Telia Carrier and Telxius announce transatlantic capacity deal

Telia Carrier and Telxius announced a major network capacity agreement combining Telia Carrier’s extensive terrestrial European and North American footprint and Telxius’ newest transatlantic cable assets,

The deal paves the wave for multi-terabit transatlantic capacity services.

Telia Carrier owns and operates the world’s #1 backbone (according to Dyn Research) and provides critical network infrastructure, services and cloud connectivity to operators, content providers and enterprises. Telxius owns and operates the two highest-capacity submarine cables in the world, MAREA (200 Tbps) and BRUSA (138 Tbps) within its 87,000 km international network of fiber optic subsea cables. MAREA is the transatlantic cable jointly owned with Microsoft and Facebook. BRUSA effectively provides the lowest latency route between the US and Brazil.

“This is one of the largest European capacity projects in recent years and by combining our extensive European network across 100 PoPs in Europe with Telxius’ Spanish footprint and the Marea cable system, this is a perfect, end-to-end fit.’ said Ivo Pascucci, VP of Sales, Telia Carrier. ‘Apart from the obvious benefits of additional capacity and lower latency within Europe and towards the US, we are delighted to work with such a strong partner in this and other projects.”

“MAREA is the highest capacity cable system in the world offering a key diverse route across the Atlantic. Telxius and Telia Carrier both work with the world’s largest operators, content providers and enterprises, who will now also benefit from this deployment ,” said Enrique Valdés, VP of Sales, Telxius. “This partnership was perfect for us and we’re confident that our combined strengths will contribute to realising the full potential of the Marea sea cable system.”

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Verizon preps 5G launch in Chicago and Minneapolis on April 11

Verizon confirmed plans to launch its 5G Ultra Wideband Network in Chicago and Minneapolis on April 11, and in more than 30 markets across the country by the end of the year. The company previously launched a 5G fixed service for home broadband in October 2018 in certain neighborhoods of Houston, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Indianapolis.

Verizon is offering the new 5G moto mod, which pairs with the moto z3, to form a 5G-enabled smartphone.

Verizon will offer unlimited 5G data for $10 per month (with the first three months free) above the cost of a current 4G plan.

“Continuing our track record of 5G ‘firsts,’ we are thrilled to bring the first 5G-upgradeable smartphone exclusively to Verizon customers," said Verizon’s chief technology officer, Kyle Malady. “Not all 5G networks are the same. Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network is built by the company with the nation’s best and most reliable 4G LTE network. It will change the way we live, work, learn and play, starting in Chicago and Minneapolis and rapidly expanding to more than 30 U.S. markets this year.”

Verizon provides network transformation update

Saturday, February 23, 2019    

Verizon provided a broad update on its 5G vision, saying it will pursue a multi use case strategy encompassing deep fiber access, spectrum, software-defined networking and multi-access edge computing (MEC) platforms as key technologies for enhancing the user experience.

Some key points from the recent Investor Briefing:

• Verizon confirmed plans to launch its 5G Ultra Wideband Network in more than 30 U.S. cities in 2019.
• Verizon 5G Mobility will launch in the first half of 2019, and Verizon 5G Home will expand coverage to more markets in the second half of 2019. 
• 5G Mobility and 5G Home are expected to contribute more meaningfully to growth in 2021. 
• Verizon's Mobile Edge Computing platform, which will enable real-time enterprise applications, is expected to launch in fourth-quarter 2019.
• Verizon’s 4G LTE network currently covers 2.6 million square miles. The network coverage includes LTE Advanced features in 1,500 markets across the country, which provide significantly more capacity and faster peak data speeds.
• Verizon Intelligent Edge Network (iEN), which will be the multipurpose network that serves as the foundation for the company’s network-as-a-service strategy, is rolling out in more than 60 cities across the U.S., with more than 25,000 Verizon-owned fiber miles expected to be deployed by year-end. One Fiber opens new revenue opportunities while also bringing cost efficiencies.
• Verizon will be deploying Next Gen PON 2 nationwide wherever it deploys fiber assets. 
• Verizon is on track to deliver against its goal to achieve $10 billion in cumulative cash savings by 2021.

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Facebook suffers widespread outage

Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram suffered a widespread outage beginning around noon (ET) on Wednesday.

Users report difficulty in accessing the services in major U.S. metros, the UK, northern Europe, and Latin America.

Industry analysts described the disruption as perhaps the largest in Facebook's history in terms of the number of users affected and length of the outage.

The company acknowledged the outage and stated that it was not due to a DDoS attack. No other technical explanation has been offered by the company.

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Samsung intros 12GB DRAM for mobiles

Samsung Electronics Co. announced mass production of the industry’s first 12-gigabyte (GB) low-power double data rate 4X (LPDDR4X) package -- the highest-capacity mobile DRAM to date.

"With mass production of the new LPDDR4X, Samsung is now providing a comprehensive lineup of advanced memory to power the new era of smartphones, from 12GB mobile DRAM to 512GB eUFS 3.0 storage," said Sewon Chun, executive vice president of Memory Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "Moreover, with the LPDDR4X, we’re strengthening our position as the premium mobile memory maker best positioned to accommodate rapidly growing demand from global smartphone manufacturers."

The 12GB capacity was achieved by combining six 16-gigabit (Gb) LPDDR4X chips based on the second-generation 10nm-class (1y-nm) process into a single package. The new 12GB mobile memory delivers a data transfer rate of 34.1GB per second while minimizing the increase in power consumption inevitably caused by a boost in DRAM capacity.

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Burns & McDonnell installs Fujitsu 1FINITY

Burns & McDonnell has installed the Fujitsu 1FINITY optical networking platform from Fujitsu Network Communications at its Integration and Automation Lab in Kansas City to demonstrated 100G transmission.

