SpaceX launches the first 60 Starlink LEO satellites

SpaceX successfully launched the first 60 satellites of its Starlink LEO constellation.

SpaceX has disclosed plans to deploy as many as 12,000 satellites in three, low earth orbit (LEO) shells. Cost estimates for full deployment approach $10 billion.

The launch used a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a first stage that had previously been used on the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission in September 2018 and the Iridium-8 mission in January 2019. Following the launch, the booster successfully landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Starlink satellites were deployed at an altitude of 440km. Onboard propulsion was then used to boost each satellite to an operational altitude of 550km.

The Starlink satellites feature a flat-panel design with multiple high-throughput antennas and a single solar array. Each Starlink satellite weighs approximately 227kg.

SpaceX also said the Starlink satellites are able to track and maneuver around orbiting space debris using thrusters powered by Krypton.

https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/starlink_mission_press_kit.pdf

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Vertical Systems Group: 2018 U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN LEADERBOARD

Vertical Systems Group announces that eight companies achieved a position on
AT&T achieved the top position on Vertical Systems Group's 2018 U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN Services LEADERBOARD.

The top eight companies (in rank order): AT&T, Hughes, Verizon, Windstream, CenturyLink, Aryaka, Fusion and Comcast. These companies had the highest market shares of installed Carrier Managed SD-WAN customer sites in the U.S. as of year-end 2018.

"Providers in the Carrier Managed segment of the SD-WAN market have emerged as the best choice for delivering large scale, complex and resilient SD-WAN services end-to-end," said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group. "We believe that network operators with deep experience in MPLS, Ethernet and IP are most favorably positioned to support enterprise customers as they transition their networks to SDN."

Companies with the next largest market shares in this segment are cited in the Challenge Tier. The following six companies attained a Challenge Tier citation for 2018 (in alphabetical order): Bigleaf, GTT, Masergy, Meriplex, Sprint, and TPx.

Research Highlights

• SD-WAN is one of the three Managed VPN segments that Vertical tracks, along with MPLS and Site-to-Site VPNs. Service migration analysis shows that the majority of Carrier Managed SD-WAN service installations to date are hybrid configurations that include partial conversions of existing Site-to-Site and MPLS networks.
• The top five Carrier Managed SD-WAN companies are also the leading providers of Dedicated IP VPN services, including landline and satellite connectivity.
• A number of SDN-based technologies are utilized to deliver Carrier Managed SD-WAN services. The fourteen LEADERBOARD and Challenge Tier providers use products from the following companies (in alphabetical order): Cisco/Viptela, Silver Peak, Versa, and VMware/VeloCloud, or employ their own internally developed technologies. Several SD-WAN service providers offer multiple solutions.
• Vertical Systems Group defines a Carrier Managed SD-WAN Service as a carrier-grade offering for business customers that is managed by a network operator, utilizes an SDN architecture, enables dynamic customer edge site connectivity, and provides centralized network control and visibility end-to-end. This definition aligns with MEF terminology for an SD-WAN service.

https://www.verticalsystems.com/2019/05/21/2018-sd-wan-us-leaderboard/

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Huawei pitches 5G Deterministic Networking

Huawei is proposing a Deterministic Networking framework to deliver differentiated services in 5G.

In a keynote delivered at the 3rd Future Network Development Conference in Nanjing, Jason (Jisheng) Dai, President of Strategy & Business Development Department of Huawei Cloud Core Network, said cloud-native technology, dynamic intelligent network slicing, and heterogeneous mobile edge computing (MEC) can be leveraged to deliver deterministic performance for latency, packet loss and jitter. These will enable mobile networks to evolve from "best effort" to "guaranteed performance."

Huawei also noted that it is working with industry partners in smart grids, 5G V2X, VR games, 4K/VR live broadcast, and telemedicine to verify 5G deterministic networking and templates for differentiated, deterministic network service capabilities in many vertical applications.

https://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2019/5/huawei-5g-deterministic-networking

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Credo announces MACsec device for 400G

Credo introduced a family of PHY devices supporting the IEEE 802.1AE media access controller security (MACsec) and internet protocol security (IPSec) standard for 10G through 400G port interconnects. The MACsec devices integrate 256-bit AES technology.

Credo said its new family of devices addresses security requirements for various Ethernet data link configurations in enterprise, cloud-scale data center, and service provider networks for both commercial and government deployments. This includes links between servers, switches, and routers.

