South Africa's Neotel Selects Juniper/Siemens

Neotel, South Africa's Second National Operator (SNO), has selected Siemens Networks to build a nationwide IP core network and a DWDM transport network. Juniper Networks' M- and T-series routers, including the T640 core router, are being integrated in the core network. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Siemens founded its own Telecommunications Training Institute in Johannesburg six years ago. Since then, over 300 students have graduated with a degree that qualifies them to work in the telecommunications sector.

http://www.siemens.com

http://www.juniper.net

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Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Deploys Nortel DWDM

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx), one of Asia's largest international stock exchanges, has upgraded its backbone network infrastructure serving derivatives markets with Optical DWDM technology from Nortel.


Nortel Optical Metro 5200 - an integral component of Nortel Metro Ethernet Solutions - is a data-optimized DWDM platform that delivers 32 wavelengths of bandwidth, 10G scalability, sub-rate multiplexing capabilities, network management, and modeling tools that simplify the deployment of efficient DWDM metropolitan networks.

http://www.nortel.com

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Alcatel-Lucent Selected for One of Europe's largest Wi-Fi Networks

Tecnofin Immobiliare, which owned by the public administration of the Italian province of Trento, has awarded Alcatel-Lucent and a consortium of sub-contracting companies a contract to supply and integrate the first urban Wi-Fi network in Trento. The network Alcatel-Lucent is deploying will provide 1,600 WiFi access points and will be one of the largest in Italy and all of Europe.



Alcatel-Lucent will provide the engineering, integration, installation and commissioning and will be in charge of the operation, monitoring and maintenance of the WiFi network, which will employ an existing Alcatel-Lucent optical backbone network. In addition it will provide its Alcatel-Lucent 9500 MXC, a new generation of digital, medium-to-high-capacity, point-to-point microwave radio. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Legerity Joins the Home Gateway Initiative

Legerity has joined the Home Gateway Initiative (HGI), an open forum created to boost the market of home communication services to the millions of broadband customers worldwide. The group is developing residential gateway standards.



Current Legerity solutions include voice line interface circuits for customer premise equipment, such as cable and DSL modems, and include metallic loop (or line) testing software, which can enable service providers to easily diagnose and resolve problems, resulting in lower customer support costs and reduced churn from unhappy customers. http://www.legerity.com

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RTX Offers Skype Phone

At CeBIT in Germany, RTX introduced its new DUALphone 3058 cordless Skype phone + ordinary telephone in one. The DUALphone 3058 is a cordless USB phone that is connected to a regular telephone socket and works with Skype by using the USB port on a PC. RTX said its phone is supporting wideband audio for superior Skype sound quality. The reseller price is EUR 89.
http://www.dualphone.net

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BT Launches Wholesale IP Voice Managed Service

BT launch of a global VoIP wholesale service for Internet service providers (ISPs), cable providers and other resellers. The new offering is targeted at global communication providers outside of the UK and allows entrants to the market to become a communication provider overnight, without the cost and complexity of having to invest in expensive IT and network infrastructure.



BT's IP Voice Managed Service features a flexible pricing model, and multi-layered security, including session border controller (SBC) functionality and VoIP firewall capabilities. A single web-based interface gives the user a tool to monitor call flow and control expenses. The IP Voice Managed Service is one of a range of 21CN operator services, which take advantage of BT's global experience to provide a new generation of richer and more customized services to enable 21C communication providers.



MEDIAN Telecom Ltd.,headquartered in Bochum, Germany, already receives termination and transit services from BT Global Telecom Markets and has been intensively testing the new IP Voice Managed Service. http://www.bt.com/globaltelecom

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Los Angeles Deploys Motorola's MOTOMESH for Video Surveillance

The City of Los Angeles unveiled a municipal wireless network and video surveillance system in the city's Jordan Downs public housing complex that is designed to help curb criminal activity. The network encompasses 10 wireless video surveillance cameras and the Motorola MOTOMESH network. MOTOMESH is a multi-radio wireless broadband network that provides Wi-Fi access for the public and enables first responders with critical communications through separate, dedicated and secure access. The Motorola Canopy wireless broadband solution provides backhaul for the network.



The MOTOMESH system supports up to four radio networks in a single access point. It enables complete municipal-wide wireless connectivity in both 4.9GHz licensed and 2.4GHz unlicensed frequencies.



With Mobile Video Sharing, police officers are able to use their laptop computers or handheld devices to pan across surveillance locations and even zoom in and out on suspected criminal activity, allowing the officers to increase situational awareness and presence in the community. Additionally, Los Angeles city fire units that respond to calls in Jordan Downs will also have access to video feeds provided by the system. The network will also be used to provide residents and public schools in the Jordan Downs area with Wi-Fi access to the Internet.

http://www.motorola.com

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XO Notes 5% Growth in CoreRevenue and 16% Growth in Data/IP

XO Holdings reported Q4 revenue of $355.3 million, $23.2 million of adjusted EBITDA and a net loss of $31.1 million. For the year ended December 31, 2006, XOH reported $1.41 billion of revenue, $94.8 million of adjusted EBITDA and a net loss of $143.8 million allocable to common shareholders. XOH operates two business segments, XO Communications, (XOC), its nationwide wireline telecommunications business, and Nextlink Wireless, Inc. (Nextlink), its wireless business.



