Today's Top Stories Integra Telecom on Wednesday unveiled a new wireless-based VPN backup service, signaling its move to enhance its product set with a business continuity and disaster recovery option for its growing business customer base. Developed in partnership with Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), the new service from Integra will offer the VPN Wireless Backup service to customers on a nationwide basis. Given the increasingly mobile nature of businesses, the nationwide capabilities should resonate well with traveling executive or sales representative making various client visits. Available to both Integra's SMB and growing base of medium and large businesses, the Wireless Backup service will ensure that customers can continue to get access to their applications if a wireline circuit goes down, the company said. Anytime a wireline circuit goes down, it will immediately failover to the Verizon Wireless network connection. Any of Integra's T1, bonded copper and fiber customers can leverage the Wireless Backup service as an alternative lower-cost solution to the traditional method maintaining a wireline-based redundant connection into their building. When a network disruption does occur, the Wireless Backup service leverages the existing customer premise equipment (CPE) to switch traffic from the wireline network to the wireless network automatically. Such a concept will not be lost on Integra's growing SMB and larger business customer base that includes a mix of retail chains, multi-location enterprises and multi-campus hospitals. "With our VPN Wireless Backup, Integra customers have a more complete range of reliable options to keep their businesses connected and secure," said Joe Harding, senior vice president of marketing at Integra. Keeping to the theme of business continuity, the Wireless Backup offers three other key features: Security with IPsec allows encrypted data to go through a wireless connection; existing Cloud Firewall Service customers using a VPN solution can get protection from malware threats; and Access Control Lists that allow customers to prioritize network traffic to ensure critical applications can continue running during an outage. While Integra is certainly not alone in offering a wireless backup solution (other CLECs like XO and TelePacific already provide similar services), having a wireless backup service gives the CLEC another weapon to gain the trust of larger business customers that expect constant service uptime. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Integra Telecom brings fiber services to Oregon Health Network
Integra Telecom to provide Ethernet services to Washington state
Integra grows on-net fiber presence to over 2,000 buildings
Integra Telecom expands the reach of its Ethernet over Copper network
Integra Telecom appoints telecom veteran Ken Smith EVP of sales Read more about: Integra Telecom
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SingTel on Wednesday deployed Ciena's (Nasdaq: CIEN) 5410 RSS platform and software to augment its global ConnectPlus IPLC network. The new equipment will be used to link SingTel's global points-of-presence for aggregation, grooming and intelligent switching of SONET/SDH, OTN and leased line and Ethernet traffic in a mesh network configuration. This initiative also enables the service provider to deliver tiered service levels in addition to differentiated service offerings such as Optical Virtual Private Networks (O-VPN). No less important is the software component of this deployment. By leveraging Ciena's OneConnect Intelligent Control Plane technology, SingTel can quickly detect network faults and automatically switch data traffic to back-up routes. Ciena said traffic rerouting can be done in 50 milliseconds. Having this fast recovery provides an obvious benefit to SingTel's business customers, as they can continue using the applications that are critical to operating their business. From an industry-wide perspective, SingTel's deployment of the 5410 and software represents the growing trend of Tier 1 service providers seeing value in control plane in their optical networks. They join service providers like Verizon (NYSE: VZ), an early Packet Optical Transport System (P-OTS) system advocate, for its long-haul and metro networks. For more:
- see the release Special report: Looking Beyond 100G
Related articles:
Standards groups look at what lies beyond 100G
SK Broadband selects Alcatel-Lucent for its 100G optical transition
Spread Networks adds 100G on its Chicago-to-New York route
China Telecom selects Alcatel-Lucent for its OTN/WDM transition Read more about: Ciena
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Accedo on Wednesday struck a deal to purchase New York City-based TV app solutions provider CloverLeaf Digital. CloverLeaf has made a name for itself providing its wares to both telco IPTV and cable operators alike with over 50 customers to date. By acquiring CloverLeaf, Accedo will gain a suite of new TV application provisioning solutions that it will integrate into its own existing applications portfolio. The Stockholm-based company can then extend these capabilities to its growing base of traditional Tier 1 service providers, media companies and TV platform providers, including BT (NYSE: BT), Telstra (ASX: TLS.AX), CNBC, Fox, LG (NYSE: LGL) and Roku. This acquisition is well timed with the growing trend of consumers leveraging their broadband connections to view over the top video content from providers like Hulu and Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) on their television screens. "Over the past 24 months, we have seen an accelerating pace of innovation within the TV industry from the proliferation of online connectivity to the TV set. We are just starting to see a transformation of the ecosystem for TV," said Michael Lantz, CEO, Accedo, in a press release announcing the acquisition. "By acquiring CloverLeaf, Accedo strengthens our unique position to innovate and provide attractive, next generation applications in this unprecedented evolution of the TV industry." In order to not disrupt current operations, CloverLeaf's current team will remain in New York, giving Accedo instant presence in the city. Leading the New York office will be current Managing Partner Lawrence Brickman. Neither company revealed the financial terms of the deal. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Tvinci, Accedo team to help Finnish telecom deliver EpicTV OTT
