MEF: Carrier Ethernet 2.0 Pioneers Pave Way for Ethernet Access Surge

First wave of CE 2.0 certified products has been announced

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Thursday, January 31st 2013 [BUSINESS WIRE/ ME NewsWire]

A surge in the number of access providers in the Ethernet community, new markets for regional providers, application-oriented SLAs, optimized mobile backhaul and cloud service delivery… these are among the benefits now on offer, according to Ihab Tarazi Chairman of the Board, MEF (MetroEthernet Forum), speaking today at the gala announcement of the first twenty vendors to offer Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certified products. Other speakers included Ethernet inventor, Bob Metcalfe, and MEF President Nan Chen.

“The companies’ achievements are a testament to their commitment to outstanding delivery for the Carrier market” said Ihab Tarazi. “Certification will enable service providers to choose equipment vendors with greater speed, clarity and certainty. CE 2.0 Certification marks a significant moment in the life of the MEF and Carrier Ethernet.”

The first twenty vendors certified are: Accedian, Altera, BTI Systems, Ciena, Cisco, Cyan, FibroLAN, Huawei, Infinera, Juniper Networks, MRV, Omnitron, Overture, PT Inovacao, Pulsecom, RAD Data Communications, Telco Systems, Tellabs, Transition Networks and Transmode.

Next generation CE 2.0 extends the original purpose of Carrier Ethernet with vital added features, including multiple classes of service, greater manageability and easier interconnect for eight standard service types, enabling new levels of efficiency for mobile backhaul, making it easier for a large number of access providers to join the Carrier Ethernet community and establish Carrier Ethernet as a business class cloud service carrier. According to Nan Chen, MEF President: “The main market drivers continue to dominate business: bandwidth growth, mobile data and LTE migration and the growth of public and private cloud computing.”

Bob Mandeville President and Founder of test lab Iometrix, responsible for MEF’s testing process, outlined the challenges of meeting the new exacting standards: “CE 2.0 is a difficult accreditation to achieve. To be recognised as CE 2.0 ceftified, each company must pass a suite that totals 634 stringent tests. Over 155 companies are now certified for CE 1.0 and the adoption signs for 2.0 are exciting. The demand for certified products and services is a driving force, and we expect a significant increase in service provider certifications not only from established markets, but also from developing economies in 2013.”

Carrier Ethernet has become the industry’s biggest success story of the past decade. For the first time this year, CE services share of bandwidth exceeded the sum total of all legacy telecoms services across the world, making it the dominant technology in the carrier space, according to Vertical Systems Group. Last year over 1.2 billion new Ethernet ports were shipped (400 million wired and 800 million wireless) according to IDC, and Frost & Sullivan, Vertical Systems and Infonetics predict a near $48+ billion services market by 2015.

Bob Metcalfe, Inventor of the Ethernet, summed up the gala certificate award ceremony, saying: “40 years after its inception, Ethernet continues to innovate. CE 2.0 gives, service providers and vendors the ability drive global interconnection and deliver a whole host of services to enterprises rapidly and with multiple classes of service and robust service level agreements. These twenty companies are the first to recognize this enormous potential. It gives them a distinct competitive advantage, as Carrier Ethernet continues to dominate and surpass all other technologies and services on the market.”

About The MEF:

The MEF is a global industry alliance comprising more than 200 organizations including telecommunications service providers, cable MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductors vendors and testing organizations. The MEF’s mission is to accelerate the worldwide adoption of Carrier-class Ethernet networks and services. The MEF develops Carrier Ethernet technical specifications and implementation agreements to promote interoperability and deployment of Carrier Ethernet worldwide.

For more information about the Forum, including a complete listing of all current MEF members, please visit the MEF web site at http://www.MetroEthernetForum.org/

Contacts

USA & International PR contact:

Zonic Group PR

Roland Daniells

+44 (0)870 760 9248

rdaniells@zonicgroup.com



EMEA:

Zonic PR EMEA

UWE Scholz

+49 172 3988 114

uscholz@zonicgroup.de



Asia Pacific:

Zonic PR Asia

Shirley Yeh

+86 21 321 00018

syeh@ZonicGroup.com

Rightware Introduces Industry’s First Top-to-Bottom Family of UI Design Software

New Kanzi 2D & 3D User Interface Solutions Expands into a Wide Range of Markets from Mobile to Automotive to Embedded Applications

ESPOO, Finland - Wednesday, January 30th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Rightware®, the leader in user interface (UI) design and implementation software, is proud to announce that the latest version of the Kanzi® UI Solution is the first release targeting the millions of graphics designers and application developers working on UI solutions for touch screens. Targeting every designer from the large corporations working on mission critical UI designs to the medium-sized design studios to the individual designers looking to try something new, this latest version of Kanzi is one of the biggest additions to Rightware since its inception, focusing on ease of use and introducing new versions of the product, targeting an even greater potential audience.

”This is one of the most significant updates we’ve made to Kanzi,” stated Jonas Geust, CEO at Rightware. ”Recognizing that Kanzi has already become mission critical technology in several verticals, we’ve started focusing on an initiative to deliver a top-to-bottom product family with high-end capabilities for both the larger and smaller design teams. Our goal is to make Kanzi the best UI development choice for everyone and the latest release is our first step towards that goal.”

