NAB: Digital Rapids enhances C2, announces MediaMesh

Exhibiting at NAB 2009 in Las Vegas this week, encoding vendor Digital Rapids announced new enhancements to its content delivery software and a new media distribution appliance, as well as other news. The company's Digital Rapids C2 data delivery software now includes support for unicast, multicast and hybrid distribution models and is targeted at overcoming traditional ip network performance issues. The new MediaMesh RX appliance is aimed at receiving and repurposing content from centralized distribution sources to enhance syndicated ad delivery of ad spots through long-form content to broadcast affiliates and distribution partners.

Ifbyphone offers carriers value-add services via SIP trunking

Ifbyphone is announcing this week that it is offering all of its Phone 2.0/mashup style value-added services as white label offerings via SIP trunking, enabling softswitch-equipped carriers to sell phone automation services on top of their VoIP/SIP offerings.

"As transport prices continue to collapse, CLECs and regional telcos and hosted providers need applications to add value," Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro said. "The real power of SIP is a signaling protocol to allow a telephony company to gain access to applications. We're making our applications available to anyone, any carrier to use those applications in their customer base, just as someone can [incorporate] a web service in a web page."

Carriers using softswitches can add Ifbyphone features like full-function IVR, Call Queuing, Call Tracking and "Find Me" Call Forwarding, and complete applications such as Voice Broadcasting, Store Locator, and Lead Distributor without having to do the capital outlays for building their own applications.

The key in implementing the service is leveraging SIP trunking, allowing carriers to connect to Ifbyphone and route calls to what the company is calling "Smart ports" within the Ifbyphone platform, while also retaining origination and termination. Small to medium-sized carriers can access the features and services on a pay-as-you-go model, rather than investing significant dollars in capital expenditures and programming.

Shapiro outlined three business scenarios for implementing the services, with a $10,000 one-time setup fee for setting up the SIP trunk attached to all of them. For a limited number of customers needing IVR-style features, a carrier could route calls to Ifbyphone and simply get charged back on a per-minute basis for usage of those features. Larger usage would necessitate the rental of dedicated applications ports, with some capability to burst/oversubscribe on the first month to balance usage correctly -- but you have to pay for what you use. Finally, Ifbyphone is willing to work out a partnering relationship with a larger CLEC of sufficient size with a revenue share model.

While voice is the current focus, Sharpiro said any SIP applications could be delivered via the same model. "We're the first SIP applications warehouse on the net," he remarked.

Ifbyphone is certainly going through boom times with its current business. The company has reportedly growing at a rate of 10 to 15 percent per month over the last 20 months, with the first quarter of 2009 showing 50 percent growth over Q4 2008.

4G race is more complex than many realize

Though a Nokia executive recently hinted that WiMAX is bound for the scrap-heap of history, the reality is much more complicated, according to Maravedis analyst Robert Syputa. What is done with the network, he contends, "is becoming more important to the end customer than the technology that runs it," meaning that "a shift in openness is needed, and will increasingly be demanded." Syputa contends that WiMAX has acted as a "Trojan horse" for the wireless industry by opening up a market that has traditionally hidden behind a walled garden of exclusivity.

YouTube signs premium content deals

YouTube continued its push for premium content Thursday announcing several content deals with Hollywood studios that will bring scores of movies and TV shows to the Google-owned site. The Goog mentioned in the release that a paid model for the premium content could be floated, which would be a marked change for a company whose bread and butter has always been free, UGC video content.

MGM, Lionsgate, CBS, and Sony all agreed to send content to YouTube as part of the agreement, and advertising revenue generated from ad placements around this content will be split between the studios and YouTube.

A YouTube spokesman also disavowed the Credit Suisse report released last week that posited that YouTube was set to lose close to $500 million in 2009, saying it was assumptive rather than fact based.

NAB: GulfPines chooses Falcon, Verimatrix

Mississippi-based GulfPines Communications is using the Falcon IP/Complete IPTV delivery system and the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System for IPTV, the companies announced at NAB 2009 in Las Vegas, where the two vendors are demonstrating the Falcon system.

Falcon IP/Complete, which is French video technology firm Thomson's U.S. partner, and Verimatrix long have support an integrated, end-to-end solution for content aggregation and delivery that appeals to regional and rural telcos looking for wholesale help. The companies also recently worked with GTel Teleconnections in Germantown, N.Y.

GulfPines President Charles F. Fail said in a press release, "We selected the integrated Falcon IP/Complete and Verimatrix solution because it is the only one that meets all our needs. The solution is a standards-based IPTV solution featuring all elements from a single provider, from satellite to the set-top box. Because it is completely integrated, the solution offers flexible delivery for optimal efficiency. With the Falcon solution, we will make one call - 24/7 - for any service or technical issue. This will allow us to provide the excellent service our customers expect. It will also enable us to promptly offer new services in the future."

Nortel soldiers on with carrier VoIP

As it continues to work through an ugly bankruptcy process, Nortel took time to tout the addition of four more regional carriers as carrier VoIP customers. The company reports it has a total of 135 Communications Server (CS) 1500 customers globally.

The customers - Arkwest Communications, Dakota Central Telecommunications, Hancock Telephone and Venture Communications Cooperative - aren't exactly what we'd call the largest carriers of note these days. Arkwest is providing service within Yell County, Ark., for example, and offers both phone and IPTV services. Dakota and Venture are both Nortel DMS-10 switch customers and have added the CS 1500 to enable new services such as click-to-call, PC access to voice messages, and end-user web portals.

Hancock may be the biggest customer win out of the bunch. Nortel is providing both the CS 1500 softswitch along with "all" the products and professional services required to design, build, and manage the entire IP network.

If Nortel survives as an independent, albeit shrunken, entity, it is likely carrier VoIP and unified communications would be at the heart of the company that emerges from bankruptcy.

Latest Offer From Virgin: Pink Slip Protection Plan

Virgin Mobile is offering to forget about your phone bill if you get fired…but only for a while.

The new "Pink Slip Protection" plan is quite simple: once a customer has been with Virgin Mobile for at least two months on a Monthly Plan, and then loses his/her job and becomes eligible for state unemployment benefits within the next 12 months,

Current prepaid Monthly Plan customers will have an open enrollment period through June 30. In order to apply for Pink Slip Protection

"With the unemployment rate rising, the fear of job loss or salary reductions have made consumers watch every dollar," said Dan Schulman, Virgin Mobile's CEO, in a statement. "These issues tend to impact our prepaid base more than many wireless users, so we hope this program can offer some peace of mind to our customers."

