Telco round-up (May 15, 2009)

AT&T is to pay $2.35 billion in cash to buy the bulk of wireless spectrum and other assets that its US cellular rival Verizon was obliged to sell as a condition of its recent acquisition of rural mobile operator Alltel Wireless. AT&T will acquire licences, network assets and 1.5 million subscribers in 79 mainly rural service areas across 18 states. Verizon Wireless must sell spectrum covering a total of 105 markets where its services overlap with the former Alltel networks. AT&T expects to spend $400 million in 2009/10 converting Verizon’s CDMA infrastructure to GSM technology.

Cablevision Systems reported net profit of $19.98 million for the first three months of 2009, from a net loss of $28.7 million in Q1 2008. The company added 30,000 net new subscribers to its broadband services, with 2.48 million subscriptions in total. The cableco also saw revenues boosted by growth in its digital voice service, Optimum, which added 52,000 net new customers, ending the quarter with 1.93 million subscriptions. Cablevision has plans to roll out a new broadband access plan with a maximum download rate of 101Mbps across its network. The company is deploying DOCSIS 3.0 technology, which will also allow it to provide upload speeds of up to 15Mbps. The new service will cost $99.95 per month. Cablevision also announced plans to double the speed of its Wi-Fi wireless broadband service, which is free to existing fixed broadband subscribers.

Charter Communications posted revenues of $1.66 billion for the first quarter of 2009, a 6.3% increase on the same period a year earlier. Broadband revenues climbed 9.6% to $360 million, with the company ending the quarter with 2.95 million broadband customers, an increase of 71,900 in three months.

Clearwire, 51% owned by Sprint Nextel, reported a narrowing of first-quarter losses to $71.06 million. Clearwire, which has launched commercial WiMAX in Baltimore and Portland, Oregon, reported that it added 25,000 subscribers in the first quarter, bringing its total base to 500,000 (up 57,000 year-on-year). The firm expects to add 802.16e networks in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia and Seattle during 2009. Clearwire has selected Cisco as its national core infrastructure provider as it expands mobile WiMAX network coverage across the US. Clearwire’s all-IP network will be upgraded and extended under the deal, whilst separately, Cisco is also planning to move into the mobile WiMAX terminal device manufacturing market this year.

EMBARQ saw net profit fall 17.9% in the first quarter of 2009, down to $174 million. EMBARQ ended the quarter with 5.55 million wireline subscribers, a decline of 144,000. The company added 40,000 net new broadband subscribers, ending the quarter with 1.45 million customers.

Leap Wireless added 492,000 customers in the first quarter of 2009, giving the cellco a total of 4.34 million subscribers at 31 March. The company saw a 25.3% year-on-year rise in revenues, up to $587 million.

Liberty Global has announced net losses of $298.7 million for the three months ending 31 March 2009. The company added over 740,000 subscribers to its global customer base in 2008, giving it a total of 16.86 million at the end of March.

Mediacom has reported a 6.1% year-on-year rise in revenues for the first quarter of 2009, up to $360 million. The cableco added 24,000 net new broadband subscribers, ending the quarter with 748,000 subscribers in total.

MetroPCS reported a 20% year-on-year growth in revenues in the first quarter 2009, up to $795 million. MetroPCS added 684,000 net new customers in the quarter, with 6.05 million subscribers at the end of March 2009. Net subscriber additions of approximately 684,000 were achieved in the first quarter of 2009.

Qwest Communications has reported a 37% year-on-year rise in net income for the first quarter of 2009, up to $206 million.

Sprint Nextel has reported a 12% year-on-year drop in operating revenues for the first three months of 2009, down to $8.21 billion. Sprint, the third largest mobile operator by subscribers in the U.S., had 49.08 million customers at the end of March 2009, a 3.67 million drop from the total of 52.7 million a year earlier. However, the company reported a rise in subscriptions to its wholesale services, up 683,000 to 9.38 million at the end of the quarter.

T-Mobile USA, the country’s fifth largest mobile operator by subscribers, has reported net profit of $322 million for the first quarter of 2009. Capital expenditure was up $435 million to $1.13 billion, as the company invested in its W-CDMA/HSDPA based network. The company added 415,000 net new customers in Q1 2009, to end the quarter on 33.17 million.

