Cavium Intros Chipesets for Next Gen Base Stations

Cavium introduced a family of chipsets designed for a new category of Macrocells and Smart Radio Heads with integrated Layer 1 functionality to enable seamless virtualization of the upper layers in a Cloud RAN deployment. The goal is to support macrocell BTS augmented with Cloud RAN for additional scalability and enterprise small cells for coverage and capacity.

Cavium said current the architecture of the macrocell BTS utilizes a combination of CPUs, DSPs, FPGAs and ASICs which significantly add to the latency, footprint, power consumption and cost. Its new OCTEON Fusion-M processors are single chip solutions for macro BTS and Smart Radio Heads that target next generation radio networks including 3GPP LTE Rel11/12. The key features include highly optimized full custom processor cores, a highly efficient caching subsystem, high memory bandwidth and a very flexible and high performance PHY. Cavium has a long history of delivering high-performance multi-core workload-optimized processors for networking, security and data plane processing applications through their highly successful OCTEON, OCTEON Fusion®, NITROX and Neuron Search processor families.

The CNF75xx family of processors is a full L1-L7 implementation supporting from high capacity picocells at 800 simultaneous users all the way up to multi sector macrocells with up to 3600 simultaneous users. Additionally, multiple OCTEON Fusion-M CNF75xx chips can be cascaded for even denser deployments or higher order MIMO. The CNF 75xx integrates highly optimized custom 64 bit MIPS cores and multiple VLIW DSP engines along with a host of hardware accelerators for the wireless modem pipeline, network processing and traffic shaping. This family is designed to allow system OEMs and operators to build next generation networks in both macrocell and Cloud RAN deployments while retaining the flexibility to evolve into the new 5G standard.

Some highlights:

• Highly integrated multi-protocol single chip 12 sector 24T24R MIMO with up to 16 cores running up to 2.0 GHz core frequency
• Simultaneous LTE. LTE-A (FDD/TDD) , HPSA+, GSM operation
• Supports a range of user counts from 800 user picocell configuration to 3,600 macrocell mode simultaneous active users
• The first commercially available 3GPP LTE Rel 11 capable (upgradable to Rel 12) SoC
• Highly configurable Wireless Baseband Module based on VLIW DSP cores, comprehensive PHY hardware accelerators, custom XBAR and PHY Shared memory
• Integrated I/O capacity including CPRI / JESD204B,10GE, SGMII, SRIO v2.1, PCIe v3.0
• Very high performance, low latency path for passing COMP data between multiple OCTEON Fusion-M devices

"Cavium has leveraged its multiple generations of world class IP to engineer OCTEON Fusion-M, a highly integrated family of wireless processors that provides a level of integration, performance and power/user unequaled in the industry. The OCTEON Fusion-M family are the most flexible processors for wireless communication and designed to not only encompass existing 3GPP standards but also new versions as they become ratified. They are ideally suited for HetNet applications and 5G roll outs," said Raj Singh, General Manager of Cavium's Wireless Broadband Group.

Sampling is expectec in Q3.

http://www.cavium.com

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Verizon Deploys Ericsson Radio Dot System

Verizon has installed the Ericsson Radio Dot System at its regional headquarters building in Metro Detroit. This marks the first deployment of the Ericsson Radio Dot System in a commercial building in the United States.

The Dot boosts indoor mobile coverage and capacity. In this first office application, the Dot is also supporting Verizon's Advanced Calling service, including HD Voice and Video Calling over LTE, in indoor environments. In addition to installation, Ericsson provided professional services including design and verification.

The Ericsson Radio Dot System is fully integrated with the macro network and enables remote software upgrades as technologies evolve. The system uses compact Radio Dots and Cat 6A cabling, which reduces cost, complexity and power consumption for operators.

http://www.ericsson.com

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Blueprint: vCPE Evolution and NFV-Powered Network Assurance

by Scott Sumner

With traditional business services shifting toward federated cloud connectivity, communication service providers (CSPs) have set a new course for delivering these critical services. Virtualizing customer premise equipment is a key part of their strategies—vCPE is a cost effective, proven technology approach that’s already showing significant returns.

The Promise of vCPE

Business services are not what they used to be. Enterprises increasingly are migrating to public and private clouds, and connectivity to these hosted resources is ever more critical for business success.

Margin and revenue threats to communications service providers (CSPs) lurk around every corner: public cloud platforms, over-the-top (OTT) wide area networking (WAN) technologies, and cheap, dumb pipes, to name just a few.

CSPs can win big, though, if they are able to cost-effectively deliver performance assured multi-cloud, multi-service connectivity. In this context, a vCPE strategy is becoming a critical component in a competitive service delivery model. For example, Colt Technology Services achieved remarkable benefits from its broad NFV/vCPE strategy intended to all but eliminate on-premises appliances; over a three-year period, virtualizing routers resulted in more than 70% CapEx savings.

Why NFV-Powered vCPE?

Data center connectivity services face intense cost pressure, yet cannot be delivered in a way that sacrifices quality of service (QoS) since this connectivity is the lifeline between enterprises and their business-critical infrastructure.

When a CSP adopts a vCPE strategy, their main goal is to use NFV to replace as much equipment as possible at the customer premises with virtualized equivalents, thereby reducing CapEx and increasing agility.

Many vCPE deployments already use intelligent NIDs to perform critical customer premises edge functions like Layer 2 and 3 QoS mapping, hierarchical traffic conditioning, service OAM, and performance monitoring, allowing routing and other L3+ functions to be located and/or virtualized deeper into the network.

But, while this approach is still a highly cost-effective method to deploy services in a multi-tenant environment, unit cost can lengthen return on investment (ROI) when serving a single customer

Curiously, CSPs often refer to the last remaining piece of equipment—a demarcation unit or intelligent edge appliance—as “the vCPE”. In this context, CSPs are taking virtualization to its logical conclusion, by applying NFV to the vCPE appliance itself .

By using NFV-based vCPE appliances, CSPs can not only realize significant CapEx and OpEx savings, but also increase their performance visibility, greatly decrease deployment time with customer self-install capabilities, outmaneuver competitors with higher cost structures, and compete on performance rather than price.

But, in the real world, what does it takes to replace racks of traditional CPE with centrally managed software?

A Closer Look: NFV-Powered vCPE Approaches

Adopting an NFV-powered vCPE strategy can only be successful if the technology involved seamlessly integrates legacy and virtualized approaches into a unified delivery platform. When that’s true, CSPs gain a smooth migration from existing infrastructure, within existing operational practices.

One approach to using vCPE technology is virtualizing all computationally intensive performance assurance functions—such as report generation, test session sequencing, and statistics—and retaining the minimum possible hardware to achieve the equivalent precision and line-rate processing offered by standalone edge appliances. Programmable smart SFPs or compact GbE modules can provide the local processing required—with the full feature set of NIDs realized when complemented by performance assurance virtual network functions (VNFs) hosted in a central controller.

Another approach (referred to here as vmCPE for “virtualized module CPE”) is to fully virtualize all vCPE functions to a software-based appliance running on COTS hardware. This vmCPE appliance can use the same catalog of centrally hosted VNFs, if its architecture permits.

