Vitesse Outlines Ethernet Chip Roadmap for 2010

After 18 months of restrained capital expenditure, Vitesse Semiconductor believes carrier and data center markets are poised for significant growth in 2010 and beyond. During the downturn, Vitesse has boosted its research and development staff by 15 percent. In its product pipeline is a suite of more than 30 products bringing higher performance to the Enterprise and new carrier features to the public network.


Product introductions planned in 2010 include:

• High-density PHYs for 10G/40G/100G optical and backplane applications;


• High-density 10G OTN Mappers/PHYs for the Carrier wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) Metro and Core;


• 40G/100G FEC devices for the Carrier Core;


• 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Carrier Ethernet switches and MACs for carrier and metro aggregation including wireless backhaul;


• GbE Carrier Ethernet access switches for wireless/microwave backhaul edge applications and base stations;


• 12/24-port GbE Enterprise Layer 2 switches for small-medium enterprise (SME)/small-medium business (SMB);


• Energy-Efficient Ethernet physical-layer PHYs for copper and fiber

Vitesse also noted that it is implementing stringent network timing features based on Synchronous Ethernet and the IEEE-1588 Precision Timing Protocol in its Media Access Controllers (MACs), switches, and physical layer (PHY) products.
http://www.vitesse.com

Read More

New EBIF Specification Enables TV Widgets, Time-Shifting

CableLabs and Canoe Ventures releases a new EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format) specification (version I06) that features functionality to support interactive television.


EBIF I06 can be implemented on digital set-top boxes. It also is part of the OCAP (OpenCable Application Platform) specification, so EBIF-compliant advertising and programming applications can run on OCAP devices enabled with an EBIF user agent.


EBIF I06's key additions are:

• Support for "unbound" applications, such as TV widgets that enable Caller ID on TV and sports/news tickers, and new customer service and Guide extension applications;



• Support for time-shifted applications, such as the ability to set recording/reminders via the MSO Guide, and the ability for an EBIF application to understand if the viewer is watching live or time-shifted programming;



• Support for addressability based on customer or device data stored in the set-top box, which allows an EBIF application to make decisions and alter its behavior based on that data, so it can deliver different ads to different demographic groups, while preserving customers' privacy



• Other I06 additions include support for animation features, new audio resources, selector widget enhancements, application permissions and resource management for well-behaved applications.

"We are very pleased to see this latest version of the EBIF specification completed and released to the MSOs, Canoe and the rest of the industry," said Arthur Orduña, Chief Technology Officer of Canoe Ventures. "I06 adds critical functionality that enriches the value and revenue-generating potential of both bound and unbound iTV applications. This is a significant step in helping us meet our goal of enabling national enhanced and interactive advertising for MSOs, programmers, agencies and advertisers."http://www.cablelabs.com

Read More

DragonWave Launches its Horizon Quantum in Europe

DragonWave introduced its Horizon Quantum in Europe, positioning the platform for the rollout of LTE services.




The DragonWave solution features a native Ethernet implementation and sub-0.1-millisecond latencies. DragonWave's Quantum packet radio leverages several innovations, including a unique "Bandwidth Accelerator" technology that allows it to achieve superior spectral efficiency. Depending on traffic type, the company said its Bandwidth Accelerator can deliver up to 5 times improvement in spectral efficiency with versus first generation microwave radios.


The half-rack-unit device incorporates key nodal-intelligence features and integrated switching capability. This enables Horizon Quantum to perform aggregation and serve as a switch for ring and mesh network architectures.


The Horizon Quantum -- scheduled to ship by the end of 2009 -- delivers interference-free performance in both licensed and unlicensed radio frequencies in the 6-to-38-GHz range. The carrier-grade DragonWave solution enables 99.999-percent service reliability, delivers advanced security and encryption and fully supports SynchE and other critical Ethernet data transport capabilities such as virtual local area network (VLAN) queuing/prioritization, flow control and jumbo packets. Its pseudowire capability enables Ethernet and Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) traffic to be collapsed on a single, packet-based network. The Horizon Quantum is easy to install, configure and maintain and can be remotely managed.
http://www.dragonwaveinc.com

Read More

NTT America Teams with Vmware for Worldwide Virtualization Services

NTT America, in partnership with VMware, is launching new Virtualization Services across its data centers and dedicated hosting platforms. The new Virtualization Services combine NTT America's secure hosting infrastructure with VMware's virtualization platform to deliver a flexible foundation for hosted IT infrastructures.


