Today's Top Stories
1. Cloud wars: Google and Amazon battle over prices
2. Cisco's acquisition of Cariden latest effort to expand outside shrinking core business
3. Cisco, Microsoft and Avaya named as top UC providers by IT managers
4. Gartner: UCaaS suppliers should provide back-office support to attract large enterprise customers
5. Polycom gets chilly reception in enterprise videoconferencing market Also Noted: Qualcomm
Spotlight On... Liferay teams with VMware on cloud-based content management portal
Looking into the UCC crystal ball; How VoIP has progressed since its infancy and much more... Special Report:
 The worst wireline CEOs of all time
Welcome to our second annual report on the Worst Wireline CEOs of all time. As the second installment in FierceTelecom's annual series, we listened to our readers' comments from last year's list and took them into account. Like other industry segments, including wireless and IT, the wireline industry has had its share of failed leaders. Some of the upper level management who made our list were driven by personal greed to rob their companies' fortunes. Others just lacked the foresight for growth and success. Read more  Follow @FierceEntComm on Twitter!
| This week's sponsor is Kontron. | 
| Webinar: Growth for Network Equipment Providers in challenging economic times
Thursday, December 13, 2pm ET / 11am PT
As compute platforms evolve in core and edge networks, there is still a need to optimize processing hardware and software solutions for end-to-end communications. The webinar will discuss how NEPs can continue to grow revenue in challenging economic times. Register today! |
Sponsor: ADTRAN FierceLive! Webinars > Webinar: RCS Simplified: Home-Grown and Hosting Models Wednesday, November 28, 3 pm GMT / 10 am ET / 7 am PT
> The 1000x challenge: Can the whole be more than sum of its parts? - Wednesday, December 5th - 12pm ET / 9am PT
> Seamless IPv6 Migration: Carrier-grade NAT & Beyond - December 11, 2pm ET / 11am PT
> Growth for Network Equipment Providers in challenging economic times - Thursday, December 13, 2pm ET / 11am PT
> Vectoring Demystified - Tuesday, December 18th, 11am ET / 8am PT Events > Fierce Innovation Awards 2012 Live Announcement of this Year's Winners - Now Available On-Demand Marketplace > Whitepaper: Save 30-50% on Telecom Costs ? Free IntelePeer White Paper Shows How
> The Benefits of Moving from Open Source to WebSphere Application Server
> Shifting Performance Strategies and Solutions for Mobile and Web Experience
> Whitepaper: Protecting Unstructured Data on File Servers, NetApp, EMC and SharePoint
> Whitepaper: BYOD: A Global Perspective
> Research: M-commerce in the UK 2012 | Verdict Channel Reports
> Research: Software: Global Industry Guide
> Research: Enterprise Applications Market Forecast in the US to 2014 Jobs > Public Safety DAS Engineer - Houston, TX - Connectivity Wireless Solutions
> Field Technician I Job - Portland, OR, USA – Yoh
> FSO Telecom Field Technician I Job - New Orleans, LA, USA – Yoh
> Telecommunications Field Technician Job - Spokane, WA, USA – Yoh
> Telecommunications Project Controls Analyst Job - Bellevue, WA, USA – Yoh
> Director, Business Operations, Marketing and Sales Analytics – Atlanta GA – Cox Communications
> Senior Manager, Business Operations, Sales and Marketing Analytics– Atlanta GA – Cox Communications
> Senior Analyst, Business Operations, Analytics– Atlanta GA – Cox Communications
> Manager, Business Operations, Analytics– Atlanta GA – Cox Communications
> Analyst I, Business Operations, Analytics– Atlanta GA – Cox Communications
> Need a job? Need to hire? Visit FierceWirelessJobs * Post a classified ad: Click here.
