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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Cisco wraps up purchase of Ubiquisys
May 24, 2013 1:29 pm | by Associated Press | CommentsCisco Systems Inc. said Friday that it has completed a $310 million acquisition of Ubiquisys, a privately held cellphone technology company in the U.K. Cisco said that deal will combine the expertise of both companies to the benefit of service provider customers moving to next-generation radio access networks.
Dish and Ntelos forge broadband pact
May 24, 2013 1:20 pm | by Associated Press | CommentsSatellite TV provider Dish Network and regional cellphone company Ntelos said Friday that they have agreed to develop a fixed-mobile broadband service within Ntelos' coverage area. The area in question covers customers in Virginia, West Virginia and parts of Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.
Edmonton expands Wi-Fi service agreement with Shaw
May 24, 2013 12:29 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsEdmonton’s city council gave Shaw Communications its stamp of approval by voting in favor of letting the cable operator expand its Wi-Fi service to public areas across the city. The Shaw Go WiFi network will be available not only Shaw’s customers once its completed, but also to city residents and visitors.
Verizon kick starts Memorial Day weekend with VOD marathon
May 24, 2013 12:23 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsVerizon has booted up its “On Demand Marathon,” which is offering its 4.9 million FiOS subscribers free access to 1,700 movies and more than 50 full seasons of TV series. The VOD marathon, which started today and runs through Tuesday, is the single largest free on demand event that Verizon has hosted.
MEF unveils new service operations committee
May 24, 2013 12:17 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsThe Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) recently formed its services operations committee, which was designed to define, streamline and standardize processes for buying, selling, delivering and operating MEF-defined services. Allan Langfield, senior director of product development at Comcast Business, and Shahar Steiff, AVP business operations at PCCW Global, were tabbed as the co-chairs of the service operations committee.
TWC promotes Picciolo to SVP of technical operations, residential
May 23, 2013 12:49 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsEffective immediately, Time Warner Cable executive Deborah Picciolo was promoted to the newly created position of senior vice president of technical operations, residential. In her new role, Picciolo reports to John Keib, executive vice president, chief care and technical operations officer.
Clearwire board likes new Sprint bid
May 22, 2013 1:52 pm | by Ben Munsen, Wireless Week | CommentsClearwire’s board of directors is recommending its shareholders vote in favor of Sprint’s revised bid to buy out the wireless wholesaler. Only hours before Clearwire’s shareholders were scheduled to vote Tuesday on Sprint’s offer to buy the nearly half of Clearwire it doesn’t already own, Sprint boosted the offer. Sprint’s new bid of $3.40 per share represents a 14 percent premium over the previous offer of $2.97 per share.
Consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony compared
May 22, 2013 1:49 pm | by The Associated Press | CommentsThe new Xbox One debuts nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony. Each machine has a set of features designed to draw gamers away from rival consoles, but the one thing all three have in common is that they are about more than gaming and include entertainment services such as television, movies and music.
Microsoft touts Xbox One as all-in-1 entertainment
May 22, 2013 1:36 pm | by The Associated Press | CommentsThe new console wants to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies, sports and other entertainment. People will be able to connect their cable or satellite set-top box and watch TV through the Xbox One. It will have its own channel guide and allow viewers to change channels by voice command.
Report: Wi-Fi scores well in hometowns, but work a challenge
May 22, 2013 12:24 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsAccording to a recent study by Wi-Fi vendor Ubiquiti Networks, Wi-Fi users are generally pleased with how their networks perform in their hometowns, but not so much in their work environments. The study found that 48 percent of the users surveyed gave their Wi-Fi a “B” grade for its general availably and performance in their hometowns.
Optical packet equipment market booming in 1Q
May 22, 2013 12:08 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsThe total optical packet equipment market grew 23 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2013 to reach $1.1 billion, according to research firm Dell’Oro Group. Over the trailing four-quarter period, optical packet revenue grew 20 percent to $4.6 billion.
Broadband adoption up in Q1
May 21, 2013 2:03 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsBroadband adoption continues to increase, with the biggest Internet service providers in the U.S., estimated to have attracted a net of 1.1 million additional subscribers in the first quarter of 2013. Meanwhile, the most recent quarter’s results indicate total video subscribership may actually be shrinking.
Canby Telcom preps authenticated broadcast TV
May 21, 2013 1:52 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsCanby Telecom will provide over the top (OTT) delivery of local broadcast channels to authenticated Canby Telecom subscribers via Roku boxes. The operator is using the Elemental Live video processing systems from Elemental Technologies to adapt traditional MPEG-2 broadcast channels to multi-bitrate Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS).
Cablevision cooks up TVE deal with Scripps
May 21, 2013 12:39 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsAuthenticated Cablevision subscribers can now view Scripps Networks channels, including Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel, anywhere in the United States on their computers. Cablevision plans on offering the Scripps channels on additional devices at a later date.
Comcast Business’ VoiceEdge dials up Denver
May 21, 2013 12:34 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsComcast Business’ VoiceEdge, which is a cloud-based VoIP and unified communications platform, is now available in the Denver area. Launched last year, VoiceEdge allows mid-sized business to replace their legacy PBX equipment while adding unified communications features without the need for on-site gear.