As with all technology decisions, there are trade-offs between these two NFV-based vCPE approaches. The first approach (compact hardware modules) is more precise but not always practical; some locations—such as services terminating on a virtual machine—cannot be monitored using any physical device.

The vmCPE approach overcomes those visibility challenges and can also collect related VM metadata (CPU load, memory usage, etc.) to help isolate network issues arising from NFV infrastructure performance variation. But, vmCPE appliances cannot realize the same order of precision or packet-processing efficiency as hardware-based modules, because CPU load, varying degrees of access to underlying hardware, and the asynchronous, free-running clocks in virtual machines prevent deterministic time stamping and limit accuracy.

Regardless of approach, the ability to host and move VNFs to diverse locations needs to be supported by an effective NFV-powered vCPE solution deployment strategy. Various NFV-based implementation options emerge when standalone vCPE infrastructure is broken down into its logical components—allowing CSPs to employ variants that address site-specific requirements while retaining unified control and visibility over all service endpoints.

What’s Ahead for vCPE?

Clearly, the vCPE is becoming a vital component in the connectivity service delivery path and its lifecycle. This makes migration to NFV inevitable. The best, least painful way forward is to unify a variety of programmable vCPE options, giving CSPs the benefits of extensibility and cost savings via orchestrated virtualization implemented in an open, real-time architecture. Such an approach needs to be carefully designed to ensure solutions are highly extensible, scalable, and programmable, and openly interoperate with other platforms and functions.

vCPE implementations will increasingly require a mix of legacy, NFV-powered and fully-virtualized approaches, and will use software defined networking (SDN) standards to build a centrally controlled, highly-scalable distributed networking fabric that harmonizes physical and virtual instrumentation. Result: CSPs won’t have to manage standalone, NFV-based and fully virtualized vCPE infrastructure separately; these will seamlessly interact.

About the Author

Scott Sumner is VP of solutions marketing at Accedian Networks. He has extensive experience in wireless, Carrier Ethernet and service assurance, with over 15 years of experience including roles as GM of Performant Networks, Director of Program Management & Engineering at MPB Communications, VP of Marketing at Minacom (Tektronix), and Aethera Networks (Positron / Marconi), Partnership and M&A Program Manager at EXFO, as well as project and engineering management roles at PerkinElmer Optoelectronics (EG&G).   He has Masters and Bachelor degrees in Engineering (M.Eng, B.Eng) from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and completed professional business management training at the John Molson School of Business, the Alliance Institute, and the Project Management Institute.

About Accedian Networks 

Accedian Networks is the Performance Assurance Solution Specialist for mobile networks and enterprise ­ to­ data center connectivity. Open, multi­vendor interoperable and programmable solutions go beyond standard ­based performance assurance to deliver Network State+™, the most complete view of network health. Automated service activation testing and real­ time performance monitoring feature unrivalled precision and granularity, while H­QoS traffic conditioning optimizes service performance. Since 2005, Accedian has delivered platforms assuring hundreds of thousands of cell sites globally. www.Accedian.com

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FCC Votes 3-2 to Adopt Open Internet Rules

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to adopt a new set of Open Internet rules proposed by Commissioner Wheeler and backed by the Obama Administration. All of the new rules, which are based on the FCC's authority under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, would apply to fixed and mobile broadband alike, while leaving room for reasonable network management and its specific application to mobile and unlicensed WiFi networks.

Here are the key provisions and rules of the Open Internet Order as outlined by the FCC:

Bright Line Rules:  The first three rules ban practices that are known to harm the Open Internet.

• No Blocking: broadband providers may not block access to legal content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
• No Throttling: broadband providers may not impair or degrade lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
• No Paid Prioritization: broadband providers may not favor some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind—in other words, no “fast lanes.”   This rule also bans ISPs from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates. It also prohibits practices that target specific applications or classes of applications.  

A Standard for Future Conduct:  the Order establishes that ISPs cannot “unreasonably interfere with or unreasonably disadvantage” the ability of consumers to select, access, and use the lawful content, applications, services, or devices of their choosing; or of edge providers to make lawful content, applications, services, or devices available to consumers.  The FCC will have authority to address questionable practices on a case-by-case basis, and will provide guidance in the form of factors on how the Commission will apply the standard in practice.

Greater Transparency:  the Order requires that broadband providers disclose, in a
consistent format, promotional rates, fees and surcharges and data caps. Disclosures must also include packet loss as a measure of network performance, and provide notice of network management practices that can affect service.  To further consider the concerns of small ISPs, the Order adopts a temporary exemption from the transparency enhancements for fixed and mobile providers with 100,000 or fewer subscribers, and delegates authority to the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to determine whether to retain the exception and, if so, at what level.

Reasonable Network Management:    For the purposes of the rules, other than paid prioritization, an ISP may engage in reasonable network management. The FCC's standard takes account of the particular engineering attributes of the technology involved—whether it be fiber, DSL, cable, unlicensed Wi-Fi, mobile, or another network medium. However, the network practice must be primarily used for and tailored to achieving a legitimate network management—and not business—purpose.

Broad Protection
Some data services do not go over the public Internet, and therefore are not “broadband Internet access” services (VoIP from a cable system is an example, as is a dedicated heart-monitoring service). The Order ensures that these services do not undermine the effectiveness of the Open Internet rules. Moreover, all broadband providers’ transparency disclosures will continue to cover any offering of such non-Internet access data services—ensuring that the public and the Commission can keep a close eye on any tactics that could undermine the Open Internet rules.

Interconnection: the FCC address issue that may arise in the exchange of traffic between mass-market broadband providers and other networks and services. Under the authority provided by the Order, the Commission can hear complaints and take appropriate enforcement action if it determines the interconnection activities of ISPs are not just and reasonable.

Legal Authority: the order relies on multiple sources of authority including both Title II of the Communications Act and Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  At the same time, the Order refrains – or forbears – from enforcing 27 provisions of Title II and over 700 associated regulations that are not relevant to modern broadband service.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler stated "There are three simple keys to our broadband future. Broadband networks must be fast. Broadband networks must be fair Broadband networks must be open. We know from the history of previous networks that both human nature and economic opportunism act to encourage network owners to become gatekeepers that prioritize their interests above the interests of their users. As the D.C. Circuit observed in the Verizon decision and as the public record affirms, broadband providers have both the economic incentive and the technological capability to abuse their gatekeeper position. Our challenge is to achieve two equally important goals: ensure incentives for private investment in broadband infrastructure so the U.S. has world-leading networks and ensure that those networks are fast, fair, and open for all Americans. The Open Internet Order achieves those goals, giving consumers, innovators, and entrepreneurs the protections they deserve, while providing certainty for broadband providers and the online marketplace."

