BT launches Service and Network Automation Platform for SD-WAN

BT introduced its new Service and Network Automation Platform (SNAP) for helping customers innovate using SD-WAN and NFV technologies.

BT's SNAP, which is deployed at the heart of its global network, is built with best-in-breed technologies, including YANG for network modeling and TOSCA for service definition and VNF service chaining. Control commands can now cascade through BT’s systems taking effect within minutes, something that previously could take weeks. SNAP integrates with SD-WAN controllers from Cisco and Nuage Networks (Nokia). It also works with Cisco’s Network Services Orchestrator.

BT said it plans to extend orchestration from its core network to major third-party cloud data centers and all the way into customers’ LAN and data center LANs (DC-LANs). This will provide end-to-end applications visibility, control and configuration from customers’ laptops and devices through to servers in the cloud.

BT has also created at Centre of Excellence (CoE) to pool its SD-WAN and NFV expertise. The CoE supports the full lifecycle of customers’ SD-WAN or NFV services, collaborating across design and deployment to operations. The integrated team is backed with a programme of investment in training and tools in areas such as YANG, Netconf and TOSCA — new skills that are in very short supply.

Keith Langridge, vice president of network services at BT, said: “We’re investing to make it easier for our customer to take advantage of the latest networking technologies and cloud. Our new Service and Network Automation Platform and Centre of Excellence help customers tap into our wealth of know-how and experience in SDN and NFV. We have created a unique environment in which customers can deploy the latest software-defined services alongside their underlying network technologies. This transforms their experience of the journey to SD-WAN and makes the promise of software-defined services an operational reality.”

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MACOM debuts 25G lasers for 5G fronthaul

MACOM Technology Solutions introduced a portfolio of 25G distributed feedback (DFB) lasers designed for use in next-generation 5G LTE wireless fronthaul infrastructure.

Specs for the new 25G DFB lasers include a -40 to 85C temperature range and transmission distances from 2 to 10 kilometers. The device are offered in bare die chip format (1xxD-25I-LCT11-50x) and TO-packaging (1xxD-25I-LT5xC-50x).

MACOM said its new industrial temperature-grade 25G laser portfolio leverages its proprietary EFT, which at commercial scale manufacturing levels, could enable breakthrough cost efficiencies and product uniformity. MACOM believes that this high-volume production capability distinguishes us as a leading provider of 25G lasers across a host of Cloud Data Center and wireless infrastructure applications.

“MACOM’s new 5G LTE-optimized 25G laser family builds on our comprehensive portfolio of 5G enabling technologies, and again demonstrates the value of EFT for achieving production efficiency that scales to meet industry supply and cost structure needs,” said Dr. Fang Wang, Vice President and Business Line Manager, Lightwave, MACOM. “For customers transitioning from 10G to 25G wireless fronthaul infrastructure, MACOM can provide the 25G lasers, complementary components and application expertise to help accelerate deployment time and reduce costs.”

Sampling is underway with production availability planned for 2019.

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UNH-IOL intros 50/100/200/400 Ethernet - PAM4 testing

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) is introducing a testing service covering the new IEEE 802.3bs and the new IEEE 802.3cd specification for 50, 100, 200 and 400 Gigabit Ethernet based on PAM4 signaling.

The new services are for electrical and optical conformance testing of 50, 100, 200 and 400 Gigabit Ethernet specifications, with plans to offer interoperability testing as new higher speed Ethernet products enter into development and, eventually, the market.

UNH-IOL said the need for Ethernet speeds exceeding existing 100 Gigabit (based on 25G NRZ signaling) is being driven by exponentially increasing capacity demands across the board. Cloud service providers are looking to the higher efficiency and density that 50Gb/s PAM4 technologies (scalable up to 400Gb/s) Ethernet offers as they build out massive cloud-scale data centers, while the surge in mobile connectivity has telecoms pursuing higher speed Ethernet services. Additionally, bandwidth demand continues to grow at data centers tasked to service high-bandwidth, rich media applications such as video streaming, online gaming and digital marketing. In response, the UNH-IOL has taken a leading step to provide Ethernet stakeholders with testing services for 50, 100, 200 and 400 Gigabit through the multi-million dollar investment in new state of the art testing equipment.

