NTT Com delivers global SD-WAN for Hitachi

NTT Communications will supply its SD-WAN solution for Hitachi's "GWAN” global network, which reaches about 40 countries.

The solution will be deployed in 1,000 offices, making it among the largest-scale solutions of its kind ever delivered in Japan. One of the offerings in NTT Com’s SD-WAN lineup, the solution leverages Master’s ONE CloudWAN provided by NTTPC Communications.

NTT Com said its SDN-enabled control panel will enable Hitachi to reconfigure the network structure and routers of 1,000 offices within just several tens of seconds to five minutes. Segmentation will enable Hitachi’s network to be divided by system or group company.

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Sprint and Cox settle their differences and form alliance

Sprint and Cox Communications reached a settlement in a patent dispute and announced a new multi-year business alliance.

Under the agreement, Sprint will leverage Cox’s broadband infrastructure to accelerate the densification of the Sprint network while simultaneously increasing the efficiency of its macro backhaul and small cell deployment. Additionally, the agreement will increase and strengthen other business ties between the two companies.

Sprint has a number of initiatives underway to densify its network to enhance performance and improve the customer experience. Sprint’s Densification and Optimization toolkit includes a variety of solutions from traditional macro towers to small cells including Sprint Magic Box, airpoles, strand mounts and repeaters. Through this agreement with Cox, Sprint will significantly accelerate deployment of that toolkit throughout Cox’s national footprint.

"This is another opportunity to work with a strategic partner to accelerate our densification plans to improve our network performance and experience for Sprint customers throughout Cox’s national territory," said Sprint’s Chief Technology Officer John Saw. "Moving forward, we will continue to look for new opportunities to work with Cox in ways that are mutually beneficial."

"We are pleased to continue our positive, long-term working relationship that benefits both companies and consumers," said Steve Rowley, executive vice president, Cox Business.

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Ericsson unveils the 5G Radio Dot

Ericsson is introducing a 5G version of its Radio Dot small cell solution.

The company says its 5G Radio Dot takes less than half the time to install compared to other indoor solutions and will support the new 5G mid-bands (3-6GHz) with speeds up to 2Gbps.

Nishant Batra, Head of Product Area Network Infrastructure at Ericsson, says: “Adding small cell solutions to our 5G portfolio is a natural part of the network evolution. Enterprises have been asking for first-rate connectivity indoors, as well as higher speeds and capacity to serve advanced use cases that cannot be addressed by traditional indoor systems. Our 5G portfolio, bolstered by small cells, will enable operators to meet these demands.”

• The Ericsson Radio Dot System is a disk shaped remote antenna element about the size of a hockey puck. The Ericsson Radio Dot is connected via standard Category 5/6/7 Ethernet cabling to a indoor base station.  The Dot delivers 3G and 4G LTE for indoor users using 2X 100 milliwatt output power.  Up to 96 of the dots could be connected to a single base station.

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Mellanox posts record Q4 revenues of $237.6M, up 7% yoy

Mellanox Technologies reported revenues of $237.6 million for the fourth quarter and $863.9 million in fiscal year 2017.

GAAP operating loss was $(6.7) million, or (2.8) percent of revenue, in the fourth quarter, and was $(17.1) million, or (2.0) percent of revenue, in fiscal year 2017.Non-GAAP operating income was $38.0 million, or 16.0 percent of revenue, in the fourth quarter, and $118.7 million, or 13.7 percent of revenue, in fiscal year 2017.

GAAP gross margins were 64.1 percent in the fourth quarter, and 65.2 percent in fiscal year 2017.
Non-GAAP gross margins were 68.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and 70.4 percent in fiscal year 2017.

“We are pleased to achieve record quarterly and full year revenues,” said Eyal Waldman, President and CEO of Mellanox Technologies. “2017 represented a year of investment and product transitions for Mellanox. Fourth quarter Ethernet revenues increased 11 percent sequentially, due to expanding customer adoption of our 25 gigabit per second and above Ethernet products across all geographies. We are encouraged by the acceleration of our 25 gigabit per second and above Ethernet switch business, which grew 41 percent sequentially, with broad based growth across OEM, hyperscale, tier-2, cloud, financial services and channel customers. During the fourth quarter, InfiniBand revenues grew 2 percent sequentially, driven by growth from our high-performance computing and artificial intelligence customers.

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BT adds direct connect to IBM Cloud services

BT launched a new service to provide global businesses with direct access to IBM Cloud via the BT network.

Within the UK, the BT Cloud Connect Direct now provides connectivity into IBM Cloud data centres in the UK.

This will be followed in the coming months with direct connectivity into IBM Cloud data centres in mainland Europe, the US, Australia and Asia, optimising performance and compliance for customers in those regions.

Cloud Connect Direct for IBM will be managed and supported from a single BT-managed service desk, providing proactive management and quality of service.

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IBM's Q4 cloud revenues increased 27% to $5.5 billion

IBM reported fourth-quarter revenue of $22.5 billion, up 4 percent (up 1 percent adjusting for currency).

There was a GAAP net loss of $1.1 billion from continuing operations, including a one-time charge of $5.5 billion associated with the enactment of U.S. tax reform.. Non-GAAP operating revenue was $4.8 billion.

"Over the past several years we have invested aggressively in technology and our people to reposition IBM,” said James Kavanaugh, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer. "2018 will be all about reinforcing IBM's leadership position in key high-value segments of the IT industry, including cloud, AI, security and blockchain."

Fourth-quarter cloud revenues increased 30 percent to $5.5 billion (up 27 percent adjusting for currency).

IBM said its cloud revenue over the last 12 months amounted to $17.0 billion, including $9.3 billion delivered as-a-service and $7.8 billion for hardware, software and services to enable IBM clients to implement comprehensive cloud solutions.

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Texas 5G Alliance gets underway

A new organization called the Texas 5G Alliance has been organized with a mission to promote smart city infrastructure in Texas.

Founding members of the alliance include Crown Castle, Dell, T-Mobile, Google Fiber, Ericsson, Bypass Mobile, Carnegie Technologies, SmartAustin, VERTICOM, Tech Titans and the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

"We are on the cusp of groundbreaking technology that will change our everyday lives for the better," said Scott Dunaway, spokesperson for the Texas 5G Alliance. "Texas is setting the pace for innovative and life-changing technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, the internet of things, robotic deliveries, traffic flow solutions, and dedicated public safety and first responder networks, all of which will be dependent on small cell infrastructure that provides broad-scale 5G connectivity. We will aim to ensure Texas is a national and global leader in this pursuit."

http://www.texas5galliance.com

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Bell Canada picks Ericsson’s MediaFirst TV Platform

Bell Canada, the number one television provider in Canada, selected Ericsson’s MediaFirst TV Platform to power its next-generation multiscreen TV services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Bell currently has more than 1.5 million Fibe TV and Alt TV subscribers in Canada.

Rizwan Jamal, Bell’s President of Residential and Small Business, says: “Our longstanding and successful relationship with Ericsson helped us deliver the innovative and exclusive new Fibe TV services that propelled Bell to the #1 in position in Canadian TV. We look forward to taking the game-changing Fibe TV and Alt TV even further, enabling next-generation services across a wider range of devices by leveraging the innovative IPTV technologies of Ericsson MediaFirst.”

• Earlier this month, Ericsson announced that TELUS selected its MediaFirst TV platform.

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