Verizon Communications has reported a 5.3% year-on-year rise in net profit for the first quarter of 2009. The acquisition of mobile operator Alltel by Verizon Wireless boosted the company’s results, with 13.2 million net additions in the first quarter as a result of the takeover. The cellco ended March 2009 with a total of 86.6 million subscribers, 84.1 million of which are retail customers, a 29% rise on the first quarter of 2008. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group; Verizon holds a 55% stake in the mobile operator. Verizon reported growth in its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband base, with 298,000 net additions in the first quarter of 2009, giving the company a total of 2.78 million FTTP subscriptions. Verizon will pay AT&T $240 million for five Centennial Communications service areas with approximately 120,000 existing subscribers. AT&T announced plans to acquire US and Puerto Rican mobile and fixed operator Centennial in November 2008. Verizon Communications has agreed to sell local wireline operations across 14 states to Frontier Communications in a deal worth $8.6 billion.

Virgin Mobile USA reported net profit of $19 million for the first quarter of 2009. The company lost 133,292 net subscribers in the three month period, reducing its total to 5.25 million.

Windstream has signed an agreement to acquire D&E Communications in a deal worth $330 million. The acquisition will add about 165,000 fixed local access lines and 44,000 high speed internet customers to Windstream's Pennsylvania subscriber base. The buyer already has around 200,000 access lines in the state, and nearly three million across the 16 states in which it operates.

Business intelligence for Water District

Rancho California Water District has licensed Lawson QuickStep Government, including the S3 Enterprise Financial Management, Contract Management and Human Resource Management suites. Formed in 1965, Rancho California Water District serves the city of Temecula, portions of the city of Murrieta and unincorporated areas of southwest Riverside County in California. The Rancho California Water District is committed to ensuring a safe and reliable water supply for more than 120,000 people living within its service area. The system will provide the district with business intelligence functionality and organization-wide reporting, helping employees gain quick access to the information they need for sound decision making and better revenue tracking. (Jason Martin, information technology and customer service manager, Rancho California Water District.)

Osceola County, Florida choose ProjectDox to establish an end-to-end permit approval process, which includes fully electronic plan submission, review and tracking. (Richard Gloss, Building Official for Osceola County.) http://www.osceola.org

National Geographic for your 'phone?

Building on its Talk Abroad international calling plan, National Geographic, together with Cellular Abroad, has introduced a cell phone service that allows U.S. residents to make and receive international calls using the strength of the country’s largest digital wireless network. This new subscription-free wireless service provides users with a viable alternative to high monthly charges and long-term contracts and is now available online at CellularAbroad.com and in stores at J&R, Expansys, Fry’s and other select retailers. (John Dumbacher, senior vice president, licensing, for National Geographic.) http://www.nationalgeographic.com

Bowled over with restaurant labor management

Lucky Strike Lanes and Lounge, an "upscale and ultra-hip" bowling alley and lounge, has selected HotSchedules Enterprise restaurant labor management for its 17 locations across the U.S. Lucky Strike knew it needed to replace its outdated employee scheduling system, managed through spreadsheets. This paper-based process meant that managers would have to sift through dozens of various pieces of paper every week to process schedule, shift change or time-off requests from the staff, increasing the likelihood that managers would miss one or more employee requests. Additionally, employees would be required to come in, often on their days off, just to check their schedule for the upcoming week. HotSchedules’ corporate and franchise clients include Outback Steakhouse, the Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Carino’s Italian, Chili’s, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Fleming’s Steakhouse, Applebee’s, BJ’s Restaurants, Gordon Biersch and Jamba Juice. (Paul Tognetti, POS manager, Lucky Strike Lanes and Lounge.) http://www.bowlluckystrike.com

536,546 used vehicles a year!

Online searches for sports cars on carmax.com have been steadily increasing since January reports the nation’s largest retailer of used cars. According to carmax.com, car shoppers searching online for sports cars increased six percent in April from the previous month. Online sports car searches are up eight percent over January’s figures. The No. 1 searched car on carmax.com for April was the Ford Mustang. CarMax currently operates 100 used car superstores in 46 markets. During the twelve months ended February 28, 2009, the company retailed 345,465 used vehicles and sold 191,081 wholesale vehicles at its in-store auctions. (Ann Yauger, director of carmax.com.) http://www.carmax.com.

