HPQ: Amazon.com (AMZN) Selects HP to Print Books on Demand

HP today announced that Amazon.com has selected HP Indigo presses to provide digital color printing for Amazon’s expanding books-on-demand business.

Leveraging the power of digital technology to print books in real time, HP will become Amazon’s preferred provider for color print-on-demand services.

Multiple HP Indigo digital presses have been installed at Amazon fulfillment centers and are now producing full-color books on demand as well as color covers for black and white books.

“The ability to produce books on demand is another result of the transformation from analog to digital printing, and with our line of HP Indigo presses, we are at the forefront of this trend,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “Now, through this collaboration, consumers will benefit from the integration of HP’s digital print technology and Amazon’s unmatched ability to offer the broadest selection of books possible.”

The books-on-demand market is expected to grow from approximately 20 billion book pages in 2006 to approximately 38 billion book pages by 2009.(1) This is due chiefly to the increasing demand for small-volume, rare and self-published books.

“Amazon is completely focused on the customer experience,” said Greg Greeley, vice president of books at Amazon.com. “This collaboration with HP will enable us to significantly increase the number of available titles our customers can purchase while offering publishers the highest quality color printing options.”

In addition to installing HP Indigo presses, Amazon’s facilities will be among the first in the United States to install the new HP Indigo Production Manager digital front-end controller, which combines HP IT and graphic arts technologies for rapid file processing in complex digital publishing scenarios.

HP provides the industry’s only high-end digital presses that use liquid ink for high-quality images that rival the offset print technology traditionally used in the book publishing world. Other print-on-demand applications produced on HP Indigo presses include everything from personalized marketing collateral to high-quality photo books.

TXN: Texas Instruments newest wireless infrastructure processor propels emerging market applications within GSM, TD-SCDMA and WiMAX

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) [NYSE:TXN] today announced its newest 3GHz-performing wireless infrastructure baseband product that boosts applications for GSM-based base stations while addressing new markets and requirements for WiMAX and TD-SCDMA. With three cores running at 1GHz each, the TMS320TCI6487 processor enables base station manufacturers to extend their existing designs while entering into new markets, requiring small form factor applications with an exceptional scaleable, flexible solution. For more information, please visit www.ti.com/tci6487

"Wireless infrastructure requirements are constantly changing and evolving, with regional and form factor opportunities growing quickly," said Flint Pulskamp, wireless semiconductor analyst at IDC. "Offering a single, flexible solution to manufacturers and service providers to solve their needs for quick regional deployments for GSM, TD-SCDMA and WiMAX further strengthens TI's strong position in this market space."


Single Solution for Multiple Standards

Currently, there are more than two billion GSM subscribers in 210 countries around the world. With TI's TCI6487, manufacturers will be able to deliver a high-performance, low-cost infrastructure solution for this market that supports up to 10 EDGE-enabled carriers with a single chip. In addition to supporting more users, the multi-core DSP provides enhanced capabilities for GSM, including interference cancellation and better reception for high data-rate applications. This flexible, software upgradeable solution reduces overall infrastructure costs, enabling service providers to deploy baseband technology in new emerging markets such as those in India, Russia, Africa and South America.



Texas Instruments' TCI6487 is also optimized for infrastructure designs of TD-SCDMA, China's unique air interface. With pre-commercial trials currently underway for TD-SCDMA, it is anticipated that the standard will be widely deployed in advance of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, requiring a solution that can immediately meet the needs of this huge cellular market. The 3GHz "baseband on a chip" can support three carriers and 69 users per device.

Building on TI's current WiMAX leadership, the TCI6487 is an excellent solution that meets the unique needs of today's emerging OFDMA requirements and tomorrow's LTE demands. The single-chip DSP solution, works in conjunction with TI's optimized software library, complete analog front end and key products from third parties. Now, TI's WiMAX customers can quickly get to market with advanced products for current requirements and the ability to shrink as future smaller form factor requirements demand. A complete 10-MHz, 2-antenna, 3-sector solution can easily be implemented, improving overall cost and power per channel.

"Flexibility is key in infrastructure design, as the market constantly evolves and infrastructure requirements change to support newer features and services," said Jerold Givens, TI Communications Infrastructure DSP director. "While we have insight into what the next paradigm shift is likely to be in the wireless space in the coming years, it is important for us to offer our customers a solution that is flexible enough to meet a variety of today's industry requirements and powerful enough to take them to tomorrow's next phase in wireless infrastructure design."


Higher-Performance DSP Baseband Solution

TI's TCI6487 offers three-times the performance of previous infrastructure solutions, providing greater channel enhancement and more flexibility while reducing design complexity for OEMs. Manufactured in 65nm process node, this new DSP is the highest performing processor in TI's TMS320C64x+TM DSP family. As a result, carriers will be able to deploy advanced networks quickly while future proofing their investments. The ability to upgrade performance with software enhancements also enables service providers to support emerging standards such as LTE, 3GPP and 3GPP+, while easily adding new features and services to their networks. This, in turn, will provide subscribers access to the latest and greatest services and capabilities that the wireless world can deliver.



TI offers the industry's broadest wireless infrastructure product portfolio, spanning the complete signal chain. Supporting analog products include digital up/down converters, high speed data converters, RF products, timing, backplane interface and standard logic components. Highlighting the company's leadership in power management, TI has developed a non-isolated DC/DC power module with extremely fast response and high performance. It is the first power management device to meet core voltage tolerance requirements of the TCI6487.


Availability

The TCI6487 is currently sampling with targeted customers. It will be on display at the ITU Telecom show, Dec. 4-8 in Hong Kong in Hall 2, Booth 2010. For more information, please visit www.ti.com/tci6487

TXN: TI introduces dc/dc power module with fast transient response for 3-ghz dsp systems

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) introduced today a 10-A, non-isolated DC/DC power module with fast transient response and high performance. The plug-in module meets the strict three percent accuracy core voltage tolerance requirements of TI's newest 3-GHz digital signal processors (DSPs), such as the TMS320TCI6487, with only 3,000 uF of external output capacitance. The device also supports point-of-load systems that use high-performance DSPs, microprocessors, ASICs and FPGAs.

Based on TI's extensive T2 family of devices, the new PTH08T240F incorporates TurboTransTM technology, which optimizes the power module's transient response and reduces the amount of output capacitance by up to eight times. The technology significantly reduces the peak output voltage deviation under transient load conditions, while saving the customer the cost and board space for additional capacitors.

The PTH08T240F has a wide input voltage range of 4.5 V to 14 V, and provides up to 92 percent power efficiency at 1.8 V output. The module's output voltage is adjustable from 0.7 V to 2 V, and features over-current protection and programmable under-voltage lockout. In addition, the PTH08T240F offers over-temperature protection, on/off inhibit control, differential remote sense and 1.5 percent DC output regulation.

The module is the first power management device that meets the core voltage tolerance requirements of TI's new TCI6487 DSP (see: www.ti.com/tci6487). The single chip, multi-core, 3-GHz DSP requires a core voltage rail between 0.9 V and 1.1 V with a source impedance of 2 milli-ohms. The TCI6487's voltage tolerance requirement for transient loads of up to 5 A is only 15 mV, which the PTH08T240F easily supports with only 3,000 uF of external output capacitance. This achievement allows wireless infrastructure base station OEMs using the new DSP to simplify their power system designs, while achieving optimal power performance and efficiency.

SmartSync, another element of this module, allows for switching frequency synchronization of multiple modules, thereby simplifying electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise suppression tasks and reducing input capacitor ripple current requirements. The PTH08T240F also includes the Auto-TrackTM sequencing feature, which simplifies simultaneous power-up and power-down of multiple power modules in the system.


Available Today

The PTH08T240F is sampling now and is scheduled to be available in volume production in early 2007 from TI and its authorized distributors. The module comes in surface-mount and through-hole packages. Suggested retail pricing is $11.80 in 1,000-piece quantities. Data sheets, application notes, samples and TI's comprehensive portfolio of power management ICs are available through power.ti.com.

IBM Enhances Network Management Software to Help Service Providers Deliver Quality of Service

Today IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced new updates to of all kinds its Netcool/Precision and Netcool/Proviso software, bringing service providers performance management and availability management for MPLS networks. MPLS enables “Quality of Service,” bringing high-priority handling for voice and other traffic types while reducing network costs by consolidating network traffic.

Netcool/Precision, which provides automatic network discovery and topology-based management for IP networks, will have added support for MPLS IP VPNs and Layer 2 VPNs. Netcool/Precision uses its topology model and monitoring to detect connectivity problems and identify their root cause. Operators are informed of problem causes so they can more rapidly resolve them, and given a visualization tool for rapid troubleshooting. In modern, self-healing networks, operators are flooded with event notifications, making it difficult to discern whether or not service has been impacted. Adding Netcool/Precision's topology-based analysis can reduce the number of events to an actionable level.

