Telsta Extends its Asia Pac Networks

Telstra announced a number of upgrades and extensions to its Asia Pac networks, including:

• Bay of Bengal Gateway cable system -- a new submarine cable consisting of three fibre pairs stretching 8,000 km and connecting Singapore, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The BBG cable will offer Telstra customers direct connectivity between Asia and the Middle East and then onward to Europe when combined with the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable.
• FASTER cable system -- Telstra has secured capacity on the new trans-pacific FASTER cable system connecting Japan and neighbouring cable systems with major hubs on the west coast of the United States covering the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle areas. The system, which is approximately 10,000 km in length, features six fibre pairs and utilises 100Gbps wave technology.
• EAC-C2C system -- Telstra is investing in enhancing the EAC-C2C system to increase capacity and extend the life of this important cable until at least 2035. This investment will provide more certainty and improved reliability for customers on this cable, which at currently more than 36,000 km connecting Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore is the largest privately owned and operated cable in Asia. 
• New Taiwan overland fibre -- Telstra’s new Taiwan overland fibre route offers a unique path that can be bundled with Telstra’s existing submarine cable networks in and out of Taiwan. This route offers an alternative to cables running through the Luzon Strait, which is one of the most widely used areas connecting North Asia and the West Coast of the United States that often experiences natural disasters causing cable cuts and service disruptions. 
• New ring topology network in Korea -- a new, more resilient fibre ring network interconnects the PoPs and cable stations in South Korea and creates a market-leading eight diverse ways to connect into and out of South Korea, all of which are 100G-enabled. 

“We already own and operate the largest intra-Asia subsea network, representing around 30 per cent of total active capacity. These enhancements further extend our capacity and will support the provision of our leading technologies, such as Telstra’s PEN software-defined networking and cloud, security and unified communications services,” stated Telstra’s Executive Director International Operations and Services, Darrin Webb.

http://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/media/media-releases/telstra-extends-network-services-leadership-in-asia.xml

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Eutelsat and Facebook Choose Hughes JUPITER for Africa

Eutelsat Communications and Facebook have selected Hughes Network Systems' JUPITER System as the technology platform for satellite broadband services that both companies are preparing to launch in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eutelsat and Facebook are assembling a dedicated infrastructure that will extend cost-effective broadband to areas of Sub-Saharan Africa beyond reach of fixed and mobile terrestrial networks.

Specifically, Eutelsat will use the JUPITER System configuration including three gateway stations, two centralized data centers, a network management system and an initial number of user terminals. This will be combined with the high-gain Ka-band spot beam capacity provided by Spacecom's AMOS-6 satellite. The AMOS-6 satellite is due to enter service in early 2017.

The foundational technology in the JUPITER System is a custom–designed VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) processor employing a multi-core architecture and enabling more than 100 Mbps of throughput on every terminal in the JUPITER family.

"We evaluated all major broadband system vendors before selecting Hughes. Their decades of experience in satellite technology and the JUPITER System's proven capabilities made it our preferred choice for this exciting venture with Facebook," said Laurent Grimaldi, CEO of the new broadband company created by Eutelsat to steer its African broadband vision and business.

"Internet access is synonymous with economic and social development in today's digital economy," said Ramesh Ramaswamy, senior vice president, International at Hughes. "We are proud to be part of this important initiative to close the digital divide in Sub-Saharan Africa — connecting people to information and resources that can transform their lives for the better."

http://www.hughes.com
http://www.echostart.com

Eutelsat Signs Facebook for AMOS-6 Satellite over Africa

Monday, October 05, 2015  Africa, Eutelsat, Facebook, Satellite  No comments

Eutelsat Communications and Facebook announced a plan to leverage satellite technologies to get more Africans online.

Under a multi-year agreement with Spacecom, the two companies will utilize the entire broadband payload on the upcoming AMOS-6 satellite and will build a dedicated system comprising satellite capacity, gateways and terminals. In providing reach to large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Eutelsat and Facebook will each be equipped to pursue their ambition to accelerate data connectivity for the many users deprived of the economic and social benefits of the Internet.

AMOS-6, which is scheduled for launch in the second half of 2016. is a Ka-band geostationary satellite configured with high gain spot beams for covering large parts of West, East and Southern Africa. The capacity is optimised for community and Direct-to-User Internet access using affordable, off-the-shelf customer equipment. According to the terms of the agreement, the capacity will be shared between Eutelsat and Facebook.

