Oracle Corporation has agreed to acquire MetaSolv Inc. through a cash merger for $4.10 per share, or approximately $219.2 million. The agreement is subject to stockholder and regulatory approval and is expected to close in late 2006 or early 2007. MetaSolv will hold a conference call to discuss later today.

MetaSolv offers communications service providers a comprehensive product set for OSS service fulfillment – including provisioning, network inventory and activation. MetaSolv's standards-based solutions support all types of services including next-generation IMS, VoIP, IPTV, IP VPN, broadband and mobile services, as well as traditional voice and data services.

You may be using an Amino IPTV set-top box during your next hotel stay or cruise thanks to an agreement between Amino and On Command Video Corporation. On Command has commercially deployed the Amino AmiNET series to provide the in-room interactive entertainment and guest service systems to hospitality customers around the world. The AmiNET range of set-top boxes ensures pre-tested interoperability with major system components, facilitating rapid deployment essential for the hospitality industry. In these deployments On Command has used Amino products to create a solution that enables them to optimise their existing deployments whilst still utilising the hotels' coaxial cabling.

Spurred by significant growth in deployment and demand for its fiber-optic-based Internet and TV services around the country, Verizon is hiring about 320 more employees for its state-of-the-art Fiber Solutions Centers (FSCs) in six locations.

The company is seeking candidates for management and associate positions at FSCs in Dallas; Hampton, Va.; Oxnard, Calif.; Providence, R.I.; Syracuse, N.Y.; and Everett, Wash.

Verizon has set a target of 725,000 FiOS Internet customers by year-end 2006, with the service available for sale to 5 million premises. This would represent a market penetration of approximately 15 percent, toward a 2010 goal of 35 percent to 40 percent -- or from 6 million to 7 million FiOS Internet customers.

BT reached three new video-on-demand agreements with MTV, Paramount Comedy and Nickelodeon in the UK to supply entertainment content for BT's next-generation IPTV service, BT Vision.

Additionally, as previous reported by Ovum (See BT Vision Could Launch by December), BT confirms in their latest announcement that "BT Vision will launch this Autumn."

Juniper Networks was selected by Telefonica Argentina, one of Argentina's largest telecommunications service providers, to deploy the E- and M-series routing platforms in its new IP backbone and access networks. The platforms will allow the company to offer value-added services to business and residential consumers throughout Argentina.

Access E, Japan's entertainment broadband channel has entered into an international distribution agreement with MixCast, a global urban lifestyle television outlet. Access E's programming on MixCast focuses on style, celebrity profiles and interviews, and Japanese street culture. Now Access E programming will be available to viewers worldwide through MixCast's phone, web, and television distribution.

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Analysts at the London-based research firm Ovum said on Tuesday that British Telecom (BT) may be ready to launch their new IPTV service, BT Vision, by the end of the year. The group goes on to say that BT may do a "soft" launch this fall and follow up with a full launch next year.

Here's the rest of the story.

SIVOO, an Internet TV network with a vast collection of Spanish and Chinese on-demand entertainment programming, has launched a completely redesigned website. New features include enhanced functionality, to make it easier for consumers to navigate the site and to access and watch their favorite multicultural programming. The site's URL is www.sivoo.com.

Uniersal Music Group has opened up a lawsuit against Grouper Networks Inc. and Bolt Inc., both popular online video sharing sites. The lawsuit alleges widespread infringement for allowing users to post hundreds of music videos from popular artists and other copyrighted material without authorization.

Juniper Networks, Inc. introduced the MX960 Ethernet Services Router, the first in a series of platforms optimized for emerging Ethernet network architectures and services. The MX960 leverages the JUNOS operating system that enables carriers to deploy Ethernet and accelerate their next-generation network deployments. By combining a best-in-class hardware platform with the reliability and service flexibility of JUNOS, the MX960 delivers a combination of features and capabilities previously unattainable in Carrier Ethernet deployments.

Now you may be asking yourself, "Femto-what? And who was the marketing genius behind that name?" While I can't answer the second question, I can help shed some light on the first. Femtocells are small cellular access points for indoor residential or commericial environments. The Femtocells are a combination of WiFI and cell and will use your broadband network to help get signals where access would otherwise be limited or not at all.

The access points will allow your phone to offload traffic through your broadband connection and offer cellular carriers the opportunity to address fixed mobile convergence markets with a highly attractive and efficient solution.

According to ABI Research, by 2011 the worldwide market for femtocell products is expected to reach nearly 19 million units per annum. An interesting factor that is often overlooked when considering the femtocell market is that of functionality. Initial offerings are likely to be simple affairs that rely on Ethernet connections to existing ADSL gateways.

ZyXEL Communications Inc. added a HomePlug AV product line to their portfolio featuring the PLA-400, HomePlug AV PowerLine Ethernet adapter, and the PLA-402, HomePlug AV PowerLine and coaxial Ethernet adapter. Designed as a home network backbone solution, both adapters feature very high throughput at 200 Mbps, which is ideal for IPTV deployment, video and audio streaming, VoIP services, file sharing and Internet access throughout the home. ZyXEL is the first to offer PowerLine adapters that connect either through home electrical outlets or coaxial cable.

TANDBERG scores yet another video head-end deal as Horizon Chillicothe Telephone, an Ohio communications company, has selected the TANDBERG iPlex for a major expansion of the channel line-up for its pioneering TV over VDSL ATM network. Leveraging the high-density encoding, turnaround and transrating (bit rate reduction) capabilities of the TANDBERG iPlex video head-end, Horizon will expand its integrated voice, Internet and digital television service by adding more than 45 new video channels, in both high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD), for delivery to its video subscribers in Ohio.

In yet another announcement tied to Deutsche Telekom, TANDBERG Television's IPTV video head-end and MPEG-4 AVC encoders have been selected by Deutsche Telekom for the Croatian T-Com network. TANDBERG is Working closely with Siemens Networks to provide the technology for the MAXtv IPTV service being launched by Croatian T-Com. The service is using TANDBERG EN5930 SD (standard definition) encoders, TT1222 professional receivers and TT7140 IP streamers to provide Croatian viewers with over 80 real-time channels and a large number of video on-demand movies.