Alcatel-Lucent's TWDM-PON Carries Four 10G Wavelengths

Alcatel-Lucent introduced the industry’s first TWDM-PON (Time and Wavelength Division Multiplexed Passive Optical Networks), a new fixed, ultra-broadband access technology for scaling the capacity of existing fiber networks.

TWDM-PON uses four wavelengths per fiber, giving a total capacity of 40 Gbps. An operator can choose to deliver different services over each wavelength, enabling residential, business and mobile backhaul services to be carried over a single fiber.

TWDM-PON technology is supported by Alcatel-Lucent‘s 7360 Intelligent Services Access Manager FX solution.  The company is introducing a new 4-port TWDM-PON line card and optical network unit supporting 10Gbps symmetrical bitrate. Products will be available in the first quarter of 2015.

Alcatel-Lucent and Vodafone have been co-developing TWDM-PON since 2010 as a potential successor to GPON. During this time, the companies have contributed to its standardization and completed a successful trial. Significantly, TWDM-PON can co-exist with current PON systems.

Alcatel-Lucent said TWDM-PON also enables a ‘pay as you grow’ model, allowing operators to easily and cost effectively increase bandwidth as required. Wavelength multiplexing means different operators can easily share the same infrastructure. This can facilitate competition (for example, a municipal-owned network can be leased to different service providers) or cooperation (operators can co-invest in a shared fiber network in order to accelerate ultra-broadband deployments).

“TWDM-PON is ground-breaking technology that will give us greater control over network capacity and increased flexibility when provisioning new services. We have worked closely with Alcatel Lucent to develop the technology and we look forward to evaluating it on our network in Spain,” stated Matt Beal of Vodafone Group.

Federico Guillén, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Fixed Networks business: “For the last four years Alcatel-Lucent and Vodafone have been working closely together to evolve PON technology. Our first TWDM-PON solution reflects that collaboration. Alcatel-Lucent is committed to a program of innovation; we have long been the technology leader in both copper and fiber fixed access technologies and we are extending this further with this new development of PON. Vodafone has played a vital role in preparing TWDM-PON as an industry-agreed standard by looking at its own potential usage in different countries for both fixed and mobile operations.”

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/press/2014/alcatel-lucent-extends-capacity-existing-fiber-based-ultra-broadband-access-networks-breakthrough

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ZTE Intros ElasticNet SDN IPRAN Solution

ZTE introduced its ElasticNet SDN IPRAN (Internet Protocol Radio Access Network) solution for virtualizing the access layer of mobile networks. Its goal is to simplify network structures and operations and maintenance (O&M) for mobile operators by introducing an intelligent, maintainable IPRAN bearer network.

ZTE said the problem of complexity in mobile network backhaul has been growing because of the number of eNB base stations required for LTE.

The new ElasticNet SDN IPRAN solution virtualises the massive amounts of remote access-layer equipment into a virtual cluster, simplifying the IPRAN equipment and improving automatic network deployment, O&M and network service capability.  Its ZTE IPRAN solution is based on unified standard SDN northbound and southbound interfaces to help ensure an open network capability and to create application value to meet the requirements of new LTE service deployment and rapid innovation.  The ZTE ElasticNet SDN IPRAN uses an external stand-alone controller based on standard OpenFlow protocol.

Fan Chengfa, chief engineer of ZTE’s Bearer Network product line, said: "With the growing popularity of mobile Internet, mobile bearer networks are taking on an increasingly important role, and meanwhile higher labour costs are creating more pressure for efficient network operation. Applying SDN to the IPRAN combines software-based automatic management and application-on-demand to help operators further simplify O&M and enrich service capabilities so as to provide customers with better service.”

http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/press_center/news/201410/t20141021_428336.html

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Alcatel-Lucent’s G.fast in 12 Carrier Trials

Alcatel-Lucent 's ultra-broadband G.fast solution is now in trials with a dozen carriers around the world and is exptected to become available in the first quarter of 2015.  Announced test sites include A1, a subsidiary of Telekom Austria, in which a regular subscriber was connected in order to independently test G.fast in the field. Other trials have included BT and Orange.

Alcatel-Lucent said its new 7368 ISAM single-port G.fast Optical Network Terminal (ONT) can deliver speeds of up to 1 Gbps over existing telephone lines. Alcatel-Lucent’s G.fast ONT can also be deployed in a multiple-dwelling unit, with one ONT serving each household. Customer trials use a multi-port G.fast solution using vectoring technology to eliminate the cross-talk interference that occurs when two or more copper lines are in close proximity, which adversely affects speeds. The multi-port G.fast solution will drive the evolution of Alcatel-Lucent’s VDSL2 micro-node portfolio.

