Oracle Opens Up to OpenStack in a Big Way

Oracle announced plans to integrate OpenStack cloud management components into Oracle Solaris, Oracle Linux, Oracle VM, Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance, Oracle Infrastructure as a Service, Oracle’s ZS3 Series, Axiom storage systems and StorageTek tape systems.  The company also intends to achieve OpenStack compatibility with Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud, Oracle Compute Cloud Service and Oracle Storage Cloud Service.

Oracle said its goal isto enable customers to use OpenStack to manage Oracle technology-based clouds.

“Oracle is pleased to join the OpenStack Foundation and plans to integrate OpenStack capabilities into a broad set of Oracle products and cloud services,” said Edward Screven, chief corporate architect, Oracle. “Our goal is to give customers greater choice and flexibility in how they use Oracle products and services in public and private clouds.”

In addition, Oracle is planning to provide Oracle Compute Cloud Service compatibility with OpenStack Nova.

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/2021085

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AT&T Launches Gigapower Fiber Internet Service in Austin

AT&T launched its "GigaPower" all-fiber Internet network in Austin, Texas.
The service features initial speeds of up to 300 Mbps, although AT&T expects to upgrade the performance to 1 Gbps + in 2014.

“Our all-fiber network enables U-verse with GigaPower to give Austinites the fastest speeds available to consumers in the city,” said Dahna Hull, AT&T’s vice president and general manager for Austin. “With U-verse with GigaPower, our customers can download movies and music and navigate, post and interact on the web faster than ever before, and have one of the best TV experiences around. It’s reliable, crazy fast and priced to attract more and more people to give us a try.”

In addition to fast Internet, the service offers interactive TV services including a 1 terabyte of storage DVR and the ability to watch and record five shows at the same time.

AT&T will have two U-verse with GigaPower Internet offers:

• Premier: Internet speeds up to 300 Mbps for $70 per month, includes waiver of equipment, installation and activation fees.  Customers who also select U-verse TV will receive free HBO, HBO GO for 36 months, and HD service for $120 per month with qualifying TV services.
• Standard: Internet speeds up to 300 mbps – download your favorite TV show in less than nine seconds² – for $99 per month.

http://www.att.com/gigapower

In April 2013, Google announced that Austin, Texas will be the next Google Fiber city.

Two years after launching the first Google Fiber project in Kansas City, Google confirmed its intention to bring a similar network to Austin by mid-2014. 

Google provides a free 5-7 Mbps data service to residents who pay the upfront fiber connection fee.  Service plans then scale up to symmetric Gigabit connectivity ($70 per month).  A separate Google Fiber TV service now offers nearly 200 HD TV channels. 

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JDSU to Acquire Network Instruments for $200 Million

JDSU agreed to acquire to acquire Network Instruments for $200 million in cash from Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity investment firm.

The acquisition of Network Instruments will expand JDSU's Network and Service Enablement product portfolio with several enterprise products, including:

• Observer Monitoring Platform – Integrated performance monitoring that provides unique visibility into complex application and network operations. The Observer Platform provides deep-dive analytics and problem resolution for mission-critical applications and projects such as VoIP, cloud deployments, data center initiatives and virtualization placements.
  
• GigaStor Retrospective Analysis Appliance – Precision-driven data collection solution that provides time-based and retrospective network analysis to support detailed application analytics for data-intensive applications.
  
• Matrix Network Monitoring Switch – Launched in September, the Matrix provides an advanced, next-generation and cost-effective solution for network traffic monitoring for the Network Packet Broker market. The Matrix provides rapid set-up and administration, centralized traffic policy management and the scalability for administrators to add more ports as their networks grow.

The Network Instruments also brings its employee base to JDSU, including research and development, sales, marketing and production teams.

"Network Instruments has outstanding new products and an excellent reputation across the enterprise market with nearly twenty years of experience and strong customer relationships," said David Heard, president of the Network and Service Enablement business segment at JDSU. "We're excited to add their talented team and winning solutions to JDSU and look forward to leveraging their expertise to further improve network performance for both our telecom and enterprise customers."

“Network Instruments’ success story is a reflection of Thoma Bravo’s proven growth strategy in the network management space,” said Thoma Bravo managing partner Seth Boro. “Through the firm’s partnership with Network Instruments’ management, we built upon the company’s market-leading technology and customer base, supported new product introductions and accelerated revenue growth.”

http://www.jdsu.com
http://www.thomabravo.com/

• In May 2012, Thoma Bravo acquired its controlling interest in Network Instruments.
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• Network Instruments was established in 1994.

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Google Opens Data Centers in Taiwan and Singapore

Google announced the opening of two data centers serving the Asia-Pacific region:  Changhua County, Taiwan, and Singapore.

The new data center is Changhua County, Taiwan is located on 15 hectares of land.  The facility represents a total long-term investment of US$600 million. It features a nighttime cooling and thermal energy storage system.

