DOCOMO's Advanced C-RAN Delivers 240 Mbps using 35 MHz

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.

The successful field trial paves the way for commercial deployment of the technology together with the launch of DOCOMO's LTE-Advanced network in March.

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.

https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2014/150205_00.html

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China Mobile Tests LTE-A Carrier Aggregation with 64QAM

China Mobile completed a field trial of uplin

k Carrier Aggregation on its LTE network in Jiangsu province in partnership with Huawei.

The test included uplink CA and 64QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and yielded a 180% increase in the uplink rate,

Huawei said the better uplink performance demonstrated in this test could prove useful for applications such as picture and video sharing by individual users, as well as video surveillance, telemedicine, and shoot-and-transmit for enterprise users.  The company also noted that its customer China Mobile has already started upgrading the entire network in Shenzhen to TDD LTE-A by enabling the downlink CA.

http://pr.huawei.com/en/news/hw-413630-ca.htm#.VNL1U_6jOM4

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Equinix Cloud Exchange Now Reaches 19 Markets Globally

Equinix announced that its Cloud Exchange is now available in 19 markets globally — Amsterdam, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Osaka, Paris, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C.  The service will add Melbourne and Zurich in the coming months.

The Equinix Cloud Exchange is an advanced interconnection solution that enables seamless, on-demand and direct access to multiple clouds and multiple networks.  The goal is to give enterprises direct access to services for building sophisticated hybrid cloud solutions inside Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers. Since launching the service in April of 2014, Equinix has added AWS, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, SoftLayer, and others as cloud partners.

So far, the reports that nearly one hundred companies — enterprises, networks and cloud service providers — have joined Equinix Cloud Exchange.

Equinix also cited a rapid global adoption with the addition of network and cloud providers around the globe, including Telefonica, TI Sparkle and IX Reach in EMEA and NTT and Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) in Asia Pacific. For this reason, the company recently acquired Nimbo, a professional services company focused on enterprise cloud infrastructure. Nimbo helps enterprises migrate existing legacy applications into a hybrid cloud infrastructure and connect legacy data centers to the cloud, especially AWS and Microsoft Azure.

In addition, More than 100 companies have deployed Equinix Performance Hub, a distributed network architecture that speeds network and application performance by placing resources closer to end users.

"Enterprises are choosing Equinix not only for our unmatched ecosystem and global footprint, but also because of these solutions that enable them to solve real-world challenges and advance their IT initiatives. With global enterprises like CDM Smith, GP Strategies and HarperCollins utilizing the Equinix Performance Hub and Cloud Exchange solutions, we're further cementing our position as the home of interconnected enterprise clouds," stated Tony Bishop, vice president, global enterprise, Equinix.

http://www.equinix.com/company/news-and-events/press-releases/enterprises-re-architect-it-with-equinix-interconnection-solutions/

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Nuage Networks Selected by China Telecom’s Cloud Arm

CTCC, the Cloud Computing Branch of China Telecom, has selected Nuage Networks for its self-serve public cloud services.

CTCC is one of the largest cloud computing service providers in the country, responsible for China Telecom’s comprehensive cloud services.

Nuage Networks was chosen to provide SDN capability that operates seamlessly in CTCC’s complex and geographically dispersed network infrastructure. Nuage Networks will also address CTCC’s network security requirements, helping guard against the customer impact of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks by providing full network isolation in order to prevent attacks against a single customer impacting others.

Nuage Networks said its Virtual Routing and Switching (VRS) module will substantially increase the efficiency of each network port to enable the support of more virtual machines per server.

“We are pleased that Nuage Networks has helped us to achieve scalability in our cloud infrastructure and improve the availability of the services. We can now offer our customers self-serve public cloud services in a more secure and dynamic way, giving them services that are tailored to meet their unique business requirements,” said Guang Xiaoming, the chief technology officer of CTCC.

Sunil Khandekar, CEO of Nuage Networks added: “We are excited to work with CTCC in support of their public cloud implementation. CTCC’s customers deserve instant access to public cloud services that are supported by a network that is capable of responding to their changing needs, and the full range of applications that they require and depend on to power their businesses.”

http://www.nuagenetworks.net/news/china-telecoms-cloud-arm-chooses-nuage-networks-sdn-technology-enable-public-cloud-services-china/

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FCC Chairman Seeks to Extend Title II Authority to Wireless Too

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler confirmed that he circulating a proposal this week with his fellow commissioners that would  implement and enforce open Internet protections using Title II authority.  In a column published by Wired.com, Wheeler describes his proposal as "the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC."

