Equant Transforms into Orange Business Services

France Telecom launched "Orange Business Services" as its unified portfolio of enterprise services, including Equant's international IP communication and IT services, France Telecom's enterprise communications services and Orange's existing leadership in mobile for businesses.



Orange Business Services will offer a set of integrated services including both fixed and mobile voice and data, network services, managed & IT services and outsourcing.



Some key facts on Orange Business Services.

• a total of 29,000 people in 166 countries and territories



• currently accounts for 12% of the global communications solutions market and 29% of the business mobile market across its European mobile footprint.



• claims 3,750 multinational companies as customers



• serves 400,000 businesses in France and 40,000 local public sector organisations in France



• 1 million mobile business customers and their 8 million end users



• serves 1,300 trading floors in 58 countries with trading desks & networks



• connections to IP VPNs have grown by 59% between Q1 05 and Q1 06 all over the world. The company now maintains 213,000 IP VPN connections.



• owns and manages the world's largest IP VPN, reaching 220 countries, including 14 Russian and 19 Chinese cities.



• France Telecom / Orange have mobile operations in 21 countries



• Orange has an agreement with US wireless operator, Cingular, to provide consolidated mobile services to multinationals



• Orange customers can roam across 423 cellular networks in 163 countries

http://www.francetelecom.com

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France Telecom Unites Mobile, Wanadoo, and IPTV under Orange Brand

France Telecom debuted its new Orange brand, uniting its Wanadoo Internet, IPTV and Orange mobile services. The new label is aimed at delivering a unique and simplified customer experience, based on a joint portal, unified customer service, shared customer loyalty program and renovated high street shops in France. It also marks a strategic step in the company's NeXT strategy to transform itself into a nimble provider of next-generation products and services.



The Orange brand will now include all the Group's activities worldwide, except for traditional telephony offers, which will retain the France Telecom brand in France and the incumbent operator's where relevant.



The France Telecom Group itself is now symbolized by the ampersand, while the Orange brand represents the offerings and services to consumers and businesses.



Key facets of the Orange re-branding include:

• a single portal, www.orange.fr, to access the brand's Internet and mobile universe, for news, entertainment and communication;
  
  
• A single invoice for the various services. The tag "Wanadoo becomes Orange" will be placed on the Internet invoice for several months, to prevent any confusion for customers;
  
  
• A unified customer service, 3900, for streamlined management of the customer's relations with the Group;
  
  
• A shared customer loyalty program beginning this fall, to reward the loyalty of all fixed-line, mobile and Internet customers.
  
  
• Fixed Mobile Convergence via "Unik", a 2-in-1 telephone that at home connects automatically to the Livebox via WiFi and all calls become unlimited, 24-by-7. Away from home, Unik operates like a traditional mobile phone. Unik requires an Orange Broadband subscription, a Livebox, and a special terminal (starting at EUR 99). It will be available in September, 2006.
  
  
• Orange Optimales, "all included" packages with a switched line, the 8 MégaMax broadband Internet service, digital TV and 24-by-7 call plans.
  
  
• High Definition Voice for Livebox customers: unlimited IP calls with unequaled sound quality.
  
  
• High Definition ADSL Television for "HD Ready" TV owners.
  
  
• Unlimited TV-on-mobile packages, with the TV, Totale TV and Sport options.
  
  
• In the UK, "Free Orange Broadband" for Orange mobile pay monthly customers. Orange consumers signing up to a new pay monthly mobile contract with a talk plan over £30 will benefit from free broadband. There is no connection fee and the broadband package - worth £17.99 a month - includes up-to-8-meg broadband, an Orange Livebox (wireless modem), and Orange Wireless & Talk - Orange's Internet phone service which offers free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines. The UK service also offers the promise of one email, one address book, one portal for mobile, fixed-line and broadband; cheaper calls to Orange mobiles through new "Anytime" broadband talk service; and a roadmap of future Orange interconnected services.

"This is a great day for France Telecom, but particularly for our customers, who will begin to discover a new digital world driven by openness and simplicity," announced Didier Lombard, Chairman and CEO of France Telecom. "The new Orange, brought by a new France Telecom, embodies the efforts we have made over the last year to move toward greater convergence and give our customers the opportunity to enhance and simplify their daily lives, both at home and at work."http://www.francetelecom.com

• As of 31-March-2006, France Telecom was serving 8.1 million ADSL customers in Europe, representing an increase of 10% since 31-Dec-2005. This includes 4.9 million ADSL customers in France, representing a consumer ADSL market share of 49.8% in France.
  