Writing in dissent, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai stated "It shouldn’t be this way.  For twenty years, there’s been a bipartisan consensus in favor of a free and open Internet.  A Republican Congress and a Democratic President enshrined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 the principle that the Internet should be a “vibrant and competitive free market . . . unfettered by Federal or State regulation.”  And dating back to the Clinton Administration, every FCC Chairman—Republican and Democrat—has let the Internet grow free from utility-style regulation.  The results speak for themselves. But today, the FCC abandons those policies.  It reclassifies broadband Internet access service as a Title II telecommunications service.  It seizes unilateral authority to regulate Internet conduct, to direct where Internet service providers (ISPs) make their investments, and to determine what service plans will be available to the American public.  This is not only a radical departure from the bipartisan, market-oriented policies that have served us so well for the last two decades.  It is also an about-face from the proposals the FCC made just last May... In short, because this Order imposes intrusive government regulations that won’t work to solve a problem that doesn’t exist using legal authority the FCC doesn’t have, I dissent."

http://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-adopts-strong-sustainable-rules-protect-open-internet

• The text of the Open Internet Order has not yet been published.  The FCC said they hope to release it to the public shortly.

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Carriers Verify International VoLTE Roaming

NTT DOCOMO, KT and Verizon Wireless have successfully verified the feasibility of international voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) roaming between different regions of the world.

The carriers have completed a series of tests using S8 Home Routed (S8HR) architecture, a technology based on the existing LTE data roaming platform, which allows speedy commercialization of VoLTE for high-definition voice and video roaming services with full end-to-end carrier-grade voice and video quality.

DOCOMO said it is now prepared to offer its customers the same VoLTE experiences they have in Japan when traveling to other countries.

In the trials, DOCOMO and KT achieved the world's first high-definition voice and video call with full end-to-end quality of service. Also, DOCOMO and Verizon achieved the world's first transoceanic high-definition VoLTE roaming calls. DOCOMO has existing commercial 3G and 4G roaming relations with Verizon Wireless and KT.

The calls were made on an IP eXchange (IPX) and network equipment to replicate commercial networks. With only two months of preparation, which also proved the technology's feasibility of speedy commercialization, the quality of VoLTE roaming calls using S8HR architecture over both short and long distances was proven to be better than that of existing 3G voice roaming services.

DOCOMO will continue to collaborate with these and other companies in the GSMA to drive the industry's ongoing discussion of international VoLTE roaming architecture, and to develop related operational guidelines aiming at the accelerated global deployment as part of the GSMA's Network 2020 Programme. DOCOMO will continue to carry out related R&D as it prepares to commercialize international VoLTE roaming services by the end of 2015.

https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2015/pdf/20150226_attachment01.pdf

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FCC Preempts State Prohibitions on Municipal Broadband

The FCC voted to preempt state law in North Carolina and Tennessee that restrict or ban municipalities from expanding broadband service outside their current footprints despite numerous requests from neighboring unserved and underserved communities.

The FCC noted that it acted on behalf of the Electric Power Board (EBP), a community broadband provider in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the City of Wilson, North Carolina.In addition to providing electric service, both operate broadband networks providing Gigabit-per-second broadband, voice, and video service.The networks in both areas have attracted major employers, including Amazon and Volkswagen in Chattanooga, and Exodus FX, Regency Interactive, and WHIG TV in Wilson. Wilson’s system also provides free Wi-Fi downtown.Tennessee law allows municipal electric systems like EPB to provide telecommunications services anywhere in the state, but limits provision of Internet and cable services to the electrical system footprint. In North Carolina, a 2011 law imposed numerous conditions that effectively precluded Wilson from expanding broadband into neighboring counties, even if requested. One condition, for example, restricted expansion into areas where the private sector delivers service at speeds as slow as 768 kbps in the faster direction – an archaic standard that fails to support modern needs and is a fraction of the FCC’s 25/3 Mbps benchmark.

http://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-preempts-laws-restricting-community-broadband-nctn

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Tropo Debuts Connect Platform for Network Services on Clouds

Tropo, a start-up based in Menlo Park, California, rolled out its platform to enable telcos and 3rd party developers to rapidly integrate traditional communications with popular cloud services and enterprise workflows.

Tropo, which worked with Apcera and IBM’s SoftLayer to develop its platform, said these capabilities will put Service Providers at the center of a growing ecosystem of developer tools and cloud services.

Tropo Connect enables web apps and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices to interact with live phone calls and text conversations.  For example, a sales productivity app could respond to a subscriber’s phone calls and extract keywords using advanced speech recognition technology to automatically generate contextual notes in their Customer Relationship Management System (CRM). By allowing web platforms like SalesForce.com to participate in the calling experience, a new market for enhanced services is created, unlocking massive revenue streams for services providers and their partners.

The Tropo Platform is deployed within the networks of several Tier 1 operators, such as AT&;T, China Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, NTT and Vodafone. Trop is now offering this platform as afully managed turnkey infrastructure.

"IBM is excited to be working with Tropo and Apcera to deliver the first In-Call app platform on top of IBM's SoftLayer," said Mac Devine, vice president and CTO, SND and Innovation Services, IBM Cloud Division. “SoftLayer’s full-featured API and sophisticated automation enables real-time media processing with a Telco-grade quality of service.”

“The modern web is built on open programming interfaces (APIs) that communicate with each other seamlessly, giving developers the opportunity to mash up services to create fresh revenue-generating apps for consumers and businesses,” said Derek Collison, CEO of Apcera. “

“Tropo Connect works with legacy networks, and is IMS-ready and certified for next-gen architectures,” said Jose de Castro, founder and CTO at Tropo. “CSPs can start adding value and differentiation to their portfolios today, no matter where they are in their network transformation process, and be ensured that the services are future-proofed going forward.”

http://www.tropo.com

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Qualcomm Outlines LTE-U Roadmap for Small Cells & Mobile Devices

Qualcomm outlined its roadmap for extending LTE to unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U). Qualcomm expects LTE-U in the 5 GHz band to offer twice the capacity and range compared to traditional Wi-Fi. The company expects mobile operators to anchor their data services in licensed spectrum bands and use the unlicensed spectrum when available to burst to higher downlink rates.

The first step is integrating LTE-U into a small cell SoC to expand capacity and seamlessly extend LTE networks. Qualcomm will do so with its FSM99xx, a family of small cell SoCs, that will ship in the second half of 2015. These small cell chipsets will integrate 3G/4G as well as Qualcomm's VIVE™ 802.11ac/n Wi-Fi.

For markets with a requirement for "network listen" mode in the 5 GHz bands, Qualcomm is announcing its FTR8950 dedicated RF solution for small cells.  This small cell RF transceiver is a successor to the FTR8900 RFIC and supports features such as digital pre-distortion and dedicated network listen.

For mobile devices, Qualcomm is announcing the WTR3950 dedicated RF solution for LTE-U operation in unlicensed 5 GHz bands. The WTR3950 extends the company's RF product leadership in LTE Advanced, which is based on successful commercialization of single-chip RF transceivers for LTE carrier aggregation. The WTR3950 pairs with the WTR3925, the first 28 nm RF for single chip Cat 6 carrier aggregation, to support up to 3x20 MHz carrier aggregation across licensed and unlicensed spectrum. The WTR3950 can also support up to 40 MHz intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation in the 5 GHz bands. This is expected to sample in the second half of 2015.

