Monday, August 15, 2011

GE's Ruggedized Video Processing Platform Employs Tilera Many Core Processor

GE Intelligent Platforms unveiled a ruggedized video processing platform suited for applications such as unmanned aerial drones that use the Tilera TILEPro64 many-core processor.


The GE 3U OpenVPX-REDI GFG500 Gigabit Ethernet Video Processor and the 3U OpenVPX-REDI MCP500 Processor boards are designed for demanding video and network processing applications that will be deployed in harsh environments.


The GFG500 is pre-loaded with GE's sophisticated algorithms for capturing and processing multiple simultaneous video streams from Gigabit Ethernet-compliant video sources. The MCP500 is a general purpose, many core processor platform designed for accelerating software applications through multiprocessing. The MCP500 is an ideal rugged processing engine for netcentric applications such as packet processing, intrusion detection/deep packet inspection, unified threat management, network monitoring and forensics in tactical wireline and wireless environments.


"As unmanned vehicles – especially unmanned aerial vehicles – assume greater significance in the gathering and communication of intelligence, so the requirement to capture, process and distribute highly detailed video information is becoming an absolute requirement," said Chris Jobling, Product Manager, GE Intelligent Platforms. "The GFG500 and MCP500 respond to this requirement by delivering outstanding video and networking performance within the compact, lightweight footprint of the 3U VPX format – while their ruggedness means that they can be deployed in the harshest of environments."

The Tilera TILEPro64 700MHz processor features an 8 x 8 grid of 64 general purpose processor cores for compute-intensive applications.
http://www.ge.com

Cult of Mac: Why Is Apple Secretly Installing LTE Equipment

Reports surfaced that Apple may be installing LTE equipment in some of its U.S. stores. A report from Cult of Mac speculates that the mysterious gear reported photographed in an Apple store supports the 700MHz and AWS bands that will be used by AT&T. http://www.cultofmac.comhttp://bit.ly/n62sh0

Blue Coat Reports Disappointing Quarter, CEO Steps Down

Blue Coat Systems reported net revenue of $109.5 million for the first quarter of its fiscal 2012, down from $120.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 and $122.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. On a GAAP basis, the Company reported net income of $2.7 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, compared with net income of $9.0 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 and $13.9 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2011.


"Our first quarter results were disappointing as they came in below our expectations," said David W. Hanna, chairman of the board of directors. "We are taking the necessary actions to reinforce our leadership position in the Web security market, while capitalizing on opportunities in the WAN optimization market based on our strong competitive advantages."


For the second fiscal quarter ending October 31, 2011, Blue Coat currently expects net revenue in the range of $103 to $110 million. On a GAAP basis, the company currently expects net loss of $(0.04) per diluted share to net income of $0.04 per diluted share. http://www.bluecoat.com

  • Michael J. Borman joined Blue Coat in September 2010 as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Previously, he spent nearly 30 years at IBM and later was CEO of Avocent Corporation, a developer of server switching systems and software from July 2008, until its acquisition by Emerson Electric in December 2009.

Blue Coat Appoints Greg Clark as CEO

Blue Coat Systems, which supplies Web security and WAN optimization solutions, appointed Gregory S. Clark as president and chief executive officer following the resignation of Michael J. Borman, who has departed as president and CEO and as a director. Mr. Clark most recently was president and CEO of Mincom, an enterprise software company that was acquired in July by the ABB Group, a leader in automation and power technologies.


The Blue Coat board has named board member Carol G. Mills as interim CEO until Mr. Clark's arrival. Ms. Mills has held executive positions at technology companies including CEO of Acta Technology, EVP at Juniper Networks, and VP/GM at HP. http://www.bluecoat.com

Huawei Develops Node Scale Vectoring

Huawei Technologies announced the development of Node Level Vectoring (NLV) technology for eliminating crosstalk in copper pairs. The technology significantly improves throughput in VDSL2 networks. Huawei said its tests of vectoring show the ability to deliver 100 Mbps services at a distance of 300 meters, and 80 Mbps at a distance of 500 meters -- representing gains of approximately 70%.

http://www.huawei.com

Nokia Siemens Networks Gains DISA Certification

Nokia Siemens Networks has been accorded "Approved Products List" (APL) status by the U.S. government's Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), enabling the Department of Defense (DoD) and other government agencies to purchase the company's Military Next Generation (Mil NGN) solution. Concurrent with APL status, the DoD has awarded Nokia Siemens Networks contracts to install three Mil NGN systems at locations in Germany, South Korea and Japan. http://www.nsn.com

Telefónica Germany, Telekom and Vodafone

Telefónica Germany, Telekom and Vodafone have agreed to establish their mobile payment service as an independent company. The new entity, known as mpass, will begin operating as early as this year.


