Friday, May 29, 2015

Equinix Bids $3.6 Billion for TelecityGroup

Equinix is bidding to acquire TelecityGroup for £11.45 per share, 35% premium to the closing price of February 10, 2015, and representing an equity value of $3.6 billion.  The offer is composed of 50% stock and 50% cash.

Equinix said the merger would complement and extend its geographic footprint in Europe.

TelecityGroup operates 39 data centers with 1.2 million gross square feet of capacity in 12 metros across Europe. The business serves approximately 2,500 customers and generates about $574 million in annual revenue.

Equinix operates 105 data centers with 11 million gross square feet of capacity across 33 metros worldwide. Equinix serves approximately 6,300 customers and generates approximately $2.5 billion in annual revenue, of which about $650 million is from European operations.

The Boards of Equinix and TelecityGroup have reached agreement on the terms of the recommended cash and share offer.

http://www.equinix.com/


In February 2015, TelecityGroup plc and Interxion, both leading operators of data centers across Europe, announced plans for a merger. 


Under the deal, Interxion shareholders would receive 2.3386 new TelecityGroup shares per Interxion share. As a result, Interxion shareholders would own approximately 45%, and TelecityGroup shareholders approximately 55%, of the combined group. The primary listing for the combined group would be in London with a New York Stock Exchange listing for TelecityGroup’s existing ADR programme.


TelecityGroup, headquartered in the United Kingdom, operates 39 data centers in key European cities. It has annual turnover of £349 million.

Interxion, which is based in Amsterdam, operates 39 data centres across 11 countries.  It has annual turnover of £274 millio

Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 to Power Google's Project Tango

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor has been selected to power Google's next generation Project Tango smartphone development platform.

Project Tango devices combine the camera, gyroscope, and accelerometer to estimate six degrees of freedom motion tracking, providing developers the ability to track 3D motion of a device while simultaneously creating a map of the environment. This capability is especially useful for applications such as real-world 3D gaming, indoor navigation, and virtual and augmented reality experiences. The development platform will be available for purchase in Q3 2015.

The Snapdragon 810 processor is designed to deliver the most advanced connected mobile computing experiences across video, imaging and graphics, making it ideal for applications that require complex 3D mapping. The Qualcomm Adreno 430 GPU is designed to deliver fast graphics and compute performance while reducing power consumption. It offers support for camera image and video post-processing, hardware tessellation, geometry shaders and programmable blending, as well as advanced GPU security for secure composition and management of premium video and other multimedia. The Snapdragon 810 processor also supports superior camera functionality, including dual 14-bit Image Signal Processors (ISP) with fast autofocus, depth sensing, and advanced imaging software that helps enable advanced camera features particularly in low light environments. High quality 4K HEVC Ultra HD video encoding and decoding is also supported by Snapdragon 810.

"Qualcomm Technologies is pleased to power the next generation Project Tango development device," said Raj Talluri, senior vice president of product management, Qualcomm Technologies. "We're excited to work together with Google and Android developers to help deliver new, innovative visual expqtechnology on mobile devices."

http://www.qualcomm.com

Telefónica Becomes Largest Operator in Brazil

Telefónica Brasil completed its acquisition of Global Village Telecom (GVT) from Vivendi, making it the largest operator in Brazil both in terms of clients—with over 105 million accesses after the integration —and revenues.  The deal was first announced in September 2014.

Telefónica Brasil now has national coverage and is the leader in the mobile business and fixed ultra-broadband, while also strengthening its position in pay TV. Vivo has the largest national 3G network, with coverage in 3,200 Brazilian municipalities, as well as 4G (which covers more than 140 cities nationwide), while GVT has an extensive fibre optics network reaching 156 cities in 20 Brazilian states, besides the Federal District.

The purchase price included a total of 4,663 million euros (by means of cash settlement and debt assumption), as well as the handover of 12% of the share capital of the new Telefónica Brasil—resulting from the integration. In the coming weeks, Vivendi will exchange 4.5% of this interest for 8.3% of the ordinary shares of Telecom Italia, according to the terms agreed by the parties.

http://www.telefonica.com

ASUS Announces Servers Based on Cavium's 48-Core ARM

ASUS confirmed plans to build servers and server boards based on Cavium's ThunderX 64-bit, 48-core ARM platform, which promises extreme efficiency, expandability and enhanced-usability design for data centers, high-performance computing and enterprise, as well as small and medium business (SMB) environments. ASUS aims to deliver two-socket ARM servers and server boards from Q4 2015.

Gopal Hegde, Vice President and General Manager of Cavium's Datacenter Processor Group remarked: "With two-socket capability, great power efficiency, and built-in hardware acceleration, customer demand for our high-performance ThunderX ARM processors continues to grow. We are delighted to be working with ASUS, and we look forward to supporting this industry leader on a number of innovative new server designs."

http://www.cavium.com
http://www.asus.com

Singtel Plans 10G Residential Service

Singtel will be soon be deploying Next Generation GPON on its Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network. A pilot service will begin in the next quarter and Singtel plans to make the service available to all fibre customers in the later part of the year.

The technology will give customers the option of a 10 Gbps fibre broadband service, useful for applications such as running multiple 4K video sessions. The maximum bandwidth currently available to customers is 1Gbps on Singtel’s Unlimited Fibre plan.

“Over 70 per cent of our customers are on fibre. We believe in constantly innovating and looking for ways to bring them better speeds using the newest technologies,” said Mr Tay Soo Meng, Chief Technology Officer. “Most of these households already have multiple devices connected to their home network. The adoption of this technology will help us meet demand as the number of applications increase and become even more bandwidth intensive.”  

http://info.singtel.com/about-us/news-releases/singtel-first-singapore-launch-next-generation-gpon-pilot-service-residential

ABB Chooses BT for Global Communications

The ABB Group, which has over 140,000 employees in over 100 countries, has selected BT to transform its global communications infrastructure across Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. ABB, a world leader in power and automation, will also benefit from improved application performance and additional IT security delivered by BT.

Specifically, BT was selected to connect more than 700 ABB locations in more than 100 countries with its Internet Connect and IP Connect services, allowing ABB employees to work more securely, with a standardised experience for all users. The global network infrastructure designed by BT will connect users to data and applications stored in ABB’s hybrid cloud and will be the foundation for ABB’s future use of cloud services from a variety of suppliers. This includes the management of 400 firewalls and the provision of BT Assure cyber protection and analytics services to protect ABB’s network and IT systems against threats.

“The alignment with BT will enable us to move to a globally consistent, high quality network”, said Andy Tidd, Chief Information Officer at ABB. “This key component of our new IT infrastructure will support ABB’s three focus areas of profitable growth, relentless execution and business-led collaboration.”

http://www.btplc.com/

Sony Acquires Optical Archive Inc.

