Dell and Microsoft enable VMware cloud infrastructure on Azure.

Dell Technologies and Microsoft will deliver a fully native, supported, and certified VMware cloud infrastructure on Microsoft Azure.

Azure VMware Solutions are built on VMware Cloud Foundation, enabling customers to migrate existing VMware workloads from on-premises environments to Azure without the need to re-architect applications or retool operations. 

The companies said this collaboration will enable organizations to tap into Azure’s scale, security and fast provisioning cycles.  Azure VMware Solutions are first-party services from Microsoft developed in collaboration with VMware Cloud Verified partners CloudSimple and Virtustream (a Dell Technologies company).

In a keynote address at its annual DellTechWorld event in Las Vegas, Michael Dell said “Our goal is to provide a single view from edge to core to cloud – an integrated platform for our customers’ digital future.”

Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, added "“At Microsoft, we’re focused on empowering customers in their digital transformation journey, through partnerships that enable them to take advantage of the Microsoft cloud, using the technologies they already have,” said  “Together with Dell Technologies and VMware, we are providing our mutual customers with an integrated cloud experience and digital workplace solutions to open up new opportunities and meet their evolving needs.”

In addition, joint Microsoft 365 and VMware Workspace ONE customers will be able to manage Office 365 across devices via cloud-based integration with Microsoft Intune and Azure Active Directory. VMware will also extend the capabilities of Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop leveraging VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.

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Dell Technologies Cloud targets data center as a service

Dell Technologies Cloud is a new offering enterprises a consistent operating model for private, public, and hybrid cloud operations.

Unveiled at this week's Dell Tech World conference in Las Vegas, Dell Technologies Cloud Platforms promises to be an operational hub for hybrid cloud environments, reducing total cost of ownership by up to 47% compared to native public cloud.  The company officials said the new framework will "control the chaos" of managing hybrid cloud environments. It works across more than 4,200 VMware Cloud Provider Program providers and hyperscalers including new addition, Microsoft Azure.

The Dell Technologies Cloud portfolio consists of the new Dell Technologies Cloud Platforms and the new Data Center-as-a-Service offering, VMware Cloud on Dell EMC.

Dell Technologies Cloud Data Center-as-a-Service, delivered as VMware Cloud on Dell EMC with VxRail, currently is available in beta deployments with limited customer availability planned for the second half of 2019.

“For many organizations, the increasingly diverse cloud landscape is resulting in an enormous amount of IT complexity, and no one is more qualified or capable to help customers solve this challenge than Dell Technologies,” said Jeff Clarke, vice chairman of products and operations, Dell Technologies.

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Cisco announces big push into Wi-Fi 6

Cisco is making a major push into Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with the launch of access points and core switches for building the next generation of campus networks.

Wi-Fi 6 delivers up to 400 percent greater capacity and is more effective in high-density settings like large lecture halls, stadiums and conference rooms. Latency is vastly improved, allowing for near real-time use cases. Wi-Fi 6 also promises lower power usage in end devices.



Cisco said Wi-Fi 6 offers many of the benefits of 5G for driving business transformation.

The rollout includes:

• Wi-Fi 6 Access Points: New access points across the Catalyst and Meraki portfolios leverage custom, programmable chipsets. The new access points are also multilingual, with the ability to communicate with multiple IoT protocols, including BLE, Zigbee, and Thread.
• Core Switch for the Campus Network: The Catalyst 9600 core switch family is built as the next evolution of the Catalyst 6000. 
  
  According to the datasheet, the Cisco Catalyst 9606R chassis is hardware ready to support a wired switching capacity of up to 25.6 Tbps, with up to 6.4 Tbps of bandwidth per slot. Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series switches support nonblocking 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable (QSFP+, QSFP28) and 1, 10, and 25 GE Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus (SFP, SFP+, SFP28) The switches also support advanced routing and infrastructure services (such as MPLS Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPNs, Multicast VPN [MVPN], and Network Address Translation.
  
  The platform's ASIC is the first to support double-width HW tables.
  
• New Developer Resources: Wi-Fi 6 and 5G represent an incredible opportunity for developers. To enable them to create the immersive experiences that these new levels of connectivity promise, Cisco is unveiling the DevNet Wireless Dev Center. DevNet, Cisco’s developer network, offers the learning labs, sandboxes and developer resources needed to create game-changing wireless applications. The Cisco Catalyst and Meraki access platforms are open and programmable all the way down to the chipset level, allowing applications to take advantage of network programmability in new and exciting ways.
• New Ecosystem Partnerships: Prior to the launch of its Wi-Fi 6 access points, Cisco completed interoperability testing with Broadcom, Intel and Samsung to address the inevitable gaps that come with a new standard. Samsung, Boingo, GlobalReach Technology, Presidio and others are expected to join the Cisco OpenRoaming project to solve one of today’s biggest wireless pain points. The Cisco OpenRoaming project aims to make it easier to seamlessly and securely hop between Wi-Fi and LTE networks and onboard public Wi-Fi.

"Every leap in connectivity enables the next wave of profound innovation. 5G and Wi-Fi 6 represent a new era of connectivity," said David Goeckeler, EVP and General Manager, Networking and Security Business at Cisco. "Developers are already creating the next generation of wireless-first, immersive experiences. With billions of things connecting to the network, this growth will create unprecedented complexity for IT. Cisco is building a multi-domain network architecture to simplify complexity for IT, allowing CIOs to deliver against their innovation agenda."

