Qualcomm Announces First 5G Modem

Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon X50 5G modem -- the first commercial 5G modem chipset announcement -- and designed for operators and OEMs who are conducting lab tests, field trials and early deployments.

The Snapdragon X50 5G modem will initially support operation in millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum in the 28GHz band.  It will employ Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna technology with adaptive beamforming and beam tracking techniques, which facilitates robust and sustained mobile broadband communications in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments.  With 800 MHz bandwidth support, the Snapdragon X50 5G modem is designed to support peak download speeds of up to 5 Gbps

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“The Snapdragon X50 5G modem heralds the arrival of 5G as operators and OEMs reach the cellular network and device testing phase,” said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and president, QCT. “Utilizing our long history of LTE and Wi-Fi leadership, we are thrilled to deliver a product that will help play a critical role in bringing 5G devices and networks to reality.  This shows that we’re not just talking about 5G, we’re truly committed to it.”

Qualcomm said the new device is can be used for multi-mode 4G/5G mobile broadband, as well as fixed wireless broadband devices. It can be paired with a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processor with an integrated Gigabit LTE modem and interwork cohesively via dual-connectivity. Gigabit LTE will become an essential pillar for the 5G mobile experience, as it can provide a wide coverage layer for nascent 5G networks.

The Snapdragon X50 5G platform will include the modem, the SDR051 mmWave transceivers, and the supporting PMX50 power management chip. Sampling for the Snapdragon X50 5G modem is expected to begin in the second half of 2017. The first commercial products that will integrate the Snapdragon X50 5G modem are expected to be available during the first half of 2018.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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Qualcomm, Telstra, Ericsson, NETGEAR Show Gigabit-Ready LTE

Qualcomm, in collaboration with Telstra, Ericsson and NETGEAR, showcased the first Gigabit Class LTE mobile device and the first Gigabit Class LTE commercially ready network.

The results of this relationship includes: The NETGEAR Mobile Router MR1100, based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE modem along with Qualcomm Wi-Fi solutions, which is the first consumer end device capable of reaching Gigabit Class LTE download speeds up to 1 Gbps; and Telstra’s new Gigabit Class LTE network enabled by Ericsson.

“Achieving the world’s first Gigabit Class LTE download speeds between a mobile device and commercial ready network is another industry achievement towards the availability of Gigabit LTE services,” said Serge Willenegger, Senior Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies. “Qualcomm Technologies has long been a leader in LTE, pioneering many of the building blocks for 3G and 4G and now paving the way to 5G. We’re excited to celebrate this milestone with our partners and to demonstrate our leadership in the commercialization of key technologies that will be foundational elements of future 5G deployments.”

Telstra said its LTE network can support over-the-air data download speeds up to 1 Gbp. The network uses network infrastructure equipment and software from Ericsson.

“We pride ourselves on our connectivity expertise and we continue that tradition today by completing the first commercialization of a Gigabit Class LTE network and device,” said Mike Wright, Telstra’s Group Managing Director Networks. “With the world’s first Gigabit Class LTE network, we have substantially improved our network capacity and increased real-world LTE download speeds, while also gaining a distinct advantage over competitors as we can

http://www.qualcomm.com

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Qualcomm Cites 100+ Design Wins for LTE Cat M Modems

Qualcomm reported design wins among the industry’s leading module original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) based on its MDM9206 LTE modem for Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

The company said these build on the more than 100 designs announced last June using the its MDM9x07 LTE IoT modems.

The MDM9206 modem is designed to support LTE category M1 (eMTC), upgradeable to dual category M1/NB-1 mode with an anticipated upcoming software update. This allows IoT products to function in a diverse set of operator deployments worldwide, maximizing the products global reach and scalability. The simpler narrowband LTE categories help the MDM9206 modem to support low-cost, low-power, low-bandwidth and greater coverage for the next-generation of IoT products’ and services, while also enhancing battery life as compared to previous LTE generations. Target uses include smart energy and metering, building security, infrastructure, industrial control and automation, retail point of sale, asset tracking, medical, lighting and aftermarket telematics.