Sony Corporation of America acquired Optical Archive Inc. (OAI), a start-up developing optical storage systems for the data center market.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

OAI was founded by Frank Frankovsky, who previosly was a lead hardware engineer at Facebook and who served as Chairman/President of the Open Compute Project.

Sony said it plans to leverage OAI to develop new optical disc library systems that will meet the technological demands from the growing cold archive market.

The term "cold archive" refers to a class of data that must be retained over a long period of time but isn't accessed frequently, such as cloud-based photo storage and data retained for legal or regulatory reasons. Cold archive is the largest and fastest growing portion of the data center storage market.

"This acquisition marks the beginning of our commitment to this growing market," said Terushi Shimizu, Senior Vice President and Deputy President, Device Solutions Business Group, Sony Corporation.  "Optical disc libraries will provide many advantages to customers who are currently using tape or hard drive technology to store cold data, such as lower costs, extremely durable media life, and higher data throughput rates. We plan to leverage and expand our existing optical disc production lines in order to accommodate the growing demand for this media."

"We are thrilled to be part of Sony," said Frank Frankovsky, CEO of OAI.  "Merging Sony's excellence in optical engineering and manufacturing with OAI's experience and capabilities in data center hardware design and operations will deliver innovative new storage solutions to customers."

http://www.sony.com

Harris Completes Acquisition of Excelis

Harris completed its previously announced acquisition of Exelis, which supplies solutions for the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance market. Excelis, which was previously part of ITT Corporation, serves  military, government and commercial customers in the United States and globally.

“The Exelis acquisition is transformative for our company and marks a major milestone in Harris’ 120-year history,” said William M. Brown, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris. “With about $8 billion in combined pro forma revenue, the acquisition creates significantly greater scale, bringing together two engineering-driven companies and workforces with similar cultures that value technology leadership. Together, the two companies’ complementary technologies and capabilities strengthen core franchises and provide new opportunities for innovation to solve our customers’ most complex challenges.”

http://www.harris.com

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Cyber adAPT Teams with Napatech on Threat Detection

Cyber adAPT and Napatech  announced an integrated product solution for accelerated threat detection in high-speed networks.

Cyber adAPT is a non-signature based, agentless detection product that scans packets on the wire in real time, looking for and alerting on malicious network behavior already present inside the perimeter. It provides behavior detection capabilities at line speed with the precision required to avoid the all-too-common false alarms. Napatech specializes in accelerating network management and security applications.

By deeply integrating a 4 port 1 Gbps Napatech network accelerator into the solution, the entry level Cyber adAPT deployment is enhanced and enables the product to deliver high-speed processing of very large amounts of traffic by managing data flows at line speed with zero packet loss, allowing for true "real-time" analysis.

“Cyber adAPT products that include Napatech acceleration guarantees delivery of data to our probe under all conditions. Full line-rate packet capture with zero packet loss, frame buffering and optimal configuration of host buffer sizes remove the bottlenecks that can cause packet loss to reliably deliver the critical analysis data that Cyber adAPT security solutions demand,” stated Scott Millis, chief technology officer, Cyber adAPT.

“Staying ahead of the data growth curve often requires a combined solution and very often cannot be provided by only one company. We are proud to enhance the Cyber adAPT solution with our core accelerator technology to provide them with the high-speed processing they need to manage data flows at line speed. It is through the integration process that we are able to address the needs of today’s overtaxed network infrastructure,” said Peter Ekner, chief technology officer, Napatech.

http://www.napatech.com
http://www.cyberadapt.com


Avago's Acquisition of Broadcom Aims to Transform Networking Semiconductors

Avago Technologies agreed to acquire Broadcom for $17 billion in cash consideration and the economic equivalent of approximately 140 million Avago ordinary shares, valued at $20 billion as of May 27, 2015, resulting in Broadcom shareholders owning approximately 32% of the combined company. Based on Avago's closing share price as of May 27, 2015, the implied value of the total transaction consideration for Broadcom is $37 billion.

The merger will create the third largest global semiconductor company with strong presence in wired infrastructure, wireless infrastructure, enterprise storage, ASICs, PHYs, Ethernet switching silicon and set-top box silicon.  It will have combined annual revenues of approximately $15 billion and $77 billion in enterprise value.

Upon completion of the acquisition, the new company will be known as Broadcom Limited. Mr. Hock Tan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Avago, will continue to serve as President and CEO.  Broadcom co-founder Dr. Henry Samueli will join the board of the combined company as will another director from Broadcom. In addition, Dr. Samueli will be appointed Chief Technology Officer of the combined company. Broadcom co-founder Dr. Henry Nicholas will serve in a strategic advisory role within the combined company, reporting to Mr. Tan.

"Today's announcement marks the combination of the unparalleled engineering prowess of Broadcom with Avago's heritage of technology from HP, AT&T, and LSI Logic, in a landmark transaction for the semiconductor industry," said Hock Tan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Avago. "The combination of Avago and Broadcom creates a global diversified leader in wired and wireless communication semiconductors. Avago has established a strong track record of successfully integrating companies onto its platform. Together with Broadcom, we intend to bring the combined company to a level of profitability consistent with Avago's long-term target model."

"When Henry Nicholas and I founded Broadcom, we had a vision of creating the world leader in communications semiconductors. Today's announcement is a continuation of that vision and we could not think of a better partner for the future than Avago," stated Dr. Henry Samueli, Co-Founder, Chief Technical Officer and Chairman of the Board of Broadcom.

Avago intends to fund the $17 billion of cash consideration with cash on hand from the combined companies and $9 billion in new, fully-committed debt financing from a consortium of banks.

http://www.avagotech.com
http://www.broadcom.com

  • Avago Technologies, which is headquartered in Singapore and San Jose, California, was originally the semiconductor division of HP and, later, Agilent Technologies. The division was bought out by private investors KKR and Silver Lake Partners in 2005 and later completed an IPO in 2009.
  • In 2014, Avago Technologies acquired LSI Corporation for $6.6 billion, but later sold off LSI's SSD division to Seagate and then its Axxia networking division to Intel.
  • In February 2015, Avago agreed to acquire Emulex, which supplies Ethernet and Fibre Channel connectivity products to leading OEMS. In 2013, Emulex acquired Endace, which specializes in monitoring solutions. Emulex is based in Costa Mesa, California.
  • Broadcom, which is based in Irvine, California, was founded in 1991 by Henry Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III , two professors from UCLA. Broadcom has about 10,000 employees worldwide and holds more than 10,700 U.S. and 3,700 foreign patents. 2014 revenue was $8.43 billion. In 2014, Broadcom decided to exit its cellular baseband business.

AquaComms Embarks on New America-Europe Undersea Cable

AquaComms, a new venture based in Dublin, is preparing to launch a new trans-Atlantic cable by the end of this year.