Netcool/Proviso will have new application packs for the software, which continuously monitors network performance and provides customer-facing service level reporting, usage and capacity planning, and troubleshooting data. This application pack release will have support for Alcatel 5620 SAM 3.0, which incorporates new MPLS coverage. Service providers must not only ensure service availability, they must ensure service quality. Netcool/Proviso monitors resources and services to report on usage, quality, and trends.

Netcool/Precision is available today. Netcool/Proviso will be available electronically on December 11, 2006.

Tivoli Netcool software is used by banks, communications providers, governments, retailers and other organizations worldwide to monitor and manage their sophisticated technology infrastructures. The combination of Tivoli Netcool and IBM's service management technology provide customers with a comprehensive approach for reducing the complexity of their network environments, lowering operational costs and addressing compliance.



For more information about Tivoli Netcool software, visit http://www-306.ibm.com/software/tivoli/welcome/micromuse/

IBM Introduces Telecom Security for the Digital World

Addressing the telecommunications industry's most pressing concern, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled security hardware, software and services to help meet the security needs of the user, enterprise systems and the core of large-scale Internet Protocol (IP) carrier networks

The Telecom Core Infrastructure Security Solution monitors and manages not only the health of network but the traffic itself, through a single, integrated system.

As the telecom industry re-directs efforts toward launching and delivering IP-based services -- telephone services over the Internet, Internet TV, push to talk and instant messaging -- they have become particularly vulnerable to a new breed of attack, designed to cripple the key components and networks that deliver these new services.

Through this solution, carriers can offer enterprises higher levels of security and reliability. "We believe security represents a tremendous revenue opportunity for carriers and we are well positioned to help them execute on that opportunity," said Mike Hill, general manager, global telecommunications industry, IBM.

Scalable to meet the demands of large, highly distributed carrier networks, IBM's new security offering features accurate and early anomaly detection, while providing powerful, flexible mitigation options that allow network operators to take action and enforce policy either manually or automatically.

The solution comprises several components:

• Tivoli® Security Operations Manager provides the monitoring and correlation of the events from security components, such as firewalls and  intrusion detection systems;


• NarusInsight™ Secure Suite from Narus, Inc. provides monitoring and correlation of all of the traffic that flows across the carrier network; 


• Tivoli Netcool software then acts as the "manager of the managers," by providing an additional tier of correlation between Tivoli Security Operations Manager and NarusInsight Secure Suite. The multi-tiered correlation capability allows the Telecom Core Infrastructure Security Solution to detect the widest possible range of attacks, with significantly increased accuracy;


• IBM® BladeCenter® servers that use less power, produce   significantly less heat, have longer life spans, and are easy to set up and scale;


• And integration, delivery and support services.  

In addition to addressing the carrier requirements for core security, IBM's new security system provides a platform for additional carrier revenue opportunities. By providing managed security services based on the IBM solution to their enterprise customers, service providers can be more efficient in bringing better and more cost-effective new services to market.
As enterprise IT managers struggle with the expertise and resources required to secure their networks, more and more are now turning to their telecom service providers to deliver "clean pipes" free of worms viruses and malicious traffic.

"Technology from our recent Micromuse acquisition combined with the NarusInsight Secure Suite delivers thorough solutions to today's rapidly evolving telecom industry," said Mike Hill, general manager, telecommunications industry, IBM. "IBM is in the unique position to deliver integrated offerings that cover the security requirements of carriers worldwide."

IBM, BladeCenter, Tivoli and Proventia are trademarks or registered trademarks of IBM Corp. in the United States, other countries, or both. Alphablox is a registered trademark of Alphablox Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

IBM Helps Telcos Reduce Costs and Deliver Revenue-Generating Services

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today is announcing initiatives and solutions focused on addressing telecoms operators' pressing needs to build a solid, secure, cost-effective infrastructure to roll-out next-generation services.

The new IBM solutions launched today will help telcos to compete more effectively in a marketplace characterized by declining voice revenues and high consumer demand for rich content and services. The new IBM hardware, software and services solutions build on IBM's major investments in its telecoms solutions labs and software acquisitions. These investments improve service creation and delivery capabilities for telcos, enabling them to better integrate and reduce system complexity and cost.

"Telcos are struggling to meet customer demand for rich content via any device over any network," said Mike Hill, General Manager, Global Telecommunications Industry, IBM. "To compete and win, telcos need to transform their operating and infrastructure systems to support the convergence of telecoms and media, and the multi-media rich content that customers are demanding."

IBM telecom solutions announced today, include:

Telecom Core Infrastructure Security Solution which provides telecoms operators with an integrated system for monitoring and managing network health and real-time traffic on demand, ensuring secure networks for delivering greater content and services to enterprise clients.
BladeCenter HT "hardened" blade server system that meets international telecommunications standards. The powerful new BladeCenter HT platform, featuring dual and quad-core Intel Xeon, AMD Opteron and IBM Power processor-based blades, delivers superior performance and high-speed connectivity for network bandwidth 10 times greater than previously possible.
Enhancements to Netcool/Precision and Netcool/Proviso to enable performance management and availability management for Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks. MPLS enables Quality of Service, bringing high-priority handling for voice and other traffic types while reducing network costs by consolidating network traffic.
Available from IBM and its partners, IBM's new solutions and services for telcos build on IBM's heritage in helping enterprises transform their operational systems and infrastructure to meet evolving market requirements.

At stand #5002 in the ITU Telecom Village, IBM will feature demonstrations of its latest telecom offerings including:

Triple Play with IPTV which shows how consumers can dynamically choose TV shows, movies and even games from their IPTV service provider.
Presence/IMS Based Services which include presence-driven workforce discovery and task distribution; location-based call routing and etiquette enforcement; and abstraction and learning of rich presence information.
Telecom Services in a Web 2.0. World which help telcos expand service offerings and revenue opportunities by delivering extended network capabilities via Telecom Web Services.
Order to Cash Transformation Solution which addresses the end-to-end processes and IT infrastructure supporting order entry provisioning, activation, billing and collection.

Bytemobile, Inc. Optimizes Wireless Freeways With IBM BladeCenter

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that Bytemobile, Inc. has enhanced its existing hardware portfolio with the addition of IBM BladeCenter to help facilitate the deployment of data services for more than 70 mobile network operators worldwide, which serve nearly a billion wireless subscribers. The bladed platform will enable operators to cost-effectively utilize off-the-shelf computing to speed the delivery of data services, including full Internet access, to end users of mass-market mobile devices.

Bytemobile, a leading global provider of dynamic optimization solutions for mobile phone operators, recently expanded its server portfolio to offer its customers greater processor and operating system choices to effectively consolidate multiple, interoperable IP network services on a single blade server platform.

"Our telecommunications technologies and user adoption are advancing rapidly, with more complex IP-based data services such as multimedia and full-HTML web browsing that require more computing power to process than ever before. Therefore, our optimization solutions and the platforms that support them need to keep pace with consumer demand," said Christian Gabetta, senior technical director at Bytemobile, Inc. "By adding the IBM BladeCenter platform for the delivery of Bytemobile solutions, we can better serve our customers with a cost-effective, high-speed, scalable hardware platform that meets their present and future throughput requirements."

Bytemobile selected IBM's BladeCenter system to enhance its current network infrastructure offering. The company chose IBM over competing vendors because of IBM's rock-solid services and support, which gave Bytemobile access to experts who could customize a solution that would meet each customer's heterogeneous environment. The new solution adds IBM's AMD Opteron-based BladeCenter systems running Linux, Microsoft Windows or Sun Solaris 10 operating systems, offering some of the best performance-per-watt ratios in the industry and enabling Bytemobile to easily port existing applications to one scalable data center footprint.

"The telecommunications industry is at a tipping point where operators are clamoring to grow their networks to blend legacy fixed landline services with emerging 3G, WLAN and Wi-Fi technologies," said Jim Pertzborn, vice president, IBM Telecommunications Industry Servers. "Our combined solution with Bytemobile is a stepping stone toward greater collaboration among industry players to ease this transition for operators -- ultimately improving the service that we as consumers use on our mobile devices."

About Bytemobile, Inc.

