Business

Tektronix, a multi-vendor service provider of instrument calibration and repair, has announced the expansion of its National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation at its Bangalore service laboratory.

The company says the expanded NABL accreditation means that Tektronix can now perform added electrical and RF calibration. Additionally, the company can now provide accredited onsite calibration for all parameters covered under the NABL laboratory scope.

Transmode has announced positive results for the period from July to September 2013, with sales and profits both showing a healthy increase.

Sales were SEK (Swedish krone) 272.0 million, which corresponds to an increase of 7.0 per cent, or 8.5 per cent adjusted for exchange rate fluctuations. The operating profit was SEK 48.5 million, which equates to an operating margin of 17.8 per cent, while the net profit was SEK40.1 million.

Seven leading networking organisations have formed an group – the CDFP MSA – dedicated to defining specifications and promoting adoption of interoperable 400 Gbps hot pluggable modules.
 
The consortium says its joint efforts will increase customer choice, reduce end-user costs and ensure interoperability to allow the copper cable and fiber optics transceiver market to expand more rapidly.
 

Russian telecommunications operator MegaFon has announced the commercial launch of a 8,700km fibre-optic trunk line. The company says the 'Dream' line will be the optimal route for high-speed data transmission between Europe and Asia.

The line extends through Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and was created in cooperation with Kazakhtelecom and Interoute. The route runs from the German city of Frankfurt-am-Main to the Kazakhstan-China border.

Huawei has announced that it is to open a new research and development facility in the UK, creating more than 200 new jobs.

George Osborne, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, was at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, China, to hear the announcement. He met Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, toured the Huawei R&D laboratories, and chaired a meeting of UK high-tech companies visiting China.

Alcatel-Lucent and Zain have announced the completion of an agile optical network to provide ultra-broadband access throughout Saudi Arabia.

The fibre-optic backbone network is based on converged wavelength division multiplexing/optical transport (WDM/OTN) technology, enabling Zain to provide 100 gigabit-per-second capability throughout the country main metropolitan areas.

The two companies says they are also conducting a trial of 400 gigabit-per-second data transmission over an existing optical link carrying live network traffic in the city of Jeddah.

TeraXion, a provider of optical components designed for high-speed networks, and Esterline CMC Electronics (CMC), a designer and manufacturer of avionics systems, are joining forces to design next-generation transceivers.

Companies are being invited to celebrate all things fibrous by taking part in Gimme Fibre Day, an annual event created by the FTTH Councils Global Alliance.

The initiative, which will take place on 4 November, is intended 'to celebrate the only future-proof solution and showcase how fibre has positively impacted communities across the world'.

French network equipment manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent has announced it is to cut its work-force by 10,000 – around 15 per cent of the total – in an effort to cut costs.

All geographic areas where Alcatel-Lucent operates will be affected, with the reduction of 4,100 positions in Europe, Middle East and Africa, 3,800 in the Asia-Pacific region, and 2,100 in the Americas. By the end of 2015, Alcatel-Lucent aims to halve the number of its business hubs globally.

M2fx, the inventors and producers of the Miniflex range of fibre cables, have announced a partnership with Middle East Fiber Cable Manufacturing (MEFC), to support its growth in the Middle East.
 
MEFC will provide customers in the region with m2fx’s full product range. It has already supplied more than 500 FTTP installations of Miniflex cable for use in major projects across the region, including external and internal deployments for the Saudi Arabian carrier company Mobily.