* In-Stat: Powerline networking poised to win on a global basis
Networking over powerlines is “poised to emerge as a winner” in the residential networking interface race on a global scale, according to a new report from In-Stat.

Powerline’s advantages over networking via coax and twisted-pair are particularly evident in regions with few existing coax or phone jacks, such as in the EMEA, Asia and Pacific Rim countries, the research firm said.

In-Stat said global shipments of broadband powerline equipment surpassed 2 million units in 2005, with expectations that growth will exceed 200 percent this year.

That is not to say, however, that phone- and coax-based networking technologies aren’t generating success, as well. HPNA 3.0, for example, is key to AT&T’s U-verse IPTV service, and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) is gaining ground in the U.S. thanks to deployments with Verizon and support from founding members such as Comcast Corp. and EchoStar Communications.

* JDSU tool means big business
JDSU has introduced the QT-50, a quality of service tool for large-scale VoIP deployments.

The QT-50, a component of JDSU’s NetComplete Service Assurance VoIP portfolio, is designed to monitor and troubleshoot issues and evaluate metrics that can impact voice quality, including mean opinion score, R-factor, jitter, and packet loss.

The new test tool can be teamed with JDSU Netanalyst and NetOptimize OSS platforms.

* DSL Forum hires COO
Robin Mersh has been named COO of The DSL Forum, a consortium made up of more than 200 service providers and vendors.

Most recently, Mersh handled business development and alliance management for a variety of U.S. OSS software companies. Before that, he launched a sales management career with Cable & Wireless, and worked for BT.

* Siemens in it for the regional and long haul
Siemens Communications introduced a new optical transport platform, the SURPASS hiT 7300, a DWDM system aimed at regional and long-haul applications. The system incorporates intelligent automation which Siemens said is demonstrated to reduce procedural errors, simplify network turn-up, operation and maintenance.

Siemens said service provisioning with the new system can take minutes instead of months, and total cost-of-ownership can be reduced by as much as one order of magnitude.