More and more customers are taking advantage of convenient and secure payment via mobile or stationary internet from a mobile phone. Once the mobile payment scheme mpass is up and running, the three telecommunications providers plan to expand on their position in mobile payment. The new company will concentrate on stepping up distribution and marketing activities, as well as developing new products.


Aided by new technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC), the three carriers expect that mobile users will soon be able to make simple, secure and wireless payments in retail shops.


"Payment by mobile phone will increasingly feature in our daily lives," says Michiel van Eldik, Managing Director of Wholesale & Partner Management at Telefónica Germany. "It has actually been possible for several years. And the first NFC smartphones, with full functionality for all aspects of credit and bonus cards, are already in the stores. I think that even as early as next year, consumers will be leaving their credit cards at home and paying by mobile phone instead."


"Queues at supermarket checkouts will soon be a thing of the past," says Christian Illek, Director of Marketing at Telekom Deutschland, adding: "mpass will make mobile payment easier, faster and more secure than with conventional payment means. Within the mpass partnership we are not only applying the specific benefits of mobile phones in the payment market, but, more importantly, we are bundling our customer reach with that of our partners." http://www.telefonica.com

First AT&T LTE Devices on Sale Aug. 21

AT&T will begin selling its first LTE devices in stores and online on August 21 -- even before its LTE network has commercially launched.


The first devices will be the AT&T USBConnect Momentum 4G and the AT&T Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G, both of which support fallback to the HSPA+ network. AT&T will offer same $50 plan for 5 GB of data as is currently available for USBConnect or Mobile Hotspot customers on the HSPA+ network.


AT&T recently announced plans to roll out 4G LTE in five markets – Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio – later this summer. A specific launch date has not yet been disclosed. By the end of 2011, AT&T plans to offer 4G LTE to customers in at least 15 markets, covering 70 million Americans.
http://www.att.com/attusbconnectmomentum4g

PMC-Sierra Appoints Two Directors

PMC-Sierra announced the appointment of Michael Klayko and Dr. Richard Nottenburg to its Board of Directors. The company also named Mr. Jonathan J. Judge as chairman of the Board.


Mr. Klayko is currently chief executive officer of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. and a member of the Brocade board of directors. Previously, he was vice president of worldwide sales at Brocade and also served as the vice president of marketing and support and vice president of OEM sales. Dr. Nottenburg is currently a member of the board of directors of Comverse Technology, Inc., Verint Systems, Inc. and Aeroflex Holding Corporation. From June 2008 to October 2010, he served as president, chief executive officer, and a director of Sonus Networks. http://www.pmc-sierra.com

WiMAX Surpasses 20 million Global Subscriber Mark

The number of WiMAX connections worldwide has passed the 20 million subscriber mark, according to figures from Infonetics Research that were cited by The WiMAX Forum. Also according to Infonetics, in the first quarter of 2011 the total worldwide sales of WiMAX equipment reached USD $502.1 million, which is up 49% from the first quarter of 2010. The analyst firm predicts that in 2011 WiMAX equipment will be a USD $2 billion industry.


Some notes from The WiMAX Forum:



  • In the first half of 2011 over 30 different WiMAX networks were either launched or expanded operations.


  • In the first half of 2011, UQ Communications of Japan doubled its subscriber base, breaking the one million subscriber mark in June.


  • YTL, a new Malaysian WiMAX operator that just launched WiMAX services in November 2010, has netted over 300,000 subscribers by June.


  • At an event in July, in which UQ Communications hosted the first public field trial of WiMAX 2, UQ and YTL signed a MoU to develop a pan-Pacific WiMAX hotzone.


  • Clearwire ended Q2 with 7.65 million total subscribers, up 365% from 2Q 2010. Clearwire also again increased its guidance to an expected 10 million subscribers by the end of 2011.


  • Jamaican operator Digicel leveraged its WiMAX network to capture 25% of the local broadband market in less than a year.


  • Mexican WiMAX operator AXTEL increased its WiMAX subscriber base by over 80% to over 332,000.
http://www.wimaxforum.org

UK to Invest £363 million in Rural Broadband

The UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced plans to invest £363 million to bring broadband to "all of rural England and Scotland" by 2015. The goal is to offer "superfast broadband to 90% or premises and broadband to 100%. "Superfast broadband" is defined as speeds greater than 24 Mbps. Broadband is defined as connections of 2 Mbps and up.


The market is expected to ensure a vibrant market for broadband services for two thirds of the population. These public monies will provide the incentive for broadband roll-outs in rural areas.


English counties are set to receive £294.8 million, and Scotland £68.8 million. Similar funding announcements have already been made for Wales and Northern Ireland as part of the government's £530 million investment programme.


http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/news_stories/8389.aspx

JDSU Debuts Tunable SFP+ Transceiver

JDSU introduced a tunable SFP+ transceiver to replace fixed wavelength SFP+ transceivers and legacy products in enterprise and metro networks. The device leverages the same Integrated Laser Mach Zehnder (ILMZ) chip that JDSU developed in 2007 to create the world's first tunable XFP transceiver for telecom networks in 2009.


