Video: Telco Workloads in Public Clouds

Major telecom carriers are announcing strategic partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

In this 3-minute video,  Ron Haberman, CTO of Nokia Software, comments on the migration of telco workloads to public clouds. The first use cases  (1) public cloud as a back-up for critical functions (2) bursting into public clouds to handle traffic surges (3) better connections for business services when the customer already has their workloads deployed in the same public cloud.

https://youtu.be/1Dcsm7rHirQ

See Ron's earlier 5-minute video on State of NFV: Containerizing the Telco Cloud - https://youtu.be/Pfn5RnNi-ok

State of NFV Resource Site and Report: https://ngi.how/nfv-20

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Telenor launches its 5G network in Norway

Telenor launched its commercial 5G network in nine different cities and villages across Norway, its home market. Telenor is the first mobile operator in the country to offer 5G to customers.

“Telenor is proud to be the first mobile operator to launch a commercial 5G network in Norway, as we have worked tirelessly to stay at the forefront of the 5G development. By bringing Norway into a new technological age, today’s opening marks another milestone in Telenor’s 165-year-long history. We expect 5G to be the key driver of transformation in this decade, and we are very much looking forward to continuing the roll-out of 5G to our customers,” says Sigve Brekke, President and CEO of Telenor Group.

“We have worked hard to become the first mobile operator in Norway to open the 5G network, and are now fully focused on our continued plans. During 2021, we will upgrade close to 2,000 base stations, while a total of 8,500 base stations will be upgraded within the next four to five years,” Furberg concludes.

Telenor sticks with Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei for 5G

Monday, December 16, 2019  Telenor  

Telenor completed its vendor selection process for the future network in Norway. Ericsson will modernize and build the Telenor’s 5G radio access network (RAN). The core network is being upgraded by Nokia and Ericsson, as previously announced. Huawei, which is an existing RAN vendor for Telenor, was selected to maintain the 4G network and also upgrade to 5G coverage in selected areas of Norway.

Telenor is currently deploying 5G in the city of Trondheim.

Currently, the Telenor Group is testing 5G in ten locations in Norway as well as selected areas in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Thailand and Malaysia.

https://www.telenor.com/media/press-release/telenor-completes-5g-vendor-selection-for-norway

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American Tower names new CEO, CFO

American Tower Corporation named Tom Bartlett as its new CEO, replacing Jim Taiclet as President and Chief Executive Officer.

Bartlett has served as American Tower’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for over ten years, joining the company from Verizon Communications in April 2009 after a career there of more than 25 years.

Taiclet joined American Tower in 2001 as President and Chief Operating Officer and became its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman in 2003, succeeding company founder Steven Dodge.  Taiclet will continue as executive Chairman until the Company’s 2020 annual meeting, after which point, Pamela Reeve, the company’s current lead independent director, will become non-executive Chair of the Board, subject to her re-election as a director at the annual meeting. Following his departure from American Tower, Mr. Taiclet, who currently serves on the Board of Lockheed Martin, will become its President and Chief Executive Officer, replacing Marillyn Hewson.

Tom Bartlett, American Tower’s new President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “It has been an incredible honor and privilege to work closely with Jim for more than ten years and I want to thank him for his tremendous leadership of our company. It’s an exciting time for American Tower. Not only are we well-positioned to capitalize on the continuing secular growth trends in mobile on a worldwide basis, but we also have a proven leadership team and dedicated employees throughout our markets to meet the needs of our diverse stakeholders. It’s an honor for me to lead a company that will play such an important role in the digital future.”

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Rancher raises $40 million for Kubernetes management

Rancher Labs, a start-up based in Cupertino, California, closed a $40 million Series D funding round for its Kubernetes management platform.

Sheng Liang, CEO at Rancher Labs said, “In 2019, we experienced 169% year-on-year revenue growth, and this round of funding is the ultimate validation of the market and our unique technologies. Just as Linux became the standard computing platform for the data center, cloud, and devices in the 2000s, we fundamentally believe Kubernetes is fast becoming the ubiquitous enterprise computing platform for multi-cloud, heterogenous IT environments in the 2020s.”

Rancher Labs said it will use the funds to continue executing against their Run Kubernetes Everywhere strategy, specifically in three areas:

• Accelerate Innovation – Leveraging Kubernetes as the common computing standard, the company will continue to innovate in key areas including heterogenous cluster federation, fleet management, and Kubernetes at the edge.
• Go-To-Market Expansion – The company will expand sales coverage, marketing, finance, operations, customer success, and customer support. Additionally, the company has plans to expand geographic coverage within and beyond the fourteen countries where they currently operate.
• Market Expansion – Leveraging their leadership in Kubernetes at the edge, the company will work with leading technology companies to develop innovative solutions in markets including 5G, digital factories, connected cars, video surveillance, and medical research.

