Verizon Offers Mobile Satellite Access to MPLS VPNs

Verizon is adding Mobile Satellite Solutions to its Private IP service suite, enabling corporate customers to gain access to their MPLS networks from anywhere in the satellite footprint in the continental U.S.


Mobile Satellite Solutions comprise any combination of auto deploy kits, communications trailers and an executive coach to provide dependable backup service and enhanced disaster recovery for customers looking for primary access, business continuity, digital signage, IPTV and content delivery.
"With Verizon's 20-plus years of offering satellite services to business and government customers, we are well-equipped to provide the flexibility and coordination satellite projects require," said Nicola Morris, vice president of marketing and strategy for Verizon Business. "Our Mobile Satellite Solutions offer the powerful combination of satellite technology and Verizon's Private IP network."http://www.verizon.com

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MRV Introduces Hybrid NID Capabilities for the Carrier Ethernet Access Market

MRV Communications introduced a lineup of hybrid Network Interface Devices (NID) for its OptiSwitch Carrier Ethernet access series. The new devices feature Hybrid NID functionality, which enables service providers and cable operators to reduce equipment requirements and increase manageability while jointly deploying and managing their rapidly growing portfolio of Ethernet services.


MRV said this hybrid capability is needed because many Ethernet services require the cooperation of two service providers or cable operators to create an end-to-end service and this requires two customer devices – one for each service provider. The OptiSwitch Hybrid NID capability gives both service providers and cable operators the ability to simultaneously monitor and manage the same Carrier Ethernet demark device located at a customer's site in their partners out-of-franchise network.


"Carrier Ethernet is becoming the pervasive network technology because it enables creative and important new packet-based services," said David Stehlin, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for MRV's Optical Communications Systems™ (OCS) division. "As a result, there is now a critical need for providers to efficiently hand off packet-based services between networks. The hybrid NID technology now included in our OptiSwitch family of products is a key innovation that increases manageability, lowers capital expense and facilitates consistent regional, national and global Ethernet services."http://www.mrv.com

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Comcast Offers $10 Internet Service in Georgia

Comcast will offer low-cost, residential Internet access to 17,000 low-income families with children eligible to receive a free lunch under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in 28 metro-Atlanta area school districts.


The Internet Essentials plan will include:

• Residential Internet service for $9.95 a month plus applicable taxes;



• No price increases, no activation fees, or equipment rental fees;



• A voucher to purchase a low-cost computer for $149.99 + tax;



• Access to free digital literacy training in print, online and in-person.



• Additional benefits include the Norton™ Security Suite ($160 value), which provides comprehensive online security protection at no additional charge.

http://www.comcast.com

• In approving the Comcast-NBCU mega-merger, the FCC and the Department of Justice imposed a number of conditions and commitments which generally will remain in effect for seven years. One of these conditions was a requirement to make available to approximately 2.5 million low income households: (i) high-speed Internet access service for less than $10 per month; (ii) personal computers, netbooks, or other computer equipment at a purchase price below $150; and (iii) an array of digital literacy education opportunities.

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NTELOS Wireline and FiberNet to Become Lumos Networks

NTELOS Wireline and FiberNet will combine to become one new brand concurrent with the separation of the Company's wireline operations into a new publicly traded company. A new logo and brand will be unveiled in early September. It is expected that Lumos Networks Corp. common stock will be listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market, trading under the symbol "LMOS."http://www.ntelos.comUl>

In December 2010, NTELOS announced plans to separate into wireline and wireless businesses.

In 2010, 30956

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Verizon Claims at Least 12 Cases of Sabotage

As the strike by 45,000 of its employees entered its second day, Verizon reported at least at least 12 cases of sabotage to its network, including damage to its communications facilities in four states.


Specifically, Verizon cited ten incidents of fiber-optic lines being deliberately cut in the Bronx, Pomona, Farmingdale and Guilderland in New York; two separate incidents in Tewksbury in Massachusetts; incidents in Bel Air in Maryland, and East Dover, Oakland and Plainfield in New Jersey. There was also an outage due to stolen electronic equipment in Cedar Grove, N.J., affecting a local police department, among other customers. The company also believes there was tampering with a heating system at a central office in Manhattan.


The company is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of individuals that intentionally damage Verizon cables or facilities or cause or attempt to cause physical injury to any Verizon employee or contractor.


For its part, the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers issued a press release stating that it does not condone any illegal activity.
http://www.verizon.com
http://www.cwa-union.org

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Telstra's LTE Launch Confirmed for August

Telstra confirmed the upcoming commercial launch of its LTE network this month. The first LTE base stations were activated in May. The company has the first 2,000 LTE USB modem ready for customer rollout on August 29. A nationwide launch is anticipated later in the year.