TE SubCom has begun manufacturing on the America Europe Connect (AEConnect) subsea cable system, which will will land in Shirley, NY and Killala on the West Coast of Ireland. The cable will span more than 5,400 km with stubbed branching units for future landings. It will use CeltixConnect, an Irish Sea subsea cable wholly owned by AquaComms, to provide extended connectivity to London and greater Europe. The initial project cost is expected to be $300 million and is funded in part through a debt offering arranged by Nomura.

AEConnect will be optimized to carry 130 wavelengths of 100G per fiber pair. It will also feature an SDN control plan for advanced service provisioning.

"AquaComms' strategy is to build and operate a diversified, solution-based network, providing term and peak capacity product offerings and working in partnership with its contractors, equipment suppliers, backhaul network providers and customers to support the US's and Europe's expanding data requirements of today and for tomorrow, ultimately offering 'infrastructure-as-a-service'," says Greg Varisco, COO of AquaComms. "AEConnect is currently being constructed using state-of-the-art technology, with 100G-coherent design for low latency, reliable delivery for even the most bandwidth-hungry applications and direct data centre to data centre connectivity across the Atlantic."

http://www.AquaComms.com

Ericsson Tests Multipoint Connectivity with Distributed MIMO

As part of its 5G research, Ericsson is testing Multipoint Connectivity with Distributed MIMO, which involves very sophisticated signaling methods, which are not part of today's LTE standards, to control the mobile device's interaction with the network.  Ericsson's 5G air interface initiative, labeled "NX", includes this new Multipoint Connectivity with Distributed MIMO capability.

Ericsson noted that 5G will involve the entire future communication eco-system, from devices to mobile access, IP core and into the cloud. Its latest 5G test network initiatives focus on the interactions between mobile devices and the radio access network, in both indoor and outdoor circumstances.

Ericsson's 5G test networks, including both 5G mobile devices and 5G radio base stations, are running live at the company's premises in Plano Texas and in Stockholm.  The company said it welcomes mobile operators, eco-system partners, members of academia, tech media and analysts to visit these sites to witness and interact with Ericsson 5G innovations.

http://www.ericsson.com

Pica8 Leverages Open-vSwitch Database Protocol for Overlays

Pica8 announced that it is leveraging the Open-vSwitch (OVS) database protocol (OVSDB) to control hardware VTEPs (VXLAN Endpoints) as part of an overlay architecture and integrate with leading network virtualization systems such as MidoNet and NSX for VTEP provisioning.  This helps simplify VXLAN and Network Virtualization deployments.

“The adoption of open source software in the enterprise has become mainstream. Open networking is following on the same path and quickly gaining traction so we are very pleased to bring Midokura Enterprise MidoNet, the open source network virtualization overlay solution, to Pica8-enabled white box networking systems and be part of the modern open enterprise movement,” said Adam Johnson, VP of Business for Midokura.

“Pica8 has the most diverse set of overlay schemes available on white boxes, from NVGRE to VXLAN to MPLS via Labeled BGP,” said Rabiul Hasan, director of product line management at Pica8. “By offering users a broad choice of overlays and protocols, Pica8 ensures network investment protection and gives users all the tools they need to move toward an SDN future.”

http://www.pica8.com

Nokia Hits 600Mbps using 4X4 MIMO

Singapore's StarHub demonstrated 600Mbps peak download speeds using Nokia Networks’ 4X4 MIMO technology with LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation in a technical trial conducted at its headquarters.

Nokia said the 600Mbps data transmission speeds were achieved through combined 4x4 MIMO technology, along with Carrier Aggregation, to reach LTE-Advanced data speeds.

In addition, StarHub and Nokia Networks have successfully tested 3-band carrier aggregation using a commercial mobile device. The successful trials of 4x4 MIMO and multiband carrier aggregation pave the way towards even faster mobile broadband in future.

http://networks.nokia.com

Dell'Oro: Microwave Transmission Equipment Market Grew 9% in 1

Point-to-point microwave transmission equipment revenues grew nine percent year-over-year in the first quarter of the year, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. Sales of TDM microwave equipment plunged 42% year-over-year, sales of hybrid microwave equipment were up 9%, and sales of packet microwave equipment were up 14%. Huawei was ranked as the top supplier, followed by Ericsson, NEC and Alcatel-Lucent.

“The microwave transmission market grew at a very healthy rate,” said Jimmy Yu, Vice President of Microwave Transmission research at Dell’Oro Group. “In fact, we believe the year-over-year growth would have been much higher if it wasn’t for the strengthening US dollar.  Since we report on a US dollar basis, sales made in Euros convert to fewer US dollars.  We estimate this occurs in at least a quarter of the market.  As a proxy for the rise of actual demand, you can look at radio transceiver shipments, which we estimate grew at an astonishing 31 percent year-over-year,” Yu added.

http://www.delloro.com

UNH-IOL Hosts VDSL2 Vectoring Plugfest

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) hosted a plugfest earlier this month for vendors to test their latest VDSL2 vectoring equipment and software. The series of VDSL2 Vectoring Plugfest, organized by the Broadband Forum, have enabled participants to develop interoperable and deployable solutions. Participants included ADTRAN, Alcatel-Lucent, AVM GmbH, Broadcom, Calix, Ikanos, Lantiq, and Triductor.

“The plugfest test events serve a critical role in the industry, helping our member companies develop interoperable and robust solutions,” said Robin Mersh, Broadband Forum CEO. “Service providers around the world look to these events to ensure the equipment in their deployments is compatible with the state-of-the-art standards.”

http://www.iol.unh.edu

KT Skylife Deploys Ultra HD Set-top Boxes based on Broadcom

KT Skylife, a leading satellite broadcast provider in South Korea, has deployed the world's first Ultra HD set-top box built on Broadcom's single chip HEVC 4K/Ultra HD satellite chipset.

Broadcom's single-chip BCM7376 delivers fluid 60 frame-per-second (fps) video with vivid 10-bit color at 4X the resolution of conventional HD displays, allowing users to view life-like Ultra HD content on multiple devices. The combination of improved picture quality and color clarity is ideal for live-action viewing such as major sporting events and feature films.

"Broadcom's fully integrated Ultra HD solution combines dual Full-Band Capture front ends with eight demodulators and a 4K display in a single chip, providing greater ease of design and lower development cost," said Han Lee, CTO of KT Skylife. "As demand for Ultra HD content continues to grow at a rapid pace, we are thrilled to be the world's first to leverage Broadcom's single chip solution to deliver this unique and extraordinary viewing experience to our subscribers."

http://www.broadcom.com

Nokia Traffic Steering Manager Squeezes 10% Efficiency Gain

Nokia Networks has achieved a 10% increase in network capacity introducing a Traffic Steering Manager to automatically direct traffic to the most effective radio network layer.

