GSMA: Mobile Ecosystem Accounts for 4.4% of Global GDP

The GSMA now estimates that mobile technologies and services accounted for 4.4 per cent of global GDP in 2016, equivalent to around $3.3 trillion of economic value. This is forecast to increase to more than $4.2 trillion by 2020, or 4.9 per cent of projected global GDP, as countries around the world continue to benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency made possible by mobile technology. The mobile ecosystem directly and indirectly...

Read More

Huawei Launches CloudMetro and 100 GBE-enabled NFVI

Huawei has released its advanced CloudMetro platform, designed to help operators accelerate their digital transformation and adopt cloud technology to enable resource pooling and enhanced service agility and automation, and its new 100 Gigabit Ethernet-enabled network functions virtualisation infrastructure (NFVI) solution. CloudMetro solution Huawei's CloudMetro solution moves management and service functions to the network cloud engine (NCE)...

Read More

Qualcomm and Mercedes-AMG Test 802.11ad for Racecar Data

Qualcomm and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport are conducting field trials to test high-speed wireless download of vehicle sensor information utilizing 802.11ad Wi-Fi technology in the 60 GHz band. Initial testing was conducted during the Formula 1 US Grand Prix in the 2016 season and will be extended during the British Grand Prix in July.  During these field trials, race engineers utilize both 5 GHz 802.11ac and Multi-gigabit 802.11ad Wi-Fi...

Read More

Altice's SFR Virtualizes Mobile Core with Cisco and Red Hat OpenStack

SFR, Altice’s French subsidiary, is transforming its mobile packet core infrastructure with an NFV platform architected to support multiple vendors. The solution is based on Red Hat OpenStack Platform, in combination with Cisco networking, virtualization and data center compute solutions. The companies report that 50 percent of the mobile traffic is already running on its virtualized platform and 80 percent is planned by end of 2017. “NFV is a...

Read More

Cisco Powers Jio's All-IP Platform - Fastest Growing Network in the World

Cisco confirmed that it is working with India's Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) to further expand Jio’s existing multi-terabit capacity, first All-IP converged network. Financial terms were not disclosed. Jio's network is the fastest growing in the world.  Within six months of launch, it reached 100 million broadband and VoLTE customers. Since its launch, Jio has accelerated India’s monthly user data consumption 40 times, the highest in the world....

Read More

Mellanox and ECI partner to deliver virtual CPE platform for NFV

Mellanox Technologies, a supplier of interconnect solutions for data centre servers and storage systems, and 'elastic networking' company ECI have announced the introduction of an advanced virtual CPE (vCPE) platform at the Mobile World Congress 2017. The joint platform is designed to provide enhanced performance and efficiency and enable service providers to cost-effectively implement network function virtualisation (NFV) deployments. The solution...

Read More

Telefónica Tests LTE-M with Ericsson and Sierra Wireless

Telefónica has completed field testing of CAT-M1 or LTE-M for IoT over its network in Spain in partnership with Ericsson and Sierra Wireless. The testing showed successful interoperability Sierra Wireless modem, which builds Cat-M1 chipsets in and Ericsson's Packet Core and Radio solutions. Tests took place within 5TONIC project, the 5G research and innovation open lab of which Ericsson is an active member, founded by Telefónica and IMDEA Networks. 5TONIC...

Read More

GSMA's Vision for the 5G Era

At the opening of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the GSMA outlined five goals for the 5G era: Provide boundless connectivity for all: 5G networks will co-exist with 4G networks and alternative network technologies to deliver a high-speed, reliable and secure broadband experience; Deliver future networks innovatively and with optimal economics: All stakeholders will strive to cost-effectively deliver improved networks, relying on a combination...

Read More

Nokia Promises 5G FIRST End-to-End Solution in 2H17

At Mobile World Congress, Nokia is showcasing its 5G FIRST end-to-end solution incorporating its AirScale and AirFrame technology, including AirScale massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna, Cloud Packet Core and mobile transport.  The solution is expected to launch in the second half of 2017. Nokia said it intends to give operators a first-to-market advantage based on early specifications. The radio access network components of 5G FIRST comprise...

Read More

Cisco Intros Security Architecture for Mobile Operators

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Cisco is introducing its Security Architecture for Mobile Service Providers, promising multi-layered protection across the network, the endpoint (device) and the cloud. New elements include: Network Security: To help service providers protect their mobile backhaul from attacks against the core network, Cisco introduces its next generation of highly scalable, physical and virtual Security Gateway (SecGW) solutions,...

