AT&T Announces Next LTE Markets

AT&T announced the next U.S. markets where it will activate LTE: St. Louis, Mo.; Naples, Fla; Bloomington, Lafayette and Muncie, Ind.; Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La.; Akron, Canton and Cleveland, Ohio; Bryan-College Station, Texas; and Staten Island in New York City. These launches are scheduled for April, May and into the early summer.
http://www.att.com

Read More

Telefónica Launches Virtual Hosting 2.0

Telefónica, in collaboration with Cisco and VCE, has launched a regional advanced cloud hosting service in Latin America for large companies and public agencies.


The Virtual Hosting 2.0 service, which is available in all Latin American countries where Telefónica operates, enables enterprises to migrate to cloud computing. It is based on the VCE Vblock infrastructure platform, which offers integrated virtualization, server, storage, networking and security technologies with end-to-end support.


VCE is the Virtual Computing Environment Company formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel.
VCE's prepackaged solutions are available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications, vertical industry offerings, and application development environments.


Notably, Telefónica is implementing a single global architecture for the cloud based on VCE with the goal of scaling and evolving the service evenly throughout the region. Telefónica is delivering the service from five interconnected data centers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru.


Telefónica's Virtual Hosting 2.0 offers the benefits of an advanced virtual service, such as elasticity, fast provision in case of new company needs, private access to the network, and end-to-end management. Initially, Virtual Hosting 2.0 includes services such as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), virtual data centers, private cloud services and business continuity services in case of incidents and disasters. Under the cloud computing model, it seeks to provide the latest technologies, without the need for investment in equipment and maintenance.


"Cloud computing is the business model for the delivery of services to customers. Companies, service providers and government agencies are looking for cloud solutions to reduce costs, increase profitability and create innovative business models. Cisco enables customers to take advantage of network intelligence, the power of data centers and business applications. The result is an attractive and safe cloud experience with applications and services supplied from any place, at anytime and from any device. We want to thank Telefónica Empresas Latinoamérica for trusting Cisco as the technological partner for its cloud computing solution in Latin America,' said Jaime Vallés, Cisco senior vice president for Latin America.

http://www.telefonica.comhttp:/www.telefonica.com
http://www.vce.com

Read More

Fujitsu Develops DSP Algorithm for 100G Long-haul Optical Distortion

Researchers at Fujitsu have developed a digital signal processing algorithm to compensate for waveform distortion in long-haul transmission systems operating over several hundred kilometers. The method is aimed at 100 Gbps transmissions, which tend to suffer from waveform distortion caused by nonlinear optical effects over distance.


Fujitsu said a key advantage of its new technology is that it does not require signal regenerators. The nonlinear compensation technology can restore the signal received with distortion to a clean waveform.


The company claims roughly a twenty-fold improvement in the compensation ability per circuit size compared to typical existing technology. The design also cuts the energy consumption of compensation circuits by two-thirds.


The receiving-side digital signal processing LSI used to measure and verify the effectiveness of the developed technology was developed under a project sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.


The new technology takes a new approach in that it transmits additional inverse distortion in order to "clean up" distorted waves. Unlike receiver-end compensation circuits, waveforms from compensation circuits located on the transmission end do not contain noise or distortion, thereby enabling simpler computation. Fujitsu has narrowed its focus on DP-QPSK modulation.


Fujitsu reported that in a transmission test at 112 Gbps, the new technology was shown to achieve, using a one-stage circuit, even higher signal quality than that obtained using a 20-stage compensation circuit in conventional technology.
http://www.fujitsu.com

Read More

Narus Cyber Survey: Increase in Volume and Sophistication of Attacks

Network security professionals are expressing concern at the increase in volume and sophistication of attacks, according to a newly published annual cyber security survey sponsored jointly by Narus, Converge! Network Digest and GSN: Government Security News. The annual survey queries a focus group comprising security professionals in a variety of industries.

Some key findings:

• More than 55 percent of respondents are concerned that their company is not equipped to protect its networks from cyber attacks; approximately 85 percent think the government is not equipped to protect its networks.



• The overwhelming majority of respondents (93.8 percent) believe cyber attacks are on the rise.



• Inability to protect sensitive and confidential data (64.6 percent), viruses and malware (62.5 percent), social media attacks (52.1 percent), being able to analyze threats in real time (50 percent) and zero-day attacks (47.9) all ranked high as significant threats to organizations today.



• More than 79 percent of the respondents believe the best way to protect against cyber attacks is with a solution that detects, analyzes and mitigates unwanted, unwarranted or malicious traffic in real time.



• The respondents believe that the following three factors are most important when evaluating a cyber security solution: detection and remediation of advanced persistent threats, detection of bots and real-time threat analysis.
  Government networks left vulnerable.



• Once again, the majority of respondents this year feel cyber attacks are showing no signs of slowing; in fact, the actual percentage held steady at 93.8 percent of respondents (as compared with 93 percent in 2010). Inability to protect sensitive data, viruses, malware and inability to analyze threats in real time present the biggest threats, according to respondents. The increasing sophistication of attacks is also worrying 91.7 percent of respondents, no doubt due to the onslaught of advanced persistent threats (APTs) like non-signature attacks.