Telstra's first 4G product, the Telstra 4G USB, will use dual mode 4G/3G HSPA technology enabling it to operate across the 1800MHz and 850MHz spectrum bands, giving customers the benefits of 4G connectivity where it is available and switchover to high-speed HSPA technology across the Telstra Mobile Network which reaches 99 per cent of the Australian population. http://www.telstra.com

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Motorola Debuts In-Vehicle LTE for First Responders

Motorola introduced two LTE devices aimed at public safety applications.


The VML700 LTE Vehicle Modem connects equipment in the patrol car, fire apparatus, or command vehicle to Band Class 14 LTE networks. The solid state device can also connect to EVDO and WiFi networks. It is built to withstand heat, cold, rain, dust, humidity and vibration


The UM1000 USB LTE Modem plugs into a USB port to allow laptops or mobile computers access to a Public Safety LTE network.


In addition, Motorola will be rolling out two Public Safety LTE-equipped vehicles at this week's APCO 2011 tradeshow: a Chevrolet Caprice PPV and a Chevrolet Tahoe PPV with integrated VML700 LTE Vehicle Modem, integrated steering wheel push-to-talk (PTT), APX 7500 Multi-Band Mobile Radio with O9 Control Head that operates the mobile radio, siren and lights, MVX1000 Digital In-Car Video System, MW810 Mobile Workstation, Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR), Real-Time Video Intelligence (RTVI) and PremierOne™ Mobile. http://www.motorolasolutions.com

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Stoke Appoints Former Comcast Exec as CTO

Stoke named Dave Williams as Chief Technology Officer. Previously, he was senior vice president of wireless technology at Comcast, responsible for the evaluation and strategy of wireless technology solutions. He has also served on the boards of the GSM Association, Vantage Point, Bubble Motion, the Femto Forum and the WiMAX Forum. Prior to Comcast, Williams was O2 Telefonica Europe's chief technology officer, where he merged Telefonica's and O2's networks. http://www.stoke.com

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Harris and NSN Join Public Safety 700 MHz LTE Demo Net

Harris Corporation, in partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks, has provided its 700 MHz LTE public safety network infrastructure to the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) testing lab in Boulder, Colorado. The solution is now operational within the 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Demonstration Network.


Harris notes that its 700 MHz LTE network support a wide range of existing and emerging high-bandwidth applications such as streaming video, advanced situational awareness and PTT (Push To Talk) voice-over-broadband features. The networks also provide users with priority and Quality of Service (QoS) controls, user authentication and air link encryption, advanced load balancing and Self-Optimizing Network Management.


"By participating in this important program, we are providing emergency responders with hands-on experience with our LTE solution, so that they can actually see how the system meets their unique and varied needs," said George Helm, vice president – LTE Business, Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications. "The capabilities that the Harris LTE solution brings to first responders today provide transformational enhancements to their mission critical operations."




In public safety and professional communications, Harris is a leading supplier of assured communications® systems and equipment for public safety, federal, utility, commercial and transportation markets -- with products ranging from the most advanced IP voice and data networks, to industry leading multiband, multimode radios, to public safety-grade broadband voice, video and data solutions. Harris has more than 80 years of experience in public safety and professional communications and supports over 500 systems around the world.
http://www.harris.com http://www.nsn.com

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PAETEC Provisions 200+ Mbps Ethernet-over-Copper Services

PAETEC has successfully provisioned high-rate Ethernet services in excess of 200 Mbps via its advanced Ethernet-over-Copper (EoC) network. The first 200 Mbps customer is a prominent web marketing company which is using the service to connect its newest state-of-the-art datacenter to the Internet.


EoC utilizes multiple bonded copper pairs in the same conduit to reach businesses where fiber optic facilities are either not available or cost prohibitive. PAETEC's deployment leverages Overture Network's Carrier Ethernet edge and aggregation solutions.


"With more enterprises taking advantage of emerging technologies like cloud computing, data streaming, and server virtualization, the need for dependable, high-speed Ethernet service delivery is rapidly accelerating," said Clint Heiden, president of national accounts and fiber services, PAETEC. "By leveraging the latest EoC advancements, we're able to meet increasing customer demand for robust bandwidth volumes at a fraction of the cost of other media." http://www.paetec.com

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Overture Networks Boosts Ethernet over Copper for 200 Mbps Links

Overture Networks has upgraded its Carrier Ethernet-over-copper (EoC) solutions with the ability to increase service bandwidth to 200 Mbps.


