Juniper, Nokia Siemens to form carrier Ethernet JV

From www.ciol.com on June 8, 2009

BANGALORE, INDIA: Juniper Networks, a networking solutions provider, and Nokia Siemens Networks, a telecommunications services provider, announced a joint venture aimed at the carrier Ethernet market. 

The companies said the venture will be headquartered in the Netherlands and extend their previous partnership

This planned structure will allow both companies to contribute the necessary products and support to enable meeting the end-to-end portfolio needs of some 200 joint service provider customers worldwide

The solution consists of Juniper Networks MX Series Ethernet Services Routers, Nokia Siemens Networks A-series Carrier Ethernet Switches as well as Nokia Siemens’ end-to-end “point-and-click” network management system. 

Bernd Schumacher, head of Broadband Connectivity Solutions business unit, Nokia Siemens Networks, said: “Through the combination of the metro aggregation and metro access and network management strengths of each company, this planned partnership enables both Juniper and Nokia Siemens Networks to bring our joint vision of an extremely efficient, easy to manage unified Carrier Ethernet solution supporting all services on a single network to life.”

Manoj Leelanivas, senior vice president and general manager, Juniper Networks. “The combination of Nokia Siemens Networks’ leadership in metro access and network management and Juniper’s strength in Carrier Ethernet metro aggregation applications will enable our customers to more effectively monetize the network with new revenue-generating services and lower transport costs.”

Indus Towers gets new CEO

 The Hindu Business Line on June 5, 2009

Indus Towers Ltd, mobile tower company, announced the appointment of Mr B.S. Shantharaju as the new Chief Executive Officer. Prior to this assignment, Mr Shantharaju worked with Delhi International Airports (P) Ltd as the Chief Executive Officer after the airport was privatised. Mr Shantharaju will take over from Mr Stefan Langkamp, who is moving back to his parent company Vodafone to take up his next assignment.

Rural telecom connectivity set to get a stronger line

5 Jun 2009, 0101 hrs IST, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: The government plans to connect every panchayat to a broadband network in the next three years and increase phone usage in rural India four-fold in five years, so that two out of every five villagers own phones, President Pratibha Patil told Parliament on Thursday. The measures will be part the Bharat Nirman programme for improving infrastructure in villages.

As of April end, rural India, which houses more than two-thirds of India’s population, had less than one-third of the country’s 430 million telephone connections.

The plans to improve rural connectivity will most certainly result in increased allocation from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for setting up telecom infrastructure in interior India.

Since 2002, all telecom operators have been paying 5% of their annual revenues towards this fund and so far, the unutilised amount in this fund has crossed the Rs 25,000 crore. The communications ministry will soon invite bids for setting up over 7,000 telecom towers in rural areas with support from the USOF.

The new government also plans to use a part of this fund for augmentation of the optic fibre cable network across the country to enhance broadband connectivity. Interestingly, India’s booming mobile phone industry is attracting more new users in rural areas.

Infinera, APAC’s most promising telecom vendor

On www.ciol.com on June 5, 2009

BANGALORE, INDIA: Infinera, a provider of digital optical networking systems to telecommunications carriers worldwide, has been named Most Promising Vendor of the Year in the Asia Pacific market by analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. This is the first time Infinera has won this award.

Adeel Najam, industry analyst, Frost & Sullivan, said: “Infinera has, in a short span of time, become a significant player in the optical networking sector. The company has demonstrated a commitment to R&D and innovation, having launched the world’s first WDM (wavelength-division multiplexing) digital ROADM (reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer) system, and today continues to invest substantially in R&D initiatives.”

“In 2008, Infinera made considerable breakthroughs in Asia Pacific, securing sizeable contracts in China and Japan. We believe the company’s focus on delivering innovative solutions will ensure that it continues to grow in strength in the years to come. This is especially so at a time when national [high-speed] broadband projects are being implemented around the region and operators are in a bid to improve efficiencies in their networks, further prompting optical network deployments,” added Najam.

Infinera’s optical systems are based on Infinera’s large-scale photonic integrated circuits, which integrate 60 optical devices on a pair of chips each less than 5 mm wide. Infinera’s Digital Optical Networking architecture provides operators with a transformational opportunity to simplify network operations and enable flexible and fast delivery of differentiated transport services. The Infinera DTN combines high-capacity DWDM transport, integrated digital bandwidth management, and GMPLS-powered service intelligence in a single platform.

The award was presented to Infinera at the 2009 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Awards banquet in Singapore on June 4, 2009.