LHS customers in Middle East region to benefit from local expertise

LHS has announced the opening of a new office in Dubai to serve its growing customer base in the region of Middle East and Africa. The new office will be headed up by Stefan Sieber, division officer for Middle East and Asia, LHS, and will complement LHS’ main technology centre in Frankfurt, Germany.

Customers will benefit from expertise placed locally having specialised knowledge of the market. The office opening was welcomed by existing operators from the Middle East with around twenty customers from Jordan, UAE, Yemen and India attending the opening of the Dubai office at LHS’ first customer convention in this region. During the event, LHS unveiled its latest vision and product strategy for the region that focused on how market growth in the Middle East has increased competition for operators and the need for them to launch new services continuously if they are to stay ahead of the competition.   

“We decided to open an office in Dubai as we are seeing strong growth in this region and we are committed to providing our customers local support,” commented Stefan Sieber, division officer for Middle East and Asia, LHS. “With increasing competition in the market, it’s important for our customers in the Middle Eastern regions to have direct access to our local technical staff. A local office will enable operators to get their supporting systems for new service roll outs in place more quickly so they can respond immediately to end-user demand and stay ahead of the curve. Having a local office will remove cultural barriers and also means that our staff are already familiar with the market so projects can get off to a much quicker start. LHS is committed to customer service and it wants its staff to be on hand to respond to short notice on-site support requests.”

The new office will concentrate on customer centric services guided by local account management providing solution architecture, project- and on-site support services as well as first level maintenance. Sales forces are also aligned in this region. 

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Broadcom, Ericsson, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Texas Instruments have each filed Complaints to the European Commission requesting that it investigate and stop Qualcomm's anti-competitive conduct in the licensing of essential patents for 3G mobile technology.

The companies state that Qualcomm is violating EU competition law and failing to meet the commitments Qualcomm made to international standard bodies around the world that it would license its technology on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.  Absent these commitments, the WCDMA 3G standard would not have been adopted. Qualcomm is infringing these rules by:

- trying to exclude competing manufacturers of chipsets for mobile phones from the market and preventing others from entering. To this end, Qualcomm has committed a number of abuses, ranging from the refusal to licence essential patents to potential chipset competitors on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms to offering lower royalty rates to handset customers who buy chipsets exclusively from Qualcomm.

- charging royalties for its WCDMA essential patents that are excessive and disproportionate; in particular by imposing the same royalty rate on WCDMA 3G handsets as it does for CDMA2000 3G handsets despite the fact that Qualcomm has contributed far less technology to the WCDMA 3G standard than it has to the CDMA2000 standard.

The companies believe that Qualcomm's anti-competitive behaviour has harmful effects for the mobile telecommunications sector in Europe, as well as elsewhere, because carriers and consumers are facing higher prices and fewer choices.

Kasim Alfalahi, Vice President IPR Licensing and Patent Development at Ericsson said: "Qualcomm committed to standard setting organizations that it would license its technology on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. In spite of this and in breach of competition law, Qualcomm is charging excessive and disproportionate royalties. This means ultimately that consumers may have to pay more than they should for their mobile handsets."

Global Voice Group Limited (GV), the Irish founded and Singapore listed owner and operator of fibre networks across Europe, has announced the launch of a new disaster recovery (DR) solution, Active DR - targeted at customers in its Irish, Dutch and German markets. Active DR will facilitate the immediate recovery of critical data in a disaster scenario, in addition to allowing businesses to harness the otherwise idle processing power of their DR sites.

Active DR is a tailored solution aimed at eliminating the difficulties and inefficiencies traditionally associated with remotely hosted disaster recovery solutions, including the time intensive restoration process involved in restoring data from tape and the financial implications of an expensive contingency-use-only IT solution.

As part of the solution data at the primary site is replicated in real time to the DR site. In case of a failure at the primary site, critical software can be instantly booted up at the Active DR site. The information exchange takes place via exclusive, dedicated strands of fibre provided by Global Voice and enables a rapid restoration of data.

“Of course everybody hopes that disaster will never strike one’s company, but sometimes natural disasters like a fire or flood strike. This often means not only the loss of the IT infrastructure, but of the data as well. Even if all the information has been stored off-site on tapes, it will take days or even weeks until the company is up and running again – an unacceptable risk”, said Noel Meaney, Chief Executive Officer of Global Voice Group.

Active DR constantly monitors the data involved; with potential data corruption identified and repaired immediately. To heighten security, information is encrypted ‘on the fly’ as well as ‘at rest’. All data is transferred via Global Voice’s own network, with companies having exclusive use of their own strands of fibre, with no external points of access.

