European Satellite Operators Welcome WRC 2012 Initiatives

BRUSSELS, February 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

The European Satellite Operators Association, (ESOA) notes the conclusion of the World Radio Conference (WRC) in Geneva on Friday, 17th February and recognises the positive efforts of delegates to ensure continuing global co-ordination of satellite services.

ESOA applauds the modifications agreed at the WRC to improve regulatory procedure for satellite co-ordination and notification. ESOA is confident / hopes that they will contribute to limit the discrepancies between the ITU database and the true situation at geostationary orbit. In particular, they will allow an operator to maintain rights in an orbital slot in the case of ceased operation for a period of three years. Clarification was also reached on the fact that satellites will now need to be stationed at a filed orbital slot for 90 days to safeguard it. ESOA hopes this will alleviate regulatory uncertainties where full co-ordination agreements could not be secured within the regulatory period.

ESOA notes that great effort was placed in co-ordinating spectrum. In the L-band, a compromise solution was agreed at item 1.7 to clarify the procedures necessary to ensure that aviation safety systems have access to spectrum in a transparent manner.

ESOA is pleased to note that satellite co-ordination remains the responsibility of the notifying administrations, with the involvement of third parties only in carefully defined circumstances.

ESOA agenda objectives were also met with regard to harmonising spectrum for the terrestrial and satellite components of unmanned aircraft to permit seamless operation in non-segregated airspace. In particular, the WRC agreed to further study the satellite component by adding an agenda item to the next WRC in 2015 to study the possibility of using FSS frequency bands for UAS control links.

Agenda item 1.2 was a satisfactory result for members with minor changes and a Resolution to study further terrestrial service definitions.

Comments Eric Béranger, Chairman ESOA:

“As always the WRC represents a major challenge to ESOA members and to the continued operation of satellite delivered services around the globe. I am delighted to say that European satellite industry interests have been well-served by this important conference and on behalf of ESOA members I thank the Delegates to the WRC 2012 for their efforts.”

About ESOA

ESOA is a Brussels-based trade association whose membership brings together all European satellite operators and supporting members including service providers, manufacturers and launch service providers. Set up in 2002, the association goals include raising awareness of commercial satellite technologies and ensuring that satellites benefit from the appropriate political, industrial and regulatory environment to fulfil their vital role in the delivery of global communications.

Eutelsat and ViaSat Innovation in New-Generation Broadband Satellites Awarded by the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI)

Transformational KA-SAT and ViaSat-1 satellites represent outstanding contribution to satellite communications

PARIS and CARLSBAD, California, February 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

The Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today announced that they have bestowed Industry Innovators Awards on Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) and ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT – News) in recognition of the development and launch of their High Throughput Satellites, KA-SAT and ViaSat-1.

Both companies are transforming the landscape for satellite broadband and are delivering a broadband experience matching terrestrial services through KA-SAT and ViaSat-1.

The SSPI Awards recognise outstanding new contributions to the field of satellite communications by private and public sector organizations. Honorees are chosen by a committee of industry experts for accomplishments ranging across a broad spectrum of advanced satellite technology and business applications. The Awards will be presented on March 12 during the Satellite 2012 conference in Washington DC.

In a joint statement, Michel de Rosen, CEO of Eutelsat and Mark Dankberg, CEO of ViaSat said: “It is an honour for our efforts to be rewarded by the SSPI and encourages both our organizations to pursue our vision to deliver high quality broadband services to the millions of consumers lacking high speed broadband. The innovative services offered today on KA-SAT and ViaSat-1 are just the beginning of this transformation of satellite.”

KA-SAT

Launched in December 2010 and in service since May 2011, Eutelsat’s KA-SAT satellite marked the long-awaited arrival of faster Internet for users in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin beyond range of terrestrial networks. The satellite delivers throughput of over 70 Gbps with high frequency reuse achieved via 82 spotbeams. KA-SAT powers the Tooway™ broadband service, the first to implement ViaSat’s high-capacity technology, to provide speeds of up to 10 Mbps download and 4 Mbps upload, making it the fastest satellite broadband service within its footprint and comparable to ADSL. Speeds of up to 50 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload address professional markets. With 30 million homes in KA-SAT’s coverage still unserved or underserved by ADSL, KA-SAT is on the way to making a significant contribution to meeting pent-up broadband demand from consumer and enterprise markets.

