AWS Canada Opens with Two Data Centers in Quebec

A new AWS Canada (Central) Region is now available for customers to store their data and run their cloud applications in Canada.

The AWS Canada (Central) Region offers two Availability Zones (data centers) at launch. AWS Regions are comprised of Availability Zones, which refer to technology infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations with enough distance to significantly reduce the risk of a single event impacting availability, yet near enough for business continuity applications that require rapid failover. Each Availability Zone has independent power, cooling, physical security, and is connected via redundant, ultra-low-latency networks.

Amazon Web Services noted that its data centers in Quebec will draw from a regional electricity grid that is 99 percent powered by hydropower.

AWS now has 40 Availability Zones across 15 technology infrastructure regions globally. Another seven Availability Zones and three regions in the UK, France, and China expected to come online in the coming months.

“For many years, we’ve had an enthusiastic base of customers in Canada choosing the AWS Cloud because it has more functionality than other cloud platforms, an extensive APN Partner and customer ecosystem, as well as unmatched maturity, security, and performance,” said Andy Jassy, CEO, AWS. “Our Canadian customers and APN Partners asked us to build AWS infrastructure in Canada, so they can run their mission-critical workloads and store sensitive data on AWS infrastructure located in Canada. A local AWS Region will serve as the foundation for new cloud initiatives in Canada that can transform business, customer experiences, and enhance the local economy.”

“Significant projects like the one being realized by Amazon Web Services represent the kind of large-scale investment that take Quebec a long way toward its goals in the digital world. Indeed, this initiative will stimulate the development of cloud computing in Quebec, a key area that can be an engine for our province's information technology and communication sector,” declared Dominique Anglade, Minister of the Economy, Science, and Innovation in Quebec, and Minister responsible for the Digital Strategy.

https://aws.amazon.com/

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Colt Picks Cisco for 100Gbps Packet Network Upgrade

Colt Technology Services has selected Cisco for a system-wide 100 Gbps upgrade to its pan-European and Asian network. Colt's current network infrastructure delivers connectivity to more than 680 data centers and more than 24,000 on-net buildings. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) 5500 series and the Cisco Aggregation Services Router (ASR) 9000 platforms will form the main components of an end-to-end IOS XR network with segment routing that utilizes a Cisco WAN Automation Engine, providing a balance between distributed intelligence and centralized optimization and programming.

"We are focused on providing customers with world-class, high-bandwidth connectivity services," said Rajiv Datta, CTO, Colt. "Our investment in Cisco not only delivers 100Gbps connectivity; we are able to automate the provision of services to meet the exacting demands of our customers and enable businesses of all sizes to future-proof their connectivity."

https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=press-release&articleId=1810193

Cisco's Yvette Kanouff: Massive Transformation for Service Providers

Wednesday, December 07, 2016  #NFV, #SDN, Cisco, Video  No Comments

Massive change is underway, says Yvette Kanouff, SVP and General Manager of Cisco's Service Provider Business. To cope with enormous bandwidth growth over the next few years, networks will have to transform. Cisco is working to separate the scalability of the infrastructure from the scalability of services. See video: https://youtu.be/CUG1hy

Colt's Mike Kopp on 100G Rollouts

Monday, November 14, 2016  Colt, MEF16, Video  No Comments

Colt is excited about the 100G connectivity it is now able to deliver in some 200 data centers internationally, says Mike Kopp, VP of Channel Sales.  Delivering 100G capacity enables customers to scale up their cloud connectivity as required. See video: https://youtu.be/_GwaqtEe

In November 2014, Colt, which operates a next-generation network in Europe, agreed to acquire KVH, its counterpart in Asia-Pacific,for ¥18.595 billion (EUR 130.3 million) in cash. KVH is currently owned by FMR, FIL and associates.

Colt, which was founded in London in 1992 with funds provided by Fidelity Investments, has grown into a pan-European operator with a network spanning 47,000 kms.  It operates metro networks in 42 European networks with direct fiber connections into 20,000 buildings. Colt has a city-based expansion strategy, targeting customers operating in information
intensive industries.

KVH, which was also founded by Fidelity Investments, is present in Tokyo, the world’s number one city economy, as well as Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul; providing a platform in four of Colt’s target cities for expansion.  KVH operates data centers across Asia, a global low latency network and metro networks in Tokyo and Osaka.  Its managed IT and cloud solutions were developed by Colt.  KVH has around 2,000 enterprise and wholesale customers. In revenue terms KVH is roughly 10% the size of Colt.