Bytemobile is the global leader in optimization solutions which simplify, unify and accelerate the delivery of advanced wireless data services to mobile handsets, laptops and PDAs. The company's customers include leading network operators such as Astelit, Centertel, China Mobile, Cingular, KPN, NTT DoCoMo, Nextel, O2, Orange, PTC, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia Mobile, Telefónica Móviles, Vodafone, and Willcom. Bytemobile is a privately held company headquartered in Mountain View, California. The company has regional sales and support offices in Uckfield, England; Tokyo, Japan; Beijing, China; and Singapore; and research and development centers in Patras, Greece; Marlborough, Massachusetts; and Champaign, Illinois. To learn more about Bytemobile, visit www.bytemobile.com

For more information about IBM BladeCenter, go to: www.ibm.com/bladecenter

IBM Dials Blades for Next-Gen Network Telco Providers, Speeds Network Bandwidth Up to Ten Times Faster to Help Unleash New Voice and Video Application

Today IBM (NYSE: IBM) previewed a powerful new BladeCenter HT system that delivers superior performance and high-speed connectivity for network bandwidth up to 10 times greater than previously possible, to help telecommunications network providers unleash next-generation applications for consumers based on the convergence of voice, data and video networks.

"Our telecommunications technologies and user adoption are advancing rapidly, with more complex IP-based data services such as multimedia and full-HTML web browsing that require more computing power to process than ever before," said Christian Gabetta, senior technical director at Bytemobile, Inc. "The high-speed connectivity and higher network bandwidth of IBM's BladeCenter HT will make this platform an ideal choice for carriers to power their networks and quickly scale out their data centers to meet subscribers growing need for next-generation data services on mobile devices."

IBM is further extending its portfolio of solutions for the telecommunications industry today by previewing BladeCenter HT, a new "hardened" blade server system that meets international telecommunications standards and includes high-performance computing interconnects and switching for demanding next-generation network applications. The new system along with new blades from IBM will help the telco industry deliver next-generation applications for consumers such as high-speed broadband, Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), Voice over IP (VoIP), Video on Demand (VoD) and Advanced Security solutions (e.g. Firewall, Intrusion Prevention).

"IP-based data services such as multimedia messaging, online gaming and IPTV require large quantities of computing power," said Jim Pertzborn, vice president, IBM Telecommunications Industry Servers. "Today's announcement previews an extension to the BladeCenter family which will allow our clients to mix and match a wide variety of BladeCenter processor and operating system platforms to quickly scale and meet their specific networking requirements while maintaining complete interoperability and investment protection with existing BladeCenter systems."

As next-generation networks combine enterprise data applications with new voice and video applications, IBM continues to grow its BladeCenter ecosystem to support this convergence. Industry organization Blade.org has fostered a collaborative community of over 80 members focused on accelerating the development of IBM BladeCenter-based solutions, and IBM's BladeCenter Alliance Program and Open Specification Program has enabled over 700 technology and solution providers to develop products and solutions based on the open specifications for IBM BladeCenter. Additionally, companies such as BroadSoft and Teak Technologies are currently developing new telco industry-specific applications for BladeCenter HT:

BroadSoft creates VoIP application software that lets fixed and mobile service providers offer advanced calling features to their enterprise and residential customers. "BroadSoft has worked closely with IBM to optimize our solutions on the IBM BladeCenter family of products with great success. We are excited about the forthcoming release of BladeCenter HT and expect it will further accelerate the shift we are seeing towards blade servers as our customers transition to IMS and next-generation networks," said Bob Weidenfeller, Vice President of Engineering, BroadSoft.

Teak Technologies is building a new category of switching solutions to simplify data center networks and transform them into a Congestion-Free Zone. "Blade.org provides a compelling point-of-view in the rapidly evolving compute industry. This viewpoint is grounded in the strength of the BladeCenter platform, is reflective of its growing ecosystem, and shows IBM is acutely aware of the importance to serve customer needs across the entire solutions stack. At Teak, we cherish such an environment where collaboration serves as a force multiplier in shaping the future of a nascent industry. We are excited to be building a 10G Congestion-Free Ethernet switching solution on the IBM BladeCenter family platform," said Sanjay Dua, Chief Marketing Officer, Teak Technologies and Blade.org Member.

Products and Availability

IBM BladeCenter brings a powerful set of capabilities to the carrier environment, including the ability to flexibly deploy a single architecture and components across the IT and Network sides of the business, to help dramatically lower operating costs and capital expenditures. The entire IBM BladeCenter family utilizes the same blades, switches, storage and I/O platforms, while enhanced virtualization technologies also enable server, storage and I/O sharing across multiple systems of blades -- making it ideal for the most demanding telecommunications environments for activities such as new service rollouts and provisioning.

The powerful new BladeCenter HT system, featuring dual and quad-core Intel Xeon, AMD Opteron and IBM Power processor-based blades, will support a substantial increase in aggregate performance and throughput from 4Gb to up to 40Gb in a single blade and 1.2Tb across the system backplane. Increased capacity and scalability with BladeCenter HT also helps clients consolidate existing and new workloads efficiently.

IBM BladeCenter HT: System is being designed to meet Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) Level 3 and European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) standards and will be hardened to withstand high temperature, airborne contaminants, electrostatic discharge and other environmental conditions.
IBM 4 x 1 AdvancedMC Carrier Blade: Blade created in collaboration with GE Fanuc will support four standard off-the- shelf full height AMC cards enabling legacy WAN I/O transport, media gateway and signaling internetworking applications.
IBM NGN Gateway Blade: Blade designed for telco solutions will deliver robust external GbE network connectivity beyond that available on any current IBM blade server, ideal for Video on Demand, security applications and environments requiring special purpose ports such as virtual private networks (VPN).
Nortel 10Gb Ethernet Switch Module for BladeCenter: Technology will help Service Providers increase the performance of multi-core networks by delivering higher levels of bandwidth and throughput for applications, while improving efficiency and resource sharing of next-generation network infrastructures through increased 10G Ethernet port availability.
IBM BladeCenter HT is planned to be available in the second quarter of 2007.

VZ: Gov. Schwarzenegger Appoints Verizon Region President to Broadband Task Force

Verizon West Region President Tim McCallion will serve on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recently created Broadband Task Force.

Schwarzenegger created the panel in October to identify opportunities for increased broadband adoption and enable the creation and deployment of new advanced communication technologies. McCallion, who was named to the panel Thursday by Schwarzenegger, brings more than 30 years' experience in the telecommunications industry to the role, including his leadership experience at one of the country's most innovative telecom companies.

"Verizon has a track record of building infrastructure that stimulates the economy and delivers exciting new products to consumers," McCallion said. "Verizon is the only company in the nation deploying fiber to the customer on a widespread scale and was the first to offer a wireless broadband network. We share Gov. Schwarzenegger's commitment to increasing broadband access, and I look forward to furthering that objective as a member of the task force."

McCallion joined Verizon in 1976 and held a variety of management positions in California, Hawaii, Indiana, Connecticut, Ohio and Pennsylvania before being named west region president in 2000. He serves on the board of directors for the Ventura County Community Foundation, Los Angeles Urban League, California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy, Central City Association of Los Angeles, California Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the Southern California Leadership Council and the board of governors of the Children's Museum of Los Angeles.

SUNW: Leading Telco Carriers Tout Versatility of Sun Microsystems' Java System Content Delivery Server

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), the creator of the open source Sun Solaris operating system, today announced new features for the Sun Java System Content Delivery Server (CDS), a mobile content delivery and management platform that enables mobile operators to launch and sustain content services more cost-effectively.


Sun's latest offering enables leading operators worldwide to grow their service portfolios and increase revenue by making it easier to add, manage and bill for virtually all types of wireless content through a new and unique distributed download architecture. New Sun CDS customers Telecom New Zealand and Telefonica Moviles de Argentina have chosen the Sun CDS solutions running on the Solaris OS, the most advanced operating system on the planet, to quickly bring new services and content to market.

"With the implementation of our Sun CDS download portal solution, Telefonica Moviles de Argentina has achieved a significant time to market advantage for launching new content, products and services for customers," said Diego Scalise, customer technical project manager, Telefonica Moviles de Argentina. "We addressed our customers' needs by building a new dynamic and scalable business model. It also aligns with our regional standards strategy and synergistic projects that Telefonica Moviles de Argentina runs in Latin America."

"We recognize that our customers are looking for more variety, versatility and richness in their download options," said Brian More, head of enterprise architecture, Telecom New Zealand. "We selected Sun because we can easily deliver existing content services like Java technology-based applications, games, ringtones and wallpaper from a common infrastructure, easing the complexity of system maintenance. The CDS capability integrated with our existing architectural environment, thus catalyzing an effective deployment and resulting in an integrated user-friendly experience. We can now offer our subscribers easier access to the content they want to purchase."

Sun's CDS offers a complete solution for vending mobile content, making it easy to set up and run content services more profitably – including content catalogs, storefronts, viral marketing tools, payment and delivery components. New features such as the Central Device Catalog enable service providers to launch new devices effortlessly and quickly by aggregating sources of content from multiple providers and then collecting accurate data to help ensure correct records, enabling the segmentation of customers according to usage patterns and demographics. Sun CDS handles the download of all types of mobile content to any capable device. Deployments range from affordable off-portal content stores that can be set up in a few weeks to highly available systems serving over a hundred million subscribers. These new features improve customer satisfaction by directing new content, promotions and advertising campaigns to an appropriate group.

