Wednesday Roundup 11-17: LightSquared, Level 3, Tata

November 17th, 2010 by · 1 Comment

Let’s quickly catch up on some of the news this week:

Prospective wholesale LTE alternative network LightSquared (news) took a major step along the path toward actually having a network.  For now, it’s just a really big satellite that was launched from Kazakhstan on Sunday.  And by really big, I mean with a 22 meter L-band reflector-based antenna.  The idea, or so I gather, is that by having bigger equipment in space, the phones on the consumer end can be smaller and thus not the bulky brick-sized devices one used to associate with satellite coverage.  Actual LTE test markets are scheduled to come online in 2011.  

On Monday, Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) took a trip to the museum, the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia to be exact.  They will be providing dedicated internet access to the museum’s new facility 101 S. Independence Mall East in support of its new interactive digital exhibits and online content.  I’m not entirely sure if they mean they will be serving content to museum patrons in the new facility or from the new facility (e.g. at home), but nevertheless it sounds like an interesting way to burn some bandwidth. 

And Tata Communications (news, filings) unveiled its next-generation Ethernet network, which leverages 802.1ah Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB).  I haven’t heard that much about PBB since Nortel went under, but the final standard was approved in 2008.  The gear powering Tata’s Ethernet network is the Cisco ASR9000, which also powers the Ethernet Exchanges of Telx and Neutral Tandem.  I haven’t seen Tata turn up on the Ethernet Exchange circuit yet, but after this move perhaps that will follow.

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Categories: Ethernet · Internet Backbones · Wireless

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