Cisco Umi Puts Telepresence in Living Room -- $599 + $25/Month

Cisco introduced an HD 1080p telepresence system for the home.

Cisco ūmi, which includes an HD camera, a console and a remote, is a premium home telepresence system that aims for pristine video and audio quality over broadband connections. It connects to existing HD sets via HDMI and lets users set-up calls, record calls and send pre-recorded video messages.

The units feature dynamic resolution scaling based on available bandwidth (1080p, 720p, and 480p supported). Minimum upload speeds of 3.5 Mbps are required to maintain a 1080p session while a minimum or 1.5 Mbps uplink is needed for 720p calls. The in-home networking connection is either Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n ) or 10/100 Ethernet (RJ-45).

The Cisco umi carries a suggested retail price of $599 with a monthly fee of $24.99 for unlimited ūmi calls, video messaging and video storage.

Verizon confirmed that it will be among the first service providers to offer it to its FiOS customers starting early next year. Best Buy will sell the Cisco umi.
http://www.cisco.com

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Neutral Tandem's Ethernet Exchange Network Grows to 14

Following the completion of its merger with Tinet last week, Neutral Tandem has launched eight additional Ethernet Exchange Points of Presence (PoPs), bringing all 14 of its previously announced Ethernet Exchanges to market. Following the launch of the company's initial six Ethernet Exchanges in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los
Angeles and New York, the company has now completed, ahead of schedule, the deployment of eight additional markets including Denver, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C.


"We are proud to be the first to offer Ethernet Exchange services in 14 locations," said Surendra Saboo, President and COO of Neutral Tandem. "The scalability and cost efficiency of an Ethernet Exchange is accentuated with Neutral Tandem's networked approach, where each exchange is interconnected with all of the other exchanges; thereby increasing the availability of service providers that can be connected
to each other."http://www.neutraltandem.com

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MetroPCS Picks Tekelec for Signaling Evolution to LTE

MetroPCS Communications has chosen Tekelec to provide SIGTRAN, SIP and Diameter session management as well as Number Portability and Performance Management solutions. The suite of solutions, including Tekelec's Diameter Signaling Router (DSR), will be deployed to support the company's 4G LTE roll out, which is the first commercial 4G LTE network in the US.


Tekelec said its Diameter Signaling Router (DSR) creates a Diameter signaling core that relieves LTE and IMS endpoints of routing, traffic management and load balancing tasks and provides a single interconnect point to other networks. In addition, MetroPCS will use Tekelec's performance management solution to gain visibility into network services and subscriber usage. MetroPCS will use the solution to monitor Quality of Service (QoS) for subscribers, as well as Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The solution provides key performance indicators (KPIs) in both pre-built and customer-defined reports, giving MetroPCS the flexibility to examine traffic, troubleshoot issues and analyze subscriber activity -- the foundation for measuring the quality of experience.
http://www.tekelec.com

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Russia's Vimpelcom Bids to Become Fifth Largest Global Operator

Russia's Vimpel-Communications has struck a deal with Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris to acquire Weather Investments S.p.A, which owns 51.7% of Orascom Telecom (Egypt) and 100% of Wind Telecomunicazioni (Italy).


Under the deal, Weather shareholders will contribute to VimpelCom their shares in Weather in exchange for a consideration consisting of 325,639,827 newly issued VimpelCom common shares, US$1.8 billion in cash and certain assets that will be demerged from Orascom Telecom and from Wind Italy. The Weather interests in these assets, which principally comprise Orascom Telecom's investments in Egypt and North Korea, will be transferred to the current Weather shareholders. Wind Hellas Telecommunications S.A. in Greece is entirely excluded from the transaction.


Vimpelcom said the acquisition will make it the world's fifth largest mobile telecommunications carrier by subscribers with pro forma net operating revenues of US$21.5 billion and pro forma EBITDA of US$9.5 billion for 2009. The combined company would have operations in 20 countries with a combined population of 850 million. Based on 2009 pro forma revenues, the existing operations in Russia will represent 35% and Wind Italy will represent 34% of the combined company.


Alexander Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, added: "Today's announcement marks a transformational transaction for VimpelCom. It offers our shareholders exposure to attractive growth markets in both Asia and Africa and the opportunity to diversify further our revenue base in terms of geography, currency and market characteristics.


