T-Online Adds 1.5 Million DSL Customers in 2005

T-Online International added 1.5 million net DSL customers in 2005, including over 1.2 million in Germany and 276,000 in its other European markets. In Q4, there were 407,000 net new DSL customers in Germany and 102,000 net new customers in other markets.



In Germany, key DSL competitors include 1&1, AOL, Arcor, freenet.de, GMX, Lycos, and tiscali.



The company said its triple-play strategy is advancing. The company is launching a flat-rate VoIP service over its DSL network, and has signed Warner Bros. and Paramount as content partners for its broadband entertainment service. T-Online plans to offer similar services in Spain and France.

http://www.telekom3.de

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TelTel Secures $8.8 Million for its Global SIP-based Service

TelTel, a provider of SIP-based global Internet telephony services with presence-enabled features, secured $8.8 million in Series A venture capital.



TelTel offers a turnkey VoIP solution that enables service providers and enterprises to rapidly deploy VoIP and multimedia solutions to their customers.



TelTel currently has over 1.5 million registered users and partnerships with service providers worldwide. The company said it is hosting the world's largest SIP-based Internet telephony user community.



Purple Communications Ltd., Acorn Angels and Parawin Venture Capital participated in the funding.
http://www.teltel.com

Peer-to-Peer VoIP Services Need to Take a SIP

Peer-to-Peer VoIP services have proved to be very popular. Skype claims to have more than 10 million users. However, Skype and other peer-to-peer providers use proprietary technology to deliver their services. This results in potential quality of service, security and reliability issues, as there is no way to manage pure peer-to-peer routing. Additionally, the ability to improve quality and provide new services through collaboration is tough to come by in the pure peer-to-peer environment. The limitations of peer-to-peer can be overcome through the introduction of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Here are some advantages and disadvantages to consider.

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Akamai Delivers 20 Million Olympic Video Streams to Europe

The he European Broadcasting Union (EBU) leveraged the Akamai global streaming network for the delivery of live and archived footage of the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy. Leading EBU broadcasters used Akamai to stream video content of the Games on their respective Web sites to audiences within the EBU's EURvision area.



During the first five days of the Games, Akamai handled a total of over five million live and on-demand streams, which amounted to over 78 terabytes of delivered moving image data. At peak, over 40,000 concurrent streams were being viewed live during those opening days by Internet users within the territory of EURvision.



"Akamai's geo-location technologies and global delivery platform were among the components of our strategy to create a new consumption paradigm by which Internet coverage can complement comprehensive television broadcasting," said Marc Joerg, Controller of Sport, EBU. "Developments with broadband and mobile technologies are driving more innovative and customized ways in which an event such as the Olympics can be enjoyed by fans."



To adhere to syndication guidelines set forth by the IOC for the online streaming of the Olympic Games, the EBU worked with Akamai to ensure content was directed to authorized subscribers in each country or region. Akamai's geo-location technologies helped enable EBU broadcasters to avoid violation of these acquired rights.



European broadcasters that offered live or deferred streaming of the Games from their respective Web sites included ARD, ZDF in Germany, France Television France, SVT in Sweden, NOS Netherlands, YLE Finland, ETV Estonia, RUV Iceland, SRG in Switzerland and EURsport to name a few.

http://www.akamai.com

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Philips, T3G and Samsung Power TD-SCDMA Video Phone for China

Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung and T3G collaborated on the development of a TD-SCDMA video phone for the Chinese market.



The dual-mode Samsung video phone, which combines Philips EDGE Nexperia cellular system solution with a TD-SCDMA processor developed by Philips and T3G and a protocol stack developed by T3G, will be available on China's 3G network as soon as operator licenses are granted, most likely in Q2 2006.

http://www.samsung.comhttp://www.philips.com/newscenter

• T3G is a joint venture that combines Datang's TD-SCDMA expertise, Philips' semiconductor design and process capability and Samsung and Motorola's leadership in mobile handset creation.

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Vivace Semiconductor Targets Video Processing Chips

Vivace Semiconductor, a start-up based in Beverly, Massachusetts, unveiled its strategy and roadmap for delivering programmable, low-power solutions to developers of integrated displays/digital televisions (DTV) and portable media player products.



Vivace Semiconductor has developed a "ViViD Media" engine supporting multiple video and audio standards. The ViViD engine provides high performance processing for video decompression, compression and decryption through a combination of parallel processing and customized instructions and accelerators. Vivace is implementing chips in a foundry 0.13um process and will have samples available this summer.



Vivace was founded by Cary Ussery in 2005, and leverages his experience in multi-processor core development, as well as customized media processing solutions. Joining Ussery are Bryan Greear as VP of Sales, former president of NS8 Corp., a digital rights management company; Mark Indovina, VP of Engineering; and Rick Wanzenried, Director of Hardware. David French, president & CEO of Cirrus Logic (Austin, TX) is part of the founding team and serves as Chairman of the board of directors.