“Today, a diverse array of applications and markets are driving the need for higher-speed, higher-density and lower cost connectivity solutions. Advances in new signaling technology is enabling the industry to rapidly deploy optimized solutions that achieve higher data rates to meet this demand,” said Mike Klempa, UNH-IOL Ethernet and Storage Technical Manager. “The investment in new equipment to test to these higher Ethernet speeds follows in line with UNH-IOL’s commitment to provide the most comprehensive Ethernet testing in a rapidly changing industry and also allows us to leverage our expertise in past 100Gb/s testing to help control testing costs at these evolving signaling types.”

https://www.iol.unh.edu/testing/ethernet/50-100-200-400gec

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IDC: Enterprise storage market driven by major refresh cycle

Vendor revenue in the worldwide enterprise storage systems market increased 21.3% year over year to $13.2 billion during the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18), according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker.

"Strong 2Q18 growth was driven by an ongoing infrastructure refresh cycle, investments in next-generation workloads, expanded use in public cloud services and data-driven initiatives," said Sebastian Lagana, research manager, Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies. "The growing data economy is a big part of the current market growth. Companies of all sizes are investing in platforms that support their need to ingest, process, and disseminate large volumes of data cost-effectively and without introducing new risks to the business."

Some highlights:

• Total capacity shipments were up 70.7% year over year to 111.8 exabytes during the quarter.
• Revenue generated by the group of original design manufacturers (ODMs) selling directly to hyperscale datacenters increased 31.7% year over year in 2Q18 to $3.3 billion. 
• This represents 25.1% of total enterprise storage investments during the quarter. 
• Sales of server-based storage increased 24.9% year over year to $3.8 billion in revenue. This represents 28.5% of total enterprise storage investments. The 
• external storage systems market was worth slightly over $6.1 billion during the quarter, up 14.4% from 2Q17.
• Dell was the largest supplier for the quarter, accounting for 19.1% of total worldwide enterprise storage systems revenue and growing 26.6% over 2Q17. 
• HPE/New H3C Group was the second largest supplier with 17.3% share of revenue and year-to-year growth of 1.9%. 
• NetApp generated 6.3% of total revenue, making it the third largest vendor during the quarter. This represented 19.8% growth over 2Q17. 
• IBM was the fourth largest supplier with a 4.6% share of market revenue during the quarter and year-over-year growth of 7.5%. Hitachi, Lenovo, and Huawei were all statistically tied* for the number 5 position with shares of 3.1%, 3.0%, and 2.7% respectively. 
• As a single group, storage systems sales by ODMs directly to hyperscale datacenter customers accounted for 25.1% of global spending during the quarter, up 31.7% over 2Q17.

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AT&T leads Mid-Year 2018 Global Provider Ethernet LEADERBOARD

AT&T leads Vertical Systems Group's Mid-Year 2018 Global Provider Ethernet LEADERBOARD published this month. The results are as follows (in rank order based on retail port share): AT&T (U.S.), Colt (U.K.), CenturyLink (U.S.), Orange Business (France), BT Global Services (U.K.), Verizon (U.S.) and NTT (Japan).

The Global Provider LEADERBOARD, the industry's benchmark for multinational Ethernet network market presence, ranks companies that hold a 4% or higher share of billable retail ports at sites outside of their respective home countries. Port counts include switched Ethernet, Ethernet Private Line (EPL), and Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) services, as well as Ethernet access to Cloud/Internet, MPLS and other VPNs.

The Challenge Tier of Global Providers includes companies with share between 2% and 4% of this defined market. Seven companies qualify for the mid-2018 Challenge Tier (in alphabetical order): Cogent (U.S.), Global Cloud Exchange (India), SingTel (Singapore), T-Systems (Germany), Tata Communications (India), Telefonica Worldwide (Spain) and Vodafone (U.K.).

"Global service providers are responding to the challenges of providing their multinational customers with higher speed Ethernet connectivity to MPLS, SD-WAN and cloud services in dozens of key markets throughout the world," said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group. "The top-ranked global providers continue to be separated by only a few share points in this highly competitive market segment."

Mid-2018 Global Provider Research Highlights:

• AT&T is the first U.S. company to attain the top position in the Global Provider LEADERBOARD. AT&T increased its rank to first position from second at the end of 2017.
• Orange Business drops from first to fourth position as a result of slowing growth in its global Ethernet business. The perennial leader in this market segment, Orange had previously attained first position on every year-end Global Provider LEADERBOARD since 2009.
• Colt moves into second position, up from third at the end of 2017, with the integration of its Asian operations (via its KVH acquisition) and pan-European network.
• CenturyLink advances to third from fourth position due to Orange's fall, and boosted by Level 3's assets outside the U.S.

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Swisscom picks Ericsson + Juniper for 5G IP transport

Ericsson will supply a new end-to-end 5G IP transport network to Swisscom. The deployment will use Ericsson's Router 6000 and Juniper Networks' 5G core routing portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ericsson said it takes end-to-end responsibility for Swisscom's 4G and 5G networks – from radio base stations to the data center. This includes hosting core applications such as IMS and Packet Core and managing network slices end to end with Ericsson Dynamic Orchestration.