MasterCard cryptography

Cryptography Research and MasterCard Worldwide have signed an agreement relating to Cryptography Research's patent portfolio covering countermeasures to Differential Power Analysis (DPA). Under the agreement, MasterCard will require that vendors of smart cards and other cryptographic products that utilize DPA countermeasures be licensed from Cryptography Research in order to be used on MasterCard’s payment networks. MasterCard provides a link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes over 18 billion transactions each year through its family of brands, including MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus, serving consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. (Christian Delporte, vice president, chip centre of excellence, MasterCard Worldwide.) http://www.mastercard.com.

Barnes & Noble selects locator

Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest bookseller, has selected the MapQuest Platform: Enterprise Edition to power its Stores & Events locator. The company, which operates 778 bookstores in 50 states, conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (http://www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites. (Tom Burke, Barnes & Noble executive vice president, e-commerce.)

Women's merchandise planning

Chico’s FAS, a women’s specialty retailer of private-branded, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates and accessories, has licensed advanced technology from JDA Software to help improve merchandise planning, demand forecasting, inventory management and customer service levels, as well as help increase sales across its three retail brands that include Chico’s, White House | Black Market and Soma Intimates. “We needed proven, integrated software solutions based on retail best practices that would help us effectively balance our inventory investments with sales goals and consumer demand, and enable us to leverage every opportunity to drive revenues and increase profits,” said Jeff Jones, chief operating officer, Chico’s FAS. See http://www.chicos.com/store/home.jsp.

Comic warehouse management

Diamond Comics, the world’s largest distributor of English-language comics, graphic novels, and pop-culture related merchandise, has completed its implementation of RedPrairie’s Warehouse Management solution in their primary North American distribution center. “Our major objective, at the outset, was to move from a totally paper-based system to enhanced RF/voice operations,” says Cindy Fournier, Diamond Comics VP of Operations. See http://www.diamondcomics.com/public.

In-car video surveillance

The Placer County Sheriff’s department is using the Pivot3 storage platform to support its mobile in-car video surveillance infrastructure. (Kevin Davis, IT analyst for the Placer County Sheriff’s Department. Jerry Silva, IT manager, Public Safety and Criminal Justice Services in the IT Division at Placer County.)

Online public school

K12 Inc. has a five-year partnership with Niobrara County School District #1 to the be the curriculum and school services provider to the Wyoming Virtual Academy (WYVA), the state’s first online public school for students in kindergarten through high school. WYVA will host a series of information sessions and other free events across the state for families interested in learning more about the school program. See www.K12.com/wyva.

Two-to-Watch: Those responsible for young people must be especially vigilant about the security of content. Lanxoma, security software developed by Unity Solutions, restricts access to the root level of computer operating systems, grants limited time access permission to authorized users and records all activity while the authorized user is logged-on - so being a deterrent to the "insider threat." http://lanxoma.com. At home Spysure's PC product helps protect children from paedophiles and blocks adult content. http://www.spysure.com.

Virtual desktops for students

SIMtone is delivering low-cost, virtual desktops to students and faculty at a high school in Minnesota. The pilot is part of a program which aims to help close the digital divide and provide access to full PCs in the cloud to the estimated five billion people who cannot afford it, without requiring them to own a computer. Minnesota Online High School (MNOHS) is a public, state-funded school, and is open to any Minnesota resident, age 20 or younger. The school offers a comprehensive high school curriculum and college prep courses to students in grades 10-12. At MNOHS, students and teachers connect with one another online and on their own schedule. The school’s comprehensive curriculum provides students the flexibility of attending to their work and family obligations while pursuing a rigorous college preparatory program. (Ned Zimmerman-Bence, Executive Director of the Minnesota Online High School.)

$7.2 million for QinetiQ

The Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific (SSC-Pacific) has awarded QinetiQ North America’s Systems Engineering Group a five-year contract to support the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Programs Office Philadelphia, Product Distribution Center (PDC). The five-year contract, awarded under the Seaport Enhanced (SeaPort-e) contract vehicle, has a one-year base period of performance, four one-year options, and a ceiling value of $7.2 million. The SSC-Pacific focuses on the acquisition and support of military-related C4ISR systems. QinetiQ North America earns over a billion dollars in revenue and is part of QinetiQ Group plc. See www.QinetiQ-NA.com.

DDTC and ITAR

A "Fortune 500 defense, aerospace company based in the eastern U.S." has selected software from SigmaSure to ensure the delivery of the highest quality electronics-based products. SigmaQuest is able to sell its software to military and aerospace companies as it is registered with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) as required by Part 122 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Registration is required by those U.S. companies that manufacture or export defense articles or services.