Specifically, Overture is introducing higher rate adaptive span profiles on the line cards of its HN series of platforms, boosting capacity to 15 Mbps per copper pair. The newly expanded profiles also reduce turn-up times when compared to manual tuning, and ensure easier, broader deployment and adoption of 200 Mbps EoC services. The system could support up to 32 pair for a theoretical top speed of 480 Mbps of EoC


Other additions that help network operators streamline service validation, and lower installation and maintenance costs include:

• New packet capture capabilities allowing capture of data packets for onboard or external analysis. An extensive sub-system of advanced filters and filter chains enable improved visibility for network and service troubleshooting, reducing installation complexity and facilitating faster service turn-up.



• Expanded support for ITU-T Y.156sam service activation methodology (soon to be known as Y.1564) streamlines device and service provisioning, as well as improving performance and stability testing. Rich sampling and testing functionalities also make it an essential verification tool for Service Level Agreement (SLA) contracts.



• Newly extended Routing Information Protocol v2 (RIPv2) support facilitates single-box Ethernet circuit termination and IP routing CPE solutions. By transitioning from a two-box to a single-box solution, users can generate tangible operating expense cost-savings.

Overture Networks also noted that PAETEC is already leveraging the upgraded solution for the delivery of symmetric 200 Mbps EoC services.


"The need for higher-speed network connectivity continues unabated, driven by the convergence of bandwidth-intensive applications like enterprise automation, streaming media, cloud-based services, and mobile data. It truly sets the stage for a 'perfect storm', where carrier capacities and infrastructures are overwhelmed by surging demand," said Vijay Raman, vice president, product management and marketing, Overture Networks. http://www.overturenetworks.com

• Earlier this month, Windstream agreed to acquire PAETEC Holding Corp. for approximately $2.3 billion.
  PAETEC is a competitive local exchange carrier and provides telecommunications services primarily to business customers in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

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Symmetricom Posts Revenue of $60.7 million, up 18.5% Sequentially

Symmetricom reported quarterly revenue of $60.7 million, up $9.5 million, or 18.5% sequentially driven by increases in customer orders and improvements in the company's manufacturing supply. Symmetricom reported a loss from continuing operations of $1.4 million, or $0.03 per share, for the quarter, compared to income from continuing operations of $3.0 million, or $0.07 per share, in the preceding quarter.


For its full fiscal year ended July 3, 2011, the company posted net revenue of $208.1 million, compared to $221.3 million for fiscal 2010.


"During fiscal 2011 we made considerable progress capitalizing on the migration to next-generation networks and expanding into new markets," said Dave Côté, president and chief executive officer of Symmetricom. "Our government business generated record revenue and bookings, and our newest communications timing products for next generation networks gained significant traction. Full year revenue from our PackeTime products grew more than 75 percent over the prior year and our PackeTime equipment is now deployed in more than 80 live Ethernet backhaul implementations globally." http://www.symmetricom.com

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Verizon Hit by Strike -- 45,000 Employees Walk Out

More than 45,000 workers went on strike at Verizon Communications on August 7th as both management and the union held firm to their bargaining positions. Negotiations on a new contract have been on going since June 22. The strike includes workers from New England to Virginia. Verizon Wireless is not affected by the work stoppage.


The Communications Workers of America, which represents Verizon's unionized employees, said the company is seeking " to seek to strip away 50 years of collective bargaining gains for middle class workers and their families." The CWA pointed to three facts about Verizon's recent financials:

• Verizon's 2011 annualized revenues are $108 billion and annualized net profits are $6 billion.



• Verizon Wireless just paid its parent company and Vodafone a $10 billion dividend.



• Verizon's top five executives received compensation of $258 million over the past four years.

For its part, Verizon said it has a continuity plan in place with tens of thousands of management employees, retirees and others who have been trained to fill the roles and responsibilities of its union-represented wireline workers. Verizon blamed the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for walking away from negotiations. The company emphasizes that any labor deal must "reflect the economic reality" of today's wireline network.
http://www.cwa-union.org/issues/entry/c/verizonhttp://www.verizon.com
CWA video -- More than 15,000 CWA and IBEW members took to the streets outside Verizon's NYC headquarters at 140 West St. on July 30th .

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AntiSec Continues Assault on Law Enforcement in U.S., Italy, Ecuador

The AntiSec hacking group dumped 10 GB of files reportedly stolen from 70 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. The files included personal and official emails, passwords, Social Security numbers, data on police informants and credit card information from police officers.