Sun's updated CDS solution now eases the content download process by allowing a user to download content through a mobile-originated push, using a short code, and by keyword. Users with older phones or devices will now have access to premium SMS content services – higher value content like music, rich ringtones, graphics, video and games. These enhancements will effectively increase both the subscriber base and average revenue per user for value added content downloads for deployers of the new CDS system.

For more information about Sun Java System Content Delivery Server, go to: http://www.sun.com/software/products/delivery_server/index.xml

SUNW: Telefonica Moviles Espana Selects Sun Microsystems to Roll Out New Services

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced that Telefonica Moviles Espana selected Sun hardware, software and services to develop, implement and support the infrastructure used to provide its latest generation of customer services. Telefonica Moviles Espana is part of Telefonica Group, which operates in 15 countries on three continents and has a customer base that exceeds 98.5 million people. Telefonica Moviles Espana will use Sun Fire servers running the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) - the most advanced OS on the planet - and Sun Java Enterprise System, with support from Sun services.


The Sun solution will help Telefonica Moviles Espana accelerate the rollout of new services on the market, while significantly reducing the cost of ownership and improving the management of these services. In addition, the Sun solution provides Telefonica Moviles Espana an open standards-based architecture, allowing for improved availability, reliability, security and scalability as compared to their previous model.

After a year of joint work, Telefonica Moviles Espana and Sun Microsystems determined the operator's requirements to successfully introduce advanced services to its customers. Once this identification was complete, a new Execution Architecture was developed and implemented. The Execution Architecture includes a flexible software and systems infrastructure, supported by Sun services.

As Albert Triola, Telefonica Client Executive Director at Sun Microsystems, explains: "The joint work with Telefonica Moviles Espana has been a global initiative that leverages Sun's expertise in software, systems and services. The project has reiterated our commitment to Telefonica Moviles Espana as a true value-added partner, and has allowed us to take a step further as a provider of global solutions."

Eduardo Méndez, Head of Services and Platforms Architecture and Safety at Telefonica Moviles Espana, states that "the Execution Architecture implemented with Sun goes beyond merely buying a system: it is a global project that involves a complete transformation of the way in which Telefonica Moviles develops, implements and exploits the services it offers to its customers."

A Global Strategy for Efficiency

To roll out its new services, Telefonica Moviles Espana implemented a multilevel architecture based on the Sun Service Delivery Network Architecture Service. In this model, Telefonica Moviles Espana leveraged a reusable platform that allowed the different components to share computer resources, thereby increasing the physical performance of the infrastructure and enabling significant cost savings compared to other models.

In addition, Sun Microsystems and Telefonica Moviles Espana have worked together to define a series of recommendations and standards for the development and roll-out of the operator's new services. As part of the project, Sun Microsystems has developed a Best Practice Guide for the deployment of new operator services, and has implemented the management of Sun Services aimed at the integration and subsequent administration of the global platform (provisioning, backup management and protection of the servers). Moreover, Sun Microsystems has provided training and transferred information to the teams working in the different divisions of Telefonica Moviles Espana involved in the project.

About Telefonica Moviles Espana

Telefonica Moviles Espana (www.empresa.movistar.es ) is the mobile operator of Telefonica in the Spanish market. As of September 2006, Telefonica Moviles Espana had most than 21 million customers and a wide catalogue of services and applications with the latest mobile technology, such as UMTS. Movistar is the brand for the mobile companies of Telefonica Group in Spain and Latin America with exception of Brazil.

SUNW: Sun Microsystems Powers Multimedia-on-Demand Service for Chunghwa Telecom

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced that the Taiwan telecom giant Chunghwa Telecom has chosen its Sun Fire servers and the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) - the most advanced OS on the planet - to power its Multimedia-on-Demand (MOD) back-end server platforms. This solution provides improved scalability and reliability for the MOD platform, allowing users to choose from a number of interactive services.


"As carriers look to expand their service offerings to customers, they need a comprehensive IT platform that's both reliable and scalable," said Joe Pai, General Manager of Sun Microsystems Taiwan. "Sun's Solaris OS and Sun Fire servers provide the efficient and stable back-end platform that customers like Chunghwa Telecom need to deliver new, online interactive services."

Chunghwa Telecom's MOD multimedia system services have been online since March of 2004. The services already have more than 223,000 users, and the system has undergone IT service structural and facility scale expansions to meet increasing demand. Today, there are 80 Sun Fire V490 and V480 servers running the Solaris OS deployed throughout Taiwan in the major northern, central and southern regions. Chunghwa Telecom attributes the success of its service to the stability and efficiency of the Sun solution.

Chunghwa Telecom relies on Sun's solution as the central operating platform for the MOD service. Yi-fong Chang, Multimedia department managing director of Chunghwa Telecom Northern Taiwan Business Group explains that MOD users access the main menu portal program to choose what TV program or online service they need. The user then chooses from a number of different interactive services in the portal, including movies, stock market listings, banking and ATM services, music and children's educational functions. All of these options route through Sun servers and backup databases to connect with user demand, requiring highly efficient and stable systems operations.

Yi-fong Chang further stated that beginning January 1, 2007, Chunghwa Telecom will provide High-Definition Television (HDTV) on a trial basis. This will provide users with an even higher quality product for the films and variety of interactive services offered, and is expected to attract an additional 550,000 subscribers. In order to meet these growth requirements, Chunghwa Telecom looked to Sun Microsystems to provide the technology to meet its MOD service stability needs.

About Chunghwa Telecom

CHT completed its corporatization on 1 July 1996 under the direction of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications according to the Telecommunication Act and Memorandum of Chunghwa Telecom Corporation. Incorporated with a registered capital at NT$96.477 billion, CHT chiefly provides telecommunication and information-related services. Its scope of services covers city call, long-distance calls, international calls, GSM, data communication, Internet services, broadband networking, satellite communication, intelligent network, mobile data and multimedia broadband. As the most experienced and largest integrated telecommunication operator in Taiwan, CHT is one of the most important partners for international telecommunication cooperation, with distinctive achievements in promoting global real-time communication, improvement social life, and enhancing economic efficiency.

MSFT: Telenor (TELN) Selects Microsoft Connected Services Framework to Facilitate Its Services Strategy

Today at ITU Telecom World 2006, Microsoft Corp. and Norwegian telecommunications provider Telenor ASA announced that Telenor has selected Microsoft® Connected Services Framework as a foundation to deliver a range of services that will attract new subscribers, excite existing customers, build customer loyalty and drive new revenue streams. The first service to be delivered using the new platform will be delivered using the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration, a carrier-grade platform for offering enterprise-class e-mail and document-sharing services to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The service will be offered in the first quarter of 2007 to 30,000 existing SMB customers who are migrating from UNIX to Microsoft Exchange.

Operators continue to face challenges to their businesses, both from traditional competitors and from new entrants to the industry. Telenor is tackling these head on by implementing Connected Services Framework as the platform for creating and combining profitable services that will complement the company’s existing offerings of voice and broadband connectivity, and provide new revenue streams.

“Microsoft Connected Services Framework has helped us create a simplified service delivery architecture, enabling us to provision, manage and amalgamate multiple services, and more easily achieve rapid time to market,” said Rolv-Erik Spilling, business division manager at Telenor Nordic. “Connected Services Framework is a fundamental component of our service delivery strategy on which we plan to create a range of services to help our customers communicate and collaborate more effectively across PCs and mobile terminals.”

Typically, SMBs have little or no IT staff; therefore, it can be challenging to deploy the latest applications that may require an in-house IT infrastructure. As a result, they frequently search for bundled solutions that are easy to use, have strong security and are scalable for growth. By utilizing a service provider such as Telenor, these types of businesses are able to experience all the benefits of enterprise-class IT services while still being able to focus on their core competencies.

“SMBs are demanding new and different types of services, and Microsoft Connected Services Framework provides the basis for Telenor to rapidly deliver service combinations that address the unique requirements of this audience,” said Michael O’Hara, general manager for the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “This deployment is designed to allow Telenor to offer SMB customers a range of flexible, cost-effective communications services, starting first with combined e-mail, messaging and collaboration services.”

Telenor will initially offer customers a choice of a basic or premium e-mail package. The basic e-mail service will consist of Webmail and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). Users of the premium e-mail service will benefit from all the features of Microsoft Office Outlook® and will be able to share folders and calendar information. The premium e-mail service will support automatic synchronization of e-mail and calendar information to mobile devices.