“Facebook’s mission is to connect the world and we believe that satellites will play an important role in addressing the significant barriers that exist in connecting the people of Africa,” said Chris Daniels, VP of Internet.org.  “We are looking forward to partnering with Eutelsat on this project and investigating new ways to use satellites to connect people in the most remote areas of the world more efficiently.”

https://www.facebook.com/zuck
http://news.eutelsat.com/pressreleases/eutelsat-and-facebook-to-partner-on-satellite-initiative-to-get-more-africans-online-1228638

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Hibernia Adds Protected Transatlantic Wavelengths

Hibernia Network introduced a new Protected Wavelength Service across its three transatlantic routes including its flagship, high capacity, low latency Hibernia Express cable connecting North America and Europe.

The new, highly resilient Protected Wavelength Service is initially available at 10 Gbps with the capability to add 100 Gbps service in the future.

“Network reliability continues to ever-increasingly be a top priority for all customers across all vertical segments,” states Al DiGabriele, Senior Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Hibernia Networks. “Our team is constantly working towards engineering new solutions that address the pain points of our global customer base. The new Protected Wavelength Service provides customers with a secure, resilient and redundant connectivity solution to enable their business critical applications, giving them peace of mind that their network is running uninterrupted.”

http://www.hibernianetworks.com

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Digital Realty to Expand in Ashburn

Digital Realty Trust announced plans to expand its existing Ashburn campus in the third quarter of this year.

The expansion follows Digital Realty’s recent acquisition of 126 acres within one mile of its existing Ashburn campus, which will support the development of upwards of two million additional square feet and 150 megawatts of critical IT load.  A variety of colocation and connectivity options will be made available by leveraging Telx’s proven operational model and Digital Realty’s existing fiber connectivity.

Digital Realty plans to offer traditional connectivity options found within its Meet-Me-Rooms and between buildings on campus, as well as dedicated Internet access solutions.  Customers will also be able to take advantage of a large ecosystem of network and cloud providers through MarketplacePORTAL, a state-of-the-art customer portal, where they can manage connectivity, service issues and access rights.

“We are excited to expand our service offerings in the largest data center market in the United States as we further our strategy of supporting applications of all sizes within our secure campus environments,” said Tony Rossabi, Managing Director of the company’s Telx line of business.  “Once the expansion is complete, customers will be able to take advantage of an even wider range of powerful solutions to support their mission-critical applications in close proximity to the compute engines that power their businesses.  We look forward to translating the success of our Ashburn colocation service offering to other campuses by the end of the year.”

http://www.digitalrealty.com

Digital Realty to Acquire Telx for Data Centers and Internet Exchanges

Tuesday, July 14, 2015  Data Centers, Digital Realty, Mergers and Acquisitions, Telx  No comments

Digital Realty Trust agreed to acquire Telx, a national provider of data center colocation, interconnection and cloud enablement solutions, for $1.886 billion from private equity firms ABRY Partners and Berkshire Partners.

The combination is expected to double Digital Realty's footprint in the rapidly-growing colocation business, as well as provide Digital Realty customers access to a leading interconnection platform.

As of March 31, 2015, Telx managed 1.3 million square feet of data center space operating out of 20 facilities across the country, of which two are Telx-owned, 11 are leased from Digital Realty, one is partially sub-leased from Digital Realty and an unrelated third party, and six are leased from third parties. Telx's flagship facilities include its NYC1 data center at 60 Hudson Street in Manhattan, which serves as a nerve center for international communications and offers access to physical connection points to the world’s telecommunications networks and Internet backbones. Telx occupies multiple floors at 60 Hudson with interconnectivity to more than 400 carriers, financial exchanges and application, media, content, and software-as-a-service providers with just a single connection. Telx operates other NYC data centers at 111 8th Ave. and 32 Avenue of the Americas (6th Ave).


As of March 31, 2015, Digital Realty's portfolio consisted of 130 properties, including 14 properties held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures, comprised of approximately 22.1 million square feet, excluding approximately 1.2 million square feet of space under active development and 1.3 million square feet of space held for future development, located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

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NEC & Netcracker Look to Accelerate SDN/NFV Rollouts

NEC and Netcracker Technology unveiled their Agile Virtualization Platform and Practice (AVP) toolset for accelerating the adoption of SDN and NFV.

AVP is designed to help service providers:

1. Identify, build and launch new revenue-generating services more quickly.
   
2. Manage and integrate existing and virtualized network operations and create agile development environments to support both IT and network requirements.
   
3. Better align corporate stakeholders by implementing new processes and training talent in emerging software and Agile methodologies.