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Huawei Inks 5G Research Partnership with BT

BT and Huawei agreed to conduct joint research into 5G.

Specifically, BT and Huawei will work together at the world leading BT Labs in Ipswich and other locations around the UK to explore various aspects of 5G, including: network architecture; a new air interface between devices and base stations; network slicing - which will allow operators to apportion network resources to specific services; machine-to-machine communications in Internet of Things (IoT) applications; and security technologies.

Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT said: “We are determined to maximise the potential of 5G for our customers, so collaborative research has a key role to play as the technology develops. This partnership with Huawei will see us explore the potential uses and make sure 5G is designed to meet the needs of our consumer and business customers throughout the world.

Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman of the Board and rotating CEO at Huawei said: “We are very proud of our work with BT over the last eleven years. We have conducted joint research and development activities which have led to new products and solutions and with 5G we look forward to continuing this fruitful partnership. Together we can explore the potential of 5G networks and analyze how this vital technology can best be delivered. The partnership also demonstrates Huawei’s continued commitment to partnering with world-leading business and academic organizations in the UK to further research and development. We have operated in the UK for fifteen years and we look forward to continuing to help build a better connected UK in partnership with BT.”

http://www.huawei.com/

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Telefónica's Tests Pre5G Massive MIMO with ZTE

Telefónica, in partnership with ZTE, completed a live test of a massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) base station in Madrid, Spain. The pre-5G base station exceeded expectations, improving both network capacity and cell-edge data rate up to 6 times compared to traditional LTE macro base stations and reducing end-user interference through 3D-beamforming technology.

This is Telefónica's first pre-5G Massive MIMO trial in Europe.

ZTE said it has been working with Telefónica since October on a Pre-5G Massive MIMO programme in the Telefónica Headquarters in Madrid to assess its performance in hotspot and indoor coverage scenarios.

http://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/press-center/news/201612ma/1207

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Ciena Posts Q4 Revenue of $716 Million

Ciena reported revenue of $716.2 million for its fiscal fourth quarter 2016, as compared to $692.0 million for the fiscal fourth quarter 2015. For fiscal year 2016, Ciena reported revenue of $2.6 billion, as compared to $2.4 billion for fiscal year 2015. GAAP net income for the fiscal fourth quarter 2016 was $36.6 million, or $0.25 per diluted common share, which compares to a GAAP net loss of $13.8 million, or $0.10 per diluted common share, for the fiscal fourth quarter 2015. For fiscal year 2016, Ciena had a GAAP net income of $72.6 million, or $0.51 per diluted common share, which compares to a GAAP net income of $11.7 million or $0.10 per diluted common share for fiscal year 2015.

“Our strong fiscal 2016 results demonstrate our increasingly differentiated performance versus our competitors, marking Ciena's seventh consecutive year of growing faster than the overall market as well as steady improvement in our operating leverage, profitability and cash flow,” said Gary Smith, president and CEO, Ciena. “We believe that the combination of our leading technology, strategic investments, global scale and business diversification will enable us to continue to take market share and drive operating leverage in fiscal 2017.”

Ciena expects financial performance for fiscal first quarter 2017 to include:

• Revenue in the range of $615 million to $645 million
• Adjusted (non-GAAP) gross margin in the mid-40s percentage range
• Adjusted (non-GAAP) operating expense in the range of $220 million to $225 million

http://investor.ciena.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=99134&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2228458

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ZTE to Buy 48% Stake in Turkey's Netaş Telekomünikasyon

ZTE agreed to acquire a 48% shareholding in Netaş Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. (Netas), a leading ICT supplier based in Istanbul. Netaş’ R&D Center with 800 engineers is the largest private R&D center in Turkey.

ZTE said the investment in Netaş will strengthen its ability to capture opportunities generated by the Chinese government’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative and Turkish government’s plans for a strong ICT economy. Netaş will continue to grow as a Turkish ICT flagship company driving innovations with international reach.

Following the proposed transaction, Netaş will remain an independent company, with increased access to ZTE’s world class portfolio of products, services and solutions for telecom carriers, enterprises and governments, as well as consumers.

