Brocade Unveils its Open Platform for NFV/SDN

Brocade outlined the first phase of a long-term corporate strategy to develop an open and modular networking platform for cloud and telecommunications service providers.

The Brocade Vyatta Platform, which is the first phase this strategy, encompasses proven Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and emerging SDN technologies based on open standards and open source initiatives. It utilizes established core components, including as the Brocade Vyatta vRouter and Brocade vADX products, along with the open source software projects such as OpenDaylight and OpenStack.

The architecture of the Brocade Vyatta Platform is comprised of three core layers: NFV Connection Services, SDN Structural Services and Functional Orchestration. Each layer of this open architecture is modular and enables customers to select the products and/or solutions that fit their particular data center requirements:

• NFV Connection Services: Deploy Layer 3-7 network functionality with the Brocade Vyatta vRouter and the Brocade vADX products, along with service chains including third-party elements where needed.
• SDN Structural Services: Leverage the rapid advancements of the multivendor OpenDaylight Project to simplify management through centralized control.
• Functional Orchestration: Engage a vast range of capabilities from OpenStack and widely interoperable third-party provisioning and orchestration layers.

Communication between the layers utilizes transparent standards-based protocols and methods, including REST APIs and the NETCONF/YANG model, to ensure configuration interoperability. 

"The growing complexity of today's virtualized networks has made it no longer feasible to rely on a single vendor to deliver an end-to-end solution that fits every customer's requirements of service agility and scalability," said Kelly Herrell, vice president and general manager of Software Networking at Brocade. "The Brocade Vyatta Platform is the industry's first truly open platform to embrace a growing vendor ecosystem dedicated to open standards and open source projects for cloud and telco providers seeking software-based solutions to achieve new revenue streams and regain control over their networks."

For example, the NFV Connection Services components of the Brocade Vyatta Platform are anchored through the Layer 3-7 capabilities of the Brocade Vyatta vRouter and Brocade vADX products, which are available today and deployed worldwide. For more information on Brocade SDN and NFV products, visit

http://www.brocade.com/NFV

In May 2013, Brocade announced a series of networking hardware and software products including the Brocade Vyatta vRouter, the Brocade Virtual ADX Application Delivery Switch, the Brocade MLXe 4×40 GbE Core Router module, Brocade the NetIron CES/CER Carrier Ethernet Switch/Router modules and a Brocade NetIron OS update.

Building on its acquisition of Vyatta in 2012, the Brocade Vyatta 5400 vRouter family is a software networking solution for highly virtualized data centers. The latest software release (6.6) adds support for Multicast routing and Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN).  The platform- and hypervisor-agnostic Brocade Vyatta vRouter is already deployed in environments ranging from virtual private data centers to public clouds, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), and supports all major hypervisors, including VMware, Microsoft, Citrix and Red Hat.

The Brocade Virtual ADX is a virtual application delivery platform that increases the speed of application resource deployment and differentiated services for dynamic cloud environments. It enables rapid application delivery service provisioning via the SOAP/XML API, enabling integration with third-party or homegrown orchestration and automation tools.  Brocade said this is especially useful to validate, test and replicate production or QA environments on demand.  Brocade also enhanced its cloud provisioning capability with an update to Brocade Application Resource Broker and continued work on the OpenStack plugin for load balancing as a service.

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Overture's 65vSE Micro Server Runs VNF at Service Edge

Overture introduced an open, Carrier Ethernet platform that enables virtualized network functions to be controlled dynamically at the service edge.

The 65 Virtual Service Edge (65vSE), which is part of the Overture 65 product family, is a carrier-grade platform based on Intel x86 micro-server technology.  It comes comes pre-loaded with Overture’s CE2.0 Ethernet Access Device (EAD) software and is designed to dynamically host multiple third party virtual network functions (VNFs). Additionally, the Overture 65vSE supports multiple wireline and wireless connections to the WAN, allowing access to all end customer locations.

The new platform is enabled the company's Ensemble Open Service Architecture (OSA) for software-defined services at the metro service edge. As an integrated platform for Carrier Ethernet access and virtualization, the Overture 65vSE enables virtual network functions to be turned up, turned down, expanded and removed dynamically at the service edge.

Overture previously introduced a centralized model for hosting virtual network functions in data centers, points of presence, and central offices. The new 65vSE enables these virtual network functions at the service edge.  Overture said this provides another choice in network architecture that may enable faster time to market for new service revenue and customer adoption. For instance, there are times when the security, latency, or other requirements of specific functions dictate optimal placement is on the customer premise, or service edge.