Qualcomm also announced that it successfully completed over-the-air testing to prove co-existence between multiple LTE-U and Wi-Fi access points in the unlicensed spectrum under extreme load conditions. Qualcomm Technologies will showcase its new solutions with a number of LTE-U demonstrations at Mobile World Congress, March 2-5 in Barcelona, Spain.

“As the Internet enters a new phase of growth, in which more devices are connected and share richer data, there is a need to cost effectively address the challenges of a 1000x increase in mobile data traffic. To do this, we need a combination of more spectrum, more efficient use of existing spectrum, and more small cells,” said Matt Grob, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and chief technology officer. “Our job is to help the industry make the best use of all available spectrum, using both LTE and Wi-Fi technologies, to increase capacity.”

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2015/02/26/qualcomm-extends-lte-unlicensed-spectrum-enhance-mobile-experiences-and

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CenturyLink Tests 1 Tbps Super Channels with Ciena

CenturyLink, the third largest telecommunications company in the U.S., has successfully tested superchannel transmission speeds of one terabit per second (1 Tbps) on a portion of its fiber network in central Florida.  The test used Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform equipped with WaveLogic 3 16QAM-based coherent optics and Flexible Grid photonic layer. The terabit superchannel, composed of five 200 Gbps wavelengths closely packed together, more than doubled the network’s traffic carrying capacity during the trial, demonstrating the scalability and efficiency of CenturyLink’s network.

“This 1 terabit per second trial complements the work we are doing to transform our network and prepares us to meet our customers’ growing bandwidth needs now and into the future,” said James Feger, vice president, CenturyLink network strategy and development. “Being able to quickly scale our network’s capacity to keep up with increasing bandwidth demands means that customers will continue to have a positive experience using our cloud, hosted IT and high-speed broadband services, as well as video services like CenturyLink Prism TV.”

Spectral efficiency gains in the trial were achieved by using Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 based 16QAM coherent modulation, WaveLogic 3 spectral shaping, and Flexible Grid technologies.

http://news.centurylink.com/news/centurylink-successfully-delivers-terabit-speeds-in-central-florida-field-trial

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Juniper and Canonical Target OpenStack-Based Clouds for Telcos

Juniper Networks and Canonical, the leading provider of services for Ubuntu deployments in the enterprise, are co-developing a carrier-grade, OpenStack software solution that will enable service providers to virtualize core networks and network functions for increased performance, scale and reliability. Juniper will also provide complete service support for Canonical’s Ubuntu Server operating system (OS) and Ubuntu OpenStack as part of Juniper Networks Contrail Cloud.

The companies said they will coordinate product development, engineering, marketing and upstream contributions to continue to expand an open and functioning OpenStack ecosystem for service providers to deliver cloud and NFV solutions. As part of the joint agreement, Juniper Networks and Canonical will work with customers to incorporate service provider requirements into OpenStack, NFV and SDN open source projects.

“Juniper Networks firmly believes that open source and open standards will continue to drive greater levels of innovation and is pleased to partner with Canonical to help drive faster adoption of the cloud for telecommunication organizations. Our jointly developed converged Ubuntu and Juniper OpenStack solution will help deliver greater performance, scalability and reliability at lower costs,” stated Ankur Singla, corporate vice president and general manager, cloud software, Juniper Networks.

“Juniper and Canonical are leading the OpenStack innovation agenda by jointly developing a virtualization solution that will help service providers accelerate cloud deployments for greater agility. Juniper’s Contrail addresses the carrier-class issues of virtualized environments and accelerates elastic service delivery across multi-tenant, hybrid cloud OpenStack deployments across a multi-vendor ecosystem. By combining Juniper’s open network solutions and leadership in the telecommunications industry with Canonical’s leadership in OpenStack and scale-out open source, we will jointly be able to deliver cloud solutions that enable carriers to meet their network modernization challenges,” said John Zannos, vice president, cloud channels and alliances, Canonical.

http://www.juniper.net
http://www.canonical.com

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ARM Envisions Intelligent Flexible Cloud Framework

ARM outlined its vision for an Intelligent Flexible Cloud (IFC) environment to meet the latency, power and size constraints for next-generation networks.

ARM's IFM promises to bring together system-on-chips with heterogeneous compute capabilities supported by a common layer of enabling software and distributed network intelligence.

The company's idea is to build on SDN and NFV with a distributed intelligence that enables applications to move out in the network to where data resides for a significant reduction in power consumption and increased responsiveness.

“The underlying network infrastructure that supports our mobile and connected world is undergoing a dramatic shift,” said Charlene Marini, vice president, segment marketing, ARM. “The scalability of ARM® technology, combined with the networking systems expertise of our partners is increasing node intelligence and configurability, laying a new foundation for software-defined functions and applications. The move to the ARM architecture is underway, enabling new possibilities for an intelligent flexible cloud from device to data center.”

Partners include AppliedMicro, Cavium, Enea, EZchip, Linaro, Marvell and Xilinx.

http://www.arm.com

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Avago to Acquire Emulex for Connectivity and Visibility Solutions

Avago Technologies agreed to acquire Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX) for approximately $606 million in cash.

Emulex, which is based in Costa Mesa, California, is a supplier of network connectivity, monitoring and management solutions. The Emulex portfolio includes Fibre Channel and 10GbE network connectivity that are designed into server and storage solutions from leading OEMs and ODMs worldwide. Through its Endace division, Emulex supplies network monitoring/visibility/recording.

"Emulex's connectivity business fits very well with Avago's existing portfolio serving the enterprise storage end market," stated Hock Tan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Avago. "We are excited to welcome the Emulex team to Avago."

"This combination represents a great opportunity for Emulex and its employees to build upon our history of delivering leading-edge solutions to our customers, while providing immediate value to our stockholders," said Jeffrey Benck, President and Chief Executive Officer of Emulex. "Our leading portfolio is a strong complement to Avago's offerings and capabilities, accelerating our strategy to support next generation server and storage architectures."

http://www.Emulex.com
http://www.avagotech.com

• In 2014, Avago acquired LSI Corporation in a deal valued at $6.6 billion.

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Aruba Posts Record Revenue of $213 Million, up 21%

Aruba Networks reported record revenue of $212.9 million for its Q2'15, up 21 percent from the $176.4 million reported in Q2’14. GAAP net income for Q2’15 was $5.7 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared with a GAAP net loss of $10.7 million, or a loss of $0.10 per share, in Q2’14.

“We are pleased to report solid results for the second quarter, reflecting continued execution on our strategic plan,” said Dominic Orr, president and chief executive officer, Aruba Networks. “Our results were supported by continued growth in our key geographies, strong year-over-year performance in our Federal vertical, further success in penetrating the Global 2000, and increasing traction in our SME business. We believe we are well positioned to capitalize on the continued growth in WLAN, the potential opportunities from increased E-Rate funding later this year, and the continued 802.11ac refresh cycle.”

http://news.arubanetworks.com/

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Mavenir Posts Revenue of $33.7 million, an increase of 24%

Mavenir Systems reported revenue for Q4 2014 of $33.7 million, an increase of 24% year-over-year and a decrease of 1% quarter-over-quarter. GAAP operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $8.8 million, compared with $1.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2013 and $3.8 million in the third quarter of 2014.