"This was a strong and pivotal year for the company, setting the stage for a promising 2007," said Carl Grivner, XO Holdings' Chief Executive Officer. "For the full year, our core services revenue grew 5 percent and data and IP services revenue grew 16 percent year-over-year. This is the result of increased customer demand and improving industry dynamics. During the year, we aligned the company into three customer-focused operating units and lit our new inter-city network to drive revenue growth. As a result of our initiatives and network investment, the company is well-positioned to expand its share of the enterprise and carrier services markets, leveraging our unrivalled combination of metro, inter-city and wireless networks."http://www.xo.com

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QUALCOMM Dismisses Remaining Cases Against Broadcom

QUALCOMM agreed to dismiss all remaining cases initiated by QUALCOMM and awaiting trial against Broadcom including QUALCOMM 's claims of patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation in San Diego.



In turn, Broadcom dismissed its counterclaims against QUALCOMM in those San Diego cases. Broadcom's claims of patent infringement against Qualcomm in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif. and in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington, D.C., and Broadcom's antitrust claim against QUALCOMM, which is on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, are not affected by the dismissals in San Diego, and will continue forward.

http://www.broadcom.com

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Finland's Corenet Deploys ROADM Mesh with ECI Telecom's XDM

Corenet, a leading telecom provider in Finland, has selected ECI Telecom's XDM all range ROADM platform for deployment of one of Europe's first and most advanced ROADM mesh networks. The key building blocks in this deployment are WSS ROADMs, full support of Optical Transport Network (OTN) for all services and "SDH-like" wavelength management.



ECI said its advanced ROADM network will allow Corenet to swiftly lease high-speed wavelength and sub-wavelength services across the region. By deploying WSS ROADMs and 10Gbps widely tunable transponders, Corenet will be able to provision services from any node to any node across the entire nationwide network. In addition, by relying on full OTN mapping and multiplexing of all services, including 10GE LAN, high-power variable-gain amplifiers and automatic power balancing, Corenet will be able to offer fully transparent SDH and data services with high QoS and interoperate with other carriers. Corenet will also be able to seamlessly add 40Gbps services to the network, once necessary. This new ROADM network will be deployed as an expansion to the existing XDM-based MSPP and DWDM backbone of Corenet, and the entire network is managed by ECI's LightSoft V3 management system.

http://www.ecitele.com

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Ericsson to Acquire Mobeon for Messaging Apps

Ericsson will acquire Mobeon AB, a supplier of IP-messaging applications.



Ericsson already owns 21 percent of Mobeon and is also the primary partner and original developer of Mobeon's CompEdge series of carrier-class messaging. Specifically, Mobeon produces the key component of Ericsson's Messaging over IP (MoIP) solution - an IP-based voice and video-mail solution for telecom operators. The largest MoIP installation has more than 26 million mailboxes.



Ericsson said the acquisition will accelerate development of its new messaging architecture, which will allow easier integration of new messaging applications with established messaging methods, such as SMS, voicemail and MMS, to maximize the addressable user base for these new messaging services.



Mobeon has 130 employees in Sweden and the UK.

http://www.ericsson.com

http://www.mobeon.com

• Ericsson's recent acquisition targets have included Tandberg TV, Entrisphere (GPON), Redback Networks and Marconi.

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Alcatel-Lucent Supplies Data/Optical Backbone for Europe's GÉANT2

Alcatel-Lucent and DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe Ltd) completed the roll out of a new converged optical-data network linking national research and education networks across Europe. The deployment was carried out in the framework of the GÉANT2 project launched in 2004 to connect approximately 3,500 scientific sites in 34 European countries to facilitate collaborative research.



GÉANT2 is engineered for core speeds of up to 400 Gbps. DANTE has deployed the Alcatel-Lucent 1626 Light Manager (LM) DWDM platform for long to ultra long-haul applications and the 1678 Connect (MCC) that converges optical and data switching capabilities on a single platform. The solution can support Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS), which can provide high network protection by enabling fast, automated re-routing if needed.



The Alcatel-Lucent 1350 management suite controls both the 1678 MCC and the 1626 LM equipment. Operation of the 1350 management suite is carried out by the GÉANT2 Network Operation Center (NOC) in Paris, France, with support from the Alcatel-Lucent NOC in Stuttgart, Germany. The GÉANT2 project is developing monitoring and management procedures to enhance inter-domain operations between the European backbone and its partners, the National Research and Education networks.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

http://www.geant2.net

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EU Seeks to Trim Mobile Roaming Charges

The EU's 27 Telecom Ministers met at the CeBIT show in Germany and agreed in principle to adopt new rules that would cut mobile phone roaming charges by June or July. The current proposal would be to cap roaming charges at EUR 0.50 per minute.



