Aquantia Samples Quad-port 10GBASE-T Chip

Aquantia, a start-up based in Milpitas, California, Aquantia, has begun sampling a quad-port 10GBASE-T PHY IC in a
25mm x 25mm package. This small dimension paves the way for single-row, 1RU 48-port 10Gigabit Ethernet switches, which are expected to see deployment in high-density data centers.
http://www.aquantia.com

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Huawei Wins Mobile Upgrade Contract in UK

Everything Everywhere, the newly formed mobile operator formed through the merger of T-Mobile and Orange in the UK, has awarded a four-year networking contract to Huawei. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
http://www.huawei.com.cn

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NSN Wins 5-Year Managed Services Contract with Shanghai Unicom

Shanghai Unicom, the second-largest mobile operator in Shanghai, has awarded a five-year contract to Nokia Siemens Networks for network maintenance services. Under the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks will offer field maintenance services, covering the base stations, transmission and fixed line networks of China Unicom's Shanghai branch. Delivery of the services starts in May, 2011. Financial terms were not disclosed.



This is the second managed services agreement signed between a China Unicom subsidiary and Nokia Siemens Networks. In October, 2010 it was announced that Anhui Unicom had outsourced field maintenance to the company.http://

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NVIDIA Enters 3G/4G Baseband Processing with Icera Acquisition

NVIDIA will acquire Icera, a developer of baseband processors for 3G and 4G phones and tablets, for $367 million in cash.



NVIDIA plans to match its Tegra processor with the Icera baseband processing.



"This is a key step in NVIDIA's plans to be a major player in the mobile computing revolution," said Jen-Hsun Huang, President and CEO of NVIDIA. "Adding Icera's technology to Tegra gives us an outstanding platform to support the industry's best phones and tablets.



"Icera is a perfect fit for NVIDIA. Our businesses are complementary. Icera has the right team, with a strong, proven track record. And their nimble, entrepreneurial, engineering-focused culture mirrors our own."



Icera claims more than 550 patents granted or pending worldwide. The company, which was founded in 2002, is based in Bristol, England. It has approximately 300 employees in seven countries in Europe and Asia, as well as the U.S.

http://www.nvidia.com

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Freescale Targets Latest Quad-core Processor at Security Appliances

Freescale Semiconductor introduced its 10 Gbps "QorIQ" P2041 quad-core processor designed for unified threat management (UTM) security appliances. The device combines four e500mc Power Architecture cores running up to 1.5 GHz with features such as hardware virtualization, cryptography and deep packet inspection technology. It operates at 12W typical power and remains pin-compatible with Freescale's P2040 device and software-compatible with members of Freescale's range of QorIQ platforms from P1 to P5 levels.



"The P2041 integrates optimal processing performance with high-end features such as broad I/O scalability and advanced deep packet inspection functionality," said Danny Mulligan, director of marketing for Freescale's Networking Processor Division. "The processor offers UTM equipment manufacturers a quad-core, low-power solution with a mix of enterprise-like features and capabilities at SMB price points and form factors."http://www.freescale.com

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Solarflare Exits 10GBASE-T PHY Business

Solarflare announced its exit from the physical layer (PHY) business through the sale of its 10GBASE-T assets to an unnamed merchant semiconductor company. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Solarflare will now focus on its family of 10GbE SFP+ and 10GBASE-T server adapters and portfolio of OpenOnload and EnterpriseOnload application acceleration middleware. Solarflare's 10GbE adapters, in combination with its OpenOnload middleware, are targeted at applications such as high frequency financial trading, which require reduced latency and increased message rates for TCP/IP traffic in market data feeds. The adapter's scalable vNIC architecture provides up to 2,048 protected interfaces to the host system that OpenOnload uses to map applications directly to the NIC hardware. Those same vNIC interfaces are also used to enable virtual machine application acceleration and CPU core scaling.