Mr. C. Mujdat Altay, CEO of Netas, expressed excitement for ZTE’s investment in Netaş. “As Turkey’s number one systems integrator, Netaş develops software solutions for more than 160 global operators and has been named Turkey’s “Top Software Exporter” by ICT 500 Turkey Research five times.  Netaş is a technology company born and grown in Turkey.  We are working diligently to become one of the 10 brands coming out of Turkey by 2023, the Centennial of the Turkish Republic, as per the initiatives set forth by the Turkish Government.  With our new shareholder ZTE, the multinational ICT solutions and technology vendor, we will continue to flourish and position Netaş as a global technology player.

http://www.netas.com.tr/
http://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/press-center/news/201612ma/1206

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China Unicom Works with Cavium on ARM-based Network Gear

Cavium announced an agreement with China Unicom to accelerate the design and development of Virtualized BBUs based on Cavium's ThunderX workload optimized data server processors, which are built on ARM architecture. In addition, Cavium has joined the China Unicom CORD Industry Alliance and will drive adoption of open source architecture and technologies in China together with China Unicom.

The companies said they plan to work together on new innovative fronthaul solutions, system architecture and vBBU performance and deployment. This collaboration allows Cavium to align with China Unicom's commercial networks technology development and innovation, research feasibility of Next Generation Virtualized Wireless Access Network, perform lab and field testing, evaluate results, drive deployment of developed technologies into commercial network, carry out lab and field performance test and assessment, accelerate pilot and application of new technical innovations in real-world networks.

"We are very pleased to collaborate with China Unicom in this critical area. As network capacity continues to be stretched and the user demands continue to grow the industry is faced with significant challenges which cannot be solved by traditional means," said Raj Singh General Manager of the Wireless Broadband Group at Cavium. "The use of advanced general purpose hardware such as Cavium's ThunderX workload optimized data severs allows us to provide a highly scalable virtualized solution for these requirements."

http://www.cavium.com

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IEEE and EIT Digital Publish 5G Roadmap

IEEE and EIT Digital published a joint roadmap for 5G innovation.

Included in the roadmap are:

• The Open Source Wiki Toolkit and Testbed - an open source testbed catalog that will serve the research community and industry to accelerate innovation and experimentation. It will be available as part of the IEEE Service Infrastructure with support from Fraunhofer FOKUS, several international operators and universities
• A demo of the first Open Federated Testbed portal (FTB portal) clustering testbeds supporting SDN testing, creating a single access gateway to several testbeds across the Atlantic
• The first phase for the creation of an Open Testing and Certification Collaboration Forum facilitated by both organizations with the support of select operators, manufacturers and innovators

“Europe is committed to fostering rapid development and deployment of 5G in an open environment that can benefit from worldwide contribution. The OTC is seen as a first step in this master plan. In the coming years, 5G will be built and put to use, enabling a rapid growth of IoT Digital Infrastructure with impact on Digital Cities, Digital Health, and Digital Industries, areas that are fundamental components of EIT Digital’s strategies for driving digital Innovation in Europe leading to positive societal impact and economic growth,” stated Marko Turpeinen, Director EIT Digital Silicon Valley Hub.

http://www.eitdigital.eu/
http://ieee-sdn.blogspot.com

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Ericsson: No Further Job Cuts in Sweden

Ericsson announced that its restructuring program is ahead of schedule in Sweden. In October, the company announced plans to eliminate 3,000 position in Sweden through a combination of a voluntary reduction program, reduction of production in Sweden, outsourcing and natural attrition during 2016.

Ericsson said the voluntary program in Sweden has been successfully completed and 1,600 employees will leave Ericsson through the program on December 31, 2016. Currently, no further forced staff reductions are planned in Sweden beyond what has already been announced relating to production sites.

Overall, Ericsson said its global cost and efficiency program is tracking towards the previously communicated target to:

• reduce the annual run rate of operating expenses, excluding restructuring charges, to SEK 53 b. in the second half of 2017.
• make cost of sales reductions visible in the gross margin in the second half of 2017, compared to full year 2016.

https://www.ericsson.com/news/2062901

Ericsson to Cut 3,000 Positions in Sweden

Tuesday, October 04, 2016  Ericsson, Jobs, Sweden  No Comments

Ericsson announced plans to trim approximately 3,000 positions in Sweden, including about 1,000 positions in production, approximately 800 in R&D and approximately 1,200 in other operations. The job reduction represents about 19% of its current workforce of 16,000 employees in Sweden.

"Ericsson is going through a large transformation. We continue to have a strong focus on R&D, and since many years, most Ericsson employees work in software development and services, rather than hardware production. The measures are necessary to secure Ericsson's long term competitiveness as well as technology and services leadership," stated Jan Frykhammar, President and CEO, Ericsson.

The company said the cuts will come through voluntary separation, forced reductions and outsourcing. Ericsson intends to make significant reductions in operations in Borås and Kumla.

https://www.ericsson.com/news/2046462

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