  
  
  The number of ADSL TV subscribers reached 229,000 at quarter's end, up from 102,000 a year earlier.
  
  
  
  France Telecom also reached 1.2 million VoIP customers in France, up by 377,000 for the quarter.
  
  
  
  The number of LiveBox gateways marketed in Europe surged to 2.4 million (2.1 million in France), up from 489,000 a year earlier.

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Agere to Supply Chipsets for SIRIUS Satellite Radio

Agere Systems will provide a new, advanced system-on-a-chip (SoC) chip set to manufacturers of SIRIUS radios. SIRIUS products that will use this new Agere SoC include satellite radio receivers used in automotive, home, portable and navigation applications. These receivers are scheduled for delivery to consumers next year.



SIRIUS currently has more than 4 million subscribers and expects to surpass 6.2 million subscribers by the end of 2006.


http://www.agere.com

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ADC and Andrew to Merge, Targeting Wireline + Wireless Solutions

ADC and Andrew Corporation agreed to merge, creating a wireline + wireless network infrastructure supplier with $3.3 billion in annual global sales. The deal is structured as a stock-for-stock merger with Andrew becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of ADC. The combined company will be based at ADC's world headquarters in Minnesota with ADC's John A. Blanchard continuing as non-executive chairman, and ADC's Robert E. Switz continuing as its president and CEO.



ADC supplies broad-based connectivity solutions for copper, coaxial, fiber, radio frequency, broadcast and enterprise networks. Andrew provides broad-based wireless solutions for antennas, cable products, base station subsystems, in-building and distributed coverage, geolocation systems and satellite communications.



The combined company will have approximately 20,000 employees worldwide of which approximately 37% are in the United States & Canada, 22% are in Europe, Middle East and Africa, 25% are in Asia-Pacific and 16% in Latin America.



"With accelerating globalization and consolidation among telecommunications service providers and communications equipment suppliers, now is the right time for ADC and Andrew to join forces and grow value as a world leader in network infrastructure solutions," said Ralph E. Faison, president and CEO of Andrew.

http://www.adc.comhttp://www.andrew.com

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TI Releases WLAN Development Kit for Consumer Electronics

Texas Instruments released its Consumer Electronics WLAN Developer Kit (CE WLAN DK) 2.0, providing manufacturers with the systems-level building blocks they need to add Wi-Fi connectivity to battery-operated devices such as digital still cameras, portable media players and emerging communications and entertainment applications.



TI's development platform approach offers systems-level tools, including host processor support. TI's CE WLAN DK 2.0 is built to interface directly with leading processor platforms using an SDIO interface such as OMAP processors and processors based on DaVinci technology. The CE WLAN DK 2.0 is available as part of the platform and comprises a hardware reference design, WLAN chipset and software driver package. The kit is tailored for portable applications and optimized for performance, coverage, battery life and size.
http://www.ti.com/cewlan

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Avaya Selected for Vanguard's IP Telephony Net with 18,000 End-points

Avaya has been selected by Vanguard, the second largest mutual fund firm in the U.S., for IP Telephony networking, applications and more than 18,000 IP endpoints around the world. The contract also includes project design, implementation and management, plus five years of maintenance services provided by Avaya Global Services.



Vanguard anticipates the IP telephony network will help it to reduce costs by more than $1-million annually.

http://www.avaya.com

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AMCC to Investigate Stock Option Practices

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation announced that its Audit Committee, which is comprised of independent directors, is reviewing the company's historical stock option grant practices and related accounting.



This company said its review is proactive and voluntary and was initiated in response to recently reported industry issues around option pricing practices.

http://www.amcc.com

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Atheros and Broadcom Demonstrate 802.11n Draft Compatibility

Atheros Communications and Broadcom announced interoperability between their draft 802.11n solutions. During the last month, the companies have jointly conducted interoperability testing between Atheros' XSPAN and Broadcom Intensi-fi chipsets. Tests have verified that the solutions work together at throughput speeds greater than 100 Mbps, using mandatory modes of the IEEE 802.11n specification (draft 1.0).

\http://www.atheros.comhttp://www.broadcom.com

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Narad Announces "EtherNode" Switched HFC Architecture

Narad Networks unveiled its new "EtherNode" switched hybrid fiber coax (HFC) architecture designed to extend Ethernet services to business customers from any multiple system operator (MSO) fiber network over any available medium, including fiber, coax, or wireless.



