Alcatel-Lucent Intros 400G IP Router Interface with DWDM Optics

Alcatel-Lucent introduced a 1-port 400G IP line card with integrated, tunable DWDM optics that enables data transmission between existing Alcatel-Lucent IP Routers at speeds of 400 Gbps line rate over hundreds of kilometers.

The new Alcatel-Lucent 1-port 400G IP line card, which is powered by the company's FP3 400G routing processor, provides the industry’s first ‘clear channel 400G’ capability, avoiding the need to aggregate IP traffic over multiple 100G links. It could also be used to interconnect routers at 400G using alien wavelengths over a DWDM transport network. The 1-port 400G IP line card will be available for use in Alcatel-Lucent’s XRS IP Core Routers and on its 7750 SRs in the second-half of 2015.

Alcatel-Lucent will also be introducing GMPLS-UNI (Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching User Network Interface) to its IP router portfolio in the second half of 2015.  This will enable operators to coordinate the optical and IP network layers. Greater control plane co-ordination between IP and optical networks can deliver efficiency gains of 40%, according to a recent study by Bell Labs, the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent.

"Networks need to evolve to ever higher capacity and port speeds, but changes can be costly. The transition from 10G to 100G was very disruptive for many network operators, but today we can say we are the first router vendor to enable the transition from 100G to 400G link speeds, leveraging our FP3 technology so that there is no disruption to operators in terms of  having to retrofit or forklift their installed hardware base,” stated Steve Vogelsang, CTO for IP Routing and Transport.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/press/2015/alcatel-lucent-boosts-operator-capacity-deliver-big-data-and-video-over-existing-networks-launch

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Equinix Readies for 100G Data Center Interconnect Services with Infinera DTN-X

Equinix has deployed the Infinera DTN-X packet optical transport networking platform to interconnect its data centers in Frankfurt, Toronto and Singapore.

Infinera said its DTN-X platform enables Equinix to offer differentiated services and increase network efficiency as it scales its global network capacity to address the rapid growth in demand for 10, 40 and 100 Gbps data center interconnect services. The platform can deliver capacity of 100 Gbps coherent transmission today via 500 Gbps super-channels, featuring a forward-scale design to support 1.2 terabit per second (Tbps) super-channels in the future. The high capacity super-channels are enabled by Infinera's unique 500 Gbps photonic integrated circuits (PICs), which integrate wavelength division multiplexing super-channel transmission with up to 12 Tbps of non-blocking optical transport network (OTN) switching. The DTN-X also features SDN-ready application programming interfaces that are engineered to enable network programmability and automation of network operations to reduce both operational cost and service delivery times while enabling new services.

Equinix operates its International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers in 32 markets across 15 countries in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific regions.

"Equinix continues to invest in strengthening the underlying infrastructure of our IBX data centers, which will increase our ability to anticipate and serve our customers' needs," said Ihab Tarazi, Equinix CTO. "With Infinera's Intelligent Transport Networks we are able to deliver rapid service, increase flexibility within our ever-expanding global footprint and leverage SDN-ready features for network automation capabilities."

"Equinix's deployment of the Infinera Intelligent Transport Network highlights our solution's ability to be highly flexible and to provide a reliable, high capacity interconnection network between data centers," said Bob Jandro, Infinera senior vice president, worldwide sales. "We are pleased to support Equinix by providing these critical benefits for the efficient interconnection of global data center networks."

http://www.infinera.com

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Cisco Offers Free Version of ConfD Tool from Tail-f

Cisco is releasing a free, basic version of its ConfD management
agent software to the industry with an unlimited, perpetual license with the goal of accelerating the adoption of network programmability.

ConfD, which was developed by Tail-f (now part of Cisco), is a management agent framework with a rich set of APIs for developers of physical and virtual networking devices. ConfD is the leading implementation of the NETCONF protocol driven by the YANG data modeling language. It is currently used by more than 75 network equipment providers.

Cisco said its no-cost Basic ConfD is feature-rich and will be available for production use without additional fees for NETCONF. The premium version of ConfD, including a complete set of north-bound interfaces including CLI, REST and SNMP, continues to be commercially available.

Tail-f's other product is NCS, a multi-vendor network service orchestrator for traditional and virtualized networks.  This product is transitioning to the Cisco portfolio and will be marketed under the name Cisco Network Service Orchestrator enabled by Tail-f.