“The global IoT opportunity is rapidly expanding,” said Serge Willenegger, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “IoT will be much more than about connecting people to things; they will be extending information management systems all the way to the edge, allowing machines and devices to work with one another and support increasing service opportunities and operational efficiencies across most industries. Momentum around our MDM9206 modem for Cat M1 and NB-1 demonstrates demand today for reliable, optimized LTE cellular connectivity to support the new range of IoT applications and services.”

http://www.qualcomm.com

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IBM Looks to Growing Cloud Revenue

IBM reported Q3 revenue from continuing operations of $19.2 billion with diluted EPS (GAAP) of $2.98. Strategic imperatives revenue amounted to $8.0 billion in the quarter, up 16 percent year to year.

"IBM's third-quarter performance, led by continued double-digit growth in our strategic imperatives, is a testament to our leadership in cognitive solutions and cloud," said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.  "Our ability to apply deep expertise and breakthrough technology, led by Watson and the IBM Cloud, to massive amounts of data is enabling us to build new markets and transform industries.

Some highlights:

• Cloud revenues (public, private and hybrid) for the quarter increased 44 percent (up 42 percent adjusting for currency).  
• Cloud revenue over the trailing 12 months was $12.7 billion.  
• The annual run rate for cloud as-a-Service revenue --- a subset of total cloud revenue --- increased to $7.5 billion from $4.5 billion in the third quarter of 2015.  
• Revenues from analytics increased 15 percent (up 14 percent adjusting for currency).  
• Revenues from mobile increased 19 percent and revenues from security increased 11 percent.

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/50801.wss

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Quantenna's IPO Expected Today - QTNA - Wi-Fi Silicon

Quantenna Communications, which develops high-performance Wi-Fi silicon, expects to launch the initial public offering (IPO) of its common stock on October 17, 2016 on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "QTNA."

The offering is for 6.7 million shares at an initial price range of $14.00 to $16.00 per share.

http://www.quantenna.com/2016/10/quantenna-communications-launches-initial-public-offering/

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Quantenna Announces First 802.11ax Wi-Fi Silicon

Quantenna Communications announced the industry's first 802.11ax silicon. Sampling is expected to begin early in 2017.

802.11ax provides increased speed over 802.11ac and is designed to increase Wi-Fi efficiency in dense deployments.

Quantenna's forthcoming product, called QSR10G-AX, is built on the company's QSR10G Wave 3 Wi-Fi platform. It adds support for the draft 1.0 of the IEEE specification 802.11ax standard.

Key QSR10G-AX Planned Features and Benefits:

• Integrated AP chipset for dual-band (5GHz and 2.4GHz), dual concurrent operation and management
• Pin-to-Pin compatibility with QSR10G
• 802.11ax Draft 1.0 compliant
• 12-stream operation
• Supports rich set of interfaces to external hosts such as PCIe Gen3/Gen2, RXAUI, RGMII, and others
• Support 2.4GHz coexistence interface
• Enable full offload for external host
• Cloud managed

"Innovation is what drives us at Quantenna," said Dr. Sam Heidari, Chairman and CEO at Quantenna. "We were the first company to deliver 4x4 802.11n, 4x4 802.11ac and 8x8 802.11ac. Now, we are proud to continue our Wi-Fi industry leadership by being the first to announce an 802.11ax compliant solution."

http://www.quantenna.com/2016/10/quantenna-announces-worlds-first-802-11ax-wi-fi-solution/

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AWS Opens Three Data Centers in Ohio

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) announced the availability of its new US East (Ohio) Region consisting of three separate of Availability Zones at launch.

AWS refers to data centers as Availability Zones -- distinct locations within a single region that are engineered to be operationally independent of other Availability Zones, with independent power, cooling, and physical security, and are connected via a low latency network. Customers can architect their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even higher reliability and fault tolerance.

Along with US East (N. Virginia), the US East (Ohio) Region provides low latency across the eastern and central United States (US).

AWS now provides 38 Availability Zones across 14 technology infrastructure regions globally.

In the United States alone, AWS now has 16 Availability Zones across five regions. AWS has announced that another nine Availability Zones and four regions in Canada, the UK, France, and China are planned to come online in the coming months.

