Pacnet Expands Its Asia Network With Xtera’s NXT Terminals

Pacnet, Asia’s leading independent telecommunications service provider, has completed the first phase of a comprehensive rollout of new upgraded capacity using Xtera’s NXT submarine line terminals, in its EAC-C2C cable network connecting Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan and Singapore. The addition of Xtera’s new 10 Gbit/s channel system adds both capacity and resilience to one of Asia’s most robust and well-connected subsea cable networks. This is the initial step in a number of phases designed to enhance the network and continue to grow Pacnet’s customer base.

Pacnet selected Xtera for its innovative terminal technology specifically designed for upgrading existing systems, as well as Xtera’s extensive deployment capability and uncompromising dedication to customer care. Pacnet’s deployment uses Xtera’s NXT Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE), an advanced system that provides DWDM transmission on long-span submarine cable systems and offers the highest possible upgrade capacity. In addition, seamlessly upgrading a live, traffic carrying system required logistics in seven different countries and the flexibility to accommodate evolving customer service requirements including provisioning an additional link in parallel with the main deployment.

“Xtera’s performance on this deployment has set new standards for future upgrades,” said Bill Barney, CEO of Pacnet. “Our customers’ traffic is our highest priority and we have been able to make this significant network upgrade without any service disruption. Xtera has been a true partner from system start to full operation. We look forward to further growth on our flagship EAC-C2C network, and to increasing our services to support the continuing demand for capacity expansion from our customers.”

“Pacnet is a leading provider of Intra-Asia subsea cable capacity. This has been a great opportunity for Xtera to demonstrate its capability on a Tier 1 Network and ensure Pacnet has the services and capacity required to further strengthen their position,” said Jon Hopper, CEO of Xtera. “Xtera specializes in innovative solutions that maximize the capacity, reach, and value of our customers’ networks and we are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with Pacnet on this strategic network. We look forward to working with them on the next phase of deployment.”

The NXT system is highly optimized for operation in the submarine environment, with advanced monitoring capabilities that support rapid system response to faults, low power consumption, high reliability sealed clam-shell circuit packs, and NEBS Zone 4 earthquake compliance. The NXT supports 20 Gbit/s DPSK (Differential Phase Shift Keying) which greatly increases capacity in existing fiber, while being completely compatible with the existing terminal architecture.

About Pacnet
Named “Best Wholesale Carrier” at the Telecom Asia Awards 2009, Pacnet is Asia’s leading independent telecommunications service provider, formed from the operational merger of Asia Netcom and Pacific Internet. Pacnet owns and operates EAC-C2C, the region’s largest privately-owned submarine cable network at 36,800 km, with a design capacity of 10.24 Tbps. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of industry leading IP-based solutions for carriers, large enterprises and SMEs. Pacnet is headquartered in Hong Kong and Singapore, with offices in all key markets in Asia and North America. For more information, please visit www.pacnet.com.

About Xtera Communications
Xtera Communications specializes in network infrastructure that delivers the highest capacity, reach and density. Our long-haul, Submarine, Metro and WAN technologies together with our deployment expertise drive customer success and long term value.

Xtera offers an extensive portfolio of Optical Transport solutions for long-haul, regional, metropolitan and sub-sea networks, and WAN Traffic Management solutions for both enterprise and telecom companies.

With deployments in four continents, Xtera’s Optical Transport portfolio helps service providers worldwide reach new markets via new deployments, and extends the life of their existing network assets with cost-effective upgrades. Xtera’s innovative WAN Traffic Management solutions offer customers the best price/performance in network optimization.

Xtera delivers compelling advantage to its customers by maximizing network capacity, reach and value.

For more information, please visit www.xtera.com

Agilent Technologies Dramatically Boosts Scale of NgN VoIP Analysis System, Adds Correlated Voice Quality Monitoring

Cost-effective Solution Enables Even Non-Experts to Troubleshoot and Quickly Diagnose Problems within Complex, High-Volume VoIP/IMS Networks

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today introduced its newly enhanced NgN Analysis System (NgNAS). This new release retains all of NgN’s industry-leading Voice-over-IP (VoIP) management capabilities but has been dramatically reengineered to handle huge increases in the volume of complex VoIP traffic, including traffic crossing IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) infrastructures. Agilent has also added real-time voice quality monitoring with industry-unique capabilities.

