Microsemi Completes Symmetricom Acquisition - Precision Timing

Microsemi completed its previously announced acquisition of Symmetricom for approximately $230 million, or $7.18 per share, representing a premium of 49 percent based on the average closing price of Symmetricom's shares of common stock during the 90 trading days ended Oct. 18, 2013.

Microsemi said the deal enables it to offer the industry's largest and most complete timing product offering spanning from the core of the network to the edge and including the source, synchronization and distribution of end-to-end timing solutions.

Symmetricom specialized in highly precise timekeeping technologies for data, voice, mobile and video networks and services. It provides timekeeping in GPS satellites, national time references, and national power grids as well as in critical military and civilian networks. The company is based in San Jose, California.

Microsemi's other product lines include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. The company is based in Aliso Viejo, California.

"We look forward to integrating the talented Symmetricom team and leveraging our product and technology synergies to develop solutions that contribute to our customers' success," said James J. Peterson, chairman of the board and CEO of Microsemi. "We are eager to drive the business forward for our stakeholders as we continue to execute Microsemi's growth strategy."

http://www.microsemi.com/

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Brazil's Copel Telecom Upgrades to 100G with Coriant

Copel Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Companhia Paranaense de Energia (Copel), has selected Coriant's coherent 100G technology to upgrade its optical backbone, which has been using the hiT 7300 intelligent transport platform since 2010.

Copel Telecom's backbone network boasts over 9,330 km of fiber optic cables deployed between its main ring and urban radials (self-sustained cables), totaling more than 30,000 km and reaching more than 400 cities in south Brazil.

"A robust backbone network allows us to support economic development and information exchange for both large and small enterprises, whose service needs also continue to evolve. We chose Coriant's proven solution because it offers an exceptional level of flexibility in the provisioning of high-capacity services, and an easy upgrade path to transmission speeds of 100G and beyond," stated Antonio Carlos W. P. Melo, chief technology officer, Copel Telecom.

http://www.coriant.com

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China Mobile Demos International TDD/FDD VoLTE Call

China Mobile demonstrated international HD voice and video calls between its VoLTE trial networks in Chengdu and Hangzhou with the VoLTE network of a South Korean mobile operator.  Huawei participated in the demo.

http://pr.huawei.com/en/news/hw-316012-volte.htm#.UpUX5MRDuP0

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Acacia Acquires More HSPA and LTE Patents

Acacia Research Corporation confirmed that it has has acquired US patents and foreign counterparts related to cellular HSPA and LTE technology.  The name of the seller and the purchase price were not disclosed.

“We are rapidly becoming the leader in technology licensing and we continue to grow our base of future revenues by adding new patent portfolios," commented Matthew Vella, CEO and President of Acacia Research Corporation.

http://acaciaresearch.com/

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Spain's Jazztel to Deploy Huawei's 400G Core Router

Spain's Jazztel will be the first operator in Western Europe to deploy the Huawei NE5000E 400G core router.  The Huawei NE5000E core router allows 400 Gbps linecards, which support flexible networking of 100GE ports, 40GE ports, and 10GE ports. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"The burgeoning mobile bandwidth services and video services are spurring the growth of backbone network traffic and present an opportunity for the 400G technology in the lab to make its debut on a live network," said Gai Gang, president of Huawei Carrier IP Product Line. "After years of comprehensive research on operators' needs for network reconstruction, Huawei is now playing a leading role in 400G platform design. With the 400G platform technology, Huawei aims to simplify operators' network architecture, improve device performance and capacity, and construct sustainable IP backbone networks."

http://www.huawei.com

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SK Telecom Tests Virtualized Evolved Packet Core with NSN

Nokia Solutions and Networks and SK Telecom demonstrated a joint proof-of-concept for Evolved Packet Core (EPC) virtualization based on Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) principles.

The companies said their project showed successful results for capacity scaling for both throughput and signaling traffic in connection with smartphone usage patterns.

NSN has previously demonstrated a complete EPC solution in a cloud environment, including both virtualized Mobility Management Entity (MME) and virtualized S/P-Gateway elements. NSN said its virtualized EPC helps operators improve their competitiveness by rapidly introducing optimal services customized to its environment while running on off-the shelf commercial IT hardware.

“It has been satisfying to work with our long-standing partner, NSN, in yet another successful proof-of-concept project,” said Choi Jin-sung, Executive Vice President and Head of ICT R&D Division at SK Telecom. “We have now verified the feasibility of telco cloud technology and can now make plans for our future commercial cloud solutions for enhanced flexibility and operational efficiency.”

