Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Telefónica Opens Massive Alcalá Data Center - Phase 1


Telefónica inaugurated the first phase of its massive Alcalá Data Centre project outside of Madrid, which aims to be one of the largest Tier IV data centers in Europe and the world.

The first phase, which is now operational, is a new building measuring 24,700 m2, with seven IT rooms covering an area of 682 m2 each. The complete project, which will progress gradually, will cover a total area of 65,700 m2 (over 700,000 square feet) and include a further 16 IT rooms, on a 78,400 m2 plot of land (the size of 8 football pitches).

Telefónica, which has invested more than 120 million euros in the project so far, said the new facility is key to transforming the company into one of the leading companies in the new digital world.  The data center will be home for the whole range of ICT services, from housing, infrastructures and cloud computing to full outsourcing of customer applications. It will also operate as Telefónica’s cloud services base for Europe and will house platforms for customers in Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Czech Republic.

The Alcalá Data Centre uses a modular architecture with redundant energy supplies and communications for each hall. Telefónica expects an annual reliability of 99.995%.   Each module will be independent, allowing new rooms to be activated without affecting the operation of the rest. Similarly, the 1,200 kW of IT power for each room can be multiplied up to fourfold without impacting the housed systems.  A redundant fiber optic ring connects to the company's Julián Camarillo Data Centre (Madrid), providing mutual back-up in case of faults.

The design has Tier IV certification from the Uptime Institute, which guarantees the highest level of fault tolerance.

The facility was built by Ferrovial and Master Ingeniería, with technological advice provided by Digital Realty.

http://www.telefonica.com

Telefónica Sells 40% Stake in Central American Operations

Telefónica will sell a 40% equity stake in its operations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama to Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI) for US$500 million.

The deal also includes the payment of an additional amount of up to US$72 million based on the operational performance of the aforementioned assets in the coming years.  The implied multiple for the total amount of the transaction means 6.5 times EBITDA 2012 of the companies involved in the operation.

Telefónica said the deal increases its financial flexibility while allowing it to maintain operational control.  Telefónica is one of the leading brands in the region, with high levels of 2G and 3G coverage. The Company has maintained a long-term commitment in Central America with a sustained investment over the last years.

http://pressoffice.telefonica.com/

HP Unveils SDN Data Center Core Switches, NFV Router


HP introduced a series of software-defined network (SDN) data center switches that deliver advanced automation capabilities and scalability for bandwidth-intensive applications such as Hadoop.  The new offerings the HP FlexFabric 12900, an OpenFlow-enabled core switch capable of scaling to meet the demands of increasing virtualized workloads.

HP said its FlexNetwork architecture, powered by the new switches, deliver two times greater scalability and 75 percent less complexity over current network fabrics while reducing network provisioning time from months to minutes.

"For the past 20 years, data center networks have lagged in supporting new enterprise demands for cloud, virtualization and big data," said Bethany Mayer, senior vice president and general manager, Networking, HP. "Only HP is positioned to deliver the industry's most complete software-defined data center network fabric with innovations that enable our customers to create a network foundation that will meet their needs today and well into the future."

The HP FlexFabric 12900 Switch Series is OpenFlow 1.3-capable and offers Layer 2 and Layer 3 features. It boasts 36 Tbps switching capacity in a 23 Rack Units (RU) chassis. The switch delivers 19.2 billion packets per second forwarding for wire-speed performance with no packet loss. Advanced features include MPLS, VPLS and full QoS capabilities. It also supports DCB and FCoE convergence.

Interface options include:

  • 480 10GbE ports 
  • 160 40GbE ports 
  • 32 100GbE ports

HP FlexFabric 12900 switches are expected to be available worldwide in October 2013.

HP is also introducing FlexFabric Virtual Switch 5900v software, which, in conjunction with the HP FlexFabric 5900 physical switch, enables policies and quality of service to a VMware environment. Integrated Virtual Ethernet Port Aggregator (VEPA) technology provides clear separation between server and network administrations to deliver operational simplicity. The HP FlexFabric Virtual Switch 5900v is expected to be available worldwide in October 2013

The rollout also includes an HP Virtualized Services Router (VSR), which allows services to be delivered on a virtual machine (VM), eliminating unnecessary hardware, by carrier-class software-based Network Function Virtualization (NFV). This product will launch in the second half of the year.

http://www.hp.com/go/networking

HP Forms New Converged Systems Group and HP Servers Group

HP is establishing a new Converged Systems business unit to deliver purpose-built technology for social, cloud, mobile and big data solutions.

The HP Converged Systems business unit will extend the portfolio of converged application appliances that fuse infrastructure, applications and productivity tools into a single system. This includes appliance systems for Apache Hadoop, HP Vertica, SAP HANA and HP CloudSystem.

The new business will be led by Tom Joyce, senior vice president and general manager, Converged Systems, HP. Joyce was formerly vice president, Marketing, Strategy and Operations, Storage, HP.

HP also announced the formation of a second new business called HP Servers.  This $4 billion unit combines the HP Business Critical Systems (BCS) and HP ISS groups.  Product lines include HP Moonshot; HP ProLiant servers; HP BladeSystem; and mission-critical computing with HP Integrity platform. This business will be led by Mark Potter, senior vice president and general manager, HP Servers. Potter currently leads HP Industry Standard Servers (ISS).

http://www.hp.com


WSJ: Obama to Nominate Wheeler as Next FCC Chairman


Major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, reported that President Obama is set to nominate Tom Wheeler as the next Chairman of the FCC, replacing Julius Genachowski, who recently stepped down.

Tom Wheeler served as President of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) from 1979 to 1984 and was later CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) until 2004.

He is currently Managing Director of Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. with approximately $350 million under management.

Portfolio investments of Core Capital Partners include Sourcefire (NASDAQ: FIRE), Inlet Technologies (acquired by Cisco), SwapDrive (acquired by Symantec), IXI Corporation (acquired by Equifax), SilverStorm (acquired by QLogic), Roundbox, Twisted Pair Solutions, BridgeWave Communications, UpdateLogic and Infinite Power Solutions. Other invested companies in the networking field include PureWave Networks (compact outdoor base stations), Univa (management software for traditional, dynamic and cloud data centers), GENBAND (IP gateways, session border controllers and FMC security) and Trust Digital (enterprise mobility management software), amongst others.

http://www.wsj.com
http://www.core-capital.com/

Verizon to Invest $100 Million in Fuel Cells & Solar Power


Verizon plans to spend $100 million in a solar and fuel-cell energy project to help power 19 of its facilities in seven states across the country.

The project aims to generate more than 70 million kilowatt hours per year of green energy.

Specifically, Verizon has selected ClearEdge Power, a manufacturer of scalable, distributed power systems, to install PureCell Model 400 fuel cell systems at Verizon sites in California, New Jersey and New York. The systems will generate more than 60 million kilowatt hours of electricity.