$9m subcontract

Alion Science and Technology, an employee-owned technology solutions provider, has been awarded a subcontract to provide engineering and technical services to the U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command (CECOM) in support of the Network Planning Terminal (NPT). The total value of the task order is in excess of $38 million, with Alion awarded nearly $9 million over three years. The team is led by Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems. The NPT, which was developed by Alion, provides tools for network planning, engineering, and battlefield spectrum management to the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and Allied Forces worldwide. The system supports global exercises and ongoing military operations.

GSA contractor

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded Comtrol contract GS-35F-0401V under Schedule 70, which includes vendors of general purpose commercial information technology equipment, software and services. This GSA listing provides government customers with a convenient and efficient way to purchase the company’s device connectivity, industrial Ethernet gateways and intelligent embedded device connectivity products. The GSA Schedules Program establishes long-term, government-wide contracts with commercial firms to provide agencies at all levels of government with access to more than 11 million commercial supplies and services.

Cisco to help Clearwire spend $1.5+ billion

Cisco Systems has won an order to expand the high-speed wireless network of Clearwire Corp. Cisco will help Clearwire build out its network to more than 80 U.S. markets by the end of 2010. The devices will be targeted at consumers and small and medium-sized companies. Cisco aims to get into technologies that boost Internet traffic, increasing demand for network equipment. It bought a camcorder maker in March and introduced a music player in December as part of its push into consumer electronics. Clearwire uses WiMax to offer Web access and bills its network, Clear, as the fastest available, exceeding the speeds of 3G networks. Clearwire has said it will spend $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion this year on building out its network. See http://www.clearwire.com/

Two-to-Watch: Replify virtualized products accelerate applications over wide area and mobile connections without the need for costly hardware. http://www.replify.com. dooloop provides bonded DSL solutions to improve network performance and reduce operating costs. http://www.dooloop.com.

UK Patent News

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has commenced a public consultation and review of its trade mark services and fees. Its proposals follow The European Trade Mark Office's recent announcement that the official fees for filing and registering a Community Trade Mark have been cut by around 40% to €1000. The IPO's proposals include a new service that provides an examination report which details the results of the search for potentially conflicting trade marks. This service will be available for new applications who eFile their applications and pay 50% of the application fees. The IPO also proposes to offer a reduction of £30 from the basic £200 application fee when the application is made online and as well a discount for eFiling the IPO proposes a decrease the fee to file an opposition against a prospective trade mark from £200 to £100.

UK businesses can now apply to have patent applications fast-tracked through a “green channel” for innovations which benefit the environment. Sean Dennehey, the director of patents at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), said that the initiative aims to reduce patent times for green technologies from up to three years to less than nine months. “There are critics of the patent system who say that it takes too long to get a patent, making it difficult to exploit important technologies quickly enough. We wanted something we could do quickly and now, because climate change won’t wait,” he said. In the past ten years the number of green technology patent applications has increased by 500 per cent. The IPO receives about 23,500 patent applications a week – about 150 to 200 of these are thought to be for green technologies. Visit http://www.ipo.gov.uk/

Certification and Accreditation

The Department of Homeland Security has contracted with SecureInfo for SecureInfo RMS maintenance and support, and other product-related services. DHS uses SecureInfo RMS at DHS headquarters and across all 22 DHS components to support its Certification and Accreditation (C&A) efforts. C&A is a critical element of information security and the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). (Robert West, Chief Information Security Officer for DHS.)

Property tax collection

Montgomery County, Ohio, Treasurer’s Office (MCTO) has added back office payment processing to their automated property tax collection solution which already allows cashiers to capture property tax check images for nearly 160,000 properties upon receipt. Two years ago, the county implemented an innovative solution utilizing the Panini My Vision X check scanner and Breckenridge Financial Systems’ remittance processing software to streamline property tax collection at each cashier station. The cashiers scan property tax checks upon receipt and the taxpayer’s file is immediately updated. This solution has saved Montgomery County, Ohio, valuable time and money. The addition of back office processing automates the collection of check and money order payments received through the mail. (Carolyn Rice, Treasurer, Montgomery County.)

