Telecom Ramblings

As longtime readers know, I’m a sucker for maps. So when someone puts together an interactive compilation of connectivity covering virtually every active or planned undersea cable on the planet, I take notice. The folks over at Telegeography did that earlier today, combining their extensive database with some really nice and lightweight javascript mapping software [Read more →]

That Chinese telecommunications companies are becoming more aggressive is certainly nothing new, but this case is a bit intriguing. China Telecom and Huawei have teamed up to build a new submarine cable between Australia and New Zealand, or more specifically Sydney and Auckland.  The new cable will cost just under [Read more →]

If you haven’t already heard, the internet is afire with the amazingly ordinary news of a mere re-branding. Netflix’s DVD-by-mail offering will now be called Qwikster. And I’m going to swim against the tide here and call Reed Hastings a genius. [Read more →]

Yes, I know that AT&T could still win in court, or that they could find some magic formula of divestments that would let them eek their way through. But in practical terms, I think we may have passed over the hump of reasonability. Winning this battle may come at too high a cost, whether it be in changes to the deal, bridges burned along the way, or more importantly [Read more →]

P&TLuxembourg has established a 100Gbps IP connection between Frankfurt and Luxembourg with the help of equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU, news, filings), giving them a huge low latency pipe into the key bandwidth market and financial center. The buildout lets Alcatel-Lucent answer yesterday’s [Read more →]

There’s nothing quite like an election year to spice things up. Two different congressional forays into the wireless business came to light yesterday, one from each party and both leave one wishing Congress had something better to do. Oh wait, actually it has a long list of things it isn’t actually willing or able to do.  But I digress. [Read more →]

This article was authored by Michael Carroll, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

I came across an interesting article in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s newsletter outlining how Moore’s Law is now largely redundant because attention is switching from processing power to [Read more →]

In an announcement that investors will welcome, Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN, news, filings) today formally unveiled its next generation of PICs based on coherent 100Gbps technology. Each DTN-X PIC will support 5x100Gbps of traffic, ten of which can be linked up to behave as a single 5Tbps virtual switch. It will have OTN switching built in as well as MPLS, and is being positioned as [Read more →]

Indian telecommunications giant Tata Communications (news, filings) has launched a new cloud-based service. They’ve moved both Intelligent Call Routing and Interactive Voice Response onto a cloud infrastructure. The call center industry can use them for routing and distributing calls to their locations around the world.  The solution features [Read more →]

The Vyvx division of Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) is making progress in the college sports market. They announced today a new service aimed at bringing their professional sports broadcast services to universities, entitled Vyvx VenueNet Lite. It uses a university’s existing fiber infrastructure for connectivity across campus. That eliminates the [Read more →]

Gazettabyte has an interesting piece about where the next boost in bandwidth is going to come from now that 100G is making its way into production networks. They detail the efforts of a European research group, called MODE-GAP, looking for ways to multiply the total capacity of an optical fiber by another 100.  If we can put 10Tbps on a single fiber now and perhaps 20-25Tbps in a few years, then [Read more →]

EdgeCast’s focus on enabling content delivery for telecommunications providers took on a new dimension today. In a deal with transparent caching technology specialist PeerApp, they have created a joint CDN solution that addresses both managed and unmanaged content streams. [Read more →]

Seems like nobody in the wireless space is where they want to be right now. The summer season has seen a whole series of contentious issues go unresolved, or in some cases get worse: [Read more →]

Pacific bandwidth specialist Pacnet is making a substantial move deeper into the CDN business. Two years ago, they stuck a toe into the CDN pool by starting to resell Internap’s CDN services.  But as with many telecommunications companies efforts at the time, little had ever come of it.  Today though that has changed, as Pacnet announced their intention to deploy [Read more →]

Yesterday, LTE wholesaler-in-waiting LightSquared made another attempt to mollify the GPS Industry over interference concerns.  They offered to cut power substantially, a move that will require them to have more towers for the same coverage.  They also offered to reserve a specific band for high precision signals, which would help with particular applications.  But while the offer reduces the potential problems, it obviously doesn’t eliminate them completely.  And since the GPS industry has little incentive to compromise, we’re probably still not done yet.  You can read that in the GPS industry’s cautious response to the offer.  I’ll try my hand at translating bits of it from Publicity-English into English: [Read more →]

Swedish-based packet optical specialist Transmode unveiled its plans for 100G today. They’re focusing not just on long haul but also regional and metro applications. The economics of true 100G technology are still evolving, which means there is still time for new entrants to get their solution in place. Especially in the metro, which is [Read more →]

Lots of news items out yesterday, I guess the Labor day folks are all back in the building. A quick look at a few: [Read more →]

There’s a Reuters piece out today quoting Internap’s CEO, Eric Cooney, that seeks to stamp out recent speculation that the company is for sale.  The proliferation of cloud/colocation purchases by large telcos has changed the face of the sector over the last three quarters, with carrier-neutral properties like Terremark and Savvis now carrier owned, though neutrally operated. [Read more →]

Earlier this year, Verizon (NYSE:VZ, news, filings) promised to take its European 100G experience stateside by the end of Q2, deploying the latest ULH technology on a handful of routes. Today they made good on that promise and announced the deployment of Ciena’s 100G coherent solution in the US, although perhaps a little bit later than [Read more →]

Privately held Interoute (news) offered up a few details on its performance in the first half of 2011. Revenues grew 20% to €167M, up 20% over the same period last year. That’s a substantial acceleration over the rate they saw the prior year, despite the fact that the macroeconomic environment in Europe remains rather dodgy. [Read more →]

NTT America and its sister subsidiary NTT do Brasil finally took the plunge and built out their IP network into South America, according to a press release today. The new PoP is in Sao Paolo, the country’s main data hub – and the continent’s as well I suppose.  The expansion will expand NTT’s ability to serve customers there, offering more choice in international connectivity and especially to Asia.   [Read more →]

Another new posting on Ramblings’ Jobs Board to report this weekend.  Zayo followed up its earnings report at the end of last week with a posting for a Field Technician focused markets in [Read more →]

TGIF again.  Before you go, let’s catch up quickly on what slipped through the cracks (at least for me): [Read more →]