Google Compute Engine Enters G.A. Status with 99.95% Uptime SLA

Google announced general availability status for cloud computing services running on its data center infrastructure. Google Compute Engine offers virtual machines with 24/7 support, 99.95% monthly SLA, and pricing/performance/scalability that the company says beats its cloud competitors. Google Compute Engine supports any out-of-the-box Linux distribution (including Debian, Centos, SELinux, CoreOS, SUSE, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux ) as well as...

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Microsoft Expands its Dublin Data Center Complex

Microsoft announced plans to invest €170 million to expand its data center campus near Dublin, Ireland.  The expansion will add 15,700 square meters (169,000 square feet) of floor space, bringing the facility to approximately 54,000 square meters (581,000 square feet). Microsoft's Dublin data center serves the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, delivering cloud services such as Office 365, Bing, Skype, Xbox Live and Windows...

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Bell Labs Forecasts 560% Growth in Metro Traffic by 2017

Data traffic on metro access and aggregation networks is set to increase by 560 percent by 2017, according to a new study by Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs.  The researchers predict that by 2017 more than 75 percent of that traffic will stay in metro networks, as compared to 57 percent today. Some highlight of the "Metro Network Traffic Growth: An Architecture Impact Study”: Traffic from video services will skyrocket by as much as 720 percent...

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Crehan: Modular Ethernet Switches Propel Data Center Growth

Strong shipment and revenue growth in the modular or chassis-based segment propelled the data center Ethernet switch market to new highs in 3Q13, according to a report from Crehan Research. The report shows that after some past underperformance compared to other major data center Ethernet switch segments, modular data center switches posted a second consecutive quarter of robust growth. According to the report, Cisco continues to hold a strong market...

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Congressmen Call for Updates to Communications Act

It's time to examine and update the Communications Act of 1996, said U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) in a Google Hangout. "Today we are launching a multi-year effort to examine our nation’s communications laws and update them for the Internet era,” explained Upton. “The United States has been the global leader in innovation and growth of...

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Australia's Nexgen Tests Alcatel-Lucent's 400G Transmission

Australian network services provider Nextgen tested Alcatel-Lucent's 400 Gbps data transmission over an existing optical link carrying live network traffic. The trial was conducted over a 350 kilometer route between Sydney and Canberra using Nextgen’s newly commissioned high-capacity 100G transport network delivering services up to 100 Gbps. The trial was Alcatel-Lucent’s first 400G DWDM demonstration in the Asia-Pacific region. The trial used...

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DE-CIX Leases NYC Fiber from OCG for Distributed Internet Exchange

Optical Communications Group (OCG) will provide a dark fiber backbone for DE-CIX New York, which is building a distributed Internet Exchange consisting of five Points of Presence (PoPs) across the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. The agreement includes a service location at 325 Hudson, the carrier-neutral core interconnection facility strategically located on New York City's fiber-dense crossroads of Hudson Street and the Holland Tunnel. "OCG...

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ASSIA Prevails in Patent Case Versus BT

The High Court of Justice in London ruled that two patents on DSL management technologies held by ASSIA are valid and that British Telecom infringes one of the patents. The court determined that BT uses ASSIA’s patented DSL management technology in BT’s Next Generation Access (“NGA”) network. The two patents in the case, EP (UK) 1,869,790 and EP (UK) 2,259,495, describe inventions fundamental to dynamic monitoring and automatic optimization of...

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Broadcom Intros Residential Gateway with Small Cell Functionality

Broadcom announced an integrated gateway platform for small cell deployment in emerging markets. The new platform combines Broadcom's BCM61630 single-chip solution with Alcatel-Lucent's widely-deployed small cells software for Ultra-Broadband Access.  It includes digital baseband processor and RF transceiver, enabling small cells to be built straight into DSL, cable or fiber-fed home gateways. Key features include: Highly integrated CMOS...

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Open Networking Foundation Cites Strong SDN Interest in Asia-Pac

The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) has added seven member companies from Asia-Pacific since July, bringing its membership from the region to 26 companies. “ONF has welcomed more than 120 member companies worldwide, and we have been excited to see increased participation in from the APAC region in particular this year,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “We’ve embraced companies from a variety of user segments...

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Swiss Research Net Picks ECI for MultiLayer Transport

SWITCH, the non-profit organization providing backbone services to Swiss universities’ networks, has selected ECI to deploy a next-generation optical network based on its Apollo family of Optimized Multi-Layer Transport (OMLT) platforms.  The network will offer both 10G and 100G connectivity to universities and educational institutes in the country. ECI will deploy a multi-degree colorless and directionless ROADM WDM network, with 88 channels...

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SkyCross 5GHz Antennas Optimized for 802.11ac Hit 750 Mbps

SkyCross introduced a new line of wireless networking device antennas operating at the 5GHz frequency and designed to optimally support the 802.11ac WiFi specification. The 802.11ac specification provides multi-station WLAN throughput of at least 1 Gbps and a single link throughput of at least 500 Mbos. SkyCross its antenna has achieved 750 Mbps as the highest recorded data rate compared with 500-600 Mbps achieved by competing antennas using the...

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Polycom Appoints New CEO

Polycom appointed Peter A. Leav as its new as President and CEO, replacing interim CEO Kevin Parker, who will continue serving as Chairman of the Board of Polycom. Leav previously served as Executive Vice President and President of Industry and Field Operations for NCR, where he was responsible for leading a team of approximately 8,000 employees across 120 countries and for delivering annual revenue of more than $5.7 billion in 2012. http://ww...

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Huawei to Invest £10 Million in UK University Research

Huawei announced plans to invest £10 million by 2017 to support technology research programmes in British universities. The research will focus on advanced multimedia, IT and optical technology, green radio, 5G technologies, optical technology, wireless communications and product engineering. The funding is part of Huawei's previously announced US$2 billion investment commitment to the UK. http://pr.huawei.com/en/news/hw-316930-ict.htm#.Up5osc...

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