Kasenna Delivers 133,000 MPEG-4 Streams from Single Rack

Kasenna released an updated version of its MediaBase XMP VOD server platform that surpasses the one million subscribers mark for video streams from one server rack at typical oversubscription rates. Media Base XMP 8.2 offers a clustered architecture enabling very large-scale VOD deployments -- sending more than 133,000 simultaneous streams from a standard server rack.


Kasenna combines standard, off-the-shelf Linux servers, file systems, GigE/10GigE network cards and SCSI/SAS storage with its own MediaBase XMP 8.2, "Stream Clustering" and "RAM caching" technology. MediaBase Stream Clustering technology uses a number of different patented techniques for pre-caching, hot-spot management, load averaging and predictive usage.



For the one-million subscriber deployment quoted above, the single rack system consists of 64-bit Intel Xeon servers powered by Kasenna MediaBase 8.2 software using a hybrid memory/disk streaming technology.

http://www.kasenna.com

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Canada's TELUS Reaches 1.1 Million Broadband Users

Canada's TELUS reported Q3 revenue of $2.2 billion, up 7% from a year ago due to continued strong wireless and data growth.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter were 94 cents, compared to 53 cents for the same period a year ago. EPS this quarter included favourable tax related adjustments of 9 cents per share.



Some operational highlights:

• Wireless revenues increased by $146 million or 17% to $1.0 billion in Q3 when compared with the same period in 2005. ARPU improved by $2 to $66. The data component increased by 79% to over $5.



• Wireless net subscriber additions were 137,200, stable quarter over quarter with 4% growth in postpaid additions to 108,600 and slightly lower prepaid loading.



• Wireline revenues were flat at $1.2 billion when compared to the third quarter of 2005 due to continued data revenue growth offsetting ongoing declines in local and long distance revenues.



• Data revenues increased 9.2% driven by strong high speed Internet and enhanced data service growth.



• Long-distance revenue declined 10% to $199 million, reflecting industry trends of lower volumes, strong price competition and technological substitution.



• High-speed Internet net adds were 41,500, up significantly from a year ago bringing TELUS' total Internet subscriber base to 1.1 million



• Network access lines declined by 40,000 in the quarter, down 2.8% from a year ago reflecting residential line losses from ongoing competitive activity and wireless substitution



• CAPEX was $423.9 million, up significantly from $263.3 million a year earlier.

http://www.telus.com

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Oracle Buys SPL for Customer Care & Billing for Utilities

Oracle has acquired SPL WorldGroup, a provider of revenue and operations management software for the utilities industry and tax management software for government organizations, for an undisclosed sum. SPL delivers solutions for customer care & billing, mobile workforce management, outage & distribution management, and asset management that are specifically designed for electric, gas and water utilities. http://www.oracle.com

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SureWest Sees Growth in Digital Video and High Speed Access

SureWest Communications, which serves the Sacramento, California region, reported Q3 revenue of $56.9 million, up 2% YoY, and consolidated net income of$2.2 million, up 10%. Broadband segment revenues were up 17% to $15.2 million.



Total subscribers in the Broadband segment increased to more than 55,000 subscribers at September 30, 2006, a 15% increase over the year earlier date. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is an average of composite revenues provided by subscribers on the fiber network who are offered a triple play of voice, digital video and hyper-speed data and subscribers on the copper network who are offered DSL service and, in some cases, digital video. Third quarter ARPU was $76.12, a 3% increase over the third quarter of 2005 and a sequential increase of almost 3%. The increase in ARPU was partially the result of the acceptance of HDTV, first introduced late in 2005. Subscribers to HDTV increased 33% during the third quarter.



Wireless segment subscriber counts were affected in the third quarter of 2006 by the company's decision to discontinue its pre-paid calling plan option. Customers with a pre-paid plan may continue that plan, but new subscribers are not offered the pre-paid option. While this is reducing pre-paid subscriber counts, contract subscribers have increased by 2% over the prior year period and more than 1% sequentially. Wireless segment revenues for the third quarter totaled $8.6 million, a decline of 3% over the prior year period, but an increase of more than 2% sequentially.