• The survey indicates that companies are bolstering their cyber security efforts, and therefore the confidence of their employees. Indeed, the number of respondents concerned that their company is not well-equipped to protect against cyber attacks has slipped over the past year (55 percent in 2011 vs. 71 percent in 2010), suggesting that companies are now at least beginning to implement technology that stands up to sophisticated threats. Additionally, 42.6 percent of respondents indicated that their companies have increased their respective cyber security budgets since 2010. But the same respondents were not so confident in the government's ability to protect its networks. Eighty-five percent of respondents believe government networks remain vulnerable to cyber attacks.



• The survey also supports the view that there is a pressing need for real-time detection, analysis, and mitigation of cyber threats. Almost 80 percent of this year's survey respondents agree, citing a solution that provides real-time detection, analysis and mitigation of sophisticated attacks as the best choice for cyber protection. The detection and remediation of APTs emerged as a top criterion for such a solution, followed by real-time threat analysis and detection and remediation of bots.

"Each year, the cyber security survey yields results that consistently underscore the importance of real-time detection and analysis of network traffic,�? said Greg Oslan, CEO and president of Narus. “We look forward to working with our customers and partners to help them better manage and protect their networks against the increased volume and sophistication of cyber threats with NarusInsight."
http://www.narus.com
http://www.convergedigest.com

Read More

Holland's SURFnet Tests Cisco 100G DWDM

SURFnet has completed a technology test of Cisco's 100G DWDM solution between the National Supercomputing Center, SARA, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, using the Cisco ONS 15454 M6 Multiservice Transport Platform. DWDM was used to unite multiple optical carrier signals on a single optical fiber. Specifically, the 100G alien wavelength was carried error-free using Cisco single carrier coherent optical technology across SURFnet's existing 1650km optical DWDM system.


The test involved introducing 100G single carrier optical interfaces into SURFnet's existing optical infrastructure made up of a combination of 10G, 40G and 100G wavelengths. Cisco said its 100G DWDM solution was quickly operational without any disruption to the existing network.


The Cisco ONS 15454 M6 platform can support 42 x 100G wavelengths in a single bay, nearly three times the density of competing solutions.


"This 100G alien wavelength demonstration is another important step in the future of international networking across geographical, technical and administrative borders. Being able to use high-bandwidth wavelengths over open transmission systems from different equipment vendors supports new approaches to networking. The use of all-optical alien wavelength 100G technology is what will enable cost-effective international research networking," stated Roeland Nuijts, optical network architect, SURFnet.
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.cisco.com

• In May 2011, Ciena announced that SURFnet, which operates an advanced research network in The Netherlands, will upgrade its backbone with support for full photonic flexibility and the deployment of 100 Gbps on international links connecting the Netherlands to research communities like CERN in Switzerland. SURFNet is using Ciena's ActivFlex 6500 Packet-Optical Platform equipped with WaveLogic coherent optical processors and ActivSpan Common Photonic Layer. Ciena's ActivFlex 6500 platform, supports both coherent 40G and 100G transmission, allowing SURFnet to gradually scale its network as requirements change. Combined with Ciena's ActivSpan Common Photonic Layer, the solution supports ROADM functionality throughout the network.

Read More

OIF Demo: Multi-Vendor, Multi-Carrier Ethernet over OTN

At last week's OFC/NFOEC conference in Los Angeles, the Optical Internetworking Forum showcased a multi-vendor, multi-carrier implementation of High-Speed Dynamic Services.


In a test conducted simultaneously in Europe, Asia and North America, the OIF showed multi-vendor data plane and control plane interworking of systems supporting Ethernet Services over OTN in a multi-carrier environment. On-demand services were provisioned, based on ASON/GMPLS control plane functions. The demonstration leveraged draft GMPLS extensions for the OTN hierarchy. It also tested multi-layer and OTN extensions to E-NNI 2.0.


Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom/Orange, KDDI and Verizon served as telecom carrier hosts for the demonstration.


Vendor Participants included ADVA Optical Networking, Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, EXFO, Huawei, Marben Products, Metaswitch and Tellabs. Consulting Carriers included AT&T, China Telecom and NTT.
http://www.oiforum.com

Read More

OIF Demos 25-28 Gbaud Interoperability

At last week's OFC/NFOEC conference in Los Angeles, the OIF hosted a physical layer interoperability event focused on Enabling High-Speed Dynamic Services.


Specifically, the OIF’s Physical and Link Layer demonstration showcased the forum’s CEI 28G Very Short Reach (VSR) draft implementation agreement that defines chip-to-module electrical interfaces and the OIF's CEI 25G Long Reach (LR) implementation agreement that defines backplane electrical interfaces.


There were five individual demos made up of ten participating companies and one test equipment vendor.


Three demos focused on Very Short Reach chip-to-module applications based upon CEI-28G-VSR.


Two demos focused on Long Reach backplane applications using CEI-25G-LR.


Participants included Altera, Amphenol, Fujitsu Optical Components, Gennum, IBM, Inphi, Luxtera, Molex, TE Connectivity and Xilinx. Test equipment was supplied by Tektronix.
http://www.oiforum.com

Read More