Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix feeling edgy over US-China dispute

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fear getting caught in the middle of the brewing trade war between the United States and China, according to a lead story The Korea Herald, as executives from both companies were warned by Beijing not to cooperate with the Trump administration’s Huawei ban, or face dire consequences.

Samsung is a top supplier of DRAM and NAND flash chips to Huawei, although a loss of this business potentially could be somewhat offset in Samsung recaptures market share in the smartphone business from Huawei. Huawei accounts for 5 to 10 percent of

SK Hynix also counts Huawei as a major customer, accounting for 5-10% of its total revenue.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190609000174

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ThousandEyes: Cogent outage part of a larger BGP route leak

Last week's outage at a Cogent data center in London, which disrupted some Whatsapp traffic, was part of a larger BGP route leak, according to an updated analysis from ThousandEyes.

The disruption had nothing to do with the Whatsapp service itself, writes Archana Kesavan, but was the result of a major BGP route leak by Swiss colocation provider, Safe Host. Her analysis indicates that "Safe Host leaked thousands of prefixes which had a cascading effect on the availability of those services when the routes were accepted and propagated by service providers, such as China Telecom, and then further accepted by other ISPs such as Cogent."

https://blog.thousandeyes.com/whatsapp-disruption-just-one-symptom-of-broader-route-leak/

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Big Switch and Mavenir enter OEM deal for NFV

Big Switch Networks has entered into an OEM agreement with Mavenir focused on NFV.

Specifically, Big Switch's Big Cloud Fabric (BCF) will be included in a fully tested and validated end-to-end NFV solution from Mavenir. The Big Cloud Fabric leverages open, white-box switch hardware to provide a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), bringing a cloud-native networking model to telco cloud applications.

The companies said that one of the leading mobile carriers in the United States is a joint customer. Additionally, Mavenir and Big Switch have won leading telco providers in EMEA and APAC, which have selected the end-to-end NFV solution for their business-critical networks. Seven of the 10 largest service providers in the world, including Verizon, rely on Big Switch. The companies cite the following benefits:

• Resiliency and performance at scale
• Design and deployment flexibility
• Reduced operational complexity
• Integration of security and analytics 

“Like Mavenir, we are focused on accelerating network transformation and redefining network economics,” said Susheel Chitre, VP of Business Development, Big Switch Networks. “Through this partnership, Mavenir and Big Switch are able to deliver a best-in-class NFV solution capable of supporting the most critical, revenue driving lines of business for the world’s leading service providers.”

“The largest service providers in the world rely on Mavenir to provide next-gen, cloud-native solutions. Mavenir recognized the capabilities and benefits of Big Cloud Fabric, making it a part of our end-to-end NFV offering,” said Ramnik Kamo, EVP, Operations and CIO, Mavenir. “Through this strategic partnership, we are able to deliver on our mission to provide organizations with the most innovative solutions to accelerate software-driven network transformation.”

http://www.bigswitch.com

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Zayo invests in fiber infrastructure in Ohio

Zayo announced significant investments in its metro network infrastructure in Ohio, by an anchor customer deal. The network expansion will add nearly 300 new route miles in the Youngstown and Akron area.

Zayo’s existing network provides long haul connectivity throughout the state, including the Cleveland/Akron/Pittsburgh corridor. This build will also enable additional diverse options through Youngstown.

“This investment elevates our strong position in Ohio, enabling stronger reliability, performance and critical diversity for our customers,” said Steve Orlando, senior vice president of Central Region at Zayo. “The expanded metro fiber routes will strengthen and expand our footprint to approximately 3,500 route miles, including connections to multiple on-net buildings and data centers in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo.”

http://www.zayo.com

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Dell'Oro: SP core router market fueled by 100GE adoption

The worldwide Service Provider Core Router market grew 7 percent year-over-year in 1Q 2019, according to a recently published report by Dell’Oro Group, driven by telecommunications and cloud operators upgrading networks with 100 Gigabit Ethernet technologies.

According to the report, 100 GE router port shipments hit a record level in 1Q 2019.

“Network operators are benefitting from lower prices of 100 GE products to add capacity to their backbone and metro networks—the volume of 100 GE port shipments almost doubled year-over-year,” said Shin Umeda, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “Demand for core routers was strong in the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe, more than offsetting lower sales in North America,” added Umeda.

Additional highlights from the 1Q 2019 Router & Carrier Ethernet Switch Quarterly Report:

• Cisco was the top-ranked Service Provider Core Router vendor, followed by Huawei, and Juniper.
• The Service Provider Edge Router market increased 2 percent year-over-year, showing some early, yet modest effects 5G backhaul upgrade projects.

http://www.delloro.com/news/service-provider-core-router-market-fueled-100-gigabit-ethernet-adoption

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Dell’Oro: Slowdown in cloud CapEx growth

A slowdown in cloud CapEx growth rate weighed on the Data Center Switch market growth in 1Q 2019, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group.  The year-over-year growth of Data Center Switching revenue fell below 5 percent for the first time in almost five years.

Some highlights from Dell'Oro's 1Q 2019 Ethernet Switch – Data Center Quarterly Report:

• 25 GE and 100 GE composed about half of the market revenue and two-thirds of shipments.
• 400 GE shipments continued to ramp for the second consecutive quarter, albeit driven mostly by Google.
• 100 GE ports are expected to nearly double in 2019, while the 400 GE refresh cycle is not expected to have a material effect until 400 GE optics become available in 2020.

