Bell Labs marked the 50th anniversary of the launch of Telstar I -- the first active communications satellite, which ushered in the era of modern communications including real-time global telephone service, data communications and TV broadcasting.
Telstar I incorporated dozens of innovations from Bell Labs, including the transistor and solar panels, and was powered by 3,600 solar cells also invented by Bell Labs in 1954. The satellite could carry 600 voice calls and one black-and-white TV channel from an elliptical orbit some 30,000 miles above the Earth's equator. The orbit allowed a maximum transmission time between Europe and the United States of 20 minutes per pass. The satellite remained in service until February 21, 1963. Many generations of communication satellites have followed.
"With Telstar and its successors, the world was made a smaller place, as billions of people around the world had instant access to news, sports and entertainment. The phrase 'live via satellite' became part of the common vernacular. At the time, few people would have believed that 50 years later you could actually talk to your house or car, or predicted that children would play video games with other children 10,000 miles away," said Jeong Kim, President of Bell Labs.\ http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
Frontier Communications has received $71.9 million from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Connect America Fund (CAF). The funds will be used for broadband connectivity in underserved or unserved areas.
Frontier said that by accepting this funding, it will provide broadband service to an additional 92,876 households covering more than half of the 27 states it serves, ensuring rural customers in states such as Michigan, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia have access to broadband connectivity. http://www.frontier.com
Troy Cable, which serves southeastern Alabama, has selected ADTRAN to deliver a full range of carrier access and enterprise solutions for the Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP) funded SmartBand Project.
Troy Cable is deploying a 595 mile fiber optic Middle Mile network across the region that will enable high bandwidth voice, video and data to nearly 150 anchor institutions and 4,000 businesses in the area.
The deployment will include ADTRAN's Total Access 5000 Multi-Service Access Platform (MSAP), Total Access 900 series IP Business Gateways and the NetVanta 7100 Unified Communications platform. http://www.adtran.com http://www.troycable.net
Sustained DDoS activity will drive the market for DDoS prevention appliances to 24% growth in 2012 over 2011, according to a new report from Infonetics.
“While the market for dedicated DDoS prevention solutions remains strong, going forward the overall performance of the market and the vendors in it will be challenged by the widening availability of hosted/SaaS solutions and new integrated security platforms that include DDoS prevention as a feature,” notes Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research.
“Arbor Networks and Alcatel-Lucent recently announced a combined offering that couples Alcatel-Lucent routers and a specialized DDoS mitigation blade from Arbor. And F5 recently launched a specialized data center firewall product based on its BigIP traffic management platform, with DDoS prevention as a cornerstone feature.”
Some highlights:
The data center segment of the DDoS prevention market is growing fast and is expected to pass the carrier transport segment by the end of 2012.
Arbor Networks, the largest vendor in the DDoS prevention appliance market, maintains a commanding overall lead with nearly 3/5 of global revenue, although Radware is challenging in the government network segment.
Combined, all segments of the DDoS prevention market—data center, carrier transport, mobile, and government—are forecast by Infonetics to top $420 million by 2016.
Mobile networks will see the strongest growth in the DDoS prevention market, with a 30% CAGR over the 5 years between 2011 and 2016.
TeleGeography published its 2012 Submarine Cable Map, showing more than 150 cable systems that are currently active or due to enter service by 2014. According to TeleGeography, the trans-Atlantic remains the largest submarine cable route by far, with 16.2 Tbps of lit capacity at year-end 2011, followed by the trans-Pacific with 12.5 Tbps of lit capacity. http://www.telegeography.com/telecom-maps/submarine-cable-map/index.html
Opnext supplied its OTS-100FLX 100Gbps digital coherent subsystem for an optical transmission field trial between the National Supercomputing Center, SARA, in Amsterdam and CERN in Geneva.
The test used next-generation 100Gbps single carrier technology and soft decision forward error correction (SD-FEC) to optically link Amsterdam to Geneva with a transmission distance of 1,650km using only erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs).
Opnext said the embedded fiber link comprised a combination of the relatively high-nonlinear TW+ and TWRS fibers. Furthermore, the circuit was optically looped back in Geneva, thus creating a 3,300km circuit. The looped-back 3,300km link operated error-free for more than 23 hours (BER<10-15) over the entire C-band and over a range of launch powers, highlighting the true upgrade potential of this link to 8Tbps in the future using 100Gbps coherent transponders.
The Opnext subsystem consists of a suite of OTS-100FLX 100Gbps flexponder line cards and a newly released OTS-mini ETSI shelf with a 4RU small form factor.
