Study says virtual currency is No. 1 purchase
September 15, 2009

VGMarket, a market research firm specializing in the video game industry, and PlaySpan, a leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announced the first installment of results from its landmark study that examines in-depth, individual digital goods purchases and sales behavior across multiple game genres and platforms. The survey is comprised of 2,425 respondents from across the PlaySpan Marketplace, Spare Change, and Ultimate Game Card.

The study revealed that over half of gamers (58%) made purchases in Free to Play (F2P) games over the last 12 months. One third (34%) of buyers made purchases in MMOs (massive multiplayer online games) and 23% made purchases in Social Network games over the same time period.

The most popular digital goods purchased included In-game currency (71%), Weapons (37%), Subscription Codes (30%), Wearables (26%), Power-Ups (25%), Virtual Gifts (19%) and Maps & Levels (16%). The study also found that the median number of transactions was higher for virtual currency (7), than for any other type of digital good (5).

Indian telecom adds 9.3 mn GSM users in August
September 11, 2009

GSM mobile operators in India added 9.3 million mobile users on their platform in August 2009 bringing the total number of GSM users in the country up to 335.4 million, according to the data released by the Cellular Operators’ Association of India.

The growth was led by Bharti Airtel which added 2.8 million users, followed by Vodafone Essar with 2.19 million users.

Source: Economic Times

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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Telecom/GSM-user-base-grows-by-93-mn-in-August/articleshow/4996736.cms

Broadcom announces high-def satellite set top box
September 9, 2009

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global player in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, announced a new single-chip, multi-format high definition (HD) satellite set-top box (STB) solutions featuring an integrated Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA®) 1.1 core. With these new system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, service providers worldwide can now offer whole-home digital media distribution and connected TV services that enable subscribers to securely access, store and share multiple types of digital media content including HDTV programs, video-on-demand, multi-room digital video recorder (DVR) programming, Internet content, user-generated video, music, photos and voice over Internet protocol.

Announced were the Broadcom® BCM7340 and BCM7342 single-chip satellite receivers that enable unmatched functionality for direct broadcast satellite (DBS) set-top boxes and support multiple worldwide formats including the DVB-S2, DVB-S and 8PSK standards, with backwards compatibility to the DVB-S standard. Both chips feature high performance and cost effective DDR3-based memory that provides significant cost and energy savings over DDR2-based memory.

Sify selects Cisco for building optical network across India
September 15, 2009

Cisco has announced that Sify has selected the Cisco® ONS 15454 Multi Service Transport Platform (MSTP) as the foundation of Sify’s optical network. The decision is part of Sify's strategy to enhance its existing core network to meet its customers' ever increasing demand for sophisticated network services and to address the rapidly evolving Indian market.

"We are in the process of transforming our network infrastructure into an IP Next Generation Network to deliver triple play and more. These technology investments are aimed at making us more competitive in the services we offer across enterprise and consumer segments going forward," said Mr. Arvind Mathur, chief architect, Sify Technologies Limited.

The Cisco ONS 15454 Multi Service Transport Platform offers capabilities, reliability and scalability required for service providers to offer any-play services. The platform uses state of the art technologies – multi-degree colorless and directionless ROADMs, Carrier Ethernet Switching, SDH Cross-connect and Transponders/Muxponders for all services including data, voice, video and storage.

GTPL to deploy NDS solutions to protect its digital services
September 14, 2009

Gujarat Telelink Private Ltd., the largest MSO in Gujarat, plans to deploy NDS VideoGuard® conditional access technology, NDS MediaHighway® middleware, interactive applications including games and an NDS electronic programme guide (EPG).

VideoGuard will secure over 180 digital TV channels, including premium content such as international movies, as well as value added services including a ‘songs on demand’ service. GTPL also plans to launch Video On Demand (VOD), based on technology from NDS, in the coming months.

NAVTEQ opens global production centre
September 10, 2009

NAVTEQ, global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions, announced the establishment of a Global Production Centre, located in Mumbai. This is NAVTEQ’s first Production Centre in Asia Pacific and is the largest worldwide for NAVTEQ.

The majority of employees at the centre will be geocoders. Employees will work on local, regional and global projects and will focus on maintaining and updating NAVTEQ maps in 77 countries and territories. Work done at the centre is expected to accelerate production capacity and productivity for the company worldwide.