Although its major operations are in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikstan, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam and Cambodia, VimpelCom is based in Amsterdam. Weather Investments provides services to 123 million subscribers in Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Pakistan, Tunisia and North Korea.
http://www.vimpelcom.com

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Sprint ID Offers Mobile Users Packages of Apps/Content

Sprint introduced a new concept that packages Android applications and premium online content to help improve the mobile experience of its smartphone users.


For consumers, Sprint ID is a way to rapidly customize certain Android devices with packages of apps, wallpaper, ringtones, etc. For businesses, Sprint ID offers the potential to rapidly customize employee smartphones with pre-selected business applications, forms and settings.


Sprint has teamed up with leading consumer brands to build the first packages. Partners include Amazon, Blackboard, Comcast, Disney, E!, Electronic Arts, eBay, ESPN, HSN, LatCel, MTV, Notre Dame, Oprah Winfrey Network, RadioShack, Weather Channel, Where and Yahoo!
http://www.sprint.com

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Verizon Debuts M2M Management Center

Verizon is launching Machine to Machine Management Center to help enterprise customers monitor wireless devices over the Verizon Wireless network.


Customers can access an integrated dashboard to manage network connections, self-service device management, and other key elements of machine to machine connectivity.


The new portal is a product of nPhase, LLC, the joint venture established last summer between Qualcomm Incorporated and Verizon Wireless.
http://www.verizon.com
http://www.nphase.com

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Kingston Now Shipping 32GB microSDHC Card for Mobiles

Kingston Digital will begin shipping its first 32GB microSDHC Class 4 card for use in smartphones. The card is capable of storing nearly 29,000 photos, over 6,000 songs and more than 2,000 minutes of video.
http://www.kingston.com

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Ericsson Engaged in LTE Trial with Rogers in Canada

Rogers Communications has launched an LTE technical trial in the Ottawa area with Ericsson Canada. The technical trial will initially use recently auctioned AWS spectrum. Rogers is also working with Industry Canada to secure a development license to use 700 MHz spectrum for the trial. http://www.rogers.com

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Motorola Launches Lawsuits Against Apple

Motorola Mobility filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Apple's iPhone, iPad, iTouch and certain Mac computers infringe 18 of its patents. Motorola said these patents include wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization.


"Motorola has innovated and patented throughout every cycle of the telecommunications industry evolution, from Motorola's invention of the cell phone to its development of premier smartphone products. We have extensively licensed our industry-leading intellectual property portfolio, consisting of tens of thousands of patents in the U.S. and worldwide. After Apple's late entry into the telecommunications market, we engaged in lengthy negotiations, but Apple has refused to take a license," stated Kirk Dailey, corporate vice president of intellectual property at Motorola Mobility.
http://www.motorola.com

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Verizon Wireless Confirms LTE in 38 US Cities This Year

Verizon Wireless confirmed that it is on track to launch commercial LTE service in 38 major metropolitan areas, covering more than 110 million Americans, by the end of 2010. The company is also on track to launch LTE service in 60 commercial airports across the country.




At a press conference at CTIA in San Francisco, Lowell McAdam, president and chief operating officer of Verizon, said the network launch would be "unprecedented" in that it will cover nearly one-third of the U.S. population from Day One. However, the company has been able to achieve this "cost effectively" -- without increasing its planned CAPEX budget for the year.


Initially, Verizon Wireless will offer USB modems. New LTE consumer products will be shown at CES in January, where the company plans to make some announcements with Google.


Verizon Wireless expects average data rates for LTE to be 5 to 12 Mbps on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink in real-world, loaded network environments. In its trial network, the company has been impressed by the network performance even at the edge of a cell.


LTE pricing plans have not yet been disclosed.


Initially, voice service will default back to the CDMA network, although the company said this will evolve over time.


In addition, Verizon Wireless has undertaken discussions with other network operators in Tier 2/3 cities and rural markets, offering to provide them spectrum and roaming agreements in exchange for their financial investment in building out their network. Verizon Wireless would also help acquiring equipment for these network builds at the negotiated prices it has established with its vendors.