* General ad info: Click here | Today's Top News 1. Cloud wars: Google and Amazon battle over prices
Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) are waging a cloud storage price war that can only benefit companies currently using or considering cloud computing storage. Google fired the opening salvo early last week, with a 20 percent cut in its standard cloud storage prices and beefed up its cloud platform, including 36 new compute engine instances, durable reduced availability (DRA) storage, object versioning and European data center support. Amazon returned fire during its AWS re:Invent cloud services conference held in Las Vegas, with a 24 percent to 27 percent price cut for its simple storage service and reduced redundancy storage, as well as the launch of its Amazon Redshift data warehouse service in the cloud. Google responded with an additional 10 percent price cut, bringing the total price cut to 30 percent for all cloud storage regions and the new DRA storage service. These price cuts and competition for cloud customers will only accelerate a trend identified by the IDC. The research firm is predicting cloud services will become an everyday sourcing option for chief information officers and line of business managers by 2016. In addition, market developments are prompting medium and large enterprises toward private cloud deployment to deliver more flexible business services at a reduced cost. For critical applications, enterprises require a secure private cloud, particularly enterprises in regulated industries. "Economies of scale are a hallmark of the cloud marketplace, demonstrated by the growing concentration of physical IT infrastructure spending into a narrower group of service providers," observed Chris Morris, IDC's lead analyst for cloud services in Asia-Pacific region except for Japan. With the most recent price cuts, competition is definitely heating up in the cloud services market. Enterprises will be the ultimate beneficiaries. For more:
- see Google's blog
- check out Amazon's price cut and Redshift announcements
- read IDC's cloud predictions Related articles:
AT&T rolls out cloud-based Locker media sharing app for iOS
Consumers, enterprises fueling demand for cloud applications Read more about: IDC
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| This week's sponsor is ADTRAN. |  | Webinar: Vectoring Demystified
Tuesday, December 18th, 11am ET / 8am PT Vectoring has been a hot term over the past few months, but do you really know what it is or how it can positively impact your business? Join ADTRAN experts as they explore the ins and outs of this new ultra broadband technology. Register Today! |
2. Cisco's acquisition of Cariden latest effort to expand outside shrinking core business
As its core switching and router equipment market continues to shrink, Cisco is expanding in other areas of its business, the latest example being the acquisition of network traffic management firm Cariden Technologies for $141 million in cash. Cariden supplies networking planning, design and traffic management products for telecom services providers, enabling those providers to improve the efficiency of their converged IP and optical networks. Its customers include Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Deutsche Telekom, SingTel and Swisscom, according to a research note from Zacks Equity Research. Cisco said the acquisition supports its open network environment (ONE) strategy by providing wide area networking (WAN) management capabilities, which enable telecom service providers to improve the programmability of their networks and efficiency of network assets across the IP and optical transport layers. The Cariden buy marks the third Cisco acquisition in November. The other two are Cisco's acquisition of cloud networking firm Meraki for $1.2 billion and the data center software firm Cloupia for $125 million. "We believe that these acquisitions will broaden Cisco's customer base and network offerings, providing the company with a significant competitive edge over its peers, namely Juniper Networks, Inc (NYSE: JNPR), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) and F5 Networks, Inc, which have been picking up market share," the research note explained. According to the latest figures from IDC, the Ethernet switching market declined 4.4 percent in the third quarter of 2012 compared to the same quarter in 2011, while the router market declined 0.2 percent year-over-year. Rohit Mehra, vice president for network infrastructure at IDC, attributed the market decline to a drop in the network edge/access segment, despite growth in the 10GbE core segment, which saw revenue growth of 10.7 percent year-over-year and port shipment growth of 61.4 percent year-over-year. "10GbE along with the emerging 40GbE Ethernet switch segments are the ones to watch as growth in virtualized applications and converged infrastructure will continue to drive the need for advanced networks in datacenter buildouts," Mehra added. For more:
- see Cisco release
- check out IDC's stats Related articles:
Cisco hopes to acquire Cloupia for $125 million
Cisco snaps up Wi-Fi and cloud networking firm Meraki for $1.2B Read more about: Cisco
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3. Cisco, Microsoft and Avaya named as top UC providers by IT managers
Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Avaya were identified as the top three unified communications (UC) vendors by IT managers, according to a survey of 348 enterprise IT professionals conducted by TechTarget. This jives with Gartner's 2012 Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications report, which listed those three companies along with Siemens Enterprise Communications (NYSE: SI) as market leaders. The TechTarget survey showed that around 22.7 percent of enterprises have fully deployed UC, while another 26.4 percent have deployed UC partially or fully for a small number of employees, according to a report on the survey by TechTarget's Kate Gerwig. According to the survey, the most frequently deployed UC application was VoIP, followed by audio conferencing and web conferencing. The most significant enterprise benefit from UC was improved collaboration, followed by improved time to information and reduced communications cost. The main obstacles to deploying UC were lack of trained IT staff, uncertain return on investment, difficulty of calculating up-front implementation costs and security concerns. Surprisingly, 30 percent of respondents did not consider social media a UC application. For Gartner, social media is seen as the next wave of UC. The first wave of UC involved the unification of telephony, voice mail, audio and web conferencing and contact center operations for the enterprise. The second wave expanded those services to include email, VoIP, instant messaging, presence and video conferencing, Gartner analysts related. For more:
- see the TechTarget report
- check out the Gartner survey Related articles:
Enterprises can ride the UC wave they like
Large IT firms scoop up smaller firms to speed cloud offerings to market Read more about: Avaya
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4. Gartner: UCaaS suppliers should provide back-office support to attract large enterprise customers
To attract large enterprise customers, unified communications as a service (UCaaS) firms will have to provide effective back-office support for large installations, judged Gartner in its 2012 Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service North America report. For the first time, the report named UCaaS market leaders--ShoreTel (Nasdaq: SHOR), 8x8 (Nasdaq: EGHT), Thinking Phone Networks and West. In the 2011 report, Gartner did not identify any leaders because of the immaturity of the UCaaS market. ShoreTel gained access to the UCaaS market through its acquisition of M5 Networks earlier this year for $168 million. In last year's report, M5 was identified as a visionary company. The former chief of M5 and the current president of ShoreTel's cloud division, Daniel Hoffman, said ShoreTel's acquisition of M5 was key to making it into Gartner's leader quadrant. "One of reasons we sold to ShoreTel was to have the pockets and technology to lead the market in execution, so that was absolutely part of Gartner's judgment that we have the resources to be a leader," he told FierceEnterpriseCommunications. The report said firms in the leaders' quadrant have been providing complete UCaaS products for more than a year, have customers with more than 1,000 subscribers and have more than 100,000 endpoints in service. Three developments have characterized the UCaaS market in 2012: the emergence of branded premise-based platforms supporting UCaaS, the maturity of certain UCaaS platforms and the deployment of UCaaS on a limited scale by Fortune 1000 companies, the report explained. For 2013, Gartner predicts two major developments: "First, UCaaS will start supporting global deployments spanning multiple regions… Second, today's Fortune 1000 UCaaS users will adopt the service across broad swaths of the organization. However, for either of these events to transpire, UCaaS suppliers must demonstrate effective backoffice toolsets that offer automated support of large installations." The larger players in the UCaaS market--such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T)--are better position to capitalize on the opportunities with Fortune 1000 firms because of brand recognition and existing relationships. However, the smaller players, including the firms in the leaders' quadrant, should not be counted out as potential suppliers to the large enterprises. For more:
- check out Gartner's UCaaS magic quadrant report (registration required) Related articles:
Enterprise can ride the UC wave they like
Cloud-based UC market pits VoIP players against IT, carrier behemoths Read more about: Microsoft, AT&T
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5. Polycom gets chilly reception in enterprise videoconferencing market
Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM) received a chilly reception in the enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence market in the third quarter, posting a 15.2 percent year-over-year revenue decline, according to the latest data from IDC. Still, Polycom held on to second place in the videoconferencing market with a 25 percent market share, with leader Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) also posting a substantial year-over-year revenue decline. Overall, the enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence market posted a 4.8 percent decline in revenue in the third quarter of 2012, compared with the same quarter of 2011. While the enterprise market might be giving Polycom the cold shoulder, South Pole researchers are welcoming the company with open arms. Polycom recently inked a deal with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston to supply its RealPresence videoconferencing platform to provide telemedicine to isolated South Pole researchers. The telemedicine network powered by RealPresence provides medical care to three U.S. polar research stations--McMurdo with 1,200 researchers, Amundsen-Scott with 120 residents and Palmer with 40 residents--as well as two Antarctic research vessels. "Our specialists help provide the second tier of care that's difficult or impossible for 'doctors on ice' to handle themselves," said Dr. Scott Parazynski, director and chief medical officer of UTMB's Center for Polar Medical Operations. "It's incredibly expensive to transport a person to or from the continent, and in the middle of winter it's physically impossible to get people off of the South Pole. So if you can remotely diagnose and treat the patient, and then supervise his or her care, you're much better off." Bandwidth has been an ongoing problem in Antarctica. "The issue down on the ice is bandwidth, but it's greatly improved over what we had when we first started," commented Oliver Black, systems analyst services manager at UTMB. "We didn't even have enough bandwidth for color back then. What we have today with Polycom is truly excellent video quality." Collaboration is the key to saving lives at the South Pole research stations. It is also the key to turning around the enterprise videoconferencing market, according to Petr Jirovsky, senior research analyst for IDC's enterprise communications infrastructure group. "Video as a key component of collaboration continues to place high on the list of priorities for many organizations and we anticipate a return to positive market growth in 2013," Jirovsky concluded. For more:
- check out IDC's stats
- see Polycom's release Related articles:
Spotlight: Cisco takes top spot in videoconferencing infrastructure market
Vidyo challenges Polycom, Cisco with $750 desktop videoconferencing Read more about: Cisco
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Also Noted | This week's sponsor is Qualcomm. |  | Webinar: The 1000x challenge: Can the whole be more than sum of its parts?
Wednesday, December 5th, 12pm ET / 9am PT The final piece to solving the 1000x puzzle is squeezing higher efficiency out of all the resources, specifically the spectrum, small cells and macro cells, devices, applications and services. But with the complexity of today’s networks, is that possible? Tune in to this webinar in the 1000x series to find the answers. Register Today! |
SPOTLIGHT ON... Liferay teams with VMware on cloud-based content management portal Liferay announced Monday that its content management portal is now available on the newly launched VMware (NYSE: VMW) cloud applications marketplace. "The open source portal can be used by enterprises to build websites easier. Liferay includes a full web content management system and portal functionality," Paul Hinz, the chief marketing officer of Liferay, told FierceEnterpriseCommunications. Liferay's customers range from Sesame Street to Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO). The partnership with VMware is in response to demand from Liferay's customers for virtualized and cloud-based options, Hinz explained. Read more More news from around the World Wide Web… > Looking into the crystal ball: What does 2013 have in stock for the UCC market? Blog > How VoIP has progressed since its infancy. Article > Synergetic business telecommunications using VoIP Club. Article > VoIP Innovations launches private label service for VoIP resellers. Article > Integrated Research's Prognosis VoIP monitor solution now rated "Avaya compliant." Release Telecom News > Hurricane Electric has opened up two new Points of Presence (PoPs) in Milan and Vienna as part of its ongoing European network expansion effort. Article > Vivendi's Global Village Telecom (GVT) has now attracted the interest of three Latin American satellite and cable operators: DirecTV, Liberty Global and America Movil, as well as a consortium of private equity companies. Article Cable News > Verizon has begun informing its FiOS TV subscribers that it will drop Youtoo TV from its channel lineup on Dec. 31. Article > Charter Communications said it agreed to a new retransmission-consent contract with LIN TV, hours before the broadcaster planned to pull its TV stations from subscribers in Alabama, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Oregon and New England. Article IPTV News > HBO's Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President Bob Zitter understands better than most the impact that technology has on the television business. Article Online Video News > Details including pricing and supported platforms have emerged about Redbox Instant by Verizon, the companies' joint online streaming venture, according to an article in GigaOM. Article > Mexican online premium and on-demand video entertainment provider Totalmovie has announced plans to launch an Internet-based live television service in 2013 that it will make