Google hands over management of Kubernetes project to the community

Kubernetes, which is the container orchestration system introduced by Google in 2014, is taking the next step in its evolution.

Throughout this period, Google has provided the cloud resources that support the project development—namely CI/CD testing infrastructure, container downloads, and other services like DNS, all running on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Since 2015, Kubernetes has been part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) under the direction of the Linux Foundation.

Google said now that Kubernetes has become one of the world’s most popular open-source projects, it is time to hand over control. Google hosts the Kubernetes container registry and last month it served 129,537,369 container image downloads of core Kubernetes components. That’s over 4 million per day—and a lot of bandwidth!

Google will hand over all project operations of Kubernetes to the community (including many Googlers), who will take ownership of day-to-day operational tasks such as testing and builds, as well as maintaining and operating the image repository and download infrastructure.

Under the new plan, Google will make a $9 million grant of GCP credits to the CNCF, split over three years, to cover infrastructure costs. In addition to the world-wide network and storage capacity required to serve all those container downloads, a large part of this grant will be dedicated to funding scalability testing, which regularly runs 150,000 containers across 5,000 virtual machines.

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Equinix to offer private connectivity to VMware cloud on AWS

Equinix will offer private connectivity to VMware Cloud on AWS via AWS Direct Connect at its data centers globally. VMware Cloud on AWS is an on-demand service that enables enterprises to run applications across vSphere-based cloud environments with access to a broad range of AWS services. Powered by VMware Cloud Foundation, this service integrates vSphere, vSAN and NSX along with VMware vCenter management, and is optimized to run on dedicated, elastic, bare-metal AWS infrastructure.

The services is now available in 24 metros around the world by connecting to an AWS Direct Connect edge node deployed at Equinix IBX data centers within the same metro or via Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric).

Equinix said it already deploys more AWS Direct Connect onramps than any other data center provider.

Currently, AWS Direct Connect is available to customers in Equinix IBX data centers across 24 strategic markets including Amsterdam, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, Manchester, Miami, Munich, New York, Osaka, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw and Washington, D.C.

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Mellanox ships 200G LinkX Copper and Optical Cables

Mellanox Technologies is now shipping 200GbE Ethernet and InfiniBand HDR LinkX optical transceivers, Active Optical Cables (AOCs) and Direct Attach Copper cables (DACs) for use in upcoming 200 Gbps systems.

The new LinkX 200 Gbps product line provides comprehensive options for switch, server, and storage network connectivity for HDR InfiniBand and 200/400GbE infrastructures. LinkX is part of the Mellanox “end-to-end” ecosystem including Spectrum2 200GbE and Quantum HDR systems and ConnectX-6 network adapters, which includes:

• 200G SR4/HDR Transceiver: Designed and manufactured by Mellanox, the 4x50G PAM4 transceiver uses the QSFP56 form-factor and forms the basis for transceivers and AOC products for Mellanox’s upcoming 200G systems.
• 200GbE and HDR DAC and AOC cables: Designed and manufactured by Mellanox we will be displaying both straight and y-splitter 100GbE and HDR100 form-factors.
• 400GbE DAC Cables: Mellanox LinkX™ kicks off its 400GbE line with announcing beginning shipments of its 400G 8x50G PAM4 DAC cables in the QSFP-DD form-factor.
• Live Demos: At ECOC we will host a live demo with Keysight/Ixia showing 200Gb/s SR4 transceivers and 400Gb/s QSFP-DD DAC cables.
• 400G SR8 Transceiver: Mellanox-designed, 8-channel parallel transceiver will be on display.
• Low-Loss DAC Cables: Extending one of the industry’s largest offerings of interconnect products, with new low-loss DAC cables that enables simplified or even FEC-less links for Mellanox SN2000 series of 25/50/100G network switches and ConnectX network adapters. The new cables offer lengths up to 5 meters and support the IEEE CA-N and CA-L specifications. This enables considerable interconnect latency savings.

Mellanox also began shipping 400G QSFP-DD DAC cables for use in next-generation systems.

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Facebook establishes Express Wi-Fi Certified program

Facebook launched an Express Wi-Fi Certified partner program for access point manufacturers.

The initial list of Express Wi-Fi Certified partners includes Arista Networks, Cambium Networks, and Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS Company.