In additon. new customers choosing Virgin Mobile USA's new Monthly Plans Without Annual Contracts - $29.99, $39.99 and Totally Unlimited for $49.99 - will automatically be enrolled in the Pink Slip Protection program. Still, read the contract carefully, as additional conditions do apply.

Ballmer, IBM reportedly surprised by Oracle-Sun deal

Reporters caught up with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Moscow to get his take on Oracle's deal to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion.

But apparently Ballmer, who is rarely at a loss for words, didn't exactly have a sound byte at the ready.

"I need to think about it," Ballmer told reporters in Moscow, according to Reuters. "I am very surprised."

I'm hearing that Ballmer wasn't the only one surprised by Monday's deal. According to a source of mine, IBM hadn't given up on purchasing Sun and was blindsided by Oracle's move.

Oracle is, of course, one of Microsoft's chief rivals in the database and business applications space--a fact that Ballmer highlighted in an interview in February. Sun is also a longtime rival, although the two companies have had a technology partnership in recent years stemming from their settlement of legal hostilities back in 2004.

I imagine we'll hear far more from Ballmer and Microsoft in the coming days and weeks.

Oracle gets Sun for $7.4 billion, MySQL for $0

Back in the early days of computing, there was no such thing as a "software vendor." Companies like IBM sold hardware/software integrated solutions and, really, software was developed simply to sell the value of the hardware.

With Monday's announcement that Oracle is acquiring Sun for $7.4 billion, however, Oracle is signaling its own "iPod moment," seeking to compete with Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and others in integrated hardware/software systems.

It's a bold move, and not for the faint of heart. But then, no one would ever accuse Oracle of being faint-hearted.

"I believe this is the first step down a different path," Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said in an e-mail to Sun employees, except that it's not, as Gordon Haff points out in a post on CNET.

What is new in the deal is that Oracle finally gets its wish to own MySQL. In 2007 Oracle offered as much as $850 million for MySQL, the third of its offers for the open-source database company.

This time, Oracle effectively got MySQL for free, as the valuation for Sun almost certainly wasn't raised much by its MySQL asset, acquired in 2008 by Sun for $1 billion.

What Oracle will not want, however, is for its customers to get MySQL for free.

Importantly, Oracle's new "systems" approach gives it the ability to digest a host of open-source projects like MySQL that might otherwise struggle to make money, and monetize them heavily by burying them in hardware "systems." It's a smart move driven by a company that knows that open source as a religion faded, and that open source as a key driver of innovative IT is just beginning.

It does, however, potentially give Oracle an antitrust problem in MySQL, as ZDNet's Dana Blankenhorn posits. MySQL's market share in the enterprise database market is negligible, but its share of the exploding Web database market is dominant and exploding.

While I don't expect the U.S. Justice Department or Federal Trade Commission to launch an antitrust action against Oracle relative to MySQL, it's important to note that this acquisition makes Oracle the clear behemoth in databases, past (enterprise) and future (Web).

Ultimately, however, this acquisition is not about MySQL. At least, not yet.

It's about hardware/software systems, primarily, and to the extent that software is involved, it's about Java, as called out by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. Over time, the MySQL component will become increasingly important, but for now this Sun acquisition gives Oracle exceptional control over integrated solutions for its customers, as well as a software portfolio with massive potential.

The industry just changed. Oracle raised the stakes of the game. The new ante to get into the game is integrated hardware/software systems, and as IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle increasingly demonstrate, open-source software plays an increasingly important role in feeding these systems

Oracle buys integration challenge along with Sun

Through one important piece of corporate computing jargon--"integration"--Oracle has found a justification for its $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Now it will have to convince historically skeptical customers, too, that the idea makes sense.

The all-cash acquisition agreement--announced Monday, costing Oracle $5.6 billion with Sun's cash factored in, and expected to close this summer--puts the innovative but financially bumbling Sun out of its misery after IBM's move to buy it fell apart earlier in April. The way to fit Sun's technology into Oracle's business model goes back to a project called Raw Iron that's more than a decade old.

Raw Iron ideas placed application software front and center while demoting the server hardware itself and the operating system to a subordinate role. The customer who needs some database software need hardly know what's going on under the covers.

What's smart about the approach is that it lets Oracle profit from Sun's diverse technology--which includes not just servers but also open-source software including Java and the MySQL database that Oracle already tried to buy years ago--without disrupting its own business too much.

Oracle signed a Raw Iron partnership with Dell and worked on it with Sun, IBM, and then-independent Compaq. With Sun's technology in house, one major challenge of those deals--who's in the driver's seat--evaporates with Sun a part of Oracle. There's no longer any question about which partner owns the customer relationship, which services the technical support contracts, and how the sales revenue is divvied up.

Will server appliances work this time?
Here's the rub, though. Raw Iron, along with the related concept of server appliances that arrived a few years later, was a marketplace dud.

Customers appreciate integrated technology to an extent, but Raw Iron and server appliances quietly submerged beneath the waves. Also worrisome for Oracle is the failure of one of its integration ideas, Unbreakable Linux. Customers by and large ignored this Oracle attempt to offer its own version of Linux, a clone of market-leading Red Hat's product.

Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison is a true believer, though, making the sales pitch in the company's official statement:

"Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system--applications to disk--where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves," Ellison said. "Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability, and security go up."

He does have a point. Sun has always focused centrally on the database market, and it has compelling technology assets for it that it hasn't been able to sell effectively: its current Niagara and the delayed higher-end Rock multicore processors, its Solaris operating system, and its Thumper storage servers with tremendous built-in data capacity.

And selling products at this high level of integration gives Oracle a way to ingest Sun's considerable open-source assets--among them Java, MySQL, Solaris, GlassFish, NetBeans--without too much indigestion. It might even give Oracle some incentive to be more active with the open-source community it's mostly kept at arms' length.

The once and future server market
Another issue, though, is that server appliances are to an extent an artifact from an earlier era, when companies bought and managed discrete systems. That remains a big business, but it's at odds with two important trends gaining steam in the industry.

First is virtualization, chiefly through EMC's VMware software. This lets a single server run multiple operating systems, with the software collection moving flexibly from one physical machine to another as work load demands shifted. By breaking the hard link between hardware and software, virtualization undermines the integration sales pitch and inserts a third party's technology between the server and its higher-level software.

