Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Ericsson to open U.S. factory for 5G radios

Ericsson will build a factory in the U.S. to produce Advanced Antenna System radios to boost network capacity and coverage, including rural coverage, as well as 5G radios for urban areas.

The new facility will be a "fully automated smart factory" although the company expects to employ approximately 100 people at the facility. Ericsson said it will disclose the location once it has completed discussions with state and local authorities. The new factory is expected to be in operation in early 2020.

Ericsson began operations via a production partner for the first radios for the U.S. market produced at the end of 2018. The company also established a new R&D site – a software development center – in Austin, Texas. It is located close to the Austin ASIC Design Center, which opened in late 2017 and focuses on core microelectronics of 5G radio base stations.

Ericsson is also fast-tracking manufacturing in its existing own factories in Estonia, China and Brazil.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks at Ericsson, says: “We continue to focus on working closely with our customers and supporting them in the buildout of 5G globally and in North America. With today’s announcement, we conclude months of preparations and can move into execution also in the U.S. In addition, we are digitalizing our entire global production landscape, including establishing this factory in the U.S. With 5G connectivity we’re accelerating Industry 4.0, enabling automated factories for the future.”

Extreme to acquire Aerohive for cloud-managed enterprise Wi-Fi

Extreme Networks agreed to acquire Aerohive Networks (NYSE: HIVE) at a price of $4.45 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of $210 million.

Aerohive, which is based in Milpitas, California, supplies cloud and enterprise Wi-Fi solutions and was among the first companies to offer controller-less Wi-Fi and cloud network management, including cloud-managed Wi-Fi and network access control (NAC). Aerohive recently delivered the industry's first trio of Wi-Fi 6 access points, along with the industry's first pluggable access point. Aerohive has a global footprint of 30,000 cloud wireless LAN customers in verticals including education, healthcare, state and local government, and retail. Aerohive was founded in 2006 by Changming Liu and completed its IPO in March 2014.

Extreme says the acquisition of Aerohive will add critical cloud management and edge capabilities to its portfolio of end-to-end, edge to cloud networking solutions. It will provide a strong subscription revenue stream and strengthen Extreme's position in wireless LAN at a critical technology transition to Wi-Fi 6. Extreme expects the acquisition to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share starting in fiscal year 2020.

Extreme also expects to gain new SD-WAN capabilities, in all expanding its total addressable market by a total of $1B in a market with a CAGR of 19% 2019 through 2022.2

Ed Meyercord, President and CEO, Extreme Networks, stated "The acquisition of Aerohive establishes our leadership in cloud, AI, and ML, adding a proven and mature cloud services platform and subscription service model for Extreme's customers and partners. Extreme continues to invest in software and AI to expand the automation capabilities across our portfolio of edge-to-cloud networking solutions. After scaling Extreme's business to $1B in revenue and expanding our portfolio to include end-to-end enterprise networking solutions, we are now taking the next step to transform our business to add sustainable, subscription-oriented cloud-based solutions that will enable us to drive recurring revenue and improved cash flow generation. Extreme expects this deal to be accretive to our FY20 outlook as it accelerates our plans to achieve over 60% gross margin and 15% operating income on an exit run rate."

David Flynn, President and CEO of Aerohive, said "the role that cloud-managed technology plays in modern enterprises is impossible to overstate – it is where digital transformation is won and lost. Aerohive's expertise and excellence in cloud management and edge technology, combined with Extreme's extensive solutions portfolio and continued investment in software and AI for automation, gives our customers the most advanced digital experiences in the market. Together we will push networking into a new era – making infrastructure smarter, more autonomous, and the driver of business value."

https://investor.extremenetworks.com/static-files/16c92f7a-212b-48ae-86bc-aa132251b1af

Extreme to acquire Avaya networking for $100m with winning bid


Extreme Networks announced that, having entered into an asset purchase agreement under which it would serve as primary bidder in a sale under the bankruptcy code to acquire Avaya's networking business for approximately $100 million, it has been approved as the winning bidder to acquire the Avaya business.Under the bidding process, the assets of Avaya's networking business unit will be sold to Extreme for approximately $100 million, in accordance...

Extreme to Acquire Brocade's Switching Business for $55 Million


Extreme Networks agreed to acquire Brocade Communications Systems' data center switching, routing, and analytics business from Broadcom following Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade. The deal is valued at $55 million in cash, consisting of $35 million at closing and $20 million in deferred payments, as well as additional potential performance based payments to Broadcom, to be paid over a five-year term. The sale is contingent on Broadcom closing its...


CloudGenix enhances SD-WAN with CloudBlades software

CloudGenix announced a major upgrade to its SD-WAN platform with the launch of new "CloudBlade" cloud-delivered software.