SureWest capital expenditures were $12.8 million in the current quarter, a decrease of 5% over the same period last year and essentially flat on a sequential basis. The company has consciously targeted its capital commitments since 2004 to concentrate on success-based capital projects, slowing the pace in growth of new marketable homes. Full-year 2006 capital expenditures are expected to be under $60 million, with approximately $20 million dedicated to support the planned fiber network build out and up to $30 million to be driven by new customer demand.

http://www.surewest.com

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DCL Participates in Global SIP Interoperability Test Event

Data Connection Limited (DCL) announced its participation in SIPit 19, a week-long event organized by the SIP Forum aimed at improving the quality of the SIP specification and forging global interoperability among SIP implementations. Data Connection was one of over seventy vendors who participated in the event, which was hosted by the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory. At the event Data Connection deployed DC-SIP, its carrier grade protocol stack utilized by softswitches, gateways, servers, phones, access devices, and IMS applications throughout the world. DC-SIP, which includes IPv6 functionality, successfully interoperated with a number of SIP solutions in peer-to-peer and multiparty test environments. http://www.dataconnection.com/http://www.sipforum.org

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Time Warner Telecom Selected for Fort Bragg Contract

Time Warner Telecom completed the installation of voice, data and Internet services at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina under a $1.1 million contract. Time Warner Telecom is providing 40,000 direct dial numbers and advanced voice and data services to Fort Bragg. Time Warner Telecom also serves Pope Air Force Base, which is located adjacent to Fort Bragg.
/ http://www.twtelecom.com

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FCC Classifies Broadband over Powerline as Information Service

The FCC declared Broadband over Power Line (BPL)-enabled Internet access service to be an information service, putting the technology on an equal regulatory footing with other broadband access methods, such as cable modem service and DSL service.



Specifically, the FCC ruled that the transmission component underlying BPL-enabled Internet access service is "telecommunications," and that the provision of this telecommunications transmission component as part of a functionally integrated, finished BPL-enabled Internet access service offering is an information service.



In a statement, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said "by finding that broadband over power line (BPL) Internet access services are information services, the Commission provides the regulatory certainty necessary to foster competition between different broadband platform providers. I believe that it is the Commission's responsibility to help ensure technological and competitive neutrality in communications markets. Accordingly, I believe that all providers of the same service must be treated in the same manner regardless of the technology that they employ."



FCC Commissioner Michael Copps concurred with the ruling but said in a statement that he hoped for more: "We seem to proceed on the happy presumption that if providers are free from legacy Title II regulation they will magically devote their attention and capital to building broadband infrastructure. The results? Well, after several years of Title I reclassification, not many. As other nations race at warp speed into the digital future, this one plods along at turtle velocity. While I dearly hope that BPL providers make real inroads into the cable-telephone broadband duopoly that we have in this country, I really don't think our international standing in broadband is going to improve until this nation develops a real honest-to-goodness broadband strategy, just as every other industrialized nation has done. Consumers want -- and consumers deserve -- some real competition in this critical market. But avoiding the tough regulatory questions and merely renaming things is not going to usher in that happy result. We are not providing the kind of certainty that business requires, nor any assurance to consumers about what rights they have in the new world of high speed which we hope some day to inhabit. The issues I am talking about today don't go away just because we call something by a different name. I would much rather see this Commission spending more time addressing real-world broadband needs and less time parsing regulatory language without filling in the blanks."http://www.fcc.gov

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Amino Supplies IPTV Set Top Boxes for SES AMERICOM

Amino was awarded a multi-year set top box agreement to supply IPTV set-top boxes for SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME distribution service.



Amino will provide its AmiNET130 set top box, a fully flexible standard and high definition, MPEG-2/4 AVC/H.264 capable device, to enable SES AMERICOM's end-to-end delivery of its IP-PRIME IPTV service to consumer homes throughout the U.S.

http://www.aminocom.com

• Siemens Communications has supplied its Myrio IPTV middleware for integration with SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME content distribution service.



• Other IP-PRIME partners include Scientific-Atlanta, which was selected to provide an MPEG-4 encoding system and its ROSA Network Management System. Globecomm Systems is providing the overall design and integration services as well as the major components for the IPTV broadcast distribution center. NDS is provide end-to-end IPTV content protection.

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FCC Again Postpones Decision on AT&T + BellSouth Merger

The FCC will not vote on the pending AT&T + BellSouth merger at its open meeting scheduled for November 3rd. The item was unexpectedly deleted from the meeting's agenda after the two Democrat and two Republican commissioners apparently failed to reach agreement on possible conditions for the merger.



This represents the third postponement of a scheduled FCC vote on the deal.



