Pacnet expands subsea cable network with EAC Pacific

Its latest investment into the new cable infrastructure is part of the US$300 million Unity cable system that will address growing Trans-Pacific bandwidth demand

Hong Kong, (ANTARA News/Xinhua-PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Pacnet today announced its latest investment into expanding its subsea cable network with the launch of its first Trans-Pacific cable infrastructure, EAC Pacific.

EAC Pacific will enhance connectivity and reliability of Pacnet's existing pan-Asia EAC-C2C subsea cable network by providing up to 1.92 Tbps of bandwidth across the Pacific.

"While intra-Asia bandwidth demands are being met by regional cable systems such as Pacnet's EAC-C2C cable network, Unity will allow us to meet the increasing demand for Trans-Pacific bandwidth as more digital content is generated from within Asia and accessed from across the Pacific," said Bill Barney, CEO of Pacnet.

EAC Pacific is part of the 10,000km Unity cable system that is being built by a global consortium which includes five other global companies and is expected to cost about US$300 million.

Pacnet is the single largest investor in Unity and will control two of the five fiber pairs in Unity. Each of the fiber pairs of the Unity cable system are capable of carrying up to 960 Gbps, and the cable system can scale up to eight fiber pairs. Initial capacity from Unity is expected by the first quarter of 2010.

Through Unity, Pacnet and its consortium partners have led the way for a new operating model for future submarine cable systems.

By coming together to build a cable with a high fiber count, consortium members can benefit from a high bandwidth cable that comes at lower unit costs. Additionally, unlike traditional consortium-built cables, the new cable operating model allows consortium members like Pacnet to operate fiber pairs in the new cable independently.

Unity, which will land in Los Angeles, California (USA), will connect directly to Chikura, Japan, where it will be seamlessly connected to Pacnet's EAC-C2C network. This will enhance the reliability and resiliency of Pacnet's cable network by offering additional capacity and route diversity.

"Pacnet first unveiled our Trans-Pacific cable strategy in 2007. Having secured the funding for our network expansion, we will continue to look for network expansion opportunities across the Pacific" said Mr Barney.

About Pacnet

Pacnet, a leading telecom services provider, was born from the operational merger of Asia Netcom and Pacific Internet. Pacnet owns and operates EAC-C2C, Asia's largest privately-owned submarine cable network at 36,800 km with design capacity of 10.24 Tbps. Offering a comprehensive portfolio of industry leading IP-based solutions, Pacnet serves the carriers market as well as large enterprises and SMEs. Pacnet is headquartered in Hong Kong and Singapore with offices in all key markets in Asia and worldwide.

For more information, please visit: http://www.pacnet.com

About Unity

Unity is an international consortium that is developing a 10,000 km undersea cable system connecting Japan and the United States. The system will provide much needed capacity to sustain the increased growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the United States. Members of the consortium include Bharti Airtel, Global Transit Ltd., Google, KDDI, Pacnet and SingTel. NEC and Tyco Telecommunications are the suppliers for the Unity project, which is scheduled to go live in the first quarter of 2010.

For more information, contact:
Lorain Wong
Roland Lim
Pacnet
Pacnet
Tel: +852 2121 2973
Tel: +852-2121-2975
Email: lorain.wong@pacnet.com
Email: roland.lim@pacnet.com
SOURCE Pacnet

COPYRIGHT © 2008 - ANTARANEWS

University of Adelaide gains nearly 100 % network visibility

Complete Visibility from StealthWatch Improves Network Availability and Security

Atlanta, GA. (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Lancope(R), Inc., the provider of the StealthWatch(TM) System, the most widely used network behavior analysis (NBA) and response solution, today announced that the University of Adelaide is using StealthWatch to gain 100 percent insight into routed network traffic in order to identify anomalies such as worms and interface congestion.

The University network is comprised of approximately 1,000 infrastructure devices with nearly 10,000 hosts active on the network at any given time. The StealthWatch System analyzes NetFlow traffic information from the University's 25 Cisco routers to provide a detailed view of activity. With StealthWatch, the University is able to quickly and easily investigate potential issues related to security, network operations and applications.