Kanzi is quickly becoming just as popular a choice with key customers and partners in the car industry as it is in the consumer electronics industry. Kanzi combines a powerful Kanzi Studio, a UI content creation tool running on PC, with a resource efficient cross platform graphics and user interface engine, Kanzi Engine, in one complete package. This is a complete solution for rapid creation and immediate deployment of advanced 2D and 3D graphical user interfaces for mobile, automotive, set-top-box, smart TV and other embedded devices.

“The User Interface and Infotainment System has become key differentiator among luxury cars, whether it's delivering the necessary information to the driver or offering state-of-the-art entertainment options to the passengers,” said Mathias Halliger, head of architecture, MMI system at Audi. “Our deep relationship with Rightware, demonstrates how we are able to continue to lead the industry in infotainment and instrument cluster design. We are excited about the continuous progress that Kanzi has shown, and we are thrilled it will continue to be a part of our award-winning infotainment systems."

Kanzi has played a key role in revolutionizing the in-dash infotainment system in the automotive industry, with design wins at Audi and other leading car manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers as well as several smartphone and tablet manufacturers. The company is looking to expand aggressively into new and emerging markets including, entertainment, mobile tablet, smart TVs and other embedded verticals.

Significant new Kanzi features include:

    All new 3D model import from industry standard FBX and Collada formats

    Accurate and flexible presentation of text using 3D and 2D UI controls

    Layout system extended for 2D UI layers including stack and grid controls

    Proportional layouts to support UI deployment to diverse screen sizes

    Hardware texture compression supporting now ATC, ETC and DXT

    Precise rendering of transparency using pre-multiplied alpha

Features for usability and productivity:

    Context-sensitive access to reference documentation and new quick tutorials

    Video tutorials to support early learning

    Visual editing of the UI project with real time preview tools

    Quick access to materials in new material library

    Many more improvements to project navigation, event triggers, animation editor…

Refactored features:

    Easy creation of shadows with shadow map composer

    Accurate and fast rendering of reflections with cube-map composer

    User defined custom composers for post-processing effects such as motion blur

    Significantly reduced run time memory consumption with new resource management

“We are incredibly proud of this release,” stated Ville Illves, COO at Rightware. “Last year we took a deeper look at what designers and developers wanted, and began working based on their feedback. It took hard work to do this while keeping the intuitive and easy-to-use design that makes Kanzi desireable. We are sure that designers and developers are happy with the progress that we’ve made thus far.”

The New Product Family

There are three opportunities to license Kanzi:

    Rightware Kanzi 2.6 Trial– 30-day free trial for Android development

    Rightware Kanzi 2.6 Pro version - $999 for Android development with optional iOS development package

    Rightware Kanzi 2.6 Enterprise version - $10,999 for application and embedded product development on Windows, Android, Linux and QNX

For a complete list of products and features, please visit: http://www.rightware.com/kanzi-ui-solutions/

To download the free and feature-packed Kanzi for creating interactive applications, visit http://www.rightware.com/kanzi-ui-solutions/download-kanzi/

About Rightware

Rightware® is the market leader in advanced User Interface technology, serving mobile, automotive and other embedded industries with its Kanzi® solution for rapid user interface design and deployment. Rightware also develops industry leading system performance analysis tools and its renowned product portfolio includes the Basemark™ product family for various benchmarking purposes, including industry standard benchmarks for OpenGL ES, OpenVG, OpenCL, Android, Linux, and Windows Mobile performance measurement. Rightware is headquartered in Espoo, Finland and has offices in Saratoga, CA, Shanghai and Munich. More information: www.rightware.com

Rightware and Kanzi are trademarks or registered trademarks solely owned and controlled by Rightware Oy and are protected by applicable trademark law, and may not be used to any extent without the express prior written consent of Rightware Oy in each instance. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Contacts

Rightware Contact:

Derek Perez, +1-408-391-6454

derek.perez@rightware.com

Japan Smart City Portal, Providing Information on the Latest Trends in Japan's Smart City Verification Experiments, Enhanced to Send Information to the World

Information on the Latest Trends in the Verification Experiment Taking Place in Yokohama, Toyota, Keihanna (Kyoto) and Kitakyushu Provided in English, Chinese and Japanese.



TOKYO - Thursday, January 31st 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Next-Generation Energy and Social Systems Verification Experiment projects aimed at establishing smart cities and smart communities are proceeding in Japan. Japan Smart City Portal is the portal site for providing information on the latest trends in these projects. Introductions to a wide range of initiatives, including the verified results of Demand Response (DR) projects and V2H (Vehicle to Home) projects implemented in the summer of 2012 are available for access onhttp://jscp.nepc.or.jp/en/ in the English language, http://jscp.nepc.or.jp/cn/ in the Chinese language, and http://jscp.nepc.or.jp/ in the Japanese language.

The Next-Generation Energy and Social Systems Verification Experiment is an initiative being carried out by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in order to establish smart grids, smart cities and smart communities. In addition to providing visibility over the supply and demand of energy, this initiative involves a diverse range of themes, including controlling home appliance and water heating equipment, etc., issuing DR, the use of V2H, HEMS (Home Energy Management Systems) or BEMS (Building Energy Management Systems), and the use of CEMS (Community Energy Management Systems) in order to optimize the use of energy throughout entire areas.

Four areas were selected to take part in this verification experiment—City of Yokohama, Toyota City, Keihanna Science City (official name: Kansai Science City) and City of Kitakyushu—and experiments will be carried out on various aspects, from technology through to organization and business models.