In addition, Verizon has also signed a multiyear agreement with SunPower Corp. for rooftop- and ground-mounted solar photovoltaic systems as well as solar parking canopies at Verizon facilities in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Arizona and North Carolina. The systems, which will generate approximately 8 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

http://newscenter.verizon.com/corporate/news-articles/2013/04-30-green-energy-project/

ALU Selected for 100G Bay of Bengal Undersea Cable

A consortium composed of Vodafone Group, Dialog Axiata, Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), Reliance Jio Infocomm, Omantel and Telekom Malaysia, selected Alcatel-Lucent to deploy a new 100G submarine cable system connecting Oman, the United Arab Emirates, India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

The Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) cable system will have landing points in Barka (Oman), Fujairah (United Arab Emirates), Mumbai and Chennai (India), Ratmalana (Sri Lanka), Penang (Malaysia) and Singapore.  Commercial operation of the system is planned to start by end of 2014.

Edward West, Chairman of the BBG Interim Procurement Group said "BBG, the first system to be lit as 100G on day-1 will be a step change in capacity on this important route.  The bandwidth, resilience and traffic routing of the BBG configuration, and Alcatel-Lucent’s capabilities and track record, give us the confidence that this system will be able to address the fast-evolving expectations of our customers in line with their demands."

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com


Telstra Tests Ericsson's 1 Tbps Optical Transmission

Telstra has successfully tested Ericsson's terabit optical transmission technology over its real network.

Ericsson has announced it will provide Telstra with the SPO 1400, the latest packet optical transport platform (POTP) for the metro and the MHL 3000 for long-haul applications with 100Gbps service support. The trial tested a 1Tbps line card in the MHL 3000.

"This has been over two years in the making, and our teams have collaboratively come together to demonstrate the evolution of technology," says David Robertson, Director of Transport and Routing Engineering, Telstra. "Telstra actually owns the most fiber in the country. To be able to prove that the fiber we have in the ground can carry terabit services is a fantastic position for us to be in."

"Like so many developed countries, Australia is a very technologically advanced market and Australians are sophisticated users of broadband and mobile technology," says Alessandro Pane, Head of Ericsson R&D Optical Transmission. "The trial has proven that our existing optical cable plant can support terabit channels along with 40Gbps and 100Gbps channels simultaneously on the same fiber."

Cavium Posts 4.8% Sequential Sales Increase in Q1, Net Loss of $3.2M


Cavium reported Q1 2013 revenue of $69.5 million, a 4.8% sequential increase from the $66.4 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2012. Net loss (GAAP) was $3.2 million, or $(0.06) per diluted share compared to $78.8 million, or $(1.56) per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2012.

http://www.cavium.com

Monday, April 29, 2013

IBM Intros Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT)

IBM outlined a significant step forward in its Smarter Planet strategy with the introduction of a "MessageSight" appliance that leverages Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol to handle the billions of mobile devices and sensors increasing being deployed in automobiles, traffic management systems, smart buildings and household appliances.

IBM said its MessageSight appliance is capable of supporting one million concurrent sensors or smart devices and can scale up to thirteen million messages per second. IBM MessageSight is designed to complement and extend the IBM MobileFirst offerings, which is a collection of mobile enterprise software, services, cloud and analytics capabilities that help a corporation design, deploy, secure and manage mobile strategies and apps.

MQTT was recently proposed to become an OASIS standard.  It provides a lightweight messaging transport for communication in machine to machine (M2M) and mobile environments.

IBM said MQTT is ideal for small, low-power sensors with low communications bandwidth capabilities.

"When we launched our Smarter Planet strategy nearly five years ago, our strategic belief was that the world was going to be profoundly changed as it became more instrumented, interconnected and intelligent.  IBM MessageSight is a major technological step forward in continuing that strategy," said Marie Wieck, general manager, WebSphere, IBM. "Until now, no technology has been able to handle this volume of messages and devices. What's even more exciting is that this only scratches the surface of what's to come as we continue down this path of a Smarter Planet."

"To realize the vision of a Smarter Planet, we must first enable the universe of instrumented sensors, devices and machines to communicate more efficiently while sharing, managing and integrating large volumes of data at a rate much faster than ever before," said Bob S. Johnson, director of development for Sprint's Velocity Program. "We have been testing IBM MessageSight for some initial projects and are excited about the capabilities that it could help us deliver to the vehicle and beyond."

IBM also announced new mobile analytics capabilities and cloud services for its MobileFirst portfolio, including geo-location services for developers. Geo-location triggers can be used to extend applications to take contextual action based on a user's location to provide personalized service. Additionally, newly integrated mobile app testing capabilities enable organizations to improve app quality while reducing the effort needed to test across different mobile platforms.

IBM's new cloud services includes a new mobile marketing capability for creating digital passes for employees in Apple's Passbook. Accessed through the cloud, organizations can quickly design and issue passes for loyalty, events, ticketing, payments and more without having to purchase on-premise development tools.

http://www.ibm.com/mobilefirst

BT Cloud Compute Makes Global Debut


BT announced the international launch of its Cloud Compute service, offering "pay as you go" cloud pricing and consistent levels of quality, security and service from BT.

BT Cloud Compute will be hosted in more than 45 data centers around the globe and managed by customers through a self-service dashboard.  BT said its service will help CIOs meet their stringent compliance requirements and local law and regulatory obligations by letting them decide exactly where they want their sensitive data to be hosted. Its cloud infrastructure uses industry standard secure data centers located in Brazil, Colombia, US, UK, Spain, Benelux, France, Italy, Singapore and Hong Kong and will soon be in Germany, China, India, Argentina and Mexico.


BT also said its Cloud Compute differentiates itself from run-of-the-mill cloud offerings by being self-healing and resilient, bringing customers an expected service level of 99.95%. Hybrid capabilities are also supported.

Neil Sutton, Vice President, Global Portfolio, BT Global Services, said: “As a company, we are serious about Cloud. We invest millions every year to regularly refresh, update and evolve our datacentre infrastructure and our service to our customers. Cloud is about more than technology; it’s about the service and the possibilities it can enable locally and globally in a reliable, trusted and assured way, helping CIOs find answers to the unique questions their market and regulations demand.

Key features of BT Cloud Compute

  • Service availability: 99.95 per cent, dynamic provisioning, 24/7 with local service desks 
  • Delivered from Tier 3 or better data centres 
  • Access options: Portal, multi-lingual and multi-currency, open API, role-based access 
  • Architecture: Multi-availability zones across public and private resources 
  • Security: Role-based access, virtual security appliance, port forwarding 
  • Integration: Active directory and LDAP supported 
  • Network: Load balanced, multi VLAN, WAN connectivity available, virtual routing 
  • Commercial: Flexible pricing per hour, per month, or per annum 
  • OS supported: Microsoft, Linux, customer generated templates, ISO images 
  • Hypervisors supported: VMware, Citrix 

VSS Monitoring Deepens its Line of Network Packet Brokers


VSS Monitoring is rolling out significant additions and enhancements to its "vBroker" line of network packet brokers (NPBs), which enable network monitoring and security tools to gain traffic visibility.  The VSS vBroker system extends the capacity, centralized link-layer visibility, and scalability of networks through advanced traffic filtering, packet optimization and offloading of unnecessary processing to increase tool capacity and efficiency.

The product launch includes new vBroker 400 and vBroker 100 offerings that provide a high-density, modular form factor for customers requiring 1G, 10G, and 40G network speeds. At the high-end, vBroker 410 is a 1RU appliance with up to 32 ports and a throughput of 320G.  It can handle up to 8x 40G and/or 32x 10G ports.