About Telenor

Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Telenor is an international provider of high-quality telecommunications, data and media communication services. Telenor is one of Norway’s largest companies, with revenues in 2005 of approx. NOK 68.9 billion and a work force of 27,600 domestically and abroad. Telenor is listed at the Oslo Stock Exchange (TEL) and Nasdaq in New York (TELN).

MSFT: Microsoft and Swisscom to Offer Enhanced Voice Over IP Services for Small and Midsize Businesses in Switzerland

Microsoft Corp. and Swisscom today announced they are working together to deliver converged communications services to Swisscom’s small and midsize businesses (SMBs). By deploying the Microsoft® Solution for Enhanced VoIP (Voice over IP) Services, Swisscom will be able to offer its customers a range of communications that help integrate telephony services with the PC.

Swisscom will be able to deliver a combined offering of voice, e-mail, presence, instant messaging, collaboration and desktop services to its SMB subscribers. The combination of business applications with communications tools will help SMBs improve workflow and increase productivity. For instance, users will be able to initiate telephone calls directly from their PC, forward their desk phone calls to another fixed or mobile phone, and select the preferred device for callers to reach them on.

“By bringing together the different means of communications, we can provide our business customers with a richer communications experience,” said Heinz Herren, head of Small and Medium Business at Swisscom. “VoIP not only offers additional flexibility compared with traditional telephone services, but the Microsoft offering enables the addition of other PC-centric services, such as e-mail, instant messaging and document collaboration. We’re delighted to be offering our SMB customers the benefits of an enterprise-quality telephony service together with our existing broadband packages.”

The Microsoft Solution for Enhanced VoIP Services combines hosted versions of Microsoft server products that include Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server and Windows® SharePoint® Services with Sylantro Systems’ Application Feature Server. With this combined communications offering, service providers are able to create a rich set of productivity tools, traditionally available only to larger enterprises, for their SMB customers. The combined solution provides key features to the end user such as click to call, calling alerts, call diversion, telephony presence, smart call forwarding and call history logs.

“We are happy to be working with Swisscom to help launch a business-class suite of hosted communications services in Europe,” said Michael O’Hara, general manager for the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “With much of the demand for these services coming from SMBs, it makes sense for telecommunications providers such as Swisscom to offer convenient, comprehensive packages to their customers. In addition, our solution helps operators deliver a consistent experience across the PC and telephone, creating a compelling service set for SMBs.”

MSFT: Microsoft Launches Connected Services Sandbox

Today at ITU Telecom World 2006, Microsoft Corp. launched the Connected Services Sandbox, a new program designed to unite independent software vendors (ISVs), developers, systems integrators (SIs), network equipment providers (NEPs) and telecommunications service providers in developing and testing new compelling communications services and, ultimately, bringing these new services to market. The Sandbox will encourage the creation of “managed network mash-ups” in which Web services are combined with traditional telecommunications offerings, and then can be offered through the Software as a Service (SaaS) model and delivered across virtually any type of network or device.

“Currently, operators are offering network services such as voice, video and data services either individually or in service packages,” said Michael O’Hara, general manager for the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “Operators now can open their networks to next-generation Web 2.0 applications that can be mashed together with traditional services to create new connected services — the foundation of Telco 2.0. The goal of the Sandbox is to facilitate the rapid development and market deployment of scores of new service offerings, creating new opportunities for Sandbox participants and delivering new options for consumers and businesses.”

The Connected Services Sandbox is accessible on the Internet and facilitates idea generation and integration with publicly available Web services from Microsoft and others. There are thousands of examples of publicly exposed Web services, including Windows Live™, Microsoft® MapPoint®, Amazon, eBay, Google and Yahoo!. In addition, the Sandbox will initially offer a number of Microsoft products and solutions for participants to utilize, including Microsoft Connected Services Framework, Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration, Microsoft Solution for Windows®-based Hosting and Microsoft Customer Care Framework.

Founding participants in the Connected Services Sandbox include Microsoft and the following leading ISVs, SIs, NEPs, developers and service providers:

• Bell Canada, Canada’s national leader in communications, with 28 million customer connections across the country

• BT, one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific

• Ensim, ISV and leading supplier of service enablement and automation software for hosted IP and application services

• Nortel, NEP, SI and recognized leader in delivering next-generation carrier and enterprise communications capabilities

• Ubiquity Software Corp., ISV and telecom market leader offering an SIP Application Server used to deliver real-time telephony services

• Schakra, SI and software services company providing a wide range of technology solutions to enterprises

• Tech Mahindra (formerly known as Mahindra-British Telecom Ltd.), SI and a global leader in providing end-to-end IT services and solutions to the Telecom industry


Participants in the Sandbox are provided with the components necessary to create innovative services that can be taken to market rapidly. The Connected Services Sandbox offers the following key benefits to its participants:

• Products, early exposure to Microsoft products and solutions

• Developers, access to trained Microsoft developers, designers and architects

• Services, feedback mechanism for the reporting of usage trends, scenarios and popularity of published services

• Business opportunities, new business opportunities, collaboration opportunities through the Microsoft Communications Sector Partner Network, and immediate exposure to Microsoft field sales organization and customers

• Marketing support, promotion of the Sandbox through press releases, industry events, marketing and sales collateral, and community-based support tools for the technical audience including newsgroups, newsletters, white papers, announcements and how-to articles


Fuelling Innovation Through Competition

To stimulate the development of new services, Microsoft, together with BT, will launch a series of design and development competitions to identify innovative connected services that can be taken to market. Participants will collaborate and compete to generate new service designs and build functional prototypes of those designs. As a sponsor of the initial competitions, BT will have early exposure, visibility and access to the winning services including the ability to test and deploy the prototype services.


“We’re committed to driving and enabling innovation by and for our customers” said Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business. “The competitions enable us to evaluate different technology offerings and test potential mashups. The Sandbox also supports our 21st Century Network initiatives as we are dedicated to providing new, innovative services to our customers that help them to thrive.”

The competitions will begin January 2007. The Connected Services Sandbox and competitions will be open to the more than 6 million developers and 75,000 ISVs/IHVs (independent hardware vendors) worldwide working on Microsoft platforms.

More information about participation in the Connected Services Sandbox is available by visiting http://www.networkmashups.com

MSFT:Microsoft Collaborates With Telecommunications Industry to Drive Transition to Telco 2.0 Era

This week at ITU Telecom World 2006, Microsoft Corp. is showcasing for the first time its full portfolio of solutions and services developed specifically for the global telecommunications industry. In its exhibit presence and participation in ITU Telecom World, Microsoft is highlighting the broad range of voice, video, data and mobile solutions it delivers to leading service providers today, as well as unveiling new products and initiatives designed to help operators create revenue-generating offerings for businesses and consumers, now and in the future.

“Since ITU Telecom World was last held, in 2003, we’ve seen tremendous change in the telecommunications industry,” said Pieter Knook, senior vice president of the Mobile and Embedded Devices Division at Microsoft. “Fixed-line and mobile operators have made significant network infrastructure investment, and they’re seeking avenues for creating new services to fill these networks. At the same time, new industry entrants from the Web world have introduced offerings and disruptive business models that stand to threaten operators’ standing. It’s clear that software will play a critical role in helping service providers address these challenges, and Microsoft is uniquely positioned to provide the operating platform through which the industry can create new services.”

Enabling the Transition to Telco 2.0

A new model known as Telco 2.0 is emerging as the telecommunications industry embraces the principles of Web 2.0 and technologies and services from the Internet world. In the Telco 2.0 era, operators will be able to offer hundreds of services that bring together numerous applications and types of content from a variety of sources to form composite services; in this world, the combinations of potential new services are nearly limitless. Microsoft provides the operating platform, technologies, applications and partner ecosystem that will help make Telco 2.0 a reality.

At ITU Telecom World, Microsoft is announcing new solutions, alliances and programs designed to foster innovation, focusing on three areas fundamental to its strategy in the communications industry: service delivery, revenue-generating services, and end-user devices and screens.

Service Delivery

The ability of service providers to efficiently and cost-effectively develop and deploy new services is essential to the further development of the Telco 2.0 era. For service delivery, Microsoft offers Microsoft Connected Services Framework, a server-based software product through which operators can deliver, aggregate and manage converged communications services for subscribers, regardless of network or device. Today Microsoft announced that Telenor is the latest operator to implement Connected Services Framework. With Connected Services Framework, Telenor will offer new services to small and midsize businesses (SMBs), including an e-mail service based on Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration.

Key to Microsoft’s success in the communications industry is an ecosystem that unites service providers, independent software vendors (ISVs), systems integrators and network equipment providers with Microsoft to drive the development and commercialization of new services. To that end, Microsoft introduced the Connected Services Sandbox, a proof-of-concept and integration environment that will allow ISVs and developers to test their services along with offerings from Microsoft, service providers and system integrators to rapidly bring new services to market.

