Cisco adds to its Service Provider routing portfolio

Cisco announced the addition of hardware, software and security options to its Service Provider routing portfolio. Highlights include:

Routing hardware 

Cisco NCS 500 Series: addressing converged wireline and wireless 5G-ready requirements for mobile x-haul and future evolutions of Carrier Ethernet networks, and various bandwidth needs ranging from 1 to 100 Gbps interfaces in small form factors.

Cisco ASR 9901: it supports applications such as distributed provider edge, Internet peering, metro aggregation and broadband network gateway (BNG) in a space-optimized platform; It delivers 456 Gbps of port capacity while also providing flexibility in terms of port speeds ranging from 1 to 100 Gbps with industry-leading MACsec encryption support across all ports.

Cisco NCS 5500 Series:

• Two fixed chassis supporting 24 and 36 100GE ports 
• A 36 100GE ports line card targeted at high-density core, mobile backhaul and data center interconnect use cases; Offers flexible port configuration supporting 10G/25G/40G and 100G per port with enhanced scale capabilities (external TCAM) 
• A compact 2RU router targeted at high-density metro aggregation, mobile backhaul networks and long-haul connectivity use cases; Delivers maximum flexibility with the support of Modular Port Adapters (MPA) with options of different port types and MACsec encryption support.

Routing software additions

Segment Routing: Offers service providers more control over Internet traffic by delivering a unified transport fabric across aggregation, edge, core and data center network domains with unmatched simplicity, resiliency and scalability; With Segment Routing Flexible Algorithm, a new addition to the Cisco Segment Routing Traffic Engineering toolkit, service providers can:

• Optimize the same physical network infrastructure along various dimensions such as low-latency, bandwidth or path disjointness. 
• Custom fit 5G network slices to specific applications

Ethernet VPN (EVPN): Cisco is now offering seamless integration with Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS), helping service providers speed up migration from VPLS to EVPN as another method to provide Ethernet-based multipoint to multipoint communication over IP or MPLS networks; EVPN offers improved scalability, optimal forwarding and helps prevent traffic floods.

"Cisco continues to drive innovation in service provider routing to help our customers uplevel their architectures and be one step ahead in managing their network traffic demands,” said Jonathan Davidson, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider Networking, Cisco.

The news was announced at this week's MPLS+SDN+NFV World Congress in Paris.

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Nokia wins key role in China Mobile's regional optical transport network

Nokia has secured the #1 vendor role in a central bid to supply equipment for China Mobile's regional optical transport network.

Specifically, China Mobile has chosen Nokia to provide an integrated IP/optical solution for 13 city metro and two provincial backbone networks. The network includes Nokia 1830 PSS-24x platform, a highly scalable packet/OTN multilayer switching platform. Deployments are underway. Financial terms were not disclosed.

China Mobile's new optical transport network will support its next-generation of network services, especially 5G.

Yu Xiaohan, head of the China Mobile customer team at Nokia Shanghai Bell, said: "We are very pleased to work closely with China Mobile to provide the optical technology for its most advanced networks today and in the future. We'll continue to fulfill our mission by making people's life easier as we create the technologies that connect the world."

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Apple hits its 100% renewable power target

Apple's global facilities, including retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries, are now powered with 100 percent clean energy. This achievement includes — including the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India.

Some highlights:

• Apple's data centers have been powered by renewable energy since 2014.
• Apple currently has 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity
• 286 megawatts of solar PV generation came online in 2017
• Apple has 15 more projects in construction, which will bring its total to over 1.4 gigawatts renewable energy generation.
• Apple Park, Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino, is now the largest LEED Platinum-certified office building in North America. It has a 17-megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation, four megawatts of biogas fuel cells, and battery storage.
• Apple has commissioned over 485 megawatts of wind and solar projects across six provinces of China to address upstream manufacturing emissions.
• In Prineville, Oregon, the company signed a 200-megawatt power purchase agreement for an Oregon wind farm, the Montague Wind Power Project, set to come online by the end of 2019.
• In Reno, Nevada, Apple created a partnership with the local utility, NV Energy, and over the last four years developed four new projects totaling 320 megawatts of solar PV generation.
• In Japan, Apple is partnering with local solar company Daini Denryoku to install over 300 rooftop solar systems that will generate 18,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy every year.

“We're committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we're proud to have reached this significant milestone,” said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. “We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.”

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MediaTek announces 56G PAM4 SerDes

MediaTek announced a new 56G SerDes ASIC with PAM4 signaling and based on its 7nm FinFET process technology. The company said its high-performance DSP-based design demonstrates best-in-class power efficiency, performance and die-area. The first partner products adopting MediaTek's 56G PAM4 SerDes IP are already in development and will be available during the second-half of 2018.

MediaTek's SerDes portfolio now ranges from 10G, 28G, 56G through to 112G available for ASIC designs.