Markets covered by the initial Verizon Wireless LTE launch include:



 

Akron, Ohio Athens, Georgia Atlanta, Georgia Baltimore, Maryland Boston, Massachusetts Charlotte, North Carolina Chicago, Illinois Cincinnati, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Dallas, Texas Denver, Colorado Fort Lauderdale, Florida Houston, Texas

Jacksonville, Florida Las Vegas, Nevada Los Angeles, California Miami, Florida Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota Nashville, Tennessee New Orleans, Louisiana New York, New York Oakland, California Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Orlando, Florida Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Phoenix, Arizona Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Rochester, New York San Antonio, Texas San Diego, California San Francisco, California San Jose, California Seattle/Tacoma, Washington St. Louis, Missouri Tampa, Florida Washington, D.C. West Lafayette, Indiana West Palm Beach, Florida

http://www.verizonwireless.com

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TELE2 Russia Picks Ceragon for Wireless Backhaul

Ceragon Networks announced a multi-year agreement for microwave systems with TELE2, Russia. With this agreement, Ceragon is helping TELE2 subsidiaries in Russia to build out multiple high-capacity, carrier-grade networks to backhaul voice and data traffic for mobile telephony and broadband internet access. Shipments relating to this agreement are already underway. With 17.3 million customers in 37 regions, TELE2 Russia is the fourth largest mobile operator in the country. http://www.ceragon.com

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Sprint Wholesale -- Bandwidth Capacity, Cable VoIP and Wireless MVNOs

An interview with Brian Vos, VP, Service Management, Sprint Wholesalehttp://www.convergedigest.com

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Bermuda's CellularOne Deploys HSPA+ with NSN

CellularOne (Bermuda Digital Communications Ltd.) has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy HSPA+ island-wide. The network will peak download speeds of 21 Mbps and new features such as battery life extension for smartphones. The upgrade builds on CellularOne's existing network which already offers the best 3G coverage island-wide and roaming in over 200 countries. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nsn.com
http://www.cellularone.bm/

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Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 7500 Gains U.S. Gov Approval

Fujitsu's FLASHWAVE 7500 Multiservice Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) has been certified by the U.S. government for performance, security and interoperability requirements and added to the Unified Capabilities (UC) Approved Products List (APL).


The FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM joins the FLASHWAVE 4100 ES Micro Packet Optical Networking Platform (Packet ONP), the FLASHWAVE 4500 MSPP, and the FLASHWAVE 9500 Packet ONP among other Fujitsu platforms on the APL.


"The U.S. government and Fujitsu enjoy an extensive partnership that spans multiple departments and civilian agencies," said Jeana Cunningham, vice president of federal sales at Fujitsu Network Communications.


The approved version of the Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 7500 platform includes a 40 Gbps interface that allows any existing 10 Gbps FLASHWAVE 7500 network to be expanded to support 40 Gbps with the simple addition of interface cards. In addition to native 40 Gbps services, another key feature of the FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM is a 40G muxponder which allows four 10 Gbps client signals (including 10 Gbps Ethernet and OC-192 SONET) to be multiplexed into a single 40 Gbps wavelength. The platform also supports a 10G Flexponder card, which integrates a SONET Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP) to groom OC-3, OC-12, OC-48 and Gigabit Ethernet client signals into a 10 Gbps wavelength.http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom

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Qualcomm Cancels FLO TV, Opening 700 MHz Spectrum for Others

Qualcomm confirmed that it will close its FLO TV service by Spring 2011. If the service is discontinued before then, FLO TV will make appropriate refunds.


The company said that it is discussing future use of the network and its spectrum with potential partners. The resources could be used to address mobile data needs.
http://www.qualcomm.comIn 2008, Qualcomm won eight licenses in the FCC's 700 MHz spectrum auction at a total cost of $558.1 million. Specifically, Qualcomm purchased licenses in the E block covering the Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco Economic Area regions. These licenses doubled Qualcomm's 700 MHz spectrum holdings throughout a footprint of more than 68 million people in 28 individual markets for MediaFLO USA's "FLO TV" service (21 of its top 100 markets) at a cost of $554.6 million. In addition, Qualcomm purchased three licenses on the B block at a cost of $3.5 million.

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AT&T offers HSPA+ Modem with LTE Software Upgrade Path

AT&T will begin offering a USB modem from LG that works on its HSPA mobile broadband network today and offers an upgrade path for its LTE network in the future.


LG's Adrenaline HSPA+ modem, which will be AT&T's first LTE-upgradeable device, is equipped with an internal antenna, plug and play functionality and multiple OS support. The upgrade for LTE connectivity will be made via a firmware download when the network capabilities become available. It also features Wi-Fi, built-in GPS for enterprise applications, a multi-color LED status indicator and a MicroSD memory card slot supporting cards up to 32 GB of storage.


