Cisco to Acquire NeoPath for File Storage Mgt

Cisco Systems agreed to acquire NeoPath Networks, a start-up offering high performance and highly scalable file storage management solutions, for an undisclosed sum.



NeoPath developed a "SMART" virtualization technology that simplifies the management of network attached storage (NAS) and other file servers. The company was founded in 2002 and has 55 employees based primarily in Santa Clara, California.

http://www.cisco.cmhttp://www.neopathnetworks.com

• In May 2006, NeoPath Networks raised $11 million in a funding round that included participation by Cisco Systems, and previous investors August Capital, DCM-Doll Capital Management and Gabriel Venture Partners.

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OctWare Offers Echo-Cancellation for Asterisk IP PBXs

OctWare introduced its "SoftEcho", a new per channel upgrade option for Asterisk-based IP PBX systems. SoftEcho is a Line Echo Cancellation (LEC) application for Asterisk systems. The software is available as a download for enhancing Asterisk with sound quality.



OctWare said its transparent algorithm that works better than off-the-shelf echo cancellation solutions. The algorithm has been improved through years of testing in large-scale carrier deployments worldwide through Octasic, OctWare's parent company. That carrier grade quality, already obtainable with interface cards by Digium, Sangoma, and other vendors, that include Octasic's OCT6100 echo cancellation device, is now available in software form for small to midsized businesses using an Asterisk PBX.



SoftEcho's algorithm is auto-tuning meaning that no adjustments are necessary. SoftEcho learns its environment and quickly adapts to it. Its long, well-covered echo path tail ensures carrier proven quality on any calls in trunk side use. SoftEcho handles double-talk and background noise better than the generic echo cancellation solutions currently integrated into popular Asterisk PBX systems.



OctWare's SoftEcho for Asterisk based IP PBX includes performance and voice quality statistics. Downloads are available for $10 per channel through distributors worldwide.

http://www.octware.net

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OKI Develops 2.5 Gbps Laser at 15mW for GPON

Oki Electric Industry Co. announced its development of a 1490nm wavelength semiconductor laser that can transmit up to 2.5Gbps at an output level of 15mW, the industry's highest level over a temperature range of -40 to 85ºC. This semiconductor laser is suitable for use in outdoor FTTH GPON equipment. Samples will be available from mid May to the worldwide market.



OKI has already been providing 1490nm wavelength semiconductor lasers for GE-PON with 15mW of output and 1.25 Gbps for deployment in Japan and Korea.

http://www.oki.com

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Motorola Invests in AMIMON for Wireless HDTV Connections

Motorola Ventures has made an equity investment in AMIMON, Inc., a start-up developing silicon for wireless transmission of high-definition (HD) video. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.



AMIMON's wireless high-definition interface (WHDI) technology is designed for wireless transmission of uncompressed high-definition video streams in the 5GHz unlicensed band. WHDI enables applications such as wireless flat-panel TVs, wireless projectors, wireless HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) and wireless VGA repeaters (dongles).



AMIMON operates internationally out of offices in Herzlia, Israel, Santa Clara, California and Tokyo, Japan. Additional investors include the Cedar Fund, Walden Israel Venture Capital, Evergreen Partners, Stata venture Partners, and Argonaut Ventures.

http://www.amimon.com

http://www.motorola.com

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Verizon Offers FiOS Triple-play Bundle for $99

For the first time, Verizon is offering its FiOS triple-play package of services for $99.99 a month, the same price as the traditional voice, DSL and DIRECTV bundle. The offer is available to customer is Tampa Bay, Florida. The promotion includes the triple play bundle at $99.99 -- a $27.98 a month saving -- and a two-service offer of unlimited nationwide calling and FiOS Internet service at 5 Mbps download speed and 2 Mbps upload for $59.99 - a $24.99 a month saving. Both offers are good for 12 months.

http://www.verizon.com

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AT&T to Invest $750 Million in Global Network in 2007

AT&T will invest more than $750 million in 2007 to accelerate the delivery of global IP services and solutions to businesses and multinational companies in key markets worldwide. The spending, which is part of AT&T previously issued CAPEX guidance, will be targeted at more than 200 initiatives whose goal is to (1) enhance and expand AT&T's portfolio of retail and wholesale services and solutions and (2) extend the global network infrastructure and capabilities needed to deliver services and solutions to businesses and multinational companies in both emerging and developed markets worldwide.