Narad said that in cases where business fiber or metro fiber passes near the end of a coax trunk, its new EtherNodes could switch optical Ethernet capacity onto coax trunks with minimal -- perhaps even zero plant downtime. The company argues that its "deep" Fiber To The Node (FTTN) architecture is a significant advance over historical Narad FTTN insofar as it no longer relies upon insertion of the Narad signal at the HFC node. With EtherNodes, the fiber in HFC can be found at any depth and in any location on the network.



Additionally, Narad EtherNodes can now be built in a variety of new, non-coax specific architectures. Where MSOs want to maximize business services capacity with minimal expense, Narad now supports deep fiber architectures, including Fiber-To-The-Curb (FTTC), and Fiber-To-The-Premise (FTTP).



"Over the years MSOs have deployed a significant number of CWDM-based fiber drops to serve individual enterprise customers. This consumes one gigabit of capacity and two lambdas for a customer that uses only a small fraction of this capacity. By inserting an FTTxSWITCH on this existing fiber, the same fiber can serve a large number of customers. MSOs that are running low on lambdas in nodes with lots of business customers can now use fiber EtherNodes to continue to expand their customer base with no new lambdas and significantly less construction required," said Chuck Kaplan, COO of Narad Networks.



Narad's new FTTxSWITCH, with support for deep EtherNodes in FTTN, FTTC and FTTP configurations will be available in limited quantities in October 2006.

http://www.naradnetworks.com

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Motorola to Demo AdvancedTCA with 10 Gbps Ethernet Switching

Motorola plans to demonstrate a 10Gbps Ethernet AdvancedTCA switching blade integrated into its "Centellis" 3600 Series communications server at next week's GLOBALCOMM 2006 in Chicago. The 10 Gbps test system, which will use switching technology developed by Broadcom, provides backwards compatibility to currently deployed 1GbE systems .



"Adding 10Gbps Ethernet switching -- designed with telecom in mind -- to our portfolio is key to extending the ability of ATCA to address a broad range of data plane applications. Network equipment providers will be able to deploy applications such as IPTV transport, Video on Demand and Community Gaming that require high bandwidth I/O or high bandwidth storage or a combination of the two on their standards-based common platforms built using Motorola's open communications servers," said Shlomo Pri-Tal, director, technology office, Embedded Communications Computing, Motorola.

http://www.motorola.com

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Axerra Expands in Russia

Axerra Networks announced the opening of a new office in Moscow, Russia. The office will support new and existing customers in Russia, the CIS, and the Baltic States, where Pseudo-Wire solutions are in demand. Recently, for example, Axerra successfully completed installations for UralSviazInform, the largest service provider in the Ural region of Russia, serving over 7 million subscribers. Axerra's Pseudo-Wire solutions allow UralSviazInform to deliver a complete portfolio of services over an IP/Ethernet access network to customers in the region.



Mr. Roman Ferster will serve as Axerra's General Manager in Russia, the CIS, and the Baltic States. Mr. Ferster has nearly 20 years of experience in sales and business development, with over 10 years in the Russian, CIS, and Eastern European telecommunications market. Prior to joining Axerra, Mr. Ferster was General Manager of RGRCOM, a leading telecommunications distributor in Moscow, Business Development Manager at RAD Data Communications in Russia, and Regional Director of Sales - Central and Eastern Europe at ECI Telecom.

http://www.axerra.com

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Sprint and RIM Offer Two EV-DO-Capable Devices

Sprint and Research In Motion (RIM) introduced a new BlackBerry 7130e capable of taking advantage of broadband-like speeds delivered on the Sprint Power Vision Network (average download speeds of 400-700 kbps and up to 2Mbps. The handset device offers features like Bluetooth Wireless technology, speakerphone, high-resolution color display and SureType keyboard technology. The BlackBerry 7130e can also be used as a tethered modem in conjunction with a laptop for high-speed Internet and data application access anywhere Sprint has coverage.



Customers purchasing the BlackBerry 7250 from Sprint can also now benefit from broadband-like data speeds of the Sprint Power Vision Network. The BlackBerry 7250 previously introduced by Sprint in 2005, now also features Sprint Mobile Broadband service. The EV-DO-capable device comes equipped with a full-featured phone, Bluetooth Wireless technology, backlit QWERTY keyboard and thumb-operated track wheel navigation and can also be used as a tethered modem for flexible connectivity options.
http://www.sprint.comhttp://www.rim.com

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Concurrent Announces its First VOD Deployment in China

Shekou CATV has deployed Concurrent's MediaHawk VOD platform. Shekou CATV launched VOD earlier this month to subscribers in the Chinese provinces of Shenzhen, Shekou, and Guangdong. Shekou is also using a content acquisition and pre-processing system locally developed by Concurrent's China office for the unique requirements of the Chinese market. Additionally, Concurrent will test the interoperability of their on-demand platform with local partner SZCOM's special add-on hardware module, the IPR 200, that allows low-cost, one-way digital set-top boxes (STB) to be upgraded to two-way digital STBs capable of supporting interactive services.