NTT America's Virtualization Services are available now in its premier data centers located in San Jose, CA and Sterling, VA.


Through a globally unified capability designed by NTT Communications, NTT America is also offering virtualized hosting services in premier data centers located in London and Hong Kong, and later this year in Singapore.
http://www.nttamerica.com

Read More

Ericsson Appoints Heads for N.E. Asia and N. America

Ericsson announced the appointment of two regional heads to its Executive Leadership Team: Mats H Olsson for North East Asia and Angel Ruiz for North America.


Mats H Olsson began his career at Ericsson in 1982. He was posted in Asia in 1984 where he founded Ericsson's wholly-owned offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Indonesia, respectively. During his career in Asia, Mats has been president of Ericsson's operations in Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia. In 2004, he was appointed president of Ericsson Greater China with overall responsibility for Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, leading a regional team of more than 9,000 employees.


Angel Ruiz joined Ericsson in 1990 and has held a variety of sales and managerial positions within the company, including heading up the global account teams for Cingular/SBC/BellSouth (now AT&T). He was also involved in project and product management and worked in customer support assignments in Mexico, Venezuela and Sweden. Before joining Ericsson, Angel Ruiz held various positions with Sprint, AT&T and Bell Atlantic. In 2001, he was appointed president of Ericsson North America. http://www.ericsson.com

Read More

Ikanos Reports Revenue of $58.2 million

Ikanos Communications reported Q4 2009 revenue of $58.2 million compared with revenue of $29.3 million for the third quarter of 2009 and revenue of $22.8 million for the year ago period. Revenue for the year ended January 3, 2010 was $130.7 million compared with the $106.5 million reported for the year ended December 28, 2008.


GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $9.1 million, or $0.17 per share, on 53.9 million weighted average shares. This compares with a net loss of $15.5 million, or $0.40 per share, on 38.8 million weighted average shares in the third quarter of 2009 and with a net loss of $5.7 million, or $0.20 per share, on 28.9 million weighted average shares in the fourth quarter of 2008.


Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $1.5 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, on 56.1 million weighted average shares. This compares with non-GAAP net loss of $4.5 million, or $0.12 per share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2009, and with a non-GAAP net loss of $2.4 million, or $0.08 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2008.


"Ikanos delivered record revenue and returned to profitability on a non-GAAP basis in the fourth quarter," said Michael Gulett, president and CEO of Ikanos. "We completed our first full quarter since the acquisition of the Conexant broadband business and effectively executed our business plan. We grew and diversified our revenue base across multiple regions, customers and product lines, we consolidated development efforts and reduced operating expenses, and we were able to begin redirecting engineering investments towards new markets for future growth."http://www.ikanos.com

Read More

Broadcom Introduces 65nm 3G HSPA Chipset

Broadcom introduced a new single-chip HSPA baseband processor and a radio frequency (RF) transceiver solution for 3G smartphones. The new device is the first to provide extremely high-speed cellular connectivity with advanced, built-in graphics capabilities, for HSUPA (high speed upstream packet access) applications. The RF transceiver solution complements the advanced HSUPA processor to provide support for all global frequency combinations covering the latest 3G-enabled devices. It is implemented using 65 nanometer CMOS.


The Broadcom BCM21553 baseband processor supports 3GPP releases 6 and 7, which provide up to 5.8 Mbps of upstream connectivity, 7.2 Mbps of downstream connectivity and support next generation CS (circuit switches) over HSPA services.
http://www.broadcom.com

Read More

EXFO Adds LTE Test Functionality

EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering has added active and passive LTE monitoring functionality to its Brix System for network service assurance. The distributed LTE monitoring solution focuses on end-to-end QoS and QoE monitoring enabling service providers to monitor their LTE network at multiple service delivery layers including control plane, data plane and service plane.
http://www.EXFO.com

Read More

Novatel Wireless Completes its First LTE Call

Novatel Wireless completed is first data transmission call using LTE technology. The company plans to launch its first commercial data devices in late 2010.