available to consumers using Web- and Internet-connected devices like TVs, smartphones, tablets, streaming players and video consoles. Article And finally… Recipe for mind creation lacks ingredients. Article > Webinar: RCS Simplified: Home-Grown and Hosting Models Wednesday, November 28, 3 pm GMT / 10 am ET / 7 am PT Acme Packet and Vodafone will outline options that meet RCS market requirements and leverage operator strengths, including simplified IMS, hosting and cloud models, key service delivery requirements and much more! Register today! > The 1000x challenge: Can the whole be more than sum of its parts? - Wednesday, December 5th - 12pm ET / 9am PT The final piece to solving the 1000x puzzle is squeezing higher efficiency out of all the resources, specifically the spectrum, small cells and macro cells, devices, applications and services. But with the complexity of today's networks, is that possible? Tune in to this webinar in the 1000x series to find the answers. Register Today! > Seamless IPv6 Migration: Carrier-grade NAT & Beyond - December 11, 2pm ET / 11am PT During this webinar, we will discuss a solution allowing IPv4 and IPv6 to work simultaneously during migration without causing interruption to services or subscribers. Register today! > Growth for Network Equipment Providers in challenging economic times - Thursday, December 13, 2pm ET / 11am PT As compute platforms evolve in core and edge networks, there is still a need to optimize processing hardware and software solutions for end-to-end communications. The webinar will discuss how NEPs can continue to grow revenue in challenging economic times. Register today! > Vectoring Demystified - Tuesday, December 18th, 11am ET / 8am PT Vectoring has been a hot term over the past few months, but do you really know what it is or how it can positively impact your business? Join ADTRAN experts as they explore the ins and outs of this new ultra broadband technology. Register Today!
| > Fierce Innovation Awards 2012 Live Announcement of this Year's Winners - Now Available On-Demand Please join Jason Nelson, Publisher of FierceWireless, FierceTelecom, and FierceCable as we announce the winners of the Fierce Innovation Awards 2012. Click here to RSVP today.
| > Whitepaper: Save 30-50% on Telecom Costs ? Free IntelePeer White Paper Shows How If you're serious about cost savings and providing reliable voice services without replacing your existing PBX, transitioning to SIP Trunking can streamline circuits, save money, improve number portability and enable flexible dial tone DR scenarios. Get the facts in this free white paper download. > The Benefits of Moving from Open Source to WebSphere Application Server Join us for this complimentary webcast and learn details from a new independent report that shows the total economic impact of migrating from an open source solution to IBM WebSphere Application Server -- including a 44% return on investment (ROI) producing a net value of over $1 million. Register today! > Shifting Performance Strategies and Solutions for Mobile and Web Experience Achieving reliable performance that meets web and mobile user expectations is critical to business success. If your company's web and mobile applications are either poorly designed or poorly implemented, the result can be slow responses or unavailable sites that jeopardize potential transactions and damage your company's brand. Discover ways to drive web and mobile responsiveness and learn which emerging performance-enhancement techniques show the greatest promise in this On-Demand webinar. Download Now. > Whitepaper: Protecting Unstructured Data on File Servers, NetApp, EMC and SharePoint Reduce the security risk and compliance concerns of your unstructured data with ChangeAuditor. Download Today. > Whitepaper: BYOD: A Global Perspective A recent Cisco survey shows that 89% of IT departments worldwide enable BYOD - proving it's a global trend for which IT must prepare. What are the security challenges? The benefits? Learn why the world is drawn to a more flexible network. Download this Report Today. > Research: M-commerce in the UK 2012 | Verdict Channel Reports M-commerce has expanded rapidly in 2011 and 2012, as both retailers and consumers continue to adapt to the potential of mobile devices. Not only are more people making purchases, but also more apps and mobile optimised websites have furthered the possible uses of mobile devices for shoppers. Download Now. > Research: Software: Global Industry Guide Software: Global Industry Guide is an essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the Software industry. It includes detailed data on market size and segmentation, textual analysis of the key trends and competitive landscape, and profiles of the leading companies. This incisive report provides expert analysis on a global, regional and country basis. Download Now. > Research: Enterprise Applications Market Forecast in the US to 2014 Enterprise Applications Market Forecast in the US to 2014 is a comprehensive resource for the market split by technology (ERP, product lifecycle management, customer relationship management [CRM], human resources [HR] and payroll, financial, supply chain management [SCM], and commerce applications). This Databook also provides data split by nine industry verticals. Download Now.