The solution will ultimately allow businesses to realise the additional value locked away in equipment & facilities that may never be used, by utilising the IT infrastructure at the DR site to actively contribute to the processing requirements of customer applications at their primary site. It also enables companies to achieve Business Continuity by having the additional processing power located in a DR site that can run applications in the event of a disaster.  Customers are then in a position to achieve BC objectives while significantly reducing Capital and Operational expenditure.

Customers using GV’s Active DR solution will be able to access restored data via dedicated fibre solutions to secondary locations or by internet based VPN – allowing them to operate from any location that has internet connectivity. Staff will even have access to the data from home via laptops.

The solution will be immediately available to GV’s customers in Germany and the Netherlands and to Irish businesses in early 2006.

Worldwide annual shipments of smartphones are expected to triple over the next five years to reach sales of 153.5 million by 2010 according to new research from Informa Telecoms & Media. The second edition of 'Mobile Application Platforms and Operating Systems' has found this will only form 17.4% of all handsets sold that year, an increase on the 7% share for 2005 figures.

According to Malik Saadi, the author of the report "In Europe, low-end smartphones are already popular through devices such as the SPV and the Motorola MPX220. High-end smartphone shipments were relatively slow on the uptake, mainly owing to the European market being viewed as one which is not heavily entrenched in PDAs, this contrasts starkly with the North American market."

European sales of smartphones currently account for 41% of this market in 2005 - with 42.3 million units shipped in the year, though market share is forecast to drop to only 36% in 2010 (147.3 million units will be shipped), Europe will retain the lead in market share, though Asia-Pacific is expected to consolidate the second spot over the period, with expectations that it will overtake the European market sometime soon after 2010. Asia-Pacific will see its share move from 28% in 2005, to 31.5% by 2010.

Ericsson and Ukrainian national mobile operator Astelit have signed a GSM expansion contract valued at USD 45 million. When completed, the expansion will result in greater geographic coverage and network capacity for the operator.

According to the contract, Ericsson will provide Astelit with a complete turnkey solution for GSM/GPRS core and radio network that includes supply of switching, radio network and transmission equipment as well as professional services, implementation and training.

The contract also provides for integration of 230 new RBSs as well as introduction of MINI-LINK microwave transmission into the existing GSM system to boost the coverage throughout Ukraine.

The expansion of the network will cover cities and regions in Ukraine - Kyiv, Odessa, Nikolayev, Chernigov, Cherkassy, Khmelnitskiy, Vinnitsa, Zhitomir - and also providing mobile communications to road sites.

Safak Sahin, Vice President, Ericsson Eastern Europe and Central Asia, says: "We have built up an excellent business relationship with Astelit, a company that is committed to the attainment of world-class standards and a focus on providing top quality communications services for Ukrainians. Ericsson considers this expansion contract to be the next important step towards strengthening our successful cooperation with Astelit and supporting the operator in its ambitious plans to become a major player on the Ukrainian telecom market."

Ahmet Tanyu, CEO, Astelit, says: "We have worked with Ericsson since our launch and are proud of the kind of cooperation that we have achieved. It's given us the fastest network development in the region. I am sure that thanks to our new joint project we will provide Ukrainian Astelit/life:) users with the highest quality communications."

Patapsco Communications, the telecoms engineering specialist, has supplied telecoms carrier, I-Carrier, with 7 x Liberator-S multiplexer units for its new VoIP VPN network in Turkey.

Netherlands-based I-Carrier specialises in providing telecom networks, especially VoIP, in countries that have recently liberalised their telecommunications infrastructure.  This includes: Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, Iran, Morocco and Pakistan.
 
I-Carrier is currently installing a network throughout Turkey and required a system to convert BRI circuits to PRI/E1. The Liberator units selected each provide one PRI and 16 x BRI ports.
 
Explained Roy Willemsen, Chief Technical Officer at I-Carrier, “When installing our new VoIP networks, we need to ensure that the PoPs (Points of Presence) have the right access speed.  This was a particular problem in Turkey as the local PTT does not provide E1 or PRI circuits.  Our VoIP gateway requires an E1 connection, so we needed a multiplexer to convert the available BRI channels into a useable circuit.”
 
I-Carrier initially did a web search to identify suitable products.  The only system available that met their needs in terms of quality, performance and price was the new Liberator-S unit from Patapsco.
 
“Initially, we ordered one unit for evaluation purposes,” continued Roy, “and after full testing we confirmed that it could fulfil all our requirements.  We then purchased a further 6 units for use in Turkey and other countries where necessary.
 
“The Liberator-S has been a total success.  It provides a totally reliable form of conversion between BRI and PRI and will enable us to implement our new VoIP network throughout Turkey.
 
