Netsocket Commoditizes Layer 2/3 with Virtual Network Suite

Netsocket, a start-up based in Plano, Texas, unveiled its flagship Netsocket Virtual Network (NVN) product suite for bringing SDN-based orchestration and automation capabilities to enterprise infrastructure based commodity x86 servers.

Netsocket has developed a three-tier SDN architecture for interoperability and integration with legacy routed networks as well as higher level management systems such as Microsoft System Center.  The NetSocketdesign uses a vFlow controller with routing, firewall, and VPN capabilities built-in.

Key goals include flexibility of configuration and management, seamless legacy network interoperability via the intrinsic routing capability in the controller,  and commoditization of switching functions by eliminating the need for any network hardware other than commodity layer 2 switches and off-the-shelf x86 servers.  The framework provides automated networking through NVN applications that are network configuration and operational state 'aware,' and capable of adaptively monitoring and controlling underlying network services. This would enable enterprises to cap their purchases of proprietary routers and layer 3 switches and begin to migrate towards an agile software-based network infrastructure that relies only on commodity servers and inexpensive layer 2 switches.

The Netsocket Virtual Network (NVN) product suite consists of software for x86 virtual server platforms.  Key components include:

• vFlowController -- an SDN controller with intrinsic vRouter, vTunnel and vFirewall components.
  
• vNetCommander -- a centralized management system for NVN that handles automated installation, provisioning and orchestration of the network.
  
• vNetOptimizer -- a next generation virtualized version of Netsocket’s Cloud Experience Manager service assurance product, and will provide for real-time network service analytics, automation and optimization of the network.

Netsocket is natively targeting all of the popular hypervisors, including Microsoft Hyper-V. It is working on interoperability with OpenStack & Microsoft System Center.

Netsocket is releasing a free version of its Virtual Network suite, including the vFlowController, the vFlowSwitch, and the vNetCommander-BASIC application.  vNetCommander-BASIC allows for the creation and management of fully functional small networks.  Paid versions support large networks.

"The NVN portfolio is the culmination of Netsocket's vision to provide application aware, rich network visibility and the virtualized network resources required to automatically anticipate, isolate and remediate problems in the network," said John White, President and CEO of Netsocket.  "The NVN portfolio provides customers with an SDN migration strategy that has practical use cases as well as enterprise-wide deployability"

NetSocket currently offers a Cloud Experience Manager (CEM) that provides insight into unified communications (UC) issues.  The software goes beyond  monitoring to include IP network information correlation. It automatically correlates session, content and topology data in real time, without probes, enabling managers to anticipate, isolate and remediate network problems.

http://www.virtualnetwork.com
http://www.netsocket.com

• In April, Netsocket raised $9.2 million in Series B funding for expansion of it network assurance expertise into SDN. The funding round was led by new investor Venture Investors, with participation by existing investors Sevin Rosen Funds, Silver Creek Ventures and Trail Blazer Capital.
• Netsocket was founded in 2007.  Its team includes key players from Chiaro Networks, a Richardson, Texas-based start-up that developed a high-capacity core router for the service provider market.
• Netsocket is headed by John White, who previously held executive positions at IBM and AT&T/Avaya.

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U.S. Dept. of Labor Consolidates Data Centers with BYTEGRID

BYTEGRID Holdings, which operates highly secure, interconnected, carrier-neutral, data centers in the Washington, D.C. and Atlanta metro areas, announced a seven-year contract by the U.S. Department of Labor. Lockheed Martin serves as integrator on the project.

The contract calls for the consolidation and relocation of DOL's data centers in metropolitan Washington into BYTEGRID’s ultra-secure, financial grade facility in Montgomery County, Maryland. The overall plans include a sequential move of data centers to BYTEGRID and to the cloud.

BYTEGRID’s facility is the largest multi-tenant data center in Maryland featuring 214,000 sq. ft. of data center space and over 90,000 sq. ft. of raised floor. It features new redundant power supply systems, providing a total of nine (9) megawatts of critical load power, twenty-two (22) megawatts of on-site power generation and cooling that exceed requirements for concurrent maintainability and fault tolerance, with future planned expansions to double critical load power capacity.

BYTEGRID said the contract supports the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), which aims to eliminate and/or consolidate 1,186 federal data centers by 2015, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The initiative and consolidation activity is tied to other industry trends including server virtualization, cloud computing and energy efficiency.

“The FDCCI is an initiative of significant national importance and unique opportunity for Maryland companies,” said Don Goodwin, BYTEGRID’s Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing. “We are pleased to provide the critical data center infrastructure and innovative in-center cloud bursting, meeting all key government standards for security compliance.

http://www.BYTEGRID.com

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Verizon Launches Live Events Broadcast Service

Verizon launched a Live Events service that can acquire event feeds from any source -- including satellite, terrestrial fiber and Internet -- then transcode and deliver the content to broadcasters and other commercial customers. The service also provides proactive monitoring and robust redundancy over Verizon's global network.

The service, which is offered through an exclusive agreement with Origin Digital, a premier video-streaming company, is aimed at broadcasters and over-the-top content providers.

Verizon said its Digital Media Services contributes to the over-the-top video competitive landscape in the U.S. by offering seamless, end-to-end solutions that greatly reduce the complexity of digital content management through simplified operational processes and a fully transparent supply chain.

"There are no second chances when it comes to live events," said Bob Toohey, president, Verizon Digital Media Services. "Verizon Live Events combines depth of experience, market-leading technology and exceptional reach to create memorable experiences for viewers watching their favorite live events. This combination offers a single solution for a wide range of live events -- from multinational sporting events to breaking news and business meetings to concerts and red-carpet premieres."

