.html

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Tekelec Supplies Policy Server for KT's LTE and 3G Nets

KT has selected Tekelec's Policy Server (PCRF) for its LTE and 3G networks.

Tekelec's Policy Server will support KT’s new Voice over LTE (VoLTE) offering, LTE data plans and Rich Communication Suite (RCS) service.  It will also be used for daily and monthly quota tracking for a variety of services, including voice, Internet usage, file transfer, instant messaging, and video telephony. The daily tracking will give KT new flexibility to offer per diem packages and service options across 3G, LTE and RCS services.

"KT’s new LTE services enrich the subscriber experience and give customers new advanced options for communications services and mobile data applications,” said Houck Reed, vice president of product management and marketing at Tekelec. "As the brain of LTE and 3G networks, Tekelec’s Policy Server will enable KT to take advantage of new business models that extend policy enforcement to the mobile device and offer policy as a service to over-the-top application providers.”

http://www.tekelec.com

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Anite Validates TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA Inter-RAT Tests

Anite has validated the first GCF (Global Certification Forum) TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA Inter-RAT (Inter-Radio Access Technology) test cases.

The company now supports all of the GCF LTE protocol test requirements for TD-LTE mobile operators.

Anite said its TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA Inter-RAT conformance test cases enable chipset manufacturers and handset vendors to develop and certify dual-mode TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA devices, thus accelerating the launch of dual technology (TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA) handsets in China.

http://www.anite.com

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Ericsson Opens Design Center in Malaga, Spain

Ericsson inaugurated a  Network Design & Optimization center in Malaga, Spain.  The new facility will help operators ensure that their networks can handle the high level of data traffic brought on by the the smartphone uptake while maintaining service quality and end user experience.

http://www.ericsson.com

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Digicel Cuts Base Station Energy Usage 23% with eVolution

Digicel Jamaica has slashed energy consumption on its cellular base stations by using an automated software optimization solution from eVolution Networks.  The software deactivates base stations during low traffic demand. The companies estimates that Digicel is saving up to US$1.4 million annually in energy costs, realizing a 23% reduction in RAN energy costs.

eVolution is a start-up based in Israel. The company says its flagship product, Smart Energy Solution (SES), fits seamlessly into any multi-vendor/technology cellular network.able to significantly increase savings using SES.

“eVolution’s SES is the most mature and cost optimized energy saving platform on the market. It provides a valuable solution for cutting energy across our base stations and best positions us to capitalize on the shift to a fully green network,” said Stephen Curran, Network Design Director for Digicel Group.  “Having successfully completed the deployment of eVolution’s solution across most of our base stations, we are now ready to demonstrate the full capabilities and unique advantages of the solution across our 30 other markets across the globe.”

Digicel is the leading mobile telecom operator in the Caribbean, Central American and Pacific regions.

http://www.evolution-networks.com/digicel-deploys-ses/

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AT&T Sells 10.2 million Smartphones in Q4, 89% of Postpaid Sales

AT&T sold a record 10.2 million smartphones in Q4, bringing its postpaid smartphone customer base to 47.1 million and driving overall consolidated revenue for the company to $32.6 billion, up 0.2 percent versus reported results for the year-earlier period, and up 2.8 percent excluding Advertising Solutions and Superstorm Sandy impact. There was an operating loss of $6.0 billion, compared to a loss of $9.0 billion for the same period a year ago.

"We had an excellent 2012," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. "We grew revenues, increased adjusted earnings per share by 8.5 percent and generated cash from operations at record levels. We used this cash to invest aggressively in the future of our business and returned $23 billion to shareowners through dividends and share repurchases. Looking ahead, our key growth platforms — mobile data, U-verse and strategic business services — all have good momentum with a lot of headroom."

Some highlights for Q4:

Wireless 

• Wireless revenues, which include equipment sales, were up 5.7 percent year over year to $17.6 billion. Wireless service revenues increased 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter, to $14.9 billion.
  
• Wireless data revenues increased by 14.7 percent from the year-earlier quarter to $6.8 billion. Data revenue growth was slowed somewhat by the growth of Mobile Share plans.
  
• Net adds were 1.1 million, bringing the total base to 107.0 million. Subscriber additions for the quarter included postpaid net adds of 780,000, connected device net adds were 246,000, and reseller net adds were 234,000. Prepaid had a net loss of 166,000 subscribers primarily due to declines in GoPhone and session-based tablets.
  