“We have been so impressed with Patapsco’s service and products that we actually recommended them to another company that specialises in GSM converters.  If we need more units in future, we would certainly go directly to Patapsco,” he concluded.
 
Launched in April 2005, Liberator-S is a cost-effective ISDN multiplexer that offers the functionality of a converter, switch, emulator and drop and insert mux.  It is ideally suited to corporates wishing to migrate their telecoms networks to VoIP, or for setting up low cost mobile gateways.
 
Carriers can use Liberator-S to deliver multiple PRI, BRI and Fractional E1 to customer sites using a single low cost circuit, or for conversion between channels in countries where PRI or BRI are not generally available.
 

Intelligent modems ensure interoperability for existing installation base

Spain’s Administrator of Railway Infrastructure (known by its Spanish acronym ADIF) will deploy SHDSL modems from RAD Data Communications to ensure the interoperability that is required to connect remote sites and offices over existing copper infrastructure to its broadband network.

By deploying RAD’s ASMi-52 intelligent SHDSL modems, ADIF will be able to proceed with its network improvement plan that will allow it to be ready to rollout the types of new services that will be required in the future. Within one year ADIF will have connected approximately 150 links using the ASMi-52. “Interoperability with our existing installed base was one of our primary concerns,” explained Carlos Rincon, ADIF’s Telematics and Telephony Operations Manager. “The ASMi-52’s successful integration has proven that we made the right choice.”

ADIF’s telecommunications infrastructure is based on a nationwide fiber optics network that serves RENFE, Spain’s national railway, and its railway stations, control points, signaling, data, and telephony, while also providing dark fiber services for the country’s main telecom operators.

“The ASMi-52’s flexibility and cost-effectiveness were the keys to providing a very effective solution to allow ADIF to bring the benefits of its high speed fiber optic infrastructure to remote sites over copper,” noted Javier Alonso, Product Manager at Dominion Ingeniería, the RAD distributor that proposed the solution to ADIF.

Flexible and cost-effective access solution


The ASMi-52 modem uses SHDSL technology, complying with the ITU and ETSI standards, to extend the range of digital interfaces. It offers extended distances and variable data rates up to 2.3 Mbps over 2-wire and 4.6 Mbps over 4-wire. The modem uses TC PAM-16 line coding, equalization, adaptive filtering and echo cancellation to compensate for line impairments, bridge taps and mixed cabling. This provides high immunity to background noise and enables transmission of multiple SHDSL lines on the same physical cable.

“RAD offers a wide range of communication solutions for transportation networks in general and the railway industry in particular,” stated Jose Aronson, Regional Sales Manager for Iberia at RAD Data Communications. “Our diverse and innovative standards-based products provide connectivity for all the mission-critical applications and services required in today’s railway environment.”

Softswitch for Voice over Cable network solution passes two qualification tests

The Surpass hiQ 8000 Softswitch, which is at the heart of the Siemens Surpass Voice over Cable network solution, has concluded two successful rounds of testing, achieving full qualification status in Certification Wave 19 of Euro-PacketCable and Certification Wave 37 of PacketCableT.

PacketCable is a specification developed by CableLabs to define a common platform to deliver advanced real-time communication services. Euro-PacketCable is the most important standard for Voice over IP (VoIP) over cable in Europe, developed by European cable operators and tComLabs and based on PacketCable.

To achieve the important PacketCable qualification 1.1, the hiQ 8000 Softswitch successfully completed an extensive series of interoperability tests as a Call Management Server (CMS) and Media Gateway Controller (MGC). The combined CMS and MGC functionalities act as a softswitch in the PacketCable architecture and perform many critical functions necessary for voice communications, including connection management, implementation of subscriber features, interworking with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and call accounting.

Built on top of the industry's DOCSIS® 1.1 (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) cable modem infrastructure, PacketCable networks use IP technology as the basis for a multimedia architecture. A DOCSIS 1.1 network with PacketCable extensions enables cable operators to deliver data and voice traffic efficiently and economically using a single high-speed, QoS-enabled (quality-of-service) broadband architecture.

The European certification testing organization tComLabs evaluated Surpass hiQ 8000 during its Certification Wave 19. Euro-PacketCable standardizes the Voice over IP services and the interfaces to the PSTN. The softswitch was tested in conjunction with multimedia terminal adapters (MTA) and cable modem termination systems (CMTS) from a number of vendors.

Siemens Communications provides cable network operators with complete end-to-end solutions covering every aspect of cable networks from a single source: building or upgrading these networks as well as introducing services such as voice, fast internet access or video. The Voice over Cable solution from Siemens is already being used successfully by a number of cable network operators, including Cablevision, Shaw in North America and com hem, Casema and Essent in Europe.