Second is cloud computing, where applications run on central servers on the Internet rather than in a company's own confines. Cloud computing takes many forms, but from Oracle's perspective, an excellent example is Salesforce.com, whose sizable cloud-computing service competes directly with Oracle's Siebel business for customer relationship management chores such as tracking who bought what and when their warranty is up for renewal.

But having Sun's hardware assets in-house gives Oracle more flexibility to adapt to cloud computing on its own, in particular through Sun's recently relaunched Network.com cloud computing infrastructure.

Financial complications
Sun Chairman and co-founder Scott McNealy and even more so CEO Jonathan Schwartz likely are breathing a sigh of relief. Sun's stock plunged after IBM's attempted acquisition of Sun fell apart, but with an Oracle acquisition offer also on the table, it's now clear why Sun could play chicken with IBM then issue a statement about the board's faith in Schwartz after IBM walked. On Monday, Sun's stock surged 36 percent to $9.07 in mid-morning trading.

Oracle seemed eager to justify the price, arguing it will improve Oracle's earnings per share significantly and that it will help the company more than earlier massive acquisitions.

"We expect this acquisition to be accretive to Oracle's earnings by at least 15 cents on a non-GAAP basis in the first full year after closing," Oracle President Safra Catz said in a statement. "We estimate that the acquired business will contribute over $1.5 billion to Oracle's non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) operating profit in the first year, increasing to over $2 billion in the second year. This would make the Sun acquisition more profitable in per-share contribution in the first year than we had planned for the acquisitions of BEA, PeopleSoft, and Siebel combined."

It should be noted that although Oracle did surprisingly well integrating BEA Systems, PeopleSoft, and Siebel--despite having its own directly competing products in each case--but also that those were software companies. Sun is much more, and the future of its hardware business is cloudy.

Standalone server sales? At Oracle?
Oracle can sell software-hardware package deals and build a Sun-based cloud service, but how well will it serve customers who want to run their own machines with their own software? It's likely those companies will look elsewhere unless Oracle can show it truly wants to be a full-fledged hardware company.

It's not clear how much Oracle's financial projections rely on the strength of that standalone server business. Historically, selling software has much nicer profit margins. It's also not clear how much of a hit Oracle is expecting to its current software business after a Sun acquisition turns present allies into rivals.

Oracle also must deal with the fact that server makers Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and IBM could become less eager to promote Oracle's software. Because massive database servers are so complicated, Oracle has relied on tight sales, support, and marketing partnerships, and those companies could lose enthusiasm if their server sales force starts seeing Oracle's offering competitive bids.

At least Oracle's acquisition faces less of an antitrust hurdle than IBM's. Big Blue and Microsoft offer viable database competitors to Oracle's and Sun's, and Oracle buying Sun mean there would still be major server makers rather than the three left standing had an IBM acquisition gone ahead.

So Sun shareholders and government officials likely will be convinced of the merits of the deal. The ultimate success, however, will depend on how Sun and Oracle's customers see it.

Video game industry sales finally take a hit

March revenues for the video game industry dropped 17 percent from a year ago, the NPD Group reported Thursday, the first time in the current recession that the business has seen sales fall.

For the month, the analyst firm reported that the industry turned in total sales of $1.43 billion, down 17 percent from $1.72 billion a year earlier. Hardware sales were down 18 percent, while software was down 17 percent.

But while the numbers look poor, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said she attributed some of the drop to the vagaries of the calendar.

"While it might be tempting to jump to the conclusion that the sky is starting to fall on the video games industry given this month's results, it's important to remember that two very big things are different this year than last," Frazier wrote in a note accompanying NPD's report. "First, Easter fell in March last year whereas it fell in April this year, and last March included the release of Super Small Bros.: Brawl, which went on to become the fourth best-selling game in 2008."

Perhaps, but one game's fortunes are unlikely to be enough to turn around an entire industry, especially given that hardware sales dropped about the same as overall revenues.

Overall sales were also down 2.7 percent from February's $1.47 billion, and each of the six hardware platforms NPD tracks--Sony's PlayStation 3, PS2 and PSP, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii and DS--had lower sales in March than in February. The PS3 and Wii led the drops, with 21.0 percent and 20.2 percent lower sales, respectively.

By comparison, the Xbox saw its sales fall between February and March, but less than the PS3 and Wii, and Frazier reported that Microsoft's console was the only one with good year-over-year news.

"While it's not unusual for March hardware sales to be lower than February," Frazier wrote, "I thought we'd see higher unit sales on most platforms. The Xbox 360 was the only platform to achieve a year-over-year sales increase."

Frazier also said Nintendo's numbers were noteworthy, given the effect of Super Smash Bros.: Brawl on the company's March 2008 sales.

"Wii and NDS hardware sales remained brisk, taking the top two spots for (March 2009) in hardware unit sales," she wrote. 'It's important to keep in mind that the (game's) effect from last year impacted hardware sales as well, so while the year-over-year comps are down for the Wii, the sales are still impressive."

Still, the Wii--the darling of the video game industry media since its surprise success became almost institutionalized--has seen some negative press recently.

In March, for the first time, the PS3 outsold the Wii in Japan, and many observers wondered if that milestone indicated that Nintendo's console's dominance had finally come to an end

Swedish antipiracy law: Traffic down, ISP rebels

Immediately following the enactment of a new Swedish antipiracy law on April 1, Internet traffic in Sweden plummeted--and it has yet to return to prior levels.

According to Netnod, an organization that measures Internet traffic on access points between Swedish and international networks, traffic went down from average data speeds of about 160 gigabits per second to about 90Gbps and has remained so since the day the new law went into effect.

On April 1, in the middle of week 14, the new antipiracy law took effect in Sweden.

(Credit: Netnod)

Netnod has declined to make the connection between the new antipiracy law and the traffic drop since it only measures traffic without identifying what sort of activity is behind the numbers. Other large Internet service providers won't release their numbers.

But Jon Karlung, CEO of Bahnhof , a comparatively small, outspoken broadband operator that has expressed opposition to the new antipiracy law, explains what it has seen.

"Almost half the Internet is gone," Karlung told CNET News over the telephone from Sweden. "Likely, it is the torrent traffic that has declined, but I cannot say whether this traffic is legal or illegal."

The so-called IPRED originated from the European Union's "International Property Rights Enforcement Directive." IPRED stipulates that property rights holders can take their grievances to a court, which will examine the evidence and decide whether the name of a holder of an IP address will be released.

The guilty verdict in the high-profile Pirate Bay trial, announced earlier Friday, was not affected by IPRED, since only file sharing done after April 1 is being affected by the new law. But copyright holders have already turned to the new law in an attempt to stop file sharers.

