Networking

Nokia Siemens Networks drops the axe on 9000 jobs

While this doesn't come as a huge surprise -- this layoff was predicted last year -- it still hurts to see such massive cutbacks in an industry held so near and dear to our hearts. Apparently 2,900 jobs in Germany and 1,700 in Finland will be cut on the road to finding savings to the tune of $2 billion by 2010. The final cut will be about 9,000 employees which is roughly 15 percent of the joint venture's workforce of 60,000. The joint venture was founded to help both companies compete with the likes of Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent with 5 major business units focusing on Radio Access, Broadband Access, Service Core and Applications, IP / Transport, and Operations Support Systems. Of course, the verdict is still out on how successful this venture will ultimately be, but Nokia's track record in the mobile space has been strong for as many years as we care to remember.

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Smoking kills Internet2

Say what you want about net neutrality, at least the Internet hasn't been taken out by a hobo. Unlike the regular Internet we all use everyday, which was originally designed to distribute the AACS hex key withstand a nuclear attack, Internet2 is designed primarily for speed -- up to 9.08Gbps in most recent tests. All that juice comes at the price of redundant network links, though -- which means the whole thing got taken offline last night when a homeless man threw a cigarette onto a mattress under Boston's Longfellow Bridge, starting a blaze that eventually melted the fiber-optic link between Boston and New York. While initial estimates called for a service outage of 1-2 days, quick-thinking techs were able to get service going again in just 4 hours. Good thing, too -- if the panic that sets in around here when our DSL goes out is any indication, with the kind of bandwidth these guys were missing out on, there must've been wailing in the street.

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Netgear acquires Infrant to boost storage offerings

Hot on the heels of yet another big time acquisition between Philips and DLO comes news that Netgear will be snapping up the privately-held Infrant Technologies for a cool $60 million in cash. All 34 employees will soon be wearing Netgear badges, and Infrant's CEO will move over and become Netgear's Vice President and General Manager for storage products. Essentially, Netgear is hoping that this move will strengthen the firm's presence in the enterprise and small-business storage realm, as it can now offer up a trusted name in RAID-based NAS products for SMB, SOHO, and the home. More specifically, the ReadyNAS, RAIDiator, and X-RAID portfolios were the targets of Netgear's desire, and while details on branding and the timeframe for the merge weren't noted, it sounds like Netgear's ready to get this party started on the double.

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$500 million underwater fiber network to link Asia, America

Unfortunately for most, traversing back and forth to Asia from America on a regular basis isn't exactly in the cards, but thanks to a $500 million project agreed upon by a 17-member telecommunications consortium, visiting via fiber will soon be a whole lot snappier. Telekom Malaysia, along with 16 other firms, have awarded a half billion dollar contract to Alcatel-Lucent and NEC to construct a 12,428-mile link between the west coast of America and Southeast Asia. The aptly-dubbed Asia-America Gateway will connect the western US with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii, while also offering "seamless interconnection" with Europe, Africa, and Australia. Moreover, the project is being designed to provide a "more secure link for traffic" across the seas, as it avoids the hazardous Pacific Ring in hopes of dodging massive internet outages due to unexpected earthquakes. Best of all, the wait time for the undersea cabling to make an impact is fairly reasonable, as users should see "faster and more reliable service" when it becomes operational in December of next year.

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Turn your OS X and Linux-based machine into a FON Spot

Not one to dwell too heavily on the past, FON is apparently already moving beyond its newfangled partnership with Time Warner, and has now caved to giving Mac and Linux users the ability to get in on the action. The latest FON Spot software now appears in a beta form for OS X and Linux (preferably Ubuntu) users, allowing Ethernet-connected machines to share excess bandwidth with others via WiFi. Notably, it's even supposed to work if connected via 3G, but we can't imagine your carrier being all too pleased with such a scheme. Per usual, the company warns of its beta nature and insinuates that problems could arise, but if you're still not deterred, be sure to hit the read link and get your respective download on.

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