"We continue to see strong demand from networking vendors, as they sharply ramp up their efforts to provide standardized programmatic interfaces to their virtual or physical network devices," said Fredrik Lundberg, director of strategy and planning, Cisco's cloud and virtualization group. "ConfD dramatically reduces the time and resources needed to develop network management interfaces. Networking vendors leverage Basic ConfD to rapidly develop products that are fully NETCONF- and YANG-compliant."

Basic ConfD is available now and can be downloaded from the Tail-f website.

http://www.tailf.com/

http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1593031

In June 2014, Cisco agreed to acquire privately held Tail-f Systems, a leader in multi-vendor network service orchestration solutions for traditional and virtualized networks, for approximately $175 million in cash and retention-based incentives.

Tail-f, which is based in Stockholm, Sweden, is known for its multi-vendor configuration management and network automation software.  The Tail-f Network Control System (NCS) provides a single network-wide interface to all network devices and all network applications and services, as well as a common modeling language and datastore for both services and devices. Engineers can use NCS to gain fine-grained control over multi-vendor equipment using a single tool.

The Tail-f ConfD software for on-device management provides automatic rendering of all northbound interfaces. It implements the NETCONF protocol and YANG modeling language.

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Aquantia Brings Multi-Gigabit over Copper Backhaul to Small Cells

Aquantia, which is the leading supplier of 10GBASE-T PHYs for copper connectivity in data centers, is bringing its technology to mobile infrastructure, including in-building C-RAN architectures that rely on Remote Radio Unit (RRU) sending the digitized RF spectrum to a centralized Baseband Unit (BBU) for processing.

Aquantia's new AQcell product line is designed to transport digitized cellular data at multi-Gigabit per second rates over 200-meters of copper cable, while also providing Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) capabilities. The company is introducing a single-port (AQC105) and quad-port (AQC405) configurations, both implemented in 28nm.

“Small cell deployments are witnessing high growth as service providers cope with greater volumes of indoor cellular network traffic,” said Faraj Aalaei, President and CEO of Aquantia. “AQcell was designed specifically to accelerate small cell growth by enabling a highly scalable front-haul transport solution. It removes significant barriers to entry for next generation equipment and by doing so, service providers can enjoy greater network coverage and better service quality.”

http://www.aquantia.com

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Qualcomm Readies 4 Midrange Snapdragon Processors

Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon 620, 618, 425, and 415 processors, supporting a wide range of mobile devices and a range of price points.  Both the 600 and 400 series processors feature Qualcomm Hexagon application DSP, which has the ability to process low-power tasks without waking up the CPU cores. The new designs offer an integrated X8 LTE modem (Category 7 with download speeds of up to 300Mbps and upload speeds of up to 100Mbps) and high-end multimedia features such as dual image signal processors (ISP) and FLAC support for high-quality audio.

Some details:

• The Snapdragon 620 integrates a brand new ARM Cortex-A72 CPUs and next-gen Qualcomm Adreno GPU. It brings support for 4K Ultra HD video capture and playback and 2K display resolution. 
• 
  
• The Snapdragon 618 will be the hexa-core variant of the 620, loaded with the same core features.
  
• The Snapdragon 425 processor has the same X8 LTE as the 620 and 618, complete with integrated Cat 7 modem. It supports a high quality camera with enhanced photo processing and dual ISP.
  
• The Snapdragon 415 provides an affordable octa-core solution for manufacturing customers who are looking for a quick transition from Snapdragon 410, which has amassed over 80+ design wins since its inception became available late last year. The Snapdragon 415 features support for integrated Cat 4 LTE (speeds up to 150Mbps), 64-bit CPU architecture, and 720p display resolutions.

Commercial devices featuring the new Snapdragon 620, 618, 425, and 415 processors are expected to be available in the second half of 2015.

A further marketing note, Qualcomm is now using "Snapdragon" as the brand for its discrete LTE multimode modems (previously Gobi).

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ONF Launches Open Source Software Repository

The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is launching a new Open Source Software community and code repository, OpenSourceSDN.org. This new site will be a resource for those looking to commercially deploy open SDN solutions, free from vendor lock-in.