"The ASIC business has changed over time and we see new opportunities with IoT, communications and other consumer spaces that are demanding unique ASIC solutions. We have longstanding expertise in the ASIC side of the industry that goes along with our breadth of chipset portfolios in mobile, home and auto," said Jerry Yu, MediaTek Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Intelligent Devices Business Group. "Our newest ASIC solution with silicon-proven IP available on 7nm and 16nm can be seamlessly integrated into these cutting edge ASIC products."

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Armis raises $30M for enterprise IoT

Armis, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California with offices in Tel Aviv,  raised $30 million in Series B funding for its enterprise IoT security solutions.

Armis offers an agentless security solution that provides visibility of every device in the enterprise environment. It analyzes and classifies devices and their behavior in order to identify risks or attacks, and protects critical information and systems. Armis does not require any hardware and integrates seamlessly into any environment or existing infrastructure.

The company said its technology was responsible for the discovery of the BlueBorne compromise last September, which was the largest exposure of devices to date.

The funding round was led by Red Dot Capital Partners, a Temasek-backed Venture Capital fund based in Israel and focused on growth-stage tech companies, with Bain Capital Ventures joining. Sequoia Capital and Tenaya Capital also participated as return investors. This brings the company's total funding to $47 million.

"Last year, IoT played a role in driving enterprise cyber threats up by 600 percent. Organizations now recognize that connected device security is no longer a 'nice to have,' but is a top priority for every boardroom and C-suite," said Yevgeny Dibrov, CEO and co-founder of Armis. "Our agentless software provides visibility and control over every device, we've allowed security teams to achieve goals without disrupting their businesses' digital transformation journeys."

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Rakuten to launch new 4G network in Japan

Rakuten, the leading e-commerce company in Japan, received approval from the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications to launch the nation's 4th 4G network.

Rakuten Mobile Network will operate over the 1.7 GHz frequency band with over 1,825 MHz of spectrum. The company aims to launch service in October 2019.

Rakuten Mobile Network plans to raise a maximum of JPY 600 billion to fund the rollout of the network. Of this, Rakuten Inc. (the parent company) plans to provide a maximum of JPY 200 billion.

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NTT Com and Dimension Data continue integration

NTT Com and Dimension Data are making progress in unifying their cloud IaaS capabilities

Dimension Data, which is also a business unit of the NTT Group and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, focuses on services including network integration, security and data centers. In addition,  NTT Com will expand its service portfolio by combining with Dimension Data’s private cloud and dedicated SAP platforms.

“Many of our clients have complex hybrid IT challenges and need services that are end-to-end and scale as per their specific requirements. It is clear that we can better serve our clients and offer them solutions that address their evolving challenges by combining our strengths. We are now equipped to deliver a more compelling value proposition and greater level of innovation in hybrid IT to the market and our clients,” stated Jason Goodall, Dimension Data Group Chief Executive Officer.

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Pivotal to offer 37 million shares with IPO range of $14-$16

Pivotal Software, a division of Dell that offers a cloud-native platform for enterprises that delivers "any app to every major private and public cloud", announced the launch of its initial public offering of 37,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock. Pivotal says its foundry platform helps improve software developer productivity, operational efficiency, security and availability for enterprise apps. High availability. Ops tea Pivotal is offering 33,117,000 shares of its Class A common stock and General Electric, the selling stockholder, is offering 3,883,000 shares of Class A common stock (which represents approximately 20% of General Electric’s position in Pivotal). The initial public offering price is expected to be between $14.00 and $16.00 per share.

This would raise up to $592 million.

Pivotal is seeking a listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "PVTL".

Pivotal Software was formed as an independent company in 2012 after spinning out of EMC Corp. and VMware (which was majority-owned by EMC). In 2013, GE invested $105 million for a 10% stake.

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Telefonica deploys ASSIA's CloudCheck Wi-Fi

Telefonica has deployed ASSIA's CloudCheck software solution across its Latin American networks.

ASSIA's cloud-based product manages Wi-Fi at customer premises with diagnostics and optimization for improved performance and service delivery to Telefonica's growing base of broadband subscribers.

The CloudCheck platform enables Telefonica call-center agents and field technicians proactively to detect and resolve subscriber Wi-Fi issues while automatically optimizing Wi-Fi performance for their subscribers.

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MACOM powers 4K Waveform Monitor from Leader

MACOM’s 12G-SDI solutions, including its MAEQ-23644 Equalizer, M23145 Reclocker and M21024 Crosspoint switch, are powering Leader Electronic's LV5600 2nd Generation 4K Waveform Monitor.

Leader’s LV5600 Waveform Monitor can perform measurement and quality control of various SDI signals including signal waveform display, vector display, picture display and eye pattern display. MACOM’s components enable these measurements to be made with a higher degree of accuracy and quality, supporting the various SDI signals up to 12G-SDI.

“We have been focused on developing the industry’s best and broadest portfolio of 12G-SDI semiconductor solutions,” said Gary Shah, Vice President, High-Performance Analog, at MACOM. “Having our components selected by Leader is a testament to our industry-leading performance in broadcast video.”

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