Heinz Herren, CIO and CTO at Swisscom, says: "We have selected Ericsson's transport solution for our 5G network. Partnering with Juniper Networks, Ericsson has extended its transport coverage and can now take end-to-end transport responsibility all the way from the Radio Access Network (RAN) to the next generation core. Seamlessly managed and orchestrated, this reduces our complexity and affords a more efficient, high-performing network."

Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President and Head of Ericsson in Europe & Latin America, says: "Ericsson has stepped up and taken responsibility for transport. This deal is an important proof point for the end-to-end 5G transport solutions that we recently launched. The ease of use of our one-stop shop reduces not only complexity for Swisscom but also their total cost of ownership."

Swisscom has previously announced that it will be ready to launch its 5G network by the end of 2018.

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IDC: Enterprise WLAN market grew 2.6%

The combined consumer and enterprise wireless local area network (WLAN) market segments rose 1.9% year over year in the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18) with worldwide revenues of $2.5 billion, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly WLAN Tracker.

"The enterprise WLAN market continues to see moderate, steady growth, underscoring the importance of wireless networking for businesses of all sizes around the world," said Brandon Butler, senior research analyst, Network Infrastructure at IDC. "Enterprises continue to explore new ways WLAN deployments can help connect workers, enable engagement with customers, and improve business processes."

Some highlights:

• The enterprise segment grew 2.6% year over year in 2Q18 to $1.5 billion. 
• Consumer WLAN market revenue increased slightly, up 0.8% in 2Q18 compared to a year earlier, finishing at $1.0 billion. 
• From a geographic perspective, the enterprise WLAN market saw its strongest growth in 2Q18 coming from Japan, which grew 23.0% year over year, and from the Latin America region, which rose 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Mexico, Latin America's largest market, saw a 24.5% revenue increase from a year earlier while Brazil's revenues were up 30.1% on the year. Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) also saw healthy growth rates with regional revenues increasing 6.3% compared to 2Q17. Notable CEE markets included Russia with a 7.3% year-over-year gain and Poland's with 12.9% growth.
• Cisco's worldwide enterprise WLAN revenue increased 3.3% year over year in 2Q18 and was up 12.5% sequentially between the first and second quarters of 2018. Cisco's worldwide market share was 43.6% in 2Q18, in line with the company's 43.3% share in 2Q17. IDC believes that the Meraki cloud-managed WLAN portfolio remains one of the primary growth drivers for Cisco.
• Aruba-HPE (excluding its OEM business) revenues fell 10.3% year over year in 2Q18 but rose 38.9% from 1Q18. Aruba-HPE's market share stands at 15.1% in 2Q18, down from 17.2% in 2Q17.
• ARRIS/Ruckus continued to perform very well in 2Q18 and grew 19.3% year over year and 1.5% sequentially. ARRIS/Ruckus now accounts for 6.7% of the enterprise WLAN market, up from 5.8% in the same quarter of 2017.
• Ubiquiti recorded another quarter of strong growth in 2Q18, increasing 10.8% year over year. Ubiquiti accounted for 5.7% of the enterprise market in 2Q18, up from 5.3% in 2Q17.
• Huawei once again experienced very strong growth in 2Q18, increasing 16.0% over 2Q17 and up 42.8% sequentially from 1Q18, while claiming 5.1% market share versus its 4.5% market share in 2Q17.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS44264918

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SpaceX launches Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite

SpaceX successfully launched of the Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

 Telstar 18 VANTAGE, which was built by SSL, is the third high throughput satellite (HTS) in Telesat’s global fleet and the first with coverage over the Asia Pacific region. It will provide extensive C-band capacity over Asia, with Ku-band HTS spots over Indonesia and Malaysia, and its five additional Ku-band beams.

The first stage landed successfully on SpaceX's drone ship in the Atlantic.

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Keysight supplies 5G NR Device Dev + Verification to ASUS

Keysight Technologies has supplied its 5G network emulation solutions to accelerate 5G New Radio (NR) device development and verification to ASUS.

ASUS is using Keysight’s 5G network emulation solutions to validate new designs that support the latest 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) Release 15 specifications, including beamforming and beam management technologies across both sub-6GHz and mmWave frequencies.

Keysight offers end-to-end over-the-air (OTA) testing capabilities by combining its network emulation solutions with customizable chambers for radiated testing. ASUS will use the Compact Antenna Test Range chamber, which has been approved by 3GPP, as an indirect far field test methodology. This chamber will be used to perform device characterization and validation under real-world conditions.

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