On the law's first day, five Swedish audio book publishers went after an alleged illegal file sharer in court, in hopes of revealing the identity of the person behind a particular IP address.

And two days after the law came into force, two men were arrested, allegedly for sharing copyrighted files and administering a "rip box," which removes copy protection on purchased films and music. International police were involved in the arrests.

But now Bahnhof says it won't release the names connected to IP addresses, since its understanding of an earlier law based on another EU directive is that ISPs must erase traffic data for the sake of the subscribers' integrity.

"Our ambition is not to store any traffic data," Karlung said, adding that as a consequence, "Bahnhof cannot provide information on alleged piracy to courts, since we do not have the information stored. Thus IPRED becomes effectless."

Bahnhof's interpretation of the earlier law gets support from the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency, a regulatory body that's akin to the Federal Communications Commission in the U.S.

"There is no general obligation to store this kind of data for all subscribers," PTS attorney Peder Cristvall told the magazine Computer Sweden.

Bahnhof says it's opposing the new antipiracy law since it stops Internet innovation and development, naming Swedish companies MySQL Skype , and Spotify as examples of companies whose success has benefitted from Sweden's extensive file-sharing culture.

Instead, Bahnhof says copyright holders must develop business models and Internet tools that allow subscribers to share files legally.

Karlung says that in the short term Bahnhof's profits will rise with the IPRED law due to lower bandwidth costs, but in the long term the sales of fast Internet connections used for file sharing could decline.

"It is possible that we and other ISPs could sell fewer fast connections, but that won't affect our profits," Karlung said.

But just to make things a bit more complicated, the Swedish government is expected to propose a new data storage law based on a third EU directive in June. This law could force Bahnhof to store and share its data in the future anyway, much to Karlung's disappointment.

"It is this Orwellian nightmare state that is developing, where no one sees the dynamic of the Internet," a sighing Karlung says from the other side of the Atlantic

Tech layoffs: The scorecard

With the overall economy slumping, the tech industry is taking its fair share of hits. We'll keep updating the chart below as news of company changes comes in. See our complete coverage of how the tech sector is faring here: Tracking the tech downturn.

See also: The spreadsheet of sunshine: Who's hiring.