“I’m proud of our work with SK Telecom in this exciting demonstration of our telco cloud capabilities for virtualized EPC,” said Reino Tammela, vice president, Packet Core at NSN. “This successful project shows the full benefit of our Liquid Core portfolio. We have now completed proof-of-concept projects for voice as well as packet core network functions virtualization. We proved that handling both control and user plane traffic in the cloud is feasible and a viable option to meet the performance requirements of data traffic growth.”

http://www.nsn.com
http://www.sktelecom.com

• In October 2013, NSN reinforced its multi-stack approach to telco cloud to give operators full flexibility in their choice of cloud platforms.  The company confirmed that it is working closely on cloud technology with major operators, leading cloud stack vendors such as VMware, open source cloud platforms  such as OpenStack and the ETSI Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Industry Specification Group (ISG). NSN also launched its cloud-ready NetAct 8 , which helps simplify network operations, reduce operational expenses and deliver very high availability. NetAct 8 includes the NSN Cloud Application Manager, which provides off-the-shelf management, orchestration and elasticity for virtual network functions.

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Las Vegas Pilots LTE Public Safety Net with Alcatel-Lucent

The Las Vegas Metro Police Department, along with the Nevada Department of Transportation and other first responders, conducted a six-month trial of a 4G LTE public safety network in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent.

The trial, which occurred in a designated section of Las Vegas, used 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum allocated to the First Responders Network Authority (FirstNet).  The network delivered real-time use of video gathered from the Las Vegas area, collaboration, real-time vehicle tracking, remote office applications, WiFi and a secure virtual private network (VPN) to trial participants.

Alcatel-Lucent provided an LTE eNodeB, a 7705 SAR-8 service aggregation Router, a 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM), and a local Serving/Packet Data Network Gateway.  Axis Communications provided its ruggedized, vibration-resistant AXIS M3114-R Fixed Dome Network Camera.  CalAmp Fusion provided a multi-network LTE/FirstNet ready router with Wi-Fi. Cassidian Communications provided a Broadband Vehicle Router.

“For more than ten years Alcatel-Lucent and Bell Labs have been promoting the use of open standards-compliant commercial broadband technology to build a nationwide interoperable public safety network. Our work with the departments in Las Vegas is another step closer to our country having that network," stated Fred Scalera, Director, Public Safety Strategies of Alcatel-Lucent.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/category/firstnet

• In October he FCC adopted technical service rules, including power limits and other technical parameters, to govern the spectrum for First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) nationwide wireless broadband system.  The rules are intended to provide a foundation for FirstNet's operations, help avoid harmful interference to spectrum users in adjacent bands, and expedite the availability of equipment for use on the public safety network, thereby fostering competition and innovation in the marketplace.  The FCC has granted a license to FirstNet for the combined use of two spectrum blocks  -- one block that was previously designated for public safety use (763-768/793-798 MHz) and a second, spectrally adjacent block (758-763/788-793 MHz).  The FCC said this action consolidates the technical requirements governing both spectrum blocks into a uniform set of rules, which will provide vendors with specifications they need to develop equipment for use on this spectrum.

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Qualcomm Finalizes $800 Million Sale of Omnitracs

Qualcomm completed the the sale of its Omnitracs subsidiary to Vista Equity Partners (Vista), a U.S.-based private equity firm, for approximately $800 million in cash.  The sale includes all of Omnitracs' operations in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The deal was first announced in August.

"Omnitracs was one of Qualcomm's earliest businesses and has been a leader in fleet management and telematics for more than 25 years. We'd like to thank all of the employees, suppliers and customers for helping make Omnitracs a success, and look forward to many more years of accomplishments," said Derek Aberle, executive vice president and group president, Qualcomm Incorporated.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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China Initiates Anti-Monopoly Investigation into Qualcomm

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has commenced an investigation of Qualcomm relating to the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law (AML).

In a statement, Qualcomm said it is not aware of any charge by the NDRC that Qualcomm has violated the AML.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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Equinix Hires Senior Exec from Level 3

Equinix appointed Karl Strohmeyer as president of the Americas, a role in which he will be responsible for the management, strategy and growth plan for Equinix in the Americas, with P&L accountability for the region.