"Our deal to sell the 10GBASE-T business is good for our current installed base of 10GBASE-T customers who will now benefit from having continued support for the best 10GBASE-T product on the market," said Russell Stern, CEO at Solarflare. "We have now reached critical mass. Solarflare will continue to build on its success in the 10GbE server adapter market by growing share in high frequency trading and HPC segments, and launching solutions targeting the virtualization and big data segments. We're excited by what the rest of 2011 will bring to the company."http://www.solarflare.com

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SiTime Introduces MEMS-based Voltage Controlled Oscillators for Telecom

SiTime introduced a new family of MEMS-based Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCXOs) for telecom, networking and embedded applications that serve as a drop-in replacement for older quartz-based oscillators.



The new SiT380X family of VCXO's boast sub-picosecond jitter as well as 10 times better pull range and linearity than quartz VCXOs. SiTime delivers a number of programmable features for these oscillators, such as frequency, voltage, stability, pull range and drive strength.



The SiT380X family consists of two products: the SiT3808, which operates between 1 and 80 MHz; and the SiT3809, which operates from 80 to 220 MHz. Key features include programmable to any frequency within the operating range with 6 decimal places of accuracy; widest pull range, up to ± 1600 PPM; linearity of less than 1%, which enables faster system synchronization; superior tuning slope (Kv) consistency minimizes variation in system PLL performance; and frequency stability, as low as ± 10 PPM for enhanced reliability.



Pin compatibility with existing quartz-based solutions makes the devices "drop-in" replacements. As with its other MEM-based products, SiTime provides customized samples in 48 hours and production quantities in 3 weeks.



"SiTime is using the power of silicon technology to drive the electronics industry's transition from passive timing components to active circuits using MEMS," said Piyush Sevalia, vice president of marketing at SiTime. "The Silicon-based SiT3808 and SiT3809 VCXOs offer unique features that are 10 times better than quartz, such as ± 1600 PPM pull range, 1% linearity and any frequency between 1 and 220 MHz. "http://www.sitime.com

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McAfee Builds its Cloud Security Platform

McAfee introduced its platform for securing content and data traffic between enterprise networks and public clouds.



The McAfee Cloud Security Platform aims to secure all email, web and identity traffic moving between an organization and the Cloud. The company will offer a series of security modules can be deployed as an on-premises appliance, Software-as-a-Service solution or a hybrid combination of both. The first modules for this offering include:



Web Security – McAfee Web Security provides bi-directional protection for both incoming and outgoing web traffic through proactive reputation- and intent-based protection.



Mobile Security – Web traffic generated by smart phones and tablets can be directed through the McAfee Web Gateway using standard device management. This ensures that mobile devices are secured with advanced anti-malware protection and corporate web filtering policies.



Cloud Access Control – Intel Expressway Cloud Access 360, helps enable an Enterprise or Cloud Provider to provide comprehensive access control for cloud applications using Enterprise identities.



Email Security – McAfee Email Security delivers total email protection, integrating comprehensive inbound threat protection with outbound data loss prevention.



Web Services Security – The Intel Expressway Service Gateway offloads application level API security, data transformation, REST to SOAP mediation, and identity token exchange, to a high speed gateway at the network edge or in the cloud.



The platform and modules are powered by McAfee Global Threat Intelligence, which leverages the Cloud with millions of sensors and hundreds of threat researchers worldwide to deliver real-time – and even predictive – threat intelligence against all known and emerging threats.



"Once you move data or applications to the Cloud, you essentially lose most – if not all – of your security visibility, which most organizations find unacceptable," said Marc Olesen, senior vice president and general manager, Content and Cloud Security at McAfee. "By securing the data and traffic before it travels to or through the Cloud, we help businesses extend their security practices and policies into the Cloud."http://www.mcafee.com

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NSN Releases Sustainability Report 2010

Nokia Siemens Networks published an in-depth Sustainability Report covering all of its activities as well as the use of its products worldwide during 2010. The report analyzes environmental performance, health and safety, and supply chain related information.