EU Telecom Commissioner Viviane Reding has been seeking even more aggressive price cuts. An EC proposal from July 2006 sought to reduce by up to 70% the charges consumers have to pay for using their mobile phone abroad.

http://www.europa.eu

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Hughes Introduces High-Speed BGAN Mobile Satellite Terminal

Hughes Network Systems' new 9250 mobile satellite terminal has been approved to operate over Inmarsat's Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN). The unit supports speeds of up to 464/464 Kbps transmit/receive, has a built-in Wi-Fi access point/router, and supports dedicated IP QoS at up to 128 kbps. It is also software upgradeable to the high-performance Class 11 land vehicular rating, which will operate with Inmarsat's BGAN-X network expected to be commercially launched later in 2007.
http://www.bgan.hughes.com/

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Verizon Begins Selling Novatel's EV-DO Rev. A Card

Verizon Wireless has begun selling Novatel Wireless' V740 ExpressCard EV-DO Rev. A card. Users can expect average download speeds of 600 kbps to 1.4 Mbps and average upload speeds of 500-800 kbps. The card features a dual-band diversity antenna system the incorporates a flip-up design, maximizing data speed performance and allowing for stronger network signal reception. The unit is priced at $179.99 with a new two-year customer agreement or $229.99 with a new one-year customer agreement.
http://www.verizonwireless.com

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Sonus Realigns Marketing to Target Growth Areas

Sonus Networks announce a realignment of its marketing to focus on key areas of growth for the company: Trunking Networks, Access Networks, Wireless Networks, and Applications. Steve Edwards, the company's current Chief Marketing Officer, is stepping down from his position to pursue other opportunities.



Sonus also plans to build its corporate brand on a global basis.
http://www.sonusnet.com/

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QUALCOMM and Nortel Sign Cross-License Agreement

QUALCOMM and Nortel announced an agreement that extends and expands the patent and product scope of their previous CDMA cross-license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, QUALCOMM has granted Nortel a royalty-bearing license under its patent portfolio to manufacture and sell infrastructure products for use in CDMA and GSM wireless networks, and Nortel has granted QUALCOMM a license under its patent portfolio to manufacture and sell components for use in CDMA subscriber devices (including multi-mode CDMA/GSM devices) and infrastructure products. "CDMA" includes CDMA2000(R), WCDMA and TD-SCDMA. The agreement also provides each party with additional patent rights beyond CDMA and GSM, but does not cover Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) / Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) (other than certain IEEE 802.11 and MediaFLO rights).

http://www.nortel.com

http://www.qualcomm.com

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Bookham Supplies 40 Gbps Tunable Laser Assembly

Bookham is supplying its LambdaFLEX integrable Tunable Laser Assembly (iTLA) to equipment vendors for use in 40 Gbps DWDM transmission systems. The device, which has already been extensively deployed in systems supporting 10 Gbps and below, has now been selected for use in 40 Gbps transmission systems, including the Mintera MI 40000XS next-generation subsystem for DWDM optical transport in metro, regional and ultra long-haul telecom networks. Mintera is currently shipping the MI 40000XS platform to customers worldwide.




Bookham said its LambdaFLEX integrable Tunable Laser Assembly (iTLA) is now in volume production at the company's manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, China. Based on the OIF MSA outline, the full-band tunable laser is supplied in module form, with control electronics and firmware. The Bookham tunable laser is built on a single InP optical chip, the DS-DBR, with no moving parts. This enables extremely fast wavelength tuning with excellent reliability, comparable to that offered by legacy DFB lasers.

http://www.bookham.com

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BigBand Networks Completes IPO

BigBand Networks completed an initial public offering of 10,700,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $13.00 per share.



BigBand's common stock is now listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "BBND".



Founded in December 1998, BigBand Networks is based in Redwood City, California. The company has a global customer base of more than 100 cable operators and telcos spanning North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. In the U.S. alone, BigBand Networks' customers include six of the top ten service providers.

http://www.bigbandnet.com

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Cisco to Acquire WebEx for Collaboration Service

Cisco Systems announced plans to acquire WebEx, a leading provider on online meetings and collaboration services, for $3.2 billion in cash. The acquisition will mark Cisco entrance into the market for business communication services. WebEx provides web conferencing, video conferencing, online seminars and other collaboration services.



"As collaboration in the workplace becomes increasingly important, companies are looking for rich communications tools to help them work more effectively and efficiently," said Charles H. Giancarlo, Chief Development Officer at Cisco. "The combination of Cisco and WebEx will deliver compelling solutions accelerating this next wave of business communications."



More than 3.5 million people use WebEx every month to communicate and collaborate online.



WebEx was founded in 1995 and held its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in July 2000. The company has close to 2200 employees. For FY2006, which ended December 31, 2006, WebEx reported revenues of $380 million.

http://www.cisco.com

http://www.webex.com

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