Cisco wires Italian province
By Traci Patterson, CED
Cisco said that the Italian province of Brescia will use its outdoor wireless solution, based on mesh technology, to deliver wireless broadband connectivity and IP services to its rural communities.
Brescia is trying to stimulate economic growth, bridge the growing digital divide throughout the region and deliver IP services over a single network, Cisco said. The province comprises many disparate communities in the mountainous region, making it expensive to wire for broadband.
Cisco’s Aironet 1500 Series mesh access points will be used to build a flexible wireless infrastructure and reduce the dependency on the wired network. The mesh deployment is expected to serve 120 towns, and eventually 210 towns, Cisco said.
The solution will deliver broadband Internet to local government organizations, residents and businesses. The services will range from basic Internet access to electronic procurement and online applications for businesses.
Zhone posts Q1 loss
By Brian Santo, CED
Zhone Technologies took in $43.1 million in revenue in its first quarter. That revenue figure was down both sequentially and year-over-year. Fourth quarter revenue was $44.3 million, and a year ago, the company brought in $52.7 million.
The company’s Q1 loss was $4.8 million, greater than the $4.6 million lost in Q4 and the net loss of $3.9 million for the first quarter of 2006.
Nonetheless, Zhone announced itself pleased with the results, by virtue of increased sales of its newest products, based on its single-line multi-service architecture. Mory Ejabat, Zhone chairman and CEO said, “The accelerating pace of deployment of our next-generation technologies in markets across the globe is very encouraging.”
Skype keeps on growing
By Brian Santo, CED
eBay reported a growing number of users of its Skype VoIP service and growing profits for the unit.
Skype’s net revenue was $79 million in Q1, up 123 percent over the $35 million reported in Q1 last year. While growth was impressive, Skype was still a drop in eBay’s $1.77 billion Q1 bucket.
Skype had 196 million registered users at the end of Q1, more than doubling the 95 million users the service had at the end of the like quarter in 2006.
Broadband Briefs for 4/20/07
* AT&T, Amdocs enter services deal
Amdocs has signed a seven-year managed services agreement with AT&T to provide application management services for AT&T’s platforms, including software development, testing and production support.
The project is to begin later this year, Amdocs said. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
* Vyyo names board member
Vyyo Inc. has named former Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Bilotti to its board of directors.
Over the past several years, Bilotti has written about how increased bandwidth investment can help cable compete with satellite and telcos, particularly in the delivery of high-definition programming, as well as support advanced data services, the company said. In March, Vyyo named Jim Chiddix vice chairman and Wayne Davis CEO.
* Another FiOS TV victory
Verizon’s FiOS TV service is now available in Williston Park, N.Y. after the Long Island village’s board of trustees approved the video franchise.
Williston Park joins the growing list of Long Island villages, New York communities and nationwide cities authorizing Verizon’s fiber optic network service.