The company has licensed the "JazzDSP" high-performance configurable processor technology from Improv Systems, which Ussery also founded in the late 1990s and whose cores have been implemented in a variety of processes with multiple customers.

http://www.vivacesemi.com

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ADC Sees Growth in FTTx Deployments

ADC reported sales from continuing operations for Q1 2006 of $280 million, up 16% over a year earlier. The sales were driven primarily by a 75% growth in the company's fiber connectivity solutions and 25% growth in its global copper connectivity solutions, and partially offset by lower sales in other areas.



"Our mission for fiscal 2006 is global growth and following significant sales growth in key areas during our first quarter we are raising our annual sales estimate to $1.325-$1.375 billion. In our first fiscal quarter of 2006, our global fiber and copper connectivity solutions grew significantly to support FTTX network deployments in the United States and Europe," said Robert E. Switz, president and CEO of ADC.



There was a net loss (GAAP) of $2.4 million, or $(0.02) per share. Gross margin was 30.5% compared to 34.1% a year earlier.

http://www.adc.com

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NBC Leverages TANDBERG Encoding for Olympics Coverage

NBC used a myriad of TANDBERG Television products, including SD and HD encoders, professional receiver/decoders, multiplexers, modulators, ATM adapters, IP adapters and other control equipment to broadcast the Olympic Winter Games to viewers in the United States.



As the Torino Winter Olympics events were shot either in SD or HD by the Torino Olympic Broadcasting Organization, NBC had to upconvert the feeds that were in SD to HD and convert the HD feeds from 1080i/50 to 1080i/60 in Torino before transmitting the video to the United States. After the conversion process was completed, the video feeds were sent through TANDBERG Television's encoders and multiplexers via either an asynchronous serial interface (ASI) or OC-3 fiber interface to AT&T, which handled the transmission to the U.S.

http://www.tandbergtv.com/

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Shanghai Telecom Rolls Out MPEG-4 AVC with TANDBERG TV

Shanghai Telecom is rolling out an IPTV service using MPEG-4 AVC video compression based on equipment supplied by TANDBERG Television and Siemens. The full service was launched last month in Shanghai's Pudong district and is delivering over 50 channels of content from providers such as CCTV and Shanghai Media Group.



The solution for Shanghai Telecom consists of a TANDBERG Television standard definition MPEG-4 AVC head-end which provides significant bandwidth savings of up to 50% on MPEG-2, and enables superior picture and sound quality. The TANDBERG EN5930 encoder is ideal in IPTV deployments where the bandwidth limitations inherent with existing DSL platforms create a challenge for operators in providing a broadcast quality video service to their customers.

http://www.tandbergtv.com

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AudioCodes Offers 2-Line SIP Gateway

AudioCodes introduced a 2-line SIP gateway that allows residential and SOHO subscribers to connect ordinary POTS telephones or fax machines, and is interoperable with leading softswitches and SIP Application Servers for enabling legacy phone services such as caller ID, call waiting, and call forwarding. In addition, the new MP-202 gateway includes an internal router with DHCP, NAT and PPPoE capabilities enabling subscribers to connect their home PC or LAN hub/switch to it.

http://www.audiocodes.com

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Peleton Demonstrates Continuous Wave Laser Array for Optical Headend

Peleton Photonic Systems, a start-up based in Ottawa, has developed a DWDM multi-channel laser technology that allows the simultaneous generation of multiple DFB-quality laser channels. Peleton said the technology is suitable for emerging applications in optical communications such as Fiber-To-The-Home, WDM-PON and hybrid cable headends.

http://www.peleton.com

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JDSU Introduces SmartClass Family of Broadband Test Tools

JDSU introduced its SmartClass family of access field testers, including solutions for ADSL 1/2/2+ testing and an optical test set for dark fiber installation and troubleshooting. JDSU's SmartClass handheld field test tools are rugged and portable, solutions for field testing in the outside plant. http://www.jdsu.com

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Global Crossing Names Sales Team

Global Crossing has appointed Michael Toplisek as senior vice president for global enterprise and collaboration services, while Niall Anderson, Wilfried Roettgers and Julie Masino take on sales leadership roles as regional vice presidents for the United Kingdom, continental Europe and the central region of North America, respectively.

http://www.globalcrossing.com

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Japan's ACCESS Acquires IP Infusion for Networking Software

ACCESS, a global provider of mobile content delivery and Internet access technologies, agreed to acquire IP Infusion Inc., a provider of intelligent networking software for enhanced IP services. Financial terms were not disclosed.



IP Infusion provides a Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching and routing software solutions for communications equipment vendors. Its product lines cover next-generation technologies such as IPv6 and MPLS. IP Infusion recently entered the home media server market, offering core networking software for home storage-equipped servers with Internet access. The privately held company is headquartered in San Jose, California.

http://www.ipinfusion.comhttp://www.access.co.jp/english

• IP Infusion's technology had its beginnings in 1995 when the company's co-founder and CTO Kunihiro Ishiguro was working at a large Japanese ISP (a joint venture between Marubeni and British Telecom) that was building Japan's Internet backbone using standard high-speed routers. During this time, Ishiguro decided to develop a platform-independent BGP route reflector that could easily be ported to multiple platforms. In 1996, Ishiguro joined co-founder and Vice President Yoshinari Yoshikawa at Digital Magic Labs in Japan with the intention of developing platform-independent software for OSPF, BGP, and RIP for both IPv4 and IPv6. Yoshikawa and Ishiguro founded IP Infusion as a US company in 1999, with headquarters in Silicon Valley.

