Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Google on Building an Open Service Mesh in a Multi-Cloud World



We increasingly find ourselves in a world with many cloud edges, says Prajakta Joshi, Sr. Product Manager for Cloud Networking at Google. This includes public clouds, telcos, enterprise networks, and billions of edge devices.

The world is becoming one big distributed edge.

So, how do you deploy services in a multi-cloud world? What if we "SDN-ized" edge services?

The result could be an Open Telco Edge Service Mesh aligned with Google Cloud.

This 3-minute video focuses on the possibilities for a Service Mesh built with Istio and Kubernetes.

https://youtu.be/khhEKs3J91w







ADVA's Ensemble Controller aims to simplify operations

ADVA introduced its Ensemble Controller, a new tool for automating the management and control of ADVA’s broad portfolio of networking solutions, including virtualized network functions and disaggregated network domains.

The new Ensemble Controller enables end-to-end SDN control in multi-layer, virtualized networks, empowering customers to smoothly evolve their traditional network management to an orchestrator-based multi-vendor system. Ensemble Controller’s SDN interfaces interoperate seamlessly with commercial and open source multi-domain controllers, including Juniper Network’s NorthStar Controller, NEC/Netcracker, Nokia Network Services Platform, Sedona Systems, ONOS and OpenDaylight.

The Ensemble Controller is also extensible with technology and service-specific applications such as the Ensemble ConnectGuard Director for managing security, the Ensemble Fiber Plant Manager for rapid failure localization and the Ensemble Sync Director for controlling precise network timing.


“Our Ensemble Controller accelerates the transition to software-defined networks with the cost-efficiency of standard hardware and the flexibility of disaggregated transport solutions. In the face of increasing network complexity, our hybrid management and control approach reduces operational costs through automation and simultaneously represents the optimal compromise between flexibility and a secure future,” said Ulrich Kohn, director, technical marketing, ADVA.

“With its open interfaces, our Ensemble Controller is central to our mission of helping cloud and network service providers to break up monolithic systems and to adopt agile, disaggregated networking,” commented Stephan Rettenberger, SVP, marketing and investor relations, ADVA.

https://www.advaoptical.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20181211-adva-simplifies-network-operations-with-launch-of-ensemble-controller

IDC: Ethernet switch market up 8.1%; Router market down 5.1% in 3Q18

The Worldwide Ethernet switch market (Layer 2/3) recorded $7.3 billion in revenue in 3Q18, an increase of 8.1% YoY, while total enterprise and service provider (SP) router market revenues declined 5.1% YoY in 3Q18 to $3.7 billion, according to IDC's Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker and IDC Quarterly Router Tracker.

"Digital Transformation and adoption of Third Platform technologies continue to drive demand for network transformation and in turn the Ethernet switching equipment market," said Rohit Mehra, vice president, Network Infrastructure, at IDC. "While hyperscalers and cloud service providers are pushing consumption at the high end of the switching market, there remains strong growth in the enterprise campus and lower speed switching platforms too, highlighting the increased demands of the network from organizations of all sizes."



Some highlights from IDC:

  • 100Gb Ethernet switch revenues continue to grow rapidly. Port shipments for 100Gb switches rose 154.6% year over year to 3.5 million. 
  • 100Gb revenues broke the $1 billion barrier in 3Q18, reaching $1.1 billion to make up 14.8% of the market's total revenue. 
  • 25Gb ports saw even higher growth rates with port shipments up 251.0% to 2.6 million and revenue increasing 219.6% year over year for 3.7% of the market's revenue. 
  • 40Gb port shipments rose too, growing 12.6% year over year to 1.3 million, while revenues declined 10.4% for 7.5% of the market's total. 
  • Lower-speed campus switches continued to see strong demand. 
  • 10Gb port shipments rose 16.0% year over year to make up 28.8% of the market's revenue. 
  • 1Gb switches saw port shipments grow 8.4% year over year to 116.4 million, representing 42.3% of the market's total revenues.
  • The worldwide enterprise and service provider router market fell by 5.1% on a year-over-year basis in 3Q18 with the major service provider segment, which accounts for 76.2% of revenues, declining by 7.3%. 
  • The enterprise portion of the router market grew 2.5% year over year. 
  • From a regional perspective, the combined service provider and enterprise router market declined 24.4% in the U.S., where service provider revenues dropped 31.5% while enterprise revenues grew 8.7%. 
  • Cisco finished 3Q18 with a 3.8% year-over-year increase in overall Ethernet switch revenues and market share of 54.4%. In the hotly contested 25Gb/50Gb/100Gb segment, Cisco is the market leader with 39.4% revenue, which is up from the 34.6% share it held in this segment in the previous quarter. Cisco's combined service provider and enterprise router revenue declined 2.2% year over year, with enterprise router revenue increasing 4.1% but service provider revenues declining 5.3%. Cisco's combined service provider and enterprise router market share increased to 42.7% from 35.7% last quarter.
  • Huawei's Ethernet switch revenue rose 21.3% on an annualized basis but was down 7.5% sequentially from 2Q18 to 3Q18 with market share of 8.6%. The company's combined service provider and enterprise router revenue rose 2.2% year over year with a market share of 23.5%.
  • Arista Networks saw Ethernet switch revenues increase 27.6% in 3Q18, bringing its share to 6.6% of the total market, up from 5.6% a year earlier. With its focus on the datacenter, the company continues to cater to the higher end of Ethernet switch speeds with 100Gb revenues accounting for 66.1% of the company's total revenue, indicating the company's focus on cloud providers and large enterprises.
  • HPE's Ethernet switch revenue grew 12.0% year over year but was off 4.9% sequentially. The company's market share rose to 5.7%, up from 5.5% a year earlier.
  • Juniper's Ethernet switch revenue grew 3.8% in 3Q19, bringing its market share to 3.0%. Juniper saw a 15.2% decline in combined enterprise and service provider router sales, bringing its market share in the router market to 13.4%.


https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS44527718

Dell’Oro: Data Center Interconnect market to grow 85% by 2022

The aggregate sales of equipment for Data Center Interconnect (DCI) infrastructure will grow by 85 percent over the next five years, according to a new report published by Dell’Oro Group.  The report looks at the infrastructure market from three network perspectives: Optical Transport, Data Center Core, and Wide Area Networks (WAN).

“Data traffic within the cloud is increasing at unabated rates, and DCI networks are integral to carrying the traffic,” said Shin Umeda, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “We see strong demand for a wide range of networking gear for DCI, from the fiber optic layer up to the packet forwarding layer, and our forecast takes into account how these network layers are interrelated,” added Umeda.

Highlights from Dell'Oro:

  • DCI will drive strong demand for Optical Transport, Ethernet Data Center Switch, and Routing technologies.
  • Optical Transport networks will account for the majority of the DCI market value over the next five years.
  • DCI market share leaders for 2017 were Ciena for Optical Transport networks, and Juniper for WAN and Data Center Core networks.

http://www.delloro.com

Huawei's CFO released on bail, President Trump to negotiate

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's CFO, was released on bail of C$10 million (US$.4 million). The judge in Vancouver also required her to surrender her two passports (China and Hong Kong) and ordered her to wear an ankle bracelet while awaiting a decision in the extradition case against her to face fraud charges in the United States. The extradition case could take months or years to resolve depending if appeals are filed.

Following Meng's release on bail, President Trump was quoted by Reuters as saying that he is willing to intervene with the U.S. Department of Justice on Meng's behalf if it helps with ongoing trade negotiations with China

Kyodo News: Japanese government to exclude Huawei, ZTE

The Japanese government adopted a policy to exclude products from Huawei and ZTE from public procurement contracts on national security grouds, according to Kyodo News service.  The government is also discouraging Japanese telecommunications firms from using Chinese products. This includes 4G and 5G infrastructure products.