"This trial is another clear demonstration that coherent 100Gbps PM-QPSK transmission technology is tolerant to a very large range of impairments (i.e. chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion, noise) and allows the use of alien wavelengths in research networks over DWDM systems from multiple vendors,” said Roeland Nuijts, Optical Network Architect for SURFnet. “Transmission distance and tolerance against different impairments will be critical going forward as we look to build out international networks across geographic and administrative borders in order to realize a global facility for research networking."
"It is great to see the results of our 100Gbps coherent product development deliver both the capacity and reach needed to scale next-generation optical networks around the world,” said Mike Chan, President of Opnext’s subsystems business unit. “SURFnet’s 3,300km field trial really pushed us, and our 100Gbps coherent technology met the challenge."
Equinix completed its previously announced acquisition of Hong Kong-based data center provider Asia Tone for $230.5 million in cash. In total, Equinix gains five data centers and one disaster recovery center, in addition to one data center under construction, located across three key markets – Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. Asia Tone serves a strategic customer base, which includes many existing Equinix customers. Asia Tone generated approximately $30 million in revenue in 2011, and has been growing at a greater than 50 percent CAGR for the past three years. http://www.equinix.com
EchoStar XVII, which is one of the highest capacity satellites ever built, was successfully launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
EchoStar XVII is an all Ka-band, broadband satellite designed to provide well in excess of 100 Gbps capacity to HughesNet across North America. Its multi-spot beam architecture will expand coverage and focus capacity on the areas with the highest traffic demand. It uses the Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform and is designed to provide service for 15 years or longer.
Extensive tests will be completed after the spacecraft is maneuvered into a circular orbit 22,300 miles above the equator at 107.1 degrees West longitude. Hughes expects to begin commercial operations this Fall.
"The addition of EchoStar XVII to our existing satellite capacity, ground network, and services takes satellite Internet to the next dimension," said Pradman Kaul, president of Hughes. "Our HughesNet Gen4 customers will be able to enjoy a media-rich world like never before. We congratulate the Arianespace and Space Systems/Loral teams on a flawless launch." http://www.hughes.com 06-Jul-12
Huawei has established open TD-LTE IOT (Interoperability Testing) labs in Xi'an and Shenzhen to enhance collaboration with chipset, device and application partners. The open IOT labs will focus on LTE solutions for voice, multi-mode roaming and multi-mode smartphones in collaboration with industry partners to promote the maturity and commercialization of the TD-LTE industry.
The IOT lab in Xi'an is capable of conducting interoperability testing between chipsets and network systems, devices and network systems. It can also perform tests between multiple systems, including GSM/WCDMA/CDMA/TD-SCDMA/LTE TDD/FDD and using mainstream TD-LTE bands (1.9, 2.3, 2.6 and 3.5GHz). The lab's device test environment can support tests on devices from five different manufacturers simultaneously.
The Shenzhen IOT lab focuses end-to-end authentication and verifying network performance with different technologies, applications and solutions. Voice, video, LCS (Location Services) and other end-to-end solutions are tested at the Shenzhen IOT lab.
In April, Huawei and Intel established a joint IOT lab in Beijing to promote the development of the TD-LTE ecosystem. http://www.huawei.com
Huawei announced a new HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) record for peak single-user uplink data rates with 20 Mbps using DC (Dual Carrier) and 16QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) technologies.
Huawei said its record-setting 20 Mbps uplink achievement for the 16QAM higher-order modulation technology and the DC convergence technology was based on its unique UMTS algorithms. http://www.huawei.com
Telefónica Digital, the company's new business division focused on cloud computing, mobile advertising, M2M and eHealth, reiterated its commitment to driving openness in mobile ecosystems and support for Mozilla’s HTML5 platform.
In a press event in London last week, Telefónica Digital said it plans to launch the first Firefox OS devices in Brazil in early 2013. Telefónica will also make a multi million Euro investment to kick start the mobile advertising market in Brazil, using its successful UK O2 Media model as a blueprint.
Telefónica Digital was created in September 2011.
Telefónica Digital also announced:
Global framework agreements with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Research In Motion (RIM) -- Telefónica will offer Direct to Bill payments as a means of driving the monetisation of mobile content. Telefónica has started to roll out Direct to Bill in Europe, where it is already proving popular with customers. In Germany, 400,000 customers per month on average are now making payments for a variety of products and services across different platforms. Telefónica plans to have the capability live in 14 markets globally by year end.
A partnership with Etisalat -- the two companies will jointly develop business opportunities in Machine-to-Machine (M2M), financial services, cloud computing, eHealth, mobile advertising and over-the-top communications. Under the terms of the agreement, Telefónica will jointly work with Etisalat in the acquisition of video content, while Etisalat will also participate in Telefónica’s global device procurement process. The partnership expands Telefónica’s addressable market by 17 countries and 170m customers.