Japan Smart City Portal (JSCP) provides articles in the Japanese, English and Chinese languages in order to provide the world with information on the technology related to Japan's smart grids, smart cities and smart communities. JSCP is operated by the New Energy Promotion Council (http://www.nepc.or.jp/) to promote the verification experiment.

For more information, Visit the Japan Smart City Portal. English Version = http://jscp.nepc.or.jp/en/, Chinese Version = http://jscp.nepc.or.jp/cn/, Japanese Version = http://jscp.nepc.or.jp/

Contacts

Inquiry Forms:

English: https://bpcgi.nikkeibp.co.jp/form-cgi/formhtml.cgi?form=jscp1209en/index.html

Chinese: https://bpcgi.nikkeibp.co.jp/form-cgi/formhtml.cgi?form=jscp1209cn/index.html

Japanese: https://bpcgi.nikkeibp.co.jp/form-cgi/formhtml.cgi?form=jscp1206/index.html









Permalink: http://me-newswire.net/news/6832/en

Lenovo Reports Third Quarter 2012/13 Results

HONG KONG - Thursday, January 31st 2013 [ME NewsWire]

    Records in pre-tax income of US$246 million and earnings of US$205 million
    Record quarterly sales of US$9.4 billion
    Record 14.1 million PC shipments and record 15.9 percent global market share
    Basic EPS of 1.99 US cents, or 15.42 HK cents
    Net cash reserves of US$4.2 billion (as of December 31, 2012)

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Lenovo Group today reported results for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2012. In its best quarter ever, Lenovo continued to outgrow the market in all geographies with record sales, pre-tax income and earnings. Lenovo continued its push towards becoming the world’s leading PC maker and emerging global leader in PC Plus devices, with another quarterly sales record of $9.4 billion, an 12 percent year-over-year increase.

For 13 consecutive quarters, Lenovo has been the fastest growing major PC company. Lenovo was also recognized by IDC as the world’s third largest maker of “smart connected devices,” such as tablets, PCs and smartphones. At the same time, Lenovo had another quarter of record pre-tax income at US$246 million, demonstrating that such rapid growth is being achieved while profits increase.

Lenovo’s third quarter earnings were also a record at US$205 million, an increase of 34 percent over the last year, with gross margin at 11.8 percent. Gross profit for the third fiscal quarter increased 15 percent year-over-year, to US$1.1 billion, while operating profit for the third quarter was US$243 million, a 26 percent increase year-over-year. Basic earnings per share for the third fiscal quarter was 1.99 US cents, or 15.42 HK cents. Net cash reserves as of December 31, 2012, totaled US$4.2 billion.

The Company’s ‘Protect and Attack’ strategy – protecting the two profit pools of global commercial PC and the China businesses, while attacking three high growth opportunities in emerging markets, global consumer and PC Plus products, such as smartphones, tablets and smart TVs – continued to deliver results. This quarter, Attack businesses delivered 50 percent of the Company’s revenues, a significant increase from four years ago when the Company first launched the strategy and attack revenues were 32 percent. Further demonstrating the Company’s balance, its Mobile Internet and Digital Home (MIDH) revenues, which includes its smartphone, tablet and smart TV businesses, accounted for a record 11 percent of Company revenue this quarter, up 77 percent year over year. And for the first time, its smartphone business in China became profitable.

During the third fiscal quarter, Lenovo’s worldwide PC shipments grew 7.9 percent to an all time high of 15.9 percent* marketshare, in a difficult market that was down 7.8 percent year-over-year. This was the 15th quarter in a row the Company grew faster than the industry. Lenovo gained share points in every geography and every product category and in every respective customer segment.

While the Company’s organic growth continues to drive the majority of its success, shareholders should note that Lenovo has closed the joint venture and acquisitions announced in the previous two quarters, including its strategic partnership with EMC that includes a joint venture in EMC’s Iomega business; its acquisition of CCE, a leading PC+company in Brazil, and its acquisition of Stoneware, a US-based cloud computing company. Further, the Company reports that integration of all mergers and acquisitions transactions announced in the last three years are well on-track, and in many cases ahead of schedule.

Lenovo recently realigned its product development and supply chain organizations to create two new groups: the Lenovo Business Group, which will focus on mainstream PCs, mobile internet and digital home products; and the Think Business Group, which will focus on Think-branded products targeting high-end consumers and enterprises. Today, Lenovo is twice as large and much more diverse than it was when its existing structure was established over four years ago. That structure was ideal in supporting Lenovo’s business when it was mostly focused on its China PC and global commercial PC business. Today, the Company has built strong consumer, mobile and emerging markets businesses globally, so the change was proactively initiated to drive continued performance across all of these businesses, stay ahead of consumer demands, while driving speed, agility and innovation.

The recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas continued to show that innovation is a significant competitive advantage and future growth driver for Lenovo. The Company was recognized with a record 50 awards at CES, including several “Best in Show” acknowledgments. A robust pipeline of innovative products including the IdeaCentre Horizon - a 27-inch table top PC; ThinkPad Helix - Lenovo’s latest convertible PC designed for business professionals; and the Intel-powered, K900 smartphone are well positioned to continue to stoke new customer demand and drive Lenovo’s performance.