NTT Docomo is not known to use gear from either Huawei or ZTE. The same is true of KDDI. Softbank uses Huawei infrastructure in its 4G network and may be required to replace this gear over time.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/12/3ca01a054307-update1-japan-decides-to-exclude-huawei-zte-from-govt-procurement.html

Reliance Jio, TIM, and Verizon join O-RAN board

The O-RAN Alliance, which is a carrier-led effort to open the radio access network of next generation wireless systems, released its inaugural white paper, “O-RAN: Towards an Open and Smart RAN,” which is available on the O-RAN website. The white paper describes the O-RAN architecture, which drives a more cost-effective, intelligent RAN with open interoperable interfaces for next generation 5G networks and beyond.

The O-RAN Alliance also announced that Reliance Jio, TIM, and Verizon have joined the O-RAN board.

“It’s encouraging to see the O-RAN Alliance off to such a strong start and gaining momentum as we welcome three new board members. It’s important that the wireless industry continues to come together to drive forward O-RAN’s goals for open networking, software, and virtualization in global wireless networks especially as 5G is closer than ever,” said Andre Fuetsch, Chairman of the O-RAN Alliance, President-AT&T Labs and CTO of AT&T.

“We are pleased with the smooth transition of both C-RAN Alliance and xRAN Forum contributors into the O-RAN Alliance work groups,” said Dr. Sachin Katti, Professor at Stanford University and O-RAN Alliance TSC Co-Chair. “We’ve seen advancement on all fronts. The mix of new contributors and ideas promises to accelerate our progress during this next phase of O-RAN Alliance specifications and reference designs.”

https://www.o-ran.org/resources/

Nokia deploys deploy a liquid-cooled base station

Nokia, Elisa and Efore have commercially deployed a liquid-cooled base station system in an apartment building in Helsinki, Finland. Heat emitted by the base station is redirected into the building.

The liquid-cooled base station was made at Nokia's Oulu facility in Finland and the liquid-cooled power system was developed by power supplier Efore, with Elisa deploying the base station in Helsinki.

By eliminating the need for air conditioning and fans, Nokia Bell Labs said liquid cooling for a base station can deliver a reduction of up 80.percent in CO2 emissions and up to 30 percent in energy operating expenses.

Pekka Sundström, head of the Elisa customer team at Nokia, said: "Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs have conducted extensive research and testing to explore the possibilities of using a liquid-cooled base station in an operator's network. This first commercial deployment will enable us to understand the real-world benefits for customers such as Elisa as they transition toward 5G, and how the system can be implemented on a wider scale to help reduce the environmental impact of information and communications technology. We continue to explore ways of introducing efficiencies and reducing emissions across our portfolio, and this project marks a significant step in that journey."


LightPointe consolidates HQ and manufacturing in San Diego

LightPointe, a manufacturer of outdoor point to point radios since 1998, has moved its headquarters and backhaul radio factory into a new enhanced facility in San Diego.

LightPointe has consolidated the manufacturing of its 60 GHz, 70 GHz, 80 GHz, and 90 GHz point to point radios at the new location. This includes its Aire X-Stream Ultra Low Latency (ULL) radios, which are the de-facto standard in extremely demanding high-speed applications such as High Frequency Trading (HFT) networks, and its AireLink radios which are used to connect buildings and towers up to ten miles apart at up to 10 Gbps Full Duplex.

“We’re excited to have completed our move into a new facility which will enhance our operations for years to come, and it came at an exciting time as we conclude our 20th Anniversary Customer Appreciation Sale—which runs through December 31st”.

https://www.lightpointe.com/

Infineon debuts miniature, industrial-grade eSIM

Infineon Technologies introduced the first industrial-grade embedded SIM (eSIM) in a miniature Wafer-level Chip-scale Package (WLCSP).

The eSIM is designed for embedding in industrial machines and equipment ranging from vending machines to remote sensors to asset trackers.

Infineon's SLM 97 security controller in a Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP) measures only 2.5mm x 2.7mm in size, supports an extended temperature range of -40 to 105 degrees Celsius. It provides a high-end feature set fully compliant with the latest GSMA specifications for eSIM.

The SLM 97 security chip in WLCSP is manufactured at Infineon's production site in Dresden and Regensburg and now available in volume quantities.