“The deceleration of Cloud capex spending started in 2H 2018 but appeared more severe at certain Cloud Service Providers (SPs) this quarter. However, our analysis of Cloud capex indicates that the second half of this year will grow at a higher rate,” said Sameh Boujelbene, Senior Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Despite this deceleration, Arista, one of the vendors with high exposure to Cloud SPs, managed to gain share to capture 20 percent of the North American market, while Cisco was the top-ranked vendor with more than 40 percent share,” added Boujelbene.

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IDC: Server market revenue up 4% in 1Q19

The worldwide server market increased 4.4% year over year to $19.8 billion during 1Q19, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker.

Worldwide server shipments declined 5.1% year over year to just under 2.6 million units in 1Q19.

Some highlights from IDC:

• The overall server market slowed in 1Q19 after experiencing six consecutive quarters of double-digit revenue growth although pockets of robust growth remain. 
• Volume server revenue increased by 4.2% to $16.7 billion, while midrange server revenue grew 30.2% to $2.1 billion. 
• High-end systems contracted steeply for a second consecutive quarter, declining 24.7% year over year to $976 million.

"Demand from both enterprise buyers and hyperscale companies purchasing through ODMs was less voracious than in previous quarters; coupled with a difficult compare period from a year ago, this impacted the pace of market growth during the first quarter," said Sebastian Lagana, research manager, Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies at IDC. "This was most evident in declining unit shipments during the quarter, although year-to-year average selling price (ASP) increases supported revenue growth for many vendors. As long as demand for richly configured servers supports further ASP growth, the market will offset slight declines in unit volume."

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS45151319

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IDC: Enterprise storage capacity shipments grow 14% in Q1, sales dip

Vendor revenue in the worldwide enterprise storage systems market decreased 0.6% year over year to $13.4 billion during the first quarter of 2019 (1Q19), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker.

Total capacity shipments were up 14.1% year over year to 114.2 exabytes during the quarter.

Some highlights from IDC:

•  datacenters declined 5.3% year over year in 1Q19 to $2.95 billion. This represents 22.1% of total enterprise storage investments during the quarter. 
• Sales of server-based storage decreased 6.6% year over year to just over $3.6 billion in revenue. This represents 26.6% of total enterprise storage investments. 
• The external storage systems market revenue totaled nearly $6.9 billion during the quarter, up 5.0% from 1Q18.

"First quarter 2019 results are an acceleration of the slowdown we noted last quarter, with declining ODM and internal (server-based) storage the primary drivers of market contraction." said Sebastian Lagana, research manager, Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies. "OEM vendors selling dedicated storage arrays still generated growth during the quarter, although slowing flash-centric array growth indicates that the opportunity for existing install-base upgrades is beginning to wane."

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS45155319

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NTT Com acquires Spain's CAPSiDE

NTT Communications has acquired CAPSiDE S.L., a provider of hyperscale cloud managed services headquartered in Barcelona. Financial terms were not disclosed.

CAPSiDE specializes in integrated managed services, especially in Europe, for operations enabled with hyperscale cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

CAPSiDE now becomes part of NTT Com Managed Services (NTT Com's subsidiary).

Damian Skendrovic, CEO of NTT Com Managed Services: "I am delighted to welcome the CAPSiDE team, their clients, and partners to the NTT family. CAPSiDE's capabilities are very complementary to NTT's portfolio and solidify our public cloud offerings which are increasingly high in demand."

Josep Ruano, CEO of CAPSiDE: "This is an exciting time for CAPSiDE, our clients, and partners. Joining NTT will give CAPSiDE the ability to leverage NTT's global presence and resources to accelerate worldwide adoption of our comprehensive hyperscale cloud managed services, highly-specialized cloud transformation consulting services and cloud enablement. Our goal is to continue to build "CAPSiDE, an NTT Company" into the best hyperscale cloud managed services company in the industry."

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AMD’s Zen 2 processor to power next Xbox

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox (codename Project Scarlett) will feature a custom version of AMD’s latest Zen 2 processing unit and  Radeon RDNA graphics architecture along with high bandwidth GDDR6 system memory. The console will also leverage a customized SSD that operates "almost like DRAM." 

Microsoft is promising 8K resolution and 120-frames-per-second visuals.

Target release date is late 2020.

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Ericsson appoints Head of Marketing & Corporate Relations

Ericsson appointed Stella Medlicott as Senior Vice President and Head of Group Function Marketing & Corporate Relations. She previously was Vice President, Marketing & Communications and Government & Industry Relations within Ericsson’s Market Area Europe and Latin America.

Stella Medlicott has a BA (Hons) degree in Social Science and a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing she has over 25 years marketing experience in major IT, telecoms and media companies. Medlicott joined Ericsson in 2014 following the acquisition of Red Bee Media where she held the position of Chief Marketing Officer. 

Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson, says: "With the introduction of 5G we are at an exciting time in the industry. Our ability to differentiate our offering, articulate the value we bring to our customers and build strong relationships with our stakeholders will be key to build a strong company position for this next phase of industry development. Stella has the right background, experience and capabilities to lead this work going forward and I am very glad to see her stepping up to this role”.

Stella Medlicott says: “I really look forward to take on this exciting new role and to work together with both the global marketing and communications team and the Executive Team. This is the time where the mobile industry is being transformed through 5G, generating innovation and new business opportunities across industries. Our marketing and communications abilities are key to leveraging our technology leadership in 5G.”

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