• Postpaid subscriber ARPU increased 1.9 percent versus the year-earlier quarter to $64.98.
  
• Smartphones represent 89% of postpaid phone sales.
  
• At the end of the quarter, 69.6 percent, or 47.1 million, of AT&T's postpaid phone subscribers had smartphones, up from 58.5 percent, or 39.4 million, a year earlier.
  
• AT&T's ARPU for smartphones is twice that of non-smartphone subscribers.
  
• About 55 percent of AT&T's postpaid smartphone customers now use a 4G-capable device.
  
• AT&T activated a record 8.6 million iPhones, with 16 percent new to AT&T.
  
• Postpaid churn was 1.19 percent, down when compared to 1.21 percent in the year-ago fourth quarter. 

Wireline

• Wireline results were led by strong U-verse TV and high speed Internet gains and accelerating wireline consumer revenue growth.
  
• Wireline revenues were $14.9 billion, down 0.5 percent versus the year-earlier quarter but up 0.7 percent sequentially.
  
• Revenues from residential customers totaled $5.5 billion, an increase of 3.0 percent versus the fourth quarter a year ago and the strongest growth in more than four years.
  
• U-verse continues to transform wireline consumer. IP revenues now represent 61 percent of wireline consumer revenues, up from 53 percent in the year-earlier quarter and 45 percent two years ago.
  
• Total U-verse subscribers (TV and high speed Internet) reached 8.0 million in the fourth quarter. U-verse TV added 192,000 subscribers to reach 4.5 million in service.
  
• U-verse High Speed Internet delivered a fourth-quarter net gain of 609,000 subscribers to reach a total of 7.7 million, helping offset losses from DSL, and for the first time, the company has more consumer U-verse High Speed Internet subscribers than DSL subscribers.
  
• Overall, AT&T wireline broadband subscribers were flat; however, total broadband ARPU was up more than 10 percent year over year.
  
• Fifty-five percent of U-verse broadband subscribers have a plan delivering speeds up to 12 Mbps or higher — up from 46 percent in the year-ago quarter.
  
• About 90 percent of new U-verse TV customers also signed up for U-verse High Speed Internet in the fourth quarter. About 70 percent of AT&T U-verse TV subscribers take three or four services from AT&T. ARPU for U-verse triple-play customers was more than $170, up year over year. U-verse TV penetration of customer locations continues to grow and was at 18.7 percent at the end of the fourth quarter.
  
• Total business revenues were $9.1 billion, down 2.1 percent versus the year-earlier quarter and up 0.6 percent from the third quarter of 2012.
  
• Business service revenues declined 2.3 percent year over year and were up slightly sequentially. Business revenues were impacted by a slow economy and weak government and business spending. Overall, declines in legacy products were partially offset by continued growth in strategic business services.
  
• Revenues from strategic business services, the next-generation capabilities that lead AT&T's most advanced business solutions — including Ethernet, VPN, hosting, IP conferencing and application services — grew 10.6 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, continuing trends in this area. Total business IP data revenues grew 2.4 percent year over year, continuing the transition from legacy data products to next-generation data services.

http://www.att.com/gen/investor-relations?pid=262

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Belkin to Acquire Cisco's Linksys

Belkin agreed to acquire Cisco’s Home Networking Business Unit, including its products, technology, Linksys brand and employees. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Belkin, which is headquartered near Los Angeles, is a privately-held company with more than 1,200 employees in 21 countries. It offers a similar portfolio of networking products for consumers and small business.

After the transaction closes, Belkin estimates that it will account for approximately 30 percent of the U.S. retail home and small business networking market.

"Our two organizations share many core beliefs – we have similar beginnings and share a passion for meeting the real needs of our customers through the strengths of an entrepreneurial culture. Belkin’s ultimate goal is to be the global leader in the connected home and wireless networking space and this acquisition is an important step to realizing that vision," said Chet Pipkin, CEO of Belkin.

http://www.belkin.com/aboutus/
http://www.cisco.com

• In March 2003, Cisco Systems acquired The Linksys Group for approximately $500 million in Cisco common stock.
  
• Linksys was founded in 1988 in Taiwan and now has its headquarters in Irvine, California.

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