"With the strong execution of our 'Protect and Attack' strategy, Lenovo has not only achieved record revenue, profit and global PC market share last quarter, but also our smartphone and tablet businesses have delivered hyper growth. Even more, our worldwide tablet and China smartphone businesses have become profitable," said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO, Lenovo Group. "As we continue into the PC Plus era, Lenovo has already laid a solid foundation. Our new organization will provide the structure to elevate our diversified business and drive it to the next level. We are confident that we can win through differentiation and will be the innovation leader in the PC Plus era."

GEOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW

    Lenovo China achieved US$4.1 billion in consolidated sales in the third fiscal quarter, an increase of 17 percent year-over-year, accounting for 43 percent of the Company’s worldwide sales. Lenovo’s PC Plus strategy fueled outstanding performance in China with 83 percent MIDH revenue growth and a revenue contribution in China of 22 percent. The Company achieved an important milestone with China smartphone achieving profitability for the first time. Lenovo grew its number-one PC market share position in China, the world’s largest PC market, to 36.7 percent, up 1.4 points year-over-year. Lenovo’s PC shipments in China grew two percent year-over-year in the quarter, a solid result given that the overall China PC market was down two percent.
    In the Asia Pacific/Latin America region, Lenovo achieved 11.3 percent market share in the third fiscal quarter, up marginally year-over-year. In a PC market that was down nine percent year-over-year, the Company grew its PC shipments across the region by four percent. Lenovo continued its run as the leading PC vendor in Japan. Consolidated sales across the region totaled US$1.7 billion for 18 percent of Lenovo’s worldwide sales, while operating margins continued to be profitable.
    Lenovo in Europe Middle East & Africa grew PC shipments by 25.5 percent and became the second largest PC seller in this region, with 11 percent market share, an increase of 3.2 share points year-over-year. This was the Company’s first ever quarter to reach the number two position in the region. These achievements were made despite the headwind of overall industry decline in shipments of 11 percent across the region. The Company had consolidated sales in the third quarter of US$2.3 billion, a year-over-year improvement of 17 percent, good for 25 percent of Lenovo’s total worldwide sales.
    Lenovo’s PC shipments in North America in the third fiscal quarter increased 11 percent year-over-year, in a market that fell by about seven percent. In this environment, the Company gained 1.5 share points to a record high market share of nine percent. Consolidated sales grew eight percent year-over-year to US$1.3 billion in the third quarter, or 14 percent of Lenovo’s total worldwide sales. Also, for the first time in North America, Lenovo made significant inroads into the high-end consumer space, taking a large slice of sales of Windows 8 powered convertible devices – including 30 percent share of the US$700-and-above market and 45 percent share of the US$900-and-above market.

PRODUCT OVERVIEW

    In Laptop PCs, the Company’s worldwide shipments during the third fiscal quarter were up 9.5 percent year-over-year, helping Lenovo gain 2.6 share points and achieve market share of 15.8 percent. Across the industry, laptop shipments were down 8.6 percent year-over-year. Lenovo’s laptop computers continued to be the largest contributor to the Company’s sales worldwide, generating 52 percent of Lenovo’s total sales revenue. Consolidated sales for Lenovo’s laptop PC business worldwide in the third fiscal quarter totaled US$4.8 billion, an increase of eight percent year-over-year. During the third quarter, Lenovo took the industry by storm, announcing a new family of convertible devices, touch optimized for Windows 8: the 11” and 13” Yogas, IdeaPad Lynx and ThinkPad Twist. Lenovo also announced ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch, adding touch experience to the industry’s leading business-class Ultrabook, and ThinkPad Twist, a business-ready device that puts a new spin on the traditional convertible tablet.
    Lenovo’s consolidated sales of Desktop PCs worldwide increased one percent year-over-year in the third fiscal quarter to US$2.8 billion, or 30 percent of Lenovo’s total sales revenue. The Company’s desktop PC shipments worldwide in the third quarter increased 5.8 percent year-over-year worldwide, compared to an overall industry decrease of 6.8 percent. As a result, Lenovo gained 1.9 share points year-over-year and achieved a record-high market share of 16.1 percent. During the third quarter, Lenovo announced its new IdeaCentre Q190, the world’s smallest full-function desktop PC – measuring just 22mm (0.86 inches) wide – and the latest additions to the C-series all-in-one (AIO) family, featuring affordable, but powerful performance, and multimedia capabilities designed for immersive entertainment.
    As China’s second-largest provider of smartphones and tablets, Lenovo’s MIDH group continues to rapidly build its business. With consolidated sales of US$998 million, a 77 percent year-over-year increase in the third fiscal quarter, MIDH contributed 11 percent to the Company’s overall sales. Year over year, Lenovo gained 4.7 share points in the China smartphone market in the third quarter for an overall market share of 12.3 percent in China. This business achieved profitability as well. During the third quarter, Lenovo announced that it would begin selling smartphones in Russia, in addition to previously announced India, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. These five countries plus China, represent 44 percent of the world’s population, and give Lenovo a strong sales presence in these important emerging economies.

ABOUT LENOVO

Lenovo (HKSE: 0992) (PINK SHEETS: LNVGY) is a US$30 billion personal technology company – one of the top two PC makers in the world and an emerging PC Plus leader – serving customers in more than 160 countries. Dedicated to building exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet devices, Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly-efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the Company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo, a global Fortune 500 company, has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.