Revenue-Generating Services

Microsoft enables new revenue-generating opportunities for service providers through its existing set of solutions, including service provider-hosted business and consumer services as well as Microsoft’s Live service offerings.

Microsoft provides a range of applications that service providers can host in their networks and deliver to businesses. In addition to Telenor, the following operators will offer new business services based on Microsoft technologies:

• Swisscom will deploy the Microsoft Solution for Enhanced Voice over IP (VoIP) Services to provide integrated voice, e-mail, presence, instant messaging, collaboration and desktop services to SMBs.

• Bharti Airtel recently launched new services based on Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration and plans to roll out hosted versions of Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM, accounting, and enterprise resource planning.


Complementing its expertise in business services, Microsoft provides the platform and applications enabling operators to deliver a variety of services targeting consumers. For instance, leading telecommunications providers worldwide, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, T-Online France and Swisscom are already deploying next-generation digital TV services using the Microsoft Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Edition software platform, which enables exciting, new connected and personalized entertainment experiences. In addition, operators Hutch, Orange and Sprint have recently announced new offerings based on the Windows Live™ set of services to deliver new online experiences to their customers.

End-User Devices and Screens

Windows Mobile® software powers advanced, easy-to-use devices that allow users to send and receive e-mail, browse the Internet and work on mobile versions of software from the Microsoft Office system, all with the familiar Windows® user experience. Developments for Windows Mobile introduced at ITU include the following:

• Samsung Electronics and Microsoft announced a new Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 device in Asia and Europe, the first 3G smartphone with support for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access and support for applications such as podcasting and RSS feeds.

• Microsoft today announced that the Windows Mobile operating system will support China Mobile’s new Push Mail service to provide easier and faster access to e-mail messages and a superior messaging experience.



Additional Microsoft Activities at ITU Telecom World

Microsoft is taking an active role in the conference program at ITU Telecom World, with executives participating in the following sessions:

Tuesday, Dec. 5


Session: Business and Finance — Investing in the Next Generation

Speaker: Jim Baldwin, product unit manager, Microsoft TV

Time and Location: 3–6 p.m., Rooms 203, 204, 205


Session: The Digital Home

Speaker: Pieter Knook, senior vice president, Mobile and Embedded Devices

Time and Location: 4:30–6 p.m., Forum Room 1


Session: Creating Compelling Content and Services

Speaker: Paul Mitchell, senior director, chief of staff, Microsoft TV

Time and Location: 4:30–6 p.m., Forum Room 2


Wednesday, Dec. 6


Session: Digital Lifestyles @ Play

Speaker: Hemang Mehta, product management director, Microsoft TV

Time and Location: 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Forum Room 2


Session: ICTs for Health

Speaker: Gabe Rijpma, director, Healthcare Industry, Microsoft Asia-Pacific

Time and Location: 2:30–5 p.m., Forum Room 3


Thursday, Dec. 7


Session: IPTV

Speaker: Ed Graczyk, director of marketing and communications, Microsoft TV

Time and Location: 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Forum Room 3


Friday, Dec. 8


Session: Spam and Phishing — Business Implications and Solutions

Speaker: Craig Spiezle, director, Online Safety Strategy

Time and Location: 9:45–11:15 a.m., Forum Room 3


“The telecommunications industry as we have known it is at a turning point,” Knook said. “The winners in this new era will be defined not only by their ability to maximize existing assets, but, more important, to capitalize on the new technologies and business models that are emerging. Microsoft is committed to the telecommunications industry, and we are focused on continuing to build strong relationships with service providers as we move forward in the Telco 2.0 world.”

QCOM:QUALCOMM to Acquire Airgo and Bluetooth Assets of RFMD

QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, today announced that it will be making acquisitions to complement its core wireless technology offerings. QUALCOMM will acquire for cash WLAN technology provider Airgo Networks Inc. and the majority of RF Micro Devices' (RFMD's) Bluetooth® assets. The acquisitions will enhance QUALCOMM's ability to deliver industry-leading, complete semiconductor solutions that will enable its device manufacturing partners to more quickly and easily offer a wide range of compelling wireless devices.

“QUALCOMM's business strategy has always been integration, enhancing performance and reducing time to market by offering complete solutions,” said Dr. Sanjay K. Jha, president of QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. “With these two acquisitions, we will continue to extend our leadership in mobile broadband and will be offering our partners comprehensive chipsets with seamlessly integrated features.”

“As the attach rate for Bluetooth and WLAN features in mobile handsets is poised to grow past the critical tipping point, these acquisitions become very timely,” said Chris Ambrosio, director of wireless device strategies for Strategy Analytics. “With QUALCOMM now having the technologies of Airgo and RFMD's Bluetooth business in-house, manufacturers will have access to more integrated solutions - chipsets that deliver expanded, seamless connectivity with enhanced performance and space savings.”

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Airgo possesses intellectual property assets and resources in WLAN technology and has provided WLAN products to both manufacturers of access points and laptop computers. In addition to supporting Airgo's existing business, QUALCOMM will be integrating their 802.11a/b/g and 802.11n technology into select Mobile Station Modem™ (MSM™) chipsets. The Company will also use this technology for chipsets on the new Snapdragon™ platform, which is designed to offer ubiquitous mobile broadband connectivity.

“Airgo has an extensive history of delivering advanced wireless LAN solutions that have revolutionized our industry segment, and we are pleased to become part of the company we believe is the global leader in wireless technology and chipsets,” said Greg Raleigh, president & chief executive officer of Airgo Networks. “This acquisition enables integrated products with wireless LAN and wireless WAN capabilities to deliver a seamless-connectivity experience for users.”

Under the agreement with RFMD, QUALCOMM will acquire the majority of North Carolina-based RFMD's Bluetooth assets, specifically those based in San Diego. QUALCOMM will be integrating the Bluetooth Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) technology into MSM reference designs to offer its device manufacturing customers a more complete solution. RFMD's San Diego-based team currently designs technology for both the mobile handset and headset markets.

“RFMD hopes to become a broader development partner to QUALCOMM's entire product portfolio for complementary products such as power amplifiers and front-end modules,” said Bob Bruggeworth, president and chief executive officer of RFMD. “RFMD is pleased that QUALCOMM sees the value of our long-term roadmaps for front-end solutions. The sale of these assets is part of an ongoing relationship with QUALCOMM that we expect will continue to strengthen as we move forward to become the leading provider of high-performance radio systems and solutions to the wireless industry.”

QUALCOMM estimates the combined effect of these acquisitions on its pro forma earnings per share to be dilutive by approximately $0.04 in its fiscal year ending September 2007, and modestly accretive in FY08. The acquisitions are expected to close by the end of December 2006.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com ) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2006 FORTUNE 500® company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market® under the ticker symbol QCOM

IVGN: Invitrogen Completes Acquistion Of Sentigen Holding Corp

Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN), a global leader in life sciences, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Sentigen Holding Corp. in a cash transaction at a price of $3.37 per share, or approximately $25.9 million. At close, Sentigen had cash and cash investments on its books valued at approximately $11 million. Sentigen will become a part of Invitrogen's Discovery Sciences business based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Sentigen's proprietary Tango™ Assay System bolsters Invitrogen's leading position in assay development by providing a novel approach to screen G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) and other key drug target classes, as well as providing a methodology to convert live cell assays into convenient, ready-to-use products. Sentigen's Assay Ready Cells™ technology is designed to improve the quality and consistency of cellular assays used in drug screening and reduce the need of customers to invest in costly cell culture infrastructure to support cell-based drug discovery.

Invitrogen does not expect this acquisition to have a material affect on its financials in fiscal year 2006.

For more information on Invitrogen's complete portfolio of GPCR biology products and services, please visit www.invitrogen.com/gpcr

IBM Posts Double-Digit Revenue Growth in External Disk Storage Systems, Outpacing Overall Marketplace, According to Leading Research Firm

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker shows IBM's (NYSE: IBM) external disk storage revenue growing significantly faster than the overall storage marketplace for third quarter 2006, growing revenue 14.3 percent year-to-year, compared to the overall external disk storage marketplace, which grew at 9.9 percent [1]. IBM increased its revenue share year-over-year, and according to IDC, IBM grew revenue faster than Dell, Hitachi, and HP, all of which lost revenue share.

IBM's results were highlighted by strong growth in regions throughout the world, led by Asia Pacific regions, excluding Japan, where IBM's 52% year-over-year gains were the highest for any disk storage systems vendor, moving IBM from third to first in those regions overall. That growth also moved IBM ahead of HP and EMC for revenue share, as IBM gained 6 points of share in those regions. IBM also posted strong growth in Europe, making it the fastest growing of the three top vendors in Europe. IBM is also the number-one external storage vendor in Latin America with a 31.2% revenue share.