Strohmeyer joins Equinix from Level 3 Communications, where he was group vice president for the North American enterprise group. Prior to this role, Strohmeyer led the Global Carrier Channel for Level 3 and managed sales teams responsible for more than $1 billion in carrier and service provider revenue.

During his 12-year tenure at Level 3, Strohmeyer held several executive positions, supervising commercial services and large deal teams, overseeing customer operations and client service, and managing strategic relationships with other companies, including channel partners.

http://www.equinix.com

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Alcatel-Lucent USA Offers $250 Million in Senior Notes

Alcatel-Lucent USA announced plans to offer $250 million aggregate principal amount of its 6.750% Senior Notes due November 2020.  The net proceeds will be used, together with available cash, to repay  the €298 million Senior Secured Term Loan Facility due 2019.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Intel: From Silicon to Platforms

"If it computes, it does it best with Intel" -- this statement underscores Intel's mission, said company CEO Brian Krzanich, speaking at the Intel Investor's Day conference in Santa Clara, California. Intel is dedicated to "a new pragmatism" that will make the company much more market driven, said Krzanich, with a the goal of capturing significant inroads in the data center and mobile computing. Among the changes to the way the company does business is that decision to open its foundry to any company able to utilize its silicon and the decision to create platforms for the data center, not just server and switching silicon.

Some highlights taken from half-dozen executive presentations (now available on the company's website).

Data Center

• Intel sees a 15% CAGR for data center products through 2016.
• Intel's data center business spans Enterprise, Telco, HPC, Work stations and Cloud.  The company will move from delivering just silicon to complete solutions for each of these segments.
• Intel believes the Telco market will transition to common server platforms for many workloads, including signal processing at the edge, control plane processing, application processing and data plane processing.  This is a major transition and will help offset Service Provider CAPEX/OPEX.
• AT&T's Supplier Domain 2.0 program is an example of the move to open software and hardware solutions.
• The move to SDN and NFV will also drive the move to Intel architectures. Over 15 major telcos worldwide are in the process of qualifying new systems based on Intel systems.
• Proprietary network appliances are being virtualized and migrated on open servers based on Intel.
• Intel currently estimates that it has about 5% of the overall network equipment compute market, compared with 94% of the enterprise server compute market.  The company believes the performance gains of its Xeon processors will enable it to challenge the ASIC-based systems currently used in many networking platforms.
• Intel estimates that every 400 new Connected Devices sold leads to the sale of 1 new server. Every new 20 Digital Signs leads to 1 new server.
• Internet of Things will drive faster change: a metro area smart traffic deployment will require 30K cameras, 10K gates, 2.5K servers, 650 network switches, 250 storage systems -- based on a real project in China.
• 6 of 7 top data center customers bought “higher bin” CPUs vs. prior year.
• Intel delivers unique server processors for eBay (liquid cooled), Facebook (cold storage server), and Nuance (optimized for voice processing)
• Intel is delivering its new open rack-scale architecture to the Open Compute project and a similar "Scorpion" initiative in China.
• In terms of connecting systems in a rack, copper will be challenged >25Gbps.
• Current optical interconnect products are challenged >100m, >25Gbps.
• Intel's Silicon Photonics has demonstrated 800m reach at 25Gbps.  This will enter production in Q1 2014.
• Intel currently holds No.1 market share in enterprise SSDs.  Upcoming technologies will redefine the boundary between memory and storage.

Mobility and PC

• About 1.5 billion smartphones and tablets will ship in 2014 (overall market).
• Intel believes the PC market is stabilizing, although still declining at single digit rates.
• In 2014 aims for 40 million tablets sold -- a 4X gain over expected 2013 Intel tablet shipments.
• Intel seeks to change the "PC experience" by pushing 2-in-1 convertible and detachable PC/Tablet devices, with prices under $300.
• Look for Intel-powered tablets on the market for under $100.
• The first LTE chipset (XMM7160) is shipping and the LTE-Advanced chipset (XMM7260) will be out next year.
• The forthcoming Broxton chip (next gen Atom) will offer a unique design that will allow it to be quickly adapted for specialized devices. Target date is mid-2015.
• A new SoFIA chipset will provide integrated global LTE multi-comm connectivity with Intel Atom inside.  Initially it will be built in an external foundry for market pragmatics, but brought back inside with a move to 14nm.
• Intel believes "perceptual computing" will be a big trend - using voice and motion sensors to make computing a 3D experience.

Manufacturing

• Intel's 10nm process technology will be ready in 2015.
• Opening the foundry means focusing on a much wider range of customers.
• Initial foundry customers include achronix, Altera, Microsemi, Netronome and Tabula.