*See IDC data, 4Q 2012
                                                     

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

For the third quarter ended December 31, 2012


(in US$ millions, except per share data)
                                                     
                                                     
           

Q3 12/13
               

Q3 11/12
               

Y/Y CHG
   

Sales
         

9,359
               

8,372
               

12
   

%

Gross Profit
         

1,101
               

954
               

15
   

%

Gross Profit Margin
         

11.8
   

%
         

11.4
   

%
         

0.4
   

pt

Operating Expenses
         

(858
   

)
         

(761
   

)
         

13
   

%

Expenses-to-Revenue Ratio
         

9.2
   

%
         

9.1
   

%
         

0.1
   

pt

Operating Profit
         

243
               

193
               

26
   

%

Other Non-Operating Expenses
         

3
               

(1
   

)
         

NA
   

Pre-tax Income
         

246
               

192
               

28
   

%

Taxation
         

(46
   

)
         

(38
   

)
         

22
   

%

Profit for the period
         

200
               

154
               

30
   

%

Non-controlling interests
         

5
               

(1
   

)
         

NA
   

Profit attributable to equity holders
         

205
               

153
               

34
   

%

EPS (US cents)
                                                   

Basic
         

1.99
               

1.50
               

0.49
   

Diluted
         

1.96
               

1.46
               

0.50
   

Contacts

Lenovo Group

Hong Kong:

Angela Lee, +852 2516 4810

angelalee@lenovo.com



or

Beijing:

Amy Shi, +8610 5886 8982

shixy2@lenovo.com



or

U.S.:

Brion Tingler, +1 917-528-1992

btingler@lenovo.com

Toshiba's Shozo Saito Gives the Speech at World Semiconductor Summit in Tokyo

World Semiconductor Summit in Tokyo 2013

ME Newswire / Business Wire

TOKYO - Wednesday, January 30th 2013

Toshiba Corporation(TOKYO: 6502) today announced that Shozo Saito, Corporate Senior Executive Vice President responsible for Toshiba Group's electronic components business, will be a featured speaker at the World Semiconductor Summit in Tokyo 2013, on Wednesday, February 6.

Mr. Saito will speak on "Toshiba's Semiconductor and Storage Products Strategy and Renovation of the Semiconductor Industry in Japan." He will introduce Toshiba's strategies for total innovation in storage in the coming age of smart communities and, in his capacity as Chairperson of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), propose a business model for revitalizing Japan's semiconductor industry and winning back a greater share of the world semiconductor market.


Speech at World Semiconductor Summit in Tokyo 2013
           

Date:
         

Wednesday, February 6
           

Time:
         

13:30-14:20
           

Venue:
         

Kokuyo Hall, Shinagawa, Tokyo
           

Subject:
         

Toshiba's Semiconductor and Storage Products Strategy, and the Renovation of the Semiconductor Industry in Japan
           

URL1:
         

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/SEMINAR/20121207/255215/

           

Note:
         
           

[1] Japanese Only
                       

About Toshiba

Toshiba is a world-leading diversified manufacturer, solutions provider and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products and systems. Toshiba Group brings innovation and imagination to a wide range of businesses: digital products, including LCD TVs, notebook PCs, retail solutions and MFPs; electronic devices, including semiconductors, storage products and materials; industrial and social infrastructure systems, including power generation systems, smart community solutions, medical systems and escalators & elevators; and home appliances. Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 550 consolidated companies, with 202,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing 6.1 trillion yen (US$74 billion). Visit Toshiba's web site at www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm

Information in the document, including product prices and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current on the date of the press announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice.

Contacts

Toshiba Semiconductor & Storage Products Company

Megumi Genchi / Kunio Noguchi, +81-3-3457-3367

semicon-NR-mailbox@ml.toshiba.co.jp

KT Selects Tekelec’s Market-Leading Policy Server for LTE and 3G Networks

MORRISVILLE, N.C. - Wednesday, January 30th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- South Korean mobile operator KT is deploying Tekelec’s market-leadingPolicy Server (PCRF)for its LTE and 3G networks. The Policy Server will support KT’s new Voice over LTE (VoLTE) offering, LTE data plans and Rich Communication Suite (RCS) service.

South Korea is the world’s second largest LTE market and one of the most advanced mobile markets in the world. Five months after launching its service, KT exceeded one million LTE subscribers. The operator exceeded three million LTE subscribers in mid-November and four million by the end of 2012. About 63 percent of KT’s 3G and LTE subscribers use smartphones and in December the operator released Apple’s iPhone® 5, which has gained sensational popularity.

Tekelec’s Policy Server will support daily and monthly quota tracking for a variety of services, including voice, Internet usage, file transfer, instant messaging, and video telephony. The daily tracking will give KT new flexibility to offer per diem packages and service options across 3G, LTE and RCS services – a rarity in the industry.

“KT is providing the fastest nationwide LTE network in Korea, with innovative data plans including Voice over LTE, Rich Communications Suite, video services and more,” said Mr. Ji Yung-Ha, Vice President, Mobile Network Business Unit, Network Group of KT. “Tekelec’s Policy Server plays a critical role by allowing us to rapidly create and launch profitable mobile data services.”

“KT’s new LTE services enrich the subscriber experience and give customers new advanced options for communications services and mobile data applications,” said Houck Reed, vice president of product management and marketing at Tekelec. “As the brain of LTE and 3G networks, Tekelec’s Policy Server will enable KT to take advantage of new business models that extend policy enforcement to the mobile device and offer policy as a service to over-the-top application providers.”