Read More

ADVA Advances Facebook-Designed Open Optical Packet Transport

ADVA Optical Networking reports that it is now working with nine customers on trials of the Facebook-designed Voyager solution, including Tier 1 service providers and large enterprises.  The open optical packet transport system is being tested in a range of proof of concept (POC) installations. ADVA said the over the last nine months, Voyager has matured rapidly from blueprint to physical product. The 1RU DWDM unit features 12 x 100Gbit/s QSFP...

Read More

Huawei and Softbank Complete 3.5 GHz Massive MIMO with CA Test

Huawei, in collaboration with SoftBank, completed a Massive MIMO verification test using the operator's 40 MHz spectrum on the 3.5 GHz band in Tokyo, Japan. The test of Massive MIMO and multi-carrier technologies achieved a peak downlink rate of 1.4 Gbps. Huawei said the 3.5 GHz band, with its abundant bandwidth resources, offers a great opportunity for the global development of LTE TDD, and has grown increasingly important as a 5G catalyst to...

Read More

CORD and xRAN Consortium Partner in Software-based Extensible RAN

CORD and xRAN consortium partner to develop carrier grade software-based, extensible RAN February 23rd The CORD Project, an open source project seeking reinvent network access via enabling data centre economics and cloud agility in the central office, announces an agreement to partner with xRAN Foundation to collaborate on standardising and promoting a software-based, extensible RAN (xRAN) architecture. The partnership is intended to deliver a...

Read More

ZTE Shows its 5G Pre-commercial Base Stations

At Mobile World Congress, ZTE is showcasing a range of 5G mmWave and Sub6GHz pre-commercial base stations.  The equipment will support 3GPP's 5G new radio (NR) new air interfaces and mainstream 5G frequency bands. The base stations use massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO), Beam Tracking, beamforming and other key 5G technologies. The company is demonstrating a 5G mmWave base station with a 50 Gbps peak rate.  ZTE completed...

Read More

Source Photonics ramps 100G QSFP28 LR4 transceiver capacity

 Source Photonics, a supplier of optical transceivers for data centre and broadband access connectivity, announced that in December 2016 it reached an operational milestone when it expanded capacity to over 10,000 units per month for 100 Gbit/s QSFP28 LR4 transceivers. Source Photonics noted that it began shipping its 100 Gbit/s QSFP28 LR4 product in March 2015 following completion of a targeted sampling and qualification program. Subsequent...

Read More

Baicells Debuts its "Neutral Host" Small Cells

Baicells Technologies introduced its "NeutralCell", which provides a shared infrastructure that can be leveraged by multiple operators and neutral host service providers. Baicell said its NeutralCell allows neutral host service providers to deliver a shared infrastructure solution – a single small cell that can be used by multiple operators. The NeutralCell units support the frequency band and transmitted power requirements of multiple operators,...

Read More

Qualcomm Adds Support for Android Things OS on 4G LTE Processors

Qualcomm plans to add support for the Android Things operating system (OS) on its Snapdragon 210 processors with X5 LTE modems. The Android Things OS is a new vertical of Android designed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and Snapdragon processors are expected to be the world’s first commercial System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions to offer integrated 4G LTE support for this OS. This combination is designed to support a new class of IoT applications...

Read More

Accelerated Push for 5G New Radio (NR) standardization

Major mobile network operators and vendors issued a call to accelerate the 5G New Radio (NR) standardization schedule to enable large-scale trials and deployments as early as 2019, a year earlier than the previous expected timeline. The first 3GPP 5G NR specification will be part of Release 15 - the global 5G standard that will make use of both sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrum bands. Companies backing this accelerated schedule for 5G include AT&T,...

Read More

Telefónica Builds AI Virtual Assistant for Managing Services

At the kickoff to Mobile World Congress 2017, Telefónica’s introduced AURA, a virtual assistant that uses artificial intelligence and cognitive capabilities to allow its consumer customers to know, manage, and control their digital lives with the company. Telefónica’s Chairman and CEO, José María Álvarez-Pallete said the new platform and voice application, which sounds like Apple's Siri, will transform the interaction between customers and service...

Read More

Qualcomm Expands 5G Modem Family to Support 5G NR

Qualcomm Technologies is expanding its Snapdragon X50 5G modem family to include 5G New Radio (NR) multi-mode chipset solutions compliant with the 3GPP-based 5G NR global system, supporting operation in the sub-6 GHz and multi-band millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. Qualcomm said its new modems are designed to provide a unified 5G design for all major spectrum types and bands while addressing a wide range of use cases and deployment scenarios. The...