Archived materials are here:
http://intelstudios.edgesuite.net/im/2013/live_im.html

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NTT DATA to Acquire Optimal Solutions Integration for SAP Consulting

NTT DATA will acquire Optimal Solutions Integration, a consulting company based in Irving, Texas that specializes in SAP services.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

Optimal offers a broad range of planning, implementation, and maintenance services for the SAP product suite.

NTT DATA said its SAP-related revenues already exceed $1 billion annually and the acquisition will expand this business. Optimal’s 2012 fiscal year revenue was $153 million.  With the acquisition expected to close in early 2014, NTT DATA will have approximately 7,500 SAP professionals, including more than 950 from Optimal.

“Optimal complements and brings further innovation to support the growing market demand for emerging technologies in the SAP space such as HANA, big data, analytics, mobility, and cloud, areas where NTT DATA is heavily focused today,” stated Robb Rasmussen, President of NTT DATA’s Enterprise Services.  “Optimal is well-respected in the SAP ecosystem and brings business process expertise in industries such as Consumer, Retail, Wholesale and Distribution, Mining, Public Sector, and Manufacturing.”

"This combination is all about growth,” said Gurvendra Suri, CEO of Optimal. "We are very excited to bring our SAP expertise to NTT DATA to strengthen its leadership position in the market. This combination strengthens an already robust SAP services portfolio, providing more options for our clients and opening up new opportunities to expand and innovate in ways others cannot.”

http://americas.nttdata.com/News/News/Press%20Releases/Press-Releases/2013-Press-Releases/press-release-21-nov-2013.aspx

http://www.optimalsol.com/#&panel1-1

More recent acquisitions from NTT

NTT Com Expands Global Cloud Vision with 2 Investments: Virtela and RagingWire

Monday, October 28, 2013  Data Centers, Japan, Mergers and Acquisitions, NTT, NTT Com  No comments

NTT Communications announced two major international investments:  the acquisition of Virtela for US$525 million in cash, and the acquisition of an 80% stake in RagingWire for US$350 million. Virtela Technology Services (Virtela), which is based in Denver, is a leading global managed and cloud network services provider serving over 500 multinational companies.

NTT Comm to Acquire Arkadin for Cloud Collaboration

Monday, August 05, 2013  #cloud, Cloud, France, Mergers and Acquisitions, NTT, UC  No comments

NTT Communications will acquire a maximum 91.2% equity stake in Arkadin, which delivers SaaS conference-related solutions covering audio, web, video conferencing and unified communications services. Arkadin, which was launched in 2001 by CEO, Olivier de Puymorin, serves approximately 37,000 customers in 32 countries, including France, Germany, the UK, USA, Australia, China, Singapore and Japan. The company is based in Paris.

NTT to Acquire Solutionary for Managed Security Services

Monday, June 17, 2013  Cyber Security, Mergers and Acquisitions, NTT, Service Providers  No comments

NTT agreed to acquire Solutionary, a privately held company based in Omaha, Nebraska that specializes in managed security in an all-cash transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed. Solutionary is a pure-play managed security service provider (MSSP) that helps enterprises fulfill the requirements of major compliance frameworks (such as PCI DSS, GLBA, FFIEC, HIPAA, HITECH and SOX). Solutionary's cloud-based ActiveGuard security services and analytics.

NTT to Acquire Centerstance for Cloud Integration Expertise

Tuesday, September 18, 2012  Mergers and Acquisitions, NTT. Cloud  No comments

NTT will acquire Centerstance, a U.S.-based consulting company specializing in cloud integration projects, for an undisclosed sum. Centerstance is a platinum cloud alliance partner for Salesforce.com.  The company is based in Portland, Oregon.  The company helps clients to identify and move key business processes to the cloud leveraging the Salesforce.com platform.

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NTT DOCOMO Updated Indoor Base Station + Antenna for LTE-A

NTT DOCOMO has developed an indoor multi-band base station and antenna that are newly compatible with the 1.5 and 1.7 GHz frequency bands for LTE-Advanced in addition to the conventionally supported 2 GHz band.  Maximum downlink is rated at 150 Mbps currently and up to 225 Mbps when DOCOMO launches its LTE-Advanced service.  Installations of the new base station and antenna are beginning immediately in parts of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures.

