Today's Top Stories Verizon (NYSE: VZ) on Wednesday unveiled a new cloud-based collaboration and hosted voice service that will deliver collaboration tools typically only available to large enterprises by combining the telco's VoIP solution with Broadsoft's cloud infrastructure. Verizon said its Virtual Communications Express, which features a Web-based console, will enable employees to "command and control how they communicate." Ideal for both single and multisite businesses--retailers, franchise owners and medical offices--the cloud-based offering can be used with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Apps for Business. By incorporating the Google business app into the service, an employee can specify where and how they want to be reached by phone, including the office handset or on their smartphone, by Virtual Communications Express application from the Google Apps Marketplace. This means they will be able to respond to their customers and co-workers with one click from Google's Gmail GChat and Google Calendar, regardless of their location. The only requirement to get the service is that the SMB has to have a Verizon-certified phone and an Internet connection from any service provider. Network administrators can also authorize and manage features through a dedicated online tool. Because the new solution is cloud-based, customers don't need to purchase and manage an on-site PBX. However, the service will offer a host of advanced features such as simultaneous ringing, visual voice mail and call forwarding in addition to traditional PBX features such as enhanced hunt group and call queuing. Already, the new service has gotten the attention of Montage Clothing Inc. in Farmingdale, N.Y., which is participating in a trial of the new service. Nick Graziosi, owner of Montage Clothing Inc., said the "Virtual Communications Express has allowed us to deliver a more professional experience to our customers when they call, and has also made it easier to communicate within our office." With a number of CLECs and, perhaps more importantly, cable MSOs upping their focus on the SMB market, Verizon has the opportunity to use its well-known brand to sell these new capabilities to both existing and new SMB customers that may have left for another service provider. For more:
- see the release Download our eBook: The New Data Center Related articles:
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WSJ: FCC likely to approve Verizon's $3.9B spectrum deal, with conditions Read more about: Verizon
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Zayo on Thursday announced that customers can start purchasing service on its two new low-latency routes, the first from Chicago to Seattle and the second between Seattle and New York/Northern New Jersey. Targeting opportunities in the financial, content and service provider segments, Zayo said its route will provide an alternative low-latency route that they claim is not available with other service providers. The route will deliver connectivity out of Seattle's 2001 W. 6th (Westin Building) to major data centers, carrier hotels and financial exchanges in New York and Northern New Jersey. Zayo is upgrading its wavelength system along this route to support native 100G per wavelength and overall capacity of 8 Terabytes. But this new route is not just about addressing domestic opportunities: Since a number of the Trans-Pacific fiber cables from Asia land in Mukilteo, Wash., right near Seattle, Zayo said its low-latency route could be a way to connect major Asia and U.S. markets. Another opportunity Zayo thinks the new route can serve is data center connectivity. Zayo will extend the low-latency network to various data centers in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Northern Central Oregon and Southern Central Washington. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Zayo opens new low-latency Chicago to Seattle route
Zayo completes purchase of USCarrier
Zayo wraps up integration of AboveNet's network
UPDATED: Zayo wraps up FiberGate acquisition
Zayo adds capacity to its Spokane-to-Portland route Read more about: Zayo
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tw telecom (Nasdaq: TWTC) on Friday began offering its bandwidth-on-demand service, Dynamic Capacity, to local businesses and government agencies in Washington, D.C. With the Dynamic Capacity service, business customers will be able to double or triple their network capacity without any interruption to their service. Customers can also access reports on network performance and conduct troubleshooting on the service provider's MyPortal interface. As an added near-term attraction, any customer that purchases E-Line service with Dynamic Capacity will have the subscription fee waived and receive the CLEC's Enhanced Management service. Outside of Washington, D.C., tw telecom is offering the service in Northern Virginia and most parts of Maryland. Analysts think these features are going to help enterprises as they begin to adopt more cloud-based services. "A significant challenge is how to efficiently manage network bandwidth capacity in response to new Cloud apps or changes in existing applications," said Erin Dunne, Director of Research Services, Vertical Systems Group, in a press release. "tw telecom addresses these needs with its Intelligent Network capabilities." With Ethernet and VPN services being tw telecom's two cash cow services, giving customers the ability to dynamically up their bandwidth to meet traffic spikes for both one-time special events and long-term needs makes the service provider more valuable at a time when they are seeing greater competition from cable and other CLECs trying to gain entry into the larger business market. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
