* Corning records sales jump
Corning announced Q1 2006 sales of $1.26 billion, up 5 percent sequentially and up 20 percent over last year. Net income hit $257 million, or $0.16 a share, up a fraction from the $250 million recorded in Q1 2005.
Corning’s revenue growth was based largely on stronger-than-expected demand for LCDs. That more than offset what Corning said were “anticipated upper single-digit price declines.” LCD sales, driven by adoption in television receivers, should remain strong through the rest of the year.
Also contributing to the bottom line were higher fiber and cable sales in North America. Fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) sales in the first quarter increased slightly over fourth-quarter results, the company said.
Corning expects second-quarter sales to be in the range of $1.29 billion to $1.33 billion, and EPS in the range of $0.24 to $0.26 before special items.
* Broadbus CEO an award finalist
Broadbus Technologies CEO Vin Bisceglia has been named a finalist for the 2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the New England region.
Ernst & Young will announce the regional winners on June 15 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.
* Swiss op deploys Kasenna ‘PortalTV’ app
Television Sierre SA of Switzerland is expanding its rollout of Kasenna Inc.’s PortalTV application, following the completion of a phase-one trial with about 100 customers.
PortalTV handles apps such as traditional video-on-demand and more advanced network-based digital video recording. The PortalTV suite also includes Kasenna’s MediaBase video server platform and LivingRoom middleware.
TVSierre serves about 22,000 customers via a fiber-to-the-home network.
* Coaxsys gets wider distribution
Coaxsys has arranged to have its Ethernet-over-coax networking equipment distributed by security product wholesaler ADI.
ADI will carry Coaxsys’ TVnet/C Pro network at its 105 locations nationwide.TVnet/C Pro enables installers to deliver a 100 Mbps Ethernet network over existing coaxial cable, which will enable installers to avoid running new Cat-5 cable when connecting Ethernet devices.
* MTS Allstream buys protection from Widevine
MTS Allstream, the largest video-over-DSL provider in Canada, selected Widevine Technologies to protect its VOD content. MTS Allstream said the partnership will allow the company to expand its VOD library by inking new distribution deals with the world’s biggest movie distributors. MTS Allstream has Widevine’s Cypher Suite running on Motorola’s Multi-Service Access Platform, working in conjunction with SeaChange’s IP Video Solution.
* Harmonic encoders adopted by another TV group
Harmonic Inc. announced Hearst-Argyle Television is upgrading stations in its group, which reach nearly 20 million or 18 percent of households in the United States, with Harmonic’s DiviCom standard and high definition encoders, and the DiviTrack, statistical multiplexing solution.