Company	Date	How many	Further reading
Toshiba	04/17/2009	3,900	More job cuts at Toshiba
IDC	04/17/2009	82 (5 percent)	Analysis firm IDC cuts 5 percent of staff
Sony Ericsson	04/17/2009	2,000	Sony Ericsson to lay off 2,000 more workers
Wired.com	04/02/2009	3 (12 percent)	Wired.com lays off 12 percent of staff
Agilent Technologies	03/27/2009	2,700	Agilent laying off 2,700
Google	03/26/2009	200	Google cuts nearly 200 sales, marketing jobs
IBM	03/26/2009	5,000	IBM job cuts hit applications services unit, says union
OptiSolar	03/23/2009	200	OptiSolar closes plant
Energy Conversion Devices	03/17/2009	70	Solar stocks go red as gear maker warns
Nokia	03/17/2009	1,700	Nokia job cuts become reality
Spot Runner	03/14/2009	60	Spot Runner...another 60 to lose jobs
National Semiconductor	03/11/2009	1,725 (25 percent)	National Semi to cut a fourth of workforce
Dell	03/11/2009	unknown	Layoffs to hit another Dell plant
RIAA	02/26/2009	Up to 25	Sources: RIAA cuts up to 25 jobs
Enfatico	02/25/2009	80 (8 percent)	Dell ad agency Enfatico lays off workers
Nortel Networks	02/25/2009	3,200	Nortel cuts another 3,200 jobs
Spansion	02/23/2009	3,000 (35 percent)	Spansion cuts 3,000 employees
Micron Technology	02/23/2009	Up to 2,000	Micron to cut up to 2,000 more jobs
Google	02/12/2009	40	Google scraps radio ads
Pioneer	02/12/2009	10,000	Pioneer leaving the TV business
Nokia	02/11/2009	410; 500-700 rotating	Nokia cuts production, closes facility
Forrester	02/09/2009	50 (5 percent)	Forrester to lay off 5 percent
MPAA	02/05/2009	unknown	Source: 'Significant' layoffs at MPAA
Cisco Systems	02/04/2009	Up to 2,000	Cisco: Making lemonade from economic lemons
Panasonic	02/04/2009	15,000	Panasonic to cut 15,000 jobs
Electronic Arts	02/03/2009	1,100 (11 percent)	EA cutting 1,100 jobs
NEC	01/30/2009	20,000 (13 percent)	NEC to cut workforce by 20,000
Novell	01/30/2009	100 (3 percent)	Novell lays off just under 100 workers
Teradyne	01/30/2009	532	Boston.com: Teradyne will shed 532 jobs
Citrix Systems	01/30/2009	490 (10 percent)	Citrix to reduce staff by 10 percent
STMicroelectronics	01/28/2009	4,500	STMicro reports loss, lays off 4,500
AOL	01/28/2009	700	AOL to lay off 700 employees
SAP	01/28/2009	3,000	SAP plans job cuts, despite solid earnings
News Corp.	01/26/2009	100	News Corp. lays off 5 percent at digital unit
Texas Instruments	01/26/2009	12 percent	Texas Instruments cutting jobs as profits plunge
Sprint Nextel	01/26/2009	8,000	Sprint Nextel to cut 8,000 jobs
Philips	01/26/2009	6,000	Philips to cut 6,000 jobs
IBM	01/24/2009	More than 2,800	IBM quietly lays off North American staff
Microsoft	01/22/2009	5,000	Microsoft cutting 5,000 jobs on weak results
Ericsson	01/21/2009	5,000 (6 percent)	Ericsson to cut 5,000 jobs
Logitech	01/19/2009	550 to 600	Logitech to cut up to 600 jobs
AMD	01/16/2009	1,100 (9 percent)	AMD to trim 1,100 jobs, initiate temporary pay cuts
Autodesk	01/15/2009	750 (10 percent)	Autodesk to cut 750 jobs, lowers earnings outlook
Cymer	01/15/2009	100 (10 percent)	AP: Cymer to cut jobs, spending as demand plummets
Motorola	01/14/2009	4,000 (6 percent)	Motorola plans another round of layoffs
Plantronics	01/14/2009	18 percent	Plantronics to layoff 18% of global workforce
PlanetOut	01/14/2009	50 percent	Sources: Heavy layoffs at PlanetOut
Google	01/14/2009	100	Google lays off 100 recruiters
Oracle	01/14/2009	500	Report: Oracle cuts workforce by 500
GreenFuel Technologies	01/13/2009	19 (50 percent)	Algae front-runner GreenFuel slashes staff
Lexmark	01/13/2009	375	Bloomberg: Lexmark sales miss forecast; 375 job cuts planned
Seagate	01/12/2009	800 (10 percent)	Seagate replaces Watkins as CEO
Dell	01/08/2009	1,900	Dell's Ireland plant to shed 1,900 jobs
Lenovo	01/08/2009	2,500 (11 percent)	Lenovo to cut 2,500 jobs amid restructuring
One Laptop Per Child	01/07/2009	32 (50 percent)	OLPC slashes workforce in half, cuts salaries
Motion Computing	01/07/2009	30 (25 percent)	Motion Computing cuts about 30 workers
EMC	01/07/2009	2,400 (7 percent)	EMC to cut 2,400 from workforce
Turning Technologies	01/07/2009	31	Vindy.com: Turning Tech layoff hits 31
Borland Software	01/06/2009	130 (15 percent)	VMware hires away Borland CEO
HelioVolt	01/06/2009	15	Two Austin employers announce job cuts
LiveJournal	01/06/2009	About 12	LiveJournal deletes 'about a dozen' jobs
Logitech	01/06/2009	15 percent of salaried staff worldwide	Logitech to slash 15 percent of workforce
Lenovo	01/05/2009	200 staff in Beijing offices	Lenovo rumored readying layoffs
Microsoft	01/01/2009	Unknown	Microsoft planning big layoffs for January?
AMD	12/28/2008	100 additional, making 600 total since November	AMD cites $70 million in fourth-quarter costs
Unisys	12/22/2008	1,300; 4 percent	Reuters: Unisys slashes 1,300 jobs
Western Digital	12/17/2008	2,500; 5 percent	Reuters: Western Digital warns on revenue, will cut jobs
Midway Games	12/16/2008	180; 25 percent	Reuters: Midway Games to cut jobs, take charge
Laird	12/16/2008	5,000; nearly 50 percent	Reuters: Laird announces 5,000 job losses as sales slump
WebMD	12/16/2008	4 percent to 5 percent	PaidContent: WebMD to cut up to 5% of staff
Gaia Interactive	12/15/2008	13 percent	VentureWire: Gaia lays off staff
Alcatel-Lucent	12/12/2008	1,000 managers, 5,000 contractors	Big revamp for Alcatel-Lucent, with Web 2.0 spin
CBS Interactive	12/11/2008	Undisclosed	All Things D: CBS Interactive/CNET Re-Org: The Complete Memo
SGI	12/11/2008	225; 15 percent	Silicon Graphics adjusts business plan
Yahoo	12/10/2008	1,520	Yahoo pink slips issued, recruiters circling above
Sony	12/09/2008	16,000 total	Sony to lay off 8,000 full-timers, 8,000 others
Netflix	12/08/2008	50 people	Neflix cuts 50 tech jobs; streaming issues linger
Level 3 Communications	12/08/2008	450; 8 percent	Denver Business Journal: Level 3 cutting 450 jobs
BMC Software	12/05/2008	350 (6 percent)	AP: BMC Software to cut 350 jobs, 6% of workforce
RealNetworks	12/04/2008	130 (7 percent)	Sources: Layoffs hit RealNetworks
Viacom	12/04/2008	850 (7 percent)	Viacom lays off 7 percent of workforce
AT&T	12/04/2008	12,000 (4 percent)	AT&T lays off 12,000
Adobe	12/03/2008	600	Adobe warns of shortfall, job cuts
Carlyle Group	12/03/2008	about 100 (10 percent)	Bloomberg: Carlyle Cuts 10% of Workers, Including U.S. LBO Jobs
Analog Devices	12/03/2008	about 20	EE Times: Analog Devices shutters DSP design center
Sage North America	12/03/2008	150	Sage North America Reports 2008 Results
Gawker Media	12/02/2008	"a few"	Gawker Media's rolling layoffs continue
Intrinsyc	12/01/2008	95 (30 percent)	680 News: Intrinsyc cuts global workforce 30 percent
Fring	11/27/2008	10 (20 percent)	Fring cuts staff by 20 percent
Technorati	11/25/2008	6 (12 percent)	Technorati trims workforce, cuts pay
TiVo	11/25/2008	7 percent	TiVo profits from EchoStar litigation
