ESnet and Infinera Test SDN Open Transport

Infinera and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) demonstrated a prototype Software Defined Network (SDN) Open Transport Switch (OTS) capable of dynamically controlling bandwidth services at the optical layer via an extensions to the OpenFlow protocol. The idea is to provide a lightweight virtual transport switch on optical transport systems with an interface to an SDN Controller.

The proof-of-concept demonstration, which used ESnet's Long Island Metropolitan Area Network (LIMAN) control plane test bed, tested a prototype of the OTS running on the Infinera DTN platform, allowing ESnet’s optical transport network to be configured by an SDN controller via the OpenFlow protocol. ESnet enhanced its SDN controller and demonstrated on-demand bandwidth Ethernet services including bandwidth elasticity for data-intensive science experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory on their LIMAN network, spanning from Manhattan, NY, to Upton, NY.

The services were provisioned by a high-capacity bandwidth-on-demand application utilizing the SDN controller in three different transport network abstractions, including one based on Infinera’s standards-based GMPLS control plane, showcasing the potential to deploy Transport SDN in networks with existing control planes in production. Brookhaven National Lab’s networking team and researchers used this SDN platform to experiment with ultra-high speed data transfer applications being developed for next-generation networks using RDMA over Ethernet protocols.

ESnet Chief Technologist Inder Monga said big data is a reality for science conducted at the national labs and at research universities across the country.  While some of the traffic flows are persistent and can use nailed up optical circuits efficiently, the sharing of big data sets generates bursty traffic. By enabling multi-layer coordination and control, including converged wavelength, OTN and packet transport technologies, ESnet is looking to improve the utilization and efficiency, while simplifying and automating operations.

“The emerging era of data-intensive science demands the highest level of performance from the network. The ability for the network to scale and handle large data flows efficiently across a multi-layer network is an essential capability,” said ESnet Chief Technologist Inder Monga. “The type of bandwidth flexibility, automation and resource efficiency demonstrated in this test are critical to supporting the large-scale data transfer requirements of data-driven science research.”

Infinera described the proof-of-concept demonstration as a first step in realizing the potential of Transport SDN at the optical transport layer.  The company's Bandwidth Virtualization technology already provides an abstraction layer via a standards-based GMPLS software control plane, integrated OTN switching and photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology.  Key learnings from this demonstration are that Transport SDN can provide useful, programmable interfaces to Tier 1 service providers, and that optical hardware and software are SDN ready.

“This pioneering demonstration is an important first step on the path toward enabling Transport SDN,” said Chris Liou, VP Network Strategy, Infinera. “For service providers interested in deploying Transport SDN, we believe the OTS can play a key role in realizing many benefits, including simplified provisioning of bandwidth services in multi-tiered, multi-vendor, multi-domain environments, increased efficiency and utilization of network resources, and an open, programmable transport network for enhancing integration and automation with applications.”

http://www.infinera.com/go/SDN

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Cisco to Acquire Cariden for Network Planning Expertise

Cisco agreed to acquire privately held Cariden Technologies, a provider of network planning, design and traffic management solutions for telecommunications service providers, for approximately $141 million in cash and retention-based incentives.

Cariden's network planning and design tools help service providers to enhance the visibility, programmability and efficiency of their converged networks, while improving service velocity. Cariden's MATE software is widely used by global tier-1 ISPs, PTTs, MSOs and mobile operators for IP/MPLS network engineering.

Cariden has recently extended its network visibility and traffic control platform to perform business intelligence function by leveraging its  traffic flow collection from key nodes in a carrier network.  Specifically, Cariden has now added a Flow Interface to its MATE portfolio, enabling the ability to collect and analyze NetFlow, S-Flow and J-Flow data to determine the cost of traffic flows and monitor their use of network resources.  This includes being able to analyze peering traffic compliance to agreements and calculate bit-mile costs for that and other services, thus providing operations staff the ability to meet their obligations for transparency to the commercial side of their business

Cariden has also developed a blueprint for infrastructure software defined networking (SDN) that provides visibility and programmability of network resources, simplifying network control through an open API.

Cariden is based in Sunnyvale, California and led by Arman Maghbouleh since its founding in 2001.  Following the acquisition, it will be integrated into Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group.

Cisco said the acquisition supports its Open Network Environment (ONE) strategy by providing sophisticated wide area networking (WAN) orchestration capabilities. These capabilities will allow service providers to improve both the programmability of their networks and the utilization of existing network assets across the IP and optical transport layers.