DOCOMO said its new multi-band base station fits into limited spaces in indoor locations and the new multi-band antenna, which is about the same size as the current single-band antenna, can replace existing antennas using the same space.

https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2013/1121_00.html

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Facebook Backs RocksDB Open Database in Flash

At last week's Data@Scale event, Facebook announced support for RocksDB, a high-performance, embedded key-value store database optimized for flash storage.

Facebook said RocksDB builds on LevelDB to be scalable to run on servers with many CPU cores, to efficiently use fast storage, to support IO-bound, in-memory and write-once workloads, and to be flexible to allow for innovation.

A video by Dhruba Borthakur, software engineer at Facebook, presents Rocksdb.


https://www.facebook.com/Engineering
http://rocksdb.org/intro.pdf
http://rocksdb.org/

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Twitter Implements Forward Secrecy

Twitter announced the implementation of Forward Secrecy for traffic on twitter.com, api.twitter.com, and mobile.twitter.com.  The new security seeks to defend against an adversary that may be recording all of Twitter's encrypted HTTPS traffic.

On a blog post, Twitter's engineering team said that unlike traditional HTTPS, Forward Security enables the EC Diffie-Hellman cipher suites, which lets the client and server share a random session key without ever sending the key across the network, even under encryption.

Twitter is encouraging other websites to adopt Forward Secrecy as "the new normal" in web traffic, saying this type of protection is increasing important on today's Internet.

https://blog.twitter.com/2013/forward-secrecy-at-twitter-0

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NYT: N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power

The New York Times reported on a top secret, 2012 N.S.A. document leaked by Edward Snowden that outlines the agency's ambition to expand its surveillance powers through new access channels, by integrating its technical tools and by leveraging global business trends in data and communications services.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/us/politics/nsa-report-outlined-goals-for-more-power.html

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Level 3 Opens Tier III Data Center in Bogotá

Level 3 Communications has launched its newest data center in Bogotá, Colombia. The new facility adds 1,700 square meters to Level 3’s current data center complex in Bogotá.  The Tier III data center is built for earthquake preparedness and energy efficiency.  It implements the 2N philosophy (system + system), which results in higher redundancy and reliability.

“Demand for colocation, housing, hosting and value-added services continues to grow in Colombia as the adoption of cloud-based applications increases,” said Gabriel del Campo, Level 3's senior vice president of Data Centers for Latin America. “As a result, companies are increasingly looking to outsource these services to ensure they can capitalize on efficient cloud solutions and remain focused on their core business objectives. Level 3's data center services range from traditional network equipment hosting to comprehensive support for managed IT solutions, helping position enterprises for successful growth amid a dynamic global marketplace.”

http://www.level3.com/datacenter

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Dell'Oro: LTE RAN Market Advances, Nearly Offsetting Declines in GSM, WCDMA, CDMA

The LTE RAN market continued to grow at a rapid pace in 3Q13, nearly offsetting declining RAN technologies (GSM, WCDMA, CDMA), according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group.  After three quarters of consecutive year-over-year RAN growth, Dell'Oro Group estimates that the total RAN (2G, 3G, 4G, excluding TD-SCDMA and SP WiFi) market declined approximately one percent year-over-year in 3Q13.

"Even though growth is slowing down in some of the more advanced Mobile Broadband (MBB) markets, we are now seeing great demand for LTE in other markets, particularly Europe, with LTE RAN revenues more than doubling year-over-year", said Stefan Pongratz, Director of Mobile RAN research at the Dell'Oro Group.

Other highlights from the 3Q13 quarterly market share report:

• Ericsson maintained its dominant position in LTE with a 15 point four-quarter trailing share lead over number two, Huawei.
• Alcatel-Lucent passed NSN to take the number three spot in LTE RAN revenue share in the quarter.  NSN maintained the number three LTE position on a four-quarter trailing basis.
• Total RAN market is expected to grow in 2014, as growth in China offsets declines in the U.S. and Japan.
• Dell'Oro Group maintains an optimistic view of the Small Cell RAN market with small cell revenues expected to account for approximately one percent of total RAN revenues in 2014.

http://www.delloro.com

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NTT DOCOMO to Deliver Wi-Fi on Bus

NTT DOCOMO will begin delivering Wi-Fi on busses in Japan later next month.

The service uses the LTE network to enable an on-board router to supply up to 72 Mbps downstream.  The company plans to have 1,452 busses installed by the end of March 2014.

https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/info/news_release/2013/11/22_00.html

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