Monday, April 23, 2012

Scaling the Core




http://www.radisys.com

The stage is set for a new generation of 40 Gbps ATCA platforms designed to scale for applications such as deep packet inspection (DPI), advanced network security and the 4G evolved packet core (EPC). Radisys discusses its new platform for innovation.

00:02 -- Scaling the Core, Manish Singh
01:20 -- The 40G Inflection Point, Keate Despain
01:59 -- Building an Innovation Platform, Venkataraman Prasannan and Keate Despain
03:39 -- Managing Complexity, Andrew Alleman
04:43 - Announced the Radisys T-Series ATCA Platform, Eric Gregory

AT&T: iPhone Accounts for 78% of Smartphone Sales in Q1

AT&T activated 5.5 million smartphones in Q1, including 4.3 million iPhones (78%), with 21 percent new to AT&T. Smartphones represented more than 78 percent of postpaid device sales. (For Q4 2011, AT&T reported a blockbuster 9.4 million smartphone activations including 7.8 million iPhones). At the end of the quarter, 59.3 percent, or 41.2 million, of AT&T's postpaid subscribers had smartphones, up from 46.2 percent and 31.5 million a year earlier.


For the quarter, AT&T's consolidated revenues amounted to $31.8 billion, up $575 million, or 1.8 percent, versus the year-earlier period. Earning came in at $0.60 diluted EPS compared to $0.57 diluted EPS in the first quarter of 2011.


"We continue to capitalize on our terrific momentum in mobile Internet," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. "Smartphone and branded computing device sales continue to set a record pace, mobile data revenues were up nearly 20 percent, and we achieved this growth with expanding margins. These results add confidence in our outlook for the year."


Some highlights:


Added 726,000 wireless subscribers in Q1 to reach 103.9 million in service.


ARPU for smartphones is 90 percent higher than for non-smartphone subscribers.


Total wireless revenues, which include equipment sales, were up 5.4 percent year over year to $16.1 billion.
Wireless service revenues increased 4.3 percent, to $14.6 billion, in the first quarter.


Wireless data revenues — driven by Internet access, access to applications, messaging and related services — increased by more than $1 billion, or 19.9 percent, from the year-earlier quarter to $6.1 billion.


First-quarter wireless operating expenses totaled $11.7 billion, up 3.4 percent versus the year.


About 25 million, or 61 percent, of all smartphone subscribers are on tiered data plans compared to 38 percent a year ago, and more than 70 percent have chosen the higher-tiered plans.


Wireline revenues were $14.9 billion in Q1, down 0.8 percent versus the year-earlier quarter and down slightly sequentially. First-quarter wireline operating expenses were $13.1 billion, down 1.2 percent versus the first quarter of 2011 and down slightly sequentially.


Total business revenues were $9.2 billion, down 0.8 percent versus the year-earlier quarter. Business service revenues declined 0.3 percent year over year, compared to a year-over-year decline of 4.4 percent in the year-ago quarter, and were essentially flat sequentially.


Total AT&T U-verse subscribers (TV and High Speed Internet) reached 6.2 million in the first quarter. AT&T U-verse TV added 200,000 subscribers to reach 4.0 million in service.


AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet delivered a first-quarter net gain of 718,000 subscribers to reach a total of 5.9 million, more than offsetting losses from DSL.


Overall, AT&T added 103,000 wireline broadband connections.
http://www.att.com

NEC to Resell Tellabs 7100 Packet Optical Transport System in Japan

NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation (NEC Networks & SI), a leading Japanese network systems integrator, will resell the Tellabs 7100 Packet Optical Transport System in Japan. NEC Networks & SI will provide sales, system integration, and maintenance support.


The Tellabs 7100 P-OTS (Packet Optical Transport System) integrates ROADM-based DWDM, SDH, OTN and Ethernet switching functionality on a single platform.

http://www.tellabs.com

Gigamon Partners With ForeScout on Real-time Visibility

Gigamon and ForeScout Technologies, a provider of automated security control solutions for enterprises, are collaborating to provide network management and visibility solutions that enable real-time network visibility and automated security controls, while minimizing core network switch infrastructure load for network operators.