In terms of overall energy consumption, the company improved the efficiency of its products and of the company last year, however the overall amount of energy consumed rose in 2010 due to the increase volume of product shipments.

Some highlights from the NSN report:

• The fact that half of all energy consumed by Nokia Siemens Networks facilities globally now comes from renewable sources;



• An outline of the company's new business focused on applications that will save energy for power utilities and other industry sectors, and support the development of smart applications for use by various other industries;



• Updates that show Nokia Siemens Networks continues to provide the most energy efficient products in the industry. Based on calculations using the ETSI energy efficiency measurement standards, power consumption of its industry leading Flexi base station is only 562 watts;



• Results showing that the company continues to have the most robust anti-corruption organization and program in the industry. Employee awareness is a key element, with 92% of employees completing the annual ethical business training;



• Information that the company spent nearly 57 million Euros on employee training;



• News that Nokia Siemens Networks achieved the 18001 OHSAS Occupational Health and Safety Management System certification in ten key high risk markets of operation;



• The fact that Nokia Siemens Networks has strengthened policies and processes related to human rights, to specifically address the misuse of communication technologies;



• Details of its efforts to augment supplier capability and performance in corporate responsibility by doubling global audits and tripling the amount of supplier training with respect to corporate responsibility;



• Information relating to a new policy addressing the use of conflict minerals.

NSN said the report is part of its effort to become more transparent on issues critical to its own and its customers' success.

"Our commitment to sustainability and ethical business is a key differentiator in a tough competitive environment," said Rajeev Suri, chief executive officer, Nokia Siemens Networks. "This report reflects our belief that there can be no sustainability without transparency and open dialogue. Transparency means an honest measurement of performance, and the courage to be open about both successes and areas of improvement. It means being active in the global dialogue, including engaging on topics that can be contentious."



The full version of the 48-page report is online.http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/sustainabilityreporting

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Vantage Data Centers -- Panel Discussion -- Data Center Innovation

A panel discussion on Innovation in Today's Data Centers.



Moderator: Mark Thiele, VP Data Center Strategy, ServiceMesh



Panelists:



David Robbins, CTO, NetApp


Mark Egan, CIO, VMware


Kurt Kemmerer, CIO, GE Intelligent Platforms


Dan Azevedo, Director, Symantec

http://www.vantagedatacenters.com

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Mu Dynamics Enables Application-Aware Network Testing

Mu Dynamics introduced its latest set of testing tools for recreating multiple types of applications– including Web, enterprise and mobile apps – at scale, to determine how they impact networks.



Mu Studio 6, which builds on the company's recently announced application test content, as well as Mu TestCloud, is able to recreate actual production traffic. New capabilities for service providers and enterprises include:

Application Mix support – Using the Mu Studio Multi-Track capability, testers can now recreate their entire mix of applications on the production network. For example, to recreate an operator's network, the tester can model a mix of different categories of applications, such as 30 percent video, 20 percent games, 10 percent IM, 30 percent enterprise apps and 10 percent social media.



Elastic Scale – Using the Mu Studio Remote Players, customers can achieve virtually unlimited scale by unifying multiple load generators. This enables scale tests that require the generation of millions of concurrent users and application flows to stress the network under production-like conditions.



Full integration with Mu TestCloud – Mu TestCloud is a cloud-based application test store with over 1,000 ready-to-run application tests across numerous categories including P2P apps, video, voice, games, social media, enterprise apps and more. With hundreds of new application tests being added each month, customers can access the most popular ones and their most current versions on different platforms. Mu Studio 6 is now integrated with the Mu TestCloud store, allowing testers to seamlessly download multiple tests and start running them within minutes.



Automation APIs – enabling customers to tightly integrate load and performance testing into their own test automation frameworks. The APIs allow organizations to use the language of their choice (such as Ruby, TCL, Perl and Python) to integrate Mu Studio 6 into their development, test and deployment lifecycle.