"Mavenir delivered another strong year with solid financial results, resulting from the rapid adoption of 4G LTE and the launches of services such as VoWi-Fi and VoLTE in 2014," said Pardeep Kohli, president and chief executive officer, Mavenir Systems. “We are well positioned to capitalize on 4G LTE adoption and NFV/SDN, two trends that will continue to be some of the key growth drivers for our business in 2015. In addition, Mavenir continues to build our capabilities in next-generation solutions to deliver growth and enhanced shareholder value."

http://www.mavenir.com

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Blueprint: The Role of Policy in the Hybrid Cloud

by Harsh Karmarkar, Director, Solutions Consultants, Alliances & Channels at Apcera

Enterprises today are looking to hybrid cloud to achieve a range of goals: to cut costs; enable a more flexible workforce; offer better customer service; and achieve greater scale. But in an era of “Big Data”, escalating security concerns, and an ever more fragmented set of technology functions being moved to the cloud, fulfilling those goals requires an IT management approach that offers holistic visibility into all resources being used, both on- and off-premise—and a way to consistently govern their use.

This is where policy comes in. But all too often, enterprises are trying to apply traditional, domain-specific policy approaches to a hybrid IT landscape that is defined by an inordinate amount of complexity—and which stubbornly resists being tamed by cobbled-together point solutions.

Defining Policy

Policy in general has been a catch-all term, and one with many definitions. Policy is seen as covering everything from defining explicit corporate rules for employee interactions with customers, to ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory constraints like HIPAA, to defining basic firewall rules—and everything in-between.

As a result, traditional policy approaches unfortunately often define rules through sweeping documents, or are specific to a granular domain. So what happens is that every network utility and access control system, and every subsystem and service, has its own set of implemented policies that may or may not conform to the overarching enterprise business goals, and which may not talk to each other, let alone be holistically manageable by IT.

Fortunately, there is an increasing acceptance of the fact that existing policy approaches are inadequate, and that the more there can be a consistent language and construct for identity and location of both users and data, the easier it is to have an overarching view of what the data is, where it is and who’s looking at.

Ultimately, the goal of any holistic policy approach must be to implement the rules that have been put in place by the business itself and by regulatory bodies for governing data and data access. That policy engine should use an automated rules framework to fulfill those rules, by allowing or disallowing any given action at any given time by any given employee on any given system, across both cloud-based and on-prem IT environments.

Challenges of a Hybrid Architecture

The hybrid cloud has mostly been the playground of development and testing—but that’s beginning to change. Now that many enterprises are moving into hybrid production environments, and the data perimeter is being extended into third-party domains, there’s concern about how to understand what’s being housed where, how to safeguard sensitive data and how to maintain performance in a complex environment, without adding overhead to the process.

Generally speaking, enterprises have been taking two approaches for managing the hybrid IT environment.

For one, IT can clearly separate within their management systems what’s on-premise and what’s not, and build a few links to gain elastic scale and the ability to move workloads around. But more often than not, there’s no unified tooling or governance, so it results in two management structures, a lack of overall visibility and unevenly applied operational rules.

The other approach is to treat all of the data and functions as though they were on-premise. But that gives administrators less control over the remote environment, and if organizations have sensitive information housed remotely, data sovereignty issues can arise.

Policy in both cases can lend value.

Best Practices for Hybrid Implementations

A key place to begin building a policy framework is to ask what, ultimately, are the business goals that policy should enable? Is it effective resource allocation? Is it achieving certain performance or SLA-related benchmarks? Does the enterprise need a geographic view of, say, software licensing term compliance? Is cyber security the main focus? Or is it all of the above and more?

From there, the policy engine must have a grammar that dovetails with the business’ operational language. For instance, an enterprise may define security levels by color. But to third parties, what’s contained in, say, the purple or orange zones is completely unfamiliar. So policy engines for hybrid architectures have to map how enterprises internally view their assets and information to any third-party widely accepted language and processes.

Today’s approaches are also often defined by what employees can’t do. But that blacklist approach is not very extensible in terms of adapting to evolving enterprise realities. For instance, accessing social media may have been a prohibited activity two years ago—but now tweeting and updating Facebook may be critical for an employee to do his or her job.

IT administrators can instead take a white list approach, which explicitly allows each and every approved activity. This ensures that people are only performing actions that IT understands and can manage. Often, the evaluation of one policy rule drives the next policy decision within the situation’s specific context. So, the idea of identity—a sense of who has the right to do what—becomes critically important.

Approaching policy this way may take a bit more time up front to set up, but it helps optimize the IT environment in the long run.

Another basic implementation issue has to do with how policy is enforced. Many enterprises use a centralized engine that evaluates policy compliance, which is then enforced in a distributed way, out in a remote cluster. But whenever there is distributed enforcement and centralized evaluation, it allows for gaps in rules application and inconsistencies.

A better approach is to ensure that every actor within the system is governed locally by the set of policies that can specifically affect him or her. So, the policy engine for both the evaluation and enforcement of compliance is distributed to all of the agents in the system, both in on-premise and remote environments.

That means that there’s no queue for a central engine to make decisions. So whether the infrastructure has 10 actors or 10,000, scaling doesn’t result in a bigger drain on the central IT management structure.

This type of implementation is a fundamentally different approach to architecting the policy brain than what we typically see emerging in the hybrid cloud. But for forward-thinking enterprises, taking steps now to accommodate the complexities of unstructured data, multiple user types and a hodgepodge of domains will give them the ability to programmatically control what an app or workload does, without requiring the IT staff to write code or resort to other manual practices. Thus, they will find themselves delivering better customer service, driving efficiencies and safeguarding operations across the board, for now and in the future.

About the Author


Harsh Karmarkar leads the Alliances pre-sales team for Apcera.

About Apcera

Based in San Francisco, California, Apcera has deployed the world's first policy-driven platform for global 2000 companies. Continuum, Apcera's flagship product is a PaaS++ that deploys, orchestrates and governs a diverse set of workloads, on premise and in the cloud. In September 2014, Ericsson purchased majority interest in Apcera, though Apcera remains an independent company.

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#MWC15: Innovating with Hybrid Cloud OS - @Apcera

http://youtu.be/m0FST-mqHRg

Mobile World Congress will showcase lots of innovation in radio access technologies, says Derek Collison, founder and CEO of Apcera. But once the flood of data arrives on the network, how do you trust it and how do you know which clouds services can tap into it. Apcera is introducing its Hybrid Cloud Operating System as a trusted platform to run anywhere.

 

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Ericsson's 5G Radio Test Bed Tops 5 Gbps

An Ericsson 5G radio test bed has topped 5 Gbps throughput.  The company will demonstrate fundamental 5G technologies at next week's Mobile World Congress, including 5G-LTE Dual Connectivity and 5G Multipoint Connectivity. Ericsson's 5G radio test bed features 5G devices and 5G radio base stations operating at in the high frequency 15 GHz band.