Tunable transceivers enable flexibility in wavelength provisioning and lower over system cost by eliminating inventory expenses required with current fixed wavelength SFP+ products. JDSU said this new tunable SFP+ transceiver also represents the first time that full C-band wavelength tunability has been successfully demonstrated in such a compact and low-power SFP+ platform.


"The invention of the tunable SFP+ transceiver is the latest example of how JDSU's focus on R&D and vertical integration has translated into innovative and compelling new products," said Alan Lowe, president of the CCOP segment at JDSU. "We're very excited by initial feedback from customers who have told us that the tunable SFP+ transceiver will help them more efficiently manage their Enterprise and Metro networks."


JDSU is currently demonstrating the tunable SFP+ transceiver to customers and expects it to be in production within the next twelve months. http://www.jdsu.com

Ciena Adds another 40G Metro Optical Win

Russian carrier GlobalNet will upgrade its metro optical network using Ciena's 4200 Advanced Services Platform. The deployment will include Ciena's 40G technology and WaveLogic coherent optical processors. GlobalNet is a long stranding Ciena customer. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.ciena.com

Sunday, August 14, 2011

XO Posts Revenue of $381.7 million, Down Slightly from Last Year

XO Holdings reported Q2 revenue of $381.7 million compared to $383.6 million in the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP financial measure) was $43.4 million in the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 7%, or $2.9 million over the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue remained flat at 11% for the current quarter compared to the same quarter of 2010.


Net loss for the second quarter 2011 was $10.1 million compared to $1.2 million for the year-ago period. XO's results for the second quarter of 2010 included net investment gains of $5.4 million. There were no investment gains recognized during the second quarter of 2011.


Q2 revenue for Strategic Core services (IP-based services as well as transport) generated $242.8 million in revenue, an increase of $26.5 million, or 12% over the year-ago period. This was offset by year-over-year decreases in Legacy and Non-Core products. Revenue from Legacy products, such as more mature and traditional wireline voice, retail long distance, and other TDM-related products and services, decreased $9.7 million, or 7%, during the second quarter, compared to the year-ago period.
http://www.xo.com

China Mobile Launches Financial Services Arm

China Mobile announced the establishment of a new subsidiary, China Mobile Finance, whose primary business will be the provision of financial management services. The registered capital of the new subsidiary is proposed to be RMB 5 billion. The company said the new operation would strengthen its internal funds management and ensure better control of liquidity risks. Among its activities, China Mobile Finance will provide credit authentication, collection and payment of transaction money, and operate an insurance agency business.
http://www.chinamobileltd.com/

Cortina Deliver Packet Processing Punch for Residential Gateways

Cortina Systems has begun sampling new high-performance silicon for the next wave of multi-service residential gateways.


The newly announced CS7542/CS7522 devices are designed for the convergence of IPTV with DVB, router gateways, and DVR set top boxes. Such platforms will need to deliver simultaneous line rate bandwidth for secured data, voice, video, and mobile services without service degradation.


Cortina Systems is basing its solution on dual ARM Cortex A9 processors with DSP extensions capable of driving 4,000 DMIPS of performance. The design integrates a Gigabit line rate network engine with the ability to support QoS streams from the Service Provider. Cortina is also packing in the processing power for content DRM/CA systems and for advanced security features. In addition, Cortina's SoC solution integrates six transport stream inputs with the expectation that next gen residential gateways will serve IPTV streams as well as DVB and over-the-top content flows. Active power management features are also provided for meeting energy efficiency mandates.


"The digital home is in a rapid transition period where a new single service delivery model is needed to meet the growing demands and requirements for digital content and distribution," said Dr. Stewart Wu, Vice President at Cortina Systems. "To ensure the system's longevity and to support ever increasing bandwidth, Cortina's CS7542/7522 combines hardware‐accelerated, enterprise‐class, networking performance and security features with a flexible and scalable architecture to enable future value‐added services." http://www.cortina-systems.com

LightSquared Signs EarthComm Solutions

Texas-based EarthComm Solutions will become a wholesale customer on LightSquared's planned 4G-LTE network. EarthComm focuses on small and mid-sized cities throughout the southwest United States and beyond. http://www.LightSquared.com http://www.earthcommsolutions.com/

Level 3 Offers Direct Connect to Amazon Web Services

Level 3 Communications is a solution provider for Amazon Web Services' new Direct Connect service.


AWS Direct Connect enables enterprises to set up a connection to an AWS region via a dedicated network circuit. Level 3 can provide end-users with 1G and 10G circuits to the AWS cloud at all Direct Connect sites.


