Monday, January 11, 2010

NBC OlympicsTaps Cisco for IP Video Network

NBC is partnering with Cicso to provide a “media-aware” IP video network infrastructure during the network’s all HD broadcast of the Winter Olympic Games from Vancouver, Feb. 12-28. The combined solution, which consists of or a private network, Cisco IP video infrastructure and medianet “media aware” technology (Cisco’s brand name for its technology to optimize video over IP), will enable real-time editing NBC content in multiple international and domestic locations and will allow GB-sized files to be transmitted between locations and then delivered to video screens. A high-bandwidth, high performance connection between Vancouver and NBC studios in New York will give shot selectors and editors the ability to edit video as it is being captured in Vancouver.

Cisco Flip Video cameras will also be used by NBC correspondents for shooting on-the-fly video during the Games. NBC will also test the Cisco Media Data Center and Cisco’s Unified Computing System to support production and video archiving. “Cisco is providing all our local data routers for our LAN in and around Vancouver, and for our WAN on the international AT&T data circuits to NY, NJ, Burbank, and Las Vegas,” said Dave Mazza, NBC Olympics’ senior vice president of engineering. “Those circuits are carrying a number of file-based workflow from EVS, Omneon, and Avid and also a large amount of IP-based video from Tandberg.”

Love the media aware IP networking, because yes, we all know that video signals can require very high bandwidths, typically up to 8 Mbits per sec for MPEG 2 encoded HDTV channels and approximately 3 Mbps for MPEG 4. It is imperative that the IP network be optimized so it will deliver the quality of experience (QoE) needed for great picture quality, without degradation.
We all know viewing pixilated images is like being on a cell call with poor quality. I know many of cell phones that learned how to fly & swim because of this, though this might be a bit tougher to toss a 50" flat panel TV into your swimming pool, or out your window. lol!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Raytheon BBN to create 'largest network research center in U.S.'

Raytheon BBN Technologies has won an $81 million deal from the Army Research Laboratory to establish a collaborative alliance and what the company calls “the nation’s largest network science research center.”The company will create the Interdisciplinary Research Center at its headquarters in Cambridge, which will host network research, as well as Department of Defense technology developments.Called the ARL Network Science Collaborative Technology Alliance, the consortium will use the five-year contract to pull together more than 30 university and industrial labs to address the commone features of communication, information, social and cognitive networks.Raytheon BBN is a Cambridge-based subsidiary of Waltham-based Raytheon Co., which completed its $350 million purchase of BBN in October.Raytheon reported a net income of $490 million on revenue of $6.2 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 27.

Well now, very interesting given BBN was home of the ARPAnet years ago. This sounds like an awesome project. I will be sure to be on the look out for jobs at Raytheon BBN!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Comcast to Buy NBC Universal

CNBC is reporting that that the deal for GE to sell NBC Universal to Comcast is done.
While we’ve been anticipating a possible deal since rumors started circulating in late September, yesterday’s move by GE (the parent company of NBC) to buy Vivendi’s stake in NBC for $5.8 billion cleared the way for the Comcast deal...

What Will Comcast-NBC Mean for Hulu?

Thursday, November 12, 2009

HP to buy Marlborough's 3Com for $2.7 billion

Interesting times for sure...