• 5G-LTE Dual Connectivity:  The 5G mobile device moves between LTE and 5G radio access coverage areas, establishing simultaneous connections with both networks before seamlessly handing over.  5G-LTE Dual Connectivity will enable 5G networks to provide multi-standard and multi-band support in both devices and radio access.
• 5G Multipoint Connectivity:  The 5G mobile device connects to two 5G base stations simultaneously, improving bit rate performance through multiple downlink streams, as well as signal strength and resilience.  5G Multipoint Connectivity will be key to supporting multi-layer networks consisting of both macro and small cell coverage.

"The Ericsson 5G radio test bed is where innovation meets implementation.  It certainly is a reflection of our commitment to 5G technology leadership but it's also where we test and expand the limits of how mobility will transform society," says Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President, Head of Business Unit Radio, Ericsson.

http://www.ericsson.com/news/1897060

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Ciena Debuts New Wavelogic Chipsets and Coherent Select Architecture

Ciena announced significant additions to its portfolio, including two new chipsets to power its next-gen optical transport systems, along with a new 100G photonic architecture. These innovations are aimed at solving the web-scale dynamics caused by cloud computing, network virtualization and openess.

The two new Ciena WaveLogic 3 coherent optical chipsets, the WaveLogic 3 Extreme and WaveLogic 3 Nano,  are designed for the massive bandwidth requirements of web-scale networks.

WaveLogic 3 Extreme -- a new coherent optical chipset that incorporates four programmable coherent modulation formats: QPSK, BPSK second generation 16QAM coherent modulation for high-bandwidth metro/regional applications, and a new patent-pending 8D-2QAM modulation for extreme long distance submarine applications.  16QAM enables 200G wavelengths in the same amount of spectrum as current 100G links (50GHz). The new 8D-2QAM modulation format enables enhanced 100G performance. When combined with flexible grid technology, capacity increases of 85% have been realized on trans-Pacific links when compared to today’s BPSK modulation format.  The WaveLogic 3 Extreme is currently available and has already been deployed in a regional scenario with Verizon and in multiple submarine scenarios announced last month.

WaveLogic 3 Nano -- the next generation of Ciena's WaveLogic 3 technology for metro and data center applications.  WaveLogic 3 Nano targets 100G metro density by reducing the footprint and power consumption of the coherent 100G design. Innovations include shrinking the electro-optics to enable lower power consumption, taking advantage of new ASIC integration technologies, and tailoring the chipset’s chromatic dispersion compensation characteristics for metro distances. The new WaveLogic 3 Nano chipset is being implemented across Ciena’s portfolio of converged packet-optical and packet networking products, including the 6500 and 5430 converged packet optical platforms. It doubles capacity of metro and regional networks and combined with Flexible Grid technology has enabled up to 85% greater capacity in submarine networks.

Coherent Select photonic architecture -- a flexible metro architecture for high-capacity user-to-content connectivity. By combining software with the native receiver tunability of WaveLogic chipsets, Coherent Select enables service providers to cost-effectively bring 100G closer to the metro. Ciena sees this as a third alternative next to passive fixed optical filters or ROADM architecture. Ciena's Coherent Select consists of a wavelength broadcast and select architecture which leverages WaveLogic coherent receivers to tune to the frequency (wavelength) of interest. Ciena said this also retains much of the operational benefits associated with ROADMs, including automatic real-time power balancing, full photonic topology visualization, and remote wavelength reconfiguration with colorless, directionless and flexible grid capabilities.

In addition, Ciena expanded its Packet Portfolio with the additions of the 3904 and 3905 Service Delivery Switches aimed at both indoor and outdoor small cell mobile backhaul. The 3905 is an environmentally hardened Ethernet platform for that can be deployed in a variety of mounting options.  The 3905, as well as its indoor variant 3904, is purpose-built to provide next-gen Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connectivity from the small cell to the macro tower or Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO). Both feature an advanced Ethernet control plane, sophisticated VLAN encapsulation and tagging, hierarchical QoS for strict SLAs, carrier-grade Ethernet OAM capabilities, flexible power options including Power over Ethernet Plus, WiFi console port, automated and error-free Zero Touch Provisioning, and MEF Carrier Ethernet 2.0 compliance.

“Networks are now facing the realities of the ‘web-scale effect.’ Cloud services, on-demand networking and virtualization are becoming more ubiquitous and businesses expect connect, compute and storage services to be available 24/7. With Ciena’s new coherent chipsets, metro architecture and backhaul solutions, our customers can arm their networks with the bandwidth, efficiency and agility that is required in today’s web-scale world,” stated Steve Alexander, Senior Vice President and CTO, Ciena.

http://www.ciena.com/connect/blog/Ciena-goes-web-scale-with-new-coherent-metro-and-small-cell-backhaul-solutions.html
http://www.ciena.com/about/newsroom/press-releases/Ciena-Delivers-New-Capabilities-for-the-Web-Scale-World.html

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Mavenir Intros VoWiFi Calling for MSOs

Mavenir Systems introduced an NFV-based Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) solution for cable operators.

Mavenir’s offering includes session control, application/messaging servers, access/border gateways, subscriber management/activation systems, and clients. It integrates with an operator’s existing IMS core network or can be deployed as a greenfield network to offer voice, video, and messaging applications using Wi-Fi access. Mavenir is engaged with multiple cable operators to plan VoWi-Fi as a part of their MVNO strategies or as a standalone offering paired with the standard video and content distribution offer.The solution is based on Mavenir’s mOne Convergence platform including the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Core and Application Servers and cross-platform mobile clients.

“We believe that VoWiFi changes the competitive landscape for cable operators,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mavenir Systems. “Mavenir’s converged IMS solution provides cable operators the benefit of seamless mobility between Wi-Fi and cellular networks, as well as proven interoperability and a native user experience on the latest Wi-Fi Calling enabled devices, such as Apple’s iPhone 6.”

http://www.mavenir.com/

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IDT, NVIDIA and Orange Silicon Valley Develop

Integrated Device Technology (IDT), NVIDIA and Orange Silicon Valley are developing a supercomputing platform that uses clusters of low-power NVIDIA Tegra K1 mobile processors with IDT’s RapidIO interconnect and timing technology to analyze 4G to 5G base station bandwidth data in real time.

Specifically, the Supercomputing at the Edge platform uses IDT’s 20 Gbps interconnect technology to connect a low-latency cluster of NVIDIA Tegra K1 mobile processors. It’s suitable for micro base station deployment along with larger computing clusters in the C-RAN, a new cellular network architecture. Each computing card is based on connecting up to 4 GPU units per processing card connected with RapidIO low-latency NIC and switching products on board.  The companies said the platform can support up to 12 teraflops per IU RapidIO server blade.

http://www.idt.com/about/press-room/idt-nvidia-and-orange-silicon-valley-drive-supercomputing-edge-wireless-network-real-time-analysis-a

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Allot to Acquire Optenet, a Security-as-a-Service Solution Provider

Allot Communications agreed to acquire the operations of Optenet, a global IT security company providing high-performance Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) solutions to service providers and large enterprises worldwide, for approximately $6.5 million in cash plus a deferred payment of approximately $5.5 million to be paid over two years following closing.

Optenet is a pioneer and global leader of enabling SECaaS. The company is based in Madrid, Spain and was founded in 1997.