Verizon Live Events service joins the video-on-demand and linear channel services also offered on Verizon's video-optimized media platform.

http://verizon.com

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Softbank's Acquisition of Sprint Expected on Wednesday

Sprint and SoftBank confirmed that they now expect to close their merger on July 10, 2013, effective after the close of trading that day.

The vast majority of Sprint shareholders will receive cash for their shares.  Only about 3% of outstanding shares elected to receive shares of the Sprint Corporation ("New Sprint") common stock.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-and-softbank-announce-preliminary-results-of-cash-and-stock-elections-by-sprint-shareholders.htm

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Clearwire Shareholders Approve Sprint Takeover

A required majority of Clearwire stockholders not affiliated with Sprint or SoftBank voted to approve the deal under which Sprint will acquire all shares of Clearwire which it does not currently own for $5.00 per share.

Sprint now expects to close the transaction on Tuesday, July 9th.  Softbank's acquisition of Sprint should follow on Wednesday, July 10th.

"We are pleased that our stockholders recognize the value and merits of our merger with Sprint," said Erik Prusch, President and CEO of Clearwire. "The Clearwire team is looking forward to working closely with our counterparts at Sprint to realize the potential of our assets inherent in this combination as we integrate our two companies.

http://www.clearwire.com
http://www.sprint.com

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Vodafone India Picks Cisco for IP Convergence

Vodafone India has selected Cisco for an end-to-end IP networking upgrade.  Cisco will supply a multiservice convergence platform to serve Vodafone’s residential, business and mobile customers with a single network infrastructure. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.vodafone.com
http://www.cisco.com

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Compass-EOS Adds Channel Partner in Australia

Compass-EOS has added Comdate Pty Ltd from Australia to its channel partner network.

Comdate Pty Ltd will now integrate the Compass-EOS carrier-grade r10004 modular routers in its solutions for service providers and enterprise customers. The r10004 uses silicon-to-photonics to drive more bandwidth at high port densities.

“Compass-EOS’ breakthrough silicon-to-photonics r10004 router fits well with our customers’ software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) based network architectures,” said Graedon Frazer, Managing Director of Comdate. “A core router with high bandwidth and a small footprint helps us offer our customers simplified core network solutions.”

http://www.compass-eos.com

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Zimory Raises $20 Million for Cloud Management

Zimory, a start-up based in Berlin, Germany, raised $20 million in venture funding for its cloud management software.

Zimory’s intelligent Cloud Suite simplifies, automates and expedites the creation, launch and management of all types of cloud environments – whether public, private, virtual private or hybrid.

The funding round was led by Deutsche Boerse and included Creathor Venture, High-Tech Gruenderfonds, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, KFW and T-Venture.

"We’re delighted with Deutsche Boerse’s involvement as an investor, and as a business partner for Zimory,” said Dr. Hagen Hultzsch, Zimory’s chairman. “Zimory’s technology is a world-leading cloud product. The capital received from this financing will continue driving forward its international expansion, and building the vendor-neutral management platform for the cloud services marketplace.”

Zimory was founded in 2007.

http://www.zimory.com

Deutsche Börse, which operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, has formed a joint venture with Berlin-based Zimory GmbH to create a neutral, secure and transparent trading venue for cloud computing resources.

Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange AG will serve enterprises, public sector agencies and also organizations such as research institutes that need addition

al storage and computing resources, or have excess capacity that they want to offer on the market.

Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange will set and monitor standards regarding the product offering, admission procedure, changes of provider and guaranteed purchased capacity. Clients will be able to choose capacity providers freely, as well as select the jurisdiction that will apply to the outsourced data. The product offering will initially include outsourced storage capacity and computing power.  The company said it will work closely on standards with potential marketplace participants, including traditional IT vendors, national and international SMEs, and large corporations from a wide range of industries, such as CloudSigma, Devoteam, Equinix, Host Europe, Leibniz- Rechenzentrum, PROFI AG, T-Systems and TÜV-Rheinland.

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Ixia Misses Q2 Revenue Guidance

Ixia announced that its revenue for Q2 will be in the range of $114 million to $116 million, below the company's previous guidance of $119 million to $122 million.

The company cited lower sales from network equipment manufacturers but said revenue from recently-acquired Anue Systems and BreakingPoint Systems are expected to be at the high end of the previously given range of $28 million to $32 million.

"We are disappointed with our topline performance this quarter, which was impacted by several factors, including lower than expected revenue from network equipment manufacturers and certain service providers as customers extended review cycles and certain large deals that were pushed into future quarters," said Vic Alston, president and CEO of Ixia.

"We did, however, see several positive trends in the quarter. Sales to our two largest customers, AT&T and Cisco, were strong and in line with expectations, and our overall book-to-bill ratio was in excess of one. Additionally, the performance of our 2012 acquisitions, Anue and BreakingPoint, was very encouraging and revenue is expected to register at the high end of our expectations for the second quarter. These indicators give us confidence that our competitive position remains strong although we remain cautious about the near-term spending environment," continued Alston.

Full results are expected on July 30, 2013 after the market closes.

http://www.ixiacom.com

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Broadcom Names Dr. Ting Wei Li as Sr. VP of China

Broadcom has appointed Dr. Ting Wei Li as Senior Vice President of Sales for China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and President of Greater China.

Dr. Li joins Broadcom from Marvell where he served as Vice President and China General Manager. Prior to Marvell, Dr. Li was head of Qualcomm's Shanghai office and Senior Director of Business Development. Previously he served as Technical Deputy at Lucent Technologies and held research positions in the U.S. and China. Dr. Li began his career in a variety of research roles in materials science and experimental physics.

http://www.broadcom.com

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