Shekou CATV currently provides cable television service to approximately 30,000 digital subscribers and broadband data to approximately 10,000 subscribers.

http://www.ccur.com

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Australia's Optus Deploys Juniper's M320 Edge Router

Optus, Australia's second largest telecommunications provider, is deploying Juniper Networks M-series routing platforms to converge its business and residential services on a single, multiservice IP network. The network is being supplied by Siemens Australia. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.juniper.net

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Sprint Nextel to Install Power Generators as Hurricane Precaution

Sprint Nextel announced plans to spend $100 million for hurricane preparations in storm-prone coastal communities. This investment includes the installation of permanent generators for critical wireless cell sites and network facilities on the company's Global IP Network, which provides wireline data and long distance voice services. In addition, the investment funds the purchase of portable generators, SatCOWs (Satellite Cell on Wheels) and SatCOLTs (Satellite Cell on Light Trucks) which can be deployed as part of the company's disaster response and recovery.



By the end of 2006, the company plans to install permanent generators in approximately 800 cell sites serving both the Nationwide Sprint PCS and Nextel National Networks, primarily in Florida. The company also announced plans to install 1,500 additional permanent generators at sites in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and other locations in Florida by the end of 2008.
Sprint Nextel also noted that as a standard business practice, it has permanent generators deployed to all of its wireless and wireline switches. In addition, permanent generators are installed at all of the company's network POPs.



As an example of other hurricane preparations, Sprint Nextel is relocating a section its SONET fiber ring between Mobile, Ala. and Hammond, La. to a path further inland, away from flood-prone areas along the Gulf Coast. http://www.sprint.com/hurricaneinfo

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BT Awards ECI Telecom a 5-year Contract Valued at $75 Million

BT awarded a five-year frame agreement to ECI Telecom for the supply of broadband access equipment. The contract has an estimated value of over $75 million.

ECI will be supplying its Exline 2 systems that transport 2Mbps links symmetrically over copper, offering enhanced capabilities and smooth integration within existing networks. It supports advanced class features such as caller ID, call waiting, and distinctive rings.



ECI's solution enables BT to provide over 150,000 business customers with dedicated Digital Private Circuits. BT's service programs, known as "Customer Wideband Serving Section", include voice and data communications services such as MegaStream and ISDN30.

http://www.ecitele.comhttp://www.btplc.com

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Agere Introduces 1394B Chipset

Agere Systems introduced a 800 Mbps FireWire chipset conforming to the IEEE 1394B standard, delivering double the bandwidth of the current 1394A 400 Mbps technology. The device targets external storage drives.



1394A technology provides speeds of 400 Mbps extending distances of 4.5 meters. 1394B performs at 800 Mbps bandwidth spanning up to 4.5 meters. Agere has shipped to market more than 60 million 1394 chips.



Agere's 1394B chipset is available in sample quantities now.

http://www.agere.com

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PMC-Sierra Introduces Stand-Alone VDSL2 Analog Front End

PMC-Sierra introduced an Analog Front End (AFE) for VDSL2 and ADSL2+ Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). The highly integrated CMOS device is a stand-alone VDSL2 AFE, enabling Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to quickly bring to market VDSL2 modem or residential gateway products featuring extended rate/reach, full backwards compatibility to ADSL2+, and the elimination of the need for a discrete line driver and external power supply and clock components, thereby reducing BOM costs and real estate.



PMC-Sierra said its new PM4380 integrates a high-performance 5V line driver and offers extremely low transmit path distortion and noise floor. The receive path, including the integrated ultra-low noise amplifier, provides an input-referred noise density of -150dBm/Hz, while high-precision 16-bit data converters offer best-in-class performance on both receive and transmit chains. The low transmit and receive noise floors, combined with high-resolution data converters and integrated programmable receive equalizer and filters, reduce the need for complex and costly external filters to achieve optimum rate/reach performance. In addition, the device integrates a 16-bit digitally controlled crystal oscillator (DCXO) that provides better than 0.02 ppm frequency resolution, and an optional 1.8V regulator that allows the PM4380 to be used in a system that only provides 3.3V and 5V. By offering this leading-edge performance, the PM4380 device enables OEMs to deliver products that provide faster broadband connections over longer loop lengths.