The vBroker 420 is a 2RU appliance with up to 64 ports and a throughput of 640G. It can handle 16x 40G and/or 64x 10G ports.

At the entry level, the new vBroker 100 products also provide an all-modular form factor for 1G and 10G network speeds, and include capabilities to meet the special requirements of video monitoring applications.

VSS Monitoring said these new vBroker platforms allow customers to handle Big Data on their networks and enable greater visibility and operational performance from their network monitoring and security tools.

 The vBroker system is also supporting a new "vProtector" offering for intelligent traffic steering to active inline network security and acceleration appliances. The single integrated NPB system allows organizations to optimize active inline and passive monitoring tools with all-modular configurability. It offers user-configurable FailOpen/FailClosed per chassis module.

In addiion, VSS Monitoring is introducing a "vInspector" appliance that decrypts encrypted SSL traffic to provide clear context to both active and passive out-of-band monitoring and security tools. The vInspector products include three platforms with decryption throughput from 1Gbps to 4Gbps.

http://www.vssmonitoring.com

BT Wholesale Wins 10-Year Backhaul Contract with Telefonica UK

BT announced a new ten year deal to support the 4G network of Telefonica UK (O2).


Under the deal, BT Wholesale will build a new high capacity, managed transmission network to provide O2 with the network capacity required to support its planned 4G services.  BT will also provide O2 with a sizeable increase in backhaul capacity by delivering the high speed mobile backhaul links between its mobile base stations and the new transmission network. Furthermore, the new transmission network will help O2 migrate from legacy TDM to Ethernet based IP services, helping O2 deliver a host of new applications to its customers whilst reducing its overall transmission costs.

http://www.btplc.com

Huawei Unveils Five-year Strategy in Enterprise Market


Huawei outlined a five-year business strategy to strengthen its role in the enterprise market by focusing on enterprise ICT solutions and being integrated with the global enterprise ecosystem, bringing faster, better and more Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) saving ICT products and solutions to customers.

Huawei Enterprise's sales revenue are expected to reach US$2.7 billion in 2013.  The company is targeting sales revenue of US$10 billion by 2017.

As of 2012, Huawei has established partnerships with more than 3,500 channel partners; this number is expected to reach 5,400 by the end of 2013.

"With significant growth capacity, the enterprise market is a core element of Huawei's overall strategic development plans. The Convergence of ICT has brought about great opportunities for Huawei to contribute to the evolution of this market," said Mr. William Xu, CEO of Huawei Enterprise Business Group.

http://www.huawei.com


Radisys and GENBAND Partner on Virtualized Media Processing


GENBAND has selected Radisys' Software Media Resource Function (MRF) to provide the IP media processing for the GENBAND EXPERiUS application server and CONTiNUUM call session controllers.

Radisys and GENBAND collaborated to enable virtualized media processing to meet the growing demand for cloud-based deployments. By offering these software components in a virtualized cloud deployment model, GENBAND can provide its customers with flexible service offerings that they can quickly take to market.

“The full integration of the Radisys Software MRF with our EXPERiUS application server and CONTiNUUM call session controllers allows GENBAND to continually enhance and focus resources on our market-leading application and session control solutions programs, resulting in accelerated time to market,” said BG Kumar, president, Multimedia Business Unit, GENBAND. “Our EXPERiUS and CONTiNUUM solutions, integrated with Radisys’ MRF, are shipping to our service provider and enterprise customers today.”

Radisys’ Software MRF is a fundamental element in an IP communications network, processing real-time audio and video media streams under the control of Application Servers in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) environment. Radisys’ Software MRF provides extensive, high capacity IP audio and media processing capabilities, including simple conference mixing, messaging and IVR feature control for the Unified Communications needs of GENBAND’s EXPERiUS application server, while supporting multimedia network announcements, digit collection and lawful intercept for the CONTiNUUM call session controllers.

http://radisys.com
http://www.GENBAND.com


Sea Fibre Networks Connects Dublin to Paris


Sea Fibre Networks (SFN) announced an expansion of its C-Fibre connectivity from the greater Dublin area to Paris, via London.

The carrier said it is seeing demand for high capacity bandwidth and low latency connectivity to Paris being largely driven by data centers.

Diane Hodnett, Sea Fibre Networks’ CEO, said; “We are excited to connect into this burgeoning cloud economy. In 2014 we will reinforce this solution by creating a robust, resilient loop of sub-sea connectivity with FastnetConnect – a submarine network connecting Ireland to mainland Europe via Paris. SFN’s strategy is focused on uniting terrestrial and submarine networks comparably and will construct key subsea infrastructure where lacking.”

http://www.seafibre.com

Interoute Expands Ghent Data Center

Interoute announced the significant expansion of its Ghent data centre, which can now accommodate up to 8000 servers for hosting and colocation. The company said this state-of-the-art in Belgium will help its VPN and colocation business, which is already being used by the likes of Domo, Van de Velde and Eandis the Flemish natural gas and electricity distributor.


The Ghent Data Centre is directly connected to other Interoute Data Centres including facilities in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Frankfurt through Interoute’s pan-European network. Disaster recovery and business continuity are also incorporated, with the ability to direct services to both the Interoute Brussels and Oostkamp Point of Presence (PoP) data centres if required.

http://www.interoute.com

NTT Com Expands Data Center Service to Moscow


NTT Communications will begin offering data center services in Russia via IXcellerate’s Moscow One carrier-neutral data center in Moscow, beginning with colocation services in May.

IXcellerate’s newly completed facility offers premium enterprise-class data center services.  NTT Com Russia will integrate and expand its network, cloud and hosting services in the Russian market via this facility.

http://www.ru.ntt.com/en/

Riverbed Posts Q1 Revenue of $246 Million, WAN Optimization Grows 6%


Riverbed reported Q1 revenue of $246 million, compared to $182 million in the first quarter of 2012, representing 35% year-over-year growth.  This includes $52 million contributed by OPNET, which Riverbed recently acquired. GAAP net loss for Q1'13 was $8.1 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $6.9 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, in Q1’12.

”Non-GAAP revenue grew thirty-eight percent over the prior year and ten percent without the benefit of $52 million contributed by OPNET in the quarter,” said Jerry M. Kennelly, chairman and CEO. “Despite weak government spending and general economic softness impacting results, WAN optimization revenue increased six percent year-over-year,” continued Kennelly. “Our market expanding products outside of WAN optimization and OPNET generated more than 40% year-over-year growth. Over the long-term, we believe our multi-product strategy to deliver unmatched application performance will allow us to accelerate the company’s revenue growth.”

http://www.riverbed.com

Sunday, April 28, 2013

DOCOMO to Establish Smart-life Business Units


NTT DOCOMO will establish several new business units on July 1 as an initiative to restructure its business and organizational structure aimed at generating new revenue streams.

The new units are the Smart-life Business Department and the M2M Business Department.  Within the Smar-life unit, DOCOMO will focus on opportunities including Mobile Retail, Content, Solutions (education, healthcare, ecology), Financial (credit payment services and personal insurance), and Planning (common platforms and services).