Key components of NEC and Netcracker’s Agile Virtualization Platform and Practice:

• Virtualization Development and Operations Center (VDOC) -- an agile collaboration environment designed for systems architecture, network planning as well as service design and deployment teams to automate end-to-end service lifecycle management. It enables collaboration across departments and with third-party partners, including solution vendors and systems integrators. 
• Business Enablement Applications (BEA) -- designed for executives in charge of customer-facing business units to reduce the time it takes to monetize virtualization offerings for both B2B and mass markets. 
• Hybrid Operations Management (HOM) -- focused on making virtual and traditional networks operate simultaneously at scale. HOM leverages the companies' expertise in end-to-end service management and Management and Network Orchestration (MANO) and fills the gaps missing in today’s solutions for automating hybrid network management, including assurance, continuous optimization, security and stability. HOM integrates with VDOC to create a dynamic and continuous feedback loop between product and development environments.
• Primary Systems Integration Practice (PSIP) -- covers all stages of virtualization initiatives—from the initial definition of the program and its business case to the full transfer of operations. 

“AVP is more than just a standalone product or a point solution,” said Shunichiro Tejima, Executive Vice President at NEC Corporation. “It allows service providers to access NEC and Netcracker’s deep-rooted industry expertise across all stages of virtualization deployment. Service providers are challenged to commercialize their SDN/NFV initiatives and launch them, at scale, into the market. With AVP, we can reduce the time-to-market for SDN/NFV deployments and help remove much of the risk associated with digital transformations.”

“In order for service providers to evolve in the digital ecosystem, they will need to overcome the inherent challenges associated with SDN/NFV,” said Andrew Feinberg, President and CEO at Netcracker Technology. “AVP directly addresses the operational, organizational and commercial requirements needed to successfully launch digital initiatives, allowing for faster service delivery, greater revenue opportunities, and a better customer experience.”

http://www.nec.com
http://www.netcracker.com

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Electric Lightwave Doubles Long-Haul Routes Across Western U.S.

Electric Lightwave has doubled its long-haul fiber routes and capabilities in the western U.S.

Electric Lightwave offers multiple direct routes between major West Coast metro areas and cable landing stations. The carrier has added more diverse, low latency route options.

Some examples cited:

• a cloud provider is achieving less than 8 millisecond round-trip latency between Los Angeles (LA) and the Bay Area through the use of 100g Wavelength services on both of Electric Lightwave’s unique fiber routes.
• two unique routes between LA and the Bay Area with access to key cable landing stations
• three direct routes between LA and the Bay Area terminating in different buildings with the capability of combining segments of the three routes to create a custom, diverse, fourth route
• a direct route from the Bay Area to Hillsboro, Oregon, bypassing Portland, Oregon, enabling direct access to a key Oregon data center cluster and cable landing station
• a new route to Quincy, Washington, one of the largest data center clusters in the country.

“We continue to build on the strengths of our network to offer our customers a highly differentiated solution that blends diverse network routes, direct access along key West Coast corridors, built-in reliability and security,” said Dan Stoll, president of Electric Lightwave. “With the opticAccess acquisition and our ability to leverage advanced data networking technologies across our network, we have significantly increased route diversity for our customers.”

http://www.electriclightwave.com

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XO Intros Cloud-Based Contact Center Service Platform

XO Communications introduced a cloud-based contact center service that helps businesses by providing multiple methods for their customers to engage with a contact center ranging from traditional phone calls to web chats, text messages and social media channels.

The new Contact Center Service, which integrates with leading CRM systems such as Salesforce.com, also enables customers to connect quickly with the most qualified agent who can address their specific needs. It is available over XO's private and dedicated MPLS IP-VPN network.

“A cloud-based solution allows businesses to stay up to date on the latest contact center features, while improving the overall customer experience,” said Jake Heinz, senior vice president of marketing and product at XO Communications. “The increased number of first call resolutions and reduced hold times is valuable to companies that want to improve contact center productivity and will reduce churn.”

http://www.xo.com

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INOC Offers Outsourced NOC for Optical Networks

INOC, a start-up that offers a  24×7  Network  Operations  Center  (NOC) service for enterprises and carriers, is introducing a specialized monitoring practice for optical networks.

The company said this new, dedicated  NOC is  designed  to respond to the growing demand from enterprises and Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to support increasingly complex optical transport networks which are not only increasing in capacity but introducing advanced capabilities built on SDN. The service will enhance INOC’s tools, processes and procedures to  provide  optical  network  support to  customers,  particularly  those  with  stringent  and  demanding  Service  Level Agreements (SLAs).

“Given the growth we are experiencing in our optical network business, along with increasingly complex customer requirements,  now  is  the  time  to  respond  with  more  specific  expertise,”  states  Brian  Parker,  Director  of  Optical Network  Services,  INOC.   “Our  new  dedicated  optical  NOC  is  among  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  industry  and  we anticipate it will have a significant and positive impact.”

INOC’s  end-to-end  optical  network  services  and  solutions  include  needs  analysis,  planning  and  design,  vendor selection and equipment specification, as well as building, provisioning and ongoing 24×7.  The company's NOC is located in Madison, Wisconsin.

http://www.inoc.com

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