The solution accelerates troubleshooting at all levels of network operation, which prevents problems from escalating, maintains subscriber satisfaction, and significantly cuts costs. By reducing complexity, service providers can use more non-experts to help diagnose customer affecting issues.

Wireline and wireless service providers are moving from traditional Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) to VoIP in stages and need to manage up to 50-percent VoIP growth a year. Many carriers are also implementing VoIP in IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), some to deliver brand-differentiating IP services and others for purely practical reasons related to enhancing VoIP reliability. For example, IMS facilitates speedier responses to local outages and the consolidation of network operations centers (NOCs). However, signaling across a VoIP network – especially an IMS VoIP network – is far more complex than in a traditional circuit-switched network, and the management challenge is magnified.

“Think of the challenge this way,” said Todd Biddle, general manager Agilent’s Network Solutions Division/Assurance. “During a peak hour, 33 million calls might traverse a network of 60 switching sites. Each call may require 50 messages to complete, so that comes to about 1.6 billion messages an hour. If only one of those messages goes astray, a call may fail. To troubleshoot the cause successfully, the operations team must find that single message – the proverbial ‘needle’ in an enormous ‘haystack.’ Our solution quickly reduces the haystack to a vastly smaller grouping of suspect messages, and then provides additional tools for locating the precise problem. It’s all about finding and acting on that one message in a billion.”

Agilent’s NgNAS keeps detailed call records for every call as well as statistics based on key performance indicators (KPIs). It does this network-wide, all of the time, and regardless of scale. The solution provides the fastest problem diagnosis and resolution in the industry.

In addition, NgNAS now includes equally comprehensive voice quality monitoring. Although other vendors offer some voice quality analysis, NgNAS’s capabilities are uniquely sophisticated. First, the system can test quality at intervals during a call in addition to measuring the average quality of an entire call. The intra-call measurements detect intermittent problems that would be missed by other voice quality monitoring tools. NgNAS proactively monitors the quality so that issues are discovered early. Second, NgNAS enables users to correlate call quality measurements with signaling data, which allows operations teams to locate the root cause of a call’s poor quality far more quickly. This increases a service provider’s return on investment by improving customer satisfaction and significantly reducing the number of calls to customer care centers.

In general, Agilent NgNAS enables a timely response to complex network problems, cuts operating costs, increases efficiencies and helps prevent customer churn.

About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 19,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.8 billion in fiscal 2008. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

Agilent Technologies Introduces Industry’s First WirelessHD(R) Compliance Test System for WirelessHD Modules, Chipset Manufacturers

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today introduced the industry’s first solution for the WirelessHD compliance test — the CTS-1000 automated WirelessHD test system — designed specifically for manufacturers of WirelessHD modules and chipsets for consumer and computing products.

Agilent also announced a partnership with Compliance Certification Services (CCS), the WirelessHD Consortium’s Authorized Test Center (ATC). Agilent will provide WirelessHD test systems to CCS while working with them to continue to define improvements and features for WirelessHD certification test, ensuring device compliance with the WirelessHD Compliance Test Specification.

“The availability of WirelessHD compliance test is a key enabler in accelerating the availability and adoption of WirelessHD technology,” said Niels Faché, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Mobile Broadband Division. “Today’s product introduction and joint partnership with CCS emphasizes our intent to play a key role in this emerging market and goes a long way in ensuring WirelessHD adopters have the leading-edge tools they need to verify compliance of their designs to the WirelessHD specification.”

“Today’s partnership announcement marks an exciting and strategic step forward for both CCS and Agilent,” said Barbara Judge, vice president of Compliance Certification Services. “By partnering with the world’s premier measurement company, we are reaffirming our commitment to provide WirelessHD consortium members with access to WirelessHD certification solutions and services, and ensuring the successful emergence of the market for WirelessHD products as well.”