| > Public Safety DAS Engineer - Houston, TX - Connectivity Wireless Solutions Connectivity Wireless Solutions delivers best in class consulting, engineering, project management, installation, and staffing services to wireless carrier and enterprise customers. The Public Safety DAS Engineer is tasked with collecting and analyzing RF data typically with tools such as test phones and needs analysis equipment such as ZK Celltest and spectrum analyzers. Learn More! > Field Technician I Job - Portland, OR, USA – Yoh Yoh has a contract opportunity for a Field Technician I to join our client in Portland, OR. Responsibilities include developing proficiency in primary skills of customer relations, basic electricity, basic electronics, basic telephony, radio principles for CDMA and iDEN, and basic principles of digital transmission, fiber communication, data communication, telephony terminology, industry standards, and on-line network control/maintenance systems. Two to five (2-5) years of basic microwave experience required...Learn more. > FSO Telecom Field Technician I Job - New Orleans, LA, USA – Yoh Yoh has a contract opportunity for a FSO Telecom Field Technician to join our client in Knoxville, TN. Responsibilties include developing proficiency in primary skills of customer relations, basic electricity, basic electronics, basic telephony, radio principles for CDMA and iDEN, and basic principles of digital transmission, fiber communication, data communication, telephony terminology, industry standards, and on-line network control / maintenance systems. Travel required...Learn more. > Telecommunications Field Technician Job - Spokane, WA, USA – Yoh Yoh has a six (6) plus month contract opportunity for a Telecommunications Field Technician to join our client in Spokane, WA. This role requires reliable transportation, and successful background, driving record and drug test prior to employment. Ability to lift and carry up to 50 lbs. is required...Learn more. > Telecommunications Project Controls Analyst Job - Bellevue, WA, USA – Yoh Yoh has a five (5) plus month contract opportunity for a Telecommunications Core Project Controls Analyst to join our client Bellevue, WA. Resonsonibilties include to assist with Core Network Order Fulfillment (CNOF) by working directly with Supply Chain, Warehouse, Shipping and Procurement departments, as well as Ericsson organizations. Candidate must have five (5) plus years of relevant experience...Learn more. > Director, Business Operations, Marketing and Sales Analytics – Atlanta GA – Cox Communications Responsibilities include to direct and develop a modeling and analysis function and team to quantify impact of key sales, marketing and customer programs and initiatives by channel, leading to revenue growth and improved program effectiveness. BS/BA in quantitative field strongly desired...Learn more. > Senior Manager, Business Operations, Sales and Marketing Analytics– Atlanta GA – Cox Communications This role will partner with functional owners on complex Marketing and Sales initiatives that can have impact across the organization. This leader will also work to build capability development (analytical tools and platforms, etc.) and may oversee or manage the work of other manager level incumbents. BS/BA in quantitative field strongly desired...Learn more. > Senior Analyst, Business Operations, Analytics– Atlanta GA – Cox Communications Responsibilities include providing advanced quantitative support for the development of a business driver framework to understand and quantify the causal impact of key structural, marketing, sales and product decisions on business metrics such as revenue, products and customers. 2+ years of experience using SAS for modeling and analysis required...Learn more. > Manager, Business Operations, Analytics– Atlanta GA – Cox Communications Responsibilities include managing the development of a business driver framework to understand and quantify the causal impact of key structural, marketing, sales and product decisions on business metrics such as revenue, products and customers and use findings to influence business planning, investments and strategy. Experience with Econometric modeling and Machine Learning methodology preferred...Learn more. > Analyst I, Business Operations, Analytics– Atlanta GA – Cox Communications Responsibilities include providing quantitative support for the development of a business driver framework to understand and quantify the causal impact of key structural, marketing, sales and product decisions on business metrics such as revenue, products and customers. Marketing Mix optimization experience in telecom, CPG, retail, financial services, or Consulting preferred...Learn more. > Need a job? Need to hire? Visit FierceWirelessJobs | |
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