"A NetFlow analysis tool of some sort is a 'must have' for any network and security operations team, and StealthWatch is the product to consider if you demand the best technology available," said Lindsay Whitbread, network operation and information security team leader for the University of Adelaide. "Like using a mobile phone, once you've seen StealthWatch in action, you'll wonder how you possibly lived without it."

Currently, the University is relying on StealthWatch in the following capacities:
-- Information Security - The University's information security specialists use StealthWatch to detect network traffic anomalies and/or intrusion attempts. StealthWatch has enabled security staff to block hosts scanning the University network for vulnerabilities- preventing security breaches before damage can occur.
-- Network Operations - Through NetFlow collection and SNMP polling, StealthWatch provides a single view of every network port on critical devices. The University's network operations staff can detect interface congestion immediately and easily
investigate the root causes behind network events.
-- Application Administration - StealthWatch helps the University's application administrators quickly investigate the network connections associated with a server, which is performing unexpectedly. Via StealthWatch, administrators use NetFlow data to fully understand the network behavior of a server before, during and after an incident.

"Before StealthWatch, we invested significant time and resources developing scripts to create NetFlow reports and to identify important network events," said Whitbread. "Only one staff member could drive the system, which often meant missing important network incidents until some time after an event occurred. With StealthWatch in place, several people can effectively analyze NetFlow information in real time without requiring specialized training."

The University imports Cisco PIX firewall logs into the StealthWatch Management Console to give operations staff additional network behavior data. It also uses the StealthWatch IDentity-1000 (ID-1000) appliance to associate users with corresponding IP addresses to help network operations staff quickly identify individuals responsible for suspect network activity.

"StealthWatch has dramatically increased our network visibility," said Whitbread. "We've gone from analyzing 10 percent of network connections to 95 percent or higher. Tasks which we used to avoid because of the effort required, are now performed quickly and efficiently using StealthWatch."

User interface was a key consideration in the University's search for an NBA solution. "The tabbed layout in the StealthWatch GUI gives us an intuitive way to run several reports in parallel, so we can quickly and easily verify all aspects of a network incident, including the behavior of key hosts, historical incidents of a similar nature and other trends," said Whitbread. "The StealthWatch GUI will always be a clear advantage over the competition."

"The University of Adelaide already recognized the value ofNetFlow data for improving security, network and application performance," said David Schwickerath, VP International Field Operations for Lancope. "As a sophisticated user, the University has harnessed the power of the StealthWatch System to achieve real bottom-line benefits like decreased user downtime, better data security and greater IT staff
efficiency."

About Lancope

Lancope(R), Inc. is the provider of the StealthWatch(TM) System, the most widely used network behavior analysis (NBA)and response solution that unifies behavior-based anomaly detection and network optimization capabilities to protect critical information assets and ensure network performance by preventing costly downtime, repair and loss of reputation.

StealthWatch streamlines security and network operations into one process, reduces time and resources, and eliminates the costs and complexity associated with non-integrated point products. Both OPSEC and Common Criteria-certified, StealthWatch received the 2008 and 2007 Global Excellence Award in NBA and was named Best of Show at Interop2006.

Defending the networks of Global 2000 organizations, academic institutions and government entities, StealthWatch protects hundreds of enterprise customers worldwide, more than all direct competitors combined. A contributing member of the Trusted Computing Group, Lancope also partners with fellow best-of-breed solution providers through its Technology Alliance Program, which includes Cisco Systems, Foundry Networks, IBM Tivoli, Check Point, TippingPoint, ArcSight andA10 Networks. Lancope is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
For more information, call 888-419-1462 or visit www.lancope.com

(C) 2008 Lancope, Inc. All rights reserved. Lancope(R), StealthWatch(TM) and other trademarks are registered or unregistered trademarks of Lancope, Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners. StealthWatch is covered by U.S. Patent Nos. 7,290,283 and 7,185,368 and other U.S. and foreign patents pending.