The deal expands Tekelec’s policy footprint to a new country in the Asia-Pacific region. The company has additional customers in India, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Globally, Tekelec policy solutions serve more than 60 service providers, including more than 50 Tier 1 providers, in 35 countries. In October,Current Analysis named Tekelec a leader in the PCRF market and said, “the Tekelec Policy Server still sets the standard in the industry against which all other policy controllers are measured.” In July, industry analyst firm Analysys Mason named Tekelec the leading independent policy market vendor by share for the third consecutive year.

Supporting Resources

Intelligent Policy: The Key To Solving LTE's Unique Challenges white paper

Why Tekelec for Policy: Key Considerations in Selecting a Next-Generation Policy Server

Policy Everywhere: A Strategic Imperative for Digital Lifestyle Providers white paper

Policy Server product brief

Mobile Policy Gateway product brief

Application Manager product brief

Policy Analytics product brief

About Tekelec

Tekelec’s intelligent mobile broadband solutions enable service providers to manage and monetize mobile data and evolve to LTE and IMS. We are the architects of the new Diameter network, the foundation for session, policy and subscriber data management. More than 300 service providers use our market-leading solutions to deliver cloud, machine-to-machine and personalized services to consumers and enterprises. For more information visit www.tekelec.com.

Contacts

Tekelec

Adam Parken, +1-919-653-9681

Senior Manager, Marketing Communications

adam.parken@tekelec.com

Toshiba Launches Interface Bridge with Backlight Level Controller for LCD Displays for Mobile Devices

Reduces power consumption by optimizing intensity of display backlight

TOKYO - Wednesday, January 30th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO:6502) has launched MIPI-DSI to LVDS interface-converter bridge LSIs with a backlight level controller for LCD displays that are suited to use in mobile devices, such as tablet PCs and UltrabooksTM. The new line-up includes support for panel resolutions up to WUXGA (1920 x 1200) at 24bit/60fps. Samples will be available from March with mass production scheduled to start in August 2013. The new products drastically reduce the power consumption of mobile devices by optimizing the brightness of the LCD display backlighting to meet ambient light conditions. The LSIs are also able to maintain image detail in darker areas of the display by analyzing and processing brightness data in lighter and darker areas of the image.

Key Features

    Reduces mobile device power consumption by optimizing display backlighting to meet ambient light conditions.
    Maintains image detail in darker areas of the display by analyzing and processing brightness data in lighter and darker areas of the image.
    Reduces LSI power consumption with a 1.8V LVDS operating system.
    Maximum 1Gbps/lane link speed MIPI-DSI interface
    Maximum 945Mbps/lane link speed LVDS interface
    Supports RGB565/666/888 video input formats.

Applications

Conversion interface between the main SoC and the LCD of mobile devices, such as tablet PCs and UltrabooksTM.


Main specifications

Part number
         

TC358771XBG
         

TC358772XBG

Maximum resolution support
         

1600 x 1200 (24bit, 60fps)
         

1920 x 1200 (24bit, 60fps)

MIPI-DSI input lane
         

Four lanes
         

Four lanes

LVDS output link
         

Single Link
         

Dual Links

Package
         

FBGA49 5mmx5mm, 0.65mm pitch
         

FBGA64 6mmx6mm, 0.65mm pitch

Sample schedule
         

April 2013
         

March 2013

Mass production schedule
         

August 2013
         

September 2013
                       

*UltrabookTM is a trademark of Intel Corporation.


Information in this document, including product prices and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current on the date of the announcement but is subject to change without prior notice.


About Toshiba Toshiba is a world-leading diversified manufacturer, solutions provider and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products and systems. Toshiba Group brings innovation and imagination to a wide range of businesses: digital products, including LCD TVs, notebook PCs, retail solutions and MFPs; electronic devices, including semiconductors, storage products and materials; industrial and social infrastructure systems, including power generation systems, smart community solutions, medical systems and escalators & elevators; and home appliances.

Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 550 consolidated companies, with 202,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing 6.1 trillion yen (US$74 billion). Visit Toshiba's web site at www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm

Contacts

Toshiba Corporation

Semiconductor & Storage Products Company

Koji Takahata, +81-3-3457-3405

semicon-NR-mailbox@ml.toshiba.co.jp

 

Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. Achieves Two Million Hours Worked Without a Lost Time Injury

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Wednesday, January 30th 2013 [BUSINESS WIRE/ ME NewsWire]

Structural Integrity Associates, Inc.employees reached a new safety milestone this month of working two million consecutive hours of safe work performance without an injury causing lost time.

“As a medium-sized business, this means our nearly 250 employees have safely worked 4 years 4 months and counting without a lost time injury,” said Laney Bisbee, CEO of Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. “This is a significant milestone for Structural Integrity because of the unique and multi-employer environments we work in including nuclear, fossil, and hydro power plants, and in gas pipeline facilities. The most important aspect of this milestone is that we could not have accomplished this goal without the dedication of our employees working safely each and every day.”

In the energy industry, employees, such as Structural Integrity’s, work in high-risk environments requiring mental and physical astuteness. Environments include working in confined spaces, excavations, mountainous terrain, locations requiring fall protection, and performing inspections in environments with extreme temperature ranges.