Level 3 said its advanced network and cloud services enable an ultra-high availability, end-to-end cloud platform that optimizes business productivity by delivering AWS services over a network that meets the applications' availability, latency and security requirements.


"Enterprise adoption of Amazon Web Services is growing in both scale and complexity. With this increasing sophistication, many customers want network connectivity options that match their application-specific requirements for performance and security," said Andrew Crouch, president of Sales for Level 3. "AWS Direct Connect customers can leverage Level 3's network to meet the demands of high-end cloud adopters with extensive network reach, bandwidth scale and established connectivity to AWS Direct Connect sites." http://www.level3.com

Time Warner Cable Adds 750K Customers via Insight Acquisition

Time Warner Cable will acquire Insight Communications for $3 billion in cash. Insight serves more than 750,000 customers in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. The operator has approximately 537,000 high-speed data subscribers, 679,000 video subscribers and 297,000 voice subscribers. The company's DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade is largely complete.


Time Warner Cable expects that, after incurring onetime costs and capital expenditures, it will create annual cost efficiencies of approximately $100 million through programming expense savings and other cost reductions.


Insight is currently owned by The Carlyle Group, Crestview Partners, MidOcean Partners, members of Insight management and others. Carlyle and Insight management took the company private in December 2005, and Crestview and MidOcean purchased a significant stake in the company in April 2010.


"We believe in our business and its long-term prospects and have long thought that Insight's well-run, technologically advanced systems would fit well with our Midwest operations. With the deal announced today, we are able to acquire those systems at an attractive price that is consistent with both our disciplined approach to M&A and our capital allocation strategy," said Glenn Britt, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable. "We look forward to serving these customers, welcoming Insight employees to the Time Warner Cable team and building on Insight's successes."


http://www.myinsight.com/

Motorola Mobility Acquisition Brings 17.000 Patents in Wireless, Compression, Security

Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on August 12, 2011.


Google sees the acquisition as a step to "supercharge the Android ecosystem" which it vowed to keep open for licensing by other handset manufacturers. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.


Motorola Mobility brings a a long history of innovation in mobile phones, including its DynaTAC, StarTAC and RAZR phones and, more recently the DROID by Motorola family of smartphones. In cable TV services, Motorola enabled the first pay-per-view event and launched the first all digital HDTV system. Its innovation also includes digital video compression and encryption, cable modems, the first HD set-top boxes with integrated DVR, and the first multi-room DVR content distribution system. The company has worked extensively on software application and services development for seamlessly integrating media content on multiple screens.


As of January 2011, Motorola owns approximately 24,500 patents and patent applications, worldwide. The patent portfolio generally relates to wireless, audio, video, security, user interface and product design, along with applications and services related to its products. The Mobile Devices business segment claims approximately 14,600 granted patents and 6,700 pending patent applications worldwide, including numerous patents related to various industry standards such as 2G, 3G, 4G, H.264, MPEG-4, 802.11, open mobile alliance (OMA) and near field communications (NFC). The Home business segment claims approximately 1,900 granted patents and 1,300 pending patent applications, worldwide.


Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, "Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers."


Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, "This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility's stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses."


Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, "We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices."
http://www.google.com http://www.motorola.com

  • During Q2, Motorola Mobility shipped 4.4 million smart phoneunits and over 440,000 tablets. It also expanded the DROID family at Verizon with introduction of DROID X2 and DROID 3, and forged a renewed relationship with Sprint and its prepaid brands, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA, with the planned introduction of 10 new devices including the PHOTON 4G.


  • For the full year 2011, Motorola Mobility has issued guidance saying it expects total SP and tablet units of 21 -23 million, with 1.3 to 1.5 million tablets.


  • Motorola completed its separation into a Solutions business and a Mobility business on January 4, 2011.


  • In October 2010, Motorola Mobility filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iTouch and certain Mac computers infringe Motorola patents. Overall, Motorola Mobility’s three complaints include 18 patents, which relate to early-stage innovations developed by Motorola in key technology areas found on many of Apple’s core products and associated services, including MobileMe and the App Store. The Motorola patents include wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization.


  • In November 2010, Motorola Mobility filed complaints against Microsoft alleging infringement of sixteen patents by Microsoft’s PC and Server software, Windows mobile software and Xbox products. The Motorola patents directed to PC and Server software relate to Windows OS, digital video coding, email technology including Exchange, Messenger and Outlook, Windows Live instant messaging and object oriented software architecture. The Motorola patents directed to Windows mobile software relate to Windows Marketplace, Bing maps and object oriented software architecture. The Motorola patents directed to Xbox relate to digital video coding, WiFi technology, and graphical passwords. Motorola Mobility has requested that Microsoft cease using Motorola's patented technology and provide compensation for Microsoft's past infringement.