With this investment AT&T will:

• Enhance its Virtual Private Network (VPN) services portfolio and its business VoIP services portfolio, voice, security services and electronic customer service capabilities. Examples include global applications management capabilities on VPNs, global enhanced remote monitoring and management capabilities for hosting customers, global expansion of network-based firewalls, deployment of in-country IP services, enhancements to global IP conferencing and contact centers, and global e-ordering, maintenance and network reporting capabilities.



• Increase Internet Data Center (IDC) capacity by expanding several existing sites (California, Virginia, Arizona and the U.K.), opening new data centers in the New Jersey/New York market in the U.S. and in Canada, and delivering new managed services within the hosting portfolio, incorporating the application software management expertise of recently acquired USinternetworking (USi). By the end of 2007 AT&T will have 38 IDCs deployed around the world, which would include the four centers from USi and BellSouth.



• Extend the deployment of key access technologies, such as Wi-Fi, DSL, Ethernet and satellite to help companies connect to AT&T's global IP network.



• Significantly extending its global IP network and capabilities to deliver more services to business customers in the United States and around the world. Focus markets in 2007 include the high growth economies of Asia Pacific (including China and India), the Middle East and Latin America; and the larger, more developed markets in Europe (France, Germany and the U.K.) and Canada. Last year, AT&T announced the formation of a joint venture in India, opened new offices in the Middle East (Dubai) and extended its network presence in Vietnam.

By year-end 2007, the AT&T global network will provide multi-national
companies with:

• MPLS-based access from 155 countries via more than 2,000 service nodes -- this will include the addition of new network nodes in Vietnam, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Morocco, and the addition of 3 new nodes in India.



• Satellite and long line extension access from 51 countries.



• 13 network interconnects in 22 key regions/countries



• DSL network access in 34 countries.



• Ethernet network access in 31 countries.



• Remote access will be available via cellular data access in 11 countries; Wired Ethernet access from more than 1,600 locations in 17 countries; WiFi access from more than 55,000 hotspots over 80 countries.

http://www.att.com

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BT Launches "Onevoice" Global VPN

BT launched a "Onevoice" enterprise service to help organizations move to IP telephony at a pace that suits BT Onevoice Global VPN is available globally and being launched with key international customers. Key features include:

• A converged VPN including features such as single pricing, one number scheme and single contract for traditional and new wave voice connecting sites in 54 countries



• Global reach through the ability to connect to over 240 fixed, mobile and satellite destinations around the world



• Simplified access to BT's audioconferencing service through BT Onevoice Conferencing

Onevoice Mobile Access, which gives mobile users the option to save costs by running International Direct Dial (IDD) and Roaming calls over BT's international voice network, will launch later in 2007.

http://www.btplc.com/

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QUALCOMM Raises Guidance for Q2 2007

QUALCOMM raised its financial guidance for the second fiscal quarter ending April 1, 2007. The company now expects pro forma revenues to be approximately $2.1 to $2.2 billion, and second quarter pro forma diluted earnings per share to be approximately $0.48 to $0.49, compared to $0.41 in the year ago quarter.



"We are expecting a particularly successful quarter, reflecting strong growth in chipsets, handsets, and applications and services, enabled by mobile broadband capabilities deployed around the world by both CDMA2000 and WCDMA operators. Demand for our high-end, mid-tier and low-tier CDMA2000 chipsets, as well as WCDMA chipsets has accelerated," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chief executive officer of QUALCOMM. "Reports from our licensees for December quarter handset shipments reflected greater than expected strength in Europe and North America. Despite this growth, we believe the CDMA inventory channel continues at a healthy level of less than 20 weeks."http://www.qualcomm.com

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JDSU Cites Sales of Triple-Play Field Test Instrument

JDSU has shipped more than 21,000 units of its HST-3000 triple-play test instruments. The HST-3000 is an all-in-one handheld tester for broadband access network service installation and maintenance. It provides basic turn-up and troubleshooting of VoIP deployment, supporting physical layer analysis through packet metrics, signaling analysis and voice quality determination. HST-3000 capabilities allow packet capture of live VoIP calls, including VoIP call storage and an integrated FTP capability to send captured VoIP calls to be analyzed by JDSU's PVA-1000 software. http://www.jdsu.com

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Towerstream Launches Fixed WiMAX Network in Miami

Towerstream has launched its wireless broadband solution in the Miami metropolitan area -- its eighth fixed WiMAX network in the U.S. Towerstream's first Miami PoP is the city's Four Seasons Hotel, Florida's tallest building.