Allot said Optenet's products complement its existing security offerings, especially in the market of DDoS protection and anti-malware. The acquisition is based on an existing successful partnership that has already resulted in ten service provider customer wins, half of which are large tier-1 mobile operators.

"Our acquisition of Optenet will help Allot become a leading player in the consumer Security-as-a-Service market," said Andrei Elefant, President & CEO of Allot Communications. "We have been working with Optenet since 2013 and during that time we have won more than 10 service provider customers together, half of which are large tier one operators. In addition to bringing value to stockholders, this strategic move augments our position in the security market, strengthens our network operator value-added services approach, and complements our cloud and enterprise vision."

http://www.allot.com

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Telstra Selects Metaswitch to Interconnect International Voice Network

Telstra has selected Metaswitch Networks to upgrade and enhance its TDM and IP voice network in response to the company’s growth throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas.

Telstra’s Global Enterprise and Services (GES) business provides telecommunications services and solutions to carriers and multinational enterprises globally. It is a leading carrier in Asia-Pacific and facilitates access to more than 2,000 points of presence (PoPs) in 230 countries and territories.

Metaswitch products now used in the network include the MetaSphere Call Feature Server (CFS), the Metaswitch Universal Media Gateway and Perimeta Session Border Controller.

According to Stuart Warwick, SVP of support services, Metaswitch completed the cutover of Telstra’s international voice network at the end of 2014, just six months after the contract was signed.  He highlighted that “during the project, Metaswitch replaced TDM network elements with IP interconnect solutions in Sydney, Hong Kong, London and New Jersey, completing the work during one of the busiest times on Telstra’s network.”

http://www.metaswitch.com

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Dell'Oro: Microwave Transmission Outlook

http://youtu.be/lzIskAmieVQ

Jimmy Yu, Vice President of Optical Transport Research at Dell'Oro Group, discusses key trends in the microwave market. including geographic variations in backhaul, the growth in packet microwave, and the impact of small cells.  The video also discusses the use of new spectrum bands for small cell backhaul.

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ADVA Posts Q4 Revenue of EUR 87 Million, up Nearly 14% YoY

ADVA Optical Networking reported Q4 2014 revenue of EUR 86.7 million, in the upper half of guidance between EUR 83 million and EUR 88 million. The figure is up a significant 13.8% vs. Q4 2013 at EUR 76.2 million and slightly down 0.4% vs. Q3 2014 at EUR 87.1 million. The IFRS operating income in Q4 2014 was EUR 5.1 million, up significantly from EUR 1.9 million in Q4 2013.

"We are extremely pleased with our 2014 revenues which are at a record high of EUR 339.2 million, up a sound 9.2% compared to 2013. Q4 2014 revenues at EUR 86.7 million are in the upper half of guidance. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter with year-on-year growth. In addition, our pro forma gross margin at 36.6% in Q4 2014 improved from 35.3% in Q3 2014," stated Ulrich Dopfer, chief financial officer of ADVA Optical Networking.

http://www.advaoptical.com/

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DOCOMO's LTE-Advanced to Hit 225 Mbps in March

NTT DOCOMO is preparing to launch LTE-Advanced service in Japan on March 27.  The carrier announced top downlink speeds of 225 Mbps with top uplink speeds of 50 Mbps.

The LTE-Advanced service will leverage the company's Advanced C-RAN network architecture, which optimized radio capacity and maximum transmission speed simultaneously, especially in high-traffic areas.  DOCOMO said the use of carrier aggregation technology will enable it to push the LTE-Advanced to achieve maximum downlinks of 300Mbps towards the end of the next fiscal year ending in March 2016. The carrier is aiming for 5G services in 2020.

The DOCOMO LTE-Advanced network will launch initially in 22 prefectures, including Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. Nationwide availability is expected by March 2016.

Two DOCOMO mobile Wi-Fi routers will be available for the service—the Wi-Fi STATION HW-02G, which is now on the market, and the L-01G, which is scheduled to launch in March. DOCOMO is also preparing to expand its lineup of compatible smartphones soon.

https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2015/0225_00.html


Earlier this month, NTT DOCOMO has achieved 240 Mbps downlink performance using 35MHz of bandwidth in a live field trial of Advanced C-RAN technology.

Advanced C-RAN leverages carrier aggregation (CA) technology to enable users to receive data simultaneously over small cells for localized coverage deployed in congested areas, and macro cells that provide wider area coverage. The carrier said Advanced C-RAN will prove especially useful for improving radio capacity and transmission speed in train stations, large-scale commercial facilities and other high-traffic areas.

A previous verification trial last November used category-6 mobile devices capable of download speeds up to 300Mbps in the Yokosuka area of Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

"Advanced C-RAN represents an important contribution to the evolution of LTE and will be a key technology for the realization of 5G in the future," said Seizo Onoe, DOCOMO's Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.

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Huawei Sees 4.5G Technology Delivering 1 Gbps Rates

Huawei outlined its vision of a 4.5G “business blueprint" for mobile operators that it sees as an intermediate step for LTE on the road to 5G.

In a briefing held a week before Mobile World Congress, Huawei said 4.5G will help stimulate the increasing popularity of many technologies such as mobile virtual reality glasses, smart metering and drones.  Some observations from Huawei:

• 4.5G can deliver up to 1Gbps bandwidth on mobile networks, making mobile virtual reality possible and this immersive experience available everywhere. Virtual reality glasses provide an immersive HD experience, but the bandwidth requirement can be as high as 1Gbps, 4.5G will be capable of meeting this requirement.
  
• 4.5G will make cellular IoT a reality. Industry applications such as smart metering require low-power terminals and better network coverage. While LTE is mainly designed to handle smart phone capacity, which is unable to reach a large scale, 4.5G supports up to 100K per cell connections via LTE-M, 100 times that of 4G. LTE-M also provides better coverage (Receivers require just 1/100th of the signal of existing 2G system, 20dB Gain) using low-power terminals (10 year battery life).
  
• Industry 4.0 requires lower latency between command and execution. For example, the precision control of a drone requires at least a 20ms end-to-end latency. 4.5G as a key component of Industry 4.0 provides the capability of less than 10ms end-to-end latency, opening the door for large scale commercialization of real-time mobile applications.

"4.5G is a natural evolution of LTE, and supports new business opportunities and an improved user experience through enhancement of the mobile network‘s capacity and capability. This in turn will transition our industry into an all online world with ultra high speed massive connections and low latency, allowing all of us to be fully prepared for the large-scale arrival of applications for cellular IoT," stated Bob Cai, Vice President of Marketing, Huawei Wireless Network Product Line.

http://pr.huawei.com/en/news/hw-415269-4.5g.htm#.VO1dovm-2-0

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IBM and Juniper Tie Real Time Analytics to MX Routers

IBM and Juniper Networks are extending their longstanding partnership by announcing plans to provide real-time network analytics to help communications service providers (CSP) and enterprises become more agile and efficient, reducing time to deployment and cost, while enhancing end user application experiences.

The companies are designing a new solution in which Juniper Networks' MX Router Service Control Gateway (SCG) will integrate with IBM Now Factory analytics to enable the optimization of network operations, as well as the customization of service experience based on who is using the network and the applications being run, taking into account the device's capabilities and location.