PMC-Sierra today also introduced the PM4381 ADSL2+ AFE. The device is pin compatible with the PM4380, enabling vendors to produce cost-optimized ADSL2+ variants. The PM4381 interfaces directly to PMC-Sierra's MSP7120 ADSL2+ Multi-Service Processor, which integrates Aware, Inc.'s StratiPHY2+ IP, and provides a complete chipset for advanced residential gateways and Integrated Access Devices (IADs). http://www.pmc-sierra.com

• Earlier this year, PMC-Sierra acquired Passave Inc., a developer of system-on-chip semiconductor solutions for the Fiber To The Home (FTTH) access market. The Passave product line includes system-on-chip solutions for Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) for the Central Office, Optical Network Terminals (ONTs), and Optical Network Units (ONUs) solutions for residential termination equipment. Passave has delivered two million ONU devices that have been deployed in NTT's Fiber To The Home broadband access network. Passave's product set includes GPON chipsets supporting 2.5 Gbps downstream and 1.25 Gbps upstream, and features Forward error correction and AES-128 encryption.
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Axerra Announces Pseudo-Wire Access Device for Mobile Backhaul

Axerra Networks announced the availability of its AXN10-8 Pseudo-Wire Access Device designed to meet mobile wireless operators' growing traffic requirements for backhaul of both voice and data services in packet-based radio access networks (RANs). It also enables cable MSOs and metro Ethernet service providers to deliver traditional T1/E1 voice and data services for business customers.



The AXN10-8, generally available in Q3 of this year, becomes an integral part of the Axerra Pseudo-Wire solution for mobile wireless backhaul. The AXN10-8 combines ATM with IMA, circuit emulation, Frame Relay/HDLC/PPP, and Ethernet Pseudo-Wires in a single access device to enable backhaul of any combination of 2G, 2.5G, and 3G traffic, including CDMA 2000 plus 1RTT plus 1xEV-DO and GSM plus GPRS plus UMTS. The AXN10-8 is optimally sized, furnishing up to eight T1/E1 interfaces for connections to equipment already installed at the BTS and NodeB cell site, each soft-configurable for the type of Pseudo-Wire service required. It also furnishes Ethernet Pseudo-Wire services and four Ethernet ports for connections to new generations of cell-site equipment, aggregating the full range of existing and projected services for backhaul over a unified, packet-optimized RAN.



The AXN10-8 includes new functionality for grooming and consolidation of CDMA, GSM, and UMTS traffic that reduces latency while also optimizing bandwidth utilization in the RAN. In addition, the AXN10-8 is equipped with new OAM features that provide enhanced network visibility and reliability for cell-site backhaul.



Axerra said the new AXN10-8 furthers its role in meeting the stringent clocking requirements of both 2G and 3G network implementations. Axerra provides a high-precision clock recovery (HPCR) mechanism that has already been tested and is being deployed by major operators around the globe.

http://www.axerra.com

Using Pseudo-Wires for Mobile Wireless Backhaul over Carrier Ethernet

The continued evolution of mobile wireless services is toward technologies that are intrinsically packet-oriented, such as HSDPA and HSUPA, and indicative that packet access networks, rather than TDM-based T1s and E1s, are the logical transport for backhaul in the RAN. A number of new technologies that are cost-effective and provide flexible, high-capacity backhaul transport are emerging as the frontrunners for next-generation packet access networks. These new technologies include Carrier Ethernet (also known as Metro Ethernet or Optical Ethernet), xDSL, cable HFC, EPON/GPON, and broadband packet radio (including WiMAX. Pseudo-Wire solutions not only enables mobile wireless operators to use new packet access networks, it also gives operators a choice among multiple packet network technologies in the RAN, including Carrier Ethernet, xDSL, cable HFC, and even broadband packet radio.)

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Cisco Offers Financing for Channel Partners Deploying Unified Communications

Cisco Systems announced zero percent progress payments for 120 days on Cisco Unified Communications projects.



Channel partners must hold the Cisco IP Communications (IPC) specialization, and the project must entail a minimum transaction of $50,000.



Qualified Cisco Capital customers may now ask that Cisco Capital make scheduled payments on their projects as preset milestones are reached.

http://www.cisco.com

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