* Comcast promotes Maxfield, Wagner to VP positions
By Traci Patterson
Comcast Corp. has promoted Melissa Maxfield to VP of federal government affairs, effective Jan. 1, and the MSO has added Jennifer Yohe Wagner as VP of strategic business procurement.
Maxfield will oversee Comcast’s lobbying efforts with Congress. She joined the company in July 2003 as the senior director of federal government affairs in Washington, D.C. Wagner most recently served as VP of business affairs with Time Warner Cable. She will spearhead many of Comcast’s negotiations with technology-related vendors.
* Optimum Lightpath sees 90 percent growth in Ethernet revenue
By Traci Patterson
Optimum Lightpath, a division of Cablevision Systems Corp., announced that its business unit has experienced a 90 percent year-over-year increase in Ethernet revenue in the third quarter. The company transitioned to a pure Metro Ethernet strategy in January 2005.
According to the Insight Research Corp., the U.S. Ethernet services market is expected to grow from $940 million in 2006 to more than $5 billion in 2012.
* Bright House promotes Hyman to EVP of cable operations
By Traci Patterson
Bright House Networks (BHN) announced that Kevin Hyman, BHN’s Tampa Bay division president since 2003, will assume the role of EVP of cable operations, effective Jan. 1.
BHN’s Bakersfield, Calif., Birmingham, Ala., Central Florida, Detroit, Indianapolis and Tampa Bay divisions will report to Hyman.
* Synacor names Turner VP of product management
By Mike Robuck
On Monday, Synacor named Jim Turner VP of product management. Turner will be responsible for the development and implementation of product strategy and direction across Synacor’s product line.
Prior to joining Synacor, Turner was VP of digital media at A&E Television Networks, where he led the development and management of the company’s Internet, advanced TV and other digital media properties across the company’s brands.
* thePlatform promotes two execs to VP roles
By Traci Patterson
thePlatform has promoted two executives to VP posts. Alex Glass will assume the role of VP of operations, and Marty Roberts has been appointed to VP of marketing.
Glass has previously served as a solutions architect, as the director of customer service and as the VP of client services with thePlatform. Prior to joining the company, Glass worked as both a project and program manager with Digeo. Before coming to thePlatform, Roberts held product management and marketing roles at RealNetworks and GiftCertificates.com.
* TandbergTV’s DTT headend system goes to New Zealand
By Traci Patterson
Tandberg Television’s digital terrestrial TV (DTT) headend system has been selected by KordiaT and TVWorks for the delivery of the Freeview New Zealand DTT service.
New Zealand’s Freeview DTT network will deploy the latest MPEG-4 AVC solutions to provide about 75 percent of New Zealanders with a new HDTV service, as well as SD programming. Trials are set to commence early this month, with a launch date set for early next year.
* Aethera Networks adds 13 VARs
By Traci Patterson
Aethera Networks has expanded its worldwide sales coverage with the addition of 13 value-added resellers (VARs) in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The VARs will address increasing customer demand for the recently introduced Aegis-V networking platform—designed for service providers, cable operators and wireless carriers—which delivers scalable, protected TDM and packet-based services over Carrier Ethernet and next-gen SONET/SDH infrastructures.
The VARs are Neotronix SRL in Argentina, Triomhtec in Mexico, Dymeq in Chile, Instrumentacion in Columbia, Impelsa Inc. in Guatemala, Thai Transmission Industry Co. in Thailand, SC Telecom Korea, Commstar Communications in Hong Kong, Bluetooth Technologies in Malaysia, Communications Test Solutions (CTS) in the Middle East, Arabia Inc. in the U.K., Certacom in Italy, Azimuth Systems in Africa and Lambda Test Equipment in South Africa.
* European Commission clears CommScope-Andrew deal
By Traci Patterson
The European Commission has issued an unconditional clearance for CommScope Inc.’s acquisition of Andrew Corp. The European Commission’s decision was made within the standard statutory review period.