CloudBlades enable additional SD-WAN capabilities, such as security, voice, multi-cloud access, and operational tools, to be delivered to a branch office without additional hardware or software.

CloudGenix said its approach differs from traditional enterprise branch office routers which require the installation of additional hardware blades or software. The cloud-delivered software approach brings cloud-scale economics and agility.  CloudBlades enables one-click, high-performance delivery of the above infrastructure services from the cloud, using best-of-breed providers in each category.

“As businesses take advantage of the tremendous opportunity at the branch, they need a new model for the delivery of infrastructure services,” said Kumar Ramachandran, founder and CEO at CloudGenix. “Our CloudBlades platform allows enterprises to reimagine what’s possible. Not only do customers get the agility and freedom to choose best-of-breed, they also get to take advantage of cloud-scale economics. The days of the multi-function hardware router are officially at an end.”

CloudBlades includes the following components:

  • The CloudGenix Instant-On-Network (ION) is Intel x86-based, lightweight CPE at the branch, this serves as the branch enforcement point for CloudBlades, and can simultaneously host CloudGenix’s SD-WAN products.
  • The CloudBlades Platform enables API based integration of the branch CPE directly with various cloud infrastructure services. It provides secure, authenticated API access to CloudGenix CPE and systems; a centralized API for programming the app-flow engine at the CPE; integration with the CloudGenix UI without any code; access to CloudGenix telemetry; and the hosting of approved CloudBlades.
  • Individual CloudBlades are created by CloudGenix as well as by partners, customers and other developers. The company is currently supporting more than twenty CloudBlades across various infrastructure services, including with Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, CheckPoint, Symantec, Microsoft, Google, Equinix, Amazon, RingCentral, ServiceNow, PagerDuty, Slack, Fuse, Zoom etc. 
  • To enable proactive IT, CloudGenix is supporting CloudBlade solutions with ServiceNow, PagerDuty, CloudGenix Clarity and Slack.

https://www.cloudgenix.com/

CloudGenix raises $65 million for SD-WAN

CloudGenix, a start-up based in San Jose, California, raised $65 million in new funding for its SD-WAN solutions

CloudGenix is known for its AppFabric technology, which ensures application-specific, service-level agreements (SLAs).

The company reports growth of 300% year-over-year, fueled by greater than 90% win-rates against incumbent legacy networking vendors. It customer wins include a large retailer based in Atlanta with more than 2,000 locations.

The recent funding round included existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Mayfield Fund, and Intel Capital, and new investors including ClearSky. This brings total funding to $100 million.

“We are leading a revolution in the networking industry. We are executing on our vision of delivering autonomous WANs to our customers – enabling them to specify application policies aligned to their business and have the infrastructure choreograph itself. We couldn’t be more thankful to our customers and look forward to serving them in even larger numbers,” said CloudGenix Founder and CEO Kumar Ramachandran.

Champion ONE intros 100G Active DWDM Open Line System

Champion ONE introduced a line of carrier-grade, 100G PAM4 Active DWDM Open Line Systems. 

The platform enables network operators to add multiple channels of 100G transmission over links longer than 40km on one pair of fibers.

Champion ONE said its open line systems, available in both 8-channel and 40-channel versions, offer an alternative to coherent solutions that is both cost-effective and simpler to deploy and operate. The solution is a fraction of the cost of a new coherent-only blade switch, and will work with most traditional 100G switches that have QSFP28 ports. The operational simplicity comes from zero-touch provisioning, which only takes minutes to turn up, thereby speeding up time to revenue. The system automatically measures fiber length and adjusts for dispersion and power balancing across channels.

Additionally, their form factors (1-3RU) are relatively small compared to alternative systems including open ROADMs. The large heat sink on the 40-channel versions enables carrier-grade performance and reliability, minimizing network downtime. These devices would be ideal for applications including data center interconnects, carrier transport networks, and university and hospital campuses.

“Champion ONE has expertise in open network solutions that can enhance bandwidth. This new solution adds to our growing toolbox of cost-effective ways to break through network capacity bottlenecks,” said CEO John Jutila. “Many of our customers seek to improve capacity without requiring new fiber builds or forklift upgrades associated with expensive equipment platform changes. This solution can add massive capacity on existing fibers between switches.”

Huawei confirms 50 commercial 5G contracts

Speaking at MWC Shanghai 2019, Huawei Deputy Chairman Ken Hu said the company has now signed 50 commercial contracts for 5G around the world and shipped 150,000 5G base stations.