The modular design of the 1FINITY platform allows utilities to use a pay-as-you-grow approach to build nodes as needed on their distribution systems.

The Burns & McDonnell Integration and Automation Lab serves as a technology testing and demonstration center available to utilities and other clients free of charge. Utilities can use this lab to develop use cases and projected returns on investments for new power grid technologies to be incorporated in a wide array of power delivery systems.

"Utilities are faced with an onslaught of data from sensors and other devices that are necessary to manage power delivery systems today," says Matt Olson, director of the Network Integration and Automation Group at Burns & McDonnell. "This is requiring utilities to overhaul their core communications infrastructure. The equipment we have available in our lab will enable our clients to test different communications and other equipment under a variety of usage scenarios before they make large capital investment decisions."

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Vertical Systems: 2018 Global Provider Ethernet LEADERBOARD

AT&T ranks first on Vertical Systems Group's 2018 Global Provider Ethernet LEADERBOARD, followed by Colt, CenturyLink, BT Global and Orange, Verizon, and NTT.

The Global Provider LEADERBOARD ranks companies that hold a 4% or higher share of billable retail ports at sites outside of their respective home countries.

Share margins continue to narrow among the leading global service providers in this very competitive market segment. Latest share results show a major shakeup in the rankings for the top five companies as compared to year-end 2017, with each in a new position on the 2018 Global Provider LEADERBOARD.

"Multinational customers are massively upgrading bandwidth and expanding connectivity to cloud services and data centers. Ethernet providers with extensive global fiber footprints that deeply serve strategic business hubs are capturing a large portion of this new business," said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group.

Year-End 2018 Global Provider Segment Highlights:

• AT&T holds first position, which it initially attained by surpassing Orange Business at mid-2018. AT&T ranked second at the end of 2017.
• Colt ranks second, up from third position in 2017.
• CenturyLink is in third position. The company ranked fourth at year-end 2017 when it initially entered the top tier following its merger with Level 3.
• BT Global Services is fourth, as compared to fifth in 2017.
• Orange Business holds fifth position. The company previously held first position on every year-end Global Provider LEADERBOARD between 2009 and 2017.
• GTT is a new entrant to the Challenge Tier, advancing from the Market Player tier for the first time.

More: https://www.verticalsystems.com/2019/03/12/2018-global-ethernet-leaderboard/

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Subsea Optical Fiber Summer School in Finland

The OSA Foundation (OSAF), in partnership with Google, will conduct an inaugural Subsea Optical Fiber Communications International Summer School in Finland for early-stage researchers, engineers and Ph.D. or Master’s degree students looking for a new field of opportunity.

The program, which will be held 04-10 August 2019 will focus on the expanding field of subsea optical fiber communications. Attendees will go through a comprehensive process to build a modern global communication network, with a focus on submarine system design, submarine powering, cable technology, planning, marine operations and maintenance.

The program includes speakers from Google, Facebook, Alcatel Submarine Networks, Subcom, NEC, etc.

Applications for the inaugural summer school program are due 30 March 2019. Invitations for those selected to attend will be sent in late April. Among other application materials, candidates will be asked to submit two statements of 250 words each describing why they would like to attend the school and how their current work relates to subsea optical fiber communications.

“We want to encourage the best and brightest scientists and engineers to consider subsea communications as a profession,” said Valey Kamalov, network engineer at Google and chair of the school program committee.

https://sites.google.com/view/subseaofc/application

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Cloudera posts revenue of $145 million

Cloudera, which completed its merger with Hortonworks on January 3, 2019, reported total revenue of $144.5 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, ended January 31st, an increase of 37% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018. Subscription revenue was $123.0 million, an increase of 42% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018. GAAP loss from operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 was $87.0 million. For reference, GAAP loss from operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 was $38.1 million for standalone Cloudera. Non-GAAP loss from operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 was $30.2 million. For reference, non-GAAP loss from operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 was $9.0 million for standalone Cloudera.

"Our strong fourth quarter results showcase how customers are already embracing the new Cloudera's vision, as evidenced by early cross-sell motions to deliver data management and analytics from the Edge to AI," said Tom Reilly, chief executive officer, Cloudera. "Having completed the merger with Hortonworks, we are now squarely focused on delivering a powerful combined, integrated platform purpose-built for enterprise customers. Enterprises want an enterprise data cloud, which offers the flexibility of both hybrid and multi-cloud delivery, as well as the versatility of multi-function analytics, all with common security and governance. As the open source data management and analytics standard, we believe Cloudera is uniquely positioned to deliver these capabilities at the data layer, bring the enterprise data cloud to our more than 2,000 customers and lead this new market."

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Equinix reshuffles executive team

Equinix made the following changes to its leadership team:

• Karl Strohmeyer, currently President, Americas, will begin serving as Chief Customer and Revenue Officer, overseeing the company's overall go-to-market strategy.
• Sara Baack, who currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer, will take on the role of Chief Product Officer, leading Product Marketing, Management, Development and Engineering across core colocation and interconnection offerings, as well as overseeing the company's edge services portfolio. 
• Eric Schwartz, currently President, EMEA, will begin serving as Chief Strategy and Development Officer, overseeing Corporate Strategy, Corporate Development, Business Development, Real Estate, Capital Planning and the company's hyperscale initiatives.

 Charles Meyers, President and CEO, Equinix, stated: "As we continue to enhance the value of our global platform and serve an increasingly strategic role in the digital transformation of our customers, these changes to our organization will enable us to advance our leadership as the trusted center of a cloud-first world. Karl, Sara and Eric have a combined 24 years in executive roles at Equinix, and I am supremely confident in their understanding of our customers as they continue to embrace and execute their transformation to digital business, and the unique opportunity that our organization has to serve them."

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