"Integrating predictive analytics directly into the stream of data processing – and embedding it into the network of CSPs – will help to ensure the reliability of the network and improve customer engagement," said Bob Picciano, Senior Vice President, IBM Analytics. "Juniper Networks' focus on cloud-based analytics complements IBM's strategy to apply analytics capabilities to help organizations sense, predict and respond to opportunities."

Some highlights:

• The combination of Juniper Networks MX Router SCG, Juniper Contrail and IBM Now Factory will allow for complete visibility of subscribers and VPN behaviors, for CSPs to offer scalable automated services based on actual data.
• Juniper Networks will utilize IBM Analytics capabilities to better understand data flows and self-configure to automatically update and optimize network operations and the subscriber experience whether subscribers are watching videos or using business applications.
• IBM Analytics capabilities, such as real-time and predictive insights, will also be integrated in Juniper Networks' Cloud Analytic Engine (CAE) and switching solutions to enhance the quality of experience and application performance by predicting and remediating anomalies such as latency before they occur.

http://www.ibm.com/analytics
http://www.juniper.com

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Mirantis and Google Integrate Kubernetes with OpenStack

Mirantis and Google are working to integrate Kubernetes with OpenStack with the goal of letting developers deploy containers on OpenStack in minutes.

Mirantis said this development work uses Murano, the application catalog project in the OpenStack ecosystem. Murano automatically configures the compute, storage and networking resources for Kubernetes clusters, and provides integration for OpenStack infrastructure components such as load balancers and firewalls. Murano can then deploy the Docker application onto the Kubernetes cluster and manage the application’s lifecycle. To provide production-grade Kubernetes clusters, Murano adds integration with monitoring and log collection services. This delivers Kubernetes on OpenStack out of the box. Developers will be able to seamlessly move entire environments between OpenStack private clouds and public clouds that support Kubernetes, such as Google Cloud Platform.

“Our development work with Google to combine the power of Kubernetes with Mirantis OpenStack makes it easy for developers to manage Docker containers at scale,” said Mirantis CEO, Adrian Ionel. “Kubernetes automates the management of Docker containers, while OpenStack automates the configuration and deployment of infrastructure resources on which those containers run. By using the two technologies together, developers can focus on creating software because their underlying infrastructure just works.”

“Integrating Kubernetes with OpenStack gives developers more choice and flexibility over how they want to build and run applications,” said OpenStack Foundation Chief Operating Officer, Mark Collier. “OpenStack’s pluggable design allows users to integrate and leverage emerging technologies like containers, while relying on the proven automation engine in OpenStack to handle compute, storage, and networking.”

https://www.mirantis.com/company/press-center/company-news/mirantis-collaborates-google-kubernetes-openstack-integration/
http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/2015/02/run-container-based-applications-on-OpenStack-with-Kubernetes.html

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RETN Deploys Infinera 500G Super-Channels Across Europe

RETN, which operates a DWDM network connecting 26 countries across Europe, Asia and North America, has deployed Infinera's DTN-X packet optical transport networking platform to power its network core and its crucial points of presence that are located in Europe.  RETN's homogeneous Pan-European network infrastructure along with associated Internet Protocol circuits is now capable of providing 100 Gbps services on multiple routes in Europe.

Infinera said its DTN-X platform enables RETN to deliver capacity of 100 Gbps coherent transmission today via 500 Gbps super-channels, with a forward-scale design to support terabit super-channels in the future. The high capacity super-channels are enabled by 500 Gbps photonic integrated circuits developed and fabricated by Infinera -- the only supplier delivering 500 Gbps of transmission capacity from a single line card today. PICs enable the DTN-X platform to integrate DWDM super-channel transmission with up to 12 Tbps of non-blocking optical transport network switching, providing seamless scaling as traffic requirements grow in the future. The DTN-X also features SDN-ready application programming interfaces that enable network programmability and automation of network operations to reduce both operational cost and service delivery times while facilitating new services.

"RETN's global footprint is growing rapidly due to constantly increasing traffic between different territories on the one hand, and RETN's intention to address our customers' geographical interests and to improve their connectivity between the world's largest telecommunications nodes. At the moment, the RETN network has a total capacity of 5 Tb/s on the four main traffic routes and handles a considerable amount of international Internet traffic. In order to respond to the traffic growth, we need to scale our network, while complying with strict requirements for high performance WDM equipment," said Anthony O'Sullivan, Director at RETN Ltd.

"For the past five years, Infinera's solutions have powered the RETN network and now RETN has again selected an Infinera Intelligent Transport Network for its network extension beyond Russia and into Central Europe," said Chris Champion, Infinera vice president, EMEA sales. "Infinera is pleased to continue to enable RETN to automate, converge and simplify its transport network to rapidly and reliably deliver advanced services to its customers."

http://www.retn.net
http://www.infinera.com

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Mavenir Debuts its SDN-enabled EPC

Mavenir Systems announced its advanced SDN-enabled Evolved Packet Core (EPC).

The company said it is providing a full suite of standards-defined EPC functions (SGW, PGW, MME and ePDG) on a virtualized software platform that provides the flexibility and efficiency needed to cost effectively scale Evolved Packet Core networks. Mavenir also provides mobile operators a comprehensive suite of virtualized core network functions, including session border controller (SBC), diameter routing agent (DRA), IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and security gateway (SEG), under the powerful mOne® software platform. Through service chaining of multiple Mavenir functions, operators can simplify network operations, secure the network, and reduce costs - quickly realizing the operational benefits of network functions virtualization (NFV).

“The SDN EPC is specifically designed to optimize the deployment of data and voice services for mobile operators transforming their networks to 4G LTE,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mavenir Systems. “As operators respond to the rapid increase in mobile data usage, adding new proprietary EPC hardware to scale networks linearly is cost prohibitive. Our innovative approach of combining NFV and SDN delivers a truly unique solution that addresses this problem statement.”

http://mavenir.com/Home/default.aspx

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Ixia Announces Native OpenFlow Integration

Ixia announced support for OpenFlow enabled switches from industry leading manufacturers for its ControlTower distributed network visibility platform.  Supported products include Arista, Dell and HP OpenFlow enabled switches.

Ixia said its ControlTower visibility solution allows customers to leverage SDN and seamlessly layer the sophisticated management and advanced processing features of Ixia’s Net Tool Optimizer (NTO) family of solutions on top of the flexibility and baseline feature set provided by OpenFlow switches.

Key highlights of the expanded visibility architecture include:

• Ease of use, advanced processing functions and single pane of glass configuration through Ixia’s NTO user interface and purpose-built hardware
• Full programmability and automation control using RESTful APIs
• Patented automatic filter compiler engine for hassle-free visibility
• Architectural support for line speeds from 1Gbps to 100Gbps in a highly scalable design
• Open, standards-based integration with the flexibility to use a variety of OpenFlow enabled hardware and virtual switch platforms
• Dynamic repartitioning of switch ports between production switching and visibility enablement to optimize infrastructure utilization

http://www.ixiacom.com/

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