The WirelessHD specification is the next-generation, wireless digital network interface for wireless high-definition signal transmission in consumer electronics, personal computing and portable device products. Architected and optimized for wireless display and audio connectivity, it achieves high-speed data rates of up to 4 Gbps at 10 meters. Based on the 60 GHz millimeter wave frequency band, WirelessHD technology can theoretically support data rates as high as 25 Gbps, allowing it to scale to higher resolutions, color depth and range.

Agilent’s CTS-1000 system provides WirelessHD adopters with a complete solution for testing compliance of their devices to WirelessHD standards. The CTS-1000 automates measurements such as error vector magnitude, frequency, power, occupied bandwidth, and packet error rate on signals generated by a WirelessHD device under test conditions. These measurements are critical to ensure proper functioning of a WirelessHD device. The system is comprised of Agilent’s industry-leading PSG microwave signal generator, PSA spectrum analyzer, Infiniium DSO 90000A high performance oscilloscope, a purpose-built down-converter, and automated test software. A reference test unit is used to establish a link between the device under test and the CTS-1000.

“The WirelessHD Consortium and its members remain committed to offering the best quality wireless high definition solution with simple network setup,” said John Marshall, chairman of the WirelessHD Consortium. “The joint work being done by CCS and Agilent in the area of certification test will ensure that we can stay on target with that goal, further building consumer confidence that products featuring the WiHD(tm) logo have passed rigorous compliance and interoperability testing.”

U.S. Pricing and Availability
Agilent’s CTS-1000 system will be commercially available on June 1. Custom solutions are available now for early implementers of the WirelessHD specification. The system is priced $350,000 to $500,000, depending on the specific configuration requested.

More information about the CTS-1000 system is available at www.agilent.com/find/cts1000.

About the WirelessHD Consortium
Formed in 2006, Broadcom Corporation, Intel Corporation, LG Electronics Inc., Panasonic Corporation, NEC Corporation, Philips Electronics, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD, SiBEAM Inc., Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corporation, have joined together to create the next generation wireless interface specification for HD media streaming and transmission. The WirelessHD Consortium will facilitate technical advancement by creating a specification focused on fixed and portable devices. WirelessHD technology is the first consumer electronics and technology industry-supported, high definition digital wireless interface for simplified media streaming and HD content portability. For more information on WirelessHD technology, please visit www.wirelesshd.org.

About Compliance Certification Services
Compliance Certification Services (CCS) is the world’s foremost regulatory test lab for wireless devices such as communications equipment and consumer electronic devices. CCS deals with customers worldwide from their headquarters in Fremont, Calif., and sales facility in Yokohama, Japan. CCS is currently designated as a Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB) in the USA, Canada and Singapore; a Notified Body for both EMC & R&TTE Directives in the EU, and also provides assistance to customers for global regulatory certifications/approvals. Information about CCS is available on the Web at www.ccsemc.com.

About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 19,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.8 billion in fiscal 2008. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com

Fujitsu Selects Enablence to Provide PLC Based Fiber Optic Components

Enablence Technologies Inc. (“Enablence”)(CDNX:ENA.V – News), a global leader in optical communications which provides systems, subsystems and components for metro, long haul and Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) markets, announced today that it was selected by Fujitsu, a leading Japanese telecommunications equipment manufacturer, to supply its industry leading PLC based fiber optic products. Under the arrangement, Fujitsu will source its PLC based component requirements from Enablence on an ongoing basis.

“Enablence has been a leading supplier for PLC based fiber optic components and subsystems to the European and North American markets. This selection by a major Japanese equipment manufacturer is very significant for us as it is a further indication of our technological competitive strength and our customer focused solutions” said Arvind Chhatbar, CEO of Enablence.

Enablence offers PLC-based multiplexer/demultiplexer, variable optical attenuator (VOA), Variable Multiplexer (VMUX), and reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer (ROADM) products. With its PLC based multicast switch technology and AWG MUX/DEMUX technology, Enablence is in an unique position to provide enabling building blocks for new generation directionless and colorless ROADM systems.