ViaSat-1

October 2011 saw the launch of ViaSat-1, the world’s highest capacity satellite, offering 140 Gbps of total throughput over the USA and Canada. In January 2012 ViaSat launched its ViaSat-1 based Exede[SM] high-speed Internet service, offering speeds up to 12 Mbps downstream and up to 3 Mbps upstream. In addition to residential service, the new ViaSat high-capacity satellite system is designed to simultaneously deliver a wide range of enterprise and mobile broadband services. Professional customers can choose from a family of terminals for enterprise, on-the-move, and portable applications. ViaSat is also working with JetBlue to create the industry’s best in-flight broadband for commercial aviation, with a planned service launch by the end of 2012.

About SSPI

The Society of Satellite Professionals International (http://www.sspi.org) is a nonprofit member-benefit society that serves satellite professionals throughout their working lives. With chapters in the Americas, Europe and Asia, SSPI works to attract new talent to the industry, helps satellite professionals advance in their careers, works to increase the professional standing of members and honors extraordinary achievement by satellite professionals and the companies they work for.

http://www.sspi.org

About Eutelsat Communications

Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity commercialised on 29 satellites that provide coverage across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world’s three leading satellite operators. Eutelsat’s satellites broadcast more than 4,000 television channels and also provide a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services and TV contribution services. Eutelsat’s broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates access to high speed internet services through teleports in France and Italy that serve enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ just over 700 commercial, technical and operational professionals from 30 countries.

http://www.eutelsat.com

About ViaSat Inc. (http://www.viasat.com)

ViaSat delivers fast, secure communications, Internet, and remote network access to fixed sites or on-the-move. The company provides networking products and managed network services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technologies and products to the U.S. and allied governments; and is the primary technology partner for gateway and customer-premises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite broadband services. Based in Carlsbad, Calif., ViaSat has established a number of worldwide locations for customer service, network operations, and technology development.

ARRIS to Display Convergence Enabling Solutions, DVB-C2 Broadcast at Cable Congress 2012

ARRIS Group President Bruce McClelland to Speak on CTO Panel

SUWANEE, Ga., Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –ARRIS Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS – News) today announced its participation at this year’s Cable Congress to be held in Brussels, Belgium, March 7-9, 2012. ARRIS will showcase its portfolio of next generation cable edge architectural solutions, video processing, broadband access and advanced advertising products at booth #41. Additionally, ARRIS will present a live demonstration of how the ARRIS D5® Universal Edge QAM can support DVB-C2 broadcast and VOD solutions through a collaborative demonstration with German cable operator Kabel Deutschland and Sony.

The demonstration will show how the ARRIS D5 Universal Edge QAM has enabled Kabel Deutschland to cost-effectively implement QAM sharing at one of the lowest power consumption rates per channel in the industry. A Sony TV with integrated DVB-C2 tuner, one of the first television sets supporting the standard, will be used in this prototype demonstration shown at the ARRIS booth.

The DVB-C2 standard developed by the DVB Project uses the latest modulation and coding techniques to enable highly efficient use of cable networks, especially in cases where the downstream transmission capacity is already being used to its limit. DVB-C2 will initially be used by operators like Kabel Deutschland for the delivery of new services, such as video-on-demand (VOD) and high definition television (HDTV).

ARRIS Group President Bruce McClelland will speak on this year’s CTO panel titled: ‘More Cable Services, Simply & Digitally Integrated’, on Day 2, Thursday March 8, Noon – 1:00PM, along with Balan Nair, CTO Liberty Global; Lorenz Glatz, CTO Kabel Deutschland and Nick Thexton, SVP R&D, NDS. The panel session will examine ways in which cable can play a major role in enabling a seamless converged and connected digital world.