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AT&T activates NB-IoT nationwide

AT&T activated its nationwide NB-IoT network.

The launch required the upgrade of AT&T 4G LTE cell sites across the country.

A&T also operates an LTE-M network in the U.S. and Mexico. NB-IoT is optimized for stationary use cases with basic data requirements like simple sensors, on-off buttons, smart agriculture, smoke detectors, door locks and industrial monitors. LTE-M, with its greater bandwidth, can support firmware and software updates, mobility and voice-over services. LTE-M use cases include pet trackers, asset management, medical wearables, utility meters, etc.

AT&T said it is working with suppliers to certify $5 modules that connect devices to NB-IoT. Multi-mode modules are also expected. AT&T is offering pricing plans starting at $5/year/device.

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Fiberlight installs Blue Planet for Inventory and Service Orchestration

FiberLight, which operates metro and long-haul fiber transport services in over 30 metro areas across the U.S., will deploy automation software from Blue Planet, a division of Ciena, across its multi-vendor network.

Specifically, FiberLight is deploying Blue Planet Inventory (BPI) and Blue Planet Multi-Domain Service Orchestration (MDSO) to automate the rapid turn-up and delivery of the new, on-demand services.

FiberLight’s network includes 14,000 miles of fiber in some of the most rapidly expanding metro areas in the U.S., including Atlanta, Baltimore, Tampa and Washington D.C., as well as throughout the state of Texas. Its portfolio includes managed Ethernet and Wave Transport, Cloud Connect, Dedicated Internet Access, Dark Fiber, and Wireless Backhaul over private and diversely constructed fiber backbone rings.

“A crucial step in delivering a superior customer experience is having the ability to turn up services quickly and easily. Ciena’s Blue Planet gives us an unprecedented understanding of our network resources, allowing us to optimize service delivery, fault isolation and resolution, so we can provide the quality of service that our customers require today and in the future,” stated Kevin Coyne, Chief Operating Officer, FiberLight.

https://www.ciena.com/about/newsroom/press-releases/FiberLight-Automates-Network-Operations-with-Blue-Planet.html

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China Telecom continues to add mobile subs as it prepares for 5G

China Telecom is now serving approximately 315 million mobile users, representing a net addition of 12.05 million for Q1 2019.

China Telecom's operating revenues for the quarter amounted to RMB377.1 billion, of which, service revenues amounted to RMB350.4 billion, representing an increase of 5.9% compared to last year. EBITDA reached RMB104.2 billion, representing an increase of 2.0% over the same period last year. Net profit amounted to RMB21.2 billion, representing an increase of 13.9% compared to last year, while basic earnings per share were RMB0.262.

CAPEX was RMB74.9 billion, representing a decrease of 15.5% compared to last year, the third consecutive annual decline.
Some highlights from the quarterly report:

• 4G users reached approximately 256 million, representing a net addition of 13.67 million. 
• Handset data traffic2 increased by 140% over the same period of last year. 
• The monthly average data traffic per 4G user reached nearly 7GB. 
• The net addition of wireline broadband subscribers was 2.08 million, reaching a total of approximately 148 million. 
• The number of e-Surfing HD subscribers reached approximately 109 million. 
• Revenues for Intelligent Applications ecospheres grew rapidly, accounting for nearly 20% of the service revenues and its contribution to incremental service revenues significantly increased.
• Revenues from cloud services increased by 99.5% over the same period of last year.

https://www.chinatelecom-h.com/en/global/home.php

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T-Systems launches Managed Cloud Services for Microsoft Azure

Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems division has begun offering Managed Cloud Services for Microsoft Azure.

T-Systems is reselling the Microsoft cloud portfolio. T¬Systems will handle all complex and critical cloud operations. T-Systems will offer its services in almost all Azure regions while providing networking connectivity. In 2018, for example, T Systems moved the entire SAP landscape from Zuellig Pharma Singapore to Microsoft Azure.

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Sabre's outage disrupts air travel

An outage on Monday at Sabre disrupted air travel across the United States.

Airlines impacted included American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Jetblue.

Systems appeared to return to normal approximately 90 minutes later.

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ZTE posts revenue was RMB 22.202 billion, net profit

ZTE reported first-quarter 2019 operating revenue of RMB 22.202 billion (approximately US$3.295 billion).

Net profit attributable to holders of ordinary shares of the listed company amounted to RMB 0.863 billion.

R&D costs for the first three months amounted to RMB 3.093 billion, accounting for 13.9% of the operating revenue, with the percentage being increased by 4.1%, compared to 9.8% for the same period last year.

ZTE estimated the net profit attributable to holders of ordinary shares of the listed company to be from RMB 1.2 billion to RMB 1.8 billion for the six months ended 30 June 2019.

https://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/press-center/news/2019/201904/20190429e2

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Indonesia's Smartfren signs ZTE for 4G & 5G upgrade

Indonesia’s Smartfren has selected ZTE for 4G network expansion and 5G network trials. Financial terms were not disclosed. The agreement was signed by Merza Fachys, President Director of Smartfren, Gandi Sulistyanto, Chairman of Smartfren, Liang Weiqi, President Director of ZTE Indonesia, and Mei Zhonghua, Senior Vice President of ZTE at Indonesia - China Business Forum.

“The agreement this time will definitely bring the partnerships between ZTE and Smartfren to a new level,” said Mei Zhonghua, senior vice president at ZTE. “We are pleased to be chosen for the development of Indonesia's telecommunications infrastructure, so as to improve Indonesia's national broadband network quality.”

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