Microsoft Builds Azure's Networking Capabilities

Microsoft announced several new Azure networking services and features, including expanded ExpressRoute connectivity to other Microsoft Cloud services like Office 365 and Skype for Business Enterprise Voice.

Some of the new features include:

• Standard VPN gateway enabling Site-to-Site (S2S) connectivity to a Virtual Network that also has a gateway connected to an ExpressRoute circuit.
• Virtual Network Enhancements, including user defined routes and IP forwarding, reserved IP-mobility, multiple VIPs per cloud service, and public fully qualified domain names (FQDN) resolution for VM instances in a cloud service.
• New Network Virtual Appliance partners, including A10, Cisco, F5, Fortinet and NGINX. Appliance types include firewalls, Intrusion Prevention Systems, WAN optimization, and Application Delivery Controllers (ADC/Load Balancing).
• Azure DNS, a new service to host DNS domains and provides name resolution using Microsoft’s global infrastructure. 

http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/05/05/new-networking-capabilities-for-a-consistent-connected-and-hybrid-cloud/

, June 30, 2015  #cloud, #NFV, #ONS2015, Azure, Microsoft  No comments

Microsoft's Azure Service Fabric is a microservice application platform that allows developers to decompose their work into logical subsystems that are loosely coupled and can be updated independently.

In this video, Mark Russinovich, Chief Technology Office for Microsoft Azure,  talks about how Azure Service Fabric is becoming a key differentiator for the company's cloud initiatives.

Recorded at Open Networking Summit 2015 in Santa Clara, California.

http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/campaigns/service-fabric/

https://youtu.be/R_zwGMQuuaA

#ONS2015 - Microsoft Azure Puts SDN at Center of its Hyperscale Cloud

Thursday, June 18, 2015  #cloud, #ONS2015, Azure, Microsoft  No comments

To handle its hyperscale growth, Microsoft Azure must integrate the latest compute and storage technologies into a truly software-defined infrastructure, said Mark Russinovich, Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft Azure in a keynote presentation at the Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara, California. The talk covered how Microsoft is building its hyperscale SDN, including its own scalable controllers and hardware-accelerated hosts.  Microsoft...

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More on core technologies for enabling hyperscale clouds

See Brad Booth on Hierarchical SDN, the move toward on-board optics, and Flexible Ethernet for data center operations.

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Google Launches Bigtable: Same NoSQL Database that powers Google Search, Gmail and Analytics

Google officially launched Cloud Bigtable - a fully managed, high-performance, extremely scalable NoSQL database service that uses the same code and infrastructure that powers Google Search, Gmail and Analytics and nearly all of Google's largest applications.

Google Cloud BigTable is accessible through the industry-standard, open-source Apache HBase API, which makes it natively integrated with much of the existing big data and Hadoop ecosystem.

Google Cloud Bigtable is now available as a beta release in multiple locations worldwide. Google also announced a number of service partners to help enterprises, including SunGard, Pythian, CCRI and Telit Wireless Solutions.

http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/2015/05/introducing-Google-Cloud-Bigtable.html

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OIF Launches New Integrated Photonics Projects

The Optical Internetworking has started work on technical specifications for high bandwidth optical modulators and receivers for coherent applications.

The utilized coherent ASIC Baud Rate is no longer sufficient information to define the frequency response requirements for coherent electro-optical (EO) components now that the industry has embraced the use of preconditioning. The High Bandwidth Polarization Multiplexed Quadrature Optical Modulator project enables coherent electro-optical modulation of a wider optical spectrum per optical carrier defined in terms of frequency response. The Intradyne Coherent Receiver project proposes an improved RF high frequency response that e
nables coherent electro-optic demodulation of a wider optical spectrum peroptical carrier.

OIF have also approved implementation agreements for 100G applications.
The IA for Integrated Dual Polarization Micro-Intradyne Coherent Receivers targets coherent 100G PM-QPSK applications with nominal symbol rates up to 32 GBaud in a CFP2 form factor.  This IA also defines a low speed electrical interface incorporating an SPI bus for control of the TIAs in the coherent receiver.

The IA for Generation 2.0 100G Long-Haul DWDM Transmission Module-Electromechanical applies to optical line interface applications. The IA reduces the size and power consumption requirements by defining a 4x5 module that can be used for 100G long-haul DWDM transmission applications.

The OIF noted that work is continuing on the FlexEthernet and Common Electrical Interface (CEI) projects begun in 2014.

“Our members are working at full capacity right now,” said Karl Gass, of Qorvo and the OIF Physical and Link Layer Working Group vice chair, Optical. “With as many as 19 documents going to ballot this quarter alone we are completing technical work at an extremely fast pace. These two new electro-optical component projects will fill a gap in the line side component space, providing systems engineers more tools to increase channel capacity beyond 100Gb/s.”

http://www.oiforum.com

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Cisco to Acquire Tropo for Phone/SMS APIs

Cisco agreed to acquire Tropo, a start-up offering real-time communications APIs. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cisco and Tropo will provide a collaboration platform-as-a-service, which allows customers and developers to create and sell new communications services with minimal development effort. Tropo makes it simple to build phone and SMS applications. The company says its APIs have attracted a network of 200K+ developers.

The Tropo team will join Cisco's Collaboration Technology Group under the leadership of Rowan Trollope, SVP and general manager.

https://www.tropo.com
http://blogs.cisco.com/news/

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Equinix May Bid for Telecity

Equinix confirmed that it is in preliminary discussions with the Board of TelecityGroup regarding a possible cash and share offer for the company.

Equinix said that in the United Kingdom, the acquisition of TelecityGroup would add capacity in Central London and Docklands that would complement the focus of Equinix’s current operations in Slough. Additionally, the acquisition would add capacity in several of Equinix’s current locations throughout Europe, and extend Equinix’s footprint into new locations with identified cloud and interconnection needs including Dublin, Helsinki, Istanbul, Milan, Stockholm and Warsaw.

Telecity confirmed that it continues to progress the proposed merger agreement with Interxion announced earlier this year.
http://www.telecitygroup.com/our-company/news/2015/first-quarter-2015-trading-update.htm
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 million.

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