"Adding security functionality to our industry-leading retimer and gearbox devices was a natural step for Credo," said Sandeep Shah, senior director of marketing at Credo. “We are able to deliver these solutions at low power in 28nm CMOS which translates into our customers ability to deploy systems with a competitive edge.”

The first member of the Credo MACsec family, the CMS42550, is available as a pin-compatible upgrade to the production shipping 400G gearbox, the CMX42550KP, which has been deployed in hyperscale data centers. The second member of the family, the CMS50216, doubles the MACsec throughput to 800G.

Highlights:

• Supports MAC rates of 10G, 25G, 40G, 50G, 100G, 200G and 400G
• 400G MACsec Gearbox / Retimer (CMS42550)
• 800G MACsec Retimer (CMS50216)
• Full MACsec Support
• 512 Full SecY support
• IEEE 802.1AE compliant
• IEEE 802.1AEbn compliant (256-bit key)
• IEEE 802.1AEbw compliant (extended packet numbering)
• All cipher suites supported (GCM-AES-128/256, GCM-AES-XPN-128/256)
• MACsec extensions: passing up to 4 x VLAN tags in clear
• Full IPsec Support
• Support for IP/UDP/ESP headers
• Support for packets with VLAN tags
• Advanced IPsec features for Enterprise, Data Center and Telecom applications
• Each port can be configured to MACsec, IPsec or Bypass mode
• Low power 28nm CMOS

http://www.credosemi.com

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IP Infusion qualifies Inphi's 100G for IPoDWDM

IP Infusion has qualified Inphi's COLORZ 100GbE DWDM Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) platform solution on the IP Infusion OcNOS network operating system. Specifically, Inphi’s COLORZ has been qualified across various white box platforms, allowing for a disaggregated networking solution supporting IPoDWDM data center connectivity.

Inphi’s COLORZ enables 100G DWDM for data center customers to connect their data centers within a metro area. COLORZ, which uses PAM4 and advanced silicon photonics, is available in the industry standard form factor QSFP28 and can be plugged directly into an open slot of a switch or router without the need for a separate transport box. COLORZ delivers up to 4 Tbps of bandwidth over a single fiber.

IP Infusion's OcNOS is a modular extensible network OS for white box open networking solutions offering switching and routing protocol support ranging from Layer2, Layer 3 to Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and APIs/protocols for SDN. OcNOS features hybrid, centralized or distributed network support; scalable, modular high-performance network; and a robust data plane built on merchant silicon.

“Having native COLORZ support available on the IP Infusion OcNOS operating system, will allow customers to deploy cost effective 100G DWDM connectivity using white box platforms and meet their desire for building low cost flexible disaggregated optical network infrastructure,” said Dr. Loi Nguyen, founder, senior vice president, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “Customers can now de-couple hardware and software in their DWDM network.”

“The qualification of Inphi’s COLORZ will extend the acceptance of white box solutions based OcNOS to a greater customer base allowing multiplexing of high-speed data stream over single fiber and enabling easy scaling of network capacity for DCI,” said Atsushi Ogata, CEO and President of IP Infusion. “Inphi will continue to be a vital partner for us as we continue to expand the NOS functions and support for current and future Inphi and IP Infusion white box solution customers.”

https://www.inphi.com/
https://www.ipinfusion.com/

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First Colo GmbH picks Smartoptics for DCI

First Colo GmbH, which offers data center and managed services to companies across Germany and central Europe, has chosen Smartoptics’ DCI open line system to connect their data centers. The new solution is based on Smartoptics’ flexible DCP-M open line system for smart, flexible 100G DWDM connectivity.

Smartoptics said that by combining PAM4 transceivers embedded directly in Juniper Networks switches with Smartoptics’ flexible DCP-M open line system, First Colo gets a highly-automated 100G DWDM solution.

Xantaro is the service integrator Xantaro for the project. The DCI solution was chosen while First Colo was upgrading its data center infrastructure with new high-capacity Juniper Networks switches and routers to support 100G traffic.

“Our new DCP-M family of products is designed to meet the needs for flexible, cost-efficient data connectivity for DCI and Metro applications. We’re very happy that First Colo trusts our open optical networking solution to connect their data centers. It proves that we are on the right track developing products that really meet the needs for high-speed data connectivity in demanding environments,” says Magnus Grenfeldt, CEO of Smartoptics.

Smartoptics is based in Oslo, Norway.

https://www.smartoptics.com/

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5G Americas adds Ciena to Board

5G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, announced the election of Ciena to its Board of Governors.