Read More

Verizon Launches Exponent Services for Global Carriers

Verizon unveiled Exponent, its new business and technology venture offering a portfolio of software and internet platforms designed to enable carriers around the world to quickly deploy and launch next-generation solutions. Exponent leverages Verizon's innovation and experience in building its own network to provide the same foundation for other carriers to fuel their digital transformation and expanding their Big Data and Artificial Intelligence,...

Read More

Cisco to Automate NTT DOCOMO’s Network Device Provisioning

Cisco is supplying its Network Services Orchestrator to help NTT DOCOMO carry out network device provisioning and transform its service lifecycle. Cisco noted that DOCOMO deployed a network functions virtualization (NFV) system last year, but due to the complexity and time-consuming operations with network device provisioning, it has taken the initiative to fully improve its business efficiency by applying “automation” to various operations. The...

Read More

Oracle and Tech Mahindra Partner on VoLTE as a Service Offering

Tech Mahindra, a leading system integrator for network infrastructure services, and Oracle Communications have partnered to deliver an end-to-end VoLTE-as-a-Managed-Service solution based on Oracle’s IMS Core and Signaling products. The joint solution offers operators the ability to achieve a faster time to market with new VoLTE services, increased voice quality and greater network efficiency while significantly reducing cost and complexity. Tech...

Read More

Xilinx Integrates RF analogue Tech into All Programmable MPSoCs

Xilinx has announced what it claims is a disruptive integration and architectural technique for 5G wireless with the addition of RF-class analogue technology into its 16 nm All Programmable MPSoC products. Xilinx's new All Programmable RFSoCs eliminate the need for discrete data converters, providing a claimed 50-75% reduction in terms of power and footprint for 5G massive MIMO and millimetre-wave (mmWave) wireless backhaul applications. The...

Read More

ZTE trials Combo PON solution supporting GPON + XG-GPON services with China Telecom

ZTE has announced the completion of commercial trials of its Combo PON solution in two local networks in Changzhou and Yancheng, in China's eastern Jiangsu province, conducted jointly with the China Telecom's Jiangsu branch and the China Telecom Beijing Research Institute. ZTE stated that the commercial trial combined the in-service optical line terminations (OLTs) with its Combo PON cards to connect the legacy optical distribution network (ODN)...

Read More

Ciena Launches Waveserver Ai for DCI

Ciena has introduced Waveserver Ai, designed to offer high capacity and power efficiency for data centre interconnect (DCI) applications together with the established server-like operational model delivered by the Waveserver portfolio. The 'easy-to-automate' Waveserver packet-optical platform is designed to enable ultra-high capacity connections between data centre locations along with reduced network costs for enterprises and content providers....

Read More

ECOMP and OPEN-O to Become ONAP

The open source ECOMP project, which AT&T recently turned over to the Linux Foundation, and Open Orchestrator Project (OPEN-O), which is also managed by the Linux Foundation, will be merged to create the new Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) Project. ONAP will allow end users to automate, design, orchestrate, and manage services and virtual functions. Its goal is to provide a harmonized and comprehensive framework for real-time, policy-driven...

Read More

Previewing M-CORD Demo at #MWC2017

M-CORD is maturing very quickly and becoming the platform of choice for 5G research and trials, says Guru Parulkar, Executive Director of ON.Lab. This video previews the upcoming M-CORD demos and announcements at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona. See the demos in Hall 5, Booth 5i61 https://youtu.be/eNjW58CosIU ...

Read More

Telefonica to Divest up to 40% of Infrastructure Operations to KKR for Euro 1.275B

Telefónica announced it has reached an agreement with global investment firm KKR Group for the sale of up to a 40% stake of Telxius Telecom, its global telecommunications infrastructure company, for a total of Euro 1,275 million, or Euro 12.75 per share. Under the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approvals, Telefónica and KKR plan to partner to develop and expand the global telecom infrastructure operation, including through the development...

Read More

Radisys Delivers FlowEngine TDE-2000 for SDN + NFV

Radisys announced the delivery of its FlowEngine TDE-2000 carrier-grade open network switch for SDN and NFV. Radisys said its new 1-RU FlowEngine TDE-2000 platform delivers robust Layer 2 through 5 traffic classification and distribution with very high throughput and low latency. The platform is the new flagship offering in Radisys’ FlowEngine TDE portfolio, leveraging programmable network processors which makes it easy to add new features moving...

Read More

OpenStack's 15th Release - Ocata - Adds Core Infrastructure Services and Container Integration

The 15th version of OpenStack has officially hit the streets. The OpenStack Ocata release focuses on stabilization, including scalability and performance of the core compute and networking services, and brings greater support for container-based application frameworks at the networking layer, as well as containerization of OpenStack services for easier deployment and upgrade management, treating OpenStack as a microservice application. OpenStack.org...

Read More