DOCOMO said it hopes the restructuring will help customers to realize smarter lives through innovative mobile technologies.

http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2013/0426_00.html

Singtel Invested S$150 Million in 4G Rollout


Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) invested $150 million over the past year to launch its 4G network across Singapore. SingTel is now providing street-level coverage across the island, as well as indoor coverage in more than 550 buildings, including shopping malls, hotels and other commercial properties.

Singtel said that it is progressively deploying Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology in commercial buildings to boost maximum user download speeds from 75Mbps to 150Mbps.  SingTel has so far deployed MIMO in busy locations such as Nex, Jurong Point, Changi Airport and Tampines Mall.

SingTel said it expects the next generation of 4G devices capable of supporting speeds of up to 150Mbps to be available from the second half of this year.

http://www.singtel.com/4G

UK Plans White Space Trial


Ofcom, the official telecoms regulatory authority for the U.K.,  announced plans for a pilot of white space technology.  The study will test the inter-operation of white spaces devices, white space databases and the processes to mitigate against causing any undue interference to current spectrum users.

Specifically, Ofcom is inviting industry to take part in the pilot, which is intended to take place in the autumn. The locations for the trial will be chosen once trial participants have been identified.

Ofcom anticipates that the white space technology could be commercially rolled out during 2014, pending a successful trial this year.

Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: “Ofcom is preparing for a future where consumers’ demand for data services will experience huge growth. This will be fuelled by smartphones, tablets and other new wireless applications. White space technology is one creative way that this demand can be met. We are aiming to facilitate this important innovation by working closely with industry.”

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/whitespaces/summary

Friday, April 26, 2013

ODCA Examines VM Interoperability in the Enterprise Cloud

The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) published a proof-of-concept (POC) paper that examines where the virtual machine (VM) industry currently is in meeting interoperability requirements outlined in the ODCA VM interoperability usage model.

"The ODCA VM interoperability usage model has been adopted by many of our member companies as a core foundation for implementing their enterprise ready clouds and has been extremely instrumental in shaping new solutions from VM vendors," said Ryan Skipp, Portfolio and Solution Development at DTAG/T-Systems and Chair of the ODCA Manageability and Services Workgroup.

"The POC paper released today is important because it clearly illustrates what industry needs to do next to advance interoperability based on ODCA VM interoperability requirements. Forecast 2013 is the perfect venue to bring hypervisor and VM solution providers together with industry to collaboratively address these pressing issues."

http://www.opendatacenteralliance.org/


ATIS Develops Cybersecurity Framework

ATIS has developed a framework for consistent and comprehensive cybersecurity design across multiple information and communications network technologies.  The work has been submitted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) Request for Information regarding cybersecurity.

The framework, which was developed by the ATIS Technology and Operations (TOPS) Council, specifically addresses cyber-related design and implementation vulnerabilities in devices, networks and computing infrastructures.

The framework includes:
  • end-to-end network topology segmented with security zones
  • compliance guidelines related to the security zones, which provide a template approach for suppliers to adhere to when developing future cyber-secure network elements and devices
  • a reference architecture that provides a holistic view of all of the organization’s work areas to understand how cybersecurity can be an integral part of industry efforts throughout the ecosystem.
“ATIS’ cybersecurity framework was developed by a broad-based membership which includes service providers, the device community and others involved in the information and communications technologies ecosystem,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan M. Miller. “Thus, it provides the end-to-end perspective essential for addressing cybersecurity comprehensively. It also shows that our industry is well-aligned and future-focused when it comes to cybersecurity solutions.”

http://www.atis.org

ZTE Reports Improved Q1 Margins and Profitability


ZTE reported Q1 revenue of RMB18.09 billion, down 2.8% compared to a year ago. However, the company credited stringent efforts in cost control for improving its margins.  Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company rose to RMB205 million in the first quarter, and basic earnings per share increased to RMB0.06. Operating cash flow in the first quarter significantly improved compared to a year earlier.  This marks the second continuous quarter of improving margins.

Since the second half of 2012, ZTE said it has stringently enforced measures to focus resources on key products and markets, target higher-margin contracts, improve cash flow management and reduce costs.  The company achieved combined savings of RMB 350 million in selling, administration and research costs in the first quarter compared with a year earlier.

http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/press_center/news/201304/t20130426_396305.html



NSN Appoints General Counsel


Nokia Siemens Networks announced the appointment of Maria Varsellona as general counsel, effective July 1, 2013. Varsellona will report to CEO, Rajeev Suri, and join the company’s executive board. She will be based in Munich, Germany.

Varsellona joins Nokia Siemens Networks from Tetra Pak, an 11 billion euro revenue company, where she was General Counsel overseeing global legal operations.

http://www.nsn.com

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Digital Realty Announces Global Network Neutral Ecosystem

Digital Realty Trust, which owns 121 data center properties comprising approximately 22.7 million square feet, plans to build a Global Network Neutral Ecosystem providing direct connections between its tenants.

The idea is to run high count dark fiber between its nearby buildings, enabling "plug and play" GigE as well as straight dark fiber cross-connects to customers, carriers and service providers campus-wide.  The rollout will begin with Digital Realty's major campus locations including New York Metro, Boston, Ashburn, Chicago, Dallas, Santa Clara as well as Metro London.  Completion of the deployment in the U.S. is expected by the fourth quarter of 2013, followed by Asia Pacific and Europe in the first half of 2014.

"The launch of this important strategy takes our global portfolio to the next level in terms of network connectivity, which is a key factor for customers when selecting a data center provider," said Michael F. Foust, chief executive officer of Digital Realty.  "When combined with our scale, expertise and global footprint, this initiative will give customers a one-stop shop for all of their data center needs."

"The important distinction here is that we are not building a network, nor are we becoming a reseller," added Mr. Foust.  "The goal of this initiative is to ensure a robust offering of network and carrier products and services in every Digital Realty location, making our portfolio the easiest place for both wholesale and retail colocation customers to locate their data centers."

http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com

Alcatel-Lucent Posts Loss of EUR 353 Million

Alcatel-Lucent reported Q1 2013 revenues of Euro 3,226 million, up 0.6% year-over-year but down -21.2% sequentially.  At constant currency exchange rates and perimeter, revenues increased 1.8% year-over-year and decreased -19.9% sequentially.  There was a first quarter reported net loss (group share) of Euro (353) million or Euro (0.16) per share, including restructuring charges of Euro (122) million and Euro (152) million of financial loss.

"Alcatel-Lucent’s first quarter results reflect both encouraging trends in the marketplace and good progress with The Performance Program, for which discipline on execution remains the priority in 2013. Free cash-flow remains a challenge. Strong focus will be placed on working capital management to reverse some of the negative impact incurred this quarter. We are actively reviewing the Group’s businesses and operating model to design the conditions for value creation in the future. I am looking forward to sharing the outcome in early Summer," stated Michel Combes, CEO Alcatel-Lucent.

