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

euNetworks Trims Latency 9% on New Frankfurt-Zurich Route

euNetworks announced a new Frankfurt-to-Zurich fibre service with dedicated, low-latency DWDM equipment that trims latency by 9% over the prior best Frankfurt to Zurich fibre based routes.

This route extends euNetworks’ existing London to Frankfurt fibre based route to Equinix’s ZH2 International Business ExchangeTM (IBX) data centre in Zurich and delivers a latency 9% lower than the prior best Frankfurt to Zurich fibre based routes. In February 2015, euNetworks also optimised their key London to Frankfurt low latency route, with an improvement of -0.18ms round trip delay. In February 2015, euNetworks also optimised their key London to Frankfurt low latency route, with an improvement of -0.18ms round trip delay.

The new low latency route provides financial services firms with direct access to Zurich- Equinix ZH4, where SIX Swiss Exchange is hosted, from London, with round trip delay of 12.58 milliseconds, and from Equinix’s Frankfurt data centre (FR2), with round trip delay of 4.65 milliseconds. euNetworks offers market leading latency performance from all major Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTFs) across Europe, enabling greater access to its euTrade service portfolio and some of the shortest routes in the market today. euNetworks first began offering ultra-low latency services to Zurich in May 2011.

http://www.eunetworks.com/

Obama Nominates Rosenworcel for 5 More Years at FCC

President Obama is nominated Jessica Rosenworcel for a new, five year term as FCC Commissioner.

“Throughout her entire tenure in public service, Commissioner Rosenworcel has been a tireless advocate for increasing access to crucial telecommunications services and leveraging technology to improve people’s lives. It has been a privilege to serve alongside her, and I know the Commission will continue to benefit from her deep knowledge of the important issues before us and her thoughtful approach to the complex challenges we face,” stated FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

http://www.fcc.gov


  • Jessica Rosenworcel replaced long-term FCC Commissioner Michael Copps when his term ended in December 2011. She previously was the Senior Communications Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Before that, she worked for Senator Jay Rockefeller IV, and at the FCC from 1999 to 2007, serving as Legal Advisor and then Senior Legal Advisor to Commissioner Michael J. Copps (2003-2007), Legal Counsel to the Bureau Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau (2002-2003), and as an Attorney-Advisor in the Policy Division of the Common Carrier Bureau (1999-2002). She holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. 

Cable & Wireless Communications Selects Coriant's DWDM

Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) selected Coriant's hiT 7300 Multi-Haul Transport Platform for the upgrade of its fiber backbone networks in Barbados and Jamaica.

The hiT 7300 is a 96-channel coherent optical communications system that supports the transmission of 100G per channel for a total system capacity of up to 9.6 terabits per second (Tbps) per fiber pair.

“We are pleased to partner with Cable & Wireless Communications as they expand the reach, quality, and reliability of their broadband infrastructure networks,” said Tarcisio Ribeiro, Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Services, Coriant. “Coriant packet optical transport solutions are designed to unleash the full potential of advanced technologies to help service providers like CWC positively transform the lives of people and the communities where they work and play.”

http://www.coriant.com

Harris Demos MUOS Waveform Between Falcon III Radios

Harris announced successfully testing of satellite communications calls using two Falcon III AN/PRC-117G tactical radios with the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) waveform.

MUOS is the next-generation U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) military communications system for delivering mobile satellite connectivity through tactical radios.

Harris said the test validated the ability of the AN/PRC-117G, a fielded multiband manpack radio, to run the narrowband MUOS service with a software-only upgrade.

“These demonstrations showcase the capabilities of our Falcon III radios and our ability to deliver a cost-effective MUOS solution to the DOD,” said George Helm, president, Department of Defense business, Harris RF Communications. “The results further validate the benefits of the DOD’s commitment to open standards and waveform access to promote competition and innovation. More than 30,000 AN/PRC-117G radios are already deployed and capable of supporting MUOS simply by upgrading their software.”

http://harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=3762


MUOS is a next-generation narrowband tactical satellite communications system designed to significantly improve beyond-line-of-sight communications for U.S. forces on the move. MUOS will provide military users 10 times more communications capacity over the existing system by leveraging 3G mobile communications technology, and will provide simultaneous voice and data capability. Lockheed Martin, which the prime contractor and integrator for MUOS, said the satellite-based, smart-phone cell network will enable IP-based terminals to transmit and receive clear voice calls and data from almost anywhere in the world.

Marvell Posts Revenue of $714 Million, Down 24% YoY

Marvell Technology Group reported revenue for the first quarter of its fiscal 2016 of $724 million, down approximately 16 percent from $857 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, ended January 31, 2015, and down approximately 24 percent from $958 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, ended May 3, 2014.

GAAP net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 was $14 million, or $0.03 per share (diluted), compared with GAAP net income of $82 million, or $0.16 per share (diluted), for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, and $99 million, or $0.19 per share (diluted), for the first quarter of fiscal 2015.  

http://www.marvell.com