The company also noted a recent Bell Labs demonstration of XG-FAST technology, which achieved symmetrical speeds of 1 Gbps over 70 meters of copper in the lab.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/

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Verizon: 79% of Wireless Data Traffic Rides LTE

Driven by continued growth in smartphone adoption and LTE activations, Verizon reported third quarter 2014 revenue of $31.6 billion, a 4.3 percent increase compared with third-quarter 2013. EPS came in at 89 cents for the quarter, compared with 78 cents per share in third-quarter 2013.

Capital expenditures totaled $12.6 billion through the first nine months of 2014, up 6.9 percent year over year. Verizon projects capital spending of around $17 billion for full-year 2014, with consistent wireless capital spending throughout the year to stay ahead of customer demand by adding capacity to optimize the company’s 4G LTE network.

“We have great confidence heading into the fourth quarter, as Verizon continues to deliver consistently strong operating and financial results. We see continued, healthy customer demand for wireless and broadband services, and we are encouraged by the growth we are starting to see in the areas of video delivery and machine-to-machine. Our cash generation remains strong, and last month we were pleased to announce board approval of a quarterly dividend increase for the eighth consecutive year,” stated Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam.

Some Wireless Highlights

• Total revenues were $21.8 billion in third-quarter 2014, up 7.0 percent year over year. Service revenues in the quarter totaled $18.4 billion, up 4.8 percent year over year. Retail service revenues grew 4.6 percent year over year, to $17.6 billion.
• Retail postpaid ARPA (average revenue per account) increased 3.5 percent over third-quarter 2013, to $161.24 per month. 
• Verizon Wireless added 1.53 million retail net connections, including 1.52 million retail postpaid connections, in the third quarter. These additions exclude acquisitions and adjustments.
• At the end of the third quarter, the company had 106.2 million retail connections. This includes 100.1 million retail postpaid connections, a 5.2 percent increase year over year.
• Verizon Wireless had 35.4 million retail postpaid accounts at the end of the third quarter, up 1.3 percent over third-quarter 2013, and 2.82 connections per account, up 3.7 percent year over year.
• During third-quarter 2014, the company added 457,000 postpaid phones and 1.1 million postpaid tablets. At the end of the quarter, smartphones accounted for 77 percent of the Verizon Wireless retail postpaid customer phone base, up from 75 percent at the end of second-quarter 2014

Some Wireline Highlights

• Total revenues were $9.6 billion in third-quarter 2014, down 0.8 percent year over year. Consumer revenues were $3.9 billion, up 4.5 percent compared with third-quarter 2013, with FiOS revenues representing 76 percent of the total. Consumer ARPU for wireline services increased to $125.32 per month in third-quarter 2014, up 10.3 percent compared with third-quarter 2013.
• Total FiOS revenues grew 13.4 percent, to $3.2 billion, comparing third-quarter 2014 with third-quarter 2013.
• In third-quarter 2014, Verizon added 162,000 net new FiOS Internet connections and 114,000 net new FiOS Video connections. Verizon had totals of 6.5 million FiOS Internet and 5.5 million FiOS Video connections at the end of the third quarter, representing year-over-year increases of 8.8 percent and 7.0 percent, respectively.
• FiOS Internet penetration (subscribers as a percentage of potential subscribers) was 40.6 percent at the end of third-quarter 2014, compared with 39.2 percent at the end of third-quarter 2013. In the same periods, FiOS Video penetration was 35.5 percent, compared with 34.9 percent. The FiOS network passed 19.7 million premises by the end of third-quarter 2014.
• By the end of third-quarter 2014, 57 percent of consumer FiOS Internet customers subscribed to FiOS Quantum, which provides speeds ranging from 50 to 500 megabits per second, up from 55 percent at the end of second-quarter 2014.
• As of this week, nearly 5 million FiOS customers have already been upgraded to SpeedMatch upload speeds that mirror download speeds. 
• In third-quarter 2014, Verizon migrated an additional 55,000 customers to fiber, bringing the year-to-date total to around 200,000.

http://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-reports-strong-customer-additions-and-another-quarter-double-digit-earnings-growth/

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Mirantis Raises $100 Million for OpenStack

Mirantis, a start-up based in Mountain View, California, raised $100 million for its pure-play OpenStack solutions.

Mirantis offers software and services for running production-grade OpenStack clouds. Its solution provides a visual interface as a single control plane for OpenStack clusters and enables automated hardware discovery and network verification.

For this round, Insight Venture Partners was joined by August Capital, as well as existing investors Intel Capital, WestSummit Capital, Ericsson, and Sapphire Ventures (formerly SAP Ventures). Alex Crisses, managing director at Insight Venture Partners, will join the Mirantis board of directors.