Some highlights of the report:

  • Networks & Platforms grew 6% year-over-year with high single digit growth in IP and good traction in Wireless, Fixed networks, Platforms and Services, all partially offset by a double-digit decline in Optics.
  • Revenues for the IP division were Euro 493 million, increasing 6.3% from the year ago quarter and 9.3% at constant currency.
  • Revenues for the Optics division were Euro 342 million, a decrease of 15.6% from the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the Wireless division were Euro 966 million, an increase of 4.9% from the year-ago quarter.
  • The growth in LTE and RFS, which includes cable, antenna and tower systems, was partially offset by an overall decline in 2G/3G technologies.
  • Focused Businesses declined at a double-digit rate compared to the year ago quarter, with Enterprise at a mid-single digit rate and Submarine at a faster pace.
  • A slowdown in Managed Services continued, reflecting restructuring efforts.
  • From a geographic standpoint, also adjusted for constant currency and compared to the year ago period, North America reached historical highs as a percentage of total revenues (48%), resulting from strong growth in the region.
  • Japan showed good traction and China stabilized. The Asia Pacific region declined at a low single digit rate.
  • Cautious spending persisted in Europe, which declined at a 10% rate.
  • Rest of world declined at 10%, where growth in Brazil was offset by weakness in the rest of Central and Latin America and Middle East and Africa.


http://www.alcatel-lucent.com


Extreme Networks Appoints New CEO Following Resignation of Rodriguez

Extreme Networks appointed Charles W. "Chuck" Berger as its President and CEO, replacing Oscar Rodriguez who has resigned, effective immediately. Berger has also been elected to the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Rodriguez also resigned from the Board.

Berger most recently served as CEO and Chairman of ParAccel, a privately held software analytics company that was recently sold to Actian. Prior to ParAccel, Berger served as the CEO of DVDPlay, Nuance Communications, Vicinity Corporation, AdForce, and Radius.
  
"We appreciate Oscar's contributions over his past three years of service to Extreme Networks and in particular his technical and sales efforts," said Ed Meyercord, Chairman of the Extreme Networks Board of Directors.  "Oscar helped build a talented team and a foundation for future growth.  We thank him and wish him the best in his future endeavors."

 
In August 2010, Extreme Networks appointed Oscar Rodriguez as its President and CEO.  

Poland's Netia Deploys 100G with NSN

Netia, Poland’s largest alternative provider of fixed-line telecommunications services, has deployed Nokia Siemens Networks’ optical transport DWDM platform hiT 7300 and 100 GbE (Gigabit Ethernet) transponder, to enable 100G wavelengths in its optical fiber network.

The solution was integrated seamlessly into Netia's existing fiber optical infrastructure provided by a third party vendor.

Nokia Siemens Networks also noted that the sale of its Optical Networks business to Marlin Equity Partners is expected to close in the first half of 2013.

http://www.nsn.com

NETGEAR Posts Lower Sales for Q1, Cites Product Transition Issues

NETGEAR reported Q1 net sales of $293.4 million, as compared to $325.6 million for the first quarter ended April 1, 2012, and $310.4 million in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2012.  Net income  (GAAP) was $15.3 million, or $0.39 per diluted share.  This compares to GAAP net income of $25.1 million, or $0.65 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2012, and GAAP net income of $16.1 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2012. Gross margin on a non-GAAP basis in the first quarter of 2013 was 30.5%, as compared to 31.0% in the year ago comparable quarter, and 30.0% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Patrick Lo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NETGEAR commented, "The lower than expected operating margin in the first quarter was driven by product mix, primarily due to difficulties in the transition to our new ReadyNAS line of products. The transition occurred late in the quarter and difficulty securing components and some last minute bug fixes led to unanticipated delays. This marked the first time we completely replaced an entire line of products, which involved obsoleting ten models and replacing them with seven brand new models. The execution was much harder than anticipated and we learned a valuable lesson in engineering and manufacturing planning. The good news is that our supply is now in full swing and customer feedback on the new product line has been very positive."


"We continue to see large market opportunities created by the ever expanding access to high speed Internet connectivity among consumers and businesses.  We are very focused today on building our product portfolios for intermediate and long term growth in all three of our business units. In retail, we continue to gain traction with the 11ac upgrade cycle and we are gaining share in the Smart Home space, specifically with our Internet video streaming solutions. In our Commercial Business Unit, the launches of the new ReadyNAS and 10GBaseT switches in the first quarter were received enthusiastically by the market, positioning us for growth in the months and years ahead. And in our Service Provider Business Unit, we introduced our first LTE gateway into the North American fixed mobile data market and have attracted interest from multiple service providers."

http://www.netgear.com

PMC-Sierra Posts Revenue of $125.2 Million, Sees Stronger Bookings

PMC-Sierra reported Q1 revenue of $125.2 million, a decrease of three percent compared to $129.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, and a decrease of five percent compared to $132.1 million in the first quarter of 2012.  GAAP net loss was $6.8 million, or $0.03 per share, compared to GAAP net income in the fourth quarter of 2012 of $10.8 million, or $0.05 per diluted share.

"Our first quarter results were in line with our outlook and within the expected range," said Greg Lang, PMC President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are encouraged by stronger bookings in the quarter and expect to grow revenues in the second quarter of 2013. Our book-to-bill ratio within the period was greater than one for the second consecutive quarter."

http://www.pmc-sierra.com

Tellabs Posts Revenue of $209M, Loss of $56M

Tellabs reported Q1 2013 revenue of $209 million, compared with $258 million in the year-ago quarter. There was a GAAP net loss of $56 million or 16 cents per share in the first quarter of 2013, compared with a net loss of $140 million or 38 cents per share in the first quarter of 2012.

Tellabs holds cash and marketable securities of $572 million as of March 29, 2013, thanks in part to the repatriation of approximately $375 million of cash held by non- U.S. subsidiaries during the first quarter of 2013. During Q1, Tellabs repurchased 12 million shares for $26 million under its previously announced stock repurchase plan.

For Q1, Optical segment revenue was $93 million, Data segment revenue was $33 million, Access segment revenue was $39 million and Services segment revenue was $44 million.

"We’re working to revitalize Tellabs’ performance with a focus on customers, strategy and results," said Dan Kelly, Tellabs CEO and president. "Going forward, we’re working on what customers need to succeed with our optical and mobile solutions."

Radisys Posts Q1 Revenue of $68.2 Million

Radisys reported Q1 revenues of $68.2 million and a GAAP net loss of $6.6 million or $0.23 per share. ATCA and software solutions revenue amounted to $46.5 million, or 68% of total revenue.

Radisys noted its first revenue generating shipments of its new Media Resource Function (MRF), the MPX-12000, which will provide Rich Communication Services (RCS) capabilities in a network being rolled out by a tier one carrier in Asia.

The company also noted that platform design wins in Q1 are expected to result in approximately $60 million of revenue over the next five years.

"I am pleased that along with successfully meeting a number of key product development and operational objectives set seven months ago, our first quarter revenue and profitability met our guidance. During the first quarter, we released essential features that enabled the recognition of our first MPX-12000 (MRF) revenue. The funnel for our new MRF is strong and we are in multiple trials with carriers in Voice over LTE applications as well as enabling RCS in the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) core. We also are seeing nice traction in our solutions business which takes our breadth of technology to develop products for our customers such as load balancing, edge routing, intelligent gateways and compact packet cores," stated Brian Bronson, Radisys' President and CEO.

http://www.radisys.com


Mellanox Reports Revenue of $83 Million, Down 6% YoY

Mellanox Technologies reported Q1 revenue of $83.1 million, down 32.0 percent from $122.1 million for the fourth quarter 2012, and down 6.4 percent from $88.7 million for the first quarter of 2012.

