Monday, January 27, 2014

AT&T to Offer Private VPNs into Equinix Data Centers

AT&T and Equinix announced an alliance under which customers will be able to connect to cloud services hosted in Equinix facilities using their private AT&T VPN networks.

AT&T NetBond, which will be available in select Equinix data centers, will deliver highly secure connections with high reliability and performance capabilities, rather than relying on access via the public Internet.

“Business customers want rock solid network-based security protecting their traffic and applications when they use cloud services,” said Jon Summers, senior vice president growth platforms, AT&T Business Solutions. “Virtual private networking gives them better protection against Internet threats while also delivering the reliability, agility and performance they need when accessing the cloud.  This agreement with Equinix will expand the opportunity for cloud service providers to use our virtual private networking and AT&T NetBond technology to enhance the end user’s cloud experience.”

“Equinix sits at the intersection of cloud service providers, network service providers and enterprise customers that want to use those services. The alliance lets AT&T quickly expand its portfolio of AT&T NetBond-enabled cloud services by using our position as a cloud hub,” said Pete Hayes, chief sales officer for Equinix.  “Together, we’re making the network as flexible as the cloud and giving enterprises confidence they can move their most demanding applications to the cloud and still meet their security, scalability and performance requirements.”

The companies expect these capabilities to be available in the first half of 2014.

http://www.equinix.com/
https://www.synaptic.att.com/clouduser/html/productdetail/ATT_NetBond.htm


  • AT&T NetBond uses a software-defined and virtual connection that runs over AT&T’s MPLS core backbone. On its website, AT&T says NetBond will be able to provide coordinated, on-demand provisioning of private network connectivity and cloud compute resources for accommodating dynamic workload distribution across a customer’s hybrid cloud.  It will feature a pay-as-you-go pricing model with a minimum commitment.

Level 3 Opens Cloud Content Exchange

Level 3 Communications introduced a new cloud-based file transfer platform that simplifies and accelerates the process of sending large video and data files, such as syndicated content and advertising files.

Level 3's Cloud Content Exchange stores media files in a central, cloud-based library where they can be metatagged, sorted and accessed in real time with rapid upload and download speeds..  The service leverages Level 3's extensive worldwide storage platform and global network connectivity to deliver faster distribution than FTP or other alternatives.

FOX Broadcasting Company was the first to beta test the service.

"The daily movement of media files is critical to the operations of media broadcast companies such as FOX, in addition to sports teams and other large enterprises," said Mark Taylor, vice president of Media and IP Services at Level 3. "Cloud Content Exchange is a comprehensive, secure media transfer solution that delivers an easy-to-use interface offering access to data anywhere there is an Internet connection. This allows customers to realize greater efficiencies, reduce operating costs, and better meet important delivery deadlines."

http://www.level3videocloud.com
http://www.level3.com

SaskTel Picks Oracles for IMS Core

Canada's SaskTel has selected Oracle Communications Unified Session Manager to deliver the single IMS core and help secure its network borders.

SaskTel plans to use the IMS network for hosted businesses services, expanded VoLTE, rich communications services, session initiation protocol trunking and consumer voice services.

"As we transition to an all-IP environment, it was important for us to consolidate our infrastructure on a common, compact IMS core to help ensure our business and residential customers receive next-generation services quickly and securely. With Oracle Communications Unified Session Manager, we can deliver trusted real-time communications services across network borders,” said Daryl Godfrey, chief technology officer, SaskTel.

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/2113118


Ericsson Settles GSM/UMTS/LTE Patent License with Samsung

Ericsson and Samsung announced a global cross license agreement covering patents relating to GSM, UMTS, and LTE standards for both networks and handsets.  Under the multi-year deal, Samsung will make ongoing royalty payments to Ericsson. The initial payment in the agreement will impact Ericsson sales and net income in Q4 2013 by SEK 4.2 billion (US$650 million) and SEK 3.3 billion  (US$510 million) respectively.

Ericsson said that it is committed to licensing its standard-essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms for the benefit of the industry.

"We are pleased that we could reach a mutually fair and reasonable agreement with Samsung. We always viewed litigation as a last resort," said Kasim Alfalahi, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson. "This agreement allows us to continue to focus on bringing new technology to the global market and provides an incentive to other innovators to share their own ideas."

http://www.ericsson.com/news/1757163

Ireland's Research Network Upgrades with Coriant

HEAnet, Ireland's National Education and Research Network, has commissioned a new national all-optical transmission network supplied by Coriant.  The upgrade increases network capacity and enhances network resiliency for the research network, which supports some 200,000 third-level students and associated staff as well as approximately 800,000 first and second-level students and associated staff.