"We are pleased to achieve these important first data transmission milestones on next generation technologies, last week with dual carrier HSPA+, and now with LTE, and we expect to leverage our industry-leading position to offer 4G wireless data products to our customers," said Dr. Slim Souissi, CTO, Novatel Wireless. "We believe our aggressive development efforts will enable us to deliver these innovative solutions with the fastest possible time to market."http://www.novatelwireless.com

Read More

Ericsson Expands Packet + Optical Transport Portfolio

Ericsson has expanded its OMS 1400 converged transport (packet + optical) portfolio with a new, higher capacity platform offering up to 320 Gbps of switching performance. The OMS series features a dual TDM and Ethernet switching architecture that enables operators to evolve their current TDM networks to high capacity and lower cost packet-based networks. The OMS is specifically optimized for the metro packet transport. Significantly, the platform supports WDM and next gen standards for OTN and MPLS-TP architecture. Ericsson will also support new Ethernet Ring Protection (ERP).


Ericsson's OMS 1400 products can be configured for pure TDM, pure Ethernet optical transport or a combination or the two. This enables carriers to migrate off their legacy networks. The Ethernet Layer 2 switch is based on the latest IEEE standards for Provider Bridging (PB) supporting E-Line, E-LAN and E-Tree services (MEF 9 and 14 certified).


The OMS 1460, which will be commercially available within a year, is an 8RU chassis with 16-slots. It joins the existing 2RU OMS 1410, which was launched over a year ago, and which offers 6-slots. They share a common set of interchangeable traffic modules, including 10/100 Ethernet, 1GE, 10Gb Ethernet and native TDM interfaces E1, T1, E3, T3, OC-3 and STM-1/4/16. The larger OMS 1460 additionally supports STM-64 all with SFP/XFP based interfaces. The OMS 1460 provides enhanced support for 10GE client traffic with the 2x10GE traffic module
enabling up to 32 10GE ports per OMS 1460 shelf.


"Just as mobility and the Internet are converging at a rapid rate, so will packet and optical networks," said Vinai Sirkay, Head of Product Line Optical & Metro at Ericsson. "We are putting forth a pragmatic approach to packet transport by introducing a scalable and flexible family of products capable of adapting to different applications. The OMS 1460 will play a transformational role in allowing operators to meet the growing demand for consumer and business broadband services while simplifying operations and lowering costs.
http://www.ericsson.com

Read More

ARRIS Shows DOCSIS 3.0 at 320 Mbps Down, 100 Mbps Up

ARRIS is preparing to launch DOCSIS 3.0 upstream and downstream channel bonding capabilities that deliver data speeds in excess of 100 Mbps upstream and 320 Mbps downstream. The company will demonstrate these capabilities on it C4 CMTS at the KCTA Show in Korea next month.

ARRIS will also show its optical access and transport solutions, the CHP (Converged Head End Platform) with CORWave multi wavelength transmitters, CORView Element Management Systems, Opti Max 3100 and 4100 1 GHz segmentable nodes. Also on the agenda are new optical products designed for hybrid and fiber-deep architectures,
including CORWave II multi wavelength transmitters supporting up to 16 independent 1 GHz transport streams and reaches of up to 65 km; as well as the FTTMax RFoG Optical Network Units and FTTMax E-PON Optical Line Terminals and Optical Network Units.
http://www.arrisi.com/

Read More

SUPERCOMM Canceled for 2010

TIA and USTelecom have canceled their jointly-owned SUPERCOMM tradeshow for 2010.
The event had been scheduled for October 26-28 in Chicago. An estimated 6,000 people attended last year's event, down significantly from earlier years.
http://www.supercomm2010.com
http://www.expocomm.com/

Read More

IBM Demos RF Graphene Transistor at 100 GHz

Researchers at IBM demonstrated a radio-frequency graphene transistor with the highest cut-off frequency achieved so far for any graphene device - 100 billion cycles/second (100 GigaHertz). Graphene is a single atom-thick layer of carbon atoms bonded in a hexagonal honeycomb-like arrangement. IBM said this two-dimensional form of carbon has unique electrical, optical, mechanical and thermal properties and its technological applications are being explored intensely.

The wafer-scale, epitaxially grown graphene transistor was created with processing technology compatible to that used in advanced silicon device fabrication.

IBM said it is noteworthy that the frequency performance of the graphene device already exceeds the cut-off frequency of state-of-the-art silicon transistors of the same gate length (~ 40 GigaHertz).
http://www.ibm.com

Read More

NTT Surpasses 12.8 Million Optical Access Lines

NTT ended 2009 with 12.779 million FLETs Hikari optical access lines in service, up from 11.1 million nine months earlier. Meanwhile, the number of ADSL accounts fell to 3.55 million, down from d3.99 million nine months earlier.