GAAP net loss in the first quarter of 2013 was $8.5 million or $0.20 per diluted share, compared with net income of $18.4 million or $0.41 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2012 and net income of $12.4 million or $0.29 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2012.

“Despite the decline in our financial results over the past two quarters, we believe increased demand will restore growth in coming quarters,” said Eyal Waldman, president, CEO and chairman of Mellanox Technologies. “In the first quarter, our FDR InfiniBand revenue share increased from 39 percent to 50 percent, demonstrating the continued demand for our highest performing InfiniBand products. We expect that our future growth will be driven by the increased adoption of FDR InfiniBand as well our 10/40/56Gb/s Ethernet products.”

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Cisco Tackles Network Storage with 24 Tbps Director Switch


Cisco introduced a multilayer storage director boasting 24 terabits per second of total switching capacity, almost three times the bandwidth of any director in the industry, along with a new fabric switch. The products are aimed at serving massive amounts of data, solid state drives (SSD) and cloud-based environments.

The new Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director supports both high-density Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over Ethernet, enabling consistent SAN and LAN networking operations. It builds on the company's MDS heritage of nonstop operations, including software upgrades, by providing the highest fault-tolerant capabilities with fully redundant (N+1) fans, switching fabrics, and power-supplies or grid redundancy (N:N). It accepts new 48-port 16 GB Fibre Channel and 48-port 10 GB FCoE line cards, enabling the platform to scale up to 384 line-rate 16 GB Fibre Channel ports or FCoE in a single 14 RU chassis.

The Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch delivers storage services, including Cisco I/O accelerator and Data Mobility Manager, which improve SAN efficiency by performing important storage services centrally in the fabric.  It offers up to 40 line-rate ports of 16GB FC/FICON, 8 ports of 10 GE FCoE, and 2 ports of 1/10GE FCIP/iSCSI, while delivering a rich set of storage services via licensing. A SAN Extension capability enables backup, remote replication, and other disaster-recovery services over WAN distances using open-standards FCIP tunneling. In addition, a Cisco I/O Accelerator (IOA) provides acceleration for MAN/WAN applications, and wire encryption for backup and replication operations, making disaster recovery and regulatory compliance easier.

http://newsroom.cisco.com/release/1176617

Ericsson Sees Strong Growth in North America, Other Regions Stall


Ericsson reported Q1 2013 net sales of SEK 52.0 billion (US$7.84 billion), down 22% compared to Q4 2012 but up 2% compared to Q1 2012. Operating income, including joint ventures, was SEK 2.1 billion,  with an operating margin of 4.0%.

"Sales showed positive development in the quarter with a growth of 2% YoY, despite currency headwind. Sales for comparable units, adjusted for FX and hedging, grew 7%," said Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson.

"The sales increase was primarily driven by Networks and rollout services, following high project activities primarily in Europe and North America. North America remained the strongest region and showed a growth of 23% despite the decline in CDMA. North East Asia had a challenging quarter with lower sales in South Korea, which remains one of the most advanced LTE markets but without parallel 3G deployments as in Q112, continued structural decline in GSM investments in China and FX effects in Japan," added Vestberg.

Some highlights:

  • Networks sales increased 3% YoY, primarily driven by North America and South East Asia. Networks sales decreased -20% QoQ, partly due to lower sales in North East Asia, offset by continued high business activity in North America.
  • Global Services grew 4% YoY, driven by Network Rollout and decreased -24% QoQ, partly due to lower business activity in North East Asia and delays in LTE deployments in Latin America.
  • Support Solutions sales declined -19% YoY and -33% QoQ, mainly due to the divestment of Multimedia Brokering (IPX) in Q312 and negative FX effects.
  • Restructuring charges for the Group amounted to SEK 1.8 (0.6) b., of which SEK 1.4 b. related to the significant reduction of operations in Sweden.

http://www.ericsson.com

Sprint's Network Vision Remains On Track


Sprint reported wireless service revenue of $7.1 billion for its Sprint platform network, up nearly 9 percent year-over-year. Consolidated net service revenues of nearly $8 billion were flat year-over-year as Sprint platform growth offset declines in Nextel platform and Wireline revenues.  Operating income for the quarter was $29 million as compared to a loss of $255 million in the year-ago
period.

"This is a transformative year for Sprint and we’ve gotten off to a good start,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. "Record Sprint platform service revenue and subscriber levels fueled our performance. We achieved significant Adjusted OIBDA growth while investing heavily to improve our network, expanding our 4G LTE footprint and offering customers the best smartphones with truly unlimited data plans."

Some highlights from Q1:

  • The company's Network Vision deployment is on track.  To date, there are more than 13,500 sites on air compared to more than 8,000 reported on Feb. 7. The number of sites that are either ready for construction, already underway or completed has grown to more than 25,000.
  • Sprint's LTE network is now operational in 88 cities, including newly launched Los Angeles, Boston and Charlotte, N.C.. The company expects that 4G LTE will be available in more than 170 additional cities in the coming months.
  • At the end of Q1, there were 53,896,000 subscribers on the Sprint platform, up by 356,00 for the quarter.
  • At the end of Q1, there were 1,315,000 subscribers left on the Nextel network. Sprint captured about 46% of exiting Nextel customers in Q1.
  • Sprint platform prepaid net adds of 568,000, including 67,000 subscribers recaptured from the Nextel prepaid platform
  • The Nextel network will be deactivated on June 30.
  • 86% of quarterly Sprint platform postpaid handset sales were smartphones, including more than 1.5 million iPhones sold during the quarter. Forty-three percent of iPhone sales were to new customers. 

  • Postpaid ARPU on the Sprint platform was $63.67 for Q1.

http://www.sprint.com

Gigamon's Unified Visibility Fabric Architecture Spans Physical, Virtual, SDN

Gigamon outlined its vision for software-defined monitoring based on a four-layer architecture: a Services Layer, a Management Layer, an Orchestration Layer and an Applications Layer.

