Categoria: HardwareSoftware

Late consolidation

Chipmaker Marvell is going to buy smaller rival Cavium in a deal valued at about $ 6 billion.

Marvell wants to gain scale in a semiconductor industry that is rapidly consolidating and it is pretty late to the “buy-out-your-rival” game.

Under the deal, Marvell will offer $ 40.00 per share in cash and 2.1757 of its shares for each Cavium share.

The exchange ratio was based on a purchase price of $ 80 per share, using Marvell’s undisturbed price prior to November 3, when media reports of the transaction first surfaced.

The Hamilton, Bermuda-based Marvell Technology makes storage and WiFi equipment while Cavium builds network equipment.

“This is an exciting combination of two very complementary companies that together equal more than the sum of their parts”, Marvell’s Chief Executive Matt Murphy said in a statement.

Marvell plans to fund the deal with a combination of cash on hand from the combined companies and $ 1.75 billion in debt financing, the company said.

Open Fiber, società partecipata al 50% da Enel e Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, operatore che non vende servizi in fibra ottica direttamente al cliente finale ma attivo esclusivamente sul mercato all’ingrosso (offre l’accesso alla sua rete a tutti gli operatori di mercato interessati), ha annunciato quali città saranno raggiunte per prime con la connettività in fibra ottica FTTH a 1 Gbps.

Le indicazioni di copertura appena pubblicate da Open Fiber sul sito ufficiale non si riferiscono ai primi due bandi Infratel Italia (per le aree bianche o a fallimento di mercato) di cui ormai si sta già (quasi) tutto bensì ai piani di sviluppo della società.

Nell’articolo Fibra ottica: Open Fiber chiarisce i suoi piani futuri avevamo fatto il punto sulla copertura in fibra di Open Fiber.

Oltre alle 12 città già raggiunte dalla fibra FTTH Open Fiber (Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Genova, Milano, Napoli, Padova, Palermo, Perugia, Torino, Venezia), la società ha annunciato quest’oggi ulteriori 82 città (e non soltanto di grandi dimensioni): Alessandria, Ancona, Arezzo, Beinasco, Bergamo, Bollate, Brescia, Bresso, Brindisi, Buccinasco, Busto Arsizio, Casalecchio di Reno, Castel Maggiore, Castenaso, Cesano Boscone, Cesena, Cinisello Balsamo, Collegno, Cologno Monzese, Como, Cormano, Cornaredo, Corsico, Cusago, Ferrara, Firenze, Foggia, Forlì, Garbagnate Milanese, Grosseto, Grugliasco, Imola, La Spezia, Latina, Lecce, Livorno, Lucca, Matera, Messina, Modena, Moncalieri, Monza, Nichelino, Novara, Novate Milanese, Opera, Orbassano, Parma, Pavia, Pero, Pescara, Peschiera Borromeo, Piacenza, Pioltello, Pisa, Prato, Ravenna, Reggio di Calabria, Reggio nell’Emilia, Rho, Rimini, Rivoli, Rozzano, Salerno, San Donato Milanese, San Giuliano Milanese, San Lazzaro di Savena, Sassari, Segrate, Sesto San Giovanni, Settimo Milanese, Settimo Torinese, Siracusa, Taranto, Terni, Treviso, Trezzano sul Naviglio, Udine, Varese, Venaria Reale, Verona, Vimodrone.Entro il 2022 Open Fiber ha in programma di coprire un totale di 271 città italiane lungo l’intero stivale.
Al momento tutto tace per quanto riguarda il ventilato accordo tra Open Fiber e Acea per la città di Roma: Fibra ottica Open Fiber a 1 Gbps anche a Roma grazie all’accordo con Acea.
Open Fiber ha deciso di seguire le evoluzioni della tecnologia GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) in modo tale da creare in Italia una rete alternativa, completamente in fibra, “a prova di futuro”.

Le tecnologie previste nello standard FTTH sono GPON che permette, sulla carta, di arrivare fino a 2,5 Gbps in downstream e 1,25 Gbps in upstream ma le future evoluzioni saranno le seguenti:

– XG-PON (10 Gbps in downstream/2,5 Gbps in upstream)
– XGS-PON (10 Gbps in downstream/10 Gbps in upstream)
– NG-PON2 (minimo 4×10 Gbps in upstream/2,5 Gbps in upstream)

Come primo passo, evidentemente, Open Fiber ha deciso di puntare sulla fibra FTTH e sulla tecnologia GPON per poi scalare verso l’alto.

Per consentire la raccolta delle utenze in modo efficiente Open Fiber ha introdotto un elemento di rete costituito da un armadio di permutazione (coincidente con il nodo PFS) che consente di collegare, in modo flessibile, ogni cliente con le risorse ottiche dell’operatore con cui l’utente ha sottoscritto il servizio.

In corrispondenza delle utenze da servire (abitazioni, uffici, aziende) vengono invece allestiti punti di terminazione detti PTA mentre a valle dei condomini PTE: Fibra ottica fino a 1 Gbps: la copertura Open Fiber cresce. Come vengono raggiunti i condomini.

Watchdog growls and stupid parents

German regulators have banned the sale of smartwatches designed for kids saying that the gear is more of a “spying device” than a toy.

Telecoms regulator the Federal Network Agency urged parents that were dumb enough to buy one of the toys should destroy them.

A report published by the Norwegian Consumer Council in mid-October revealed serious flaws in several of the devices that could easily allow hackers to seize control.

Doing so could grant attackers access to both real-time and historical locational data, as well as a wealth of personal information.

Apparently, some parents thought it was a good idea to strap a low-cost, internet-enabled microphone and a GPS tracker onto their kids. After all you don’t need security standards for that sort of thing do you? Just as well, they don’t have them. Neither does it matter that the firms making the watches don’t promise to sell your kids’ data to the nearest paedophile in your area.

Marketed to children ages five to 12, the devices typically offer several functions inherent to smartphones, such as voicemail, contact lists, and the ability to make and receive calls… you know, routine stuff that kindergartners need. According to the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) one of the kids’ smartwatch brands was even found by the BEUC to be transmitting children’s locations—unencrypted—to servers in China.

BEUC’s director general, Monique Goyens, called for European regulators to act immediately, warning that parents were likely unaware that instead of protecting children, the smartwatches were leaving them vulnerable. “These watches should not find their way into our shops”, she said.

It looks like the Germans have beat everyone to the punch. In a statement, the agency said it had already taken action against several firms offering such watches on the internet.

“Via an app, parents can use such children’s watches to listen unnoticed to the child’s environment and they are to be regarded as an unauthorised transmitting system”, said Jochen Homann, president of the Federal Network Agency.