To arrange meetings or schedule interviews with ARRIS executives, please contact Riki Rau at 33 1 56 56 01 75 (riki.rau@arrisi.com). For more information on the Cable Congress visit: www.cablecongress.com

About ARRIS

ARRIS is a global communications technology company specializing in the design, engineering and supply of communications and IP technologies that support broadband services for residential and business customers around the world. The company supplies broadband operators with the tools and platforms they need to deliver and monitor advanced video, data and voice subscriber services, including whole home video across multiple screens, ultra high-speed data, personalized advertising and carrier-grade telephony. Headquartered near Atlanta, in Suwanee, Georgia, USA, ARRIS has R&D centers in Beaverton, OR; Chicago, IL; Cork, Ireland; Kirkland, WA; Redwood City, CA; Shenzhen, China; State College, PA; Tel Aviv, Israel; Wallingford, CT and Waltham, MA, and operates support and sales offices throughout the world. Information about ARRIS products and services can be found at www.arrisi.com.

Renesas Mobile Introduces First Integrated LTE Triple-Mode Platform Optimised for Full-Featured, High Volume Smartphones

MP5232 Dual 1.5GHz core Communications Processor to Drive LTE Growth with Best-in-Class User Experience for High Volume LTE Smartphones and Tablets

TOKYO, February 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) and its subsidiary, Renesas Mobile Corporation (http://www.renesasmobile.com), a leading supplier of advanced cellular semiconductor solutions and platforms, today announced the availability of the MP5232, the first single-chip, high-performance, scalable smartphone platform optimised to address the US$150-300 range device market. The MP5232 platform is designed to enable OEMs to accelerate the creation and delivery of high volume LTE/HSPA+ capable smartphones, tablets and mobile Internet devices the industry requires to deliver the full potential of LTE.

The MP5232 platform sets a new benchmark in terms of levels of integration and performance for fully featured high-volume LTE devices. At its heart, the Renesas Mobile modem, deployed in over two billion devices to date, delivers the industry’s highest throughput and low power multi-mode FDD and TDD-LTE Category 4 capabilities. Combined with a state-of-the-art application processor the platform delivers a no-compromise user experience with multi-core computing power, industry-leading graphics, video and imaging capabilities. The platform also includes advanced RF transceivers, power management and audio solutions. This highly integrated smartphone platform is delivered fully tested and certified to enable customers to bring new generations of fully-featured LTE/HSPA+ smartphones to market in as little as six to nine months.

Please click here for the complete press release: http://www.presseportal.de/pm/102320/2198792/

Mindspeed’s Dual-Mode Small Cell SoCs Bring Picochip’s Widely Adopted 3G Technology to High-Performance Transcede LTE Platform

Latest Transcede processors simplify migration from 3G to LTE networks
T22xx and T33xx family members broaden Mindspeed’s portfolio across rapidly growing multi-standard residential, enterprise and metro mobile infrastructure markets
Product demonstrations to be featured at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSPD – News), the industry leader in technology for small cell base stations, today announced the most advanced system-on-chip (SoC) solution for dual-mode concurrent 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) operation. Mindspeed’s latest additions to its Transcede® family of SoCs are sampling now, and extend the company’s small cell product portfolio to include solutions for residential, enterprise and metro infrastructure segments. The products will incorporate widely deployed 3G technology from Picochip, which Mindspeed acquired in January.

Mindspeed®’s Transcede family of processors are complete NodeB and eNodeB SoC solutions that support concurrent 3G and LTE processing in a single device, including time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA)/ evolved high speed packet access (HSPA+) and both frequency division duplexing LTE (FDD-LTE) and time division duplexing LTE (TDD-LTE), with a roadmap to LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). Combining 3G and LTE processing capabilities into a single chip is more cost effective for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and the inclusion of a carrier-class physical-layer (PHY) software solution for both 3G and LTE will accelerate time to market, while simplifying development and reducing risk. The Transcede T22xx series comes in product variants targeting residential, small office/home office (SOHO) and small enterprise applications. Multiple T33xx series options are available for enterprise, metro and pico applications.