The partnership enables the ForeScout's automated security control platform (CounterACT) to leverage Gigamon's Traffic Visibility Fabric to have broader visibility of all devices communicating on the network and dynamically apply security policy to reduce a range of security risks.

The Gigamon Visibility Fabric provides intelligent traffic mirroring, enabling the ForeScout platform to access network resources and sensitive data as appropriate. This provides IT real-time inventory and security posture intelligence for active remediation while allowing users to seamlessly connect to the network without disruptions or changes in end-user experience unless necessary.
http://www.gigamon.com
http://www.forescout.com

Broadcom Announces 100 Gbps Full Duplex Network Processor

Broadcom announced its 100 Gbps full duplex network processor unit (NPU) aimed at the next wave of 100GbE optimized switches and routers for service provider networks.

The new BCM88030 family features 64 custom processors running at 1GHz and eliminates the need for many external components. Power savings are estimated at up to 80 percent per 10GbE port.

The architecture leverages extensive multi-threading and hardware acceleration for functions such as packet parsing, classification and look-ups. The BCM88030 family is completely user programmable, enabling a highly flexible forwarding implementations. The BCM88030 NPU family also includes a proprietary algorithmic look up engine using low cost DDR-3 DRAM that enables massive scale for Layer 2, IPv4 and IPv6 tables while significantly reducing system cost. Algorithmic on-chip access control list (ACL) capability is available along with seamless expansion using Broadcom's NL566xx knowledge based processor (KBP).

The BCM88030 family consists of three devices, including the 100 Gbps BCM88038 NPU, the 50 Gbps BCM88034 NPU and the BCM88032 24 Gbps NPU. All devices are now sampling with production volume slated for the second half of 2012.
http://www.broadcom.com

Dell Introduces 40 Gigabit Ethernet Blade Server Switch

Dell introduced its first 40 gigabit blade server switch for the Dell PowerEdge M1000e blade system, designed to support demanding workloads in traditional, virtual, public and private cloud environments. The Dell Force10 MXL 10/40GbE switch, which is part of the company's Virtual Network Architecture portfolio, is a Layer 2 and Layer 3 blade switch powered by the Force10 operating system (FTOS), which powers some of the largest and most demanding data center environments in the world providing predictable, reliable network performance while reducing operations and management overhead.


Ethernet switch stacking technology allows up to six switching modules to be aggregated within a single enclosure or spanning multiple enclosures to be managed as one logical device. Data Center Bridging (DCB) support enables a lossless Ethernet fabric for converging storage (iSCSI, Fibre Channel) and data over common infrastructure.

The company also announced Dell Fabric Manager, a new offering designed for configuring, managing and monitoring Dell Distributed Core deployments in data centers. Dell’s Distributed Core architecture – a "spine-and-leaf" data center fabric architecture – offers an alternative to traditional, chassis-based architectures especially in high-performance environments.http://

Terascala Raises $14 Million for Big Data Storage

Terascala, a start-up based in Avon, Mass., raised $14 million in venture funding for its storage I/O optimization for big data applications.


The Terascala Integrated Storage Information System (TISIS) provides appliance management and workload-driven I/O technology for open source Lustre, the world’s fastest parallel file system. TISIS runs on industry-standard storage appliances in a wide range of market segments, including life sciences, financial services, energy, academic research, computer-automated engineering (CAE), and government/defense.

Strategic partners close to the company invested approximately fifty percent of the round, with Ascent Venture Partners, an early backer of the company, contributing the remainder.
http://www.terascala.com

GigOptix Samples Next Gen Transimpedance Amplifier for 100G/400G Coherent

GigOptix has begun sampling its next generation GX3222B dual channel Linear Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA) designed for use in 100 Gbps DWDM optical receivers.


The device is a high performance, silicon germanium, dual channel 32Gbaud linear TIA with adjustable bandwidth control that enables its use in receiver modules in a number of fiber optic transmission systems such as current generation 100 Gbps DP‐QPSK optical systems in addition to future 400 Gbps optical systems.

