• Insight names Grismore VP of business arm
By Traci Patterson
Insight Communications has named John B. Grismore as the new VP of Insight Business Services (IBS), the commercial business arm for Insight.
Grismore will be responsible for the oversight of IBS in all of Insight’s markets. Grismore has more than 20 years of experience in cable and telecommunications, and he most recently served as the west division VP for Charter Business in Vancouver, Wash. He has also held managerial and operational positions with Sprint Broadband Wireless Group, AT&T Broadband, TCI and Rocky Mountain Telephone.
Insight is the 10th-largest cable operator in the U.S., with approximately 722,000 customers in the three contiguous states of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. Insight offers bundled video, high-speed Internet and voice telephony services.
• Dish Network using fiber network to send video to apartments
By Mike Robuck
According to The Denver Post, Dish Network will start using a fiber network to send multiple high-definition (HD) signals to customers in apartment buildings.
The new fiber platform, which is called Dish Optical Network, will allow customers in multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) to receive their video feeds over fiber instead of using a satellite dish.
The Dish Optical Network will use a group of satellite dishes on a rooftop that will feed a fiber line in order to provide 400 channels to 128 apartments. The new fiber platform is slated to be up and running later this year.
• AT&T expands U-verse services in Atlanta, San Antonio
By Traci Patterson
AT&T has expanded its U-verse offerings in the Atlanta area, providing U-verse TV and U-verse-enabled high-speed Internet to consumers in parts of local Atlanta communities. AT&T said that it will make U-verse services available to more homes throughout the area on an ongoing basis.
Additionally, U-verse TV customers in San Antonio now have access to new interactive features, available at no additional charge.
The new features include AT&T Online Photos from Flickr, which allows users to browse uploaded photos and watch slideshows on the TV; AT&T U-bar, which brings customizable weather, stock, sports and traffic information to the TV screen; Yellowpages.com TV, a new way to search for local businesses and other information on the TV; and AT&T Yahoo Games, which are also available on the TV screen.
• Qwest enhances iQ Networking service bundles
By Brian Santo
Qwest has added end-to-end performance reporting and monitoring capabilities to its Qwest iQ Networking service bundles. Qwest iQ Networking consists of a secure, managed, interoperable and scalable suite of global wide area networking (WAN) services.
End-to-end performance monitoring and reporting is a valuable tool that lets customers view their network performance statistics for availability, jitter, latency and packet delivery data between all of the customer’s locations.
Through the Q.Control dashboard, customers can open repair tickets, get centralized billing information and make service changes, which helps their businesses perform optimally. The reporting and monitoring features also give businesses a leg up in following industry-specific compliance issues, such as Sarbanes-Oxley.
• Telrad joins Multi-Service Business Gateway alliance
By Mike Robuck
Telrad Networks and LSI are among the companies that are forming the Multi-Service Business Gateway (MSBG) alliance.
The alliance includes leading providers of services, application and management software, hardware and system integration. As a group, the alliance is focused on delivering an industry-wide open system for current and next-generation business services.
“Telrad has the skills to enable system integration of MSBG solutions,” said Charlie Kawwas, VP of segment marketing at LSI. “They’ve provided solutions in the VoIP and transport spaces that Tier 1 customers and Tier 1 telecom vendors demand.”
The MSBG Alliance is designed around LSI’s technology and includes Telrad Networks and a number of additional alliance partners that will be announced at this week’s Interop 2008 in Las Vegas.
• Acme Packet’s SBCs deployed by Cricket Communications
By Traci Patterson
Acme Packet’s session border controllers (SBCs) have been deployed by Cricket Communications to interconnect the operator’s VoIP core network with other service providers’ networks.
After initial Acme Packet Net-Net 4000 Session Director deployments in 2006, Cricket is now expanding with the deployment of Acme Packet’s Net-Net 9000 hardware platform – in multiple points-of-presence (PoP) – to meet increasing traffic demands as Cricket’s subscriber base grows.
Cricket is one of the first mobile operators in the U.S. to interconnect its VoIP core – via IP – to other service providers for PSTN origination and termination, Acme Packet said. Cricket offers service in 23 states and has more than three million customers.
More Broadband Direct:
• Cox buys Adify to get into online ad sales
• Comcast boosts business-class broadband speeds to 16 Mbps
• Charter boosts broadband speed in Wis. footprint
• Cox Business garners MEF 14 certification
• Verizon phasing out duplicate analog channels in Mass.
• ICTV, Camiant wrap up interactive testing
• Report: VoIP growth will be pressured by wireless
• Embarq chooses Ciena’s CN 4200 to up bandwidth
