Global revenue from rack power distribution units (PDUs) grew 6.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year. The rack PDU market is tracked quarterly by IMS Research (recently acquired by IHS Inc.).

Emerson Network Power is working with the Tenerife Island Council to develop a data center that will boost the local economy. This data center will host IT systems for companies seeking to save costs by outsourcing this service. The project, called D-ALiX and promoted through the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER), aims to leverage existing IT infrastructure to reduce costs and improve the competitiveness of companies in the sector.  

The distributor Westcon Group has announced the acquisition of the Afina Group through the purchase of GLS Software and its subsidiaries. This transaction will immediately expand Westcon's presence in the Latin American, Iberian, and North African markets.  

Rohde & Schwarz is integrating SwissQual, a leading provider of systems for measuring and evaluating quality of service (QoS) in wireless networks, into the Rohde & Schwarz group of companies. With the acquisition of SwissQual, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Zuchwil, Switzerland, Rohde & Schwarz will be even better positioned to more comprehensively address the network testing market with a complete, industry-leading technology offering.

As a key component of its cloud computing strategy, Indra has launched a large, state-of-the-art data center at its facilities in San Fernando de Henares (Madrid). The new building has a surface area of ​​almost 5,000 square meters spread across four floors, of which nearly 1,000 square meters house the existing server room with capacity for approximately 450 racks. In addition to these 1,000 square meters, another 700 square meters of space has been designated to accommodate future expansion of the data center, with capacity for an additional 370 racks.  

Fibernet, a leading company in the development and manufacture of high-tech products in the field of fiber optic communications, has developed a new encryption system for the security of data transmissions in fiber optics.

Fujitsu Laboratories Limited has announced the development of a compact and cost-effective optical transceiver, a necessary step toward the development of high-speed optical interconnects and high-bandwidth data transmission between CPUs in next-generation servers.

Data rates and available space for mounting optical transceivers today are obstacles to making future high-performance servers a reality. Fujitsu Laboratories has achieved improvements in the driver IC circuitry and module packaging structures, enabling transfer speeds of 25 Gbps per channel in next-generation interconnects—a necessary step to double conventional transmission rates.

ABB and Green unveil a state-of-the-art data center, employing HP servers to achieve new levels of efficiency and reliability.
ABB and Green, one of Switzerland's leading IT and communications service providers, have announced the official opening of the new expansion of Green's direct current (DC) power data center, Zurich-West.

Microlease, a leading company in the rental and management of test and measurement equipment, has been awarded the 2012 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award by the analyst firm Frost & Sullivan in the US. The recognition comes just six months after the company acquired MetricTest, a US-based provider of solutions for the purchase, rental, and leasing of electronic test equipment.

The FTTH Council Europe has signed a memorandum of understanding with Optixcat, the Catalan organization for advanced fiber optics in telecommunications.
Both organizations will exchange information and cooperate to accelerate fiber-to-the-home deployments in Spain.
The FTTH Council Europe will also participate in fiber-to-the-home events in the country in the near future.

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Huawei has unveiled its new WDM prototype, improving upon current commercial conventional products that utilize a fixed 50GHz spectrum span. Boasting the highest spectrum efficiency among currently available WDM products, Huawei's WDM prototype features a flexible spectrum span with a minimum accuracy of 12.5GHz. This not only increases spectrum utilization and WDM system flexibility but also establishes a solid foundation for multi-carrier technologies and next-generation, flexible-bandwidth optical networks beyond 100G. This high-efficiency spectrum technology will enable operators to build WDM networks that meet future needs.

Telcordia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ericsson and a leading developer of software and services for mobile, broadband and enterprise communications, has announced that its network planning, engineering and design platform has been selected by JT Group (formerly known as Jersey Telecom) to support the deployment of a comprehensive fiber optic telecommunications network.

Telefónica and the Madrid City Council have presented the operator's fiber optic deployment plan in the capital, which aims to bring the most advanced connectivity technology on the market to 1.3 million homes and businesses before the end of the year.

At the event held in the new Telefónica Foundation Space on Gran Vía, the company pledged to place the capital at the forefront of global technology, with a connection coverage level of 100 megabytes comparable to that of cities like Seoul or Tokyo.

Market research firm Infonetics Research has released its report on the market share of optical network hardware vendors, confirming that spending on optical equipment fell 23% globally in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the previous quarter.

"While optical hardware revenue trends across all regions were not positive in the first quarter of 2012, the most alarming development is that year over year in the EMEA region—Europe in particular—spending on WDM optical equipment is declining faster than spending on SDH equipment," notes Andrew Schmitt, analyst at Infonetics Research. "This is not the behavior of a region that is only experiencing a minor quarterly decline. On the contrary, the trend in North America is the opposite, with carriers reducing spending year over year but increasing allocations to future-proof technologies such as WDM and ROADM equipment."

Harwin has invested in a water treatment plant at its UK headquarters and Portsmouth manufacturing facility, improving the quality of the electrolytic surface finish and reducing the environmental impact.

Ikusi and Telecom Unitronics have reached a distribution agreement that will allow Ikusi to add renowned instruments to its catalog. Thanks to this agreement, Ikusi will be able to offer its customers new measurement equipment solutions for cable, radio frequency, and fiber optic networks. This equipment is specifically designed to meet the challenges and requirements of current legislation known as ICT2.

Molex Incorporated has awarded its “Global Distributor of the Year” award to Avnet Electronics Marketing, a world-leading distributor of electronic components and integrated subsystems.

Daltonium, an American materials research company, has applied for a patent for a new type of optical fiber with a signal rate factor of 98% of "c", the speed of light in a vacuum (compared to 68% of "c", the signal rate in every optical fiber manufactured since 1970).

The IEEE has published a new standard to improve the communication and distribution-automation capabilities of smart grids. It is also developing three other standards on smart grids.

The new IEEE 1591.1-2012 standard covers hardware performance criteria, testing requirements, procedures, and acceptance for the ground overload cable for transmission lines (commonly known as ground wire) with optical fibers, commonly known as optical ground wire (OPGW). Electrical, mechanical, optical, environmental, and testing requirements related to design, installation, service, and maintenance, including routine testing, are included.