New Stuff 07/25/12

Google Inc. says it will update the industry tomorrow regarding its fiber plans for Kansas City; it’s been pretty mum about the ultra-high-speed Internet network in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., since making its original buildout announcement…Comcast is doubling the speeds of two of its existing Internet tiers in certain markets at no additional cost. Xfinity Blast! customers will see their download speeds ratchet to as much as 50 Mbps (formerly 25 Mbps), and Extreme 50 customers will spike to as much as105 Mbps (formerly 50 Mbps). Comcast also revealed plans to launch Xfinity Platinum Internet, a new ultra-fast speed tier, throughout markets in its Northeast division, delivering download speeds of as much as 305 Mbps and upload speeds of as much as 65 Mbps—at no extra charge…StreamScope RM-40 CALM, a DTV loudness monitor that remotely measures, records, and analyzes DTV streams in real time, is the newest offering from Triveni Digital. The compact, 1-RU device measures multiple transport streams and services at any TV station, cable headend or network node location. Station engineers can review loudness levels and dialnorm for all audio streams as well as set loudness thresholds to trigger alerts, review audio graphs and video thumbnails, and generate custom reports that can be stored for up to six months. StreamScope RM-40 CALM delivers a daily report citing possible CALM violations for all services on a given transport — including IP, ASI, 8VSB, and QAM…Seven global information and communications technology (ICT) Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) formed a new global organization to help ensure the most efficient deployment of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications systems. Initial members of “oneM2M” include the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses and the Telecommunication Technology Committee of Japan; the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions and the Telecommunications Industry Association in the United States; the China Communications Standards Association; the European Telecommunications Standards Institute; and the Telecommunications Technology Association of Korea. The specs developed by oneM2M will provide a common platform to be used by communications service providers; the initial goal of oneM2M will be to confront the critical need for a common M2M Service Layer that can be readily embedded within various hardware and software…The BreezeMAX PRO 6000 CPE from Alvarion offers a frequency range from 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz, and it comes with a software feature set (IPCS-NAT, IPCS-BM, ETH-CS, improved ND&S, Class 5 voice services) it says minimizes compatibility issues.