01/13/14 ~ Converge! Network Digest

Monday, January 13, 2014

Blueprint Column: Top 2014 Predictions from Equinix

Monday, January 13, 2014 #cloud, #SDN, Blueprint, Equinix, Predictions

by Brian Lillie, CIO, Equinix It’s that time of the year when experts gaze into their crystal balls, offering up predictions on what the next year has in store. As the experts in data center and colocation services, the Equinix team has come up with a list of our own trends that we think will be top of mind for technology decision makers next year. Here are a few: Continued Convergence of Business and Personal Use of Technology, especially Mobile...

Charter Bids for Time Warner Cable - 4th + 3rd Largest Cable Operators

Monday, January 13, 2014 Cable, Mergers and Acquisitions

Charter Communications announced a public offer to acquire Time Warner Cable for about $132.50 per share, including $83 in cash and the remainder in Charter stock. The deal would combine the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States (Charter) with the second largest cable operator (Time Warner Cable). Time Warner Cable , which had 2012 revenue of $21.4 billion, serves 15 million customers in 29 states. Charter, which had 2012 revenue...

Google to Acquire Nest Labs for Connected Devices - $3.2 Billion

Monday, January 13, 2014 Google, Mergers and Acquisitions

Google will acquire Nest Labs, which offers connected home thermostats and smoke alarms, for $3.2 billion in cash. Larry Page, CEO of Google, said: “Nest’s founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a tremendous team that we are excited to welcome into the Google family. They’re already delivering amazing products you can buy right now--thermostats that save energy and smoke/CO alarms that can help keep your family safe. We are excited to...

Gigamon Adds NetFlow Generation to its Unified Visibility Fabric

Monday, January 13, 2014 Analytics, Gigamon, Testing

Gigamon is adding NetFlow generation capabilities to its Unified Visibility Fabric. The NetFlow Generation application will create NetFlow records, then send the information to one or multiple NetFlow collectors or analyzers. NetFlow is a simple way to derive basic information about things like traffic types, usage patterns, top talkers and top applications across systems. Gigamon said that NetFlow Generation can significantly improve the efficiency...

Brocade Hires Benson Schliesser from Juniper, Distinguished Engineer

Monday, January 13, 2014 #NFV, #SDN, Brocade, People, Silicon Valley

Brocade announced its appointment of Benson Schliesser to the position of Distinguished Engineer to play an integral role in the direction of Brocade Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) strategies. He will join the Office of the CTO and report to Ken Cheng, chief technology officer and vice president, corporate development and emerging business. Most recently, Benson served as a distinguished engineer...

AWS CloudFront Adds Edge Locations in Taipei and Rio de Janeiro

Monday, January 13, 2014 #cloud, AWS, Brazil, CDN, Taiwan

Amazon Web Services announced two new edge locations for its CloudFront and Route 53 services - Taipei and Rio de Janeiro. This is AWS' first edge location in Taiwan and its second edge location in Brazil (joining São Paulo). This brings the total number of AWS edge locations to 51 worldwide. Here's the breakdown: United States (20) Europe (16) Asia (12) Australia (1) South America (2) http://aws.amazon.com/cloudfron...

Telefónica Signs 3G Wholesale Deal with Nextel In Brazil And Mexico

Monday, January 13, 2014 Brazil, Latin America, Mexico, Network Sharing, Telefonica

Telefónica will provide wholesale 3G access to NII Holdings' Nextel subsidiaries in Brazil and Mexico. The network sharing deal will provide nationwide voice and data coverage services in Brazil and Mexico for Nextel customers. "The agreement allows both companies to capture the benefits derived from the optimization of infrastructure investment while maintaining the current market structure in both Brazil and Mexico," said Santiago Fernandez...

Elliott Management Pushes for a "New Juniper"

Monday, January 13, 2014 Financials, Juniper

Elliott Management Corp., an investment fund that owns 6.2% of the common stock of Juniper Networks, is pushing for significant changes at Juniper Networks with the goal creating greater shareholder valued. In an SEC Schedule 13D and presentation, Elliot called for a number of value-accretive steps, including cost realignment, capital return to shareholders, and the optimization of Juniper’s product portfolio. Elliot believes its initiatives can...

Ceragon Cites Two Wireless Backhaul Projects in India & North America

Monday, January 13, 2014 Ceragon

Ceragon Networks announced large orders from two leading national operators in North America and India (unnamed) for its IP-20 radios. The orders cover several thousand units for use in wireless backhaul networks supporting LTE services. For the India operator’s network rollout, Ceragon will deliver the FibeAir IP-20C, an all outdoor multi-core solution delivering gigabit capacity over narrow channels; and FibeAir IP-20N, a multi-radio aggregation...

BT Names New CEO of Openreach

Monday, January 13, 2014 BT, People, UK

BT name Joe Garner to be the new CEO of Openreach, replacing Liv Garfield, who is leaving to become CEO of Severn Trent. Garner worked for many years at HSBC, Dixons and Procter & Gamble. His most recent role was at HSBC where, as head of the UK Bank. BT cited Garner significant experience of working in a strictly regulated industry and of dealing with regulators, not least through his role as Chairman of the Financial Services Authority’s...

Sabey Data Center Picks MRV Optical Transport to Link Data Centers

Monday, January 13, 2014 Data Centers, MRV

Sabey Data Center Properties, one of the oldest and largest privately owned multi-tenant data center owner/developer/operators in the United States, has selected MRV’s OptiDriver™ optical transport platform for its proprietary Intergate.Exchange (IGX) network to support interconnection bandwidth requirements at Intergate.Manhattan—its new mega data center in New York City. MRV said its OptiDriver platform will deliver with up to 4 terabits...

SFR Picks Alcatel-Lucent to Upgrade

Monday, January 13, 2014 Alcatel-Lucent, France, Optical, SFR

SFR has selected Alcatel-Lucent to transition its optical network to all-IP transport. Alcatel-Lucent is deploying its 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) converged WDM/OTN/Packet based-platform together wit its 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM) for seamless management for both the IP and Optical portfolio. Alcatel-Lucent will also deliver design, professional services, installation and commissioning services. Financial terms were not...

Qualcomm Sells Omnitracs Europe to Astrata

Monday, January 13, 2014 Astrata, M2M, Qualcomm, Satellite, Telematics

Qualcomm announced the sale of its Omnitracs Europe division to Astrata Group Private Limited. Financial terms were not disclosed. Omnitracs Europe specializes in commercial vehicle telematics for the trucking industry. "The Omnitracs Europe name is synonymous with quality and customer service at the highest level," said George M. Kappaz, Chairman and CEO of Astrata, and Chairman of CIH International Group, the private equity group that owns...