MEF advances its LSO architecture with 2 new specifications

MEF published two new specifications advancing the orchestration of MEF 3.0 connectivity services over multiple network layers, including the optical domain. Both standards were developed within MEF’s LSO (Lifecycle Service Orchestration) Reference Architecture.

Network Resource Management (NRM) – Information Model (MEF 59) -- defines the information model to facilitate the orchestration of Carrier Ethernet connectivity services through WAN SDN controllers, OTN subnetwork managers, and legacy network management systems. The MEF NRM model is specified in Papyrus UML and is based on current and developing best network management solutions by ITU-T, ONF, and TM Forum to allow for wider interoperability across multi-vendor and multi-technology platforms. This approach also facilitates upcoming work on OAM and OTN.

Along with the LSO RA, the MEF NRM serves as a basis for the new MEF 60 specification and thus supports the LSO Presto interface.

“MEF is playing a leading role to deliver the seamless management of services and resources in a multi-carrier, multi-vendor, multi-technology environment,” said Andrea Mazzini, editor of MEF 59 and Senior Systems Engineer, Nokia. “Interoperable network management models are a fundamental part of the picture and play a key role in the standardization of agile, assured, and orchestrated end-to-end connectivity.”

CenturyLink, Ciena, Cisco, Coriant, Ericsson, Huawei, Infinera, NEC, and RAD joined Nokia in contributing to MEF 59.

Network Resource Provisioning – Interface Profile Specification (MEF 60) -- provides an abstracted, intent-based solution for activation of – as well as topology retrieval of – network resources in support of MEF-defined services. The specification is complemented by an enhanced LSO Presto SDK (software development kit) that has been made available to the MEF Developer Community on the MEF GitHub.

"The CenturyLink-led MEF 60 provides an essential solution in the overall development of the MEF LSO portfolio of APIs,” said Jack Pugaczewski, editor of MEF 60 and Distinguished Architect, CenturyLink. “This development effort is a great example of a traditional standards development and open source hybrid, which resulted in a quality, expedited specification alongside the release of a corresponding API and SDK."

“MEF 60 is an excellent illustration of standards collaboration between industry organizations,” said Pascal Menezes, CTO, MEF. “Specifically, MEF 60 leverages ONF’s TAPI model for network resource activation and topology. The LSO Presto NRP API already is integrated into an OpenDaylight SDN controller plug-in, created by the MEF Developer Community working alongside the ODL UNI Manager project. And LSO Presto NRP service provisioning scenarios will be tested as part of the OIF 2018 SDN Transport API Interop Demo.”

CenturyLink, Amartus, Ciena, Cisco, Coriant, Ericsson, Huawei, Infinera, Iometrix, NEC, Nokia, and RAD contributed to MEF 60.

“MEF members have been working diligently to develop and demonstrate model-driven ‘North-South’ intra-provider LSO APIs and ‘East-West’ inter-provider LSO APIs that are required to orchestrate MEF 3.0 services,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “The new specifications enable us to define the critical LSO Presto NRP (Network Resource Provisioning) API for orchestrating services over a mix of underlying network technologies. We thank the LSO project teams for their diligent work and look forward to also sharing more good news related to inter-provider orchestration in the coming months.”

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AT&T shares some 5G field trial results

AT&T is collecting large data sets from 5G field trials with real people and so far the results are encouraging, writes Melissa Arnoldi is president, AT&T Technology & Operations, in a blog posting this week.

Citing her posted results:

Waco, Texas
Participants: Small and mid-sized businesses

• Provided 5G mmWave service to a retail location more than 150 meters away from the cell site and observed wireless speeds of approximately 1.2 Gbps in a 400 MHz channel.
• Observed latency rates at 9-12 milliseconds.
• Latency impacts things like the time between pressing play and seeing a video start to stream or hitting a web link and seeing a webpage begin to load. For context, MIT researchers discovered the human brain “latency” is 13 milliseconds.
• Supported hundreds of simultaneously connected users using the 5G network.

Kalamazoo, Michigan
Participants: Small businesses

• Observed no impacts on 5G mmWave signal performance due to rain, snow or other weather events.
• Learned mmWave signals can penetrate materials such as significant foliage, glass and even walls better than initially anticipated.
• Observed more than 1 Gbps speeds under line of sight conditions up to 900 feet. That’s equal to the length of 3 football fields.