Research: 2012 is tipping point for multi-screen content consumption
Accedo, Verimatrix partner on OTT play; Fox content coming to Xbox
Accedo partners with Verimatrix on OTT delivery play Read more about: Acquisition, CloverLeaf
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The SIP Forum on Wednesday launched a SIP over IPv6 Task Group to help address deployment and interoperability issues that all members of the telecom and IT industry face in migrating to SIP over IPv6. Already, the group has developed and ratified a charter to identify issues with SIP over IPv6 as well as the impact of dual stack IPv4/IPv6 implementations and dual stack devices on existing SIP networks. Going forward, the forum plans to ask other members of the service provider, application developer and vendor communities to participate. Leading the group will be co-chairs John Berg of CableLabs and Andrew Hutton of Siemens Enterprise Communications, who will work with SIP Forum management, including Technical Working Group Director Spencer Dawkins, Chairman of the Board Richard Shockey and Managing Director and President Marc Robins. Overall, the goal of the IPv6 Task Group is centered on helping the growing base of SIP-based network providers, including a bevy of traditional telcos, cable operators and over the top service providers, not only transition to IPv6, but also understand IPv6's co-existence with IPv4. Although the deployment of IPv6 is still nascent, the protocol fits well with SIP in the application layer, which operates as the signaling protocol for handling both VoIP and multimedia applications carried over an IP network. With IPv4 address space expected to run out in the United States by 2013, and by 2014 worldwide, a growing base of service providers and businesses have already enabled IPv6 permanently on their websites. In response, home network vendors that serve both telcos and cable operators have also incorporated IPv6 and dual stack IPv4/IPv6 implementations into their devices to support this transition. In June, the Internet and telecom community held its second annual World IPv6 Launch. According to participants in the second annual event, the amount of IPv6 traffic did increase since the first event was held in 2011. For more:
- see the release Special report: World IPv6 Launch results: What effect did the event have on the Internet? Related articles:
SIP Forum launches SIP trunking interoperability testing initiative
AT&T selects Cisco's CGv6 solution for its IPv6 migration strategy
Cable and fiber broadband CPE grew 2.5% in 2011, says ABI Research Read more about: Sip Forum
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While Tier 1 telcos like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) boast the largest fiber networks in the United States, regional ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers) are doing much of the heavy lifting in getting homes connected to fiber--and they're succeeding, with approximately 9 million U.S. homes directly connected to fiber, according to the FTTH Council Americas. The organization announced its findings at its annual conference in Dallas this week. RVA LLC, which conducted the study for the FTTH Council, surveyed 880 FTTH providers in North America. Most are comparatively small, with fewer than 30,000 subscribers--in fact, 97 percent have less than 10,000 subs. "While large providers such as Verizon in the U.S., Bell (NYSE: BCE) and Bell Aliant (Toronto: BA-UN.TO) in Canada and Telmex in Mexico continue to be very important, small providers such as rural telcos, real estate developers, small competitive providers and even rural electric coops are playing a key role in driving the expansion of fiber to the home," said Michael Render, president of RVA LLC, in an FTTH Council release. Adding to the benefits that fiber connectivity brings to their customers is the fact that more than 500,000 households on the continent are getting speeds of at least 100 Mbps. The Council noted that "tested throughput speeds among survey respondents found FTTH subscribers beginning to pull away from other access technologies in both download and upload capacity." Fiber is beginning to take hold in Latin America as well, with 4.2 million homes passed in the region and 350,000 houses connected. IDATE conducted the regional study for FTTH Council Americas LATAM chapter. Providers in the region prefer FTTH over FTTB (fiber to the building), the study concluded, with GPON (gigabit passive optical networks) used in more than 80 percent of deployments. For more:
- see the release Special Report: Q2 roundup: ILECs wade through legacy-to-IP migration Related articles:
Frontier selects ETI's BSS/OSS software to support its FTTH network
Week in research: Carriers set to spend more on optical; China, Russia dominate GPON spending
GWI leverages ADTRAN to expand residential, business service reach in Maine Read more about: FTTH
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