Hu said Huawei's lead in 5G is due to the following:

  • Early development of 5G beginning in 2009.
  • Heavy investment in 5G with over US$4 billion in R&D to date.
  • Commitment to standards development and basic research in chips, materials, and algorithms. Huawei holds more than 2,500 standard essential patents for 5G, which is roughly 20% of all 5G patents in the world. 

Hu also talked about 5G rollout in China, where the government issued 5G licenses on June 6th.

Gigalight launches 40G QSFP+ ER4 transceiver

Gigalight launched a 40G QSFP+ ER4 40km optical transceiver based on its high-speed APD packaging technology.

The company says 40G remains viable in the optical communications industry especially now that 40G QSFP+ ER4 modules are coming to market.

The Gigalight 40G QSFP+ ER4 40km optical transceiver adopts Gigalight’s self-developed core optical components—40G ER4 TOSA and 40G ER4 ROSA (APD). The module supports OTU3 rate, the typical power consumption at full temperature range is less than 3W, and the sensitivity is up to -22dBm at the error-free transmission. In terms of reliability, the Gigalight 40G QSFP+ ER4 module has passed the reliability test of 2000 hours in a double 85 high temperature and high humidity environment.

The product is expected to be officially launched in July with a sample price of US$650.

Gigalight has developed a high-efficiency and high-yield automated package coupling process, built a mature automation platform, and fully capable of mass production of the device. In addition, the Gigalight 40G QSFP+ ER4 optical modules support customized requirements and are able to respond to and deliver high volume production requirements in a timely manner.

https://www.gigalight.com/40g-qsfp-er4.html

European Commission opens investigation into Broadcom

The European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Broadcom may be restricting competition through exclusivity practices with its set-top box and modem chipsets.

The Commission said it believes that Broadcom may be implementing a range of exclusionary practices, including (i) setting exclusive purchasing obligations, (ii) granting rebates or other advantages conditioned on exclusivity or minimum purchase requirements, (iii) product bundling, (iv) abusive IP-related strategies and (v) deliberately degrading interoperability between Broadcom products and other products.

EU law prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position to affect trade within the EU and prevent or restrict competition.

Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner in charge of competition policy, said "We suspect that Broadcom, a major supplier of components for these devices, has put in place contractual restrictions to exclude its competitors from the market. This would prevent Broadcom's customers and, ultimately, final consumers from reaping the benefits of choice and innovation. We also intend to order Broadcom to halt its behaviour while our investigation proceeds, to avoid any risk of serious and irreparable harm to competition."

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-3410_en.htm

China Mobile Pakistan deploys 5G microwave MIMO with Huawei

CMPak (China Mobile Pakistan) and Huawei completed the installation of a long distance microwave MIMO link, which reached 11km with 5Gbps capacity. The 5G microwave MIMO link can stably provide 3.5Gbps capacity and reach maximum 5Gbps with 2* 56 MHz channel spacing. To date, microwave MIMO technology has generally been limited to distances of less than 7km. The companies describe the pilot system as the first commercial use of 5G microwave MIMO solution for large-scale commercial use in Pakistan.

Huawei says its 5G microwave MIMO solution can improve the microwave spectrum efficiency by 100% to double the capacity, shorten the installation distance (Rayleigh distance) by 67%, and reduce the requirement of MIMO deployment of tower space.

The solution uses 5G microwave CA (Carrier Aggregation) technology, which can aggregate 4 carriers into one link. By combining MIMO and CA the companies expect to increase the capacity by 8 times with the same hardware as the traditional 2x2 MIMO solution.


https://www.zong.com.pk/about-zong/china-mobile-pakistan

NTT Com to Symmetry, a SAP managed service provider in the U.S.

Secure-24, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT Com, agreed to acquire Symmetry, a U.S.-based leading provider of SAP managed services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Secure-24 delivers its SAP managed services to large enterprise clients in diverse industries including consumer products, life sciences, manufacturing and high-tech. Symmetry also offers migration and operations services for SAP S/4 HANA, a flexible, high-speed platform, which is expected to be widely deployed.

“The acquisition of Symmetry allows us to strengthen the comprehensive managed services we provide to our customers, while opening doors to new opportunities,” said Mike BeDell, Chief Executive Officer, Secure-24. “With the combined expertise of both companies and Symmetry’s extensive portfolio of managed SAP services we are now in a position to deliver greater value to our customers around the world.”

“For more than 20 years, Symmetry has been committed to delivering the highest quality SAP cloud hosting and application management services to the market and our customers,” said Pete Stevenson, Chairman and CEO of Symmetry. “We look forward to delivering even greater value to our customers with the expanded offerings and global resources that Secure-24 offers, without sacrificing the high touch support and commitment to success our team executes on and our customers have come to expect.”