“Our customers tell us that by running their applications in the AWS Cloud, they are able to move faster, operate more securely, and save substantial costs--all while leveraging the scale and performance of AWS,” said Peter DeSantis, Vice President, Infrastructure at AWS. “Now with five highly scalable regions across the United States, AWS customers have multiple options for providing US-based end users low-latency access to cloud applications, as well as the opportunity to architect a variety of inter-region backup and disaster recovery operations for even greater availability.”

http://aws.amazon.com

• AWS is also building a 100 megawatt wind farm Paulding County, Ohio. When operational, which is expected by May 2017, Amazon Wind Farm US Central will produce 320,000 megawatt hours of wind energy annually directly onto the grid powering the data centers in the AWS US East (Ohio) Region and other current and future AWS data centers. 

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Equinix Connects with VMware's vCloud Air

Equinix is now offering direct and private access to VMware vCloud® Air™ on Platform Equinix™ in major markets across North America and Europe.

Access is available either via Equinix Cloud Exchange, the company's cloud interconnection platform, or via Direct Connect, depending on location. These dedicated, private connections reduce network costs and provide higher and more consistent network performance than Internet-based connections for enterprise customers looking to build out their VMware-based hybrid clouds.

The solution is now available via Equinix Cloud Exchange in London, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers, and also via Direct Connect in Frankfurt, London, New York, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.

"VMware has a strong history and established foothold within the enterprise market, and therefore it is important that we provide direct access to their solution via our Equinix Cloud Exchange as enterprise demand for high-performance, enterprise-grade cloud services continues to grow.  Cloud Exchange was developed with the intent of providing improved performance of cloud-based applications and workloads through high-throughput, low-latency connections and we are thrilled to be able to provide this to VMware customers," stated Mark Adams, Chief Development Officer, Equinix.

http://www.equinix.com

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Cisco Acquires Worklife for Meeting App

Cisco has acquired Heroik Labs, a start-up based in San Francisco that is also known as Worklife. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Worklife provides software to improve meeting productivity. Its app gives attendees more options to stay engaged before, during, and after meetings, from sharing agendas before the meeting, to taking notes during the meeting, and sharing those notes, as well as action items, after each meeting.

Cisco said the app adds to its own collaboration strategy. The company said it sees an opportunity to build on the virtual meeting experience that the Cisco Spark platform currently provides, and enhance meeting productivity across the board.

The Worklife team will report into the Cloud Collaboration Technology Business Unit under Senior Vice President and General Manager Jens Meggers. The current plan is that Worklife’s existing online meeting software will continue to be offered free to customers.

http://blogs.cisco.com/news/cisco-announces-collaboration-news

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Cisco Adds Amy Chang to its Board

Cisco has appointed Amy L. Chang, CEO and founder of Accompany, Inc., to its board of directors.

Chang, 39, is CEO and founder of Accompany, Inc., a relationship intelligence platform company. Prior to founding Accompany in 2013, Chang was with Google Inc. from 2005 to 2012, most recently serving as Global Head of Product, Google Ads Measurement and Reporting. Prior to Google, she held product management and strategy positions at eBay Inc. Chang also previously served as a consultant with McKinsey & Company, specializing in semiconductors, software and services. She holds a B.S. and an M.S., both in Electrical Engineering, from Stanford University. She currently serves on the board of directors of Splunk Inc.

With the appointment of Chang, Cisco's board consists of 12 members, including: John T. Chambers, executive chairman, Cisco; Carol A. Bartz, former CEO, Yahoo! Inc.; M. Michele Burns, former chairman and CEO, Mercer LLC; Michael D. Capellas, founder and CEO, Capellas Strategic Partners; Brian L. Halla, former chairman and CEO, National Semiconductor Corporation; Dr. John L. Hennessy, director of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program and former president, Stanford University; Dr. Kristina M. Johnson, CEO, Cube Hydro Partners, LLC; Roderick C. McGeary, former vice chairman, KPMG, LLP; Charles H. Robbins, CEO, Cisco; Arun Sarin, KBE, former CEO, Vodafone Group Plc; and Steven M. West, founder and partner, Emerging Company Partners LLC.

http://www.newsroom.cisco.com

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