tw telecom expands fiber network into Kansas City area
tw telecom Q2 revenues rise 7.7% on strong Ethernet, IP VPN sales
tw telecom sets stage for network service automation
tw telecom serves up new Ethernet interconnection product
tw telecom Q1 2012 revenue grew 7.9% on Ethernet, IP/VPN sales Read more about: tw telecom
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Telefonica Brazil's Vivo Participacoes unit has begun offering its new IPTV service over its Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network in Sao Paulo. The rollout of the IPTV service comes after the telco conducted what it says was a successful trial in selected homes in the city. In the coming weeks, Vivo plans to conduct a major marketing campaign for the service. Customers will be able to purchase the service, which initially will target the company's FTTH subscriber base, for an introductory price of $36.70 a month. Eligible customers will also be able to access a mix of both traditional standard free TV and pay-per-view channels in addition to social networking sites and interactive applications such as Facebook. And because the new service leverages Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Mediaroom IPTV software, customers can use Multiroom DVR, video-on-demand (both transactional and subscription) and instantaneous channel skipping features. The IPTV service is currently available to potentially 500,000 homes in Sao Paulo, with plans to extend to another 600,000 next year. Vivo asked Anatel, Brazil's telecom regulator, to grant approval of its request for new 'Conditional Access Service (SeaC)' licenses so it can offer the service in other areas besides Sao Paulo. In related news, Vivo's sister company, TVA, is preparing its Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) network, which currently covers 700,000 to 800,000 households, to support IPTV. Telefonica has set a goal to extend IPTV over both its FTTH and HFC networks to 1.5 million homes in Brazil by the middle of 2013. For more:
- TeleGeography has this article Related articles:
Report: Telefonica to relocate Latin America headquarters to Brazil
Brazilian government wants telcos to reduce rates, extend service to lower-income families
Telefonica Brazil to lay off 1,500 as result of Vivo Participacoes deal
Brazil's broadband plan is now present in 692 municipalities
Telefonica-Vivo racks up 1 million users on Brazil's broadband plan Read more about: Telefonica
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A group of chipset vendors developing VDSL2 G.Vector products participated in one of the first interoperability testing events of the ITU-T's G.Vector specifications held in late September at the University of New Hampshire's Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL).  | | A lab station at the UNH-IOL testing center. Tour the lab. (Image source: FierceTelecom) | For existing telcos looking to leverage their existing copper-based networks in order to deliver higher speed broadband services to consumers and businesses, G.Vector can increase subscriber data rates by canceling crosstalk in real-time between VDSL2 enabled wire pairs.
By eliminating the effects of the crosstalk noise between wire pairs, G.Vector equipment made by the likes of vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), ADTRAN (Nasdaq: ADTN) and Calix (NYSE: CALX) can operate at higher bit rates.
Chip vendors participating in the event included Broadcom, Ikanos, Lantiq, Realtek and Triductor. Also participating in the event was Telebyte, which provided test equipment to stimulate the crosstalk of copper networks during the testing. The event was endorsed by BT (NYSE: BT), an advocate of using a mix of hybrid fiber/copper Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) approaches for its next-gen last mile strategy.
"This was the first event in a very important journey and we are looking forward to continued progress as the innovative technology is implemented and scaled for deployment," commented Kevin Foster, head of BT's UK Access Platform Evolution, in a press release.
While this plugfest is encouraging, the majority of the work that DSLAM and broadband network vendors have conducted around vectoring has been largely experimental. Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei said they were able to deliver 300 Mbps and 700 Mbps, respectively, using Phantom Mode DSL technology. Meanwhile, Telekom Austria is leveraging Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) vectoring technology to deliver up to 100 and 50 Mbps speeds at distances of up to 300 meters and 800 meters over their existing copper network. For more:
- see the release Download our eBook: Finding New Gold in Copper Slideshow: Touring the UNH Interoperability Lab Related articles:
VDSL equipment revenue rose 15% in Q2, says Dell'Oro
Genesis Technical says it can deliver 400 Mbps over existing copper
KPN Belgium extends VDSL2 reach via wholesale agreement with Belgacom
BT Openreach to extend FTTC network to 163 new exchanges in 2013
FastWeb, Telecom Italia strike fiber network alliance Read more about: Vdsl2
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Week in research: VoIP and UC future bright; Patent trolls now file 40% of patent lawsuits
SIP trunking migration: Enterprise opportunities and challenges
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