"IBM has consistently outpaced the overall growth of the storage market by delivering products and solutions that help our clients solve their toughest storage challenges and help them manage their information on demand needs," said Kristie Bell, vice president, System Storage. "IBM's momentum is driven not just by disk storage, but by delivering the industry's widest portfolio of hardware, software and tape storage offerings, including the DS8000 Turbo, the IBM System Storage TS1120, the world's first tape encryption drive; and SAN Volume Controller, the leading storage virtualization product."

IBM continues to expand its presence with the introduction of new storage products and solutions. In November, IBM extended its relationship with Network Appliance (NetApp) by introducing a new unified storage system, the N5600, as well as expanded virtualization interoperability and database backup software. Earlier in the quarter, IBM announced an expansion of its enterprise line of disk arrays, including the introduction of a new flexible choice warranty option, while also adding new models to its enterprise tape portfolio that includes support for the world's first 700 GB physical capacity linear tape media.

About Information on Demand

The desire by businesses to access, manage, deliver, secure and store information more efficiently is driving rapid change in the IT marketplace. Traditional low-tech, hardware-only approaches by proprietary vendors are meeting with resistance as companies grappling with new government mandates and business demands strive to capture and integrate information in a more seamless, real-time fashion across the enterprise. IBM's information on demand approach combines deep business insight with open standards, advanced storage systems, and sophisticated software for information, security and IT system management to create cost effective and flexible information infrastructures. Regardless of industry, IBM helps companies transform data into insight to enable information on demand.

About IBM

For more information about IBM and IBM storage, visit http://www.ibm.com/storage

[1] Source: IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker Q3 2006

IBM Expands Latin American Grid Computing Initiative

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Florida Atlantic University has become the tenth member of the IBM-led Latin American Grid (LA Grid), an effort to create professional IT opportunities for the Hispanic community and to advance research in areas such as life sciences, weather modeling and prediction.

LA Grid, a collection of computing resources in North America, Latin America and Spain woven together to act as one massive supercomputer, has become one of the world's largest university grid initiatives. LA Grid joins universities in several countries and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center to provide computational computing power to researchers and students, advance research initiatives for both the group and the individual university members and to foster greater collaboration on social research.

While joint research programs in hurricane mitigation, life sciences and healthcare are the priority for LA Grid, member universities can also access the joint supercomputing resources for independent research. FAU, for example, plans to conduct research on the human genome, bioinformatics mapping, computational physics, integrated computation and communications, video processing, computer simulation and information security.

"We are very excited to be a part of the LA Grid initiative and look forward to collaborating with IBM and our partners," said Dr. Larry F. Lemanski, FAU's vice president for research. "FAU was selected because of our advanced research, Hispanic technical professional talent, and executive commitment to fulfill the vision of LA Grid."

Talent development is a major goal for LA Grid members. Studies, like a May 2006 Taulbee survey done for Computer Research News, have found there are very few Hispanic students graduating college with IT degrees. As part of their commitment to the grid, member universities provide students with hands-on access to research projects and IBM-sponsored programs that provide internships and mentoring to students.

"IBM is investing talent, technology and resources for this initiative to make it a catalyst to build the next generation of technology talent across the U.S. and Latin America," said Pete Martinez, vice president, IBM Consulting Services. "The strong partnership between FAU and other academic institutions will play an important role in creating jobs, driving innovative technology into the marketplace and stimulating Florida's economy."

IBM's first priority for LA Grid is to extend research in areas facing the United States, Latin America and the world like hurricane mitigation and disease research but the company is also hoping the grid will help encourage Hispanic students to pursue careers in computer technology and engineering. Since LA Grid's inception last December, IBM has already given over 30 internships to students at LA Grid member universities. As the level of student involvement in the grid increases, IBM will offer additional development programs like one-on-one mentorships and, in some cases, full-time employment to students working on the grid as well.

By joining LA Grid, FAU will contribute research scientists and the university's supercomputer based on IBM BladeCenter Systems from the university's College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Grid computing links heterogeneous computing resources, often in multiple locations, to allow numerous resources to work and act as one. Just as an Internet user views a unified instance of content via the Web, a grid user essentially sees a single, large virtual computer. By doing so, grids allow organizations to optimize computing and data resources, pool them for large capacity workloads, and share them across networks.

FAU will formally begin its work on the grid this month. Current LA Grid participants include Florida International University, the University of Miami, the University of North Florida and the University of Puerto Rico, Monterrey Tech (Mexico) as well as the Universidad de la Plata (Argentina) and Instituto Universitario Aeronautico (Mexico). Additional grid members providing computing power and resources include the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (Spain) and IBM South Florida.

With FAU joining the grid, LA Grid will add another 150 servers to the grid and will have 1,500 available member processors for shared use. IBM's goal is to see LA Grid grow to include as many as 30 universities and 10,000 member processors by 2010.

FAU, nationally recognized for its ethnic diversity, has a student population that is 17 percent African-American, 16 percent Hispanic, four percent international and five percent Asian.

ABOUT LA GRID
To learn more about LA Grid, go to www.lagrid.fiu.edu

ABOUT IBM
To learn more about IBM, go to www.ibm.com. To learn more about IBM Grid, go to www.ibm.com/grid

ABOUT FAU
To learn more about Florida Atlantic University, go to www.fau.edu

YHOO: Yahoo! News to Offer BBC News Video

Yahoo! News today began offering BBC News video on its site, through a new agreement with ABC News. Yahoo! News users now have access to approximately 30 video clips of BBC News video each day, including a wide array of videos in the categories of top stories, breaking news, U.S. and world news, sports, business, politics, technology, health and entertainment. The distribution agreement was made with ABC News, which maintains exclusive representation for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for distribution of BBC News on demand broadband and wireless content in North America.

"We are pleased to bring the renowned journalism of the BBC to Yahoo! News, a leading online news service that reaches millions across the world," said Richard Sambrook, director of the BBC's Global News division. "The demand for BBC content in the United States is growing all the time and we believe our expansion on new digital platforms is critically important to helping us meet that demand."

In January 2006, ABC News announced an agreement to become the exclusive representative for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for distribution of BBC News on demand broadband and wireless content in North America. This marks the first time a U.S. news network has joined an international news organization to leverage content offerings, and expands an established relationship between ABC News and the BBC that began in 1994.

"ABC News is committed to expanding the BBC's presence in broadband in the North American market," said Bernard Gershon, senior vice president and general manager, ABC News Digital Media Group. "This is a strong first step that joins the esteemed journalism of the BBC with the innovation of Yahoo News in effort to reach consumers anytime and anywhere."

BBC joins dozens of other leading news broadcasters and publishers on Yahoo! News, including ABC News. All of the video will be available for free to Yahoo! users, and will be advertising-supported.

"The BBC has established itself as an unparalleled global news-gathering organization, and its content will be a tremendous complement to the world class news already available on our site," said Scott Moore, head of news and information, Yahoo! Media Group. "The BBC has a cool factor with younger audiences, a natural fit for Yahoo! News users who are generally younger than audiences at other news organizations."

ABOUT ABC NEWS

With an average television and radio audience of more than 208 million people in a given month, ABC News far surpasses the competition. More than 2,300 affiliate stations broadcast ABC News Radio's global news coverage. ABC News Now, including the 24-hour linear channel and a wide range of video-on-demand programming from all ABC News broadcasts, is currently available to over 27 million Internet users. David Westin was named president of ABC News in March 1997. Bernard Gershon is senior vice president and general manager of the ABC News Digital Media Group, which also includes ABCNEWS.com, ABC News Now, ABC News International, ABC News Productions, and ABC News VideoSource.

ABOUT THE DISNEY-ABC TELEVISION GROUP

Disney-ABC Television Group is home to all of The Walt Disney Company's worldwide entertainment and news television properties. The Group includes the ABC Television Network, Disney Channel's worldwide portfolio of kids' channels, ABC Family and SOAPnet; as well as television production and syndication divisions Touchstone Television, Walt Disney Television Animation, Buena Vista Worldwide Television and Walt Disney Television International. Disney-ABC Television Group also manages the Radio Disney Network in addition to the Company's equity interest in Lifetime Entertainment Services and A&E Television Networks.

ABOUT THE BBC

The BBC is world's biggest broadcast news organization with more journalists in more countries than any other broadcaster. Its international commercial television news channel, BBC World News, which is broadcast in English, is available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, reaches 274 million households and has a weekly audience of around 65 million. Its international radio arm, BBC World Service, broadcasts in 33 languages. BBCnews.com delivers news and information to over 20 million users worldwide. Richard Sambrook is director of the BBC's Global News Division with responsibility for all of the BBC's international services on television, radio and online. The deal was negotiated by BBC Worldwide Ltd on behalf of BBC News.