Safety is one of the company’s core values. The program’s overall objective is to instill a proactive approach towards safety to eliminate and control workplace hazards. This proactive approach has led to the safe completion of over 3500 projects within the United States and internationally. “Safety within Structural Integrity is continuously evolving and management’s commitment plus the increase in employee involvement has helped Structural Integrity’s safety motto, Safety First: Every time. Every place. Every one. not be just a slogan but a reality,” says Chuck Danesi, Manager, Corporate Safety.

About Structural Integrity Associates, Inc.

Structural Integrity Associates, Inc.is an internationally recognized engineering consulting company in the prevention and control of structural and mechanical failures, with a strong presence in the power generation industry. With headquarters in San Jose, CA, Structural Integrity serves clients worldwide through branch offices located throughout the US and Canada, as well as through affiliates located in China, Japan, Korea, and Spain. Structural Integrity’s engineering expertise encompasses a broad range of issues critical to the success of nuclear, fossil and combined cycle power plants, as well as oil and gas pipelines.

Contacts

Structural Integrity Associates, Inc.

Vicki Douglass, 877-474-7693

Structural Integrity Associates, Inc.

info@structint.com

Silver Spring Networks and Streetlight Vision Partner to Deliver Smart City Solution

IPv6-based Public Lighting Network Solution Lowers Costs, Improves Maintenance Operations, Reduces Energy Consumption and Enables a New Generation of Smart City Applications

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Tuesday, January 29th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE/ME NewsWire)-- Silver Spring Networks, a leading networking platform and solutions provider for smart energy networks, today announced a strategic partnership with Streetlight.Vision, the leader in streetlight control and monitoring software, to deliver a Smart City solution enabling operators to more efficiently and reliably operate their lighting networks while creating a city-wide IPv6-based communications and monitoring network for any other city equipment, including traffic light control, parking meters, environmental sensors and infrastructure monitoring. Up to 40% of a municipality’s energy spending is on streetlights. Smart public lighting networks can drive reductions of more than 40% in streetlight energy consumption and can lower overall system costs by 30%. Silver Spring and Streetlight.Vision have already demonstrated the efficacy of the solutions in the field and are targeting lighting operators globally who are looking to more effectively manage their public lighting infrastructure and reduce streetlight energy consumption.

“Our proven IPv6 networking platform and extensive experience designing and operating massive-scale outdoor networks under the most demanding conditions allows us to expand support for any number of applications. As we move towards the ‘Everything Network™,’ smart street lighting, traffic control, and the broader range of Smart City infrastructure is a perfect fit with that experience,” said Eric Dresselhuys, Executive Vice President of Global Development, Silver Spring Networks. “By partnering with market leaders such as Streetlight.Vision we’re establishing an open, interoperable foundation for infrastructure operators to provide smarter, more intelligent, and more cost-effective services to citizens.”

“As the leader in managing smart lighting software, we know the challenging environments, high standards required and customer’s expectations in many countries. We are delighted to partner with Silver Spring and have long appreciated their pioneering solutions,” said Christophe Orceau, General Manager of Streetlight.Vision. “Silver Spring’s IPv6 city-wide network and industry-leading innovation will not only enable municipalities to save energy and increase outdoor lighting maintenance efficiency but also enable a new generation of smart street applications not effectively served by legacy solutions.”

Energy provider and street lighting operator Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E), with operations in the central United States, recognizes the value of this combined solution. “This solution is the only technically effective answer we have seen to delivering the monitoring and control so critical to efficiently managing public lighting,” said Ken Grant, Managing Director at OG&E. “We look forward to working with Silver Spring and Streetlight.Vision to test this solution that could improve quality and reduce costs for our customers.”

Silver Spring is unique in its ability to provide a high-performance IPv6-based network that establishes a communications foundation for all of a city’s assets regardless of distribution topology. Its high-bandwidth capabilities enable support for a myriad of applications including smart energy metering, smart street lighting, environmental sensors, traffic signals, electric vehicles, information panels, and parking meters, among others. Silver Spring’s unified networking and software solution provides a much higher endpoint to concentrator ratio, ensures higher levels of reliability, enables broader geographic coverage, and is more cost-effective than existing solutions.

Join the Silver Spring Networks Conversation

•             Follow @SilverSpringNet on Twitter

•             Like Silver Spring Networks on Facebook at www.facebook.com/silverspringnetworks

About Silver Spring Networks

Silver Spring Networks is a leading networking platform and solutions provider for smart energy networks. With its pioneering IPv6 networking platform, Silver Spring has connected more than 13 million homes and businesses throughout the world with the goal of achieving greater energy efficiency for the planet. Silver Spring’s innovative products enable utilities to gain efficiencies, integrate renewable energy sources, and empower customers to monitor and manage energy consumption. Silver Spring Networks is used by major utilities around the globe including Baltimore Gas & Electric, CitiPower & Powercor, Commonwealth Edison, CPFL Energia, Florida Power & Light, Jemena Electricity Networks Limited, Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Pepco Holdings, Inc. among others. For more information please visit www.silverspringnet.com.