"We have a clear vision for Telefónica of becoming a credible leader in a range of new services beyond connectivity and we have set in place the right partnerships with key players, as well as building our own capabilities, to help us achieve this. We are already delivering growth levels well in excess of market norms and we are fast becoming materially significant to Telefónica," said Matthew Key, Chairman & CEO of Telefónica Digital.
Orange suffered a widespread outage on its mobile network across France on July 6th that lasted ten hours. The company blamed a software glitch on critical network equipment for the outage. France Telecom's CEO, Stephane Richard, promised compensation to its customers, describing the event as rare. http://www.orange.com
Telefónica Digital has named Visa Europe as its preferred mobile payments partner in Europe.
The companies agreed to co-invest in the development of innovative products and services in areas such as mobile wallet, contactless payments (NFC), acquirer services for mobile point of sale, and merchant offers. The deal builds on its existing relationship in markets such as the UK and Ireland, formalizing it at a Europe-wide level and establishing Visa Europe as Telefónica’s preferred partner for the issuance of branded payments cards and the development of related mobile payment services. http://www.telefonica.com
Equinix announced a $750 million senior credit facility consisting of a $550 million senior secured revolving credit facility and a $200 million senior secured term loan facility. Both the revolving credit facility and the term loan facility have a five year maturity date extending to June 2017.
Proceeds from the senior credit facility were used to repay term loans of Equinix’s Asia-Pacific subsidiaries under its multi-currency credit facility agreement dated May 10, 2010 for approximately $200 million.
"We are pleased with the successful completion of this senior credit facility, which heightens our liquidity position and enhances our ability to invest in our growth opportunities. We had high caliber financial institutions subscribing to this transaction and the strong demand and recognition for our credit is a testament to Equinix’s operating performance and credit strength," said Keith Taylor, chief financial officer for Equinix. http://www.equinix.com
Eutelsat is boosting the performance of its Tooway satellite service to up to 18 Mbps to residential customers across Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. Upload speeds up to 6 Mbps are possible. The upgrade is achieved using better modulation -- from 8PSK to 16APSK. Previously, the top rate was 10 Mbps.
Tooway is delivered via Eutelsat's KA-SAT High Throughput Satellite. The company provides a cap of up to 50 Gigabytes per month. The pricing levels remain the same. A new entry level package is also being launched, offering download speeds of up to 2Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1Mbps for an expected retail price from EUR19.90. http://www.tooway.com
The GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) confirms that 67 manufacturers have announced 417 LTE-enabled user devices, including frequency and carrier variants. This includes 83 LTE smartphones, 31 tablets, 45 modules, 19 Notebooks, 1 PC card, 3 Femtocells, 157 Routers, and 78 Dongles.
Research for the report covered devices for use on FDD or TDD modes of the LTE system, their form factors, operating frequencies , and the fallback technologies which are supported when customers move outside the LTE coverage areas (i.e. ability to access HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, EV-DO, or TD-SCDMA systems).
Some other notes:
68 devices can operate in the TDD mode.
267 LTE devices also operate on either HSPA, HSPA+ or DC-HSPA+ networks, ensuring a seamless mobile broadband experience for customers moving between LTE and HSPA coverage footprints. Within this figure, 109 LTE devices can operate on 42 Mbps HSPA+ systems.
126 LTE devices support operation on EV-DO networks.
The report also considered the availability of devices by frequency band and support of the likely required combinations. The report findings are summarized below for the main LTE bands:
700 MHz (US Digital Dividend, various bands) 193 devices
Acacia Research Corporation announced its acquisition of 4 patent portfolios with 48 U.S. and International patents covering technologies relating to online collaboration, data networking, cellular communications and digital cameras. Financial terms and other details were not disclosed.
"Acacia is rapidly becoming the leader in technology licensing and we continue to grow our base of future revenues by adding new patent portfolios," commented Paul Ryan, Acacia CEO and President. http://www.acaciaresearchgroup.com
Alcatel-Lucent has supplied Belgacom with its 5780 Dynamic Services Controller (DSC) that provides the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) for 3G and 4G wireless networks. This allows Belgacom, Belgium’s leading telecommunications service provider, to offer its mobile subscribers easier-to-understand, personalized service plans and the ability to track billing statements in real-time. Subscribers can now receive real-time usage notifications and access continually updated information about their charges for both national and international data services usage.
Alcatel-Lucent said its solution can dynamically interface with applications such as online video or gaming sites to understand the specific network requirements needed to deliver them to the subscriber with an enhanced quality of experience. It can also be used to optimize network resources, effectively increasing the virtual capacity of an operators’ network.