The Nokia Traffic Steering Manager provides an automated way of managing the multitude of load balancing features available in the networks today reducing related operational effort significantly, up to 70%. It ensures that the traffic is distributed across the radio network layers and it can, for example, boost LTE layer usage automatically when deployed in the network. Traffic can be steered onto the best radio network layer according to network conditions and other criteria, e.g. device type.

http://networks.nokia.com

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Cisco: IP Traffic to Triple from 2014-2019

Driven by mobile access, increased demand for video services, and M2M communications, IP traffic will triple between 2014 and 2019, when it will reach a record 2 zettabytes, according to the 10th annual Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast.  This equates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 percent and marks the first global CAGR increase in consecutive VNI forecasts in nearly a decade (e.g., last year’s projected CAGR for 2013 – 2018 was 21 percent).

Cisco predicts that global IP traffic will reach 168 exabytes per month by 2019, up from 59.9 exabytes per month in 2014. Some highlights of the report::

  • In 2014, there were 2.8 billion Internet users, or 39 percent of the world’s population of 7.2 billion. By 2019, there will be about 3.9 billion Internet users, or 51 percent of the world’s projected population of 7.6 billion
  • In 2019, there will be 24 billion networked devices/connections.
  • There will be 3.2 networked devices/connections per capita by 2019, up from 2 per capita in 2014.
  • Globally, the average fixed broadband speed will increase two-fold from 20.3 Mbps in 2014 to 42.5 Mbps in 2019. 
  • Busy-hour (or the busiest 60‑minute period in a day) Internet traffic increased 34 percent in 2014, compared with 26 percent growth in average traffic. 
  • Busy-hour Internet traffic will increase by a factor of 3.4 between 2014 and 2019, while average Internet traffic will increase 2.8-fold. 
  • Busy-hour Internet traffic will reach 1.7 petabits per second (Pbps) by 2019. 
  • Content delivery networks will carry over half of Internet traffic by 2019. Globally, Sixty-two percent of all Internet traffic will cross content delivery networks by 2019 globally, up from 39 percent in 2014.
  • IP video will account for 80 percent of all IP traffic by 2019, up from 67 percent in 2014. 
  • By 2019, more than 14 percent of monthly IP traffic will derive from cellular connections, and 53 percent of monthly IP traffic will come from Wi-Fi connections globally, making differentiated and monetizable mobile strategies more important for all service providers.
  • Wi-Fi and mobile connected devices will generate 67 percent of IP traffic by 2019 – Wi-Fi: 53 percent and cellular: 14 percent – compared with fixed traffic, which will account for 33 percent of overall traffic.
  • In 2014, fixed traffic accounted for 54 percent of IP traffic, while Wi-Fi accounted for 42 percent and cellular 4 percent.
  • Connected Health consumer segment will represent the fastest M2M connections growth at 8.6-fold (54 percent CAGR) from 2014 to 2019.
  • By 2019, the highest traffic-generating countries will be the U.S. (45.7 exabytes/month) and China (21.9 exabytes/month).
  • By 2019, HD and ultra HD Internet video will make up 63 percent of Internet video traffic.

“It took 32 years – from 1984 to 2016 – to generate the first zettabyte of IP traffic annually. However, as this year’s Visual Networking Index forecasts, it will take only three additional years to reach the next zettabyte milestone when there will be more than 2 zettabytes of IP Traffic annually by 2019. As consumers, businesses and societies alike head towards the Digital Era with the Internet of Everything gaining momentum, VNI is even more relevant now in its 10th year than it was in its first. For our customers and the industry ecosystem as whole, we look forward to continuing to report on these trends, the challenges they bring, and the immense opportunities ahead,” stated Doug Webster, Vice President of Service Provider Products and Solutions Marketing, Cisco.

Fortinet to Acquire Meru Networks for $44 Million

Fortinet agreed to acquire Meru Networks for approximately $44 million in cash ($1.63 per Meru share).

Meru, which was founded in 2002 and completed its initial public offering in 2010, specializes in enterprise 802.11ac Wi-Fi solutions based on an open-standards-based architecture that is designed to enable unified management of wired and wireless networks. Its end-to-end application QoS enables enforceable service-level agreements. The company is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has more than 300 employees worldwide. For the full year ended December, 2014, Meru reported revenue of $90.9 million.  Meru’s portfolio includes:

  • Access points that deliver wireless connectivity to support data, voice, and video applications with superior performance, low latency and reliability.
  • Controllers to optimize wireless traffic across access points and client devices meeting mission-critical enterprise demands for wireless connectivity.
  • SDN enabled Wi-Fi system software that seamlessly manages and secures wired and wireless LANs, as well as efficiently provisions Wi-Fi enabled end-user devices.
  • Cloud and virtual wireless controllers and appliances that provide unprecedented choice and flexibility in deploying and scaling wireless infrastructure, whether through a data center or private cloud environment.

Fortinet said the acquisition is synergistic with its secure wireless vision and enterprise growth focus, enabling it to address the $5B global enterprise Wi-Fi market with integrated and intelligent secure wireless solutions. Fortinet’s FortiAP secure wireless access points and FortiWiFi integrated security appliances for enterprise branch offices and small businesses have been among the fastest growing products in the company’s “advanced technologies” portfolio. The addition of Meru’s intelligent Wi-Fi solutions to the Fortinet portfolio extends the delivery of a secure, uninterrupted user experience – anytime anywhere – providing peak performance in environments requiring high capacity load and a high-density of wireless users, such as enterprise, education, healthcare, and hospitality.

“The acquisition of Meru Networks maps to our overall security vision of combining strong network security with ubiquitous connectivity,” said Ken Xie, founder, chairman and CEO of Fortinet. “We expect this to accelerate our innovation through the delivery of new solutions and services to help enterprises of all sizes deploy, manage and secure wired and wireless networks in a mobile era. We believe the extension of our market-leading end-to-end security platform will increase our growth opportunities and benefit our customers and partners globally.”

http://www.fortinet.com/press_releases/2015/fortinet-announces-agreement-to-acquire-meru-networks.html

Aruba Adds 802.11ac Wave 2 APs with MU-MIMO

Aruba Networks (now part of HP) introduced an 802.11ac Wave 2 access point (AP) with dynamic multi-user multiple input/multiple output (MU-MIMO) grouping, significantly boosting network capacity. The new Aruba 30 series AP integrates a BLE Beacon that can help manage battery-powered Aruba Beacons from the cloud for firmware updates, battery life monitoring, and configuration changes.