“Openness directly benefits our customers and positions them for growth and success. We have combined our Carrier Ethernet expertise with the first truly open platform for hosting best-of-breed network functions from third party developers.” said Prayson Pate, CTO and senior vice president of engineering, Overture. “The 65vSE along with the other components of Ensemble OSA and our Carrier Ethernet portfolio, together bring the speed and agility benefits of the cloud to the metro service edge.”

http://www.overturenetworks.com/products/overture-65vSE

In April 2014, Overture stepped up its game in software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) with the commercial release of its Ensemble Service Orchestrator (ESO) and Ensemble Network Controller (ENC), two key pieces of its open architecture for service automation.

Overture said its goal is to bring together open automation and management of both the physical Carrier Ethernet and virtual infrastructure.  The will use open APIs for deployment into third-party infrastructure.any service provider architecture, Ensemble Service Orchestrator and Ensemble Network Controller may be deployed together as a system or integrated independently.

·       The Ensemble Service Orchestrator is an open, extensible carrier-class NFV service lifecycle management and orchestration system that coordinates virtual resources and physical network elements to create, activate and assure services using one or more virtual network functions. ESO uses the OpenStack™ cloud controller – bundled with ESO – to manage the virtual compute environment, including virtual machines, virtual switches and top-of-rack datacenter switches. For management of the physical wide area network traffic flows, ESO leverages Overture’s Ensemble Network Controller but can also be integrated with other third-party network controllers.
·       The Ensemble Network Controller is a service-aware network controller and management system for the Carrier Ethernet metro service edge. With native support for all Overture network elements, ENC is extensible to support third-party network elements and automates service creation, service activation, device detection, fault management and performance monitoring. By presenting a complete network picture, ENC helps service providers add new services and virtualized network functions without compromising existing network operations.

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CenturyLink Sponsors Distributed NFV Proof-of-Concept

CenturyLink is sponsoring an ETSI NFV ISG-approved proof of concept (PoC) solution based on RAD’s dedicated customer-edge D-NFV equipment running Fortinet’s Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) and Certes Networks’ virtual encryption/decryption engine as Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) with Cyan’s Blue Planet system orchestrating the entire ecosystem.

The companies said their D-NFV allows the placement of VNFs where they will be both most effective and least expensive, including at the customer edge. The model enables service providers to quickly and easily roll out new services and implement advanced capabilities without having to put capital expenditures upfront into the data center or redesign the network.

Cyan's Blue Planet can orchestrate both NFV and multi-vendor Ethernet services.

VNFs at the customer edge are implemented with RAD’s ETX-2, a D-NFV empowered NID, the cornerstone of RAD’s Service Assured Access solution. RAD's solution integrates an x86 server platform to host value-added service capabilities, as well as network functionalities that run on virtual machines.

Fortinet and Certes Networks provide VNFs that are instantiated on RAD’s ETX-2 by Cyan’s Blue Planet SDN Platform. Fortinet’s FortiGate-VM enforces next-generation firewall security functions that provide network and application layer protection. Real-time security updates are pushed to the FortiGate-VM by FortiGuard subscription services to ensure it is aware of and enforcing protection from the latest security threats. FortiGate-VM is managed by Fortinet’s FortiManager-VM and FortiAnalyzer-VM, which provide centralized configuration, control and security analytics.

The virtual Certes Enforcement Point (vCEP) is a virtual encryption solution that secures data in motion over any public or private network. vCEPs can be dynamically provisioned to create Certes’ CryptoFlow VPNs, fully meshed multi-point VPNs safeguarding data in physical, virtual and Cloud environments. CryptoFlows protect critical data for any application with automatically enforced policies and simplified control of encryption keys.

The solution will be demoed next week at Light Reading's Big Telecom Event in Chicago (June 17-18, 2014)

 “The Distributed NFV concept supports CenturyLink’s managed services strategy by providing a platform for developing unique NFV-enhanced network services and bringing desired functionality directly to the customer premises,” said James Feger, Vice President of Network Strategy and Development at CenturyLink.

http://www.cyaninc.com
http://www.rad.com
http://www.fortinet.com
http://www.certesnetworks.com

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Verizon Confirms VoLTE Rollout this Year

Verizon Wireless confirmed that Voice over LTE (VoLTE) will roll out on its nationwide network later this year.

Verizon said its VoLTE service will offer an HD Voice experience from the outset using the AMR-wideband standard.  The company promises a robust line-up of VoLTE-enabled smartphones available when the service launches. VoLTE software upgrades will also be available for certain handsets already in service, although Verizon did not elaborate on which current smartphones will be upgradeable.