The new data center in Singapore is located on 2.45 hectares of land in Jurong West and is Google's first multi-story facility.

http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/changhua-county/
http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/singapore/

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Samsung Galaxy S 4 Supports Sprint Spark Carrier Aggregation

Sprint confirmed that it will offer a version of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 its "Spark" enhanced LTE in the next few weeks. This enhances the current version of Galaxy S 4 with a design change supporting carrier aggregation of all three Sprint bands (800MHz, 1.9GHz and 2.5GHz).

Sprint Spark allows tri-band devices, like Galaxy S 4, to support active hand-off mode between 800MHz, 1.9GHz and 2.5GHz and provide data session continuity as the devices move between spectrum bands.

Sprint plans to deploy Sprint Spark in about 100 of America’s largest cities during the next three years, with initial availability in five markets now. The first markets with limited availability are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa and Miami. Sprint 4G LTE service is expected to be available by mid-2014 to approximately 250 million Americans, and Sprint expects 100 million Americans will have Sprint Spark or 2.5GHz coverage by the end of 2014.

Performance-wise, Sprint Spark promises 50-60 Mbps with the potential to deliver over 2 Gbps downstream in the future given Sprint’s spectrum assets.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-debuts-samsung-galaxy-s-4-with-the-benefit-of-sprint-spark.htm

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MIOsoft Supplies App Cloud Platform to T-Systems

MIOsoft announced an $8 million agreement to supply its enterprise application cloud platform to T-Systems International (TSI).

TSI will use MIOsoft's  MIOedge platform to provide mission-critical applications and services to Deutsche Telekom AG. TSI will deliver PaaS and SaaS services using a secure virtual private cloud.

MIOsoft said TSI's services and applications under the agreement include ordering and billing processes for Deutsche Telekom. These are integrated with more than 30 of Deutsche Telekom's in-house enterprise systems. The agreement, totaling more than $8 million (€6 million), also provides for TSI's MIOedge cloud to use up to 2 petabytes of database storage for analytical and operational application services.

"MIOedge's adoption by T-Systems International and Deutsche Telekom is not just exciting for us, but also a significant moment in the industry," said Bert Barabas, MIOsoft's chief technology officer. "For possibly the first time, major components of a Global 100 company's critical processes are running in the cloud. It's wonderful to be able to help large companies leverage the flexibility and cost benefits of the cloud, especially when they're using applications that are at the core of their vital business processes and deeply integrated into their internal infrastructure."

Unlike a private cloud, a MIOedge virtual private cloud uses an external data center and the cost-effective operations support of a public cloud while dedicating secured servers to a single entity's use. To comply with European, German, and corporate data privacy requirements, the services provided for in the agreement with T-Systems International are provided exclusively from German facilities.

http://www.miosoft.com 

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MIOsoft is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin with offices in Hamburg, Germany and Beijing, China.

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HP Integrates OpenStack into CloudSystem for Hybrid Networks

HP is making OpenStack central to its next-generation HP CloudSystem, which enables enterprise customers to set up and deploy a complete private cloud environment, while also enabling a hybrid approach that supports bursting to multiple public cloud platforms.

HP CloudSystem will add bursting support for three new public clouds: Microsoft Windows Azure; platforms from Arsys, a European-based cloud computing provider; and SFR, a French telecommunications company. The next-generation HP CloudSystem will be available worldwide in the first half of 2014.

http://www.hpcloud.com/products-services/compute

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Box Expands its Cloud Partner Programs

Box announced partnerships with leading systems integrators, including Capgemini, Tech Mahindra, Volo Solutions, Statêra, 360 Cloud Solutions, ASMGi and 7 Summits, to help companies drive more value from their cloud platform.

“Our partner ecosystem is crucial to ensuring that businesses of all sizes across all geographies have the resources and expertise required to transition to Box’s content collaboration platform,” said Chris Penner, vice president of Channel at Box. “With the Box Partner Network, we’re ensuring that our partners have the tools and knowledge they need to be successful members of the Box ecosystem, and in turn pass that success along to customers.”

Launched in 2012, the Box Partner Network has grown to more than 500 partners. In addition to inaugural channel partners including CDW, Ingram Micro Inc. and Softchoice, Box has added key new channel partners SHI, Nexus IS, Enterprise Mobile, and Insight Direct.

http://blog.box.com/2013/12/new-partners-new-growth-and-a-new-services-program-for-box/

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Telecom New Zealand Employs Huawei for LTE

Telecom New Zealand launch a new "Ultra Mobile" 4G LTE network in parts of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Huawei provided a convergent radio access network (RAN) technology solution for the network based on its SingleRAN technology.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

Arthur Zhang, CEO of Huawei New Zealand, said Telecom's 4G network utilizes cutting-edge wireless technologies: "We have worked closely with Telecom to create a network with an exceptional performance and we are honored to be providing technology which will help transform the mobile broadband experience for Telecom's customers. 4G is a transformative technology which enables new ways for New Zealanders to connect and do business."

http://www.huawei.com

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