"Our advanced optical networking solutions portfolio provides HEAnet with a new level of optical layer efficiency, scalability, reliability and automation to deliver enhanced service value to its customer base," said Herbert Merz, President and CEO, Coriant.

http://www.coriant.com/company/press_release.asp?id=1044

Mellanox Releases 40 GigE NIC for Open Compute Project

Mellanox Technologies is offering its 40GbE NIC as a proposed contribution to the Open Compute Project.

The new 40GbE NIC uses Mellanox’s ConnectX-3 Pro ICs and is designed to meet OCP specifications. It supports RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE).

“Mellanox has been active in the OCP Network Project and has contributed to the open hardware and software model to help achieve OCP’s vision for true open standards and faster pace in network technology innovation,” said Kevin Deierling, vice president of marketing at Mellanox Technologies. “We’re pleased to continue our collaborations with Facebook in delivering 40GbE NIC technology to OCP to deliver unmatched performance and rich feature-sets that enable superior data center productivity and efficiency.”

http://www.mellanox.com/page/press_release_item?id=1217

Liberty Global to Acquire Ziggo, the Dutch Cable Operator

Liberty Global agreed to acquire Ziggo, a Dutch cable operator, for around EUR 10 billion in stock and cash.

Ziggo serves approximately 2.8 million households, with 1.9 million Internet subscribers, almost 2.3 million subscribers for digital television and 1.6 million telephony subscribers.

Liberty Global is an international cable provider with operations in 14 countries and 24 million customers.

The acquisition will give Liberty Global a footprint reaching about 90% of Dutch households.

http://www.libertyglobal.com/pdf/press-release/Joint-announcement-press-release-Ziggo-Final.pdf

Crehan: Data Center Switching Market Hits New Phase

2014 should be a year of major transition for Infiniband, Fibre Channel and Ethernet data center switch technologies, according to Crehan Research.

Crehan's most recently published Data Center Switch Long-Range Forecast Report, predicts that each technology will surpass its incumbent, becoming the majority of its respective segment on an annual basis:

  • In Infiniband, 56Gbps FDR will overtake 40Gbps QDR to comprise more than 50% of shipments.
  • In Fibre Channel, 16Gbps will exceed 8Gbps to comprise more than 50% of shipments.
  • In Ethernet, 10 Gigabit will outstrip 1 Gigabit to comprise more than 50% of shipments.

“10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) is finally on the verge of becoming the most popular data center switch port connection, after a long and sometimes rocky adoption curve,” said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research. “And as 40GbE starts to ramp, we are still forecasting its adoption curve to look much better than that of 10GbE. This is already evidenced by the fact that recent data center switch introductions are really pushing the envelope on 40GbE port densities and economics,” he added.

In its year-ago Data Center Switch Long-Range Forecast Report (January 2013), Crehan illustrated that 40GbE would comprise close to one-third of all data center switch shipments by 2017, and this latest forecast maintains the same outlook. In Fibre Channel, the report further shows that despite a more gradual ramp than that seen for 8Gbps, 16Gbps Fibre Channel adoption is picking up steam. Crehan predicts that it will become the majority Fibre Channel switch technology by 2014.

"In the Infiniband switch market, 56Gbps FDR is well on its way to becoming the next de facto high-speed interconnect, setting the foundation for upgrades to the forthcoming 100Gbps EDR products."

Stanford's Professor Paulraj Wins Marconi Prize for MIMO Breakthrough

Stanford University's Professor (Emeritus) Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj has been awarded the prestigious 2014 Marconi Society Prize for his idea for using multiple antennas at both the transmitting and receiving stations.

His work in MIMO technologies is fundamental to current Wi-Fi and 4G systems.

In 1992, Paul was granted a U.S, patent titled “Distributed Transmit – Directional Receive DTDR” (with his then supervisor Prof. Kailath as co-inventor).  Spatial Multiplexing, as this is now known, boosts spectral efficiency by creating “parallel spatial data streams” within the same frequency channel.

The Marconi Society, which is celebrating its 50th year in 2014, has posted Professor Paulraj's story online.

http://www.marconisociety.org/press/2014paulrajannouncement.html

Sprint Activates 40 More LTE Markets

Sprint activated LTE service in 40 more towns and cities across the U.S., bringing its total number of markets served to 340 across the country.

"We are making great strides towards achieving nationwide scale with 4G LTE. The momentum we have demonstrates our commitment to provide an exceptional wireless experience for our customers,” said Bob Azzi, chief network officer. “Today we are well underway with our build-out and delivering faster data speeds to our customers in more places where they live, work and play.”

http://network.sprint.com/?ECID=vanity:network

*** Planning Coverage for Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona ***



Planning is underway for news coverage at Mobile World Congress 2014, especially in the areas of Small Cells, LTE-A, VoLTE, NFV solutions, and methods to improve the customer experience.  I'm interested in interviewing mobile operators engaged in any of these areas.  Contact us for more details.

http://www.convergedigest.com/p/mwc14-video-showcases.html