"The explosion of applications that make up today's networks are changing daily, which means that service providers need a testing solution that can keep up with this as they test and validate their application-level policies for security and QoS," said Simon Berman, vice president of products, Mu Dynamics. "Mu Studio 6 gives network operators the ability to quickly recreate the volatile application traffic mix on their networks at the highest levels of scale to ensure the best possible levels of security and performance for their customers."
http://www.mudynamics.com/

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Horizon Telcom Picks Fujitsu Consortium for Connecting Appalachia

Horizon
Telcom, which serves southern and eastern Ohio, has selected
Fujitsu Network Communications, along with Juniper Networks and
Calix, for a new network project to be constructed through 34
counties a part of the Connecting Appalachia federally-funded
stimulus project.



"Horizon is very proud that our vision for bringing the latest
technology in fiber broadband deployment to Appalachian Ohio
will be made possible through our partnership with Fujitsu,
Calix and Juniper,” said Joe Corbin, Horizon vice president of
Operations.

Fujitsu will provide a Master
Network Integration turnkey solution using products from
Fujitsu, Calix and Juniper. The deployment will use the Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 9500 Packet Optical Networking Platform (Packet ONP),
which provides the ability to deliver Layer 2 services across an
optical backbone, the Juniper Networks MX Series 3D Universal
Edge Routers, and the Calix E7-2 Ethernet Service Access
Platform (ESAP) and 700GX/GE family of Optical Network Terminals
(ONTs).

In addition, the Fujitsu Richardson solutions lab will
be used for interoperability testing of the end-to-end solution
prior to network deployment.

"We are honored to be selected for
this opportunity to work with Horizon who is leveraging our
multi-vendor network integration expertise and network
operations center capabilities along with our industry-leading
optical networking technology,” said Greg Manganello, senior
vice president of Services at Fujitsu Network Communications.

Federal funding for the new fiber optic broadband network
connecting Ohio’s Appalachian counties was awarded to Horizon in
July, 2010. This $66.4 million Broadband Technologies
Opportunity Program (BTOP) stimulus grant, awarded by the
National Telecommunications Infrastructure Administration
(NTIA), will fund 70% of the $94.9 million project, with Horizon
providing the remaining 30%. Construction of the project is
expected to begin this summer.http://us.fujitsu.com/telecomhttp://www.connectingappalachia.org

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Sophos to Acquire Astaro -- Unified Threat Management

Sophos agreed to acquire Astaro, a privately held provider of network security solutions, for an undisclosed sum.



Astaro, headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany and Wilmington, Massachusetts, supplies a line of unified threat management appliances for small and medium-sized businesses. The company had 56 million in billings and 30% year over year growth in 2010, and claims to be the fourth largest dedicated unified threat management (UTM) provider.



Sophos offers encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. The company is based in Boston and Oxford, England.



"The combination of Astaro's comprehensive portfolio of network security solutions alongside our endpoint, mobile, and email and web threat and data protection capabilities will enable us to continue to deliver on our vision of providing complete security without complexity wherever the user and company data resides," stated Steve Munford, Chief Executive Officer, Sophos.



"Demand for network security solutions with more comprehensive and high-quality protection is accelerating fast, and yet companies are struggling with the complexity of multiple security solutions to serve these needs," stated Jan Hichert, Chief Executive Officer, Astaro. "We are excited to join forces with Sophos, as we share a common mission and passion for providing the most comprehensive security solutions that are also easy to use. Together, we will deliver to customers the ability to apply consistent security and web and application controls regardless of where the user is or where the network boundary may lie."http://www.sophos.com http://www.astaro.com

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NSN Integrates Accedian's Ethernet Demarcation Device

Accedian Networks announced a partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks to offer service providers a solution to assure high performance of IP/Ethernet networks. Specifically, Nokia Siemens Networks has integrated Accedian Networks' MetroNID demarcation device, and its MetroNODE 10GE Ethernet Operations Administration and Maintenance (OAM) aggregation platform with their solutions such as Mobile Backhaul, Carrier Ethernet Transport and Multiservice IP Backbone.