Facebook's Express Wi-Fi enables local entrepreneurs, internet service providers, and mobile network operators to offer fast, affordable internet access in local communities. Currently, Express Wi-Fi is available with 10 partners in five countries — India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. People typically access Express Wi-Fi hotspots by signing up with a participating retailer and purchasing a prepaid data pack.

Facebook said Express Wi-Fi Certified hotspots must be able to perform two key tasks: authenticate people who want to use a hotspot and account for the Wi-Fi data they use.

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Facebook sets 2020 target for 100% renewable power

Facebook has set 2020 as its target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% and to power 100% of global operations with renewable energy. Three years ago, the company set a goal of powering 50% of its operations with renewable power by 2018. It reached this goal by the end of 2017.

To date, Facebook has signed contracts for over 3 gigawatts of new solar and wind energy. Most of the contracts have been signed over the past 12 months for new solar and wind projects that will deliver energy to its hyperscale data operations.

https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/08/renewable-energy/

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AT&T adds Indianapolis to its mobile 5G rollout

AT&T added Indianapolis to its list of 5G rollout cities, joining Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Raleigh, and Waco.

“Indy is a city on the forefront of innovation and technology. Home to a variety of large and small businesses, thriving communities, and a local government that understands the importance of technology to fuel innovation and boost economic growth,” said Bill Soards, president AT&T Indiana.  “Whether you’re a retailer, car wash owner, hospital, manufacturer, public safety entity or a bank, we expect 5G will eventually change the customer experience and provide new economic opportunities for your business. It was a natural choice for AT&T to name Indy as one of the twelve introductory 5G cities.”

AT&T invested nearly $425 million in its Indianapolis area wireless and wired networks during 2015-2017. In 2017, AT&T made more than 525 wireless network upgrades in the Indianapolis area. These include new cell sites, boosting network capacity and new wireless high-speed internet connections. The upgrades included its 5G Evolution technologies and LTE-LAA.

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Cloudian raises $94 million for hyperscale data fabric

Cloudian, a start-up offering a hyperscale data fabric for enterprises, raised $94 million in a Series E funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $173 million.

“Cloudian redefines enterprise storage with a global data fabric that integrates both private and public clouds — spanning across sites and around the globe — at an unprecedented scale that creates new opportunities for businesses to derive value from data,” Cloudian CEO Michael Tso. “Cloudian’s unique architecture offers the limitless scalability, simplicity, and cloud integration needed to enable the next generation of computing driven by advances such as IoT and machine learning technologies.”

The funding round included participation from investors Digital Alpha, Eight Roads Ventures, Goldman Sachs, INCJ, JPIC (Japan Post Investment Corporation), NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. and WS (Wilson Sonsini) Investments.

“Computing now operates without physical boundaries, and customers need storage solutions that also span from the data center to the edge,” said Takayuki Inagawa, president & CEO of NTT DOCOMO Ventures. “Cloudian’s geo-distributed architecture creates a global fabric of storage assets that supports the next generation of connected devices.”

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Dell’Oro: WLAN market to hit $18.2 billion by 2022

The WLAN market revenue will grow to $18.2 billion by 2022, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. Broadband CPE and Mesh routers will fuel growth for SOHO class WLAN.

“We estimate the Enterprise and SOHO markets to maintain modest growth over the next five years,” said Ritesh Patel, Business Analyst at Dell’Oro Group. “Specifically in the SOHO market, the need for better Wi-Fi coverage and in-home management will be driven by the demand for improved network visibility and application mobility, i.e. having the ability from anywhere in the home to experience high bandwidth applications such as FaceTime, Netflix, and YouTube. Broadband CPE and Wi-Fi Router vendors will fulfill this need by integrating new wireless technology, 802.11ax, and by improving visibility into analytics and management controls. Similarly, vendors will address the need for better coverage through Mesh Routers, which will continue to see modest to high growth over the next five years,” added Patel.

The WLAN 5-Year Forecast Report highlights other key trends, including:

• Enterprise Cloud license revenue will surpass Cloud Managed AP revenue for the first time.
• Ethernet switch sales to aggregate WLAN are poised to eclipse switch sales lost to WLAN. See our Campus Networks Advanced Research report.
• China eclipses the largest region, North America, in terms of units by 2020.

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