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Vonage Reaches 1.5 Million Lines in Service

Vonage has exceeded 1.5 million lines in service. The company had reached the one million line milestone in September 2005.

http://www.vonage.com

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LuminentOIC Releases 200-km DWDM SFP Transceivers

LuminentOIC, a supplier of metro & access transceivers and Fiber-to-the-Premise solutions, announced the availability of the industry's first 200-km reach DWDM SFP transceivers. LuminentOIC has been shipping 80-km and 120-km DWDM SFP products in volume since mid-2005, and now introduces an extended-reach 200-km product. In addition to achieving a longer fiber span, all DWDM SFP products are now available in both a standard and a high output power version, enabling a larger optical budget of 31dB.

http://www.luminentoic.com

• LuminentOIC, a wholly owned subsidiary of MRV Communications, operates R&D and manufacturing facilities in Taiwan.

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Siemens SHC Licenses ANT Galio Client and TV Application Manager

Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices has licensed the ANT GalioT Client to enable existing and new TV services across a range of Siemens SHC devices in worldwide DVB/IPTV hybrid and pure IPTV markets.



The ANT Galio Client is a TV Application Manager that provides a dynamic framework for set-top boxes, televisions, portable devices and PCs. It controls device and service capabilities while presenting an advanced and consistent look and feel across applications. Galio unifies the user experience across services and client devices, simplifying product introduction and network roll-out.

http://www.antplc.com

	It's Television, but not as we know it. . .
A new TV Application Manager is needed to enable tomorrow's television. Consumers will use the TV Application Manager to take care of all aspects of digital media and interactive service delivery between digital television and connected home products.

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ECI Expands its Optical Transport Network Solution

ECI Telecom has expanded its Optical Transport Network (OTN) solution to include anew XDM-40 optical metro access and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) platform.



The XDM-40 integrates OTN transponders and combiners in a small and cost-effective package. It is managed end-to-end from the optical layer via ECI's LightSoft network management system. It features pluggable optics, CWDM and WDM capabilities, optimal support for 1G and 10G Ethernet, storage extension and support for SDH/SONET. The XDM-40 also uses the same universal modular service card that is used in other members of the XDM family.
http://www.ecitele.com

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MetaSwitch Deploys 200th Switch at BroadRiver

MetaSwitch announced the delivery of its 200th Class 4/5 switching system to Atlanta-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), BroadRiver Communication Corporation.



BroadRiver is deploying the MetaSwitch CA9020 call agent, MG3510 media gateway and UC9000 application server, enabling capabilities such as hosted voice over IP services. The carrier is also using the platform's PacketCable Network-based Call Signaling (NCS) capability to expand into residential services over a partner's cable network.



MetaSwitch said more than 200 of its switches are currently deployed. The company also noted a doubling in size of its US support team over the past year; increased emphasis on the delivery of complete end-to-end network solutions, based on expansion of the MetaSwitch partnership and interoperability program in new lab facilities in California; the establishment of a nationwide professional services team, staffed by experienced engineers and project managers, to help streamline customer deployments; major internal investment in tools and processes to better support a fast expanding customer base; and ongoing development of its customer training capacity, with a range of new courses in the pipeline.

http://www.metaswitch.com

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Cable & Wireless to Shed 30,000 Customers

Cable & Wireless provided an update on its restructuring plans, saying its UK business plans to reduce its customer base from a total of approximately 30,000 customers to about 3,000 large corporate customers and public institutions. The company hopes that concentrating on fewer, larger customers, and by reducing the complexity in its products, systems and processes, it will be able to increase its margins from 33% today to 40%. To reduce costs, the company plans to cut its UK headcount (C&W UK and Energis) from more than 5,500 to between 2,500 and 3,500.



The company confirmed its commitment to deploying a next generation network and has allocated GBP 50 million in CAPEX in 2005/6. The pace of deployment will depend on customer uptake. The company is still pursing an unbundled local loop strategy and has a target of 900 unbundled exchanges by September.



A webcast is available on the company site.

http://www.cw.com

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Cox Upgrades Core Backbone with Juniper's T-series Routers

Cox Communications is upgrading its core, national IP backbone with Juniper Networks' T-series core routing platforms. Cox previously deployed Juniper Networks M- and T-series routing platforms to support multiple applications including peering, Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) aggregation, high-speed Internet and video in its metro core networks. Cox is now upgrading with T640 core routers. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Cox also relies on a range of Juniper Networks security solutions-including the Juniper Networks Integrated Security Gateways (ISG) and a full range of appliances ranging from the NetScreen-5GT to the NetScreen-208--to support the managed security service offered by Cox Business Services. The security solutions also protect key elements of Cox's IP/MPLS backbone and provide site-to-site IP VPNs.

http://www.juniper.net

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