Aruba also highlighted innovations in its patented ClientMatch technology, which originally solved the “sticky client” problem. The new enhanced Aruba ClientMatch incorporates intelligent awareness for Wave 2 MU-MIMO clients, automatically steering and grouping MU-MIMO devices together on Aruba 320 series APs. This allows the 320 series to transmit data to multiple Wave 2-enabled devices simultaneously, increasing overall network capacity.

“To accelerate the adoption of 802.11ac Wave 2 solutions, Qualcomm Atheros is working with networking leaders, like Aruba, to manufacture next generation Wi-Fi equipment,” said Irvind Ghai, vice president, Product Management, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. “Aruba has taken an innovative approach to maximizing Wave 2 performance with its enhanced ClientMatch dynamic MU-MIMO grouping. This technology is designed to automatically identify MU-MIMO-capable mobile devices and steer them to the closest Wave 2-capable access point to provide enterprise-grade performance and capacity.”

The Aruba 320 series APs will be available in calendar third quarter 2015. 320 series AP prices start at U.S. list $1,395. Enhanced ClientMatch is also available in June as part of the new ArubaOS 6.4.4 software enhancement.

http://www.arubanetworks.com

IEEE Study Suggests Multiple NG-EPON Specs

The IEEE released a Feasibility Assessment for the Next Generation of EPON based on the input of the wide industry ecosystem, including operators, system integrators, chip vendors, optics suppliers and others. Input was collected on the desired features and options for a next generation of EPON, operating at aggregate data rates above 10 Gigabit per second and minimizing the footprint and power consumption in optical access networks.

To address the diversity of market requirements, the referenced communication suggests consideration of multiple NG-EPON solutions, including a multi-wavelength 40G solution with an evolutionary path to 100G and single-wavelength solutions supporting the data rates of 25G symmetric or 25G downstream/10G upstream.

“The new PHYs need to consider the coexistence with the deployed EPON technologies and reuse functions and components of 10G-EPON to the extent possible,” states the IEEE 802.3 communication.

Said Marek Hajduczenia, chair of the IEEE 802.3 Industry Connections NG-EPON Ad Hoc and network architect with Bright House Networks: “The IEEE 802.3 Industry Connections NG-EPON Ad Hoc was launched to explore the market potential and technology options for an NG-EPON operating at data rates beyond 10G. The expectation is that information contained within the published communication will help with development of a future Call for Interest for NG-EPON and, afterwards, a new standard within the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group.”

http://www.ieee.org

Palo Alto Networks Acquires CirroSecure for SaaS Security

Palo Alto Networks has acquired CirroSecure, a Silicon Valley-based company with a solution for extending security into sanctioned, Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, like Box, Dropbox, GitHub, Google, Yammer, or Salesforce. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The CirroSecure technology offers a highly differentiated approach to securing these applications by providing visibility across all user, folder, and file activity while applying deep analytics into day-to-day usage to quickly determine if any policy or data security violations have occurred.

Palo Alto Networks said the addition of the CirroSecure technology to its Enterprise Security Platform provides additional security for SaaS applications, which often store some of an organization's most sensitive data. Palo Alto Networks expects the CirroSecure technology to be available in the second half of 2015 as a new subscription-based service.

https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/company/press/2015/palo-alto-networks-acquires-cirrosecure.html

Palo Alto Networks Posts Sales of $234.2 million, up 55% YoY

Palo Alto Networks reported record revenue for its fiscal third quarter 2015 of $234.2 million, up 55% compared with $150.7 million for the fiscal third quarter 2014. GAAP net loss for the fiscal third quarter 2015 was $45.9 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, compared with GAAP net loss of $146.6 million, or $1.96 per diluted share, for the fiscal third quarter 2014.

"We reported record revenue in the fiscal third quarter 2015 as we continue to expand market share with growth rates that significantly outpace the market. Our ongoing success is due to our natively integrated and highly automated enterprise security platform that delivers prevention capabilities at every step in the cyber-attack lifecycle," said Mark McLaughlin, president and chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks.

Steffan Tomlinson, chief financial officer of Palo Alto Networks, commented, "Year-over-year revenue growth of 55 percent was driven by new customer acquisition and expansion in existing accounts, resulting in substantial growth across all three components of our business: product, recurring subscription and support. At the same time we continued to realize the leverage inherent in our ramping hybrid-SaaS model, delivering sequential and year-over-year expansion of non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP earnings per share, and cash flow from operations."

http//www.paloaltonetworks.com

Cisco Training Adds IoT and Cloud Certification

New Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certifications are being added to Cisco's training program. The curricula focuses on the ability to connect the unconnected, automate and orchestrate services, and provide the infrastructure to enable real-time data analytics in a pervasive manner.

The new IoT-focused CCNA Industrial certification is a lab-based training and certification offering that is part of the CCNA Industrial Education curriculum. It is targeted at plant administrators, control engineers and IT/Network engineers working in manufacturing.

The new Cloud certification program will help enable professionals to build private and hybrid cloud-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, allowing IT to enable and control Enterprise-wide cloud deployments in a consistent, centralized manner.

http://www.cisco.com

Nokia to Acquire Eden Rock for SON

Nokia Networks has agreed to acquire Eden Rock Communications, a developer of multivendor, Self Organizing Network (SON) solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Eden Rock’s Eden-NET is a centralized, multivendor, SON solution for GSM, UMTS and LTE networks. It provides an open framework with a Software Development Kit (SDK) that accelerates the creation, customization and deployment of custom SON Modules. Additionally, Eden Rock offers its rich toolbox of off-the-shelf SON Modules, which have been proven at-scale across diverse networks globally. The company has 26 issued and 70+ pending patents.

Peter Patomella, Vice President, CEM and OSS, Nokia Networks, said: “The size of the optimization and SON market is expected to exceed 5 billion Euros globally by 2018. With our combination of capabilities, we will effectively address a key customer pain point: efficient optimization of heterogeneous networks in a multivendor environment. By combining our products, we will accelerate the delivery of a compelling solution that offers powerful automated network optimization capabilities that achieve best-in-class performance and customer experience.”

Charles Immendorf, CEO, Eden Rock, said: “A massive appetite exists among operators for a proven SON solution with disruptive technologies, open framework and carrier-class capabilities. Via this acquisition, Nokia Networks brings complementary SON functionality, a renowned reputation for wireless excellence and an ascending market presence to Eden-NET. We welcome the opportunity to work with Nokia and together aim to establish an insurmountable lead within the global SON space.”

As a part of this acquisition process, Eden Rock will spin-off a new company with its spectrum sharing solutions, technology and patents.

http://www.nokia.com
http://www.edenrockcomm.com


  • Eden Rock is based in Bothell, Washington.

Dell'Oro: WDM Sales Drive Optical Transport Equipment Market in Q1

The Optical Transport equipment market reached $2.8 billion in the first quarter of 2015, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. WDM equipment sales accounted for the majority of the optical market's growth. In the quarter, the total WDM market, which comprises 76 percent of the optical market's revenue, grew five percent year-over-year.

