News
• AT&T plans hookup between iPhone, U-verse
By Mike Robuck
According to Reuters, AT&T is working on linking Apple’s iPhone with its U-verse broadband and video services, as well as adding new features such as using the phone as a remote control device.
Reuters said AT&T was showcasing applications and technologies at an event yesterday that are in the works. AT&T CTO John Donovan was quoted as saying some of the new services would be available by the end of this year, but he didn’t say which ones.
The hookup between iPhones and U-verse would allow users to do things such as download shows from their DVRs onto the phones.
• Verizon’s FiOS services expand in N.Y., Ind.
By Traci Patterson
Verizon began offering FiOS TV service in numerous Erie County, N.Y., communities on Monday. As part of this launch, Verizon will offer up to 100 high-definition (HD) channels to consumers in the western New York State market.
Verizon is initially offering FiOS TV to more than 60,000 households in the Buffalo, N.Y., area. Among the first communities to get the service are parts of Amherst; the town and village of Hamburg; the town and village of Orchard Park; and Tonawanda. The service will be available to several additional communities in the region within the next few weeks, Verizon said.
Additionally, consumers and businesses in Silver Lake, Ind., now have access to Verizon’s high-speed Internet service, which is based on DSL technology.
• Quest for HD: DirecTV deploys more of Harmonic’s gear
By Mike Robuck
DirecTV is using more of Harmonic’s equipment in its quest to add more high-definition (HD) channels to its lineup.
Earlier this year, DirecTV stated that its goal was to reach 150 HD channels by this fall, which it recently said it’s on track to do.
DirecTV expanded its deployment of Harmonic’s MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video processing products, which includes DiviCom Electra 7000 HD H.264 encoders, as well as the ProStream 1000 stream processing platform with DiviTrackIP stat muxing.
• XO selects Ciena’s CN 4200 FlexSelect platform
By Traci Patterson
XO Communications has selected Ciena’s CN 4200 FlexSelect advanced services platform to support the delivery of on-demand, high-bandwidth optical metro transport services.
The platform offers XO the flexibility to deliver a wider range of managed private network services offerings to customers that require scalable bandwidth and expanded reach capabilities for business applications, Ciena said. In addition, XO is now a designated Managed Services Provider (MSP) partner within Ciena’s BizConnect global partner program.
“Our large enterprise and service provider customers are demanding advanced services with higher bandwidth requirements,” said Randy Nicklas, CTO at XO Communications. “Ciena’s CN 4200 enables us to deliver higher-speed and lower-cost wavelength services to our customers, who can mix and match protocols on any single XO wavelength.”
• Acme Packet intros Net-Net 4500 platform
By Traci Patterson
Acme Packet has introduced its Net-Net 4500, a new addition to the Net-Net 4000 series that increases performance and capacity by 100 percent or more in session border controller (SBC), multiservice security gateway (MSG) and session routing proxy (SRP) product configurations.
The Net-Net 4500 provides the extra measure of performance and capacity needed to help Acme Packet customers support an ever-increasing number of users and volume of sessions, the company said, and the platform offers enhanced levels of performance and capacity that benefit all Acme Packet product categories.
“Acme Packet constantly strives to anticipate the ever-changing demands of new services and applications, so our customers can evolve their networks to meet those demands,” said Patrick MeLampy, CTO of Acme Packet. “The positive customer feedback we’ve received from beta and early customer deployments of the Net-Net 4500 assures us that our vision is aligned with that of our customers.”
More Broadband Direct:
• Bright House climbs aboard BigBand's SDV bandwagon
• FairPoint pushes back cutover date for Verizon operations
• ABI: Universal EdgeQAM market will take off next year
• SCTE board of directors' election process shifting for 2009 election
• Comcast names Lillie EVP of Comcast Foundation
• LRG: 27% of U.S. TV households have a DVR
• thePlatform adds 6 new technologies to thePlatform Framework