“The Cariden acquisition reinforces Cisco’s commitment to offering service providers the technologies they need to optimize and monetize their networks, and ultimately grow their businesses,” said Surya Panditi, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group. “Given the widespread convergence of IP and optical networks, Cariden’s technology will help carriers more efficiently manage bandwidth, network traffic and intelligence.  This acquisition signals the next phase in Cisco’s packet and optical convergence strategy and further strengthens our ability to lead this market transition in networking.”

http://www.cisco.com
http://www.cariden.com

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Syria Cuts Off Internet

Internet traffic to/from Syria was completely cut off on Thursday, November 29, as confirmed by Google and Akamai.

In a blog posting, Google said "this is why a free and open Internet is so important."

http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/

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Tellabs Appoints Daniel P. Kelly as CEO

Tellabs named Daniel P. Kelly as its new chief executive officer and president.

Kelly, 51, has served as Tellabs acting CEO and president since June 27, 2012, following the passing of Rob Pullen.  Previously, Kelly was executive vice president of global products at Tellabs. He had global responsibility for Tellabs products, including research and development, product line management and product marketing.

Kelly holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago.

http://www.tellabs.com

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Zayo Reaches10,000 On-Net Buildings

Zayo has reached the milestone of more than 10,000 buildings on-net.

The company has completed 22 acquisitions over the past 6 years, with its most recently announced acquisition of First Telecom Services expected to close by the end of 2012. In the second half of 2012, Zayo doubled its network with the July acquisition of AboveNet. Zayo further expanded its reach with the August acquisition of FiberGateand October acquisition of USCarrier.   Zayo’s network now covers 67,000 route miles with 4.7M miles of fiber in total.

In addition, Zayo has just completed fiber deployment to DuPont Fabros Technology’s (DFT) ACC6 Data Center located in Ashburn, Virginia. DFT’s ACC6 Data Center is not connected via diverse dark fiber in point-to-point or ring topology to Zayo’s regional and national network.

http://www.zayo.com

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NTT Comm Deploys Juniper T1600 Core Router

NTT Communications has deployed the Juniper Networks T1600 Core Router to power its next-generation video transmission system.   NTT Comm is using the T1600's MPLS multicasting capability for high-capacity delivery of high-definition video for customer applications.

NTT Communications, a subsidiary of NTT Corporation -- one of the world's largest telecommunications companies -- provides network management, security and network services to consumers, corporations and governments.

The T1600 boasts 1.6 terabits per second (Tbps) throughput and the ability to forward up to 1.92 billion packets per second.  Juniper noted that the half-rack design of the T1600 combines a small footprint with the industry's best power efficiency.

"To achieve the high-quality of services that our customers demand, we have worked hard to develop new technologies that enable the forwarding of multicast streams to change dynamically and across a wide bandwidth without packet loss. This has been achieved through our discussions with Juniper Networks' developers and engineers in the U.S. and Japan. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the Juniper team to support our organization's evolving needs," stated Osamu Nakazawa, director, Innovative IP Architecture Center, NTT Communications.

http://www.juniper.net

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ZTE Intros Mini LTE Data Card

ZTE introduced a mini 4G LTE datacard supporting driver-free operation. It uses Qualcomm’s second generation LTE chip platform and is only 13mm thick, nearly a third of the size of the first generation LTE datacard, making it the world's smallest LTE datacard.

It supports LTE-FDD DL/UL 100/50Mbps, UMTS-HSPA+: DL/UL 42/5.76Mbps and GPRS/GSM downward compatibility. ZTE said the card offers significant power savings over first generation LTE data cards.  The unit has already been launched in Kazakhstan and will launch soon in Europe and Asia-Pacific countries.

http://www.zte.com.cn

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BT Implements ALU's Motive Data Collection

BT has awarded a four-year contract extension to Alcatel-Lucent to upgrade its suite of Motive Customer Experience Solutions with latest-version software to assist its broadband and IPTV support departments.

Specifically, BT will deploy the new Motive Data Collection Manager (DCM), which is used to track the performance of the rapidly proliferating number of communication devices in peoples’ homes. The data is then made available to BT’s customer service teams – safely and securely – so they can proactively manage how the network and devices perform, ensuring a better overall experience for BT customers.

Alcatel-Lucent said the addition of Motive DCM to BT’s toolkit will not only make it easier to manage customers’ devices remotely, but also will provide tools to help customers with self-service capabilities.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/motive/

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CenturyLink Names Jeff Von Deylen President of Savvis

CenturyLink named Jeff Von Deylen as president of Savvis, its subsidiary focused on data center and cloud infrastructure. Von Deylen, who previously served as senior vice president of global operations and client services at Savvis, assumes the position from Bill Fathers, who has chosen to leave the company after a transition period ending in March 2013. 

Savvis claims nearly 2,500 unique clients, including more than 30 of the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500.

http://www.centruylink.com

http://www.savvis.net

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