"One of the main drivers for WDM equipment demand is the interconnection of data centers, which are on the rise as users increase their consumption of content such as video," said Jimmy Yu, Vice President of Optical Transport research at Dell'Oro Group. "Of greater interest in the optical market is the changing customer type, as more of these data center interconnects (DCI) are purchased directly by the enterprise rather than as a service from an operator. We believe approximately 12 percent of WDM revenues in the first quarter were generated from data center interconnection, purchased directly by enterprise customers," added Mr. Yu.

http://www.delloro.com

365 Data Centers and SFMIX to Expand Internet Exchange into San Jose

365 Data Centers and the San Francisco Metropolitan Internet Exchange (SFMIX) announced a partnership to expand the Internet exchange into 365's colocation facility in San Jose, California (534 Stockton Avenue).

SFMIX is a non-profit organization that offers core IX fabric locations within the San Francisco Bay Area, and its exchanges are only placed within carrier-neutral data centers to facilitate more carrier choice, service options and high-speed connections.

"SFMIX is proud to be the only non-profit Internet Exchange in the Bay Area market and we're excited to continue our dramatic growth within 365's Silicon Valley facility," said Matt Peterson, co-founder of SFMIX. "The carrier-neutral meet-me room, redundant power systems, and extensive compliance certifications make 365's San Jose location an ideal peering location for networks of all types."

365 Data Centers recently launched a similar venture at its carrier-neutral facility in Nashville, Tenn., the NashIX, creating Nashville's first IX to lower latency and eliminate the need for costly long haul transport to regional exchange hubs.

"The Bay Area is a mature Internet exchange market that has been dominated by just a few IXs, resulting in higher prices for interconnection," said Keao Caindec, Chief Commercial Officer, 365 Data Centers. "Linking networks, data centers and content together to deliver improved performance and lower costs for our clients and their customers is a big win for the Bay Area."

http://365datacenters.com/
http://sfmix.org/

ECI Announces ElastiCLOUD DCI Solution

ECI announced its ElastiCLOUD data center interconnect solution.

The company said its platform will support more than 25T on a single fiber, offer low power consumption at less than 85W/100G,  and offer a mix of packet and optical interfaces in the same platform with extremely high density. ElastiCLOUD also support ECI’s LightApps SDN applications for dynamic bandwidth allocation, service scheduling and network automation.

“Data traffic continues to grow exponentially. In fact, according to industry reports, the amount of data traveling between data centers is expected to quadruple between 2013 and 2018. Clearly the cloud connectivity infrastructure, as we know it today, must evolve.  This is the main reason why ElastiCLOUD is a key addition to the ECI family of solutions. It is also extremely important as it supports ECI’s current focus on the US market, which is home to many cloud service providers and data center operators,” said Mr. Andreas Hegers, Head of Marketing at ECI.

http://www.ecitele.com

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

NTT Com Launches its Arcstar Universal One Virtual

NTT Com announced the global launch of Arcstar Universal One Virtual, which allows users to easily create, use and control overlay networks on-demand via existing corporate networks or the Internet using software-defined network (SDN) technology. An online portal facilitates real-time service activation and greatly reduces the time to add or change network configurations. NTT Com is planning to further enhance Arcstar Universal One Virtual with APIs.

To minimize latency, NTT Com has established Arcstar Universal One Virtual platforms on the East Coast of the United States and in the United Kingdom, joining existing platforms in Japa. Additional platforms will be established on the U.S. West Coast, Hong Kong and Singapore after July.

Arcstar Universal One Virtual is now available in 27 countries, including 12 in the Asia Pacific, 11 in the EU, Middle East and Africa, and 4 in the Americas.

http://www.ntt.com/aboutus_e/news/data/20150526.html


Earlier in May, NTT Communications announced three new SDN-powered capabilities for its Arcstar Universal One virtual private network (VPN) service, which is available in nearly 200 countries.

By the end of May, NTT Comm will add:
  • Multi-cloud - enterprise customers will be able to connect to services on private clouds other than NTT Com's Enterprise Cloud, such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.
  • Asset Light - the Arcstar Universal One Advanced Option menu will offer an application acceleration function that does not require additional hardware at the enterprise's locations. End-to-end communications via the cloud, including from customer endpoints and applications on mobile devices, can be rapidly deployed by the enterprise via a portal for accelerated performance and on a reduced cost basis.
  • Multi-client - Arcstar Universal One Virtual, a virtual network service first launched in Japan, will now be introduced on a global basis. Global customers will use this function for highly secure cloud connection via various devices, such as PCs, smartphones and tablets, and various networks, such as Arcstar Universal One, the Internet and the networks of other service providers. This function will also be a world's first.
NTT Com said it is able to leverage SDN to shorten the provisioning time for these new services, as well as lower operational costs.

http://www.ntt.com/universalone_e/vpn

EMC to Acquire Virtustream for $1.2 Billion - Hybrid Cloud Mgt.

EMC Corporation agreed to Virtustream, a start-up headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in San Francisco, Atlanta, London and Dubai, for approximately $1.2 billion in cash.

Virtustream offers a consumption-based hybrid cloud software and IaaS platform capable of providing commercial application latency performance guarantees for running mission-critical enterprise class applications on modern multi-tenant cloud architectures.Virtustream’s xStream software features consumption-based billing and embedded µVM (micro-VM) technology for assuring application-level SLAs. The company owns data centers in the U.S. and Europe with service provider partner data centers in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

EMC said the acquisition represents a transformational element of its strategy to help customers move all applications to cloud-based IT environments.  Virtustream will form EMC’s new managed cloud services business.

“This acquisition is great news for our customers, VMware and the EMC Federation of businesses.  With the addition of Virtustream, we will be able to offer customers a comprehensive set of hybrid cloud offerings, including private, managed and public cloud solutions. As we deliver VMware vCloud Air to our customer base to help them continue their journey to the cloud, Virtustream complements and expands our value proposition,” stated Pat Gelsinger, Chief Executive Officer, VMware.

SAP, which has a long-term partnership with Virtustream, stated that it looks forward to continuing the alliance with EMC.

http://www.virtustream.com/
http://www.vmware.com
http://www.emc.com

HP to acquire ConteXtream for NFV/SDN Controller

HP agreed to acquire ConteXtream, a provider of OpenDaylight-based, carrier-grade SDN fabric for NFV, and a current HP OpenNFV partner. Financial terms were not disclosed.

