Editor’s Be aware: RCR Wi-fi Information goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the highest headlines from the previous. Hearth up the time machine, placed on these sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and benefit from the recollections!
NetScout makes main community monitoring acquisition of Danaher belongings
The information that community efficiency monitoring firm NetScout is shopping for $2.6 billion price of community testing, monitoring and safety belongings from worldwide tech and science conglomerate Danaher units the network-monitoring ecosystem up for substantial change. The transfer basically triples NetScout’s workforce, and is being completed by a swap of $2.6 billion in NetScout widespread inventory that will probably be prolonged to Danaher with the intention to pay for the belongings of Tektronix Communications, components of Fluke Networks, and community safety firm Arbor Networks, which had been all working as entities beneath the umbrella of Danaher’s communications enterprise. NetScout’s most up-to-date fiscal yr revenues had been $397 million, in comparison with the Danaher operations’ $836 million. Though the acquisition performs into present traits in community evaluation and the will for end-to-end capabilities, that is additionally in some methods a case of deja vu. This isn’t NetScout’s first acquisition of a a lot bigger entity than itself by a significant stock-based buy. Some historical past: In 2007, the corporate made a really related transaction with Community Normal. The privately held firm with a give attention to deep-packet inspection for community evaluation and knowledge mining had about 4,000 prospects, in comparison with about 1,000 prospects for NetScout on the time. … Learn extra
MasTec buys WesTower
Consolidation within the wi-fi infrastructure providers area continued this week with MasTec’s buy of WesTower Communications. Florida-based MasTec stated it paid $199 million in money, or about .45-times projected 2014 income, for 100% of WesTower’s fairness. Since 2011, WesTower had been owned by Canada’s Alternate Earnings Company. WesTower and MasTec each construct and preserve towers and deploy infrastructure for wi-fi carriers, and are a part of AT&T’s turf vendor program. WesTower just lately introduced that its contract with AT&T had been renewed for 3 years beginning Sept. 1. The corporate is lively within the northwestern a part of america, in addition to in Alaska. MasTec has labored carefully with AT&T for quite a lot of years, and is a accomplice in AT&T’s Tower Crew Augmentation Program, by which contractors preserve devoted tower crews for AT&T. MasTec, a public firm, is concerned in development tasks outdoors the wi-fi business, additionally serving the electrical utility and power pipeline industries, reporting whole income of $1.2 billion final yr. … Learn extra
Dash cuts jobs at Kansas HQ
Dash is reportedly transferring ahead on plans to chop jobs at its Overland Park, Kan., headquarters, in response to printed experiences. The Kansas Metropolis Star reported late final week that the nation’s No. 3 wi-fi service was set to chop 452 jobs this month, which might carry whole cuts for the yr at its headquarters to greater than 900 jobs. In response to the report, which was based mostly on a submitting with the Kansas Division of Commerce, the most recent cuts could be everlasting and that extra had been deliberate. In a Securities and Alternate Fee submitting late final month, Dash introduced plans to chop an undisclosed variety of jobs all through the month. Dash stated the strikes and would “cut back prices,” serving to Dash “change into extra aggressive within the market.” “The plan is predicted to incorporate steps to, amongst different issues, enhance operational efficiencies and cut back prices, on account of which the corporate expects to incur materials fees beneath typically accepted accounting rules,” Dash famous within the submitting. The fabric fees will embrace recognizing an roughly $160 million cost for its second fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 30, including “nonetheless, extra materials fees related to future labor reductions could happen in future intervals.” … Learn extra
Cell broadband use rises
A brand new report from the Nationwide Telecommunications and Info Administration displays the very fact that People have been quickly adopting cellular broadband use. NTIA’s report “confirms skyrocketing demand for units that enable customers to entry Web purposes practically anyplace,” in response to Lawrence Strickling, who’s assistant secretary of commerce for communications and data at NTIA. The report relies on knowledge from the U.S. Census Bureau collected in late 2012, and entails greater than 53,000 U.S. households. The information itself isn’t any shock to the cellular business, which has seen exploding knowledge use for years now, but it surely does put some official census numbers to cellular utilization and in addition has some stats to replicate cellular know-how’s position in narrowing the so-called “digital divide” between well-off households and people of decrease socio-economic standing. As an example, the report discovered that amongst households with household incomes beneath $25,000 per yr, cell phone use grew from 73% to 77% and amongst disabled Americas, cell phone use elevated from 68% to 72% – each reflecting will increase of 4%. The census knowledge noticed the identical quantity of enhance of cell phone use by senior 65 and older, from 68% to 72%. … Learn extra
FCC seems at 600 MHz bidding guidelines
The Federal Communications Fee late final week rolled out a discover of proposed rulemaking linked to bidding plans for the deliberate spectrum public sale of 600 MHz licenses. The NPRM contains the potential to alter guidelines tied to the FCC’s controversial designated entity program, which provides bidding credit to pick entities based mostly on their measurement and possession construction. A part of the proposal seems to take away limitations stopping DEs from leasing spectrum to different non-DE operators. The FCC can be seeking to re-classify the monetary threshold on potential DEs to supply a 35% bidding credit score for enterprise with common annual gross revenues not exceeding $4 million for the previous three years; a 25% bidding credit score for common annual gross revenues not exceeding $20 million for the previous three years; and a 15% bidding credit score for companies with lower than $55 million in common annual gross revenues for the previous three years. As well as, the FCC will look to re-visit the “defaulter rule” that requires larger up-front down funds from firms with a historical past of defaulting on funds to the federal government company tied to earlier spectrum auctions. The FCC just lately introduced plans to calm down the defaulter guidelines for the upcoming AWS-3 public sale scheduled to start Nov. 13. The FCC can be transferring ahead with plans to look into the present allowance of joint bidding in spectrum auctions, one thing that was just lately introduced up as a part of the FCC’s seeming makes an attempt to dissuade an try by Dash to amass smaller rival T-Cell US. … Learn extra
Hype and hope for good grids
CHICAGO – Cisco Methods tackled head on the notion that some elements of the much-hyped “Web of Issues” had been certainly over-hyped, internet hosting a panel session at this week’s Web of Issues World Discussion board asking if the “good grid bubble” was extra hype or hope. The panel, which was moderated by Cisco’s RJ Mahadev, who’s enterprise growth lead for the corporate’s IoT providers, appeared to conclude that the market was maybe a little bit of each. Don Stucket, who’s VP of know-how at Canada’s BC Hydro, indicated that from his perspective as a public utility, “there may be lots of hype in among the segments,” although what he termed “maturity” in others. “It is a very complicated enterprise with lots of algorithms with lots of hype round totally different know-how and providers that may assist in determining these points,” Stucket defined. BC Hydro has dipped its toe into the good grid area having rolled out 1.8 million good readers throughout its service footprint. Scott Harden, who’s VP of consulting at BitStew Methods, stated he thought utilities had been largely by the hype cycle and are trying on the good grid alternatives extra pragmatically. Harden defined that many utilities are coping with getting older infrastructure that’s arising for substitute, and that utilities want to see if it made sense to spend the funding {dollars} on plugging in new tools that would function in a sensible grid atmosphere. … Learn extra
Take a look at the RCR Wi-fi Information Archives for extra tales from the previous.