Verizon’s VoLTE will also offer video calling options, including making and receiving video calls directly from contact lists. As part of the VoLTE video calling experience, customers have the ability to change their calls instantly from voice-only to voice and video. The rollout also sets the stage for future enhancements through Rich Communications Services (RCS).

http://newscenter.verizon.com/corporate/news-articles/2014/05-20-verizon-announces-volte/

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Nokia Tests 10 Channel TDD-FDD LTE Carrier Aggregation

Nokia and SK Telecom have tested the aggregation of ten 20 MHz spectrum bands to achieve a record LTE throughput speed of 3.78 Gbps.

The test used Nokia’s Single RAN solution including the high-capacity Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station, enhanced with software to aggregate carriers on both TDD and FDD LTE spectrum and to implement LTE-Advanced Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology.

The companies noted that their record performance demo utilized twice the amount of carriers and bandwidth specified by 3GPP, which foresees the aggregation of 5 carriers up to a total bandwidth of 100 MHz.

“This significant throughput achievement builds on our long-term collaboration with Nokia to make the most of TDD-FDD converged technologies. It is also a proofpoint of our continued leadership in providing the fastest connections and the highest quality for subscribers who use advanced data services,” said Alex Jinsung Choi, Executive Vice President and Head of ICT R&D Division at SK Telecom. “Once again, SK Telecom and Nokia have set a benchmark for the global telecoms industry.”

“This amazing speed record shows that Nokia continues to maintain its position as a clear throughput leader in the TD-LTE arena”, said Zhang Qi, vice president of TD-LTE at Nokia. “Operators worldwide can be confident in our capability to tackle the increasing demands for not only faster download but also data upload speeds.”

http://www.nsn.com

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ADVA Delivers Global Network Operations Center Support for a.s.r.

a.s.r., one of the largest insurers in the Netherlands, is using ADVA Optical Networking Global Network Operations Center (GNOC) for 24x7 monitoring.  ADVA's GNOC team is working alongside TrueCom, to provide a.s.r. with rapid onsite support.

ADVA Optical Networking’s GNOC is based primarily in Atlanta, USA, and is responsible for monitoring some of the world's most critical network infrastructures. One of the first facilities of its kind to be TL9000 certified within the USA, GNOC offers a range of services tailored to specific networking needs. These services include monitoring, maintenance and management.

http://www.advaoptical.com/en/newsroom/press-releases-english/20140611.aspx

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Huawei to Supply 400G Routers to Etisalat Misr in Egypt

Huawei announced a deal with Etisalat Misr, a mobile operator in Egypt, to deploy its NE5000E 400G core router as core nodes for its national IP backbone network (IPBB) in Egypt.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

Huawei said Etisalat Misr aims to build a next-generation convergence network platform in Egypt.  Huawei's NE5000E 400G solution provides 100G/400G/1T/2T slots that ensure smooth capacity expansion.

"Huawei will utilize its global commercial deployment experience of 400G core routers to provide Etisalat Misr with a converged backbone network solution that supports multi-service access. Based on the innovative chips and software/hardware platform, Huawei's 400G solution provides a large capacity and enables smooth capacity expansion and low power consumption, empowering operators to reduce TCO while meeting the challenges of future network,” said Zha Jun, president of Huawei Fixed Network Product Line.

http://www.huawei.com

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Huawei Plans new R&D Centre in Bristol, UK

Huawei plans to establish a new R&D centre in Bristol, England.  It is anticipated that the new facility will recruit 30 high-caliber R&D employees and focus on researching ICT chips, software, and analog chip technology.  It will complement Huawei's existing Ipswich-based optoelectronics R&D office.

All together, the number of UK-based R&D jobs at Huawei will increase to 140 by the end of 2014, and as previously announced will reach 300 by 2017. The new R&D centre is expected to open later this year.

http://www.huawei.com

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Riverbed Opens HQ in San Francisco

Riverbed Technology opened it's new headquarters building at 680 Folsom Street in San Francisco.

Since its founding in the city in 2002, Riverbed has grown into the second largest technology company (by revenue) in San Francisco.

The newly refurbished LEED Gold building includes 168,000 square-feet of open/collaborative work spaces spread across six floors, for approximately 600 employees with room for future growth.

http://www.riverbed.com

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RIP: Glenn Britt, Former Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable acknowledged the passing of Glenn A. Britt (1940-2014), who served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company until his retirement in December 2013.

Britt began serving as Chairman of the Time Warner Cables’s Board of Directors in March 2009, was named President and CEO in 2006, and served as the company’s CEO from August 2001.

Time Warner Cable said Britt was was the driving force behind its aggressive deployment of advanced video services, such as Video on Demand, high-definition television and digital video recorders. He guided the growth of Time Warner Cable’s residential high-speed Internet and digital phone services and Time Warner Cable Business Services.  He is credited with the company's emergence as a publicly traded company and grew it from a $6 billion operating division into a $21 billion, high-profile business in a highly competitive industry.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/about-us/leadership/glenn-britt-tribute.html

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