“We are moving quickly to combine Mindspeed’s and Picochip’s expertise and portfolios into an offering that is uniquely positioned to help carriers address the challenge of relentlessly growing data demand,” said Raouf Y. Halim, chief executive officer of Mindspeed. “Our new dual-mode solutions will enable operators to support both 3G and LTE in a single unit, dramatically improving their business case by delivering twice the benefit at half the traditional per-node opex and capex costs. The Transcede devices will also enable operators to improve existing 3G network quality, while providing more capacity for their subscriber base without the need for additional investments.”

Mindspeed’s T22xx and T33xx solutions support all 3GPP standards, combining the company’s production-ready LTE PHY software with Picochip’s field-proven HSPA software on Mindspeed’s optimized LTE platform. Picochip has deployed more than one million 3G product units with associated PHY software, and Mindspeed has won nearly 30 customer designs for its Transcede platform. By offering the two companies’ small cell technologies in a single, market-leading multi-mode platform, Mindspeed will enable wireless carriers to upgrade their 3G networks to support what AT&T recently estimated has been a 5000 percent increase in data demand over the past three years alone. Small cells are seen as a crucial component for meeting this demand by maximizing use of today’s limited available radio spectrum.

“We expect that shipments of semiconductors for femtocells and picocells will grow tenfold by 2017,” said Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts. “Small cells are critical for supporting future mobile data demand, and dual-mode functionality will be essential for the best use of limited spectrum. Mindspeed leads the market in LTE design engagements with its Transcede family, and the addition of Picochip’s 3G technology to this platform creates an extremely attractive proposition for OEMs developing multi-mode small cells.”

Technical Features

Highly Integrated Solution: Transcede family devices deliver dual-mode concurrent 3G and LTE processing at the highest possible performance using a combination of the latest ARM® Cortex A9 multi-core symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors from ARM, coupled with CEVA®’s latest CEVA-XC 323 digital signal processors (DSPs). The integrated SoC reduces system latency as compared to solutions that split processing between discrete network processors and DSPs. Transcede devices also include built-in hardware accelerators for important fixed functions, and integrate other key system features to further reduce system costs and provide sufficient processing capacity for value added applications.
Scalable Platform for API-Compatible Designs Spanning Broad Range of Performance Requirements: Transcede is designed to use the same open software architecture across many product family members, spanning multiple price and performance points. Software developed on one Transcede device can be ported to other family members across the full range of NodeB and eNodeB product platforms. The latest T22xx and T33xx solutions also offer key additional features required for small cell solutions such as secure boot, one time programmable memories, universal subscriber identity module (USIM) interfaces and glueless connectivity to local radio transceivers.

Mindspeed offers the industry’s most complete portfolio of small cell SoCs, ranging from cost-effective 3G-only residential solutions, through the new T22xx and T33xx devices, and on up to micro/macro-class solutions supporting hundreds of subscribers. Transcede products are supported by a reference design that includes RF module integration, a real-time Linux board support package and a standards-compliant PHY implementation for LTE and W-CDMA and TD-SCDMA, with associated utilities and test scripts.

Mobile World Congress 2012

Mindspeed will host demonstrations and meetings for customers, partners, press and analysts at Mobile World Congress 2012 in booth 1E.57 at the Fira Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain from February 27 to March 1, 2012. The new products will be shown alongside the industry’s broadest portfolio of small cell solutions, which includes other members of Mindspeed’s award-winning Transcede family plus Picochip’s 3G portfolio.

Availability

The Transcede T22xx and T33xx series products are available now in sample quantities, with volume production scheduled to begin in the fourth calendar quarter of 2012. They are packaged in 21x21mm and 31x31mm high-performance flip-chip ball grid array (HFC-BGA).

About Mindspeed Technologies

Mindspeed Technologies (NASDAQ: MSPD – News) is a leading provider of network infrastructure semiconductor solutions to the communications industry. The company’s low-power system-on-chip (SoC) products are helping to drive video, voice and data applications in worldwide fiber-optic networks and enable advanced processing for 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) mobile networks. The company’s high-performance analog products are used in a variety of optical, enterprise, industrial and video transport systems. Mindspeed’s products are sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the globe.

To learn more, please visit www.mindspeed.com. Company news and updates are also posted at www.twitter.com/mindspeed.