Palm	11/21/2008	up to 10 percent of 1,050	Palm orders layoffs as Apple and RIM take toll
Buzznet	11/21/2008	10 (11 percent)	Valleywag: Music community Buzznet lays off 10
LodgeNet	11/21/2008	170	Argus Leader: LodgeNet cutting jobs
Lam Research	11/20/2008	600 (15 percent)	Reuters: Chipmaker Lam Research cuts 600 jobs
Akamai	11/20/2008	7 percent	Akamai to cut 7 percent of workforce
Lawson Software	11/19/2008	200 (5 percent)	AP: Lawson Software shares tumble after job cuts
Pillar Data Systems	11/18/2008	150 (30 percent)	SJ Mercury News: Pillar Data Systems lays off 30% of staff
KLA-Tencor	11/18/2008	900 (15 percent)	SF Business Times: KLA-Tencor to cut 15% of people
Sun Microsystems	11/14/2008	6,000 (15 percent to 18 percent)	Sun restructures, lays off up to 6,000
Rearden Commerce	11/14/2008	10 percent	Valleywag: Rearden Commerce cuts 50 people
Applied Materials	11/12/2008	1,800 (12 percent)	Applied Materials cutting 12 percent of workforce
National Semi	11/12/2008	330	Reuters: Nat Semi cuts revenue view, plans job cuts
Wired.com	11/11/2008	3 of 28	Wired.com trims editorial staff by 10 percent
Current Media	11/11/2008	20 percent	Layoffs hit Al Gore's Current Media
Six Apart	11/11/2008	8 percent	Six Apart: Changes at Six Apart
Tucows	11/11/2008	15 percent	Restructuring at Tucows
Circuit City	11/10/2008	20 percent	Circuit City files for bankruptcy
BitTorrent	11/10/2008	50 percent	After a tough year, BitTorrent replaces CEO again
Insight	11/10/2008	240 (4 percent)	East Valley Tribune: Insight Enterprises lays off 240
Honeywell	11/07/2008	700	Phoenix Business Journal: Honeywell moving 700 jobs out of Phoenix
Zappos	11/06/2008	8 percent	Letter to Zappos employees
Veoh	11/05/2008	20 (20 percent)	Veoh lays off 20 percent of workforce
LinkedIn	11/05/2008	36 (10 percent)	LinkedIn slashes 10 percent of its workforce
Cadence	11/05/2008	625 (12 percent)	Cadence Design cuts 625 jobs
Anadigics	11/05/2008	100 (15 percent)	Anadigics cuts 15 percent of workforce
AMD	11/05/2008	500 (3 percent)	AMD slashes 500 more jobs
Nokia	11/04/2008	600	Hundreds of Nokia jobs under threat
THQ	11/03/2008	4 to 5 studios	Kotaku: THQ Shuttering Four to Five Studios?
Tektronix	11/03/2008	150	Tektronix announces fresh layoffs
Spot Runner	11/03/2008	115 (about 30 percent)	TechCrunch: 115 people lose their jobs at Spot Runner
Nortel Networks	11/03/2008	1,300 (5 percent)	Nortel earnings tank
YouSendIt	10/31/2008	20 percent	VentureBeat: YouSendIt trims 20 percent of staff
Aliph	10/31/2008	25 people	Layoffs hit Bluetooth headset maker Aliph
Motorola	10/30/2008	3,000	Motorola's struggle for survival
Freescale	10/30/2008	2,400 (10 percent)	Freescale dragged to loss; will lay off 10%
Symantec	10/29/2008	4.5 percent cost savings	Symantec layoffs coming
Avalanche Studios	10/28/2008	77 of 160	Avalanche Studios lays off nearly half of staff
Revision3	10/27/2008	9 people, 5 shows	Video start-up Revision3 joins the layoff club
Helium	10/27/2008	30 percent of 110	F***dStartups: Helium.com huge layoff
BroadSoft	10/24/2008	about 12	GigaOM: BroadSoft cuts jobs as sales slow
Comcast Spotlight	10/24/2008	300+ of 3,500	Broadcasting & Cable: Comcast Spotlight cuts positions
ADC Telecoms	10/23/2008	300-350	AP: ADC expects fiscal 2008 loss, plans job cuts
Xerox	10/23/2008	3,000	Xerox to cut 3,000 jobs
Avid Technology	10/23/2008	500	Form 8-K: Results of Operations and Financial Condition...
Nokia	11/04/2008	600	Hundreds of Nokia jobs under threat
Tektronix	11/03/2008	150	Tektronix announces fresh layoffs
Spot Runner	11/03/2008	115 (about 30 percent)	TechCrunch: 115 people lose their jobs at Spot Ru
Circuit City	11/03/2008	17 percent	Circuit City to close 155 stores
THQ	11/03/2008	4-5 studios	Kotaku: THQ Shuttering Four to Five Studios?
Break.com	10/23/2008	11 of 80	Break.com lays off 11
Eons	10/23/2008	8 of about 33	The Boston Globe: Eons eliminates eight jobs
Dell	10/22/2008	8,900	The Register: Dell: 'We will out-pace the rest of the industry'
SanDisk	10/22/2008	TBA	SanDisk layoffs in the works
ManiaTV	10/22/2008	20 of 70	NewTeeVee: ManiaTV lays off 20, to reduce orig
iMeem	10/22/2008	25 percent of 80	Imeem jumping on the layoff bandwagon
Mahalo	10/22/2008	10 percent	Calacanis.com: Tough times, hard decisions
HP	10/22/2008	24,600 over three years	HP to slash 24,600 jobs following EDS buy
Ticketmaster	10/21/2008	35 percent	F***edStartups: TicketMaster.com laying off 35%
Comcast	10/21/2008	300	AP: Comcast to cut up to 300 jobs in eastern di
Manhattan Associates	10/21/2008	6.5 percent	Reuters: Manhattan Associates hit by slump
Softchoice	10/20/2008	6.5 percent of 958	Toronto Star: Softchoice cuts staff by 6.5 percent
Veoh	10/20/2008	0	UPDATE: Layoffs at Veoh, or not?
Wikia	10/20/2008	3	UPDATE based on personal interview with Jimmy Wales
Autotrader	10/20/2008	69	Orlando Business Times: Autotrader to close c
Texas Instruments	10/20/2008	possibly 300	TXCN: Hundreds face pink slips at TI
Sony Ericsson	10/17/2008	2,000 globally	Bloomberg: Sony Ericsson Reports Smaller Loss Than Anticipated
Sprint	10/17/2008	ongoing	KMBC-TV: Sprint plans 'gradual layoffs'
Jaxtr	10/17/2008	13	13 employees laid off at VoIP start-up Jaxtr
Zivity	10/17/2008	33 percent	Zivity lays off a third of staff
Zillow	10/17/2008	25 percent	Zillow lays off 25 percent of staff
SearchMe	10/17/2008	20 percent	Search engine startup SearchMe cuts 20 perce
Heavy	10/17/2008	14 percent	Downturn strikes again: Heavy lays off 14%
Lenovo	10/17/2008	50 in Morrisville, N.C.	WRAL: Lenovo to lay off 50 workers at Morrisville headq
MPC Computers	10/17/2008	200	Idaho Business Review: Details released on MP
Hi5	10/16/2008	10 percent to 15 percent	No Hi5's today
Sirius XM	10/16/2008	50	Sirius XM makes cuts to XM in D.C.
Pandora	10/16/2008	20	Pandora cuts 20 employees
Adbrite	10/16/2008	40 percent	'Layoffs are not a statement about performance'
Actel	10/16/2008	10 percent	EE Times: Actel cuts 10% of workforce
Tesla Motors	10/15/2008	Detroit office	Automaker lays off Detroit office with blog post
SkyRider	10/15/2008	All	P2P start-up SkyRider has shut down
Appcelerator	10/15/2008	6	Tough times, tough decisions
Jive Software	10/14/2008	33 percent	Jive Software lays off 1/3 of staff
Redfin	10/14/2008	20 percent	Redfin blames economy in layoffs
Qimonda	10/13/2008	3,000	Qimonda: Qimonda announces global restructuring program...
Seesmic	10/10/2008	7	Tough times. Tough decisions
Lulu	10/09/2008	24	Lulu cuts jobs as revenues slow
Micron	10/09/2008	15 percent	Micron to cut workforce by 15 percent, slash flash output
eBay	10/06/2008	1,000	eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000
Gawker Media	10/03/2008	14 percent	Gawker Media to lay off 14 percent of editorial
Entellium	10/03/2008	95 percent	Workers get ax at software maker Entellium