The group also claims to have the names, IDs and other personal data on 45,000 police in Ecuador as well as files stolen from police servers in Italy.


AntiSec posted various taunts and justifications for their actions. http://twitter.com/#!/AnonymousIRC

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NTT Sees Gains in Optical Access as Fixed Voice Continues to Drag

The steady decline in revenue from fixed voice services outpaced revenue gains in optical access services, leading NTT to report a 1.8% drop in net profit during a quarter marked by recovery from Japan's historic earthquake on March 11. Quarterly revenue came in at 2.537 trillion yen for the period ending June 30, up 1.5% compared with a year earlier as the company's international business expanded.



http://www.ntt.co.jp/news2011/1108ehfy/vkpk110805.html

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NTT DOCOMO Now Has Over 205,000 LTE Subscribers

As of the end of July, NTT DOCOMO was serving 205,700 Xi LTE subscribers, up by 84,300 for the quarter. The company was also serving 57,508,200 FOMA 3G subscribers, up by 184,200. http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp

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TELUS Q2 Revenue Rises 6.4% YoY

Driven by a nearly 10 per cent growth in wireless revenue and three per cent growth in wireline revenue, TELUS reported Q2 revenue of $2.55 billion, an increase of 6.4 per cent over the same period last year. EBITDA of $950 million increased by almost three per cent due to revenue growth, offset in part by higher costs to acquire and retain wireless customers and to support Optik TV growth. Net income and earnings per share (EPS) for the second quarter were $324 million and $0.99, representing year-over-year increases of 7.3 and 5.3 per cent, respectively.


Some highlights:


The company added 94,000 new wireless subscribers in the quarter.


Wireless data revenue surged by 49 per cent, which more than offset declining voice revenues, resulting in wireless average revenue per unit (ARPU) growth of 2.5 per cent.


In the wireline segment, the company added 46,000 TV customers to surpass the 400,000 subscriber milestone. Combined with 13,000 new high-speed Internet subscribers this performance helped generate wireline data revenue growth of 14 per cent.


TELUS boosted its guidance for consolidated revenues by $200 to $300 million based on increases in both the wireless and wireline business segments. Capital expenditures are also increased from approximately $1.7 billion to approximately $1.8 billion, primarily reflecting an increase in this year's investment in the LTE rollout.
http://www.telus.com

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CalTech Researchers Announce Breakthrough Optical Diode

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena have created a silicon waveguide that channels light in only one direction. Standard waveguides are bi-directional. The break through, described in a paper in the journal 'Science', is a major step forward for optical logic chips. The next step is to build an optical isolator that can be integrated onto a silicon chip.http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13441

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ZTE Builds Metro Ethernet Transport in the Philippines

ZTE has been selected to build a metro Ethernet transport network CEN (Carrier Ethernet Network) project for the Philippines' largest mobile carrier, Smart Communications. The nationwide backbone will use ZTE's ZXCTN 9008/9004 IP transport products for several core and convergence rings.


Smart is the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippines' largest carrier PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company), of which Japan's NTTCom holds 21% of PLDT shares. Smart operates mobile services and has 50 million 2G/3G users. PLDT plans to establish an LTE network covering 95% of the country's population within three years. http://www.zte.com.cn

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Jobs4America: 4,000 New Call Center Jobs Per Month Enabled by Broadband

Widespread broadband deployment makes it economically feasible to bring back many call center jobs from foreign countries, according to Jobs4America – a coalition of call center operators that aims to create 100,000 new broadband-enabled, call center jobs in the United States over the next two years. The group estimates that an average of 4,000 call center jobs are already being created each month in the U.S. By their count, over 18,000 new call center jobs were created in the U.S. during Q2.


Already more than 5 million Americans work in contact centers. Currently 17 percent of all call center positions (in-house and outsourced) are home based and 80 percent of U.S. companies plan to use at home agents in the next
few years, according to figures cited from Frost & Sullivan.


On Thursday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski presided at an event in Jeffersonville, Indiana where 175 new call center jobs were being created. He also announced 100 new call center jobs in Newark, New Jersey, 300 new jobs in Holland, Michigan, and 4,000 new jobs in St Lucie, Florida where unemployment is 12.5 percent.


Chairman Genachowski said, "This initiative involves meaningful job creation that will have a meaningful
impact across America. Bringing broadband to your town and home in the 21st century is like bringing in
electricity in the 20th – connecting you and your community to the larger economy and opening up new worlds
of commerce and opportunity."http://www.jobs4america.net/http://www.fcc.gov

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