Mirantis has helped more than 130 customers implement OpenStack – including Comcast, DirecTV, Ericsson, Expedia, NASA, NTT Docomo, PayPal, Symantec, Samsung, WebEx and Workday.  Among these is the largest OpenStack deal on record: a five-year software licensing agreement with Ericsson. Mirantis is also the largest provider of OpenStack products and services for the telecommunications industry, serving Huawei, NTT Docomo, Orange, Pacnet, Tata Communications, and others.

“Our mission is to move companies from an expensive, lock-in infrastructure to an open cloud that empowers developers and end-users at a fraction of the cost. Customers are seeing the value; we’ve gone from signing about $1 million in new business every month to $1 million every week,” said Mirantis President and CEO, Adrian Ionel. “People choose us because we have the best software and expertise for OpenStack, foster an open partner ecosystem, and are a major upstream contributor, influencing the technology’s direction.”

https://www.mirantis.com/

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Broadcom Posts Record Revenue of $2.26 Billion

Broadcom reported record net revenue for the third quarter of 2014 of $2.26 billion, an increase of 10.7% compared with the $2.04 billion reported for the second quarter of 2014 and an increase of 5.3% compared with the $2.15 billion for Q3 last year. Net income (GAAP) was $98 million, or $0.16 per share (diluted), compared with GAAP net loss of $1 million, or $0.00 per share (basic and diluted), for Q2 2014 and GAAP net income of $316 million, or $0.55 per share (basic and diluted), for the third quarter of 2013.

"Broadcom delivered record quarterly revenue and better than expected operating results," said Scott McGregor, Broadcom's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our strong performance was driven by the Broadband and Connectivity business and diligent expense management. Longer term, the company's renewed focus on its core businesses is expected to produce improved margins and cash flows, enabling increased capital return."

http://investor.broadcom.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=877361

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ZTE Captures Big Share of China Mobile Tender for Routers

ZTE has been awarded 30.77% of China Mobile Group’s annual tender for high-performance routers, the second-highest allocation among all vendors.

ZTE confirmed that its ZXR10 M6000-S broadband multi-service gateway will now be qualified for deployment in China Mobile’s networks supporting 4G LTE, IP MAN networks, internet data centers, and enterprise-class services.

China Mobile’s 2014-15 tender for high-performance routers and switches drew bids from 13 vendors, including ZTE, Cisco and Juniper Networks. ZTE was selected by China Mobile in router categories including P, PE, SR and CE.

http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/

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Arbor Networks Defends Against Fast Flood DDoS attacks

The latest release of Arbor Networks' Peakflow distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) platform can now detect Fast Flood DDoS attacks in as little as one second and initiate mitigation in less than thirty seconds.

The Peakflow platform includes two main components, Peakflow and the Peakflow Threat Management System. Peakflow combines network-wide anomaly detection and traffic engineering with the Peakflow Threat Management System’s carrier-class threat management, which automatically detects and surgically removes only attack traffic, while maintaining other business traffic. With the ability to mitigate only the attack traffic, customer-facing services remain available while providers actively mitigate attacks. The Peakflow platform also powers many of the world's leading cloud-based DDoS managed security services.

The Peakflow Threat Management System now includes an optional on-box SSL acceleration card to deliver an integrated, one-appliance solution to inspect encrypted traffic for DDoS threats. DDoS attacks are blocked in real time as normal traffic passes uninterrupted – all without forcing changes to existing network and application infrastructure.

Arbor noted that through the end of the third quarter, more than 130 attacks larger than 100Gbps have occurred, a dramatic spike in the frequency of volumetric attacks compared to previous quarters.

“The majority of the world’s service providers rely on the Peakflow platform for network intelligence and DDoS protection. More than sixty providers utilize the Peakflow platform to also offer DDoS managed services to their customers. Our continued innovation in the area of DDoS attack detection and mitigation has duel benefits for our service provider customers, helping protect their own infrastructure while also improving their ability to deliver DDoS managed security offerings,” said Arbor Networks President, Matthew Moynahan.

http://arbornetworks.com

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VMware Posts Q3 Revenue of $1.52 Billion, up 18%

VMware reported Q3 2014 revenues of $1.52 billion, an increase of 18% from the third quarter of 2013. Operating income for the third quarter was $242 million, a decrease of 16% from the third quarter of 2013, reflecting the impact of the AirWatch acquisition. Net income (GAAP) for the third quarter was $194 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, down 26% per diluted share compared to $261 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2013.

"Our third-quarter revenue grew 18%, reflecting strong customer adoption of our products and services," said Jonathan Chadwick, chief financial officer. "We are especially pleased by the performance of our newer businesses such as mobility, networking, storage, and hybrid cloud, which made significant progress in delivering against our long-term strategy."

http://www.vmware.com

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