5G Americas' Board of Governors members include: AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, CommScope, Ericsson, Intel, Kathrein, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, Shaw Communications, Sprint, T-Mobile US, Telefónica, WOM and now Ciena.

“Becoming a member of 5G Americas signifies an important step toward enhancing the 5G ecosystem in the region. Working with the other members of this prestigious board will enable us to drive forward the next generations of 4G LTE technology, which will also help to accelerate new 5G deployments,” said Stephen Alexander, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Ciena.

http://www.5gamericas.org

LTE accounts for 47% of cellular connections worldwide

Wednesday, March 20, 2019  Research  

Approximately 4 billion connections worldwide are now LTE, representing 47% of all cellular connections, according to the trade group 5G Americas and Ovum.

North America’s market share for LTE at 82 percent exceeds all other world regions at the fourth quarter of 2018; the next highest world regions are Oceania; Eastern and South Eastern Asia with LTE share of 67 percent followed by Western Europe at 52 percent. Latin America and the Caribbean had significant growth of LTE market share to 40 percent, up from 29 percent at the end of 2017. Market share represents the percentage of mobile wireless connections that are LTE technology versus all other mobile cellular technologies.

“While the 5G market reality and innovation are upon us, the number of LTE connections continue to grow on 637 commercial networks worldwide, as well as the evolution to advanced LTE networks for the Internet of Things, Gigabit LTE speeds and new methods for spectrum use and sharing,” stated Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas.
Additional highlights

4Q 2018 - North America

• LTE achieved 417 million connections with a market share of 82 percent in the U.S. and Canada.
• LTE penetration passed 100 percent in 2018. This penetration rate is forecast to rise to 125 percent in 2021 after which time new 5G connections will begin to impact LTE subscriptions and penetration rates. Penetration rates represent the number of connections compared to the population.
• 417 million LTE connections at 4Q 2018; increase of 63 million year-over-year
• LTE is forecast to reach 86 percent market share with 473 million connections at the end of 2020 (including M2M) then begin to decline as 5G connections begin to grow; in 2021, LTE market share is forecast to decline to 83 percent and 467 million LTE subscriptions
• Early launches of 5G in the U.S. will result in the #1 position globally in 2019 with 336,000 connections, 47 percent of all global 5G connections; however, 5G connections will quickly grow in North America to almost 4 million in 2020 (forecast)
• 5G connections are forecast to pass 100 million in 2022

4Q 2018 - Latin America and the Caribbean

• LTE’s market share increased from 17 to 29 percent year-over-year at year-end 2017, and grew to 40 percent by the end of 2018. LTE is forecast to be the most widely used cellular technology in the region by the end of 2019.  
• 700 million total mobile wireless subscriptions
• 277 million LTE connections; 74 million added year-over-year from 4Q 2017
• 4Q 2018 was the largest growth quarter for LTE in 2018 with 19.8 million new connections while all other mobile technologies declined; GSM lost 53 million connections and was down to 123 million at the end of 2018
• LTE is forecast to reach 348 million connections at the end of 2019, 413 million at end of 2020, and peak at 510 million connections by 2022 with 67 percent market share (forecast includes M2M)
• By 2021, 5G is forecast to achieve nearly 3.5 million connections growing to 17 million in 2022 and 75 million connections in 2023  

4Q 2018 - Global 

• At the end of 2018, global LTE connections reached nearly 4 billion. Also notable, LTE market share reached 47 percent, up from 37 percent at the end of 2017.

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Splunk hits quarterly revenue $425 million, up 36% YoY

Splunk reported revenue of $425 million for its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, 2019, up 36% year-over-year. Software revenues were $265 million, up 54% year-over-year. There was a GAAP operating loss of $145 million and a non-GAAP operating loss of $7.8 million.

During the quarter, Splunk signed more than 400 new enterprise customers, including Brink’s, Cerner Corporation, Chipotle, City University of Hong Kong, El Corte Inglés (Spain), Entertainment One (Canada), LATAM Airlines Group (Chile), PCL Construction, Slack, SumTotal Systems, University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System, Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (Canada) and West Bend Mutual Insurance.

“Our customers are successful because they can unlock value from their growing data landscapes with the unique Splunk platform, and this is what fuels our strong performance,” said Doug Merritt, President and CEO, Splunk. “In Q1, we released Splunk Connected Experiences and Splunk Business Flow, new products that are part of our vision to take Splunk beyond IT and security and to bring our customers closer to their data. These products further differentiate Splunk as we strive to bring data to every question, every decision and every outcome for any organization.”

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