ABOUT YAHOO NEWS

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IBM Achieves Major "Linux on POWER" Milestone

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the delivery of the 2,500th Linux application available for POWER -- extending the flexibility of one of the world's most pervasive processor architectures. The application, Sybase Unwired Accelerator, quickly and securely extends corporate applications to mobile environments.

The number of tested, native applications available for the Linux on POWER platform has grown more than 200 percent in the last two years, marking it as a fast-developing new IT ecosystem.(1) The availability of business-critical applications and building blocks such as Sybase Unwired Accelerator and IBM WebSphere Business Services Fabric demonstrates that businesses can increasingly look to powerful, reliable 64-bit Linux systems such as IBM System p servers running the Linux operating system for the applications that run their core functions.

Addressing demand from mid-sized customers to improve business flexibility, employee productivity and asset security, IBM also announced its newest Express Advantage offerings running on the POWER architecture that now support the Linux operating system.

Linux on POWER speeds consolidation

By combining the flexibility and cost-savings of Linux with the scalability and robustness of the POWER platform, customers across industries are integrating their environments using Linux on POWER as a means to reduce costs and consolidate workloads. The unique architecture of Linux on POWER is helping companies consolidate new Linux and open source applications to meet the complex computing needs of today.

"A booming customer demand to cut costs and consolidate workloads has spawned a growing ecosystem of application vendors supporting the IBM Linux on POWER platform," said Scott Handy, vice president, Worldwide Linux and Open Source. "The world's fastest growing operating system offers a secure, reliable and high performing platform for customers and Independent Software Vendors to grow revenue and expand into new markets."

The rapid expansion of the Linux on POWER ecosystem underscores IBM's commitment to accelerate the growth of Linux solutions, offering clients unparalleled technologies to address today's most complex business and scientific challenges. IBM POWER5 processor-based systems, which include System p, System i and BladeCenter JS21servers, have been tuned for Linux, offering features specifically designed for critical computing in the areas of RAS, performance, scalability, and virtualization, at surprisingly affordable prices.

This year, IBM and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) have brought 372 new applications for Linux on POWER to the System i environment through the System i Initiative for Innovation program launched in 2005; as well as 670 applications for Linux on POWER to the System p environment, beefing up System p's portfolio of business applications.

With IBM Linux on POWER, clients benefit from a system platform that is specifically tuned to help dramatically improve utilization rates and systems management and help achieve improved computing performance. ISVs, open source and enterprise developers, as well as systems integrators and resellers are also realizing business value from the Linux on POWER platforms.

Sybase Unwired Accelerator

Sybase has been working with IBM during the last two years and has had strong success in delivering leading edge data management and business intelligence solutions. Sybase will now be offering mobility solutions on the Linux on Power systems with the announcement of Sybase Unwired Accelerator. This landmark 2500th application enables professionals using mobile devices to make better decisions and improve productivity through real-time access to ERP, Business Intelligence and other enterprise applications.

"Our customers are amazed at the speed we can take their enterprise data and processes to their mobile devices, and it is a great product for us because it supports nearly every mobile device," said Tom Gaster, president of Decision Systems Inc., a leader in Mobile Business Intelligence solutions using Sybase's Unwired Accelerator. "This announcement will increase the choices for our customers who want to take advantage of the power and scalability of the IBM System p."

"Sybase has been very successful with its data management and business intelligence solutions and we are extremely pleased that Sybase Unwired Accelerator is the 2500th application for the Linux on System p platform," said David Jacobson, senior director, product marketing, Sybase, Inc. "The pairing of Sybase Unwired Accelerator solution with the Linux on System p platform enables our customers to successfully realize their vision for an unwired enterprise."

The Growing Ecosystem

Business Partners and ISVs have been key to the expansion of Linux on POWER offerings. Hundreds of new Linux-based ISV solutions have emerged as a result of an IBM multi-pronged program approach to deliver compelling solutions to both large and small to mid-sized businesses. In addition to the milestone 2,500th application, some of the latest additions to the ever growing ecosystem include:

IBM WebSphere Business Services Fabric

IBM WebSphere Business Services Fabric helps bring mission-critical, industry-specific applications to Linux on System p servers as part of a service oriented architecture. The WebSphere Business Services Fabric will initially target healthcare and insurance companies looking to streamline and automate core business processes and transactions with providers, members, employers, financial institutions and other industry participants while extending the life of heritage IT investments.

IBM WebSphere Business Services Fabric software helps accelerate the development and deployment of business services that business users need to respond quickly to market and competitive pressures. It provides hundreds of industry-specific, pre-built, SOA standards-based accelerators, tools and frameworks. IBM WebSphere Business Services Fabric offerings help solve business problems that are specific to a given industry such as HIPAA compliance in healthcare and ACORD in the insurance industry.

DCSnet

DCS Automotive France, a Reynolds and Reynolds' subsidiary, built DCSnet for the French market. DCS Automotive's industry-specific, mission-critical application, DCSnet, manages and reports on every area of the dealers' business -- from sales to aftersales. DCSnet is a powerful yet easy-to-use solution which provides customers with the ability to maximize profitability, minimize inefficiencies and deliver customer care to an exceptional standard by ensuring that everyone in a dealership is working from the same information. The Reynolds and Reynolds company is one of the world's leading suppliers of IT solutions and services to the automotive retail sector.

Centric CRM

Centric CRM is a robust, open-source, J2EE Java-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution architected for reliability, scalability and ease of use and maintenance. Centric CRM allows organizations to be world class in the methods by which they interact with customers and other stakeholders while leveraging the emerging world of open technologies. The Centric CRM reference architecture is tuned to run on IBM System p servers, IBM open source middleware and Novell's open technology platform. The software stack includes IBM WebSphere Application Server Community Edition and IBM DB2 Express-C running on SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell.

IBM Express Advantage Offerings Support Linux on POWER:

With today's news, IBM announces its newest Express Advantage offerings for mid-sized businesses running on the POWER architecture support the Linux operating system.

IBM System p5 Solution Edition Express for mySAP ERP provides a high-performing cost-effective IT infrastructure to run the SAP®, integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software application, mySAP ERP. Additionally, the IBM System i IP Telephony solution is the first-ever IP telephony solution designed to run on a single, easy-to-manage system along with a customer's business applications.


1. http://www.ibm.com/systems/linux/power/apps/all.html

VRSN: Department of Commerce Approves .Com Agreement

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure for the networked world, today announced that it received notification from the Department of Commerce that it approved the .com agreement submitted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Since 1999, VeriSign has operated the .com registry with 100 percent uptime even as Internet traffic has grown dramatically. Today, VeriSign’s primary computers for .com can handle 10,000 times the DNS query volume they could in 2000.

“The registry operator framework ICANN has adopted and embodied in the .com agreement strengthens the security and stability of the Internet relied on by hundreds of millions of people around the globe,” said Mark McLaughlin, Executive Vice President and General Manager, VeriSign Information Services. “This framework holds operators accountable for their performance, promotes the continued investment of tens of millions of dollars in the infrastructure and provides important safeguards for consumers.”

VRSN: 100 Million VeriSign Secured™ Seals Viewed on Cyber Monday

VeriSign, Inc., (NASDAQ: VRSN), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure for the networked world, announced today that over 100 million instances of the VeriSign Secured Seal were viewed online by Web site visitors on Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year. The VeriSign Secured Seal – including the widely recognized “VeriSign check mark” –appears on Web pages secured by VeriSign SSL Certificates and is recognized worldwide as a symbol of trust and online security.

“As the most recognized sign of trust on the Internet, VeriSign has continually educated consumers about the VeriSign brand, creating consumer preference for sites that display the VeriSign Secured Seal,” said Chris Babel, vice president and general manager, SSL, for VeriSign. “By displaying our seal, online retailers are reassuring consumers that they are conducting business on a safe and secure Web site, which is a must for any company that wants to lower shopping cart abandonment and increase sales.”

The VeriSign Secured Seal appears on over 65,000 Web sites in 125 countries and includes leaders in every major online industry such as eBay, PayPal, Best Buy, Staples, OfficeMax, Wal-Mart, Orbitz, Citibank, HSBC, E*TRADE, Schwab, and H&R Block.

AMD Receives Subpoena From U.S. Department of Justice Regarding Investigation of Graphics Processing Market

AMD (NYSE:AMD) has received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division in connection with the DOJ’s investigation into potential antitrust violations related to graphics processors and cards. AMD entered the graphics processor business following the company’s acquisition of ATI Technologies, Inc. last month (October 25, 2006). The DOJ has not made any specific allegations against AMD or ATI. AMD intends to cooperate with the investigation.