News of the Day

• Cisco to unveil video-production system for businesses
  Cisco Systems this week will debut its Media Experience Engine 3000, a processing platform that allows businesses to more effectively handle a network's video traffic. The MXE 3000, as it is dubbed, offers state-of-the-art post-production, editing, formatting and distribution capabilities. Network World (12/8)

Business & Industry Watch

• Obama sees broadband expansion as part of economic recovery
  In a radio and Web address over the weekend, President-elect Barack Obama promised a broadband expansion during his administration. Pointing out that the U.S. ranks 15th in the world in terms of broadband adoption, Obama said "every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm president." Broadcasting & Cable (12/7)

• "Sprint 4G" new face of CDMA/WiMAX offerings
  With the "Xohm" brand officially gone, Sprint Nextel said it would market products and services derived from its national WiMAX venture with Clearwire at its stores under the "Sprint 4G" brand, and expects to begin selling CDMA/mobile WiMAX modems in Baltimore by year-end. Sprint will act as a MVNO in its deal with Clearwire, which last week established its own WiMAX service under the "Clear" brand. RCR Wireless News (12/5)

• PCCW shareholders set to vote on plan by month's end
  PCCW shareholders plan to vote Dec. 30 whether to support a $2 billion plan by Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li to buy out PCCW's minority shareholders. To move forward with the plan, 75% of PCCW's minority shareholders would have to show their support. The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model) (12/8)

• Other News

• Analysts: Telecoms face tough decisions, more cuts
  E-Commerce Times/BusinessWeek (12/5)

• Paetec aims to streamline operations, trims staff
  The Boston Globe/The Associated Press (free registration) (12/5)

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by USTelecom dailyLead® readers in the past week.

• Hawaiian Telcom aims to restructure under Chapter 11 (Forbes)

• Report: Global outlook strong for telecom (xchange)

• AT&T aims for more efficiency (The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model))

• Hawaiian Telcom wins approval to spend $75 million (The Honolulu Advertiser)

• Clearwire sees "Clear" path to WiMAX market launches (Financial Times (free content))

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Video Upload

• Using physical attributes to power online-video search
  California-based VideoSurf is developing technology that uses facial-recognition software to allow online-video viewers to zoom directly to a certain scene without watching the whole video, according to this report. Another firm, Digitalsmiths in North Carolina, uses facial recognition along with other vision software to help companies that want to make their Web videos easier to find. International Herald Tribune (12/7)

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Technology Trends

• A new, more video-centric Cisco emerges
  Cisco Systems is transforming itself from a kingpin in the router industry to a leading innovator in video processing, according to this report. The company's new direction will take center stage this week at C-Scape, the annual event at which the firm's top executives outline their future plans for analysts. Light Reading (12/8)

• Intel sensors can power phones from "free" sources
  Intel has made strides in discovering how to harvest "free" energy from the environment through tiny sensors and use them to power personal consumer-electronics products such as cell phones. Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner said the company did not view marketing the technology as practical in the near future, but more as an avenue to study how sensors can harvest energy on a wider range of devices. Techworld (U.K.)/IDG News Service (12/8)

• Despite savings, executives still wary of FMC
  IT executives have yet to embrace so-called "fixed-mobile convergence" technology, part of the trend toward unified-communications services that is designed to eliminate costs and simplify the lives of enterprises that need to keep their office networks linked seamlessly with the legion of mobile devices employees hold in the field. "You have to compromise on which handsets you can use, on which PBX systems are supported or not supported, you can't mix and match Wi-Fi gear, or the Wi-Fi vendor hasn't implemented the 802.11r fast-roaming standard, or the phone features the vendor supports aren't the ones you specifically need," commented ABI Research Vice President Stan Schatt. Network World (12/8)

• Other News

• AT&T brings U-verse phone to several Wisconsin towns
  The Capital Times (Madison, Wis.) (12/7)

IP Download

• Analyst calculates Google's bandwidth usage; attorney questions math
  Google is using 21 times more bandwidth than it pays for, according to an analysis from a telecom consultant who asserted the company consumes 16.5% of the Internet's capacity and pays 0.8% of the flat-rate monthly costs for those in the U.S. A Google attorney, however, questioned the math and the methodology used in the study. Telephony Online (12/5)

• Hackers using VoIP software flaw in scam, FBI warns
  The FBI warned Friday that a flaw in the open-source Asterisk Internet telephony system allowed criminals to make thousands of scam calls an hour and advised users to upgrade to the company's latest software to fix the problem. Asterisk is an application that converts Linux computers into VoIP exchanges. NYTimes.com/IDG News Service (12/5)

LeadQuote

There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament." --Henry Van Dyke, author, educator and clergyman