VON News
Stimulus Grant Seals RCN Metro Build of Massachusetts Middle Mile
COMPTEL PLUS — As it looks forward to its life as a private company free of encumbrances from RCN’s cable business, a move announced earlier this month, RCN Metro Optical Networks will focus full time on designing, building, and operating a broadband stimulus supported, 350-mile advanced fiber network for OpenCape …(542 words) No topics for... »
40% of BlackBerry Users Want iPhone, Android Instead
Lust for something different grows inside an overwhelming percentage of Blackberry users’ hearts, apparently: Nearly 40 percent of them would switch to the iPhone, and a whopping third of them would switch to the Android operating system, given the chance.And, it appears that Blackberry might be in trouble in general …(548 words) No topics for... »
IPTV Carriers Get 150% More HD Advertising
HD video advertising just got a boost with BigBand Networks Inc.’s release of its Broadcast Video Services Software 3.0, which enables IPTV, cablecos and others to deploy up to 150 percent more HD advertising and process up to 140 percent more individual HD program streams.The software is being offered as …(247 words) No topics for... »
Microsoft Unveils Marketplace for Windows Phone 7
Continuing down its path of reinvigorating its smartphone strategy, Microsoft Corp. has officially unveiled its mobile applications marketplace and strategy for leveraging third-party apps developers for its new Windows Phone 7-series devices.Microsoft will bring applications and games to market with a new Windows Phone Marketplace. The Marketplace has a panoramic …(531 words) No topics for... »
FCC Tackles What It’ll Take to Get National Broadband
No communications industry company came right out and said the FCC’s national broadband plan, released today, is either really good or really bad. Instead, most businesses and associations reacting to the year-long project patted the FCC (and themselves) on the back for its work, pointed out their favorite parts and …(1218 words) No topics for... »
VON Poll: Would You Switch to a Google Nexus One Smartphone?
Would you switch to a Google Nexus One smartphone?surveys (8 words) No topics for this post. »
Google Nexus One Sales Bombing — Report
Not everything Google touches turns to gold after all.A new report shows that the search giant has sold only 135,000 of its Nexus One smartphones since its debut more than 10 weeks ago. To quantify that, Apple sold 1 million iPhones in the 74 days after they first went on …(254 words) No topics for... »
COMPTEL Elects New Board Members
COMPTEL PLUS — Members of COMPTEL have elected 13 companies to serve on its board of directors for the 2010-2012 term. The election took place during the association’s annual membership meeting. These newly elected board members join the 15 others who are currently serving their 2009-2011 terms.Joe Ambersley, a founding …(252 words) No topics for... »
VoSKY Debuts SMB PBX-to-Skype Gateway
VoSKY has made its mark in the enterprise space as a cost-effective alternative to PSTN calls. Now the company’s newest communications gateway, the VoSKY SSG, has earned the distinction of being the first certified as interoperable with Skype for SIP. The VoSKY SSG, aimed at the SMB space, connects legacy …(298 words) No topics for... »
Blue Coat Takes WAN Optimization Virtual
Extending the trend of virtualization beyond its current boundaries, Blue Coat Systems has announced its ProxySG line of virtual appliances, a software-only version of its WAN optimization offering that runs on top of industry-standard servers running VMware vSphere. ProxySG is designed to optimize the delivery of advanced business applications and …(275 words) No topics for... »
ATLANTIC-ACM Names 2010 Wholesale Award Winners
COMPTEL PLUS — ATLANTIC-ACM, a telecommunications research consultancy and benchmarking firm, delivered its 2010 ATLANTIC-ACM Awards for U.S. Long Haul Wholesale Carrier Excellence at the COMPTEL Plus Spring 2010 Convention + Expo at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. The awards reflect the results of the 2010 edition of ATLANTIC-ACM’s U.S. …(180 words) No topics for... »
Verizon Offers Small-Biz Bundles
COMPTEL PLUS — Joining the land rush into VoIP services for small and medium-sized businesses, Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) said its wholesale division will offer three new service bundles for the sector. Responding to the surge in VoIP demand from smaller companies, the new packages comprise a SIP gateway service, a …(278 words) No topics for... »
Twitter SXSW Keynote Panned, @Anywhere Lauded
Monday’s Twitter keynote at the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, is getting tepid reviews. According to multiple sources, Twitter CEO Evan Williams is a dull speaker and interviewer. Umair Haque of the Harvard Business Review did little to stem the exodus of festival attendees from the convention …(285 words) No topics for... »
Apple, Google Pull Worker Switcharoos
Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) have pulled an employee switcharoo and the details are coming to light. Apple snagged R.J. Pittman, formerly a product manager at Google, and Google landed former Apple software developer Tim Bray. The Bray hire is definitely the most interesting, given Bray’s pointed comments about Apple …(220 words) No topics for... »
Arbinet Deploys Customer-Based Routing in Network
COMPTEL PLUS — Arbinet Corp. has introduced into its network a new level of routing flexibility for its Arbinet Carrier Services (ACS) customers.Customer Based Routing enables a service provider or carrier customer to select from multiple grades of service for each destination over a single trunk group. A carrier can …(364 words) No topics for... »
AT&T To Roll Out Smartphone-Type Apps for Messaging Phones
