ThousandEyes maps Global Internet Outages

ThousandEyes published a Global Internet Outages Map that provides visibility into business and consumer-impacting Internet outages around the world.

ThousandEyes vantage points around the world perform billions of measurements each day to detect when traffic flows are disrupted within ISPs, public cloud networks and other service providers. This network telemetry data is algorithmically analyzed as part of ThousandEyes’ core Digital Experience Monitoring platform and the macro outages that are detected are displayed on an interactive map as part of ThousandEyes’ Internet Insights offering.

“Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been inundated with requests from businesses, industry analysts and other various parties wanting to get a better understanding of global Internet health during these trying times,” said Mohit Lad, co-founder and CEO of ThousandEyes. “Today, we’re thrilled to release the Global Internet Outages Map to give businesses and consumers alike a reliable source based on actual internet telemetry instead of public rumor to help them understand what’s happening on the Internet at any point in time.”

http://www.thousandeyes.com/outages

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Rakuten Mobile and NEC roll out Open RAN 5G

Rakuten Mobile and NEC have begun production and first shipments of a jointly-developed 5G radio unit (RU) .

The new domestically produced, high quality 5G RU is equipped with a 3.7 GHz frequency band massive MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antenna in a compact, lightweight form factor with low power consumption. With the 5G RU, Rakuten Mobile will begin the buildout of its 5G network, starting with the construction of base stations in the Tokyo area*1, and work toward the launch of 5G commercial services in June 2020.

Rakuten Mobile is building the world’s first end-to-end fully virtualized cloud native network, and in October 2019 in Japan successfully implemented the world’s first open, virtualized, distributed radio access network (OpenRAN). In addition, Rakuten Mobile and NEC are also closely collaborating on BSS and OSS solutions for Rakuten Mobile’s 4G network operations.
The manufacturing is carried out at NEC Platforms, Ltd.’s Fukushima Plant.

“NEC’s 5G RU, developed and produced in Japan, will play a very important role in Rakuten Mobile’s fully virtualized cloud native mobile network,” said Tareq Amin, Rakuten Mobile Director, Vice President and CTO. “With the launch of production of the 5G radio unit, we will begin work on the construction of our 5G base stations and will aim to provide our subscribers with a cost efficient, highly secure, high quality 5G service.”

“NEC is very proud to be part of Rakuten Mobile’s advanced 5G network,” said Atsuo Kawamura, Executive Vice President and President of the Network Services Business Unit, NEC Corporation. “The 5G RU, produced at our Fukushima Plant, conforms with open architecture standards, and comes in a compact form factor with low power consumption. By expanding the open 5G ecosystem, NEC will contribute to the creation of new mobile services around the world.”

Rakuten selects NEC to build Open vRAN Architecture

Wednesday, June 05, 2019  5G, Japan, NEC, Rakuten  

Rakuten Mobile has selected NEC to build its 5G open vRAN infrastructure in Japan.

Through the partnership, Rakuten and NEC will jointly develop a 3.7 GHz massive MIMO 5G antenna radio unit (RU), which will be manufactured by NEC at its facilities in Japan. Rakuten and NEC/Netcracker are already working together on an end-to-end BSS/OSS solution to support the mobile network launch and subsequent operations.

Rakuten Mobile is building a fully virtualized, end-to-end cloud-native mobile network.

In April 2019, Rakuten Mobile received approval from the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for its 5G special radio station deployment plan and aims to launch 5G services in June 2020.

"We are very excited to partner with a network technology leader such as NEC in building the world's first 5G open RAN architecture here in Japan," said Tareq Amin, chief technology officer of Rakuten Mobile, Inc. "NEC's technology and expertise will allow us to not only cost-effectively create a highly secure, high quality 5G network, but by designing and producing the antennas in the local market, we look forward to contributing to the development of the Japanese telecommunications industry and economy."

"NEC is delighted to contribute to Rakuten Mobile's strategy for building the world's first fully virtualized, end-to-end cloud native mobile network," said Atsuo Kawamura, executive vice president and president of the Network Services Business Unit at NEC Corporation. "Going forward, NEC aims to drive the global expansion of virtualized network architecture with Rakuten Mobile."

Rakuten will use Small Cells powered by Qualcomm

Monday, February 25, 2019  #MWC19, Japan, Qualcomm, Rakuten, Small Cells  

Rakuten upcoming next-generation end-to-end cloud-native mobile network across Japan will use small cells based on Qualcomm FSM Small Cell Platforms. Rakuten plans to utilize small cells to reduce site acquisition and deployment cost and to provide indoor capacity. Rakuten will leverage network virtualization and small cells from the start and thereby create a network that can be scaled easily and deliver on the promise of 5G experiences to subscribers. 