AT&T also announced its first HSPA+ LaptopConnect device -- the Shockwave from Sierra Wireless. AT&T expects to upgrade its network to HSPA+ by the end of 2010.
http://www.att.com

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AT&T Expands its Android Stable with Motorola

AT&T expanded its portfolio of Android devices with the introduction of three new smartphones from Motorola.


All three smartphones are powered by Android 2.1 and the latest version of MOTOBLUR, Motorola's exclusive smartphone experience.

• The MOTOROLA FLIPOUT will be available for $79.99 with a two service agreement and 2 year smartphone data plan.



• The MOTOROLA BRAVO will be available for $129.99 with a two service agreement and 2 year smartphone data plan.



• The MOTOROLA FLIPSIDE will be available for $99.99 with a two service agreement and 2 year smartphone data plan.

All three devices feature Wi-Fi connectivity.
http://www.att.com

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ETRI Collaborates with Metaswitch on MPLS-TP for P-OTS

South Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) is working with Metaswitch to build Carrier Ethernet / Packet-Optical Transport System (P-OTS) systems that use MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP).


ETRI and Metaswitch have been working together since 2004, principally in the area of optical switching systems, using Metaswitch's MPLS and IP Routing network software products.


Metaswitch said this new initiative extends the partnership into the packet-optical arena, enabling ETRI to develop MPLS-TP systems that support both packet and optical networks, to provide unified transport capabilities across both wireless backhaul and backbone networks, with resilience and manageability, while providing familiar QoS, protection and restoration, and OAM capabilities.


"4G/LTE is going to require a major overhaul of Korean wireless networks, forcing a migration to MPLS-TP Carrier Ethernet / P-OTS systems," said Dr. Tae Whan Yoo, Director in ETRI's Optical Internet Department. "We've been very happy with the relationship with Metaswitch, and extending it to include MPLS-TP will help us drive that migration over the next few years."http://www.metaswitch.com
http://www.etri.re.kr

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Cisco Updates Enterprise Portfolio

Cisco announced a number of new product releases in its Borderless Network portfolio (enterprise switching, routing, security and wireless), including a high-density Catalyst switch, an Adaptive Security Appliance firewall, a compact ASR 1000 Series router, and new entry-level 802.11n wireless access points. Additionally, Cisco announced the Application Velocity Network Service, a new network service that accelerates application performance physically and virtually.


Highlights of the announcements include:


The Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series switch -- a modular platform with 848 Gbps of system bandwidth and a density of 384 Power over Ethernet Plus (PoEP)-capable ports. Using the new Supervisor Engine 7-E, the Catalyst 4500E can serve as an aggregation switch with 100 ports at 10G. It supports hardware-accelerated Borderless Network Services like Cisco Medianet, Cisco EnergyWise, and Cisco TrustSec, and is now powered by Cisco IOS XE Software, enabling the delivery of third-party services. Cisco said the Catalyst 4500E delivers access resiliency with sub-10-millisecond supervisor failover.


The Cisco ASA 5585-X Adaptive Security Appliance -- a two-rack-unit box offering 20 Gbps of multiprotocol throughput and 35Gbps of large packet throughput, 10,000 VPN connections, 350,000 connections per second and 8 million total connections.


The Cisco ASR 1001 router -- a 1 RU compact edge routing solution offering up to 5Gbps performance throughput with services turned on.



The Cisco Aironet 1040 Series Access Point -- offering an entry-level price, reduced operational complexity and a competitive feature set.
http://www.cisco.com

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Level 3 Boosts Managed Services with Integration Partner

Level 3 Communications is enhancing its managed services capabilities through a new agreement with Presidio Networked Solutions, a leading integrator that leverages equipment from ADTRAN, Cisco, Fortinet, and Riverbed Technology. Level 3's Managed Services combines in-house and partner capabilities. In particular, Level 3 expects this partnership will boost its dedicated Internet access (DIA) and IPVPN services. Leveraging Presidio's expertise, Level 3 is streamlining its fulfillment, provisioning, management and repair of customer premise equipment (CPE)-based services, including managed router, firewall, and wide area network (WAN) optimization. Additional options available with these services include intrusion detection service/intrusion prevention service (IDS/IPS) and secure access.
http://www.level3.com

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