BT has chosen Cardiff and the surrounding area to build and test the first portion of its £10bn UK-wide 21st Century Network (21CN). The next-generation network will rely on internet protocol technology and will help BT offer new data and voice services such as voice over IP and video-on-demand to a wider audience. BT will migrate around 350,000 customer lines ...
Communications
Huawei eyes Europe to increase share
Chinese telecoms firm Huawei is looking to increase its telecoms market share outside China as it gains the trust of operators. “We know we’re small and need time to gain the trust of telcos,” said Huawei spokesman Richard Lee, speaking at the Paris/Beijing joint launch of the firm’s ME60 multi-service control gateway for IP networks. “We only expect a little ...
LCD TV receives 20Mbit/s on UWB
Haier and Freescale Semiconductor show an ultra-wideband LCD TV, receiving 20Mbit/s HDTV streams
BT avoids break-up in Ofcom deal
BT has agreed to spin its local access network operations into a wholly separate business unit, after agreeing a deal with UK telecoms regulator Ofcom that avoids the break-up of the telecoms giant. The telecoms provider is to sign “legally binding undertakings” that will force it to make “substantive changes in organisation and behaviour”, said Ofcom. Full undertakings to be ...
Mobile operators mull BT Fusion
Mobile operators will fight back to prevent any loss of business to BT’s recently launched Fusion service which allows a phone to roam seamlessly between fixed and mobile networks, according to analyst firm ABI Research. “The mobile operators will not be standing still,” said Jake Saunders, European research director at ABI. “They will continue to improve coverage and intend to ...
Brains behind flying comms network
The Boeing 787 represents a quantum leap in communication bandwidth on commercial aircraft The year, 2007. The aircraft, Boeing’s 787, bound from New York to Tokyo, a flight of less than 13 hours. Inside, the cabin seems spacious, the air feels fresh. Each seat is equipped with its own phone, power connection and Internet port. Networking capabilities are unsurpassed. The ...
IDT, ICS in $1.7bn merger
David Bell from Linear Technology says an Asic strategy “poses inherent risks”, whereas an ASSP offers most of the functionality with less risk Handheld electronic products such as cellular phones, digital cameras and MP3 players are driving growth in the worldwide electronics industry. These battery-powered devices are undergoing rapid evolution, driven by competitive pressures and gadget-crazy customers demanding the latest ...
DS-UWB chipset hits 110Mbit/s over 20m
Freescale Semiconductor has demonstrated a direct-sequence ultra wideband (DS-UWB) chipset operating at more than 110Mbit/s over 20m. The firm said the extended range is a direct result of a regulatory waiver granted in March by the FCC. The XS110 device is packaged in a mini-PCI card and used inside a media gateway from Taiwanese original design manufacturer USI. Martin Rofheart, ...
Network management for 4G
The University of Strathclyde is looking into air interfaces and network management strategies for 4G mobile phone systems. “We have already studied diversity – spatial, frequency, code and time – and have done some work on coding – variable-spread coding,” principle investigator Professor Ivan Andonovic told Electronics Weekly. “We will translate this into a meaningful implementation – a practical chip,” ...
PicoChip wins Intel deal with PHY
Intel has revealed it is using physical layer technology from Bath-based wireless processing specialist PicoChip Designs in its WiMAX demonstration board. Apart from a few named customers, notably Airspan, PicoChip has been unable to name a number of its partners. Strictly speaking it is still under a non-disclosure agreement with Intel. “Lots and lots of people are using us, some ...