Towerstream is offering a range of bandwidth options, including T1, T3, 100 and 1000 Mbps connections as well as service reliability backed by an Service Level Agreement (SLA) and a no-risk, money-back guarantee. http://www.towerstream.com/

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Philippine LD Company Selects UTStarcom

UTStarcom has supplied 150,000 lines of its mSwitch IP-based softswitch platform and iAN-8000 Multiservice Access Node (MSAN) as the foundation for a new, next-generation network for Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), the leading telecommunications provider in the Philippines. The deal represents UTStarcom's first contract in the Philippines. Financial terms were not disclosed.



The first phase of the deployment targets unserved and underserved areas, key business locations and areas that need a capacity upgrade in Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Bulacan and metro Manila.

http://www.utstar.com

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Swisscom Bids for Italy's Fastweb

Swisscom announced a bid to acquire Fastweb, Italy's second largest fixed-network operator and leading provider of IP-based services, for EUR 47 per share for a maximum total consideration of EUR 3.7 billion.



Fastweb is Italy's leading alternative broadband telecommunications provider with more than one million customers, 2006 revenues and EBITDA of respectively EUR 1.26 billion and EUR 424.6 million.



Swisscom said it intends to make a long-term investment and to further strengthen the competitive position of Fastweb based on a new generation network and innovative offerings in Italy. By acquiring Fastweb, Swisscom will be able to boost its cash flows significantly. Fastweb is a high-growth company with an increasing free cash flow over time. The transaction has the potential to boost Swisscom's revenues and EBITDA by about one fifth, and generate further growth thereafter.



Swisscom also said that it would learn from the experience acquired by Fastweb in operating a fully IP-based, latest-generation broadband network, expanding and commercializing optical networks, and developing and marketing broadband-based multimedia services. In return, Swisscom will support Fastweb' plans to position itself in Italy as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).
http://www.swisscom.com

• In November 2006, Swisscom officially launched its Bluewin IPTV service, offering 100-plus television channels, 70-plus radio channels, live sports coverage and an initial VOD library of 500-plus films. Bluewin is delivered over either an ADSL or VDSL connection. Customers in areas which do not yet provide VDSL access can have only one TV channel transmitted at a time. The set-top box functions as a PVR and provides over 100 hours of recording capacity. Bluewin is using # Microsoft's IPTV software, HP servers, Tandberg encoders (VC-1 encoding) and Linksys CPE, including set-top boxes.

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Verizon Business Launches Ethernet Virtual Private LAN Service

Verizon Business introduced Ethernet Virtual Private LAN Service (E-VPLS), enabling businesses and government agencies to extend their LANs to locations across the US. Verizon Business plans to expand to international locations next year.



E-VPLS, delivered via Verizon Business' converged packet architecture, gives customers the flexibility to adjust their networks' bandwidth from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Because E-VPLS is a layer 2 networking solution, enterprises can maintain control of their routing, rather than share it with their service provider. E-VPLS is protocol independent, supporting both IP and non-IP applications, making it attractive for Frame Relay or ATM customers who want to upgrade their WAN.



E-VPLS allows for prioritization of applications via four classes of service (CoS): Real Time, Priority, Business and Basic Data. Real time CoS makes E-VPLS ideal for carrying latency-sensitive traffic such as VoIP and digital video.



Verizon Business is offering service level agreements (SLAs) for the new service. In addition, the company noted that E-VPLS was requested by the U.S. General Services Administration as part of its Networx program, which is designed to help federal agencies make the transition to next-generation networking services.

http://www.verizonbusiness.com

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GIPS Supports Interoffice Voice Trunking

Global IP Solutions (GIPS) is now supporting Interoffice Voice Trunking (IVT), which allows enterprises to use their existing TDM or IP-based systems to call other sites within their enterprise. IVT also works with traditional PBXs with the use of a voice gateway.