The fifth FCC commissioner, Robert M. McDowell, recused himself from the vote due to his prior work as Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel).

http://www.fcc.gov

• On October 11, the U.S. Department of Justice approved the pending acquisition of BellSouth by AT&T without imposing any conditions.



• On October 13, AT&T and BellSouth offered a set of concessions to FCC in hopes of getting the merger approved without further conditions.

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Singtel to Offer Bandwidth on Demand using Juniper/Siemens

SingTel has deployed Juniper Networks SDX Service Deployment System and E-series Broadband Services Routers to support the introduction of new premium IP services, including a new bandwidth on demand service. The deployment enables SingTel's customers to dynamically request and change their bandwidth metrics, throttling connection speeds from 125 Kbps up to as much as 25 Mbps.

Siemens serves as SingTel's preferred partner for integrating its broadband IP infrastructure. http://www.juniper.net
http://www.siemens.comhttp://www.juniper.net

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Occam Announces Pricing of Follow-On Offering of Common Stock

Occam Networks announced the pricing of its follow-on public offering of 5,250,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $14.00 per share. Of the 5,250,000 shares, Occam is offering 3,750,000 shares and selling stockholders are offering 1,500,000 shares. The net proceeds to Occam from the sale of the 3,750,000 shares of common stock will be approximately $48.3 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses.

http://www.occamnetworks.com

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WEGENER Debuts Transport Stream IP Multicaster

Wegener introduced a new product that allows IPTV operators to integrate satellite and local digital HD signals to their programming line up.



The new DTV 720 Transport Stream Multicaster, which is based on WEGENER's professional line of video headend equipment, can be equipped with up to four ASI inputs to process live satellite feeds and up to internal 8VSB and QAM tuners for local off-air broadcast TV signals. can build up to sixteen IP multicast transport streams from ASI and 8VSB inputs, with each IP multicast transport stream containing one program.

http://www.wegener.com

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XM Satellite and Cingular Announce Music Partnership

XM Satellite Radio and Cingular Wireless announced a partnership to stream 25 XM music channels to Cingular handsets. Beginning November 6, Cingular Wireless customers will be able listen to a variety of XM's commercial-free music channels through the XM Radio Mobile service for $8.99 per month.



The XM Radio Mobile application was developed by MobiTV.

http://www.cingular.comhttp://www.xmradio.com

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Nokia Wins Packet Core Contract With Guangdong MCC

Guangdong Mobile Communications Corporation Ltd. (Guangdong MCC) awarded a GPRS packet core network expansion contract to Nokia.



Nokia will supply Guangdong MCC with its complete GPRS packet core solution, consisting of Nokia Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), Nokia Flexi Intelligent Service Node, and the Nokia Charging Gateway.



Nokia will also provide network planning, implementation and integration services.



The network will be serving more than 11 million data subscribers in the Eastern Guangdong province, expanded from Shenzhen to include DongGuan and Huizhou, in December 2006. http://www.nokia.com

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BP Selects Tyco for Undersea Fiber Network

BP America will build an 800 mile undersea fiber optic system in the Gulf of Mexico to provide continuous broadband connectivity to the company's offshore oil and gas facilities. The system will allow greater operating flexibility, including the ability to continue producing safely for longer periods when hurricanes enter the Gulf and to return more quickly to production after storms pass.



The project is valued at $80 million.



The system will initially link seven of BP's deep water production facilities including Marlin, Horn Mountain, Na Kika, Thunder Horse, Atlantis, Mad Dog and Holstein to the new Advanced Collaborative Environment (ACE) centers in Houston. Each facility will have direct optical connectivity to Houston through two independent routes. It will ensure continued operations, independent of any other facility in the system during hurricane events.



The contract has been awarded to TYCO Telecommunications.

http://www.bp.com

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MobiTV Adds $30 Million for Mobile TV Services

MobiTV, a provider of mobile and broadband television and music services, announced the second close of its Series C Funding with an additional $30 million investment and two new investors, Adobe Systems and Hearst Corporation, bringing the total round to more than $100 million.



MobiTV is building out network-agnostic services leveraging Adobe platform technologies.



The company said its primary goal is to build a mass-market service by supporting seamless television and radio delivery across a wide range of network technologies to both mobile and fixed screens with the best possible viewing quality. MobiTV has the largest and fastest-growing customer base in the industry, with well over one million paying subscribers who can now watch top news, sports, entertainment and music videos on their handheld, Wi-Fi or broadband enabled devices, including PCs.