ATT Inc. says its fastest-growing wireless device category these days is quick-messaging devices, not smartphones. And it’s adding more advanced, cloud-based features to the midrange suite, blurring the lines between handset types.ATT defines the QMD category for the industry as a portfolio of wireless handsets that have a messaging-friendly full …(717 words) No topics for... »
XO Goes International with Wholesale Referral Program
XO Communications has launched the International Customer Referral Program to further strengthen its position within the international carrier community. The program allows overseas telecommunications companies to contract with XO to provide their carrier customers with access to XO’s carrier services solutions in the United States. Recently, XO secured its first …(310 words) No topics for... »
MSF Hosts Multivendor LTE Interop Event
The Global MultiService Forum (MSF) is hosting an LTE interoperability testing event over the next two weeks at Vodafone’s Centre for Test and Innovation in Düsseldorf and the China Mobile Research Institute Lab in Beijing. The testing focuses on validating Evolved Packet Core network interfaces to enable multi-vendor deployment strategies …(310 words) No topics for... »
DT Takes Steps in NGN Transformation with NetCracker
Deutsche Telekom AG has selected NetCracker Technology to be part of its Next Generation Service and Systems Management (NGSSM) transformation, a core element of the enterprise-wide migration to NGN on the part of the big carrier.DT has a strategic initiative to drive standards-based rationalization and automation of operations to enable …(306 words) No topics for... »
A 4G Picocell Offers LTE Backhaul Alternatives
A 4G LTE picocell has landed, giving operators like ATT Inc. and Verizon Wireless another option for distributed backhaul, outside of the cell tower footprint. The picocell will be an affordable access point to complement macro networks by providing voice and high-speed data coverage and capacity to hot spots and …(233 words) No topics for... »
TV Globo Brings HDTV to Rural Brazil
Brazilian free-to-air television provider TV Globo has begun the transition of its customer base to the new digital television standard, including remote populations within the South American country. It has signed with Technicolor to use its HD set-top boxes, bringing the TV Globo digital signal via C-band satellite to rural …(410 words) No topics for... »
Turk Telecom Turns to GiPS for International Roaming Quality
Argela Technologies, a subsidiary of Türk Telekom, Turkey’s leading telecom provider, has integrated Global IP Solutions’ VoiceEngine Mobile to ensure call quality on its TT WiRO VoIP calling service. TT WiRO mobile allows customers to avoid international roaming costs. A soft-client enables customers to be charged under their home or …(157 words) No topics for... »
European Commission to Grow Mobile Broadband Capacity by Tenfold
The European Commission has launched a new initiative to increase mobile broadband infrastructure capacity density in Europe by tenfold.The Beyond Next-Generation Mobile Broadband (BuNGee) is a €4.7 million initiative is funded in large part by the European Commission that will draw upon collaboration among the consortium members comprising European service …(431 words) No topics for... »
Apple Starts Taking iPad Pre-Orders
Apple Inc. started taking preorders for its tablet computer, the iPad, which is set to arrive in Wi-Fi-only form on April 3. Versions with embedded 3G will arrive later in the month. Customers can order iPads online or reserve them for pick-up at the Apple store. According to Apple Insider, …(550 words) No topics for... »
Court Sides With FCC in Banning Exclusive Cable Deals
An appeals court on Friday said an FCC ban on exclusive cable contracts is a-okay.That means satellite companies, smaller cable operators and new video entrants such as telcos will be able to keep offering popular movie and sports channels. Comcast Corp. and Cablevision Systems Corp. had challenge the FCC’s 2007 …(106 words) No topics for... »
ICANN Makes Porn Lovers Wait, Again
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, won’t make a decision on the “.xxx” Web suffix until June. Maybe.The agency, which maintains global oversight of the Internet, in 2007 voted down, for the third time, proposals to corral porn sites to “.xxx” domain names. But on Friday, the …(149 words) No topics for... »
FairPoint: Judge Sees No Issue With Reorganization Plan
A bankruptcy judge has given FairPoint Communications Inc. the go-ahead to take its reorganization plan to the next step, a confirmation hearing on May 11.“I cannot find this plan patently uncomfirmable,” Judge Burton Lifland said on Thursday, according to Bloomberg News. FairPoint, which filed for Chapter 11 protection last October, …(185 words) No topics for... »
Wipro Jumps on BPOS Bandwagon
Bangalore, India-based IT services firm Wipro Technologies has embraced the cloud computing model and announced its plans to offer Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).Under a “Dedicated Advisor” agreement with Microsoft, Wipro Technologies will be able to assist its global enterprise customers in migrating to BPOS via a palette of …(314 words) No topics for... »
RCN Metro to Build OpenCape’s Stimulus-Funded Network
Non-profit OpenCape Corp. is making good on a deal forged last summer with RCN Metro (RCNI). OpenCape is an organization made up of experts from colleges and universities, municipalities, hospitals and utilities, all working to bring communications services to the Cape Cod region. Its seed funding came from counties, private institutes …(255 words) No topics for... »
Content Services, Hosted IP Firm Lands $35M to Refi Debt
Highwinds Capital Inc., which sells content, network and hosted IP services, said this week it has raised $35 million from a private investor to refinance debt.The announcement comes as other telecom companies – tw telecom inc. among them – have had recent luck securing lower rates to pay off higher-interest …(123 words) No topics for... »