South Bend, Indiana 
Participants: Small business and residential customers

• Observed a full end-to-end 5G network architecture, including the 5G radio system and core, demonstrating extremely low latency.
• Successfully provided gigabit wireless speeds on mmWave spectrum in both line of sight and some non-line of sight conditions.

http://about.att.com/innovationblog/two_years_of_5g_tria

AT&T updates its 5G and FTT rollout plans

Thursday, January 04, 2018  5G, ATT, G.Fast  No Comments

AT&T confirmed plans to roll out mobile 5G service in a dozen U.S. markets by late 2018, making it the first U.S. carrier to do so. The initial launch is aimed at consumers. Trials of 5G business applications are also planned this year.

The company also updated its plans in the following areas:

• LTE-LAA - AT&T, which deployed its first commercial LTE-Licensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) site in downtown Indianapolis in November 2017, now says it intends to launch the technology in at least 2 dozen additional metros this year. LAA offers theoretical peak speeds of up to 1 Gbps. In previous field tests, AT&T observed actual peak wireless speeds of 979 Mbps. 
• AT&T 5G Evolution - this series of upgrades based on LTE-Advanced technologies launched in 23 major metros in 2017. Further rollouts are underway. 
• LTE-M - AT&T's nationwide, low-power, wide-area LTE-M network went live in 2017. LTE-M supports large-scale IoT applications, like smart city services, smart metering, asset tracking, supply chain management, security and alarm monitoring, and personal wearables. 
• Fixed Wireless Internet - in 2017, AT& launched high-speed internet access to over 440,000 locations across 18 states in mostly rural areas through technologies like Fixed Wireless Internet, as part of the FCC Connect America Fund. In 2018, AT&T plans to reach over 660,000 total locations in 2018 and 1.1 million locations by the end of 2020 in those 18 states.
• Fixed 5G and AirGig - AT&T has pre-standard 5G fixed wireless trials underway in Austin, Texas; Waco, Texas; Kalamazoo, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana with residential, small business, and education customers. The company has also announced 2 trials of its AirGig technology, which targets transport for ultra-fast low latency internet over power lines. 
• Fiber for Consumers and Businesses - AT&T Fiber currently reaches more than 7 million locations across 67 metros nationwide. This year, AT&T plans to add 3 million more locations on. By mid-2019, AT&T Fiber should reach at least 12.5 million locations across at least 82 metro area/ 
• G.fast - In 2017, AT&T launched G.fast service supporting Internet speeds up to 500 Mbps for multifamily properties across 8 metro areas outside of its 21-state traditional service area. AT&T now to extend G.fast to apartment communities.

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MEF to offer SDN/NFV professional certification

MEF is introducing an SDN/NFV professional certification developed in collaboration with the Linux Foundation and ETSI.

The certification validates a professional's knowledge, skills, and abilities in the domains of software-defined networking and network functions virtualization.

MEF now offers three certifications as part of a comprehensive Professional Certification Framework. These include the MEF-SDN/NFV, MEF Carrier Ethernet Certified Professional (MEF-CECP), and MEF Network Foundations (MEF-NF) certifications. Individuals who obtain all three of these certifications qualify for the coveted MEF Network Expert certification.

“The MEF-SDN/NFV certification is the newest in a planned family of essential, professional, expert, and master level certifications that comprise the MEF Professional Certification Framework,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “Together, these certifications – and the training that programs that underpin them – aim to help service providers and technology companies develop and maintain highly skilled professional workforces in an era of rapid innovation.”

“The MEF-SDN/NFV certification exam builds upon our experience in certifying more than 5,700 professionals from 440 companies worldwide and incorporates input from top SDN and NFV experts from the Linux Foundation, ETSI, and other organizations,” said Rick Bauer, Director of Certification, MEF. “We appreciate the support we have received from our industry partners in developing this highly requested professional certification.”

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ADVA brings zero touch provisioning to network edge devices

ADVA introduced its new line of FSP 150 ProNID network edge devices featuring zero touch provisioning.

ADVA said its automated deployment capability removes the need for all manual intervention in the provisioning, testing and activation of demarcation equipment. Zero touch provisioning avoids the expense and effort caused by human error and significantly improves scalability. The technology utilizes cryptographic methods to safely authenticate devices and ensure the integrity of software and configuration data.

Automated device configuration and service provisioning was already supported by ADVA’s NFVI software solution (Ensemble Connector).

“Make no mistake, zero touch automation is set to transform the communication service industry. This one disruptive innovation will instantly reduce complexity and cost like nothing we’ve seen before. That’s why we’ve injected zero touch provisioning into our edge devices and why we’re committed to automation across our full technology range. And, as automation mustn’t come at the expense of security, we’re also combining it with strong security controls,” said Christoph Glingener, CTO, COO, ADVA.