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff
Computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co. will buy network equipment maker 3Com Corp. in Marlborough for $2.7 billion in a head-on challenge to Cisco Systems Inc., which dominates the network business. The deal will position HP to attack the heart of Cisco's market, and it comes only a week after Cisco teamed up with data storage titan EMC Corp. of Hopkinton to assault HP's stronghold in server computers and storage. "This is going to rock the networking world," said 3Com president Ronald Sege, adding that HP's global sales force could quickly expand 3Com's market share. 3Com is the second major Massachusetts tech company in the past month to be acquired by a Silicon Valley firm, as the tech sector reacts to decreased business spending with a wave of consolidation deals. In October, Cisco said it will pay $2.9 billion to acquire Tewksbury-based Starent Networks, a maker of network gear for cellular telephone systems. Just last week, Cisco teamed up with EMC in a joint venture to combine their computing, storage, and networking products in a play for HP's core business, enterprise computing equipment. Cisco just started making server computers this year.Tech giants are using mergers and alliances to quickly offer one-stop shopping to companies looking to save money by buying all their network products from a single vendor, instead of assembling corporate data centers one piece at a time. "It improves the efficiency, it improves the speed of deployment, and it drives costs down," said Abner Germanow, a networking analyst at IDC Corp. in Framingham. The purchase of 3Com lets HP fill holes in its product mix far more quickly than it could by developing its own product line from scratch. Although it's one of the world's leading makers of computer servers for big business, HP has so far offered only a limited range of networking hardware. Most of that has been at the "edge" of the network, like the switches that connect a roomful of PCs and printers to a corporate system. Cisco dominates the "core" market -- switches and routers that distribute the massive amounts of data streaming in to the network. With 3Com, HP gets a ready-made line of core network products to sell.
Buying 3Com "gives us critical mass in a very important market," said David Donatelli, a former top EMC executive who made a surprise move to HP in April. Donatelli will oversee 3Com in his new role as HP's executive vice president of enterprise servers and networking, and is slated to take over HP's storage operations next April, when his non-compete agreement with EMC expires. This will put him on the front line of HP's rivalry with the Cisco-EMC joint venture.The deal illustrates 3Com's return to prominence after a dramatic decline earlier in the decade. 3Com was co-founded in 1979 by Bob Metcalfe, one of the inventors of Ethernet, a networking technology that has since become a global standard. Originally based in Santa Clara, Calif., the company's line of Ethernet products made it one of the most successful technology firms of the 1990s, employing as many as 12,000 workers at its peak. Tough competition from Cisco and the 2001 collapse of the first Internet boom devastated 3Com. The company abandoned the enterprise networking market to Cisco and slashed thousands of jobs. 3Com now employs about 5,300 workers worldwide, including about 300 in Massachusetts. Sege said he did not know how the HP acquisition would affect local 3Com workers.In 2003, a much-diminished 3Com relocated to Marlborough. At about the same time, the company launched H3C, a joint venture with Chinese networking company Huawei Technologies. H3C's stable of Chinese engineers developed new high-end networking gear that was embraced by fast-growing Chinese companies, and has since attracted customers in Europe and Latin America. 3Com claims that 300 of China's 500 largest businesses use its products, along with US institutions like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.In 2006, 3Com bought out Huawei's stake in H3C. The following year, investment firm Bain Capital teamed up with Huawei on a $2.2 billion bid to acquire 3Com. But the bid was blocked by federal regulators because 3Com owns TippingPoint, a maker of network security gear used by the US Department of Defense. The regulators noted Huawei's close ties to the Chinese government, and worried that Huawei might help Chinese intelligence officials circumvent TippingPoint technology. After the Bain-Huawei deal fell apart in early 2008, 3Com focused on developing a new line of core switches and routers which it claims will outperform Cisco gear while using much less electricity. HP's Donatelli said that once the deal is consummated, his company's 300,000 workers will exclusively use 3Com gear for its networking needs.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Free Conference: Facing the Holidays While Unemployed Thursday,11/19/09 Merrimack College

Conference: Facing the Holidays While Unemployed Thursday,11/19/09 Merrimack College No Andover, MA Preregistration is required: http://careerintransitionfall2009.eventbrite.com Limit: 100 people
On Thursday, November 19, 2009 - registration begins at 8 a.m.and conference lasts until 1:00 p.m., Pressed For Success - a job search networking group – is offering a conference at Merrimack College on how to deal with holiday stresses while unemployed. The event, which takes place in Cascia Hall, is sponsored by the Office of Career Services/Cooperative Education and the Office of Alumni and Constituent Relations at Merrimack College. “Keeping It All Together Facing the Holidays” – a Career In Transition Workshop Though the holidays can cause stress for many, the coming season will be especially stressful for the unemployed. Unlike a job fair, the workshop aims to take some stress out the upcoming holidays with empowering presentations, and interactive networking. Speakers:

• Sharon Broussard, Counselor, Merrimack College – “Defining Stress, and How to deal with it”

• Arleen Bradley, Founder/Coordinator, Pressed For Success – “Volunteering as a way to handle stress”

• Al Getler, Publish, Eagle Tribune – “Knowing your self-worth”

• Cindy Loughran, Leadership Coach, CBL Associates – “How to feel as together on the inside as others look on the outside”

Online preregistration is required and will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis for the first 100 registrants at http://careerintransitionfall2009.eventbrite.com , where you can also learn more about the event. *Area businesses have donated goods for the conference.

CONTACT: For more information, email pressedforsuccess@comcast.net. About Pressed for Success Since December 2008, the group meets on Monday evenings at Merrimack College. Guest speakers, member presentations, and job skill workshops are some of the planned weekly objectives.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

“Stand Down for our Veterans”

I had the privilege to work The New England Job Show booth at the job fair, “Stand Down for our Veterans” on Wednesday at Harbor Homes Inc., in Nashua, NH. The event was dedicated to Veterans. This was a great event that offered a wide variety offered to the attendees, a nice selection of coffee and pastries for the morning crowd, live entertainment complete with country western music, a terrific lunch for the afternoon crowd consisting of a Turkey dinner complete with all the fixings, and finally free backpacks, toiletries, clothes and shoes.

The job show was present to explain how we work to help job seekers and meet with local area service organizations.

Harbor Homes serves more than 1,000 clients annually, about half are residential. We serve homeless men, women and families, people living with mental illness and veterans (male, female and family members), HIV/AIDS patients and family members, people overcoming substance abuse, low-income individuals and families, and housebound/disabled senior citizens. http://www.harborhomes.org/

The New England Job Show is an innovative grassroots project engaged in supporting and helping job seekers succeed in their job search. We produce and disseminate quality educational information and services to help unemployed individuals in the New England Region. Visit us on the web at http://www.nejs.org/.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Cisco pays $2.9 billion for Starent Networks

Most iPhone applications cost a couple of bucks. But Cisco Systems has agreed to pay $2.9 billion for a kind of mega-app of its own as the famously acquisitive San Jose networking colossus expands its stake in the smart-phone phenomenon.

Looks like Verizon will be probably moving to other Cisco networking gear as well.