How Charter Communications warns accused file sharers

AT&T made news last month for acknowledging that it had begun sending warning notices to customers accused of illegal file sharing by the music industry.

Executives from the nation's largest Internet service provider said the notices were only part of a test. The company could have saved itself some trouble and just asked the advice of Charter Communications. Much of what AT&T is experimenting with, Charter has been doing for years.

AT&T said it only recently began issuing "cover letters" to customers accused of downloading unauthorized material. These cover letters accompany the cease-and-desist letters it receives from the music industry. The ISP acknowledged notifying customers the company has the right to cut off someone's service, but executives there insisted that it's only legal boilerplate. The company has no intention of suspending or terminating anyone's service because the Recording Industry Association of America has accused them of file sharing. AT&T would need a court order first.

By contrast, a Charter spokeswoman said that ISP has been sending its own warning letters--or what she called a "heads-up" letter--since 2001. Charter's notification is sent in addition to the warning letters sent by copyright owners. A music industry source told me that while the RIAA is trying to prod some ISPs to do more to combat piracy, other ISPs adopted strategies years ago to deal with illegal file sharing. Some of those programs closely resemble the kind of graduated response the music industry favors.

What this shows is that the music and film industries may not have too hard a time as they attempt to enlist ISPs in their war on copyright infringement (To see a story on whether piracy has reached a tipping point, go here).

I still haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of AT&T's test cover letter, but a reader was kind enough to supply me with a warning letter he received this month from Charter. He was accused of downloading content owned by NBC Universal.

While AT&T said the language in its cover letter about service interruption or termination had little relevance, Charter's letter doesn't mince words.

"Charter reserves the right to suspend or terminate the accounts of repeat copyright infringers," the company informed the customer in the April 4 e-mail. Later in the message, the company added: "If Charter continues to receive DMCA notices regarding your account or if you violate any other clause of Charter's Acceptable Use Policy, we will have no choice but to terminate your account."

Anita Lamont, a Charter spokeswoman, said this kind of language is industry standard.

"The warning of possible suspension/termination is required by the DMCA," Lamont wrote me. "Our DMCA notice reminds our subscribers of the requirements of our posted acceptable use policy."

She didn't, however, say whether the company has made good on the threat to terminate service.

I've included the copy of Charter's letter so customers of AT&T and other ISPs preparing to follow in its footsteps can get a look at what might be coming (Note that I've deleted identifying information).

QuickLogic Chooses Memory From Micron Technology To Enhance Next-Generation Mobile Devices

New ArcticLink II VX Solution Platform Family Targets Multimedia and Smartphone handsets, Pocketable & Mobile Computing Devices (PCDs & MCDs), Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), and Netbook segments

Demonstrating its continued commitment to providing innovative solutions to the mobile device market, QuickLogic Corporation has announced that it has chosen Micron Technology, Inc., for its CellularRAM mobile memory technology.

QuickLogic has chosen Micron’s CellularRAM technology to serve as the framebuffer in its latest ArcticLink II VX4 solution platforms. By using the CellularRAM framebuffer, the ArcticLink II VX family enables designers to use lower cost displays without integrated framebuffers. The QuickLogic solution refreshes the display directly, allowing the mobile processor to be turned off, resulting in increased battery life.

CellularRAM memory devices are a hybrid of the SRAM and DRAM features, combining low power consumption with high-speed read and write functions. QuickLogic chose Micron’s CellularRAM technology, developed specifically for handset and mobile devices, because of its power efficiency as well as its scalability in terms of cost and density. “We were able to use the appropriate memory density for the application and use case requirements of the fast-growing handheld and mobile device market,” said Brian Faith, QuickLogic’s vice president of worldwide marketing.

For Micron, working with QuickLogic reinforces the company’s commitment to memory innovation for the mobile market. “We are excited to be working with QuickLogic to support their innovative application with our CellularRAM technology,” said Eric Spanneut, director of mobile memory

TELES announces integrated Class 4 Solution in 1U chassis

Fully scalable, complete TELES solution containing Softswitch, Media Gateway, and Signaling Gateway contained in a single, convenient package.

ELES, the Berlin based Next Generation Networks and Access Gateway vendor, is now offering an integrated "Class 4-in-a-Box" solution which combines all of the elements required to add new telephony services quickly and provide a clear migration path to an all-IP network.

The Class 4-in-a-Box contains a Softswitch, Media Gateway, and Signaling Gateway, a complete and compact version of existing hardware and software which is now housed within a single 1U chassis. It supports all Class 4 Softswitch features, VoIP protocols, TDM interfaces, and comes complete with a GUI-based Element Management System (EMS).

Ilan Elias, TELES Product Marketing Director, is convinced that the new C4-in-a-Box will appeal to several types of customer: "It is ideal for entry level service and VoIP providers who are looking for a cost-effective solution, and also for application vendors who require PSTN connectivity using SS7 – typically for call centers. The C4-in-a-Box is a solution that will also interest OEM vendors who are looking for a product to complete their low-end portfolio."

The solution is fully scalable. Starting from 2E1s it can be scaled upwards reusing hardware and software which means that it can be applied in wholesale environments or for PSTN breakout for Class 5 applications. A unique feature of the Class 4-in-a-Box solution is that it is available in a redundant configuration guaranteeing uptime, and can be deployed in both distributed and centralized architectures.

"This is not a new product," Ilan Elias insists. "It is a scaling down of the TELES Class 4 Softswitch – a product which has a proven track record and has demonstrated reliability and functionality throughout many years of field experience – and is now available fully tested and debugged at a reduced size and cost." Something which he feels certain will prove to be a unique solution – combining proven products in an innovative, easy-to-manage package.

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TELES provides worldwide wireline and wireless telephony service providers with complete Class 4 and Class 5 Softswitch solutions, VoIP gateways, and mobile gateways for GSM, CDMA, and UMTS networks. We at TELES are proud of our successful track record having deployed more than 200 live carrier and service provider networks with millions of voice ports.

VOIPIAN.com offers 1 Cent VoIP Calls to 60 Countries, undercutting most VoIP services

Voipax GmbH, a leading provider of internet telephony services today announced the worldwide release of its latest 1-Cent-per-Call VoIP service Voipian.

Users can talk over the internet to over 60 countries for just 1 cent per Call with no further charges per minute, making Voipian one of the cheapest ways to stay in contact with friends and family living abroad.