Specifically, Wheeler seeks enforceable, bright-line rules to ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services. In addition, he proposes to fully apply those bright-line rules to mobile broadband.

His column is posted here:

http://www.wired.com/2015/02/fcc-chairman-wheeler-net-neutrality/

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AMS-IX Opens in Telx's NYC2 Data Center

The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) has established a Point of Presence (PoP) within Telx's NYC2 data center facility at 111 8th Avenue in New York.

AMS-IX New York provides a physical platform, deployed within five data center facilities, where parties can meet to exchange internet-related traffic with one another. Together with Telx’s growing customer base and interconnection capabilities, the two companies are able to offer reliable, fast, and cost-effective internet peering services to their end-users and business customers within a secure environment.

This partnership enables AMS-IX New York and Telx to provide customers with additional peering opportunities to other connected parties on the platform, including those customers that are located in other data center facilities, such as nearby NYC1 at 60 Hudson Street and NYC3 at 32 Avenue of the Americas. These two facilities, along with NYC2, comprise the “The NYC Trifecta” in Manhattan, offering seamless connectivity and providing small, medium, and enterprise businesses with access to the same network-rich interconnections regardless of their location. In addition, the Trifecta acts as a central hub for leading global service providers to access physical connection points to the world’s telecommunications networks.

https://nynj.ams-ix.net/

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Austria's Citycom Picks Ciena for Packet Optical Upgrade

Austria's Citycom has selected Ciena and Kapsch BusinessCom to upgrade its network for Carrier Ethernet business services, including high-capacity broadband, VoIP, resilient data center interconnections, and access to critical cloud-based IT services such as CRM and payroll platforms for Citycom’s public sector, financial services and media customers.

Citycom, part of Graz City Council (Die Holding Graz), owns and operates 1,200 kilometres of fibre-optic metro network and two state-of-the-art data centres in Graz, providing fast, reliable, low-latency Ethernet business services, including carrier wholesale and last mile connectivity (FTTH), to public sector, enterprise and small and medium sized business (SMB) customers. Citycom also owns a long-haul, nationwide, packet-optical backbone network connecting third-party carriers and international partners in major cities across Austria, including Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Linz, Wels and Gleisdorf.

Ciena will supply its converged packet optical and packet networking solutions, including the 6500 Packet Optical Platform, 8700 Packetwave Platform, 5142 and 5160 Service Aggregation Switches, as well as the 3902, 3916 and 3930 Service Delivery Switches. Ciena’s OneControl also enables Citycom to differentiate its services with dynamic provisioning and proactive monitoring. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.ciena.com/

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France's Hub One Selects Coriant for Packet Optical

Hub One, a leading player in mobility and telecoms services in France, has selected Coriant's 7100 Nano Packet Optical Transport Platform for a new WDM network interconnecting the airports of Paris -- Charles de Gaulle, Le Bourget and Orly.

Coriant's 7100 Nano is an integrated packet optical transport and multiservice delivery solution for wireless, fixed line and business services networks. With a small form factor, low power consumption, and a robust suite of features, the 7100 Nano is the ideal solution for multiservice metro deployments and data interconnect applications. It supports up to 88 channels, with interfaces ranging from 100 Mbps to 100 Gbps.  It also features an integrated dynamic optical core and intelligent services interfaces that together deliver Add/Drop Multiplexer (ADM) capability, Layer 2 packet switching on a single blade, and OTN multiplexing and switching. It offers software-configurable ports supporting SONET/SDH, OTN, Ethernet and Storage Area Network (SAN) interfaces.

"The three airports located in the Paris metropolitan area are some of the busiest across Europe, serving thousands of travelers every day. Providing a secure and reliable communications network is crucial for our customers," stated Patrice Bélie, CEO of Hub One. "Global travelers and the local businesses providing services to the airports utilize a growing array of powerful mobile devices. As data consumption of travelers continues to increase and connectivity becomes increasingly important, the Coriant solution will provides us with proven technology to guarantee a continuous service to our end-user customers."

http://www.coriant.com/company/press_release.asp?id=1189

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