________________________________________

Contacts

Silver Spring Networks

Noel Hartzell, 650-298-4184

Global Communications

nhartzell@silverspringnet.com

________________________________________

Permalink: http://www.me-newswire.net/news/6812/en

Silver Spring Networks Introduces Next-Generation Smart Grid Solutions Atop One Network Platform

Silver Spring Showcases Innovative New Applications and Expanded Ecosystem at Utility Market’s Largest Smart Grid Expo

SAN DIEGO - Wednesday, January 30th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

DistribuTECH 2013

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition – Today at the utility industry’s leading smart grid conference and exposition, Silver Spring Networks extended its Smart Energy Platform with new Demand Side Management and Distribution Automation solutions, and expanded the tools, services and membership of its broad partner ecosystem. Silver Spring, a leading networking platform and solutions provider for smart energy networks, has connected more than 13 million homes and businesses worldwide with its IPv6 networking platform. Silver Spring is now extending its high-performance IPv6 networking platform to establish a communications and monitoring foundation for a variety of Smart City solutions as more devices become connected to the Everything Network™.

“Silver Spring’s open IPv6 networking platform enables utilities to unlock more value from their smart grid investments through the rapid deployment of many next-generation applications such as high-precision Demand Response, transformer monitoring, automated analytics and more,” said Scott Lang, Chairman, President & CEO, Silver Spring Networks. “Building on our heritage of successfully designing, deploying and operating massive-scale outdoor networks, we are also seeing new and exciting Smart City applications such as intelligent street lighting as we pave the way on the road to the Everything Network.”

Key highlights of Silver Spring’s news at DistribuTech 2013 include:

End-to-End DSM Portfolio

Today Silver Spring expanded its Demand Side Management (DSM) portfolio with the introduction of the new UtilityIQ™ Demand Optimizer solution, an innovative Demand Response Management System that helps utilities manage peak load, implement real-time demand response initiatives, and optimize load across all DR programs and customer segments. Silver Spring’s end-to-end DSM portfolio helps utilities who are increasingly looking to DSM programs and technologies to increase customer satisfaction, meet more stringent regulatory requirements, reduce peak consumption, manage new sources of demand and generation, and improve their bottom lines. To read today’s complete announcement visit www.silverspringnet.com/newsevents/demandoptimizer.

Advanced Distribution Automation Solutions

Today Silver Spring further extended its Distribution Automation (DA) portfolio by unveiling a new Transformer Monitoring solution providing utilities real-time visibility into the performance of their distribution and substation transformers. Real-time transformer-level monitoring of temperature, current, and voltage enables utilities to pinpoint problem spots on the grid, proactively minimizing outages, and identify both technical and non-technical losses, improving energy efficiency. Utilities deploying DA solutions atop a standards-based network that also supports advanced metering (AMI) and other smart grid initiatives benefit from significant capital and operational savings. Silver Spring’s DA offerings also include advanced fault location grid sensors, secure IPv6-based bridges, a turn-key Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) solution, a power monitoring application, and network automation software. To read today’s complete announcement visit www.silverspringnet.com/newsevents/transformermonitoring.

Expanding Silver Spring’s Broad Open Ecosystem

Today Silver Spring announced that it is delivering new tools and services to speed integration testing for partners and it is welcoming many new members to the global Silver Spring Partner Program. Silver Spring’s open standards leadership provides customers extensive choice and has enabled utilities of all sizes and across all geographies to deploy the widest array of smart grid applications atop a common platform. Silver Spring and more than 30 of its partners are showcasing their innovations at DistribuTECH 2013. To read today’s complete announcement visit www.silverspringnet.com/newsevents/partnergrowth.

Intelligent Streetlights: Smart City Solutions for the ‘Everything Network’

Silver Spring recently announced a strategic partnership with Streetlight.Vision, the leader in streetlight control and monitoring software, to deliver a Smart City solution enabling operators to more efficiently and reliably operate their lighting networks while creating a city-wide IPv6-based communications and monitoring network for any other city equipment, including traffic light control, parking meters, environmental sensors, and the broader range of Smart City infrastructure. Silver Spring’s proven IPv6 networking platform and extensive experience designing and operating massive-scale outdoor networks under the most demanding conditions position it well to expand support for a variety of Smart City applications. Silver Spring and Streetlight.Vision have already demonstrated the efficacy of the solutions in the field and are targeting lighting operators globally who are looking to more effectively manage their public lighting infrastructure and reduce streetlight energy consumption. To read the complete announcement visit www.silverspringnet.com/newsevents/streetlights.

To learn more about these next-generation technologies and more visit Silver Spring at DistribuTECH 2013 at Booth # 1412, Exhibit Hall G.

Join the Silver Spring Networks Conversation

    Follow @SilverSpringNet on Twitter

    Like Silver Spring Networks on Facebook at www.facebook.com/silverspringnetworks

About Silver Spring Networks

Silver Spring Networks is a leading networking platform and solutions provider for smart energy networks. With its pioneering IPv6 networking platform, Silver Spring has connected more than 13 million homes and businesses throughout the world with the goal of achieving greater energy efficiency for the planet. Silver Spring’s innovative products enable utilities to gain efficiencies, integrate renewable energy sources, and empower customers to monitor and manage energy consumption. Silver Spring Networks is used by major utilities around the globe including Baltimore Gas & Electric, CitiPower & Powercor, Commonwealth Edison, CPFL Energia, Florida Power & Light, Jemena Electricity Networks Limited, Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Pepco Holdings, Inc. among others. For more information please visit www.silverspringnet.com.

Contacts

Silver Spring Networks

Noel Hartzell, 650-298-4184

Global Communications

nhartzell@silverspringnet.com