Additional investors in the round include Oak Investment Partners, Menlo Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Gefinor Ventures.

"We are truly fortunate to have garnered such a fantastic set of partners that share our vision of transforming the way people experience and interact with TV and radio wherever they are, no matter what device they happen to be watching," said Dr. Phillip Alvelda, CEO, chairman and co-founder, MobiTV.



"We plan to use these funds to strengthen our current market lead, and to invest in further research and development of new network technology standards such as WiMAX."http://www.mobitv.com

• In September 2006, AT&T announced plans to offer the MobiTV service to broadband users in the United States, including AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet and AT&T WorldNet subscribers. AT&T currently has more than 7.8 million DSL lines in service.

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QUALCOMM Posts Q4 Revenue of $2.00 billion, up 28% YoY

QUALCOMM posted Q4 revenue of $2.00 billion, up 28 percent year-over-year and 2 percent sequentially. Net income was $705 million, up 30 percent year-over-year and down 3 percent sequentially. Diluted earnings per share were $0.42, up 31 percent year-over-year and even sequentially.



"We achieved record revenues, net income and operating cash flow. We shipped a record 207 million MSM chips in fiscal 2006 -- up from 151 million in fiscal 2005. As of September 2006, there were approximately 402 million subscribers using 3G CDMA-based networks worldwide as compared to approximately 273 million at the same point in 2005," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, CEO of QUALCOMM.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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NEC Selects Centillium's Entropia VoIP Solution

NEC has selected Centillium's Entropia III VoIP media gateway solution to help power IP services for NGN and 3G wireless infrastructure deployments.



Centillium's Entropia III system-on-chip solution provides wireline and wireless codec functionality, and also offers FMC and IMS capabilities.



Integrating six SigmaPlus DSPs as well as four RISC network processors, the Entropia processor supports a 1,008 full feature VoIP channel density. The Entropia solution supports IMS Media Gateway Functions (MGF) for CDMA/3GPP2 or GSM/3GPP applications, along with all wireline requirements. Additionally, Entropia supports IMS Media Resource Function Processors (MRFP) delivering such features as tones, unlimited announcements, conferencing and gaming.

http://www.centillium.com

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JDSU Posts Revenue of $318 Million, Loss Narrows

JDSU reported net revenue for its first quarter of fiscal 2007 of $318.1 million and GAAP net loss was $(17.4) million, or $(0.08) per share. This compares to net revenue of $318.2 million and GAAP net loss of $(45.8) million, or $(0.22) per share, reported for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, and to net revenue of $258.3 million and a GAAP net loss of $(67.0) million, or $(0.34) per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2006. Fiscal 2006 first quarter results reflect a partial quarter contribution from the Communications Test and Measurement business acquired in August 2005.

"The achievement of positive earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis for the first time in more than five years marks another significant milestone on the company's journey to sustained profitability," said Kevin Kennedy, JDSU's Chief Executive Officer.



Some highlights:

• Optical Communications net revenue grew 3.8% from the previous quarter, and 37.3% from the same quarter a year ago. Net revenue of $138.0 million represented 43% of total net revenue.



• Communications Test and Measurement net revenue of $116.8 million was down 7.5% from last quarter and represented 37% of total net revenue.



• Advanced Optical Technologies net revenue of $39.3 million was up 7.1% from last quarter, and down 10.9% from the same quarter a year ago. This segment represented 12% of total net revenue.



• Americas' customers represented 56.9% of net revenue. European and
  Asia-Pacific customers represented 25.6% and 17.5% of net revenue,
  respectively.



• GAAP gross margin was 30.8% of net revenue, and non-GAAP gross margin was 34.7% of net revenue.

http://www.jdsu.com

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Verizon Adopts Majority Voting Standard for Director Elections

The Board of Directors of Verizon Communications adopted a majority voting standard for the election of directors. Directors who consent to stand for re-election will tender their resignations prior to the annual meeting. If the number of shares voted "for" a director is less than the number of shares voted "against" that director, the independent members of the Board will decide whether to accept that director's resignation and will promptly disclose their decision.



Verizon said that its bylaws previously provided that directors were elected under a plurality voting standard, which was based on the number of shares voted "for" each director without regard to any shares voted "withhold."http://www.verizon.com

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