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Video: MACOM in conversation with Verizon

MACOM, which has a long history in telecommunications, has moved quickly in recent years to expand its presence in photonics and advanced semiconductors, says Vivek Rajgarthia, SVP, and GM, Lightwave for MACOM.

This conversation with Glenn Wellbrock, Director, Backbone Network Design, Verizon, explores innovation and volume production at the component level, and how this impacts the overall network. 

See video: https://youtu.be/-DOCjW9FHMQ

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Cisco offers Tetration as SaaS and as virtual appliance

Cisco announced two new consumption models for its Tetration solution for the data center and cloud: Tetration-SaaS, the cloud-based solution for cloud-first and cloud-only organizations, and Tetration-V, a software-only version using a virtual appliance for smaller deployments.

Both Tetration models can identify data center applications, their detailed dependencies, and the underlying policies between different application tiers. Cisco said its Tetration enables network perators to implement a zero-trust model using whitelist policy and segmentation, monitor the behavior of server processes, and identify software-related vulnerabilities.

Previously, Cisco Tetration was only offered as in on-premises form factors. Tetration works with Cisco ACI and Cisco's security portfolio, including Cisco Firepower Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), Next-Generation IPS (NGIPS), Advanced Malware Protection (AMP), and Stealthwatch.

“Cisco Tetration helps Xentaurs manage successful cloud and data center deployments for our clients by ensuring every single connection and flow to an application is visible,” said Anoj Willy, CEO, Xentaurs. “Without this critical information, app, cloud, and data center migrations would be impossible to precisely guarantee nothing is missed and everything is as it is intended. Tetration goes further in establishing and enforcing a zero-trust environment that is the foundation for microsegmentation, down to containers and next-generation services development.”

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Palo Alto Networks to acquire Secd for Endpoint security

Palo Alto Networks agreed to acquire Israel-based Secdo, a supplier of endpoint security solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Secdo's patented technology uses assisted learning combined with the only thread-level visibility to automatically investigate and respond to every alert from any security technology.

Palo Alto Networks said the acquisition brings sophisticated endpoint detection and response, or EDR, capabilities – including unique data collection and visualization – to its own "Traps" advanced endpoint protection and the Application Framework in order to enhance their ability to rapidly detect and stop even the stealthiest attacks.

"We believe security operations teams need the most advanced and consistent approach to endpoint security. With Secdo's EDR capabilities as part of our platform, we will accelerate our ability to detect and prevent successful cyberattacks across the cloud, endpoint, and network," stated Mark McLaughlin, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks.

"We are delighted to join the Palo Alto Networks team. We founded Secdo to dramatically increase visibility for security operations teams to reduce the time it takes to detect and respond to an alert. The combined capabilities of Secdo and Palo Alto Networks will provide customers the capabilities they need to swiftly and accurately detect and respond to cyberattacks," said Shai Morag, co-founder and CEO of Secdo.
om.

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RAD announces vAccess, Service Delivery and Assurance VNF for vCPE

RAD introduced a new capability called vAccess that allows deployment of VNFs over any access.

The new vAccess capability, which is already in use by a Tier 1 operator in North America, is part of RAD’s Service Assured Access solutions and is designed to help service providers quickly roll out vCPE services.

RAD said vAccess upgrades any white box operating system to carrier-grade level by adding VNF assurance capabilities and, when combined with ots pluggable physical network functions (P-PNFs), adds missing network capabilities such as CE2.0 demarcation and interfaces such as xDSL, PON, and legacy TDM.

“vAccess allows operators to get on the SDN/NFV bandwagon today. They can benefit from white boxes’ cost savings while providing any virtualized service, such as vSD-WAN, vRouter, and vEncryption over whatever access infrastructure they have installed,” said Ilan Tevet, VP Marketing and Business Development at RAD.

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Liquid Telecom South Africa names Reshaad Sha as CEO

Liquid Telecom has appointed Reshaad Sha as CEO of Liquid Telecom South Africa, effective June 1, 2018.

Reshaad, a South African national, will oversee the growth of digital services and the rollout of enhanced network services for enterprises and consumers across the country.

Reshaad most recently served as CEO of SqwidNet, an open access Internet of Things (IoT) network operator, and has for the last five years served as Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Director of the open access fibre optic company Dark Fibre Africa. He also has extensive international management experience having worked for a variety of global tech and telecoms companies, including Cisco and LogicaCMG.

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