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Orange acts to manage surge in mobile traffic

Despite a significant increase in traffic on fixed and mobile Internet networks, Orange stated that is network capacity has remained robust, in particular for the Internet, TV and OTT services. Mobile voice traffic, however, has significantly increased, doubling in volume. To manage this, Orange has readjusted certain network parameters, most notably regarding inter-operator connection points.

"My absolute priority today is to safeguard the health and safety of all Orange’s employees. At the same time, it is essential that we work to ensure the availability, security and integrity of our networks, which have now become critical for the continued functioning of our society. Faced with this considerable responsibility, the Group has taken exceptional measures to protect staff during network operations, visits to customers’ premises, and in our supervision centres and data centres. I am extremely proud of the continued commitment and mobilisation of the whole company and in all countries where we are present," said Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange.

For Orange Business Services, around-the-clock business continuity for its customers is a priority both in France and in the more than 200 countries and territories where it provides telecommunications, IT and digital services for enterprise customers.

The company said it is working with its customers to handle the massive implementation of teleworking practices.  To enable everyone to work from home in good conditions, Orange Business Services has doubled the capacity for simultaneous connections on its platforms. The use of remote collaboration solutions such as video conferencing has also risen massively with usage increasing by between 20 and 100% depending on the solution. Finally, in France alone, teams are managing an additional 130 customer operations per day to increase the speed of their Internet connections or at their Data Centres. In total, nearly 3,500 Orange Business Services employees are mobilised to manage customers’ business-critical activities and will continue to do so.

Full statement:
https://www.orange.com/en/Press-Room/press-releases/press-releases-2020/Orange-is-mobilised-to-ensure-continuity-of-service-for-all-customers-in-France-and-around-the-world

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CyrusOne announces net positive water data center

CyrusOne announced that its flagship facility in Chandler, Arizona is the first data center to be net positive in its water usage.

The CyrusOne Chandler data center incorporates proprietary technology that reduces water usage onsite and will dramatically reduce company-wide water usage by millions of gallons per year.

Through a partnership with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s Change the Course program, the Chandler campus promises restoration to nearby watersheds.

“We know that the data centers we build today will serve our customers for decades, therefore, it is important that we continue to innovate and invest in design features to set the course for a sustainable future,” said Kyle Myers, Director of Environmental Health, Safety and Sustainability at CyrusOne. "As far as we can tell, this is the first net water positive data center in the world, and we hope it will set a precedent for water sustainability standards and the future of data centers.”

“Addressing water scarcity will require us to not only reduce consumptive water use but also restore water to nature,” said Val Fishman, Chief Development Officer at BEF. “We’re excited to have CyrusOne on board as a leader and partner helping to keep water in Arizona rivers during times of water stress. Through Change the Course, CyrusOne is supporting innovative projects that help farmers switch to more efficient irrigation methods and restore water flows to the region.”

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BT sells operations in 16 countries in Latin America

BT will sell selected operations and assets in 16 countries in Latin America to CIH Telecommunications Americas. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Assets and operations in the scope of the transaction delivered revenue of £110m to BT in fiscal year 2018/19. They include two owned fibre networks with total length of 650km, 2000km of leased fibre lines, four data centres and five teleports. The divested business is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.

“Today’s announcement is a key milestone in the execution of our strategy to become a more agile and focused business. It comes at a particularly challenging time for the global economy. As such, it is a sign of our determination to keep the business moving forward and continue connecting communities, businesses and governments. I am pleased to begin a new chapter in the region with CIH, providing continuity for our people and our customers,” said Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT.

“We are very excited to be re-entering global telecommunications after having successfully focused on the technology sector over a number of years. We have considerable experience in the region and the sector, and greatly look forward to growing the business and providing the highest level of service to all customers in the region, including BT. The acquired business fits very well with our strategy and existing global portfolio,” said George Kappaz, CIH’s Chairman.

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Huawei launches servers with Intel's latest Cascade Lake refresh processors

Intel has launched new servers based on Intel's latest Cascade Lake Refresh processor, which delivers a performance that is 36% higher than its predecessors.

The launch includes rack servers 1288H V5, 2288H V5, 2298 V5, and 5288 V5, high-density server X6000 V5, and blade server E9000.

Huawei said the rapid rollout of these new servers reflect the closeness between Huawei and Intel.

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Nokia postpones Annual General Meeting

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, Nokia has cancelled its Annual General Meeting scheduled for April 8, 2020.

Nokia will convene the Annual General Meeting at a later stage as soon as it is practically possible to organize the meeting. Furthermore, in line with our mission to create the technology to connect the world and as a forerunner of offering our shareholders an on-line advance voting solution in the Finnish market, Nokia strongly advocates for measures to allow fully virtual general meetings to enable efficient shareholder participation.

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