* Mockett to head MotiveMotive Inc., a maker of broadband service provisioning software, has appointed Alfred Mockett to chairman and CEO. Mockett is a 10-year vet of BT, including as chief exec of BT Ignite, the company’s broadband and Internet services division. More recently, he was chairman and CEO of American Management Systems, an IT consulting […]
Wire and Cable Tips
Broadband briefs for 2/17/06
* Cable’s ‘Love Shack’ getting ready to rockAttention partygoers: The B-52s are set to headline the closing night shindig at the 2006 National Show, set to run April 9-11 in Atlanta. The Closing Night Party (sponsored by Motorola) will be held Tuesday, April 11 at The Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta. The party will kick off at […]
Movielink elevates two
Studio-backed Internet movie rental company Movielink handed out two promotions, naming Bryan Spaulding to senior vice president, architecture; and Bruce Anderson to senior vice president, engineering operations. Both report to Movielink CEO Jim Ramo. Spaulding, a founding member of Movielink and former Sony Pictures exec, will continue to support the company’s strategy for portable media devices […]
Broadband briefs for 2/16/06
* Entone taps EMEA helpEntone Technologies, a maker of video-on-demand and IPTV gear and software, has hired Sarah Hackforth to the post of vice president of sales & operations, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia). Hackforth most recently served as VP and GM of European operations for Terayon Communication Systems, and managing director, EMEA for Motorola’s broadband […]
Broadcom likes wireless
As a general rule, if you want to know what’s coming in consumer video gadgetry, watch the chip guys. And if this week’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona is any indication, it’s the cell phone that’s going to give portable media players the fastest chase to consumers. Broadcom Corp., which makes the chip sets used […]
Bill Gates: Who Needs Local Franchising?
Yesterday, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates added his support to AT&T’s position on video franchising — which is that video franchising should be handled at the federal level, not locally. “In particular, the nature and architecture of IPTV argues strongly for a regulatory model that greatly reduces – or eliminates entirely – local barriers to entry,” […]
SIPphone snares $6 M in funding
SIPphone, a San Diego-based VoIP provider, secured $6 mil. in venture funding, in a round led by Dawntreader Ventures. It’s the first round of external funding for SIPphone, which will use the investment to expand SIP-based phone service into “non-PC” devices, like adapters, routers, WiFi handsets, and dual-mode mobile phones, the company said in a […]
Microsoft’s barrel of monkeys
Microsoft Corp. will license patents related to ITV from Austin, Texas-based MonkeyMedia Inc., the companies said this morning. Specifically, Microsoft wants Monkey’s medial telescoping techniques, useful for “the cinematic insertion” of ads into IP video streams. “Licensing technology is an essential part of maintaining a healthy cycle of innovation in the IT industry, and is […]
A Gig on a SIM by Year-End
Watch for SIM cards that pack as much as a Gigabyte of memory, as soon as the end of this year, said manufacturer M-Systems, and its recent subsidiary, Microelectronica. The cards are targeted at mobile network operators, and combine high-density flash storage (64 Mbytes to 1 Gbyte), with processing power, high-speed data protocols, and crypto […]
Sprint logs a million song downloads
Since its launch just before Halloween last year, Sprint’s Music Store serviced a million wireless downloads of songs to cell phones, the company announced this morning. “The popularity of the Sprint Music Store is due largely to its ability to instantly deliver the songs people want when they want them on their Sprint phone, the […]