Gigamon said its strategy is to develop a unified Visibility Fabric architecture that would ultimately deliver orchestrated visibility across physical, virtual and software-defined networks (SDN). This will build on Gigamon's existing architecture and the principles of SDN to provide a centralized, programmable approach that aims to bridge the gap between the raw data passing through the network and optimally presenting that data to the tools that monitor, manage, secure and ensure application and network performance.
  • The Services Layer currently provides advanced Flow Mapping® and intelligent packet optimization and normalization using GigaSMART technology across physical and virtual worlds and, and Gigamon expects to expand this layer to include software defined data networks with the GigaVUE-CV application which is currently being developed as a proof of concept.
  • The Management Layer consists of the GigaVUE-FM (Fabric Manager) which provides centralized management and a common policy framework for multi-department and multi-tenant traffic monitoring and manipulation policies across the Visibility Fabric architecture.
  • The Orchestration Layer will be developed by Gigamon to provide an open environment through a set of forthcoming APIs and SDKs to enable third party development of applications.  
  • The Applications Layer will consist of a set of visibility applications to be developed by Gigamon, as well as through independent software vendors to deliver optimal tool utilization and performance.
"As data networks evolve from physical to virtual to software-defined networks (SDN), the role of network visibility needs to evolve as well," said Shehzad Merchant, Chief Strategy Officer at Gigamon. "The Gigamon Unified Visibility Fabric architecture has advanced the vision from providing intelligent traffic filtering and aggregation, to a centralized, policy driven fabric that serves multiple constituents, departments and tools, each with their own policy model. Going forward, we expect that the Unified Visibility Fabric architecture would enable customers to implement 'Visibility as a Service'. And, as Gigamon continues to develop its offerings, our vision is that this ability will not just be for the physical network, but also across virtual and SDN 'islands' as well."


EarthLink Opens Data Center in Dallas for Cloud Hosting


EarthLink announced the opening of a new data center in Dallas.

EarthLink said it is also preparing to open three additional data centers in Chicago, San Jose and Miami in the coming months. These four new data centers, in addition to the existing center in Pittsford, NY, provide the company with a total of five data centers on its next generation cloud hosting platform.

EarthLink also operates data centers in Atlanta, Columbia, SC and Marlborough, MA., all linked to its nationwide IP network.

http://www.earthlink.net/about/press/pressrelease.faces?id=960

Transmode Picked for 100G Backbone in Hong Kong


Hutchison Global Communications Limited (HGC) awarded a 3-year contract to Transmode to supply a ROADM-based 100G optical backbone network for a new high capacity network in Hong Kong.

Under the frame agreement, HGC will deploy Transmode’s TM-Series including Gigabit Ethernet, 2.5G, 10G, 40G and 100G transport over an 80-wavelength ROADM-based Flexible Optical Network with Transmode’s Enlighten multi-layer management suite. The first deliveries for the project have already started and initial services are planned to be operational in H1, 2013.

The new network, which will cover the entire region, including Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories, will initially serve corporate and wholesale customers by interconnecting a large number of customer premises, data centres and submarine cable landing stations.

http://www.transmode.com

Broadband Forum Approves Specs for VDLS2 Testing

The Broadband Forum released its BroadbandSuite 6.1, offering practical implementation resources, functional and performance test plans, and best practice specification for DSL quality assurance.  Notable items include the following technical specifications:

  • TR-114i2: “VDSL2 Performance Test Plan”
  • TR-115i2: “VDSL2 Functionality Test Plan”
  • TR-273: “Testing of Bonded Multi-pair Systems”
  • TR-286: “Testing of MELT Functionality on xDSL Ports”
  • TR-188i2: “DSL Quality Suite”

BroadbandSuite 6.1 is a resource of global test plans for ADSL2plus and VDSL2 function and performance. It also defines vectoring and bonding options for supercharging DSL, and key methods for improving quality measurements, IPTV service delivery and techniques for DSL network management.

"BroadbandSuite 6.1 gives operators a way to boost their existing copper deployments as a valuable part of the multi-access platform that is emerging around the world. High speed VDSL2 works well with fiber, providing Operators the ability to capitalize on existing investments whilst effectively engineering hybrid FTTx solutions to minimize costs, all the while maximizing speed and reach of their superfast broadband networks," stated Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum.

http://www.broadband-forum.org

Qualcomm Posts Q1 Revenue of $6.12 Billion, up 24% YoY

Qualcomm reported Q1 revenue of $6.12 billion, up 24 percent year-over-year  and 2 percent sequentially.  Net income was $1.87 billion, down 16 percent YoY and 2 percent sequentially.  Diluted earnings per share were $1.06, down 17 percent YoY and 3 percent sequentially.

During the quarter, MSM chip shipments reached 173 million units, up 14 percent YoY and down 5 percent sequentially.

"We delivered another strong quarter as the worldwide adoption of smartphones continues,” saidDr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. “Looking forward, we are seeing strong traction with our new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 and 800 processors, and we continue to expect healthy growth in 3G and 3G/4G multimode devices around the world. We are pleased to be raising our calendar 2013 3G/4G device shipment estimates and our revenue and earnings guidance for fiscal 2013.”

http://www.qualcomm.com

F5 Posts Revenue of $365.5 Million, Down 4%

F5 Networks reported revenue of $350.2 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2013, down four percent from $365.5 million in the prior quarter and up three percent from $339.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2012.  GAAP net income was $63.4 million ($0.80 per diluted share) compared to $69.5 million ($0.88 per diluted share) in the first quarter of 2013 and $68.6 million ($0.86 per diluted share) in the second quarter a year ago.

“As we indicated in our announcement of preliminary results on April 4, service provider revenues for the second quarter came in significantly below our expectations,” said John McAdam, F5 president and chief executive officer.  “We believe this was primarily due to project delays, which caused customers to postpone orders that we had expected to close during the quarter. The weakness in sales to service providers was especially pronounced in North America. In addition, sales to the Federal government were also below our internal forecast as a consequence of continuing uncertainty over the impact of sequestration and other efforts to reduce Federal spending.

http://www.f5networks.com


Infinera Posts Q1 Revenue of $124.6 Million, Loss Narrows


Infinera reported Q1 revenue of $124.6 million, compared to $128.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $104.7 million in the first quarter of 2012.  The GAAP gross margin for Q1 was 34% compared to 34% in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 39% in the first quarter of 2012.  GAAP net loss for the quarter was $(15.3) million, or $(0.13) per share, compared to net loss of $(16.1) million, or $(0.14) per share, in the fourth quarter of 2012 and net loss of $(20.6) million, or $(0.19) per share, in the first quarter of 2012.

“Our first quarter performance demonstrated solid execution in a traditionally slow quarter for the industry,” said Tom Fallon, president and chief executive officer.  “The DTN-X platform continued to gain traction in the market.  During the quarter, we received purchase commitments from six additional customers, including two new to Infinera, for a total of 27 DTN-X customer commitments to date.  Customer deployments were strong and we shipped a record number of 100G ports.

http://www.infinera.com

Ceragon Lands $8 Million Order in South America


Ceragon confirmed that a leading mobile operator in the Southern Cone region of Latin America has placed new orders valued at more than $8 million. The project has been ongoing since early 2012.

Ceragon is supplying its FibeAir IP-10 and Evolution Long Haul solutions to help connect new 3G sites while expanding the capacity of the network’s backbone. The project is expected to be completed by Q3 2013.

http://www.ceragon.com

Infonetics: Ethernet Surge Continues, 40G and 100G Prices Decline


The number of 1G, 10G, 40G, and 100G network ports shipped on service provider and enterprise equipment in 2012 grew 22% over the previous year, to top 360 million, according to a new report from Infonetics.

“Overall, shipments of all port speeds have been on a steady upward path as a result of growing network traffic and the need to constantly upgrade networks, but the revenue growth opportunity is in higher-speed ports (10G, 40G, 100G – excluding 1G), shipments for which shot up 62% in 2012,” notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research.