ConteXtream, which is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has development offices in Israel, offers a Carrier-SDN framework that dynamically and elastically connects subscribers to services and enables carriers to leverage standard, low-cost server hardware and hypervisors to virtualize functions and services. The solution controls traffic flows through the
network using a distributed controller and virtual switches to efficiently load balance traffic on all resources, whether virtual or physical. The company was established in 2007 and has been deployed at tier-one telcos and MSOs. ConteXtream is headed by Nachman Shelef, who previously was a general partner of Benchmark Capital and a co-founder of the Benchmark Israel venture fund. Nachman's background also includes founding and heading NiceCom, a company acquired by 3Com.

HP said ConteXtream’s open SDN controller platform complements its own NFV expertise and telecommunications and IT experience.   HP has been a global reseller of ConteXtream technology solutions and ConteXtream is an HP AllianceOne partner.

After the transaction closes, ConteXtream will become part of HP’s Communications Solutions Business. ConteXtream’s current CEO, Chairman, and co-founder Nachman Shelef will continue to lead the ConteXtream business within HP and will report to me.

http://www8.hp.com/hpnext/posts/hp-contextream-accelerate-nfv#.VWTkac_49_A

Charter to Acquire Time Warner Cable, Bright House

Charter Communications agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable in a deal valued at $78.7 billion.  In addition, Charter and Advance/Newhouse Partnership amended an earlier merger deal (announced March 31) to allow for the three-way combination reate a leading broadband services and technology company serving 23.9 million customers in 41 states.  Liberty Broadband has agreed to purchase, upon closing of the Time Warner Cable transaction, $4.3 billion of newly issued shares of New Charter.

The companies said their mega-merger will drive investment in their advanced broadband network, allowing for wider deployment of new competitive facilities based Wi-Fi networks in public places, and the footprint expansion of optical networks to serve the large marketplace of small and medium sized businesses.

"With our larger reach, we will be able to accelerate the deployment of faster Internet speeds, state-of-the-art video experiences, and fully–featured voice products, at highly competitive prices. In addition, we will drive greater competition through further deployment of new competitive facilities-based WiFi networks in public places, and the expansion of the facilities footprint of optical networks to serve the large, small and medium sized business services marketplace. New Charter will capitalize on technology to create and maintain a more effective and efficient service model. Put simply, the scale of New Charter, along with the combined talents we can bring to bear, position us to deliver a communications future that will unleash the full power of the two-way, interactive cable network," stated Tom Rutledge, President and CEO of Charter Communications.

http://ir.charter.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=112298&p=irol-irhome
http://www.timewarnercable.com/

Akamai Enters Strategic Cloud Services Partnership with China Unicom

Akamai Technologies has formed a strategic partnership agreement with China Unicom' cloud division – CU Cloud, one of the largest cloud computing service providers in China.

As part of the strategic partnership, CU Cloud has agreed to complement its own cloud services for global businesses with Akamai's full suite of industry-leading media delivery, web performance, and cloud security offerings.

Specifically, CU Cloud plans to leverage Akamai for CDN technology that will be available for the delivery of its Cloud services. Akamai enables operators to deploy a highly scalable, completely turnkey CDN that leverages the same technologies found within the Akamai Intelligent Platform.

http://www.akamai.com

Nimble Storage Hits Revenue of $71 Million, up 53% YoY

Nimble Storage's revenue increased 53% to $71.3 million for its fiscal first quarter 2016, up
from $46.5M in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Excluding fluctuations in foreign currency, revenue would have been $73.4M representing a 58% increase over first quarter of fiscal 2015.

GAAP net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 was $29.0 million, or $0.38 per basic and diluted share, compared with a net loss of $19.6 million, or $0.28 per basic and diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.

"As enterprises aim to consolidate storage infrastructure to contain cost and complexity, while still delivering tailored service levels for hundreds of business-enabling applications, we believe that we stand alone in our ability to address the broadest spectrum of requirements among next-generation flash-optimized storage platforms," said Suresh Vasudevan, chief executive officer, Nimble Storage. "Our Q1 results serve as evidence of our continued momentum. During the quarter, we added 542 new customers, more than doubled our bookings from enterprise and service provider customers, and achieved record bookings contribution from current customers expanding their Nimble installations."

http://investors.nimblestorage.com

Radisys Lands $11 Million VoLTE Order from Asian Carrier

Radisys announced a follow-on order of approximately $11 million for its MediaEngine product from a large Asian carrier in support of its VoLTE network deployment. The order is expected to be fulfilled by Radisys over the course of the second and third quarters of 2015.

“We are energized by the opportunity to continue participating in the VoLTE deployment of this large Asian carrier, in addition to the broad acceleration we are seeing in the adoption of VoLTE and VoWiFi globally,” said Brian Bronson, Radisys President and CEO. “The deployment by this carrier also demonstrates the power of our common MediaEngine strategy, OneMRF, allowing communication service providers to deploy a single media processing platform to support a variety of multimedia services from 3rd party application providers.”

“Finally, this order gives us further confidence in meeting our 2015 financial targets, delivering $0.20 of non-GAAP earnings per share and growing our Software-Systems revenues by 20% year-on-year.”

http://www.radisys.com

T-Mobile Czech Test 400G with Alcatel-Lucent

T-Mobile Czech Republic completed a trial of 400 Gbps transmission over its existing network using optical equipment from Alcatel-Lucent.  Specifically, Alcatel-Lucent supplied its 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) together with the 400G Photonic Service Engine (PSE) over the 320km.

“Besides our existing commitments, delivering  high-bandwidth access via TeraStream, it’s also key for us to permanently verify new and innovative technology options. We always want to offer our customers the best user experience via technology leadership," stated Vladimir Klein, CTO of T-Mobile Czech Republic.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/press/2015/alcatel-lucent-and-t-mobile-czech-republic-complete-400g-network-trial

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Huawei Launches its Cloud Fabric 3.0 Data Center Architecture

Huawei launched its SDN-powered Cloud Fabric 3.0 Architecture for fast service innovation and efficient ICT resource integration in data centers in the cloud computing era.

The solution comprises Huawei's CloudEngine series data center switches and Agile Controller and its new software-defined data center storage area network (DC-SAN), which supports 100G trunks and 25GE servers. Huawei's said its CE12800 series data center switch provides up to 160 Tbps of performance. The company is also launching a 36X100GE high-speed line card that supports 3.6T line-speed forwarding.

Huawei noted that since launching its Cloud Fabric Architecture in 2012, it has been deployed in more than 1,000 data centers across 80 countries around the world.

http://pr.huawei.com/en/news/hw-433503-fabric3.0architecture.htm#.VV6xOvn49_A

Comcast and Level 3 Reach Long-term Interconnection Agreement

Comcast and Level 3 Communications reached a new multi-year, bilateral interconnection agreement for exchanging Internet traffic between their networks.

The companies said the deal will help both companies meet their customers’ needs into the next decade and beyond.