Citing stiff competition, NTT Group's consolidated operating revenues for the three-month period ended December 31, 2009 were 2,527.6 billion yen (a decrease of 1.6% from the same period of the previous fiscal year), consolidated operating expenses were 2,226.2 billion yen (a decrease of 3.2% from the same period of the previous fiscal year), consolidated operating income was 301.3 billion yen (an increase of 11.9% from the same period of the previous fiscal year), and consolidated net income before income taxes was 298.3 billion yen (an increase of 9.0% from the same period of the previous fiscal year). Consolidated net income attributable to NTT was 136.8 billion yen (a decrease of 0.7% from the same period of the previous fiscal year).


In the fixed-line communications market, the company stressed its expansion of optical services and the accompanying shift from existing fixed-line telephones to optical IP telephones.


NTT endeavored to expand its "FLET'S Hikari Next" service area and the sale of services such as video distribution services that take advantage of the capabilities of its NGN.


NTT East commenced provision of access services with downstream transmission speed of up to 200Mbps, including "FLET'S Hikari Next Family High-speed Type".


NTT said Japan's mobile communications market has continued to mature in line with the rise in cellular penetration rate and increased competition among operators.


Under these market conditions, NTT DOCOMO released 20 different models in its "2009 winter/spring handset" lineup, introducing new features and services, such as the Auto-GPS function that enables the delivery of information linked to user's current location, and "MyArea" wireless coverage, which uses small femtocell base station1 to create a private FOMA area in the home as a stable wireless environment for high-speed packet communication, and to detect registered phones entering/leaving the private FOMA area.


In addition, NTT DOCOMO has taken various steps aimed at enhancing customers' satisfaction, such as the launch of "Mail Tsukai-hodai" ("all-you-can-use mail"), which allows FOMA users to send and receive i-mode mails within Japan on an unlimited basis for a flat monthly rate, as part of its efforts to provide customers with more affordable and easy-to-use billing options.


As a result of these measures, the number of cellular services subscriptions reached 55.44 million, of which 52.05 million were FOMA subscriptions, accounting for 93.9% of all subscriptions.
http://www.ntt.co.jp

Read More

Telegent's Latest Analog Mobile TV Chip -- 6x6mm

Telegent Systems, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, introduced its third generation analog mobile TV receiver chip based on 65nm CMOS process technology. The chip delivers free-to-air analog TV and FM broadcast reception on mobile devices, enabling consumers to enjoy live television programming -- whether news, sports, soap operas or movies -- while on the go.


Telegent's TLG1121 provides global support for NTSC, PAL and SECAM TV broadcasts. The third generation device features a 6 x 6 mm package, reducing size by 25 percent compared to Telegent's second generation solution while consuming 25 percent less power from the battery. The smaller package size provides manufacturers greater flexibility in PCB layout, enabling smaller, sleeker handset designs. Sampling begins in Q2.


Telegent said its mobile TV solution even delivers stable picture quality while in transit at speeds up to 430 km/h.


"The third generation of our analog mobile TV technology builds on the breakthrough we have delivered in picture quality and mobility while achieving further reduction in size and power consumption," said Samuel Sheng, Telegent's president and chief executive officer. "The TLG1121 will enable the next generation of mobile TV devices with longer viewing times and innovative designs, while meeting consumer requirements for viewing experience under both stationary and mobile conditions."http://www.telegent.com

• In November 2009, Telegent Systems filed SEC papers for a proposed initial public offering of its common shares.



• In October 2009, Telegent Systems reported a rapid uptake in its free-to-air analog mobile TV products, shipping a record 50 million mobile TV receivers since mid-2007.

Read More

comScore: Hulu Surpasses 1 Billion Monthly Video Streams

Online video viewing in the U.S. reached a record level in December 2009, with 33.2 billion videos viewed during the month by nearly 178 million U.S. Internet users, according to the latest figures from comScore.


Some notable numbers reported by comScore:

• Google Sites continued to rank as the top U.S. video property in December, delivering 13.2 billion videos, with YouTube.com accounting for nearly 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property.



• Hulu ranked second with more than 1 billion videos viewed, an all-time high for the property, and representing 3.0 percent market share.