“The launch of OpenSourceSDN.org further underscores our commitment to the ongoing commercialization of open source software worldwide,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “We see open source software as a key route to developing de facto standards and fostering multi-vendor interoperability, both of which are top priorities for ONF. Our work in open source software development will continue to be complementary to both our own specifications work and the open source work done by other organizations and we look forward to continued collaboration.”

http://opensourcesdn.org/

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Arbor's Threat Monitoring Atlas Gathers Data from 330 Operators

Arbor Networks's ATLAS threat monitoring infrastructure, which was launched 8 years ago, now gathers data from more than 330 participating network operators around the world who report data representing around 120Tbps of Internet traffic.

ATLAS collates data from multiple sources, one of which is a collaborative effort with Arbor customers who have agreed to share anonymous distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) and traffic data on an hourly basis (leveraging the Arbor technology that sits within their networks). ATLAS also utilizes data from Arbor dark address space monitoring probes, BGP routing information from multiple operators and data from ASERT research programs, as well as third-party data feeds. The network and security intelligence delivered via ATLAS gives Arbor customers a considerable competitive advantage, as it allows them to compare and contrast what they are seeing on their own network with a macro view of global Internet traffic and threats.

“ATLAS gives our customers the ability to see how DDoS threats are evolving not just in their own market, but more broadly around their region and the world, allowing them to better understand the threats and thus ensure the protection of their services and customers,” said Darren Anstee, director of solutions architects for Arbor Networks.

http://www.arbornetworks.com/news-and-events/press-releases/recent-press-releases/5368-arbor-networks-atlas-infrastructure-provides-insight-into-120tbps-of-global-internet-traffic

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Cyan Posts Q4 Revenues of $30.5 Million

Cyan reported Q4 2014 revenue of $30.5 million, up 14% when compared with $26.6 million for the third quarter of 2014 and up 46% when compared with $20.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter was $15.0 million, or $0.32 per share, compared to a net loss of $11.7 million, or $0.25 per share, in the third quarter of 2014 and a net loss of $13.7 million, or $0.29 per share, in the same period last year.

"We are very pleased with our fourth quarter results as revenue in the fourth quarter well exceeded our expectations and led to a solid close to the year," said Mark Floyd, Cyan’s chairman and chief executive officer. "Our strong fourth quarter bookings were driven by demand across our customer base and our expanding footprint within our largest customer. We are seeing good momentum with our Z-Series Packet Optical Platform fostered by 100G metro and regional carrier deployments. Furthermore, commercial interest for our Blue Planet SDN and NFV software platform has accelerated and we are excited about our role as the supplier of choice for critical network transformation technology.”

http://www.cyaninc.com

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Vitesse Offers Gigabit Ethernet PHY Reference Design for IoT

Vitesse Semiconductor released two dual-port Gigabit Ethernet (GE) PHY reference designs based on its highly-integrated, EMI design-friendly SimpliPHY™ VSC8502 10/100/1000BASE-T GE PHY. The designs feature Synchronous Ethernet, Wake-on-LAN and VeriPHY functionality. The new dual-port copper, four-layer PCB reference designs can be leveraged to serve a broad range of markets and applications including:

• IP Telephony
• Digital Signage
• Network Attached Storage (NAS)
• Industrial-IoT (IIoT), including industrial process control, smart-grid energy distribution, transportation, factory automation & mission critical applications
• Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), such as broadband gateways, routers / access points and IP set-top boxes (STB)
• Virtual Customer Premise Equipment (vCPE)
• Small Cells / Femto Cells / Pico Cells
• 3D Printers

“Vitesse is highly focused on simplifying Ethernet networking for our customer base,” said David Grant, senior product marketing manager at Vitesse. “These GE PHY reference designs deliver an accelerated time-to-market for energy-efficient network equipment targeting high-volume Consumer, Carrier, Enterprise and Industrial-IoT applications with unique market-differentiating features.”

http://www.vitesse.com

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Deutsche Telekom Appoints Chief Product & Innovation Officer

Deutsche Telekom appointed Christian von Reventlow as its new Chief Product & Innovation Officer (CPIO).  He succeeds Thomas Kiessling, who is leaving the company to join Securitas Direct. Von Reventlow was previously platform manager (SVP Core platform) at Nokia's map service and navigation system subsidiary Here.com in Chicago. Replacing Thomas Kiessling, he will also become a member of Deutsche Telekom’s extended board of management, the Executive Committee (ExCom).

http://www.telekom.com/media/company/266910

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