The round was led by Telstra Ventures. One of its investors, Telstra Corporation, is a Rancher Labs customer and is Australia’s largest telecommunications company. The funding round also included participation from existing investors Mayfield, Nexus Venture Partners, GRC SinoGreen, and F&G Ventures, bringing total funding to date to $95 million.

http://www.rancher.com

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Telefónica's José María Álvarez-Pallete on COVID-19 emergency

José María Álvarez-Pallete, CEO of Telefónica, issued the following statement to share steps being taken in response to the COVID-19 crisis: 

"A global health emergency makes connectivity absolutely essential. It is key that public administrations are able to coordinate properly and inform citizens in real time; that health centres and hospitals have their communications systems available and can make use of remote diagnostics for patients; that educational centres can keep in permanent contact with families and students and make use of e-learning tools; that small and medium-sized enterprises remain connected to their clients and with their teams; and that people can work from home."

"And on a personal level, keeping in touch with family and friends 24/7 is also crucial to mitigating separation and coping with uncertainty."

Spain has an ultra-broadband communication infrastructure of extremely high capacity and quality and we will make every effort to ensure that the telecommunications network works at full capacity, in a reliable, stable and secure way. We will do the same in all the countries where we operate, working to provide our networks with sufficient capacity to absorb the most demanding peaks. "

https://www.telefonica.com/en/web/press-office/-/telefonica-announces-measures-related-to-covid-19

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Frontier Communications misses interest payment

Frontier Communications will not make an interest payments due on March 16, 2020 on certain of its senior unsecured notes and enter a 60-day grace period.

The company issued the following statement: "We remain actively engaged in constructive discussions with our bondholders as the Company continues to evaluate its capital structure with an eye to reducing debt and interest expense. As part of this process, Frontier has made the decision to take advantage of the 60-day grace period allowed under the indenture to facilitate ongoing discussions as we work to reach a comprehensive resolution. Importantly, we continue to provide quality service to our customers without interruption and work with our business partners as usual."

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Samsung Electronics delivers 512 GB flash storage for smartphones

Samsung Electronics has begun mass producing the first 512-gigabyte (GB) eUFS (embedded Universal Flash Storage) 3.1 for use in flagship smartphones.

The Samsung 512GB eUFS 3.1 offers a sequential write speed of over 1,200MB/s, which is more than twice the speed of a SATA-based PC (540MB/s) and over ten times the speed of a UHS-I microSD card (90MB/s). This means consumers can enjoy the speed of an ultra-slim notebook when storing massive files like 8K videos or several hundred large-size photos in their smartphones, without any buffering. Transferring contents from an old phone to a new device will also require considerably less time. Phones with the new eUFS 3.1 will only take about 1.5 minutes to move 100GB of data whereas UFS 3.0-based phones require more than four minutes.

In terms of random performance, the 512GB eUFS 3.1 processes up to 60 percent faster than the widely used UFS 3.0 version, offering 100,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) for reads and 70,000 IOPS for writes.

Along with the 512GB option, Samsung will also have 256GB and 128GB capacities available for flagship smartphones that will be launched later this year.

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UNH-IOL ramps up testing for USGv6 profile revision

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) announced its offering for expanded testing capabilities that meet the requirements outlined in the newly released update to the USGv6 profile. The revision of the profile delineates proof of compliance to IPv6 specifications outlined in current industry standards for common network products. Users of the current version of USGv6 are allotted a two-year window before use of the newly released USGv6 profile update becomes mandatory by agencies.

“UNH-IOL and the IPv6 Ready Logo program have been vital collaborators to the USGv6 Program since its inception in 2009,” said Doug Montgomery, manager of the USGv6 program at NIST. “The recent revisions to the USGv6 Profile and Test Program are focused on facilitating the transition to IPv6-only networks. The new requirements for products to support IPv6-only operation will highlight the continued need for the kind of open, transparent yet rigorous testing conducted by USGv6
accredited test labs.”

“As the only lab currently offering an accredited testing program to USGv6, UNH-IOL is uniquely positioned to demonstrate network devices and applications working in IPv6-only environments,” said Michayla Newcombe, associate director, UNH-IOL. “Drawing upon extensive USG testing experience, UNH-IOL has compiled a significant knowledge base from which to provide useful guidance and consultation on the procedures and requirements for the USG test program.”

The USGv6 profile includes a forward-looking set of RFCs published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), encompassing basic IPv6 functionality, as well as specific requirements and key capabilities for routing, security, multicast, mobility, network management, and quality of service. The profile also contains a NIST established set of capability requirements for IPv6 aware firewalls and intrusion detection systems. The revision to the USGv6 profile aligns with several global programs to aid in IPv6 deployments, including the IPv6 Ready Logo program.

http://www.iol.unh.edu

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