"The data deluge in mobile networks is quite a challenge for mobile service providers," said Martin Brundert, Head of Solutions Management for Network Systems at Nokia Siemens Networks. "Therefore, we made Accedian devices an integral part of our solutions with fully verified interoperability between our base stations and Accedian network elements covering the entire backhauling network. Our solutions help customers to verify and maintain the performance of packet networks. This significantly improves the Smartphone user experience."http://www.accedian.com http://www.nsn.com

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IEEE Studies Bandwidth Needs Beyond 100G

A new IEEE 802.3TM Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment Ad Hoc group has been formed to study the future bandwidth needs of Ethernet wireline applications across multiple industries, which will assist future development activities of Ethernet standards.



At issue is whether industry standardization efforts should next be focused on 400G, 1 Terabit or other high-speed rates. Most recently, the IEEE pursued and ratified two high-speed Ethernet tracks at once: 802.3ba 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps Ethernet. The new group seeks to understand whether industry demands will require a similar approach to even higher speeds, or whether a target can be set to a single speed.



"We are driving a global, industry-wide assessment now of the needs of the people who are ultimately going to use the next generation of Ethernet wireline standards," said John D'Ambrosia, chair of the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment Ad Hoc and chief Ethernet evangelist, CTO office, Force10 Networks. "The IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment Ad Hoc will give future development activities extremely valuable information in a useful format, streamline their early stages of work and enable them to hit the ground running instead of crawling."



The IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment Ad Hoc invites contributions from individuals across all industries as it gathers information and—with the IEEE 802.3 Working Group's approval—produces an assessment of its findings that will be referencable for future standards-development efforts. The IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment Ad Hoc seeks any data related to Ethernet bandwidth trends of past, present or future, to help ensure that the future needs for Ethernet wireline speeds are understood.http://www.ieee.orghttp://www.ieee802.org/3/ad_hoc/bwa/index.html

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Xilinx Acquires Modelware and Focuses on 100G Opportunity

Xilinx has acquired Modelware, a provider of traffic management/packet processing silicon intellectual property (IP) cores and reference designs. Modelware helps simplify system development of networking applications supporting 10G, 40G, 100G and beyond. Financial terms were not disclosed. Modelware is based in Red Bank, New Jersey.



Modelware has the only FPGA-based IP capable of scaling to up to 100G + and running traffic rates at 150 million packets-per-second with 64B packet size on a single FPGA.



Xilinx said this technology strengthens its ability to deliver FPGA-optimized packet processing, switching, and traffic management solutions that address very granular (trending to 1+ million queues) per-flow bandwidth provisioning as well as scalable high-bandwidth traffic aggregation capabilities (20G to 100G and beyond) across the service provider, enterprise networking and data center markets. The Modelware technology also encompasses several legacy cores such as HDLC, ATM, PWE3, which Xilinx will continue to use in order to support legacy installations such as the mobile backhaul space, and help customers with maintaining existing deployments and offer an easy migration path from TDM to all-IP solutions without a need for new hardware.



Xilinx also announced its first Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based 100G traffic management reference design to help customers speed their evaluation and implementation of high bandwidth packet processing applications.



"By augmenting FPGAs that are already fine-tuned for high-bandwidth communications technology with Modelware's traffic management/packet processing portfolio, Xilinx will be extending and accelerating its ability to deliver the benefits of industry-leading programmable platforms to our large base of wired communications customers," said Krishna Rangasayee Corporate Vice President & General Manager, Xilinx Communications Business Unit. "Essentially, we are providing customers with a one stop shop that can help them address high bandwidth challenges, million-connection-network needs, and enable system capabilities that satisfy evolving demands for Quality of Service."http://www.xilinx.com

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