About Fujitsu Limited
Fujitsu is a leader in providing IT based business solutions to the global marketplace. The company employees 167,000 people who support customers in 70 countries. Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (Tokyo:6702.T – News) reported consolidated revenues of 5.3 trillion yen (US$53 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008. The company is the world’s fourth largest IT services provider and together with Fujitsu Siemens Computers is among the world’s top five providers of servers. Fujitsu innovations have garnered over 34,000 patents and the company is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.

About Enablence Technologies Inc.
Enablence Technologies Inc., (CDNX:ENA.V – News) is a global leader in optical communications headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, designs, manufactures and sells optical components, subsystems and systems to a global customer base.

Enablence’s FTTx Networks Division is an industry leader in optical broadband access systems. With an expanding Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) product portfolio featuring a variety of architectural options, it enables services providers to evolve their access networks from traditional copper-based networks to advanced optical communications access networks that are based on IP and Ethernet standards, for triple play voice, video and data services.

The Enablence Optical Components and Subsystems division is a global leader in applying the Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC) technology to integrate multiple components into a single optical chip to reduce footprint and costs. The designers of access, metro and long-haul next-generation networks turn to Enablence for innovative, smaller and faster components and subsystems. Products for access, metro and long-haul markets include transceivers, splitters, waveguides, optical channel monitors, multiplexers, ROADMs, switches, tunable dispersion compensators, and photodiodes.

For more information visit: http://www.enablence.com

Triple Play Analyzer
(Photos: Agilent Website)

Agilent Technologies Offers Industry First, Only Consolidated Multiplay QoS/QoE Test Solution, End-to-End Mobile and Fixed Network Analysis

3-in-1 VoIP, Video, Data Monitoring Cuts CAPEX; In-depth Analysis and Multi-Analyzer QoS Manager Platform Reduces Problem-Resolution Time and OPEX

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the extension of its Triple Play Analyzer (TPA) capabilities to various mobile networks, including UMTS, WiMAX(tm) and LTE. Agilent’s TPA is the only solution that combines voice, video and data services-monitoring over mobile networks in a single instrument, which eliminates the extra expense of buying a product for each service. The solution’s quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) tracking and in-depth protocol analysis reduce operating costs by allowing network equipment manufacturers and service providers to quickly identify the root causes of network problems.

Agilent is also introducing its Multiplay Performance Manager (MPM), which enhances the power of TPA by enabling distributed monitoring of IP Video streams across an entire network. With MPM, multiple TPA probes – including TPA software installed on PC-based mobile stations – can feed data from different network locations to Agilent’s QoS Manager for an aggregated, real-time view based on key performance indicators (KPIs) and for correlated, end-to-end analysis. This accelerates the process of locating and resolving issues, which cuts costs and helps keep subscribers satisfied.

“TPA is much more advanced than your ordinary service monitoring and troubleshooting tool,” said Todd Biddle, general manager Agilent’s Network Solutions Division/Assurance. “It goes far beyond top-level quality of experience monitoring. TPA also enables in-depth diagnosis and troubleshooting for both the control plane and the user plane. The solution provides visibility into all levels of protocols, so when a subscriber reports service degradation, TPA can drill down quickly to identify the root cause. Users can look at the transport layer, which carries the services; they can see the signaling that sets up a multimedia session; and they can test the quality of services at the application layer. This industry-unique depth of capability makes TPA an extremely powerful solution.”

The Agilent TPA not only enables 3-in-1service quality monitoring for mobile and fixed networks, the solution also runs on Agilent’s proven Distributed Network Analyzer (DNA) hardware and Multi-User platform which supports other powerful Agilent applications. TPA can operate simultaneously with the Network Analyzer software for IP Transport troubleshooting, and the Signaling Analyzer software, which monitors all the 2G/3G/4G mobile signaling . No other vendor supports test applications in all of these areas on a single hardware platform.

Agilent’s Triple Play Analyzer, especially when combined with the Multiplay Performance Manager, provides the most complete monitoring and troubleshooting tool for companies who develop and install multiplay applications over wireless and wireline networks.

A photo of the Agilent Triple Play Analyzer is available at http://prphotos.tm.agilent.com/2008/24mar-em08050/.

About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 19,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.8 billion in fiscal 2008. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.