• Microsoft Sites ranked third with 561 million (1.7 percent), followed by Fox Interactive Media with 551 million (1.7 percent) and Yahoo! Sites with 539 million (1.6 percent).



• The average U.S. Internet viewer watch 187 videos during December.



• The average Hulu viewer watched 22.9 videos during the month, representing another all-time high for the property.



• The duration of the average online video was 4.1 minutes.

http://www.comscore.com

Read More

Huawei Introduces a New 20G/40G Metro Services Platform

Huawei introduced a new 20G/40Gbps metro services platform (MSP).


The CX600-X1 and CX600-X2 (CX600-X1/X2)is designed for IP intelligence at the metro edge. The compact platform offers a hardware-based, non-blocking switching routing with 20G/40G of forwarding capacity. Huawei said this can be expanded to 40G/80G in the future. Interface options include E1, CPOS, FE, GE, and 10GE, with rich Layer 2 and Layer 3 features (VLL, VPLS, L3VPN, PWE3, multicast and IPV6).


Huawei's CX600-X1/X2 also features built-in support for all-scenario clock synchronization, including IEEE 1588v2.


"By leveraging our experience and expertise in optical transmission, access, and IP, Huawei will continue to provide leading end-to-end networking solutions to carriers around the globe and to achieve mutual success with our customers," said Zha Jun, president of Network, Huawei.
http://www.huawei.com

Read More

Ericsson Pushes HSPA to 84 Mbps

Ericsson has achieved a new performance record of 84 Mbps downstream using High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology. The 84 Mbps set-up will be demonstrated at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. At the same event last year Ericsson showed the world's first 42Mbps HSPA demo that is currently commercially available and being rolled-out by operators across the world.


The 84 Mbps achievement is made possible using Multiple-In Multiple-Out (MIMO), higher-order modulation and multiple carrier techniques. Multi-carrier technology enables the recipient to receive data on 2, 3 or more frequencies simultaneously.


On January 20, operator 3 in Scandinavia announced that it has chosen Ericsson for the rollout of its 84Mbps HSPA network. The rollout covers all of Denmark and four major cities in Sweden. First phase of the rollout starts first quarter 2010. Commercial deployments of HSPA with 84Mbps can be expected the first half of 2011.
http://www.ericsson.com

• Ericsson supplies RAN equipment to half of the operators worldwide who have launched HSPA to date.

Read More

FCC Budget for FY 2011 Rises to $352.5 Million

The FCC requested a budget of $352.5 million for FY 2011.


This compares with $335 million appropriated for FY 2010 and $342 million appropriated for 2009. There are 1,980 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions in the FY 2011 budget compared with 1,905 FTEs in FY 2010 and 1,810 FTEs in FY 2009.
The FY 2010 Appropriation for the FCC authorized $335.8 million in the collection of regulatory fees. The FY 2011 budget proposes an increase to regulatory fees to a level of $351.5 million.



The FCC said its FY 2011 budget proposal would cover these special initiatives, in addition to its regular work:

• Continuing the work of the National Broadband Plan and broadband map;
• Implementation of a spectrum inventory initiative and emergency response interoperability
  center;



• State-of-the-art consumer information programs, seizing the opportunities provided by new
  media and advanced information technology;



• New investment in the people and technology necessary to overhaul the agency's antiquated
  systems for data collection, processing, analysis, and dissemination;



• New expertise and new tools required to ensure that the FCC is able to be a model of
  excellence, openness, and transparency domestically and internationally.



• Mandatory increases in salaries and benefits and inflationary increases for contractual services.

http://www.fcc.govhttp://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296111A1.pdf

Read More

Metaswitch Appoints Kevin DeNuccio as CEO

Metaswitch Networks named Kevin DeNuccio as its new CEO, succeeding John Lazar who has been promoted to chairman.


DeNuccio previously was CEO of Redback Networks (now Ericsson), where he oversaw the company's transformation into the fastest growing edge router vendor and subsequent acquisition for $2.1 billion. Previously, he was a senior vice president of Cisco, where he grew the worldwide service provider division from a $500 million, 500-person organization to $4 billion and 4,000 employees in the space of four years.


Metaswitch Founder and former Chairman Ian Ferguson remains on the board in his capacity as chairman of the company's Employee Benefit Trust.
http://www.metaswitch.com

Read More