GIPS' voice quality technology is applied to both ends of the network
GIPS solutions are compatible with the IP-PBXs from Cisco, 3Com and Avaya as well as any other H.323 compatible PBX, including circuit switched telephone equipment. IVT runs on any Windows 2000 or XP server.

http://www.gipscorp.com

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Ikanos Adds "LoopNostics" Measurement Software to VDSL2

Ikanos Communications introduced its "LoopNostics" diagnostics, analysis and measurement software designed to help service providers more quickly and cost-effectively roll out multi-mode VDSL2 platforms.



LoopNostics, which is available for Ikanos' multi-mode VDSL2 chipsets, supports all standard-based VDSL2 profiles from 8.5 to 30 MHz, as well as ADSLx standards. It offers loop qualification and characterization capabilities based on proprietary Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR), Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques. Using Ikanos chipsets' advanced technologies, data is collected without the need for customer premises equipment (CPE) or additional hardware on the central office (CO) line card, even in the presence of cross-connects and POTS/ISDN splitters. This capability minimizes the need for human intervention during measurement. Data is then analyzed to estimate loop qualification parameters such as length, channel spectral characteristics, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), maximum attainable upstream and downstream data rates, bridged tap detection and loop termination for mixed wire gauges. Operational control and reporting is achieved through an easy-to-use graphical user interface.

http://www.ikanos.com

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SafeMedia's "Clouseau" Hunts Illegal Peer-To-Peer Traffic

SafeMedia unveiled "Clouseau" -- a network appliance that can be deployed on subnets to eradicate illegal P2P traffic. SafeMedia said it its unique approach to fingerprinting and DNA markers allow the examination of all incoming and outgoing packets: illegal P2P is eradicated, while legal P2P passes along to its destination with no measurable delay.

http://www.safemediacorp.com/

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OKI Samples 10 Gbps Optical Receiver Module

Oki Electric Industry Co. introduced two Receiver Optical Sub Assembly (ROSA)-type optical receiver modules for use in XMD-MSA (10 Gbps Miniature Device Multi Source Agreement) applications that are compliant with the small transceiver XFP (10 Gbps small Form-factor Pluggable) specification. Sampling is underway.
http://www.oki.com

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Juniper Completes Financial Restatements

Juniper Networks filed its Annual Report with the SEC on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, as well as its previously delayed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the second and third quarters of 2006. The company said it believes that it has now regained compliance with the requirements for continued listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market; however, the company awaits confirmation of compliance from NASDAQ.
http://www.juniper.net

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Data Connection Expands Its IMS Portfolio

Data Connection Limited (DCL) introduced new capabilities to enable communications system vendors to develop carrier-class IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) platforms:

• Introduction of Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF), Interconnect Border Control Function (IBCF), and Border Gateway Function (BGF) / Interconnect BGF (I-BGF) IMS functionality to DC-SBC, DCL's portable Session Border Controller software solution for OEMs



• Introduction of the DC-Diameter toolkit including full IMS functionality



• IMS Enhancements for the DC-SIP toolkit



• IMS Enhancements for the DC-Megaco/H.248 toolkit, including support for ITU H.248.1 version 3, which includes new diagnostic capabilities, stream level statistics, and the message segmentation package. Data Connection's DC-Megaco/H.248 is fully compliant with 3GPP, ETSI TISPAN, IETF, and ITU IMS architectures and enables solutions based on DC-Megaco/H.248 to support the IMS Ia reference point.

Data Connection's existing VoIP product line includes its DC-SBC, DC-SIP, DC-Megaco/H.248 and DC-MGCP source code. The company said almost every major vendor worldwide is already deploying at least some elements of these building blocks.

http://www.dataconnection.com

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Azimuth Offers FMC Performance Test Solution

Azimuth Systems, which supplies Wi-Fi engineering test equipment, introduced an FMC Performance Test Solution featuring automated test scripts to streamline the testing of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) products by service providers, handset manufacturers and semiconductor vendors.



Azimuth's solution provides more than twenty unique and repeatable performance tests on converged Wi-Fi/Cellular handsets. It measures Wi-Fi performance in three areas that get the most attention from end-users: dropped calls, battery life and call quality. The tests allow users to thoroughly analyze the voice quality and data performance of converged Wi-Fi/Cellular handsets in a variety of range, roaming, hand-in/hand-out and environmental conditions. The tests also measure handset power consumption and battery life under various motion and traffic conditions. The automated scripts remotely control the device under test, generate/display statistics and reduce the testing process from weeks to days.
http://www.azimuthsystems.com

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