The GX3222B is designed for use in 100G and beyond coherent optical receivers and includes critical functions such as high DC current cancellation, low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), linear gain over a high dynamic range and low power consumption.
http://www.gigoptix.com

Internet2 NET+ Services and CENIC Establish Purchasing Program for Amazon Web Services

Internet2 and CENIC, California’s advanced networking consortium, will offer a new purchasing program for Amazon Web Services (AWS) to make it easier for research and education community institutions to take advantage of the AWS cloud. This includes Amazon Elastic Computer Cloud (EC2), Amazon CloudFront CDN, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Amazon Simple Storage Services (S3), and other cloud services.

A community-friendly self-service portal created and managed by AWS solution provider, Datapipe, provides discounts on eligible AWS services. Expanded payment options include invoicing and grant-friendly pre-payment services, as well as traditional credit card payment services.
http://www.internet.edu

Juniper Sees Q1 Financials Ahead of Expectations

Juniper Networks reported preliminary Q1 revenue of $1,032.5 million, down 6% on a year-over-year basis and down 8% sequentially. GAAP net income was $16.3 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $84.0 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2012.


"Our first quarter results reflect solid execution across Juniper," said Kevin Johnson, CEO of Juniper Networks. "We are pleased with initial customer response to our differentiated new products and solutions, which help form the broadest, most robust product portfolio in our Company's history. We are leveraging these innovations to accelerate traction in the marketplace as we continue to change the economics and experience of networking for our customers."

Juniper estimates revenue for the second quarter ending June 30, 2012, to be in the range of $1,030 million to $1,060 million.

http://www.juniper.net

Radisys Post Q1 Revenue of $75.5 Million, ATCA Sales Accelerate

Radisys reported Q1 revenue of $75.5 million and a first quarter GAAP net loss was $4.8 million or $0.18 per share. GAAP gross margin was 30.5%.

ATCA and Software & Solutions Revenues were $49.7 million, up 60% Year over Year and growing to 66% of total revenue.

Commenting on the first quarter results, Mike Dagenais, Radisys’ Chief Executive Officer stated, "Our first quarter performance came in as expected. Solid shipments in both our ATCA and Software & Solutions product groups, which combined grew 60% year on year, enabled non-GAAP gross margins of nearly 34%. We also were able to drive lower costs relative to our plan due to the ongoing focus on improving efficiencies throughout the organization. We expect these efforts to result in additional 2012 expense synergies."
http://www.radisys.com


Intel to Acquire Cray Assets

Intel will acquire certain assets ofCray Inc. to acquire certain assets related to its high-performance computing (HPC) interconnect program. The deal includes Cray’s interconnect personnel and intellectual property. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Cray interconnect team developed the Gemini interconnect as well as the upcoming Aries interconnect, designed to work in Cray’s next-generation supercomputer, codenamed "Cascade," which will integrate Intel Xeon processors.
http://www.intel.com

Internet2 Forms Cloud Partnerships

Internet2 has formed partnerships with 16 leading technology companies to provide cloud services to college campuses across the U.S.

Cloud partners include Aastra; Adobe; Box; CENIC; Dell; Desire2Learn; Duo Security; DuraSpace; Evogh; HP; Level 3 Communications; Merit Network, Inc.; Microsoft; Savvis, a CenturyLink Company; SHI International; and The Solution Design Group.

"These major cloud service partnerships are customized to meet the needs of the Internet2 community and these offerings range in stages from incubator, proof-of-concept, early adopter and general availability," said Dave Lambert, Internet2 CEO and president. "No other organization in the United States is able to offer this level of collaboration between higher education and the technology industry to launch these strategic cloud services to effectively and efficiently advance research, innovation and the education mission of our nation's leading universities."
http://www.internet2.edu/netplus/

Apple Sells 35.1 million iPhones

Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones during its fiscal 2012 second quarter ended March 31, 2012. This represents a 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, a 151 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.


The iPhone 4s is now being sold by 230 carriers in over 100 countries.


There have been 365 million iOS device sales to date.


There are now 125 million iCloud users.


Apple now has $110.2 billion in cash, up by $12.6 billion from 3 months ago.
http://www.apple.com