Some highlights:

  • 10G currently accounts for about 3/4 of all high-speed (10G+) ports shipped
  • 1G ports still make up a significant portion of overall shipments and will continue growing as 1G becomes the standard in service provider and enterprise access networks
  • Asia Pacific leads all geographic regions in port shipments, aided by increasing adoption in previously lagging emerging economies and ubiquitous Ethernet services.

 “Revenue per port is plunging — up to 30%+ per year for new categories like 40G and 100G — and this will help drive adoption of higher speed ports. In the optical segment, I expect 100G to account for more than 10% of optical transport spending in 2013," added Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics and co-author of the report.

http://www.infonetics.com/pr/2013/2H12-Networking-Ports-Market-Highlights.asp

ADVA Optical Networking reported Q1 2013 revenue of EUR 77.0 million in Q1 2013, down 5.7% vs. Q1 2012 at EUR 81.7 million and down 4.0% vs. EUR 80.3 million in Q4 2012. IFRS operating income amounted to EUR 0.4 million in Q1 2013, after EUR 3.5 million in Q1 2012.

“While the temporary decline of our business related to short-term market weakness driven by adverse macro-economic conditions and temporary shifts in carrier investment priorities clearly is a disappointment, we are still pleased to report our Q1 2013 revenues of EUR 77.0 million at the upper end of guidance. Our pro forma gross margin decreased from 41.8% in Q4 2012 to 38.6% in Q1 2013, due to quarterly variations in product and customer mix. In Q1 2013, our pro forma operating margin came in at 1.0% in the upper half of guidance, demonstrating our focus on managing operational costs in this challenging environment. Also, operating cash flow at EUR 1.7 million in Q1 2013 remained positive, and our quarter-end cash & cash equivalents and net liquidity of EUR 65.3 million and EUR 36.3 million, respectively, demonstrate ongoing financial strength,” commented Jaswir Singh, chief financial officer & chief operating officer of ADVA Optical Networking.

http://www.advaoptical.com


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Orange Goes Global with its Business Together as a Service

Orange Business Services announced a global expansion of its Business Together as a Service, which provides unified communications to large enterprises.  This Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is hosted in three regional data centers (Atlanta, Frankfurt and Singapore) that Orange Business Services has dedicated to cloud computing infrastructure.

The service provides end users with a unified telephony, email messaging, IM/presence, audio and Web conferencing, contact center service, video and mobility. Orange is provided a pay-as-you-go cloud model.

The service is powered by equipment from Cisco.

3M is using Business Together as a Service to improve collaboration and productivity among its 20,000 employees in 25 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.


Orange Business Together as a Service is now available worldwide, including versions in 29 languages.

“Globalization, widely-dispersed teams, increased consumerization of business IT, and greater mobility are all converging, making the ‘new workspace’ essential for multinational companies,” said Vivek Badrinath, CEO, Orange Business Services. “Employees need productivity tools that make it faster and easier to get things done. Business Together as a Service enables them to have boundaryless access to those tools, which helps achieve the desired work-life balance and mobility that is expected from today’s workforce, particularly by Gen-Y talent.”

http://www.orange-business.com/en/ucaas-april23/unified-communications-global-event

AT&T: Wireless Data Revenue up 21% in Q1

Citing a 21% surge in wireless data revenues, AT&T reported consolidated Q1 2013 revenues of $31.4 billion, down 1.5 percent versus the year-earlier quarter and up 0.9 percent when excluding revenues from the divested Advertising Solutions business unit. Net income totaled $3.7 billion, or $0.67 per diluted share, up from $3.6 billion, or $0.60 per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter.

“Our wireless network performance continues to be terrific,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. “And that helped drive our best ever first quarter for smartphone sales, improved wireless churn and strong growth in mobile data revenues. We also posted record sales of our U-verse high-speed IP service. Across all of these areas, we’ve built a solid foundation for future growth in mobile Internet and IP broadband, which will only expand as we progress with Project VIP.”

Some highlights for Q1:

  • Project VIP is ahead of schedule. Nearly 90 percent of the LTE buildout covering AT&T's 300 million POPs will be completed by year end.
  • CAPEX for 2013 is now expected in the $21 billion range. CAPEX for 2014 and 2015 are expected to be in the $20 billion range for each year, with no reduction in the Project Velocity IP (VIP) broadband expansion. Previously, the company expected capital spending of $22 billion annually in 2014 and 2015. AT&T is achieving savings through greater integration efficiencies in Project VIP, accelerating LTE build in 2013 and other ongoing initiatives.

Wireless

  • Total wireless revenues, which include equipment sales, were up 3.4 percent year over year to $16.7 billion.
  • Wireless service revenues increased 3.4 percent in the first quarter, to $15.1 billion. Wireless data revenues increased 21.0 percent from the year-earlier quarter to $5.1 billion. First-quarter wireless operating expenses totaled $12.0 billion, up 3.2 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, and wireless operating income was $4.7 billion, up 4.1 percent year over year.
  • AT&T added 291,000 wireless subscribers in the first quarter. Subscriber additions for the quarter included postpaid net adds of 296,000. Postpaid net adds reflect 365,000 postpaid tablets added in the quarter. Connected device net adds were 431,000.
  • Prepaid had a net loss of 184,000 subscribers primarily due to declines in session-based tablets and declines in GoPhone. Reseller had a net loss of 252,000.
  • AT&T added 1.2 million postpaid smartphone subscribers in Q1.
  • 72 percent, or 48.3 million, of AT&T's postpaid phone subscribers have smartphones, up from 61 percent, or 41.2 million, a year earlier.
  • Smartphones represented 81 percent of postpaid device sales and 88 percent of postpaid phone sales in the quarter.
  • AT&T’s ARPU for smartphones is about twice that of non-smartphone subscribers, and about 90 percent of postpaid subscribers are on FamilyTalk, Mobile Share or business plans.
  • About 60 percent of AT&T’s postpaid smartphone customers now use a 4G-capable device, with more than half of those using LTE devices.

Wireline

  • Total first-quarter wireline revenues were $14.7 billion, down 1.8 percent versus the year-earlier quarter and down 1.8 percent sequentially.
  • Total U-verse revenues grew 31.5 percent year over year and were up 5.0 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2012.
  • Total U-verse subscribers (TV and high speed Internet) reached 8.7 million in the first quarter.
  • U-verse TV added 232,000 subscribers, its best net gain in nine quarters, to reach 4.8 million in service. U-verse High Speed Internet delivered a best-ever net gain of 731,000 subscribers to reach a total of 8.4 million. Overall, the company added 124,000 wireline broadband subscribers, the best quarterly increase in eight quarters.
  • More than 56 percent of U-verse broadband subscribers have a plan delivering speeds up to 10 Mbps or higher — up from 50 percent in the year-ago quarter.
  • Total business revenues were $8.9 billion, down 3.4 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, and business service revenues declined 3.5 percent year over year. Both reflected a slow economy and weak government and business spending.
  • AT&T's most advanced business solutions — including VPN, Ethernet, hosting and other advanced IP services — grew 10.8 percent versus the year-earlier quarter. These services represent a $7.9 billion annualized revenue stream.

http://www.att.com/gen/landing-pages?pid=5718