* Concurrent joins integration group
Concurrent Computer Corp. should give its profile in the Asia Pacific region a boost after joining the ANYTIME Technology Program.
The Singapore-based ANYTIME project aims to integrate and deploy VOD services in the region. It also looks to develop best practices and process compliance for VOD, and data compatibility for everything from publishing, to billing APIs and royalty reporting.
In addition to VOD vendors, the program is also open to set-top makers, middleware vendors, conditional access and DRM providers and systems integrators.
At last check, Verimatrix, a supplier of digital content protection systems, was the only other technology partner to join the ANYTIME program.
The program, however, has a much wider range of content and affiliate licensing partners.
* Philips sheds semiconductor stake
Royal Philips Electronics has closed its sale of an 80.1 percent stake in its Semiconductors business for EUR 6.4 billion (approximately US$8.1 billion).
Philips sold the stake to a private equity consortium of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners, Bain Capital, Apax Partners and AlpInvest Partners NV.
The standalone semiconductor company is now known as NXP.
* NDS gets some game
Content protection technology firm NDS Group has inked a deal to acquire ITE, a Danish game company that specializes in titles for consoles, mobile devices and PCs, and a gaming character named Hugo. Financial terms were not disclosed.
* Vonage to offer deal to HP, Compaq PC buyers
Vonage, attempting to get its message out in front of more potential subscribers, has cut a deal to have promo materials included with every HP and Compaq consumer desktop or notebook sold. HP and Compaq customers in the U.S. and Canada can get an unspecified special offer on Vonage’s residential premium unlimited plan.
* NTT demos record 14 Tbps optical transmission
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone successfully demonstrated optical transmission of 14 terabits per second, eclipsing the previous record of about 10 Tbps, and so claiming the record of the world’s largest transmission capacity. NTT’s present optical transport network has about 1 Tbps capacity.
The higher transmission rates were achieved using wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) with channel capacity of 10 Gbps, and new optical amplifiers affording bandwidth of about 4 THz.
