Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Cisco's nLight Converges IP and 100G Optical

Cisco introduced its "nLight" technology for converging IP and optical transport networks while introducing programmability.

Cisco's nLight silicon enables coherent 100 Gbps transport services over distances of up to 3,000 km without the need for signal regeneration.  The IPoDWDM technology in Cisco CRS-3 routers lets service providers introduce 100 Gbps technology in their networks and deliver ultra-long-haul, high-speed transport services. Cisco also claims that nLight silicon enables 100 Gbps over existing fiber plant, delivering maximum performance, especially on marginal or impaired fiber segments.  


With the nLight IPoDWDM, the Cisco CRS can converge IP and optical layers at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, and now coherent 100 Gbps speeds.



CESNET, the national research and education network which connects close to 100 science, research and education institutions in the Czech Republic, is now seamlessly transitioning to the Cisco CRS with 100 Gbps coherent IPoDWDM solution, using Cisco's nLight technology.

http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1042271

Sentinel Builds Mega Data Center in North Carolina

Sentinel Data Centers has begun construction on  a 420,000 square foot (39,000m2) wholesale data center in Durham, North Carolina.

The Sentinel NC-1 multi-tenant facility will be available for occupancy in early 2013 upon completion and commissioning of an initial 120,000 square foot (11,000m2) phase.  The company expects its mega facility will ultimately yield approximately 200,000 square feet of net computer room space, divisible into autonomous, turnkey suites of multiple sizes and configurations.

http://www.sentineldatacenters.com/blog/sentinel-launches-nc-1-data-center

Juniper Expands Edge Routing Possibilities


Juniper Networks unveiled a set of enhancements for its MX Series 3D Universal Edge Router, including a content caching line card and new virtualization capabilities. 

The new features  help operators to deliver new consumer and business value-added services, such as multi-screen video and digital advertising, by moving more functionality into the edge router.


The MX Series 3D Universal Edge Router, which  is powered by Juniper's Junos  Trio chipset, now supports a content streaming via an  MX Application Services Modular Line Card with multi-terabytes of storage.  Juniper's content caching, which has been renamed Junos Content Encore offers the capacity to stream up to 80,000 videos simultaneously.

Other enhancements include:

·         Junos Web Aware, which uses processing power in the edge router for new monetization possibilities by providing parental control services and enabling targeted advertising.
  
·         JunosV Firefly, which enables service providers to quickly deploy new virtualized managed services, such as virtualized security.  Service providers can ensure that traffic for each customer is completely isolated and secure from other users within the cloud.

·         Junos Node Unifier, which combines MX routers and Juniper top-of rack switches into a single virtualized element to simplify management of multiple nodes. This innovation enables service providers to streamline operations and ultimately reduce operational expenditures.

·         Juniper Business Cloud CPE, which enables service providers’ enterprise customers to offload complex monitoring and Layer 3 routing intelligence from their on-site premises and onto the service provider’s MX router. 



ADVA Powers PIONIER’s GMPLS-Controlled Network in Poland

 PIONIER, one of Europe’s largest research and education networks, has chosen ADVA Optical Networking's FSP 3000 platform to link five supercomputing centers in Poland, including Poznan, Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Krakow, and 21 academic Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) at speeds up to 100 Gbps.

The network, which is owned and managed by the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC), uses the FSP300's embedded, multi-layer GMPLS-based control plane and ROADM technology to allocate bandwidth-on-demand resulting in true network automation, dynamic routing and restoration capabilities.

"We have worked with ADVA Optical Networking for many years now so they understand the unique needs of a long-haul research and education network,” said Maciej Stroinski, technical director of PSNC. “We needed a cost-effective way to deliver more bandwidth to the researchers and scientists. Having a small team and limited resources, it was imperative that we have a high level of automation without operational complexity. Using the FSP Service Manager, we are now able to set-up high speed services on demand, offering network users throughout Poland access to the content and applications they need, at any time and from anywhere on all-optical links of distances up to 3,000 kilometers.”

Shares in MetroPCS Rise 18% on T-Mo Rumor

Shares in MetroPCS climbed 17.8% on Tuesday to close at $13.57.  Unconfirmed reports state that Deutsche Telekom is in talks to merge its T-Mobile USA business with MetroPCS.

MetroPCS operates a CDMA network while T-Mobile USA operates a GSM network.  MetroPCS launched LTE in January 2011 while T-Mobile USA is preparing to launch LTE next year.

As of June 2012, MetroPCS passed 700,000 LTE subscribers, representing 8% of its customer base.

In August,  MetroPCS launched its commercial Voice-over-LTE service. The first sale of a VoLTE-capable handset occurred at one of the company's Dallas/Fort Worth store locations.

http://www.metropcs.com

Radisys Appoints New CEO, Updates Q3 Guidance

Radisys named Brian Bronson as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, replacing Michel Dagenais, who has left the company and resigned as a member of the Radisys Board of Directors.  Mr. Bronson joined Radisys in 1999, has been an officer of the company since 2000, Chief Financial Officer since 2006 and President since 2011.

Radisys has appointed Allen Muhich as CFO and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Muhich joined Radisys in 2011 as Vice President of Finance.


In addition, Radisys trimmed its Q3 guidance.  The company now expects third quarter revenue to range from $63 million to $65 million which compares to earlier expectations of $66 million to $72 million.
“We are disappointed in our preliminary third quarter revenue levels,” commented Brian Bronson, Radisys President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our revenue, primarily in our higher margin products, is slightly below the expectations set at the beginning of the quarter and is expected to result in a third quarter Non-GAAP EPS loss. We continue to believe we are not losing market share, but rather are seeing softer customer demand in a challenging telecommunications spending environment. 

AT&T Expands Deployments of Bloom Fuel Cells

AT&T will deploy an additional 9.6 MW of fuel cell power from Bloom Energy.   This follows  last year's order for 7.5 MW of "Bloom Boxes" at 11 AT&T sites in California including data centers.  The companies calculated that once fully operational, all of AT&T's Bloom Box installations are expected to produce more than 149 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually.

The new installations will make AT&T the largest non-utility customer for Bloom Energy.

"A key differentiator for fuel cells compared to other forms of alternative power is that fuel cell electricity production is virtually constant," explained John Schinter, AT&T's Senior Energy Director. "They provide steady recurring electricity production at a relatively predictable cost, replacing the traditional electricity bill, which can be volatile."


http://www.att.com/csr

http://www.Bloomenergy.com

SOASTA Acquires LogNormal for User Metrics Tools


 SOASTA, a start-up offering cloud and mobile testing, has acquired LogNormal, a developer of real user measurement and monitoring tools for mobile and web applications. The acquisition extends SOASTA’s platform to deliver actionable intelligence for both marketing and operations executives on real user behavior.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

SOASTA said the acquisition extends its vision of delivering the full life cycle of development, testing and measurement solutions.

SOASTA is based in Mountain View, California.  LogNormal is based in Menlo Park, California.