“We are delighted to strengthen our relationship with Level 3. Today’s announcement reflects the important ways in which network participants exchange value in an innovative marketplace,” said John Schanz, chief network officer at Comcast Cable. “We place great value on our relationships with network partners like Level 3 and are continually seeking mutually beneficial, market-driven agreements that enhance value throughout the network.”

“We believe the agreement will benefit Level 3’s and Comcast’s customers for years to come,” said Jack Waters, chief technology officer for Level 3. “Our companies share the goal of enabling a growing, secure and resilient interconnection environment.”

http://www.comcast.com
http://www.level3.com

HP Sells its Stake in H3C along with China-based Server & Storage Businesse

HP agreed to sell its 51% stake in H3C, along with its own HP Server, Storage and Technology Services Businesses in China, to Tsinghua Holdings Subsidiary for approximately $2.3 billion, valuing the total business at $4.5 billion (net of cash and debt).

The companies said that by combining H3C with the HP's China-based server, storage and tech services businesses, will create a technology powerhouse in China with a market-leading portfolio that will be #1 in networking and a leader in servers, storage and technology services. The new H3C will have approximately 8,000 employees and approximately $3.1 billion in annual revenue. Once the transaction closes, the new H3C will be the exclusive provider for HP's server, storage and networking portfolio, as well as HP's exclusive hardware support services provider in China, customized for that market.

HP said it sees continued long-term growth opportunities in China, and HP China will maintain 100% ownership of its existing China-based Enterprise Services, Software, HP Helion Cloud, Aruba Networks, Printing and Personal Systems businesses.

"HP is making a bold move to win in today's China," said Meg Whitman, Chairman and CEO, HP. "Partnering with Tsinghua, one of China's most respected institutions, the new H3C will be able to drive even greater innovation for China, in China. The combined company will build upon an extensive and valuable patent portfolio, best-in-class products and customer focus, and Tsinghua's world-class research capability. In one move, we have repositioned HP and H3C to accelerate overall performance and better serve our customers and partners."

http://www.hp.com

HP Says Split is On Track, Completes Acquisition of Aruba

HP reported net revenue of $25.5 billion for its second fiscal quarter, down 7% from the prior-year period and down 2% on a constant currency basis.  Second quarter GAAP diluted net earnings per share (EPS) was $0.55, down from $0.66 in the prior-year period and below its previously provided outlook of $0.57 to $0.61. Second quarter non-GAAP diluted net EPS was $0.87, down from $0.88 in the prior-year period and within its previously provided outlook of $0.84 to $0.88.

HP announced that its planned separation into two independent, Fortune 50 companies remains on track.  The company expects associated dis-synergies of approximately $400 to $450 million.

In addition, HP completed its acquisition of Aruba Network earlier this month.

Some highlights for the quarter.


  • Personal Systems revenue was down 5% year over year with a 3.0% operating margin. 
  • Commercial revenue decreased 7% and Consumer revenue decreased 2%. Total units were up 2% with Notebooks units up 19% and Desktops units down 14%.
  • Printing revenue was down 7% year over year with an 18.3% operating margin. Total hardware units were down 4% with Commercial hardware units up 1% and Consumer hardware units down 6%. Supplies revenue was down 5%.
  • Enterprise Group revenue was down 1% year over year with a 14.5% operating margin. Industry Standard Servers revenue was up 11%, Storage revenue was down 8%, Business Critical Systems revenue was down 15%, Networking revenue was down 16% and Technology Services revenue was down 8%.  Additionally, HP closed its acquisition of Aruba in May.
  • Enterprise Services revenue was down 16% year over year with a 4.0% operating margin.  Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing revenue was down 20%, and Application and Business Services revenue declined 8%.
  • Software revenue was down 8% year over year with a 17.9% operating margin. License revenue was down 17%, support revenue was down 2%, professional services revenue was down 15% and software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue was down 5%.
  • HP Financial Services revenue was down 7% year over year with a 2% decrease in net portfolio assets and a 1% decrease in financing volume. The business delivered an operating margin of 10.6%.

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/press-release.html?wireId=1951111&pageTitle=HP+Reports+Fiscal+2015+Second+Quarter+Results+#.VV63Pvn49_B

In March 2015, HP agreed to acquire Aruba Networks for $24.67 per share in cash, reflecting an equity value of approximately $2.7 billion net of cash and debt.

Aruba, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, is a leading supplier of WLAN solutions for enterprises.  The company had revenues of $729 million in fiscal 2014, and has reported compound annual revenue growth of 30 percent over the last five years. It has approximately 1,800 employees.  Aruba has made rapid progress in 802.11ac Wi-Fi upgrades.  It offers integrated solutions for many vertical market segments, such as retail or healthcare.

HP said Aruba's marketing and channel model will complement its own networking business and go-to-market breadth.  Together, the companies will focus on next-generation converged campus solutions, leveraging the strong Aruba brand.  This new combined organization will be led by Aruba’s Chief Executive Officer Dominic Orr, and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, Keerti Melkote, reporting to Antonio Neri, leader of HP Enterprise Group.  With this move, HP will be uniquely positioned to deliver both the innovation and global delivery and services offerings to meet customer needs worldwide.

Comcast Brings Residential 2 Gig Service to Utah

Comcast will begin offering a residential, symmetrical, 2 Gigabit-per-second service throughout its service area in Utah starting this summer. The Comcast Gigabit Pro service will be delivered via a fiber-to-the-home solution for customers in close proximity to its fiber network.

In addition, Comcast is launching Extreme 250, a new 250 Mbps Internet speed tier for Utah customers. This change begins to go into effect May 19 and will continue throughout the year.

Comcast noted that, to date, it has built out more than 145,000 route miles of fiber across its service area. The company said it is currently testing DOCSIS 3.1, a scalable, national, next generation 1 Gbps technology solution and plans to begin rolling out DOCSIS 3.1 in early 2016. When fully deployed, almost every customer in the company’s footprint in Utah and nationwide will be able to receive gigabit speeds over Comcast’s existing network (a combination of both fiber and coax).

Comcast has announced Gigabit Pro rollouts in Atlanta, California, Chattanooga, Chicago, Florida and Nashville and plans to roll out to more cities throughout the year.

“This is Comcast’s 15th speed increase in 13 years. We are excited to boost our existing speeds and most importantly introduce new Internet tiers like the Extreme 250 and Gigabit Pro that will allow our Utah customers to do more online, across multiple devices,” said Kyle McSlarrow, Regional Senior Vice President of Comcast in Utah. “We will continue to look for opportunities to increase speeds to not only stay ahead of customer demand, but also to provide a wide range of options that meet a variety of customer needs. Comcast is committed to bring the fastest speeds to the most homes in Utah whether wired or on Wi-Fi.”

http://www.comcast.com