HP acquires 3COM for $2.7 Billion. Why ? And why didn’t they pick up Nortel for $900Million ?

Industry networking leader HP announced yesterday that they acquired 3COM for $2.7Billion. There’s clearly product overlap in the SMB space, but the real crown jewel for HP will be their quick foray into the data center space. 3COM has some significant products that service this high-end data aggregation switch market. These include the S12500 and S5800 data center core and aggregation switches.

This combination will transform the networking industry and underscore HP’s next-generation data center strategy built on the convergence of servers, storage, networking, management, facilities and services. The resulting business outcome will help customers simplify the network, deploy a unique and innovative edge-to-core network fabric for the enterprise and improve IT service delivery capabilities, all delivered with best-in-class price-performance.

3COM also brings along their core routing and edge devices, another market where HP had a big hole in their product portfolio. So, on the surface it seems like an excellent purchase.

Acer introduced a netbook with dual OS

                                                 Acer has unveiled the new Aspire AOD250 netbook that dual boots in Android OS and Windows XP operating system. Priced at $350 (Rs. 29750 approx.), this Acer netbook boasts of fast Android Boot option for “instant on” Internet access. This Acer Aspire machine has 10.1-inch screen has same old Aspire line chassis and is available in Ruby Red, Diamond Black, Sapphire Blue and Seashell White colors.

Acer boasts of the special dual-boot feature that allows users to switch between Windows XP and Android. Designed specifically for mobile platform, the Android OS features Instant On feature that connects user to Internet within fraction of seconds.In the internals, Acer packed 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor with 512KB L2 Cache and 667MHz FSB which is paired with Mobile Intel 945 GSE chipset. Other hardware components include 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, 160GB 5400RPM SATA HDD and Intel GMA 950 integrted.

U.S. Gov. Moves to Speed Streamlined Broadband Grants

The Obama administration said Tuesday it will speed up the process of handing out $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus grants in response to criticism from applicants and lawmakers that the program isn’t getting money out quickly enough.Administration officials said they also are looking at whether they should devote more of the roughly $3 billion that will be handed out in the second round to high-volume Internet lines in rural areas that could be shared by private companies, libraries and others instead of “last-mile” projects that would be used by a single company to offer broadband service to the home.

The moves come amid broader concern in Congress and the administration about unemployment, which hit 10.2% in October. Republicans have criticized the administration’s $787 billion stimulus program, saying it has moved too slowly and generated too few jobs.

Intel to Launch Centrino WiMAX 6250 Codenamed Kilmer Peak in Q1 2010

 The Intel Centrino WiMAX 6250 comes with PCIe Minicard (MC), we don’t have any information whether Intel will provide Half-mini card (HMC) version or not.In June Intel unveiledthe new 3.5GHz WiMAX-enabled notebook at WiMAX Forum Global Congress in Amsterdam that became the world’s first public demonstration of future Intel 3.5GHz WiMAX solutions.

In July WiMAX Forum certified the new Intel WiMAX/WiFi module which named the new 3.5GHz WiMAX-enabled notebook codenamed Kilmer peak.This new wireless network adapter supporting IEEE 802.16e in the 2.5 GHz ,3.5GHz and 2.3GHz – BW: 5 & 10MHz for mobile WiMAX and 802.11a/b/g/n in the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz spectra for WiFi.The Intel Centrino WiMAX 6250 comes with PCIe Minicard (MC), we don’t have any information whether Intel will provide Half-mini card (HMC) version or not.

The Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Global Online Community

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is a system where a digital television service is delivered using Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband connection. A general definition of IPTV is television content that, instead of being delivered through traditional broadcast and cable formats, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer networks.

For residential users, IPTV is often provided in conjunction with Video on Demand and may be bundled with Internet services such as Web access and VoIP. The commercial bundling of IPTV, VoIP and Internet access is referred to as “Triple Play” service (when these three are offered with mobility, the service is referred to as “Quadruple Play”). IPTV is typically supplied by a service provider using a closed network infrastructure. This closed network approach is in competition with the delivery of TV content over the public Internet, called Internet Television. In businesses, IPTV may be used to deliver television content over corporate LANs

iPhone – Rejecting Wintel mobo bug squeezed

The two Mother board manufacturer giants has joined their hands to defeat the problem of preventing certain Wintel mobos from talking to the iPhone. They have designed BIOS updates to eradicate the bug.Recently, it was reported that some motherboards based on the Intel IP55 Express chipset were exhibiting problems when attempting to sync with Apple’s iPhone while running Windows 7  64-bit. To set right this problem Gigabyte has released its new version of BIOS for their GA-P55 series motherboards between November 6 and 9 and those versions can be downloaded.

The original problem was discovered during the Apple discussion forum and posters reported that Gigabyte BIOS update is the best trump card to solve the problem. The other two posters also noted that the latest BIOS updates for their Asus P7P55D and Maximus III Formula motherboards also turned the ploy.Finally, the problem is now being solved for motherboards manufactured by Gigabyte and Asus. But MSI didn’t immediately respond to the request for information on BIOS fixes for their P55-based products. Similarly Intel recommends its end users to ensure that whether they have latest BIOS and driver updates from their system and motherboard vendors to solve P55 Express problem.

N. American DSL market overshadowed by international declines

BOSTON, USA: Ovum today announced its preliminary quarterly results for global 3Q09 DSL and CMTS port shipments.
“Double-digit declines in international DSL markets outweighed North American growth (especially VDSL2) in 3Q09.The continuing impact of recessionary conditions worldwide exacerbated the seasonal third-quarter dip” said Ovum Analyst Kamalini Ganguly.
“However, continuing DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts and demand for downstream bandwidth contributed to strong downstream shipment growth in all CMTS markets, particularly outside North America.”

Nokia recalls 14m chargers over fears of electrocution

Nokia is recalling 14m mobile phone chargers, after it emerged that faults in the manufacturing process could leave users exposed to an electric shock. The Finnish technology company said today that it would replace millions of potentially dangerous chargers for free as a precaution, but that there had been no reports of injuries so far.To read this report in The Guardian in full, see:
www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/09/nokia-nokia

Britain’s Phone giants Vodafone and BT eye more cuts

Britain’s two flagship telecoms companies will this week announce deeper cost cutting

 to compensate for sluggish sales growth, reports The Sunday Times.

Alongside half-year results, Vodafone and BT are expected to increase savings targets from £1 billion and “well over” £1 billion respectively

New Telecommunication Rules by EU

 EU lawmakers and governments agreed Thursday on proposed new telecommunication rules that better protect European mobile phone and Internet users from arbitrary service cutoffs. EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said a deal was reached after EU governments agreed to EU parliament demands to balance a crackdown on illegal downloaders with a broader set of rights for telecom users.