Destinations include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States any many more. The full list of 1-Cent-per-Call destinations is available at http://www.voipian.com.

In addition to cheap 1 Cent Calls, users can reach any landline or mobile phone on the planet at ultra-low prices. Voipian offers cheap rates to more than 200 countries, undercutting almost every other VoIP telephony service currently available.

Compare Voipian prices

• Calls to India: 3,5 cents per minute (Skype: 7,9 cents per minute)
• Calls to Vietnam: 6,8 cents per minute (Skype: 30,7 cents per minute)
• Calls to Turkey: 1,4 cents per minute (Skype: 12,8 cents per minute)

The full list of the cheap Voipian rates is available at http://www.voipian.com/en/rates.php.

Voipian Highlights

• Voipian Super Deal: Call more than 60 destinations for just 1 cent per call
• Call any phone on the planet at ultra-low rates, cheaper than Skype
• Download Free VoIP software and sign up for a free Voipian account
• Receive free trial minutes to try Voipian
• Pay only for the time you talk, no monthly fees
• Great call quality

Getting started is fast and easy:
1. Go to http://www.voipian.com and download the free Voipian VoIP software
2. Sign up for a free VoIP account and login to the customer area with your browser
3. Call more than 60 destinations at 1 cent per call or at ultra low rates to all other destinations.

# # #

Voipian offers low-cost or even free PC to Phone Calls over the internet to any phone on the planet. Customers can save up to 90% when calling international destinations with Voipian compared to traditional phone plans. Voipian is committed to offering high-quality phone service at the lowest possible price. Using state of the art VoIP technology it can provide cheap phone calls over the internet to countries all over the world.

InfoCom says Japanese VoIP channels to reach just over 38m by 2013

According to InfoCom’s latest research, Japan is one of the forerunners in the provision of VoIP services.

According to InfoCom’s latest research, Japan is one of the forerunners in the provision of VoIP services. “The development of broadband and VoIP services has been positively influenced by the ICT strategies ‘e-Japan’ and ‘u Japan’ implemented by the Japanese government”, an InfoCom’s analyst located in Manila said. “A very successful combination of government initiatives and minimal regulatory intervention together with competition helped the diffusion of VoIP services in the Japanese market.”

“With the current ICT strategy of transitioning traditional voice services to an all IP network, it is expected that in the next five years VoIP channels in Japan will continue to grow at a yearly rate of 14% (CAAGR)”, the InfoCom analyst stated. By 2013 VoIP channels are expected to reach just over 38m. The share of business VoIP channels is due to increase. As a matter of facts, often a single broadband connection (typically fibre optic) with a very high bandwidth is used to realise several VoIP channels, e.g. for the total number of employees, within a business site. As a consequence the number of VoIP channels will surpass that of broadband connections by 2013. As a ratio over households, 38.2m VoIP channels in 2013 will result in a 78% penetration. Both figures (ratio over broadband connections and ratio over households) clearly show VoIP channels becoming the standard for telephony by 2013.

About TS&T (Telecoms Strategies & Trends) — TS&T is a highly analytical publication on ICT business that provides in-depth articles on a variety of topics such as companies, markets and trends. Each issue contains up-to-date rigorous analysis. This strategy e-journal delivers a concise analysis of market development to industry leaders and business strategists of both service and equipment providers. Topics are presented in a detailed yet succinct format with relevant text and meaningful pictures.

# # #

InfoCom GmbH is a market research and consultancy company with over 20 years experience providing strategic analyses and planning assistance to stakeholders in the telecommunications, IT and multimedia industries. InfoCom GmbH’s independent and fact-based analyses highlight trends and opportunities, supporting decision makers to understand market dynamics in order to improve their competitive advantage.

XO Ethernet more incremental bandwidth added

XO Communications (OTCBB: XOHO) today announced the nationwide availability of an expanded range of new Ethernet access speeds for businesses, enterprises and wholesale customers. Through its extensive nationwide network footprint and advanced, next generation Ethernet services infrastructure, XO Communications provides a wide range of scalable Ethernet access options and speeds in more locations to help customers cost-effectively enhance network performance.

XO Communications now offers customers an increased number of incremental bandwidth options to choose from when creating their custom XO Ethernet solution.

Now available in more than 75 metropolitan markets where XO offers services, customers can now obtain new Ethernet transport speeds of 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 200, 300, 400, or 500 Mbps at XO on-net fiber locations, and speeds of 3, 5, 15 or 20 Mbps at locations served by last mile copper where XO has deployed Ethernet over copper technology.

This also marks the first time the 3 and 5 Mbps mid-band Ethernet access options will be available to XO Communications’ customers for Dedicated Internet access service.

“As companies look to their wide-area networks and Internet connections to support mission critical business applications, XO Communications offers an extensive nationwide footprint and a wide range of bandwidth options that enable businesses to cost-effectively boost network performance through Ethernet,” said Randy Nicklas, chief technology officer at XO Communications. “XO’s extensive local metro network assets combined with our nationwide inter-city network give us the unique ability to offer businesses flexible, scalable, and high-performance Ethernet solutions regardless if they are served by fiber or last mile copper.”

Last year, XO Communications deployed an enhanced Ethernet switching platform in major metropolitan locations across its nationwide network. This platform provided a highly-reliable, service rich next generation infrastructure enabling XO Communications to offer a broader range of Ethernet bandwidth options and services at speeds of 3 Mbps to 10 Gbps. In addition, this platform provided a pathway for XO Communications to offer true any-to-any, multi-site Ethernet solutions, along with multiple classes of service on an on-demand basis.

XO Communications has taken a leadership role in expanding the availability of Ethernet services to more locations through a number of network access platforms, including:

• Extensive Nationwide Inter-City and Metro Fiber Networks: XO Communications offers Ethernet services at speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps to businesses and service providers in 75 major metropolitan markets through its 19,000 route mile inter-city fiber optic network and nearly one million fiber miles of metro networks.
• Nationwide Deployment of Ethernet over Copper Technology: With deployments today in 75 major metropolitan markets, Ethernet over copper technology enables XO Communications to extend its Ethernet services footprint beyond its fiber network and enable businesses at copper-fed locations to take advantage of Ethernet services for the first time at speeds of 3 Mbps to 80 Mbps.
• Fixed Broadband Wireless Capabilities: XO Communications currently has the capability to utilize fixed broadband wireless technology in 36 major metropolitan markets to further expand its network footprint and deliver Ethernet services directly to businesses at speeds ranging from 10Mbps to 800 Mbps.