SaaS for U.S. Air Force

U.S. Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) is moving its on premise RightNow solution to a new highly secure, Department of Defense (DoD) SaaS solution. RightNow’s new defense-ready SaaS offering meets intense levels of compliance and security to help AFPC reap the benefits of RightNow’s On Demand CRM, such as rapid time to deploy, more frequent access to ongoing solution innovation, increased reliability and lower cost of ownership.

IT for force of one million

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) has awarded Unisys an order to provide IT support services to the U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM). Unisys will assist the command in implementing the Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Net-Centric Data Strategy for making military data more visible, accessible, understandable, trustworthy and interoperable for all of the military services, combatant commands and major DoD agencies. USJFCOM is one of ten combatant commands within the DoD and oversees a force of more than a million men and women, spanning USJFCOM's component commands and subordinate activities. Among its missions, USJFCOM leads efforts to integrate military capabilities among the various Defense commands and agencies and to develop solutions to address joint military interoperability challenges.

Starbucks relationship management

Starbucks, the roaster and retailer of specialty coffee, has renewed its contract for Convergys’ industry-leading relationship management solutions for a further two years to enhance its facilities support operations. With 2008 revenues of over $10 billion and one of the most well known brands in the market, Starbucks has an unwavering commitment to customer service excellence. Convergys and Starbucks have developed a facilities support tool to track every piece of equipment in each company-owned facility, follow repair orders, and support invoicing from approximately 1,300 service providers. Convergys agents assist Starbucks retail employees in complex troubleshooting and equipment repair, as well as in identifying appropriate service vendors, issuing repair orders, and tracking repair work. (Badger Godwin, vice president, Store Development – Global Real Estate & Facilities for Starbucks.) www.starbucks.com.

Account opening and lending services

$1.8 billion asset Tinker Federal Credit Union has signed a multi-year agreement for account opening and lending services. Tinker Federal Credit Union is the largest credit union in Oklahoma, serving more than 200,000 members including military personnel assigned to Tinker Air Force Base. Tinker Federal is converting to Online Resources’ Account Opening and Lending services to enable existing and prospective members to apply for new accounts and loans online. Both services streamline processes customized to the Credit Union’s terms, including credit and identity verification, and can render instant approval decisions and automated funding. (Grant Woldum, executive vice president and chief information officer for Tinker Federal Credit Union.) www.tinkerfcu.org.

Construction management processes

Ada County Highway District (ACHD) of Boise, Idaho has selected Prolog software to standardize it’s construction management processes. ACHD is working directly with P7 Integration, a Meridian Systems Value Added Reseller (VAR), to implement Prolog Manager and Prolog WebSite across the organization. As a public agency, ACHD adopted Prolog to manage complex capital projects more effectively and improve construction project accountability. Working from a five-year work plan, Prolog will manage ACHD projects from conceptualization, scope, funding allocation, design, right-of-way acquisition, construction, bidding, contract awards, construction, and closeout. (Steve Dean, ACHD’s Capital Projects Manager.)

Better revenue management

Xcel Energy has doubled the size of its Teradata Active Enterprise Data Warehouse. The expansion supports the energy company’s focus on better revenue management through integrated data and analysis of customer and energy use. The purchase will enable Xcel Energy to load data, both daily and in near-real time, from several new data sources including supply chain data. The additional data sources will allow the company to expand its business intelligence focus for more efficient business operations and analysis. (Brian Jore, director of analytics at Xcel Energy.)

Attract, retain and graduate students

Western Kentucky University has selected SAS software to help attract, retain and graduate students. WKU has defined a series of key performance indicators to enable decision makers to know their institution better. The data integration, analytical power and Web-based reporting capabilities of SAS Enterprise BI Server and SAS Enterprise Data Integration Server will provide those decision makers access to timely data in an easy-to-use application. Admissions and student retention are priorities for WKU. SAS and WKU are building a model that applies predictive analysis to identify trends and opportunities to not only increase enrollment, but determine why certain programs have low or high completion rates and identify student success pathways. (Bob Cobb, Director of WKU’s Office of Institutional Research.) http://www.wku.edu/instres/

Content creation for Fox

Fox Television Stations has entered into a multi-year agreement to utilize Chyron's AXIS online content creation services at many of their stations. Adoption of AXIS services represents the first enterprise-class graphics workflow solution for Fox Television Stations. Integration with AXIS empowers Fox Television Stations to maintain total control of their On-Air graphics ‘look’ by self fulfilling graphics at the local level within the AXIS hosted environment.