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http://profnet.prnewswire.com/SubscriberExpertProfile.aspx?ei=63045

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SOURCE: Lancope, Inc.
CONTACT: Jody Ma Kissling of Lancope, Inc.,
+1-770-225-6513,
jma@lancope.com; or
Michelle Schafer of Merritt Group for Lancope,
+1-703-390-1525,
+1-703-403-6377(cell),
schafer@merrittgrp.com
Web site: http://www.lancope.com

COPYRIGHT © 2008 - ANTARANEWS

Vale settles 2008 benchmark iron ore fines prices with China Steel Corp

Rio De Janeiro (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Vale), the world's largest iron ore producer, concluded the iron ore fines price negotiations for 2008 with China Steel Corporation, the largest Taiwanese steelmaker.

As an outcome of these negotiations, the iron ore prices for Southern System fines (SSF), FOB Tubarao, increased by 65% relatively to 2007. At the same time, due to its recognized superior quality, it was agreed that the price for Carajas iron ore fines (SFCJ) will have a premium of US$ 0.0619 per dry metric ton Fe unit over the 2008 price for SSF.

Therefore, the new reference prices per dry metric ton Fe unit for 2008 are US$ 1.1898 for SSF and US$ 1.2517 for SFCJ.

The magnitude of the price increase for 2008 reflects the continuity of very tight conditions still prevailing in the global iron ore market.

The iron ore price settlement with large high-quality companies and traditional customers such as China Steel Corporation is an evidence of our commitment to the benchmark pricing system, respecting the weight of the long-term relationship and trust involved in these negotiations.

Vale reinforces its commitment with customers, investing a substantial amount of resources in increasing production capacity. Despite the sharp rise of investment and operational costs, the Company has managed to expand iron ore production at an average annual rate of 14.1%, between 2001 and 2007.

Currently, we are developing projects to add new capacity of high quality iron ore to meet our client needs, aiming to reach a production capacity of 450 million metric tons per year by the end of 2012, which will require substantial investment in new mines and the enlargement of our railroad and port infrastructure.

SOURCE: Vale
CONTACT: Roberto Castello Branco,
roberto.castello.branco@vale.com, or
Alessandra Gadelha,
alessandra.gadelha@vale.com, or
Patricia Calazans,
patricia.calazans@vale.com, or
Theo Penedo,
theo.penedo@vale.com, or
Marcus Thieme,
marcus.thieme@vale.com, or
Tacio Neto,
tacio.neto@vale.com,
all of Vale,
+55-21-3814-4540
Web site: http://www.vale.com

COPYRIGHT © 2008 - ANTARANEWS

ORC Worldwide opens Middle East office in Dubai

New York (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Keeping pace with the global business boom in the Middle East, ORC Worldwide(R), a human resource management consulting company headquartered in New York, has opened its first Middle East branch to customers in the Gulf.

"Dubai is in the midst of major growth and to be here at the center of that activity is very important to any business," said John Macdonald, Managing Director of the Middle East for ORC. "ORC has been serving this region for years, but our relationships will now flourish with more direct contact."

As western-based corporations expand globally, Dubai has become a popular destination for many reasons. Operating conditions are among the most favorable in the Middle East, its economy is strong, and it has a well- developed commercial infrastructure. And as the economic climate becomes more sophisticated, experts believe there is a need for advancements in human resource and compensation programs follows.

"This is a considerable opportunity for ORC to offer its knowledge and experience of compensation, reward, talent management and other human resource services to companies expanding their operations in the UAE and for local companies who need to develop their HR practices," said Siobhan Cummins, Managing Director of ORC's Worldwide EMEA.

In fact, ORC has already expanded its staff to respond to the requests from companies seeking assistance in obtaining salary-market data, designing compensation structures and training their employees on how to manage compensation and reward.

"There is a need for specialist consulting firms in this region. ORC is well-placed to help local companies to thrive and build their own capacity," Macdonald said.

ORC Worldwide provides human resource management consulting and data services to large and mid-sized organizations around the globe. For more than 20 years, ORC has surveyed members of its Senior Human Resource Officers' Networks. Headquartered in New York City, ORC Worldwide has offices in Chicago, Dallas, Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Munich, Paris, Sacramento, San Francisco, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, D.C. and Wellington
For more information, please visit www.orcworldwide.com.

SOURCE: ORC Worldwide
CONTACT: John Yocca of Stern + Associates,
+1-908-276-4344 x 214,
john@sternassociates.com, for ORC Worldwide
Web site: http://www.orcworldwide.com

COPYRIGHT © 2008 - ANTARANEWS