Luc Defieuw, VP CIS, North, Central and Eastern Europe from Alcatel-Lucent comments: "Many service providers are now investigating how data usage and monitoring solutions can help them manage surging network demand, while reducing costs and providing even more value for their subscribers. With this deployment, Belgacom is putting itself at the forefront of this movement."
The 5780 DSC forms part of Alcatel-Lucent’s Wireless Packet Core solution. http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
Ixia agreed to acquire BreakingPoint Systems, which specializes in security testing, for $160 million in cash.
BreakingPoint's Actionable Security Intelligence (ASI) provides global visibility into emerging threats, and actionable insight to harden and maintain resilient defenses. BreakingPoint's FireStorm appliances simulates hundreds of stateful applications and provides the ultimate application control necessary to stress deep packet inspection (DPI) devices. The 3-slot BreakingPoint FireStorm can create 90 million simultaneous wired and wireless users at live network speeds of up to 120 Gbps.
The company's platforms are kept current via an intelligence subscription service that regularly pushes newly discovered attacks, malware, and other intelligence aggregated from proprietary research, strategic customer relationships, and carrier feeds.
BreakingPoint is based in Austin, Texas.
Ixia said the acquisition enables it to provide an end-to-end solution that monitors, tests, and optimizes converged networks.
The company's noted that BreakingPoint grew revenue over 40 percent in calendar 2011 to $33.5 million while generating gross margin of 87 percent for the year. For calendar 2012, Ixia expects BreakingPoint’s revenue to again grow by more than 40 percent, and anticipates that the BreakingPoint transaction will be accretive to non-GAAP earnings in the first full quarter of operations after the acquisition closes. Non-GAAP earnings exclude stock-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, and other non-recurring charges, net of the applicable tax effects.
"As a leader in cyber security research, BreakingPoint has built a library of more than 34,000 attacks, exploits, malware, and more,” said Dennis Cox, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of BreakingPoint. “Joining forces with Ixia creates a powerful platform in security and application testing – one with an extensive global sales reach into enterprises, service providers, and government agencies."
Ixia also updated its revenue guidance for the second quarter of 2012 to a range of $87 million to $89 million for its core business. This compares to the previously stated guidance of $86 million to $89 million. In addition to this amount, Ixia expects its recent Anue Systems, Inc. acquisition to add approximately $3 million to $4 million in additional revenue in the second quarter for the period from the June 1, 2012 acquisition closing date to June 30, 2012.
In May 2012, Ixia agreed to acquire Anue Systems, which offers a network monitoring solutions, for $145 million in cash. Anue Systems offers a Net Tool Optimizer that provides traffic visibility for Service Providers and enterprises by enabling test tools to access taps across the network. Anue aggregates and filters network traffic to optimize network monitoring tool usage. Anue also can replicate network traffic from a single tap or SPAN port and send it to multiple monitoring tools simultaneously. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Austin, Texas.
In April 2012, Danaher Corporation agreed to acquire VSS Monitoring, a privately-held company based in San Mateo, California, for its distributed traffic capture system for network and security monitoring. The company's Distributed Traffic Capture Systems provide an intelligent and robust platform for centralized monitoring, tool optimization, and scalability for the network monitoring and security infrastructure. VSS Monitoring optimizes the way data is extracted from high speed networks and then intelligently groomed and distributed to the eco-system of tools that require this data. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In April 2012, Spirent Communications agreed to acquire Mu Dynamics, which offers a network security and application performance testing tools, for $40.0 million in cash. Mu Studio, the company's flag ship product line, enables performance and security testing of cloud infrastructure, including network security systems, deep packet inspection (DPI) solutions, and LTE networks. Its Blitz is a self-service load and performance testing solution for cloud applications. Mu TestCloud compiles thousands of ready-to-runs tests, covering hundreds of applications.
In 2011, Ixia acquired VeriWave, a performance testing company for wireless LAN (WLAN) and Wi-Fi enabled smart devices, for an undisclosed sum. VeriWave wireless test solutions validate Wi-Fi networks, smart devices, and applications by benchmarking and measuring speed, quality, interoperability, compliance, and other pivotal aspects of wireless performance.
Robert W. Pullen (50), President and CEO of Tellabs, passed away on July 2, 2012 following a battle with cancer.
Rob Pullen has served as Tellabs' CEO since 2008, when he replaced Krish Prabhu. He began his career at Tellabs in 1985 as an electrical engineer and held a series of increasingly responsible positions in engineering, sales, marketing and services. Prior to being named CEO, Pullen was vice president and general manager of global services. From 2002 to 2005, he was senior vice president of North American sales. Previously, he served as senior vice president of optical networking. http://www.tellabs.com
